FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Greta Hays/Kirstin M. Franko press@arenastage.org, 202-600-4056 November 18, 2013
ARENA STAGE KICKS OFF 2013-14 KOGOD CRADLE SERIES WITH DOG & PONY DC’S TOAST AND ELEASHA GAMBLE AND NICHOLAS RODRIGUEZ IN THE POWER OF TWO
(Washington, D.C.) Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater ushers in the 2013/14 Kogod Cradle Series with workshop performances of the local ensemble-driven company dog & pony dc’s newest show Toast, a participatory theatrical performance that asks the question: how is devising a play like developing new technology? dog & pony dc returns to Arena Stage following the successful 2012 workshop of their critically acclaimed A Killing Game.
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ABOUT TOAST: Before electricity, how did people make toast? It's not a trick question. Think about it for a moment. Go look it up. The invention of the electric toaster and its widespread adoption wasn't as easy as sliding sliced bread between heated coils. It was a complex, non-linear process, a beautiful confluence of conditions, opportunities, discoveries and intensity. Piqued? Back after their hit show A Killing Game thrilled audiences in last season’s Kogod Cradle Series, dog & pony dc returns for a workshop of their newest show Toast—a participatory theatrical performance meets science experiment exploring technological innovation, discovery, invention, consequences and the intricate networks that weave us all together.
With Toast, dog & pony dc is exploring a wholly new expression of “audience integration,” its participatory approach to creating and performing theater. The company’s previous shows, including Beertown and A Killing Game, cast the audience within the story of the performance, providing them agency to engage “in character” and positing their activity as necessary to the narrative arc. For Toast, the company is vitally interested in extending the boundaries of audience integration, aiming to fully and transparently harness the audience as a resource, integral for the creation and completion of the show.
In March 2013, dog & pony dc began actively devising Toast and invited the general public to join them. For the last nine months, 85% of dog & pony dc’s devising meetings and rehearsals have been open to citizens across the area. More than 100 people have participated as “co-devisers,” some attending once or twice and others attending every single event. A corps of science and technology scholars also joined in the process, including Dr. David LaCroix (education and learning strategist), Dr. Robert Friedel (technological historian, UMD) and Joe Palca (science correspondent, NPR).
Project Directors: Rachel Grossman and Ivania Stack Assistant Directors: Wyckham Avery and J. Argyl Plath Devising Ensemble: Ellys Abrams, Colin K. Bills, Jordan Beck, Melanie Harker, Jessica Lefkow, Shannon Davies Mancus, Elaine Yuko Qualter, Lorraine Ressegger-Slone, Jon Reynolds, Rebecca Sheir and Adelaide Waldrop Co-Conspirators: David LaCroix, Robert Friedel and Joe Palca Artistic Collaborators: Kate Ahern Loveric and Jared Mezzocchi
For insight into the show's creation and a growing digital record of the devising process visit ToastLabNotebook.com. Find dog & pony dc on Twitter @dogandponydc and mention Toast with #TOASTdpdc. Watch video highlighting the Toast Incubator Salon at the Kennedy Center’s Page-To-Stage Festival in August of 2013. For more information on Toast and dog & pony dc visit dogandponydc.com/toast.
Toast is funded in part by the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, an agency supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support is from Humanities Council of Washington, DC; Maryland Humanities Council; Capitol Hill Community Foundation and Victor Shargai.