SHAKESPEARE & COMMUNITY PROJECTS
In response to the fact that The Missoula
Oblongata spends half of their time in basements and rubber factories building
50 lb. kaleidoscopes, and the other half of their time away from home, the
company has committed to spending the third half of their time creating and
facilitating community-oriented experimental performances in their neighborhood.
These performances come in different shapes and sizes, but are generally meant
to engage, challenge, and nourish the community through experimental performance.
Below, we list a few current and recent examples.
Colloquial Disforum: An Evening of Serious Academic Inquiry, For Once.
A Colloquial Disforum is an evening of speeches or lectures on a given theme.
Most recently, the theme was “The Continent” (ever heard of it?).
An array of community members write speeches for titles they didn’t
come up with, and then present speeches they didn’t write. All in all,
everyone learns something.
The Missoula Oblongata Shakespeare
Repertory Theatre:
In direct contradiction to its name, The Missoula Oblongata Shakespeare Repertory
Theatre is a series of loose adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays, performed
by a new company of artists every time. The objectives of this project are:
1. To encourage the reading and seeing of Shakespeare
2. To challenge local artists to work outside of their usual medium/domain
3. To offer an exciting venue for non-performers to experiment with performance.
4. To create intimate, creative, and surprising gatherings for the community.
Traditionally, attendance to these productions is free, by invitation only
(with each performer given 10-20 invitations to hand out), and held at secret,
non-traditional venues. Five local artists are invited to participate, and
each is given free reign over one act of the selected play. Each act is prepared
separately, with no consultation between artists. On the night of the performance,
the acts are presented in order, creating a fractured, spirited, and remarkably
true performance.
*Perhaps you’ve heard about the upcoming production of The
Tempest, which will be done in this style. Yes? It is, however different
from this model in that this production is not local for us, features some
of our favorite professional performers, is a co-production with Puppet
Uprising, is not by invitation only, and unfortunately isn’t free.
It is, however, at a secret location, and will still be an exciting, engaging,
and above all surprising evening of Shakespeare.
My Pizza, My Idea!:
Owing its conception to the prodigious mind of Baltimore’s own Connor
Kizer, My Pizza, My Idea is less a performance than a poor business plan.
Community members sign up for a “free two-week trial” of the My
Pizza, My Idea! service, which means that sometime within the next two weeks,
they will be delivered a pizza. The type of pizza and the time of delivery
however, are of course not your idea. Currently, this service is only available
to residents of Hampshire County. If you are interested in opening up your
own franchise, please let us know.
