Ladies/Gaga: Genesius Guild's “Women's Festival,” at Lincoln Park through August 2

Somebody once called playwright Aristophanes of Athens (ca 450 to 388 BCE) “The Father of Comedy,” and it stuck. (I would’ve guessed that the “Father” was Bob Hope.) Only 11 of his 40 plays exist today; we only have his (and scholars') word that he wrote 29 more.

Genesius Guild, voluntarily staging Shakespeare and classical Greek plays every summer at Rock Island’s Lincoln Park, perform what founder Don Wooten called – using audible capital letters – “The Comedy” at the end of every season. It’s usually a rewrite of a play by Aristophanes, a.k.a. Comedy Zaddy, and as he often satirized Greek society, leaders, and celebrities, the reworked scripts were rife with jokes about American society and Quad-Cities people and current events.

At the end of this, the troupe’s 70th season, the comedy is Thesmophoriazusae, here called Women’s Festival. Director Michael Callahan is credited as writer, but as he explained before Saturday’s opening performance, the script evolved with a workshop-style model, with the whole cast participating in the writing. That’s likely why this production is one of the funniest season-enders I’ve seen. In this case, many cooks, including assistant director Alaina Pascarella, make the broth mm-mm good.

Few details of the original script survive in this rendition, and that’s fine. The theme of women holding power in society despite being prevented from participating in much of it (still true today) is represented by the fund-seeking characters figuratively – and in Jacob Lund’s case, literally – throwing themselves at the feet of two representative women, who, in this take on the play, have all the money (so untrue today). The fund-seeking happens to be real, as the outdoor theatre needs to repair its aging concrete venue. Donations are welcome.

But let’s back up. Joe Sager, looking extremely hot in his bright blue tunic (and I mean that literally; I think it’s velour), plays Greek tragedian Euripides, opening this play with his relatable struggles to write something compelling. He uses a mallet and chisel on (fake) stone tablets, which is historically inaccurate but funnier than pen and papyrus, and impeccably performed. Euripides is the only Thesmophoriazusae character to appear in this parody. The real playwright, unlike his contemporaries, depicted enslaved people as humans, but Sager’s Euripides is as irritated with his servants as any other ancient Greek or modern sitcom character.

Those servants, 1 (Kady Derbyshire) and 2 (Rodrigo Guevara), are an amphora of laughs. Derbyshire, whose previous stage appearances I’ve missed, is a limber, elastic cartoon – wackily exaggerated in the best way. Her clowning hit perfectly. Guevara, another performer new to me, is also appropriately and hilariously broad, and after the actors tumble flat to the stage – more than once – he executes perfect upward tosses of his beanie to punctuate the uproar.

Lund, who is worth more than his weight in drachmae, easily carries much of the script as ringleader, and probably as safety net in case things go awry. Either he did his job seamlessly – in which case, “Bravo!” – or nothing went awry. In which case, “Bravo!” He plays Eumenides (actually the title of a play by Aeschylus), and I waited in vain to hear the old tailor joke (“Euripides?” “Yeah. Eumenides?”), but no. The tailor-joke slot was instead filled by famed songstress Weaver (Karen Riffy). You know, like Taylor? Swift? (Not all the jokes land.) She and her friend Singer (Stella Rider) stand as a Greek chorus of sorts, attired in richly hued, tacky finery provided by magnificent costume designer Shannon Ryan.

Joseph Jagusah does marvelous, hilarious turns as Shakespeare and blind prophet Teiresias. Jamie Bodenbender scores a “gooooooooooal” as Messi and Captain, and John Donald O’Shea assumes several brief roles, including a lawyer singing a tuneful parody of “Misty.” He also delighted me by singing “Sit Down, Creon” with the cast (a.k.a. “Sit Down, John” from 1776, in which O’Shea performed at Music Guild last month). They also turned Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” into an ode to Athena.

But the Women's Festival pinnacle was reached when the cast dissed the whole Greek-tragedy genre with a send-up of Moxy Früvous’ “King of Spain” (here, “King of Thebes”), led by the fine vocals of Josef Bodenbender as a pizza-delivery guy. This character may be a cousin to the reversal-of-fortune sausage vendor from Aristophanes’ The Knights, but what’s certain is the number conquered my '90s a cappella heart, including swoon-worthy backing vocals. Callahan employed his musical expertise to splendiferous effect.

The communally written script was neither oh-so-clever nor excessively lowbrow, but hit the sweet spot. The actors reading their stage directions tickled me. I enjoyed fleeting nods to Monty Python & the Holy Grail, Charlie’s Angels, Austin Powers, and the fabled Quad-Cities’ train to Chicago; other bits likely amused those older and younger. The lively, confident cast members are genuinely enjoying themselves, and my guess is you will, too. It’s wonderfully paced and executed, especially for having coalesced in just a few weeks, and it lasts a lean 45 minutes. Highly recommended!

Genesius Guild's Women's Festival runs at Lincoln Park (1120 40th Street, Rock Island IL) through August 2, and more information is available by visiting Genesius.org.