Things get wild and crazy when six Americans held hostage by a band of Sudanese terrorists are reunited in New York for a 60 Minutes-style TV newsmagazine feature in The Feel Good Story America Needs Right Now, Mark Wilding’s latest World Premiere adventure in comedic mayhem at Theatre West.

It’s been a year since Brad, Felicity, Gerald, Jenna, Marjorie, and Mitch made their daring getaway from “the most notorious group of terrorists on the planet,” an anniversary about to be celebrated on Dispatches, aka “the most popular news magazine in the world,” as the ultimate feel good story, or so hard-edged, imperious Dispatches producer Leslie Finch (Jill Remez, taking no prisoners) explains to her meek-and-mild assistant Taylor (Danielle Weeks, deliciously cowed) while blowing cigarette smoke in her face and insisting that Taylor hand over her not-yet-empty takeout coffee cup to use as an ashtray.

And what an eclectic group of Americans these ex-hostages are.

There’s middle-aged Midwestern part-time missionary couple Mitch Dombrowski (John Combs, harumphing to perfection) and his wife Marjorie (Clara Rodriguez, delightfully dithery), the latter of whose “night terrors, crippling flashbacks, and lack of pleasure in any activity” are a clear sign of PTSD regardless of a figure-flattering 20 pound weight loss while in captivity.

Voluptuous bubblehead Jenna (Bella Balsamo, a deliciously ditzy dish), too, had no idea when her wealthy parents bought her a first class ticket to Africa to take photos of “monkeys eating bananas and screwing other monkeys” that she’d end up being held hostage by a trio of Sudanese terrorists nicknamed Minty, Hitchcock, and Nubby.

Equally clueless upon her departure for Africa was kleptomania-prone dermatologist Felicity Davenport, MD (Samantha Gregory, giving brains an entertainingly bad name), who had no idea when she signed up for Doctors Without Borders that she’d be living in a mud hut in the middle of nowhere.

Tenured professor Gerald Potts (Steve Nevil, stuffy perfection) had probably the best reason for traveling to Sudan, but how much did his position as North African Studies Chair at Columbia matter after being taken captive, especially given that he can’t even order a cup of coffee in Arabic.

Completing the group of returned hostages is journalist Brad Fowler (Casey Alcoser, in scruffy, sexy sleazeball mode), whose about-to-be-published “Run to Daylight” has already been optioned by Paramount, and so what if he got some of his facts wrong considering that none of his fellow captives has even taken the time to read it.

Well, at least, not until today, when the discovery of just how much Brad has played fast and loose with the truth has his fellow hostages in a tailspin, and if the so-called journalist won’t correct these inaccuracies voluntarily, then Felicity, Gerald, Jenna, Marjorie, and Mitch will have to take what they learned from Minty, Hitchcock, and Nubby and get those rewrites written by hook or by crook.

Like Mark Wilding’s previous Theatre West hits (the laughter-and-suspense-packed Our Man In Santiago and the wild-and-wacky, expectations-subverting The Goddamn Couple Down the Hall (Oh… and Merry Christmas)), The Feel Good Story America Needs Right Now combines multicam sitcom-worthy laughs with kooky characters, absurd situations taken entirely seriously, and plenty of unexpected twists to boot.

It helps enormously that Charlie Mount is back to direct Wilding gem #3, and that Theatre West has assembled a pitch-perfectly cast ensemble (completed by Paul Gunning, nailing his role as Mike Wallace-style news magazine anchor Bill Chandler) who deliver the comedic goods each and every one, with special snaps to Alcoser for making me laugh harder than I’ve laughed in a long time thanks to a bit of unfortunate offstage waterboarding.

Thumbs up too to Jeff G. Rack’s stylish luxury hotel suite set, expertly lit by Malcolm Wilson, with Mount’s sound design mix of effects and mood-setting music and some just-right costumes (designer uncredited) completing a nifty production design mix.

The Feel Good Story America Needs Right Now is produced by Garry Kluger. Sarah Acuna is stage manager and David Baer is assistant stage manager. Philip Sokoloff is publicist.

If ever there was a time that America needed a feel good story, that time is  probably now. No wonder then that The Feel Good Story America Needs Right Now turns out to be precisely what the laugh doctor ordered.

Theatre West, 3333 Cahuenga Blvd. West, Los Angeles. Through November 8. Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00. Sundays at 3:00.
www.theatrewest.org

–Steven Stanley
October 2, 2026
Photos: Charlie Mount

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Tags: Los Angeles Theater Review, Mark Wilding, Theatre West