OUTSIDE THE BOX

1. HERE

Miracle of Christmas (will show this Nov. 11- Dec. 31, 2011, but has been in their repertoire in past years)  Sights and Sound Theatre, Lancaster, Pensylvania.

Known as "The largest faith-based live theatre in America,"  Sights and Sounds Theatre produced Miracle of Christmas using live, trained animals during their production.  This theatre focuses on taking stories from the bible and turns them into these beautifully sung musicals.  The stage wraps from each side 300 feet and every inch of the stage is used during this production including angels coming from the high ceilings and horses gallopping through the aisles of the audience.  I was able to see Miracle of Christmas, and with the live animals literally acting onstage as well, this show stuck out to me as unconventional and one of the best productions I have ever seen. (the photo above depicts the pregnant Virgin Mary and Joseph on a donkey)

2. HERE

 Faust ( August 15-19, 2007), Petriny Park in Prague.

This particular production of Faust struck me as unconventional in a number of ways. The actors in the consist of professional actors along with people who are currently homeless or have been homeless. This is not some kind of non-profit outreach program funded by the government, but simply artists focused on bringing together different worlds for the sake of theatre. The group wrote their own script for the legend of Faust, tapping into their earliest memories of hearing the story to guide their specific scripting. The play was performed in an abandoned reserviore using various media including video-clips, projections and a live indie-rock band.

3. HERE

 Lambda Project: The End ( March 18-20, 2011) Bread and Water Theatre, Rochester, New York.

I found this particular production to be interesting because this theatre, created the Rainbow Festival which occurs March through May, in which they only put on productions that specifically focuses on the GLBTIQ community.  This particular production Lambda Project: The End is a series of monologues that have been collected over the past eight years telling the st ories of the GLBTIQ community.  Similar concept I would say to the Vagina Monologues. 

4. HERE

Oedipus El Rey by Luis Alfaro (February 7th-March 6th, 2011) Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in South Los Angeles California.


   Oedipus El Rey is a Chicano adaptation of the Greek tragedy of Oedipus.  Luis Alfaro wanted to incorporate the culture of south central LA by incorporating spanish into the play.  The play is primarily in English, however throughout the play you get a little bit of Spanglish throughout to reiterate where Alfaro has set the play.  I thought this was really cool, especially for the spanish culture who typically do not know much about the story of Oedipus, this adaptation would shed some light to them.




5. HERE

Doig! The musical with no singing, no dancing, and very little music (September 1-19, 2009) Tabard Theatre. London, England.

I was initially drawn to this production simply because the set was made of trash bags, however, after I looked it up, it fit in the category of 'unconventional theatre' in more ways than one.  For one, the premise of the show consists of "...an antidote to the madness that has encapsulated the economic world summed up and packaged in a post modern, anti-consumerist, neo-absurdest, non-musical."  Also, every Monday of this performance, the theatre would pick a lucky winner from the audience to take home all of the theatre earning from that night.

6.HERE  

  The Porcelain Project (February 2007) NeedCompany. Brussels, Belgium.

  The Needcompany is known for doing avant garde, experimental theatre, and The Porcelain Project is no exception.  Submitted in the Spill festival which is a festival for unique and experimental pieces of theatre, The Porcelain Project has abstract pieces of porcelain all over the stage in which the actors manipulate and use to turn them into other things through out the show. Everything about this show is appealing to the eye, from the interesting costumes of these big, shapely skirts the actors war, to the partial face-masks made of porcelain the actors wear, to the beautiful dancing that is used to tell the story, I find this production to be extremely unconventional and unique.

7. HERE

Command Performance ( tour throughout 2010) Caravan Stage Company

"Command Performance is about choice...choice over the future...the future of our individual lives, and the future of the human species. The play asks what is going to be the guiding principle in our moral states, in our social relations...is it our own choice or is it a process of genetic selection to a standardized "ideal" of human biology and culture?" 

This production is so unconventional I had to quote the director just to get a clear understanding of what this show is.  This show gos on tour on a ship...literally...their set is ship.  Not only that, this production is described as "an original operatic dance- theatre work featuring a traveling genetically-modified-orgasmic troupe."  Please just check the website Dave, because I know this fits the category as unconventional...I just can't put into words what this is.

8. HERE

  Telefunken ( September 2005) Table 9 Productions at the Tower Theatre, Australia 

The production Telefunken is a one man show but a little more difficult to explain than one would expect.  The narrator is Ralph Mann a propagandist for the Nazi regime.  However that is not the only premise of the show, the actor incorporates various different accents as he becomes these different characters while explaining hitler is about to commit suicide.  It is rather difficult to explain the entire premise of the show but what caught my attention was the picture.  In the picture the man is attached to some electromagnetic shock in which he uses throughout the show, which I'm not entirely sure why.

9.HERE

Macbeth (Oct.-Nov. 2010 tour) The Song and Goat Theatre

In this production of Macbeth, it took several years for it to actual come into the making because along with using the poetic words of the script, The Song and Goat Theatre incorporated movement and polyphonic song and improv to tell the story.  What makes this production unconventional is the use of all these elements to tell the story of Macbeth but in a new light.

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