Notes from a Stranger

Posted by DCA Theater on October 14, 2010 in July-December 2010 Season, INCUBATOR Series: Sideshow Theatre

by Nate Wheldon, Sideshow Theater Company member and “Spaceman of Strangerland”

I improvise everyday.  Not me, Nate Whelden as an actor, wannabe clown, attempted musician, part time writer, full time dreamer moved to Chicago; but me, Nate Whelden, part time sleeper, full time farter, full time worker, breather, cog, heart beat, human being, member of the lonely crowd.  I improvise the cityscape and it kind of goes like this.

When I get up in the morning I hit the alarm.  I put clothes on, sometimes they are clean, sometimes, they are filthy. I walk or stumble out the door.  Sometimes I snag an apple.  Sometimes I see a rabbit cruising past the gate, under a bush, into the dark.  I ride the train.  Sometimes I have to swipe my card twice.  Sometimes I curse about that.  Sometimes I curse about the guy who runs the train and the way he barks, “Doors are closing”.  I get off the train.  I go to work.  I hate it.  I love it.  I leave it.  I linger.  I get back on the train.  I go home.  Sometimes I nap on the train.  Sometimes I pass out on the train.  I get off but sometimes I wake up on the other side of town and have to backtrack.  Sometimes I stare at the sunset or the rockets flying up, up, leaving streaks of white across the blue sky.  Sometimes I think about Lake Michigan and go fishing when I get home or how my grandpa used to swim in that lake.  Sometimes I stare at the floor or the guy next to me picking his nose.  At home I eat.  I drink a bottle of wine.  Sometimes I drink tea.  I read or I don’t.  I go to sleep.  Sometimes its cold and sometimes I can’t sleep.

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Factory Theater meets Ditka

Posted by DCA Theater on October 13, 2010 in July-December 2010 Season, Factory Theater's "1985"

Factory Theater meets Mike Ditka!!  Check out their video of their attempt to get “da Coach” to come see 1985!

The things he carried

Posted by DCA Theater on October 12, 2010 in July-December 2010 Season, INCUBATOR Series: Sideshow Theatre

by Karie Miller, Outreach Coordinator for Sideshow Theatre Company and director-of-sorts of Strangerland

There’s a moment in Strangerland when the characters rifle through a man’s pockets and find bits and pieces of unrelated paper and pages.  There are letters, articles, pages from books, you name it.  Last night, we worked on this moment.  Prior to exploring it, I consulted my core collaboration committee on how to go about exploring.  What should we, the playmakers, put out on stage for our actors to respond to?

At first, I thought about stopping off at Harold Washington Library to make some photocopies of random pages from all the books that I could impulsively grab in the span of a minute.  As much fun as that sounded, a girl only has so much free time these days.  Xeroxing still takes more time than you think it will.

SO, I hopped on the handy dandy internets and headed over to one of my favorite sites: foundmagazine.com. I recommend everyone take a gander. The following finds were found specifically in Chicago. I can’t tell you if we’ll use these or not to create our play, but if we don’t someone should.

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The Crew

Posted by DCA Theater on October 12, 2010 in July-December 2010 Season, INCUBATOR Series: Sideshow Theatre

by Karie Miller, Outreach Coordinator for Sideshow Theatre Company and director-of-sorts of Strangerland

Strangerland, as you may or may not have heard by now, started as a conversation between two people.  We wanted to create a play in a different way.  This meant a different sort of process.  This also meant a different sort of artistic staff and working relationship.  There are four of us at the core of this piece:

Matt Fletcher and I started by meeting and discussing what sort of show we wanted, reading The Stranger out loud, and writing short scenes together.  We knew that eventually we’d be playing on our feet and we formed the network of artistic associates that would collaborate with us via anonymous internet submission.  Nate Whelden was one such associate, collaborating form NYC at the time.  Meanwhile, in Chicago, Mike Steele joined Matt and I to play, inspired by the anonymous submissions.

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Loosely inspired by…

Posted by DCA Theater on October 7, 2010 in July-December 2010 Season, INCUBATOR Series: Sideshow Theatre

by Matt Fletcher, Producing and Casting Director for Sideshow Theater Company and dubbed “Paperboy of Strangerland”

Strangerland is loosely inspired by The Stranger by Albert Camus

Strangerland is loosely inspired by the story of Kasper Hauser, the boy who one day appeared in the German town of Nuremberg at the age of 18, having never encountered another living person in his whole life.

Strangerland is loosely inspired by the story of Taman Shud, a dead man who washed up on an Australian beach, with no identity, no past, no story, a mystery that remains unsolved to this day.

Strangerland is loosely inspired by our daily lives, the things that happen in and around us, the things that make us, at our most basic level, human.

Strangerland takes its inspiration boldly, unapologetically, and absolutely from 1,001 stories.

Strangerland is one story, simple and concise: what happens when a world without life and death suddenly discovers both?

Check those stories out on Wikipedia… It’s furreal crazy.