Why Pinkypants?

If you've listened to our podcast, Namely, and if you have the patience to get through the end credits (which you should!) you have heard this sentence: "On behalf of everyone at Pinkypants Productions, thanks for listening. And name on!" (Okay, that was two sentences.)

Perhaps you've wondered, maybe even to the point of distraction and the tearing of hair, why is the production company called Pinkypants Productions?

The simplest answer is that Ryan suggested it. That only leads to the preceding question: Why did Ryan think of that name? As you might have guessed, there is a story behind it.

Ryan and I (Erich) met in the Reno theater community. We both love theater as writers, actors, singers, crew members, and (in Ryan's case) as a director. The first show we worked on together was called Death by Design by Rob Urbinati. Ryan directed that show and I worked as Assistant Stage Manager. And yet that show has nothing to do with the name Pinkypants.

Erich and Ryan fighting over a mostly empty beverage cup

It was the second show we worked on together that leads to the name. This was A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart. In that show we were both actors.

After the Sunday matinees, actors put their costumes in a bin to be laundered before the shows began in the next week. Part of Ryan's costume was a pair of nearly white shorts. We can call them off-white, or ecru, or eggshell. I'm not positive what nearly white it was, though apparently I think it begins with a vowel. Part of my costume was a red tunic. We'll just call this red.

I'm sure many of you have guessed where this is heading. Yes, somehow Ryan's nearly white shorts got placed in the same laundry load as my red tunic. So when we returned to the theater for our next show, Ryan discovered that his off-white shorts were now so off-white as to be pink.

Knowing exactly how to comfort a friend who finds himself in an unexpected situation, I immediately began referring to Ryan as Pinkypants. This continued for the remaining run of the show. Ryan took it in stride, and if he cried, it was only on the inside. (I'm very excited about all the rhyming in that last sentence.)

Clearly it didn't really bother Ryan too much. He's the one who suggested we use Pinkypants as the name of the production company. So there you have it, a little slice of Reno theater legend, and a name is born.

And this is Namely we're talking about. We're all about names!

Podcast on Podbean: https://namelypodcast.podbean.com/
Podcast on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/namely/id1633089880
Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3MGLmiA9Ulpu2p8umUU8AV
Podcast on Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkLnBvZGJlYW4uY29tL05hbWVseVBvZGNhc3QvZmVlZC54bWw
Podcast on Amazon: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/e150a7d9-eb42-4676-9e61-48ac5dcf4318/namely

Instagram and Twitter and Facebook: @namelypodcast

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