Tribe of Fools is bringing the premiere of Heavy Metal Dance Fag to this year's Philly Fringe. The show is a satirical exploration of identity, sexuality, bullying and gender roles. Tribe of Fools puts their signature movement style and generous amounts of comic dancing into this story about South Philly dock worker Timmy Bagley, or T-Bag as his friends call him, who has a secret love of dancing - to 80's hair metal. The show runs September 2-11 at St. Stephen's Theatre, 10th and Ludlow Streets. Tickets cost $20. Tickets are available at the Philly Fringe Box Office and online at livearts-fringe.org.
The play is about identity. When Timmy reveals his love of dance to his friends, through a series of ridiculous dances and awkward interchanges, they react poorly and some even disown him. Ultimately, Timmy has to choose to define himself or be defined by the expectations and gender roles of the community he grew up in.
Timmy is portrayed by Tribe of Fools Artistic Director Terry Brennan, who is also directing the show. Janice Rowland is playing Viola, Timmy's highly insecure girlfriend.
Peter Smith is playing Vincenzo, Timmy's best friend. Tim Popp, is playing James, a mysterious person at Timmy encounters at the gym. Jess Conda appears as Rosalind, Timmy's masculine ex-girlfriend.
Colleen Hughes appears offstage as Mom, a reminder of Timmy's oppressive family environment.
Christopher Haig is the set and prop designer. Chris Frey is designing the lights. Natalia De La Torre is designing costumes and Kyle Yackoski is designing sound. Miranda Libkin is choreographing the show.
The inspiration for the show was personal to Tribe of Fools Artistic Director Terry Brennan. Brennan's main inspiration came from a moment at a South Philly Gym. He was lifting weights and listening to
Linkin Park. After finishing a heavy set during the crescendo of the song playing, Brennan popped off the bench and did a
Michael Jackson style spin and kick in a moment of excitement.
"When I saw what I looked like in the mirror I just started laughing. It was ridiculous. Then I noticed that most of the guys in the room staring at me," said Brennan. "They had a look on their faces that said, ‘That's inappropriate. We don't do that here.' I knew it was a bit ridiculous and perhaps over the top, but in no way was it terribly distracting to the other patrons or dangerous. But there was this really thick feeling in the room that I had broken some unwritten rules that were 1. guys don't do that - because that makes you homosexual - and homosexuality is wrong and 2. even if you are going to do that, keep it a secret - don't do it here. After that I started thinking a lot about "what if someone from that very machismo world believed that - but also desperately wanted to dance."
Using the thought as a jumping off point, Brennan set to create the piece. He chose 80's hair metal because he was a fan of the music growing up. He liked the comic potential he could mine from the juxtaposition of pop-style dancing to 80s hair metal. As he researched the genre, he discovered that despite the androgynous looks of the bands, fans and bands in that genre were incredibly hostile toward LGBT people.
In order to break down LGBT stereotypes, archaic gender roles, and the misconception that urban blue collar families and neighborhoods can't accept homosexuality, the company chose to look at them through a comic lens. Finish
Ed Brennan, "If you're trying to make a point and sound like you're preaching people stop listening. If you can get an audience to laugh, really laugh, their walls come down and they're much more likely to be really open to your ideas."
About Tribe of Fools
Tribe of Fools is a fledgling physical theatre company formed at The Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre and has been creating original work in Philadelphia since 2003. Tribe of Fools began in Germantown in 2003 and moved to South Philly in 2004. Tribe of Fools is Terry Brennan and Jay Wojnarowski. Tribe of Fools signature physical stylization has earned them the title of "stylish" and "a fascinating young physical theatre company with a bright future" from Philadelphia Weekly and "The Best Surprise of 2007" from The Philadelphia Metro. In eight years Tribe of Fools has created eight original pieces; "Bedlam!" "Echo," "Fool," "Heavy Metal Dance Fag parts 1 and 2," "The Slightly Brown Girl", "Echo 2007", "Armageddon at the Mushroom Village" which Phawker.com said "danced its way through bitterness and despair to and end that makes Pink Floyd's wall look like Steamboat Willie" and last year's sold out run of "Dracula". Tribe of Fools has also produced five cabarets, Valentine's SUCKS! Halloween ROCKS! GEEK FIGHT! and April Fools RULES 2009 and 2010 as well as "Bareknuckle Burlesque"!
About the Show
WHO: Tribe of Fools
WHAT: Heavy Metal Dance Fag
WHEN: September 2nd-6th and 8th-11th at 7:30 pm. Additional 9:30 shows on the 3rd, 5th, 7thand 9th.
For tickets go to www.livearts-fringe.org
Or call: 215-413-1318
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