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Here's
Your Coffee, Only It's Tea
or
"I'm all right now, I've swallowed it all, I can go and play!"
--
Choubert, Victims of Duty March
2007 We
made it… but only with your help. Many
thanks to a terrific cast, crew, and to you, who supported the IRC's inaugural
production, Victims of Duty by Eugène Ionesco. Employing the somewhat
arbitrary but concrete measurements of measurement we erected for ourselves, the
show performed even better than we expected. Our goal was fourfold: to introduce
a rarely-performed Ionesco to the public; to keep connected to the Fringe audience
we first met in September 2006 with Three One Acts! Short Works by Albee, Beckett
and Ionesco; to employ a very small number of Philadelphia theater artists
working on an infrequently performed style, and to test the pulse on the enthusiasm
meter for absurdist theater in a town whose theatrical menu is robust -- filled
with 4-star offerings in every flavor and size. Several
years ago, satisfied with what I had accomplished as an actress and looking towards
my next challenge, I contemplated applying to graduate school for directing. Previous
directing experience included a handful of smaller one-act plays in Philadelphia
with some success; I thought directing would enhance my skills as a performer.
But when I considered the practicality of full time schooling, raising a then
9-year old son and working to maintain necessary income, it all seemed beyond
my resources physically and otherwise. So, I decided to formulate my own graduate
training program. I figured I'd study the forms of interest, research as much
as I could through live performance, take as many directing classes as I could
in Philadelphia and New York, and make my mistakes along the way. Founding the
IRC was my recipe for learning "how to do it". Victims
all, this experience taught us as much during the run of the show it did in rehearsal.
Ironically, our biggest hurdle was establishing and developing a language we could
use in the process. As actors, we often think and emote from the perspective of
how people we know think and behave in real life, and yet Ionesco's work isn't
depicting realism or characters whose psychology and actions are rooted in realism.
Half the challenge for all was speaking the same language and getting these characters
to inhabit same world. The lingering questions I had regarding tone and style
for a few smaller sections of Victims were answered once the actors worked
with an audience; I continue to learn each night the lessons you can learn only
by seeing Ionesco's work brought to life on stage. Like
the Mummers the morning after, production is underway for the IRC's participation
in Philadelphia Fringe Festival 2007, running August 31 through September 16,
2007. This year, The Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium will be reprising the
absurdist one-act format we road-tested last year, this year featuring short works
by Harold Pinter, Eugene Ionesco and special guest absurdist Christopher Durang.
Meantime,
the IRC is incorporated and the 501C3 is almost completed. We can now apply for
funding to augment the tiniest of budgets as we anticipate tackling the larger
scale works by Ionesco and other rarely-performed authors from the loosely-defined
Theater of the Absurd. Thanks for helping us launch our inaugural season. Until
September, remember, in the words of Ionesco, "You
can only predict things after they've happened." Spring's
sprung!
Tina
Brock
Artistic Director info@idiopathicridiculopathyconsortium.com | 
