Brick Theater Hosts Democracy Festival, 6/1-7/1
By: Harmony Wheeler Apr. 05, 2012
The Brick is extending its annual Summer Theme Festival Series with DEMOCRACY, a summer theater festival of the people, by the people, and for the people.
Throughout the month of June, 8 candidates will campaign against each other through a series of Public Appearances (i.e., performances) for the title of President of The Brick. The elected official will be given reign over The Brick for two weeks during January 2013, and will be in charge of curating all programming during this time period. The Presidential election will be held live at The Brick (575 Metropolitan Ave | Brooklyn NY) on Sunday, July 1. All voters must cast their ballot in person.
Meet Your Candidates:
Blue Coyote Theater Group presents
Confess Your Bubble
Written by Matthew Freeman, directed by Kyle Ancowitz, starring Steve Burns
Due to a plea bargain, Senator Carl Corpuscle, a Democratic Senator from the Great State of Washington (not D.C.) is delivering a speech about his life and views on the government to students at a local high school. Attendance is not mandatory, and only students over 17 may attend. Senator Corpuscle talks about his role in the Democratic Administration, delivers a civics lesson, and offers dire warnings – with slides to illustrate his points.
Caravel 18 presents
Dogs of Oklahoma
Written by Eric John Meyer, directed by Luke Harlan
A young man returns from war to find his family gone. Down the road, a woman kicks her husband out for continuing to rob banks. When the young ex-soldier introduces the robber’s family to a new invention called the tommy gun, will the new technology make everything right, or will it drag America into a world of chaos and danger? This show is the first episode of a multi-part serial performed in the style of an old-fashioned radio show.Piper McKenzie presents
The Hall of Virtual Presidents
Written and directed by Jeff Lewonczyk
It’s one of the most popular tourist attractions of the future: a live holographic stage show featuring representations of the 50th through 80th Presidents of the United States of America (and Related Properties). It’s as if they’re really right there in the room with you – everyone from Lushious Hollywood, our first stripper president, all the way to the beloved cloud of sentient chlorine gas known to 23rd-century voters as Kllhhlhllhllhhhha. In a quaint format hearkening back to the animatronic displays of bygone times, The Hall of Virtual Presidents brings the unexpected twists and turns of the long, long history of American democracy to vivid life, with all 30 late-period presidents appearing simultaneously before your very eyes!
Lamb Lays With Lion presents
Ignorance (Part 2 of the American Trilogy)
Written and directed by Jeremey Catterton
Ignorance is an original performance with music and choreography that peers at the U.S. education system, our public’s education level, as well as the avalanching frequency of Americans defaulting on exorbitant student loans.Tux & Tom Productions presents
The Moose That Roared
Written by Chris Chappell, Justin R.G. Holcomb, Richard Lovejoy and Alexis Sottile Directed by Patrice Miller
On October 10, 1912, Theodore Roosevelt was shot in the chest by a crazed gunman before a campaign speech in Milwaukee. Refusing medical attention, he went on to speak for over an hour before finally agreeing to go to the hospital. The Moose that Roared is a bombastic reimagining of TR's quixotic third-party bid for the presidency on the Bull Moose ticket in 1912. Using puppetry, musical interludes, found text, and Shakespeare, this is an irreverent celebration of the myth of the Bull Moose and the rebel spirit in American politics. The Brick Theater, Inc. presents
No Second Acts: A Collection of Short American Lives
Written by Gyda Arber, James Comtois, Justin Maxwell, Trav S.D., Alexis Sottile, Stephanie Swirsky and Art Wallace
F. Scott Fitzgerald said that “There are no second acts in American lives,” and The Brick sets out to prove him right with this collection of one-act plays by several of our playwright cronies. Taking on themes of U.S. history, politics and culture, these little nuggets of Americana take full advantage of our constitutional right to free speech in their wild, varied and often uncouth takes on our national experience.Resonance Ensemble & Core Creative Productions present
RINO
Written by Zack Calhoon, directed by Alberto Bonilla
When Senator Henry Harrison clinches the Republican presidential nomination, the tabloids threaten to scuttle his campaign by broadcasting incriminating footage of his party-girl daughter Halley. As Halley tries to change her ways, both her father’s campaign staff and the GOP at large wage a civil war for the identity and soul of the party’s future, hijacking his campaign just a few days shy of the Convention. An original comedy inspired by Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part One. Roger Nasser Is the One-Man Ten-Minute History of American Theater
Created and performed by Roger Nasser, directed by Melissa Roth
Actor Roger Nasser takes the audience on a tour through the American experience by way of modern American theater. The evening consists of 10-minute parody performances of Our Town, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Crucible, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and one of the greatest American musicals, in which all of the characters are portrayed by Roger Nasser. Who has time for all those full-length plays? Relive all of the most important moments of the American stage in one short hour—with live music!
Confess Your Bubble
Written by Matthew Freeman, directed by Kyle Ancowitz, starring Steve Burns
Due to a plea bargain, Senator Carl Corpuscle, a Democratic Senator from the Great State of Washington (not D.C.) is delivering a speech about his life and views on the government to students at a local high school. Attendance is not mandatory, and only students over 17 may attend. Senator Corpuscle talks about his role in the Democratic Administration, delivers a civics lesson, and offers dire warnings – with slides to illustrate his points.
Dogs of Oklahoma
Written by Eric John Meyer, directed by Luke Harlan
A young man returns from war to find his family gone. Down the road, a woman kicks her husband out for continuing to rob banks. When the young ex-soldier introduces the robber’s family to a new invention called the tommy gun, will the new technology make everything right, or will it drag America into a world of chaos and danger? This show is the first episode of a multi-part serial performed in the style of an old-fashioned radio show.Piper McKenzie presents
The Hall of Virtual Presidents
Written and directed by Jeff Lewonczyk
It’s one of the most popular tourist attractions of the future: a live holographic stage show featuring representations of the 50th through 80th Presidents of the United States of America (and Related Properties). It’s as if they’re really right there in the room with you – everyone from Lushious Hollywood, our first stripper president, all the way to the beloved cloud of sentient chlorine gas known to 23rd-century voters as Kllhhlhllhllhhhha. In a quaint format hearkening back to the animatronic displays of bygone times, The Hall of Virtual Presidents brings the unexpected twists and turns of the long, long history of American democracy to vivid life, with all 30 late-period presidents appearing simultaneously before your very eyes!
Ignorance (Part 2 of the American Trilogy)
Written and directed by Jeremey Catterton
Ignorance is an original performance with music and choreography that peers at the U.S. education system, our public’s education level, as well as the avalanching frequency of Americans defaulting on exorbitant student loans.Tux & Tom Productions presents
The Moose That Roared
Written by Chris Chappell, Justin R.G. Holcomb, Richard Lovejoy and Alexis Sottile Directed by Patrice Miller
On October 10, 1912, Theodore Roosevelt was shot in the chest by a crazed gunman before a campaign speech in Milwaukee. Refusing medical attention, he went on to speak for over an hour before finally agreeing to go to the hospital. The Moose that Roared is a bombastic reimagining of TR's quixotic third-party bid for the presidency on the Bull Moose ticket in 1912. Using puppetry, musical interludes, found text, and Shakespeare, this is an irreverent celebration of the myth of the Bull Moose and the rebel spirit in American politics. The Brick Theater, Inc. presents
No Second Acts: A Collection of Short American Lives
Written by Gyda Arber, James Comtois, Justin Maxwell, Trav S.D., Alexis Sottile, Stephanie Swirsky and Art Wallace
F. Scott Fitzgerald said that “There are no second acts in American lives,” and The Brick sets out to prove him right with this collection of one-act plays by several of our playwright cronies. Taking on themes of U.S. history, politics and culture, these little nuggets of Americana take full advantage of our constitutional right to free speech in their wild, varied and often uncouth takes on our national experience.Resonance Ensemble & Core Creative Productions present
RINO
Written by Zack Calhoon, directed by Alberto Bonilla
When Senator Henry Harrison clinches the Republican presidential nomination, the tabloids threaten to scuttle his campaign by broadcasting incriminating footage of his party-girl daughter Halley. As Halley tries to change her ways, both her father’s campaign staff and the GOP at large wage a civil war for the identity and soul of the party’s future, hijacking his campaign just a few days shy of the Convention. An original comedy inspired by Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part One. Roger Nasser Is the One-Man Ten-Minute History of American Theater
Created and performed by Roger Nasser, directed by Melissa Roth
Actor Roger Nasser takes the audience on a tour through the American experience by way of modern American theater. The evening consists of 10-minute parody performances of Our Town, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Crucible, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and one of the greatest American musicals, in which all of the characters are portrayed by Roger Nasser. Who has time for all those full-length plays? Relive all of the most important moments of the American stage in one short hour—with live music!
Visit www.bricktheater.com for more information.
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