Greetings strange tree friends and foes,
It is I, Dr. Bindlestiff and my ever-present faceless feline companion Mister Tinks, who welcome back to the blog. My oh my. There is so much going on and I am at a fever pitch to tell you of it. Number one, I have taken up shot puttery. Number two, I am quite good at it. Number three, there are not one but TWO upcoming strange tree spectacles to feast your eyes upon in the coming month!
Opening first is a piece the company has excitedly crafted for Collaboraction's Sketchbook X known only as "
The One About the Whale". Written by Emily Schwartz, and devised amongst the trees themselves (with direction help from the lovely Anna Bahow), this is a new seven minute seafaring muzikal of delightful proportions. Sketchbook opens June 10th and runs through June 27th at The Chopin Theatre in Wicker park. The strange tree piece features some of your favorite faces from past productions, Carol Enoch, Jenifer Henry, Matt Holzfeind, Jennifer Marschand, & Kate Nawrocki are plucked from the company stock alongside several beautiful ladies and stout-heated gents on banjo, ukulele, guitar, accordion, & various bits of tympani! We shall also feature a set of identical twins from Danville, Indiana. Twins! Some say they are absurdly unlucky, but I myself am mightily glad they weren't discarded at birth.
Purchase your tickets, dear friends at www.collaboraction.org and use code '108' for a mind boggling discount. Ok well, it's just five dollars. But that's still better than not having five extra dollars, isn't it? Buy a sandwich, I dare say!
Trust the doctor, loyal friends, you will not want to miss this big-hearted tale of lonely men inside a whale! Just a sneak peak now...we don't want to spoil the big reveal.
Our second production to open in June will be the massive full-length undertaking of
Shakespeare's King Phycus at that most delightful of spaces, The Building Stage. This play is full of kings, queens, knaves, dukes, thanes, star-crossed lovers, villains, hunchbacks, witches, ghosts & epic battles of twenty thousand men all performed by a six person tour de force cast of strange tree veterans. Directed by Ira Amyx & written by Tom Willmourth. I laughed until I lost a tooth the other night and that is no joke. However, I deem it entirely worth the trouble!
The trees are combining forces with the wonderful technical team of The Lord Chamberlain's men to recreate the interior of the Globe theatre circa 1599. The trick of the thing is that we're going to be building with what amounts to a series of recycled rubbish. With the skill of our crew we've managed to save hundreds of pounds of waste wood from the dumpster and instead turn it into castle walls, dozens of glass bottles become beautifully crafted lighting sconces, tin cans become helmets, hub caps become shields, old curtains become beautiful breeches! You will not believe your eyes at the detailed handiwork behind each aspect of this summertime treat. Like lemonade at a tennis match or the smell of bug spray and the deep woods, we combine perfect pieces together to create a delightful summer memory.
And having drinks isn't half bad either. New for this show, purchase your limited edition king phycus cup for $5 and they will fill it with your choice of delicious beverage! Wassail? Grog? Beer? It is Mister Tinks most preferred evening, free drinking and an evening of belly laughs! Could you ask for more?
Purchase your tickets at www.strangetree.org and thru Friday 5/28/10 receive a $5 discount when you enter the code "earlybird". Don't say I never did anything for you!
pip pip! hey hey!
Dr. Bindlestiff & M.R. Tinks, respectfully
