If there’s one thing everybody does, it’s poop. Most people find the subject taboo, but Danielle McGeough, communication studies doctoral student, thought it was important enough to devote a production to it.”Poop is the very essence of being human,” McGeough said.She is the director of the production “Crap Happens,” which will debut Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in the Hopkins Black Box Theatre in Coates Hall on campus. McGeough was inspired to write the show after reading David Praeger’s 2007 book, “Poop Culture: How America is Shaped by its Grossest National Product,” which attempts to intellectualize excrement.Praeger runs a Web site called poopreport.com, which featured an academic article called “The Toilet Paper Burke, Bakhtin and the Rhetoric of Poop” by A. Rotando. The article outlined “The Twelve Meanings of Poop,” which serves as the framework for the production.Each scene is based on a rule, from “poop represents the mundane” to “poop represents intimacy.” For example, for the intimacy scene, a couple owns a two-person toilet and their ability to stand the smell of each other’s excrement represents the closeness of their bond with each other.”Crap Happens” is a collaboration between McGeough and eight University students. She said she started with 30 to 40 percent of the show written and a handful of ideas, and the students’ input helped shape the content of the scenes. “We actually got to participate in creating some of the content, which was fun,” said Mark Larson, communication studies junior.Larson said the show is similar to sketch comedy, with some of the scenes including song and dance numbers. He said the cast particularly enjoyed taking popular songs and changing the lyrics to suit the nature of the production.From “Where has all the T.P. gone” to “Flush a little bit of your bowl for me,” Larson and the show’s guitarist Ryan Thibodeaux, communication studies senior, have been promoting the show in Free Speech Alley by performing songs from the show and other parodies. Most of the performers are or have been students in McGeough’s communication studies performance class. One such student is Bradley Bertoniere, business management junior. He said he has no performance background other than the class and is participating for the fun of it.While the show’s silly side is more than obvious, there is also a serious side. Between poking fun at bathroom habits and dancing, some of the scenes also provide social commentary. “We consider our bathroom habits an unremarkable part of an unremarkable day,” McGeough said. “And yet, the rules that guide how, when and where one goes to the restroom can reveal a lot about contemporary society.”McGeough said she first became interested in the subject when her younger sister began to have health issues with her bowels. After thoroughly researching the subject, McGeough said she became interested in the theories of the body and environmental issues related to waste management. “You don’t have to sit on a toilet to poop,” she said. “We’re putting feces into drinkable water when there’s countries with water shortages.”McGeough said the show is funny but also thought-provoking. As uncomfortable as the subject is, she also said the show is not intended to disgust its audience.”There’s nothing too gross about it,” McGeough said. “Especially visually, it’s more about the language so terms like brown serpent and mud monkey might gross some people out.”Larson said the audience should expect to laugh and learn, “the two L’s.””If you like to laugh or produce any kind of bodily waste, you cannot afford to miss this show,” he said.”Crap Happens” will run from Nov. 11 to Nov. 14 with 7:30 p.m. performances and a 2:00 p.m. matinee Nov 16.- – – -Contact Lauren Walck at [email protected]