A program for “Lame Ducks & Dark Horses is photographed in the snow on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

A program for “Lame Ducks & Dark Horses is photographed in the snow on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Triumvirate spotlights the ‘absurdity’ of politics

Lame Ducks Dark Horses” is back

“Lame Ducks & Dark Horses,” the biennial political satire show put on by the Triumvirate Theatre, is back to poke fun at local and national politics in a sketch comedy that features an array of bits and musical parodies.

Triumvirate President Joe Rizzo said “Lame Ducks” is something the theater insists on producing, in spite of pandemics and in spite of fires.

“People get awfully serious about politics when so much of it is just kind of ridiculous,” he said. “It’s good for the community to be able to laugh at some of these issues.”

Following the loss of the organization’s theater in a 2021 fire, the show is being staged at the Soldotna Sports Complex, in the conference rooms adjacent to the hockey rink. The show opened Oct. 28, but there are two more opportunities to catch it this Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m.

On opening night, despite some issues with the lights, and even as cheers for the Kenai River Brown Bears could be heard through the walls, the Triumvirate performers didn’t miss a beat, ad-libbing quips about the equipment and the situation as they presented a slew of sketches, songs and jokes to laughter and applause.

The show targets both local and national politics, tackling the race between Lisa Murkowski and Kelly Tshibaka, Donald Trump’s retaining of classified documents, and the resignation of former Borough Mayor Charlie Pierce in equal — good-natured — breaths.

The writing was handled by Rizzo, Carla Jenness and Chris Jenness, each having produced different sketches.

Rizzo said Carla handles several recognizable returning segments, like The Loon Hour, which is always the opening bit, and the Java Girls, where Rizzo, Chris Jenness and Chris Pepper put on wigs and portray teen girls — this time performing TikTok dances.

Rizzo said he handles the parody songs. Variations of several hits like “Kokomo” by The Beach Boys and “One Day More” from “Les Miserables” are featured.

“We don’t really coordinate our writing,” he said. “Sometimes jokes collide, because we both come up with the same thing and it ends up in two different sketches.”

That’s why Pierce shows up in so many of the sketches, he explained.

Writing jokes about public figures in the community and beyond requires a careful balance.

“Our standard has always been to not be mean-spirited,” Rizzo said. “We have to live in the community.”

So the group gives a berth to some “super dicey issues.”

“A lot of times there’s not a clear way to present that and make it funny,” Rizzo said.

Ultimately, the goal is to have some fun while poking some fun. Rizzo said the show isn’t just for political folks, but for “anybody that has a sense of humor about the absurdity of life.”

There are two more opportunities to see “Lame Ducks” before it goes away until 2024. The show will play at the Soldotna Sports Complex on Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at triumviratetheatre.org or at the door for $22.

More information about the Triumvirate Theatre can be found at triumviratetheatre.org or on their Facebook page.

More in News

Syverine Bentz, coastal training program coordinator for the Kachemak Bay Research Reserve, displays a board of ideas during a Local Solutions meeting focused on salmon at the Cook Inletkeeper Community Action Studio in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
In search of salmon solutions

Cook Inletkeeper hosts meeting to develop community project to help salmon.

Lisa Gabriel, left, watches as beach seine nets are pulled from the waters of Cook Inlet at a test site for the gear near Kenai, Alaska, on Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
CFEC to consider seines for east side setnet fishery

The change is contingent on the State Board of Fisheries approving the gear during their March meeting.

A map of 2025 construction projects scheduled for the Kenai Peninsula. (Provided by Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities)
Department of Transportation announces construction plans

Most of the projects include work to various major highways.

Seward City Hall is seen under cloudy skies in Seward, Alaska, on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Seward adds full-time staffer for recently restarted teen rec room

Seward’s Parks and Recreation Department reclaimed responsibility for teen programming at the start of this year.

Gavin Ley stands with the “Go-Shopping Kart” he designed and built in his career and technical education courses at Nikiski Middle/High School in Nikiski, Alaska, on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Nikiski students learn professional skills through technical education

Career and technical education gives students opportunity to learn skills, express themselves creatively, work cooperatively and make decisions.

Nikiski teachers, students and parents applaud Nikiski Middle/High Principal Mike Crain as he’s recognized as the Alaska Association of Secondary School Principals 2025 Region III Principal of the Year by the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Board of Education during their meeting in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, Feb. 3, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Nikiski principal named Region III principal of the year

Crain has served as Nikiski’s principal for three years.

An 86 pound Kenai River king salmon is measured in Soldotna, Alaska, on June 29, 1995. (M. Scott Moon/Peninsula Clarion File)
Kenai River king salmon fishing closed entirely for 3rd year

Kenai River king salmon were designated a stock of management concern in 2023.

The Kenai Peninsula College Main Entrance on Aug. 18, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
University of Alaska Board of Regents to meet in Soldotna

The last time the board met on the Kenai Peninsula was April 2012.

Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education member Penny Vadla and student representative Emerson Kapp speak to the joint Alaska House and Senate education committees in Juneau, Alaska, on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (Screenshot courtesy Gavel Alaska/KTOO)
KPBSD among dozens of districts to deliver in-person testimony to Alaska Legislature

Districts spotlighted programs already lost over years of stagnant funding that hasn’t met inflationary pressure.

Most Read