Spartanburg, SC – The Spartanburg Methodist College Players will present Max Frisch’s classic “The Firebugs” November 6, 7, and 8 in the Marsha and Jimmy Gibbs Auditorium, located within the Edger H. Ellis Jr. Hall, on the campus of Spartanburg Methodist College. Performances are at 7:30 pm. General admission is $5, with SMC faculty, staff and students admitted for free.

Gottlieb Beidermann, an upright conservative businessman, discovers that the “guests” who have invited themselves into his attic are notorious arsonists who have burned much of the town. Beidermann tries to befriend them, offering them food and drink, assisting them in rigging the explosives, and in the final moments, giving them matches. Subtitled “A Learning Play Without a Lesson,” this tragi-comedy satirizes the complacency of a comfortable upper class society in the face of looming disaster. First presented as a German-language radio play in the 1950s, The Firebugs appeared off-Broadway in 1963 and has seen numerous revivals and adaptations ever since.

Appearing in the role of Gottlieb Beidermann is Chandler Goodrich, a drama major from Greer, SC. Babette Beidermann, his wife, is played by Tatiana Ferguson, a mass communications major from Carlisle. Shakira Jackson of Inman plays Stepp Smitz, an arsonists. Shakira is a musical theater major from Inman. Willi Eisenring, the second arsonist, is played by Patrice Haynes. She is a performing arts major originally from Tuscaloosa, AL., now residing in Columbia, SC.

Eva Zygmuntowicz, a fine arts major from Boiling Springs, plays Anna, the maid of the Beidermann household. The Chorus of Firemen who observe and comment on the action includes Alex Wright, a chemistry major from Spartanburg; Zygmuntowicz; Desirelle Nesbitt, a psychology major from Inman; and Pierce Burch, a Biology major from Holly Hill, SC. Burch doubles as a gullible policeman, Nesbitt plays a distraught widow, and Wright enacts a witless politician.

Kaitlyn Savannah Kizer, a sociology major from Lexington is stage manager; Leo Kingsley, an arts major from Spartanburg is sound operator; scenic construction by the Drama Workshop classes including Flavoris Belue, a drama major from Campobello; Kyle Campbell, an arts major from Charleston; Elexis Johnson, a fine arts major from Spartanburg; Jonathan Jones, an English major from Greer; Millard Jordan, an art major from Columbia; Austin Lindsey, an English major from Spartanburg; Christopher Culp-Robinson, a Criminal Justice major from Campobello, as well as members of the cast.