Introduction
Since 1999, I have had the amazing opportunity of working in a specific performance niche: Dinner Theater. I started with the Funky Puppet Circus Supper, and then either performed in and/or organized the Funky Puppet Supper II through IV (all at CELLspace). In 2005 and 2006, I also worked with Circo Romani and CounterPULSE’s Feast of Fools and Friends as Stage Manager and consultant, and with Teatro ZinZanni as a Box Office Rep (got to see the show about times and hang out backstage a bit).
So I wasn’t too surprised when the Shotgun Players approached me to be their stage manager for a dinner theater fundraiser they had planned in April of this year. Unfortunately, I was in Vermont at the time training for my Sensible Priorities carnival games gig. I still wanted to help out, so I offered to give them advice on how to throw a DIY, low/no-budget, dinner theater event. They were pleased with the offer, so I took a few days to write out everything I could think of that goes into producing dinner theater.
Now, CounterPULSE is about to have their second Feast of Fools fundraiser. I’m still on their em list, so felt that the time was ripe for taking a fresh look at the brainstorm I sent to Shotgun. I wanted to post this anyway, because I think that this is a powerful framework to use to make amazing, multidimensional performance art. I have so many great memories of these productions, and have always felt blessed to be part of the cast and crew of these events. Usually put together with glue and string, and a big pot of stone soup, these events bring together a group of people who do what they do for the love of it. So much work needs to go into a DIY dinner theater production, so a lot of love and dedication makes it happen.
Hopefully, someone reading this might attempt to throw their own dinner theater show. If you have any questions beyond this essay, please feel free to contact me.
Note: The shows I have worked with are referenced throughout this text as examples of how to, and not to, create your own dinner theater show: Puppet Supper, Teatro ZinZanni, Circo Romani, and Feast of Fools
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Part I
As told tonight by Freud, Jung, and Couch, whilst posing within the consumer appliances of the mind.
Transcribed, in good standing, from the Latin, by Brother Marcus Antonius Corticus, BFA, VDW, etc.
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I keep an open mind about new ideas, so don’t mind experiencing situations where my values are questioned. This job provides these experiences daily. Today, in Waukee, IA (a Republican suburban town just outside Des Moines), I set up my Wheel of Fortune at their Fall Fair. My first players, from Des Moines, loved our message and even signed up. Throughout the afternoon, three different families walked away from the game while I was in mid-sentence. The word “Pentagon” clicked the ignorance gene in their minds. Or maybe their reality blinders lowered from their halos.
I want to talk to these folks, and see why they don’t agree. When I do speak with them, I get into arguments where we just talk in circles. Or we fall into illogic where their comments just don’t make sense:
“The whole budget [pie chart] should be the pentagon!”
“Even if they’re wasting our money?”
“Who cares. They know what’s best for our freedoms!”
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Numbers represent powerful images for humans. Seven means good luck in some cultures, the number of God in others. Thirteen looms negative for many people while others attempt to connect this number to earth-based origins. In the Hebrew language, letters are also numbers, creating amazing possibilities and combinations to consider.
The numbers 911 will always stand for the horrors of that day in 2001 when the towers fell and two other jets crashed. What used to be the number to call for an emergency has now become a symbol of an image that most of the world watched through two letters - TV. 2,973 also has a new meaning for most American citizens: the number of people who died on 911 due to the jet-bombs that changed the world.
Now five years later, the letters TV once again show the images over and over for us to relive the moment and the grief that ensued. Radio covers the spectacle via news, music, and the ever present sound bites that we all easily swallow. Like a wound that never healed, we will not forget the day, and the Spectacle will not let us.
So many angles cover this day, so I won’t bother giving my story and $0.02 worth.
I keep asking myself “how am I supposed to feel” after five years of a postmodern, post-911 paradigm? Grief comes in stages and moves through each of us in different ways, so I can’t buy into the flag-waving, scab-pulling images and sounds that try to tell me what to feel about that day. I like dealing with my grief in small, personal ways, and in private or with friends.
Back to numbers. Since these symbols (Indian in origin and relayed to Europeans by Arabs in Baghdad) hold so much weight, I thought I’d spend this powerful date on our calendar reflecting on other numerical combinations.
- Native Americans killed by European Americans: ~39,000,000
- World War I deaths: 22,000,000
- Deaths in USSR during Stalin regime: 13,000,000
- Deaths due to German Nazi government: 12,000,000 (source, ibid)
- Deaths in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia during US Vietnam War (1960-1975): 2,000,000 (source, ibid)
- Iraqi deaths due to 1990 UN embargo: ~1,000,000
- Filipinos killed by US Military (1898-1910): 600,000
- Deaths in Darfur, Sudan (2003-present): ~400,000
- Japanese deaths from US atomic bombs: ~210,000
- US Civil War deaths: 191,963
- Iraqi deaths since Operation Iraqi Freedom: ~41,650
I only took a few photos that weren’t stencils. Since I brought my digital camera along this year, I thought I’d actually show you all a few other creations that graced the playa.
A huge peace sign rises out of the playa, but no peace for us this week. I didn’t see a lot of obvious politically-themed art at Burning Man in 2002, so was glad to see at least a dozen pieces overtly speaking to the times in 2006.
When I arrived to BRC on Monday, everyone buzzed about the “Belgian Waffle.” By the end of the week, the artist had protested the nickname in the playa papers (yes, there are papers printed at BRC), so all PC citizens corrected their language to speak about the mighty Uchronia, a message from the future. I missed watching this amazing structure burn, but saw the video on it’s web site. Rumor told that the artists wanted specially-sized pieces of wood, and thought that they’d lose their order in customs. So they bought a second order of wood and ended up with a huge pile that went unused. Critics tagged this structure as wasted “dead trees” and word was out that it shouldn’t be burned. No matter, with the Temple being small and unimpressive, the Waffle stunned the population throughout the week with DJs, light shows, and huge shadows thrown across this alien architecture.
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Still decompressing from being at Black Rock City, and briefly visiting San Francisco. Woke up this morning and mentally screamed, “I’m in Iowa!” A bit disjointed from being ripped out of the hyperreality of BRC and not staying home in SF. Where is Iowa anyway?
A busy weekend starts tomorrow with the carnival games opening up for a whirlwind Jim Hightower tour. Then off to do two music festivals on Sat. Yep, that’s six gigs in three days.
Will post more on Burning Man later. For now enjoy this Stencil Archive I posted showing over 70 pics of 2006 stencil art on the playa. The DPW had their own graff wall going, a two-story structure out near the Man had walls representing, and the base of the Man himself got hit up by a few crafty taggers. I also ran into my old friend Chris Benfield working his stencil booth at Ill Ville.
“I have an international stencil web site, so will post your stencils there,” I told the unknown person behind a mask.
“I know,” Chris said, taking the mask off for a cheerful reunion, hello, and tagged T-Shirt!
Create Your Own Dinner Theater Show
Happy Constitution Day from Clinton, IA!
