Plays and Players with Local Artist Scott Rodrigue Present THE FEVER
By: BWW News Desk Mar. 30, 2017
Plays and Players Theater and Scott Rodrigue proudly present a new political re-staging of Wallace Shawn's The Fever. Written during the waning consumerism of the first Bush era, this work is poignantly relevant today. The production offers important insight into entitlement and co-existence at this crucial time when America's political landscape is in rapid and unsettling upheaval.
A privileged liberal artist awakens in the middle of the night afflicted by a growing awareness that the life he leads comes at a cost to others. Winner of the 1991 Obie Award for Best Play, this blistering monologue sets wry and quirky humor against searing self-scrutiny. What is the extent of our accountability to a world of widespread social injustice, vast disparity of wealth, and abhorrent foreign policy?
Performed by Scott Rodrigue, designed by Amanda Jensen, stage-managed by Alex Lewis, and communally-directed by mentors, and peers throughout Philadelphia and NYC, The Fever runs from April 12 to April 22, Wednesdays through Saturdays, 7:30pm at Plays and Players Theatre, in the Skinner Studio (third floor), located at 1714 Delancey Place in Rittenhouse, Philadelphia. Previews begin April 12 for an April 14 opening. Must Close April 22.
"Class-Conscious Ticketing" is currently available on OvationTix, 866-811-4111 or https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/970770. Tickets start at just $1 for each performance and increases as supply dwindles, (like megabus). For more info go to www.PlaysandPlayers.org or visit them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/events/276886579413264/.
Philadelphia local Scott Rodrigue is a theatre artist and psychophysical movement researcher. He teaches and facilitates performance research under the moniker Towards a Research Ensemble: www.facebook.com/TowardsARE/. He has spent the last decade extensively exploring the Total Action practices of Polish theatre icon Jerzy Grotowski (subject of another work by Shawn, My Dinner with Andre) This training encompassed a variety of lineages with artists such as Rena Mirecka, Mario Biagini, Linda Putnam, Erica Fae, Stephen Wangh and the faculty of Acrobatics of the Heart. He studied composition, viewpoints, and Suzuki over hundreds of studio hours with both Siti Company and Anne Bogart. While living in NYC, he was Co-Artistic Director of a small company AliveWire Theatrics, which held artistic residencies at Dixon Place, Space on White, and Cave home of Leimay. His theatre work has been presented as part of Jeffery Jones' Little Theatre at Dixon Place, Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre's Theatre Jam, Primary Stages' studios, La Mama ETC, PS122's former 9th St. Theatre, and Urban Stages' Play Preview Series.
The play's designer, Amanda Jensen, is a Philly local who has designed for Gunner Montana Productions (Wroughtland), Inis Nua (Radiant Vermin, Spine), The Ritz Theatre Co. (9 to 5), Unstuck Theatre (XY Scheherazade) , Azuka (Tigers Be Still), The Lantern (Screwtape Letters), and Swarthmore College (Revolt She Said, Revolt Again!, The Seagull, Mercury Fur, Dublin by Lamplight) . She has also assisted at 11th Hour, The Arden Theatre, Theatre Exile, The Wilma, Syracuse Stage, The Curtis Opera, PTC, Theatre Horizon, and New Paradise Laboratories. Amanda is part of the inaugural class of design residents at the Philadelphia Design Center. Her Next upcoming project is Fixed at Passage Theatre.
This production has partnered with Philly Socialists to offer two special evenings. The second preview, on April 13, will be Socialist Night, where 10% of ticket sales will go to benefit the Philly Socialists. The performance will be followed by a "Socialist Social" at Quig's Pub in the room adjacent to the theatre. Additionally, for closing night, April 22, all audience members may claim a complimentary ticket to Prommunism immediately following the performance. Prommunism is "a fancy dress fundraiser for the Philly Socialists." It will be held at R.U.B.A. Club Ballroom, 416 Green St, from 8pm to Midnight, Prommunism.BPT.Me
Originally this production was conceived in collaboration with Philadelphia actor Keith Conallen as an action of direct performer agency. Both Conallen and Rodrigue were to learn both parts of two separate one-man shows, both of which emphasized situation over fictional character, and where set in the actual environment where they would be performed. They would perform these two shows in rep, alternating roles to highlight difference in their relationship to the material while drawing on and learning from their common ground. These intentions of performer agency and personal engagement between text and audience live on as the heart of this production.
As a vehicle of performer agency, this production has no singular director, and no concept or even character has been placed between the audience and the performer's encounter with the text. Instead the work is communally directed by a rotating panel of artists, peers, and mentors who serve as outside-eyes, guides, and provocateurs during rehearsal.
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