Reston's vibrant cultural scene: Nekkid people and barbershop quartets

Now there's a Google search term we'll be the #1 result for! All we know is that while we were busy paying attention to tree cullings and fancy new headquarters proposals, Reston's vibrant cultural scene has taken a turn for the... um, creepy.

When you think "indecent exposure" and "Reston," you usually think about 5:30 am strolls around South Reston. But last weekend, the Reston Players kicked off their month-long run of The Full Monty, in which your neighbors tromp around the stage at the Reston Community Center buck nekkid. But what of the children?

While the show’s calling card are its striptease numbers — and this production will feature full-frontal male nudity, according to director Sue Pinkman — the baring of bodies is merely a pretext for the characters’ baring their souls, she said.

Riiiight. I'm sure that's just what this guy said.

"There are so many levels to the comedy and so many levels to the message," she said. "It’s like, people really do need people. It’s about love in all different forms, sons and fathers, husbands and wives, it has a gay couple in it, it has an older man in it who isn’t ready to retire, so there’s all kinds of wonderful elements to it."

Frankly, we blame the Obama administration. And this guy, too:

Herndon native Evan Hoffmann stars as Jerry Lukowski, the de facto ringleader of the down-and-out workers. He said he’s embraced the challenges of the complete exposure the role demands.

"It’s exciting, it’s one of the main reasons that I was excited to do the show," he said. "I’ve certainly never been in a play where I was asked to take my clothes off. I look at it as a test of my own will — it’s a nice test of my comfort level with myself, if I’m able to do it.

Well, that's how they roll over in Herndon, we guess.

If you wanted a break from that unspeakable filth, there was an equally exciting live performance last weekend. We're sorry to say we missed the Annual International Preliminary Contest of The Barbershop Harmony Society, which is also known as "The Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America (SPEBSQSA), a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization," in case you're keeping score at home. This festive event took place this past weekend at the Hyatt Regency Reston in the Reston Town Center. As you may have guessed by your dog's incessant howling, 28 barbershop quartets from New York to North Carolina competed for the right to sing at this summer's 2009 International Convention in Anaheim, California. It must have been just like American Idol, only with barbershop quartets.

We're praying they kept their clothes on.