Nonsense Company in NYC
Okay so these guys are good and I think you should go check them out.
One of the first things I did when I started fixing up IRT was to create and implement the residency program. NONSENSE COMPANY was the first (and only) out-of-state residency I put together. They’re here reprising the show they did last year at FRIGID Festival and not too many people got to see. While they’re here they’re going to build a show that will be world-premiering at PS122 next season.
This show is a really good show and is still relevant, even with the new president. Also, just stylistically, these guys are really innovative and fun and authentic and DIY- avant-garde “new music” meets experimental minimalist theater with an indie rock aesthetic. They’re here all the way from San Diego so go show them some love and enjoy the show.
THE NONSENSE COMPANY
PRESENTS
GREAT HYMN OF THANKSGIVING/CONVERSATION STORM
By Rick Burkhardt
Directed by Rick Burkhardt & Andy Gricevich
Performed by Ryan Higgins, Andy Gricevich, and Rick Burkhardt
FEBRUARY 3-15 @ IRT
Around a dinner table, three actor/musicians sing, pray, beat forks, deliver the news, and snap between scenes in mid-sentence in GREAT HYMN OF THANKSGIVING a brutal deconstruction of War-on-Terror-speak. In CONVERSATION STORMthree friends from three sides of the political spectrum argue their way through a ticking time bomb scenario, brutalizing their own positions, destroying the lines between real and hypothetical, past and future, day and night. GREAT HYMN OF THANKSGIVING/CONVERSATION STORM was awarded “Best New Play” at the 2007 San Francisco Fringe and “Best of the Fest” at the 2008 NYC FRIGID Fest. CONVERSATION STORM has also been selected for publication in the anthology Plays and Playwrights 2009.
The Nonsense Company performs GREAT HYMN OF THANKSGIVING/CONVERSATION STORM, an award-winning pair of intricate and urgent pieces blurring the boundary between experimental theater and avant-garde music, both written by internationally-known composer and company member Rick Burkhardt. The production will run Feb 3-Feb 7 at 8pm and Feb 11-14 at 8pm with matinee performances on Feb 8 & Feb 15 at 3pm at IRT 154 Christopher Street 3B. Tickets ($15) are available online at www.nonsensecompany.com. All performances will be open to the press.
Since meeting in San Diego in the late ’90s, The Nonsense Company (Rick Burkhardt, Andy Gricevich and Ryan Higgins) have been premiering cutting-edge new works in the fields of contemporary music and theater, touring nationally and internationally to rave reviews in over forty festivals, theaters, concert halls, universities, and community centers. Their powerful material, spot-on characterization, and breathtaking musicianship have garnered praise from critics, audiences and fellow artists. Their newly-translated and adapted production of Brecht / Weill’s The Threepenny Opera was a Chicago Reader Critic’s Choice of the Year for 2006. The Nonsense Company is currently based in Madison, WI.
Winner, “Best New Play,” San Francisco Fringe 2007
“Best of the Fest,” NYC FRIGID Fest 2008
“An avant-garde musical dinner party unlike anything you’ve seen before, paired up with an escalating, yet non-linear, conversation about the “ticking time bomb” scenario that questions the ethics of torture in one of the most hysterically frightening works of theater this year.”
Aaron Riccio, New Theater Corps NYC
“Thrilling performances… spiked with intense shots of satire. Through precise delivery and the sheer force of their concept and subject material, [the Nonsense Company] captivate their audience even as they disorient it.”
Ronni Reich, Backstage NYC
“Remarkable…. exemplifies what indie/fringe theatre is supposed to be…. hilariously funny and awesomely tragic at the same time… Our eyes and ears remain open and aware despite the disorientation. [The Nonsense Company] prove themselves artists to be reckoned with in this, their New York debut. We need them to come back with more of their work.”
Martin Denton, nytheatre.com
“[Madison] rarely witnesses a company taking so many elaborately conceived risks on its own terms, or with such immediacy, as The Nonsense Company. Rick Burkhardt, Andy Gricevich, and Ryan Higgins create shows that expand the perspectives and materials of theater, twitching from one vantage point to another, from ghastly grandeur to snips of irony.”
Scott Gordon, The Onion AV Club
“Moving, funny, and provocative… theater at its best.”
Joey Seiler, Austin 360
“Strange and compelling pieces…. introspective, recursive, highly charged…. stunningly choreographed into visual theater as well as an aural melange.”
Dave Romm, Shockwave Radio, KFAI Minneapolis
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*Warning: Great Hymn of Thanksgiving / Conversation Storm contains extremely graphic language and is not appropriate for young children. Please, no-one under 13.