About the Play:

Get Smart is a full-length comedy-satire adapted for the stage by Christopher Sergel from the classic 1960s spy spoof TV series of the same name created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry. Follow America's best secret agent, Maxwell Smart, and his partner, Agent 99, as they attempt to stop the organization of Evil, KAOS and it's mastermind Mr. Big. After an elaborate diversionary wild-goose-chase setup, Smart and 99 must figure out how to keep KAOS from blowing up the Statue of Liberty, and "save humanity."

Get Smart needs no introduction for anyone old enough to remember the 1960s hilarious sitcom or the 2008 movie version that reintroduced a whole new generation to Max Smart, Agent 99, the Chief, and all those other rather goofy Control spies. The Get Smart play centers on a bizarre new case in which Smart must stop KAOS from their most shameful plot. "Would you believe that seven police boats are closing in on us right now?" asks Maxwell Smart (famous American spy) to the head of KAOS (Mr. Big) who now holds him captive. When the master criminal finds this a little hard to accept, the straight-faced Smart asks, "Would you believe six?" With that question, this bright comedy-satire put an expression into into the English language over 50 years ago. Smart is off on a bizarre new case in which he must stop the sinister organization known as KAOS from their most shameful plot. Their plan this time is to prove their power by blowing up the Statue of Liberty! This is too much, and Smart springs – perhaps we should say stumbles – into action. Magnificently assisted by beautiful Agent 99, Smart proceeds from one gigantic blunder to another. Each of those blunders, however, somehow turns into a master stroke. The tale of a classic buffoon of a spy named Maxwell Smart, Get Smart is the ultimate spoof of all secret agent thrillers. It's filled with easy-to-stage visual surprises that make the show exciting and enjoyable for your cast and a delight for your audience.

Get Smart was adapted by Christopher Sergel in 1967 from the original Get Smart TV show created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry. The hit series starring Don Adams and Barbara Feldon ran from 1965 to 1970. Ideal for any large cast school or community theatre group looking for something amusing and "different."

Cast: 17 female, 10 male

What people say:

"Playwright Christopher Sergel, known for his stage adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird, as well as other dramas and comedies, combined story lines and dialogue from the first season of Get Smart into a stage play. In Sergel's adaptation, many of the famous and familiar hallmarks of the television show are evident, including Agent 86's immortal catchphrases, which audiences always seemed to anticipate." — The Thousand Oaks Acorn

"A satirical spoof of the classic James Bond-type spy movies, Get Smart follows an overly confident by-the-book spy, Maxwell Smart, as he works alongside sensible and collected Agent 99... a classic comedy that left old and young alike leaving with smiles and an appreciation for the comedy of the past." — Edmonton Journal

"Maxwell Smart isn't – and that makes up about half the comedy of Get Smart ...As the play draws to a close, blind heroism and sheer luck prevails, the forces of KAOS are once again defeated, and our friend Maxwell still hasn't proved himself very bright. But that's OK, because a good time was had." — The Ottawa Citizen

About the Playwright:

Christopher Sergel (1918-1993) was the president of the Dramatic Publishing Co. for over twenty years and a Broadway playwright. A graduate of the University of Chicago, he was an adventurer and sportsman who spent two years as the captain of a schooner in the South Pacific and during World War II served as a lieutenant commander in the Merchant Marine. His primary interests, however, were writing plays and managing the play-publishing company his great-uncle Charles Sergel founded in 1885. He wrote more than a dozen plays, is known for his adaptation of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird and Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio, which was seen on Broadway.