The political satire troupe The Capitol Steps got its start as an office Christmas party for Sen. Charles Percy in 1981. Elaina Newport was part of that inaugural performance, and she is still a performing member of The Capitol Steps today.
"We thought somebody would tell us to stop doing this, but nobody did, and now 35 years later we’re still going," Newport said during a recent interview on Sounds Good.
The Capitol Steps will bring its unique brand of political humor to the stage of the West Kentucky Community and Technical College's Clemens Fine Arts Center in Paducah Friday, Feb. 16, at 7:30 p.m.
While The Capitol Steps roster is a deep one, Newport said the troupe uses only five performers in its shows. The pace is fast, she said, with approximately 30 songs and skits featured during each performance.
"I’ve always said if you want to see Donald Trump sing a rock song and Bernie Sanders sing a show tune and Vladimir Putin dance shirtless, it’s all on stage with the Capitol Steps," Newport said.
Newport said that while the current political climate in America might be a tense one, the humor of The Capitol Steps is often welcomed with open arms by its audiences.
"There’s a lot of partisan bickering going on," she said. "We think that right now the best compliment we can get after a Capitol Steps show is for somebody to come up to us and say, ‘You know, the news has been very heavy and tensions have been high, but I really needed that laugh and that did it.’"
For more information on The Capitol Steps upcoming WKCTC performance, visit http://artsinfocus.universitytickets.com/user_pages/event.asp?id=225&cid=30.
