Fringe News
Fringe News
Toronto and SummerWorks newcomers The Shaker
Secessionists hope to make a splash at this year’s festival
with their frenetic and kinetic debut, THIS PLAY WINS.
The piece uses Aristophanes’ ancient comic masterpiece
“The Clouds” as a firing ground for discussion on the
authority of contemporary entertainment over its
audience. The audience votes upon the value of each
scene as it is performed, and scenes with the most
negative response will be tentatively cut from the show
for the next performance. As the piece progresses, the
audience will gain more and more opportunities to
express exactly the kind of show they want to be seeing,
slowly gaining control of the entertainment space.
THIS PLAY WINS behaves as a “focus group” in which The Group, the magnificent team of Performance Experts who execute the scenes, is working
to achieve the ultimate entertainment product and “win SummerWorks”.
Feedback comes in the form of voting cards given at the beginning of each
show, live tweeting, and asking specific questions of the audience. The scenes
that The Group performs are high-energy, off-kilter collisions of The Clouds
with the accessible aesthetics of contemporary entertainment (think Sitcom,
Action Movie, Reality Show). Eventually, the audience will have immense
control over the show and the performance space, allowing the audience to
achieve exactly the experience they want under the auspices of a branded art
piece. They will be encouraged to explore the origins and constructions of
their own taste, in relation to a present artistic authority.
The work is risky, athletic, heavily improvised, and dependent on the given
disposition and tastes of its live audience.
THIS PLAY WINS was collectively created by the current company and had a
work-in-progress showing at Geary Lane, TO in March 2015. This is the piece’s
second public performance. The piece is still under development, though we
consider all our performances as finalized, full-fledged events. The Shaker
Secessionists hope to be able to continue engagement of THIS PLAY WINS
with audiences.
*NOTE: The performance on Wednesday August 12th will feature a surprise
“Karaoke Headliner” who will replace Roberto Ercoli for the evening in a feat of
performance prowess. This headliner will perform Roberto’s role using live
audio + video instructions. The piece will differ from the original! Please come
expecting a wild and unstable performance experiment.
The Shaker Secessionists +
SummerWorks Performance Festival present
THIS PLAY WINS
Aug. 7-15, 2015
An investigative performance offering a way out from the
entertainment machine.
Directed by JP Faienza
Created + Performed by The Shaker Secessionists
featuring
Will Ellis, Roberto Ercoli, Mallory Morgan, Sarah Harwood
Showtimes:
Friday 8/7 5:00pm
Saturday 8/8 12:15pm
Sunday 8/9 5:00pm
Monday 8/10 7:30pm
Tuesday 8/11 5:00pm
Wednesday 8/12 7:15pm*
Thursday 8/13 10:15pm
Saturday 8/15 10:15pm
Tickets and more info at:
http://summerworks.ca/2015/artists/this-play-wins/
https://www.facebook.com/events/955561901166895/
@secessionists #thisplaywins
The Theatre Centre BMO Incubator for Live Arts
1115 Queen Street West, Toronto
Photo: Rong Fu as the Marquise. ©2015 Alejandro Santiago.
2015-07-24
SummerWorks: This Play Wins