Epic Sets New Pop-Up Season

Epic Theatre Company is excited to announce a new second season that will run concurrently with its 2015-2016 Season. The company will present four shows between now and the end of 2016. What are those shows? We can't tell you.

We'll let the Artistic Director explain:

"Here's the idea," says the Epic's AD, Kevin Broccoli, "There were about four shows that we couldn't fit into this year's season. They're great shows, but I wasn't sure they could sustain a multi-week run with weeks and weeks of rehearsals. That's when the idea of doing a pop-up season came to me. We're always looking for event programming-shows and special projects that keep audiences on their toes. So I looked at these four shows, and thought-Why not give it a shot?"

Here's how it works:

There will be four productions between now and the end of the year. Directors and actors are being chosen now for the productions, and the actors will get to work learning their lines now. A week before the show, the director and cast for that show will be posted on Epic's Facebook page and website, but not the title of the show. Audiences can then reserve seats for the performance by e-mail. The day of the show, anyone with reservations will receive the location and time of the show. When the audiences show up, the house manager will make the traditional exits and cell phones speech, and then announce what the show is that the audience is about to see. The director and his or her cast will only have a week to put the show together. The show will be performed once and only once.

"There's this theory that audiences need months and months to find out about a show and then make plans to see it," says Broccoli, "I think that's no longer true. People make decisions at the last minute. In this age of social media, people only need a few hours to find out about something and spread the word--provided it's something that excites them. That excitement is key, and I think keeping the show mystery is a great way to create enthusiasm not just for these shows, but for what we're doing at Epic during the regular season as well. If the show goes over well, we might bring it back for a full run at the theater. If it's a disaster-Well, it's only one night."

Broccoli hints that the first show of the Pop-Up season might be arriving as soon as next month, but he says you have to sign up for Epic's e-mail list to find out.

"It's going to be a leap of faith for everyone-the artists and the audience. That's why we tell people to Buckle Up."

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