[ad hoc theatre project] to Present OTHELLO, DESDEMONA, & IAGO WALK INTO A BAR, 9/8-9/23

Independent theatre non-company [ad hoc theatre project] re-ignites for the 2012 Philadelphia Fringe Festival with a devised piece built off the backbone of William Shakespeare's Othello, set in the back room of a local whiskey go-go bar. Othello, Desdemona, & Iago Walk Into A Bar runs September 8th-23rd every day at 6pm (weekdays during happy hour) at the Trestle Inn on 11th & Callowhill. Runtime is 60 minutes. Tickets are $15. Visit http://livearts-fringe.ticketleap.com/othello-desdemona--iago-walk-into-a-bar/#view=calendar for ticket information.

What happens when you mix Shakespeare, sex, dance, a whiskey go-go bar, & float a little philosophy? Witness the devised work of [ad hoc theatre project], a site-specific theatre non-company bent on building one project at a time. Mixed & poured by the ensemble, [ad hoc] shakes & serves up your ultimate identity crisis: you have a body that is not always your own; you have a soul that isn't always known. Add in an interpretation of Othello you've never seen before, garnish with fantasies of perfect dates & perfect murders, & find your one true love: you. Come for the body, stay for the booze, discover the soul.

Othello, Desdemona, & Iago Walk Into A Bar will be immersed in the back room of the Trestle Inn, a whiskey go-go bar on 11th & Callowhill in Center City, Philadelphia. Order happy hour food & drinks (Mon-Fri), watch & interact as we tell stories, take photos, dance, drink, flirt, fight, & find ourselves.

This Othello Project represents the second & most ambitious production to date of newly & briefly re-materialized [ad hoc theatre project], an independent theatre non-company decidedly against its own sustainability. Founded mostly because Samuel French does not lease rights for its plays to individuals, [ad hoc] exists simply as a momentary group of artists devoted to one specific goal: to produce the Othello Project. Modeled on organizations with built-in expiration dates such as the playwright-driven 13P, [ad hoc] is unconcerned with the survival of itself as an institution, instead giving singular focus to the play & artists at hand. As young professionals forging new paths in their careers, [ad hoc] behaves as a tool to drive artistic initiatives & an umbrella under which to grow experience without the responsibilities & realities of sustaining a company that may not be ready to be sustainable.

Featuring the visceral photography of Kate Raines (Plate 3 Photography), the choreography of Annie Wilson (Fatebook), the costume design of Meredith Boring, & an ensemble of writer/performers featuring two time Live Arts veteran Emily Letts (Fatebook, Whale Optics), Akeem Davis (Flashpoint, InterAct, National Constitution Center, & People's Light & Theatre Company), & Meredith Sonnen, Theatre Horizon's resident production manager & [ad hoc]'s Woman in their inaugural production, Ariel Dorfman's Purgatorio. Directed by [ad hoc] head Mark Kennedy, director of [ad hoc]'s Purgatorio & writer/performer of 2011 Fringe show Checkers.

To Kickstart the Othello Project, visit: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/971988280/othello-desdemona-and-iago-walk-into-a-bar. For more information on the philosophy behind the show, watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qE7SRvN0tdw. For a conversation with director Mark Kennedy about the project, visit the Fringe Festival blog: http://blog.livearts-fringe.org/2012/07/30/for-this-for-theater-a-conversation-with-mark-kennedy-2/.

Mark Kennedy (Director/Co-Writer/Producer) wrote, performed, and co-produced 2011 Fringe production Checkers, set in the sanctuary of the Fleisher Art Memorial. He is a graduate of Whitman College (in Walla Walla, WA), & recently trained with Pig Iron Theatre Company's Advanced Performance Training Summer Session. He has toured as assistant with Pig Iron, New Paradise Laboratories, and Elastic Theatre. He has directed for McCarter Theatre's education program and Philadelphia Dramatists Center at Plays & Players' Playwright Residency Showcase. He has assistant directed for 1812 Productions, the Arden, Pig Iron, Theatre Horizon, Azuka Theatre Co., Shakespeare in Clark Park, and has interned for Play Penn and the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey. He works on New Paradise Laboratories' web performance platform Frame, www.newparadiselaboratories.org. He is a graduate of the Arden Professional Apprentice program, Class 17.

Meredith Sonnen (Writer/Performer) is a graduate of Allegheny College and The National Theatre Institute. She is the resident Production Manager at Theatre Horizon, and a graduate of Arden Professional Apprentice, Class 17. She is a local carpenter and freelance production manager, and has worked with many theatre companies in town, recently with Team Sunshine Corporation, subcircle, & Azuka Theatre Co.

Emily Letts (Writer/Performer) is a graduate of Haverford College with a theatre degree from Swarthmore College, training under Quinn Bauriedel, the head of Pig Iron's APT program. She has studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art as well as Philadelphia's own Headlong Performance Institute. Previous Live Arts credits include Lucidity Suitcase International's Whale Optics & New Paradise Laboratories' Fatebook.

Akeem Davis (Writer/Performer) is a graduate of Florida State University and a proud man of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. Recent credits include Flashpoint Theatre Co.'s Slip/Shot, InterAct Theatre Co.'s Etched In Skin on a Sunlit Night, Shakespeare in Clark Park's Merry Wives of Windsor, Philadelphia Young Playwrights, & the National Constitution Center.

Annie Wilson (Choreographer) is a graduate of the University of the Arts, and a Philadelphia-based performer/creator as well as author, yoga instructor, bartender and crazy cat lady. She is a graduate magna cum laude of University of the Arts and Headlong Performance Institute and is a co-founder and former co-director of Pink Hair Affair. She writes for the online publication Thinking Dance and is Membership Coordinator at the Mascher Space Cooperative. Some artists that she has had the honor of working with recently include: Lucinda Childs, <fidget>, New Paradise Laboratories, Headlong Dance Theater, Nichole Canuso Dance Company, Applied Mechanics, and Curt Haworth. Her work as been presented by Mascher Space Cooperative, thirdbird, and <fidget>. Last year she studied improvisation in Amsterdam with Katie Duck with the generous help of the PA Council on the Arts. The blog she kept of her time there can be found at dancesterdam.wordpress.com. She is working on a new piece about cats.

Kate Raines (Photographer) is graduate of the University of the Arts & owns a photography company called Plate 3 Photography. Her photographic work has been published in Time Out New York, on the header of the Arts section of the Philadelphia Inquirer, on the cover of the arts section in The Philadelphia Tribune, in US Airways magazine, in City Paper and in Ritz Film Magazine.

Meredith Boring (Costume Designer) is a graduate of Arcadia University. She has worked as a crew member/costume builder for 1812, The Arden, PTC, Little Bunny VooDoo, & GDP Productions. Previously designed [ad hoc]'s Purgatorio.

 

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