FILTHY LUCRE: A Burlesque Christmas Carol
Nasty Canasta
Jonny Porkpie
"In addition to Pinchbottom star Nasty Canasta as Scrooge, Jonny Porkpie as Marley, and Anita Cookie, Bastard Keith, Naughtia Nice, Scott Rayow, and Tigger!, the event will feature a rotating cast of guest stars that includes the best in New York City Burlesque, and 10+ award-winners from the Burlesque Hall of Fame, including three Miss Exotic World winners."
http://www.broadwayworld.com/columnpic/luridpulp-killporkpie.jpg
What makes this "unconventional" to me is that the Pinchbottom gang have taken a show that
people for a hundred plus years and turned it not so much on it's head, but more on its back(or
front) side. Everyone knows a Christmas Carol, and it's the same dull shit every god damned
year. These clowns have found a way to take this and make it where a regular guy such as
myself (who is really tired of christmas crap) and make me want to pay attention. Plus, it
makes for a more plausible in todays world... well, if you spend alot to time in titty bars that is.
“Dr. Tedrow’s Last Breath”
deep ellum ensemble
Aug. 4-Aug. 7, 2004
by Matthew Earnest
score by Joseph Trôski.
Utilizing an original score by deep ellum’s South African-born composer Joseph Trôski,and dances by Tina Fehlandt,... the ensemble weaves
together various elements in an arresting style that is at once ancient and utterly new. Live accompaniment is provided on everything from accordian and synthesizers to banjo and guitar. Dances range from a tragic lament danced by the Cuban weather officials whose repeated
warnings were ignored, to a frenetic hoedown for the inflated citizens of Bantam, to a stunning imagining of Mrs.Tedrow’s lifeless body drifting in the undertow.
http://deepellum.org/pdf/tedrow.pdf
I feel that this is unconventional due to the amalgamation of classic performance areas in the realm of theater, while dealing with recent (sort of) events. It has the feel of a greek tragedy, with a foot in our time (although set in 1900). If the playwright had just changed a few characters, and moved the setting a few hundred miles east this play could be a show about hurricane Katrina as told my Aristotle.
Gatz
Elevator Repair Service
Directer John Collins
Production Management B.D. White
Adapted from F. Scott Fitzgerald
Jan 7- 7 Feb 2010
"Gatz is a bold staging of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, verbatim and unabridged."
- Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
http://www.mcachicago.org/performances/perf_detail.php?id=370
Gatz is a experimental pice in my mind due to the fact that it is more than just a six hour pice. The ERS has taken a classic American novel, and brought it to life. They also break the modern "drive by theater" by staying true to the text, instead of cutting it down, and making it another three hour pice.
Fleet
David Harradine & Samantha Butler
The Making of Americans: The Silent Scream of Martha Hersland
Gertrude Stein Repertory Theater
Novel by Gertrude Stein
Playwright Leon Katz
http://www.gertstein.org/project1.html
I feel that this production is unconventional due to how it merges many different styles of theater together, and how it's technological aspect adds to it. Using live actors and using digital overlays on that actor, allows for more characters and also cuts down on the number of actual live actors on stage. Also the use of protectors allows for little to no set, and set changes. The set, and actors are as far as the directors imagination can go.
