Bust at Cleveland Play House

Even if her name doesn’t ring a bell, you surely know comedic actress Lauren Weedman: either as a correspondent on The Daily Show, a white-trash were-panther on True Blood, the snow-globe collecting Horny Patty on Hung, or from Date Night with Tina Fey — among many other performances. But don’t come to see her this weekend at the Cleveland Play House looking for a laugh riot. Sure, Bust — Weedman’s 2007 one-woman play about life among the women prisoners of the L.A. County Jail — has its chuckles. But mainly “it’s intense,” says the actress who volunteered in the jail for nearly 18 months. “It’s not a very precious environment in there. But the play certainly includes all the things that I laughed about: mainly the fact that I was just so clueless! I really believe that everybody who worked there thought I was the dumbest white lady they had ever met in their life!” Weedman, who has authored several plays in addition to the award-winning Bust, will be in town for three performances this weekend as part of Cleveland Play House’s 10-day New Ground Theatre Festival. Curtain is 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, May 10 through 12. Ticket prices start at $25 by phone or online, where you’ll also find a complete festival lineup. As for Bust, Weedman has this warning. “This is pretty fast-paced stuff: You’ve got to come with all your synapses firing. If you’re used to using the theater for your naptime, you better watch out.”