Straight Man

William Henry Devereaux, Jr. is a reluctant chairman of the English department at a badly underfunded college in the Pennsylvania rust belt. Devereaux's reluctance is partly rooted in his character - he is a born anarchist - and partly in the fact that his department is more savagely divided than the Balkans. In the course of a single week, Devereaux will have his nose mangled by an angry colleague, imagine his wife is having an affair with his dean, and threaten to execute a goose on local television. All this while coming to terms with his philandering father, the dereliction of his own youthful promise and the ominous failure of certain bodily functions. STRAIGHT MAN is classic Russo - sidesplitting and true to life, witty and compassionate.