Stage Door News
Stage Door News
The winners of FringeNYC Outstanding Solo Show and United Solo Festival’s Best Multimedia Performance bring their hit show TENDERPITS and its rap-horror sequel REVENGE OF THE POPINJAY to Videofag Sept 12-15. Co-created by performer Anthony Johnston with director Nathan Schwartz, TENDERPITS has become a cult hit on both sides of the Atlantic and is now making its Canadian debut. This limited engagement in Toronto will also mark the first time the two shows are presented together as the first two installments of The Tenderpits Trilogy.
TENDERPITS tells the story of a young gay wizard's journey from the wilderness of Canada to New York City, where he buys a gun, crashes a Broadway production of Three Sisters, befriends an illegal Mexican immigrant and goes on a psycho-sexual rampage – all while dealing with the sudden death of his sister.
In REVENGE OF THE POPINJAY, someone is killing the heterosexuals! As dozens of slayings engulf the city in panic, a young man rises to fame in underground rap clubs. WARNING: Adult content, extreme violence, and graphic heterophobia.
Inspired by real events from Johnston's life – his upbringing in rural Canada, his obsession with videogames, his immigration to NYC, the deaths of his sister and grandmother – the shows combine traditional storytelling, physical theatre, performance art, multi-media and stand-up comedy to create a unique genre-bending interactive experience. They use true events as a springboard to explore the mythologies and realities of immigration, class hypocrisy, xenophobia, and the American dream.
The show began as an exploration of the power of positive thinking, but took a darker turn when Johnston’s sister and grandmother both passed away during the first run of Tenderpits, which was cancelled so he could grieve with his family.
“It’s really an exploration of how one can reconcile beliefs in something like ‘the power of positive thinking’ with real hardships like immigration, loss of identity, and death,” Johnston says. “What's interesting about the show is that it moves so quickly between over-the-top raunchy/silly comedy to almost uncomfortably honest and personal revelations. Tenderpits has people laughing and laughing and then suddenly they're moved in a way that is completely surprising.”
The show is presented by AnimalParts Theatre Company, Anthony Johnston and Nathan Schwartz’s genre-destroying bi-national (US/Canada), bisexual (gay/straight) performance company dedicated to creating unique and vibrant new work rooted in humour, heart, and innovation. Johnston and Schwartz have been working together and independently in theatre for fifteen years. In January 2014, their show A Quiet Sip of Coffee will make its Canadian debut at Centaur Theatre's WildSide Festival in Montreal.
“★★★★ charmingly creative, sharply sensitive and risky” -- The Times of London
“Hilarious and harrowing avant-garde autobiography” -- Flavorpill NYC
“Dizzyingly surreal [and] dynamic” -- Advocate Magazine
WHAT: AnimalParts & Videofag present the tenderpits trilogy: parts 1+2 -
Tenderpits & Revenge of the Popinjay
WHO: Written and performed by Anthony Johnston // co-created and
directed by Nathan Schwartz
WHERE: Videofag (187 Augusta Ave)
WHEN: Sept 12-15; 8pm (120min, with 10min intermission)
TICKETS: $18 available at the door
MORE INFO: animalparts.org | facebook: @AnimalParts |
twitter: @animalpartsnyc
Photo: Anthony Johnston. ©2013 AnimalParts.
2013-08-22
Toronto: New York and Edinburgh hit “Tenderpits” comes to Toronto September 12-15