1. The Princess Club
The Princess Club, 2007, Red Moon Theater, Chicago, Illinois.
The Red Moon Theatre Group’s production of The Princess Club takes classic fairy tales, such as Cinderella and Rapunzel, and transforms them into a show that explores the difficulties of being an adolescent girl. While princesses are usually thought to be beautiful, this all female cast’s costumes distorts the human body to where each of the four character’s have some part of them that look almost grotesquely dis-proportioned showing the character’s efforts to change themselves into something that they think society will deem attractive. The stage movements and speaking voices of the characters are mostly bizarre and exaggerated trying to show off the extremes that some young girls will go to try to try to fit in. This absurdist play take a unique look at the world of adolescent females and the hardships they go through to try to fit in.
2. The Tempest
http://www.independenteye.org/plays/tempest.html
The Tempest, 2009, Sonoma County Repertory Theater, Sebastopol, CA.
The Independent Eye’s took William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest and created an unconventional production of the Bard’s tale by their usage of puppets, actors, masks, music, shadow screens, and many more uncommon theatrical elements. Most of the characters were portrayed by puppets. The actor’s controlling the them wore all black as well as masks and had to try to bring the puppets to life without the benefit of different facial expressions. The whole performance was very inventive, they took a classic piece of Shakespearean theatre and made it new again.
#3 Highway to Tomorrow
http://elevator.org/shows/show.php?show=highway_to_tomorrow
Highway to Tomorrow, 2002, Wexner Center, Columbus, Ohio.
The experimental theatre troupe, Elevator Repair Service retells Euripides’ The Bacchae with their show Highway to Tomorrow. The troupe creatively used commonly found objects, such as a koosh ball, a stainless steel thermos onto which they glued eyes, and soy sauce packets for props as well as part of their costuming; one of the characters’ costumes was trimmed with these Asian food condiment packets. They have a goofy and inventive reinterpretation of a Greek tragedy which includes a scene where the characters all turn their backs to the audience and commence with choreographed butt movements. This production is a mixture of times that are moving, some that are just goofy comedy and others that are very avant-garde and weird. It is definitely an idiosyncratic retelling of this story.
#4. Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind
http://www.welovedc.com/2009/12/15/we-love-arts-too-much-light-makes-the-baby-go-blind/
Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind, 1988-2011, The Neo-Futurarium, Chicago, Illinois.
The Neo-Futurist production of Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind is not your everyday, common play. The group attempts to perform thirty different plays in one hour, and if that is not a challenge enough they change out some of the “plays” weekly, so the audience can keep coming back every week and not see all the same material. Everything they perform is honest; the cast appears as themselves on the stage and comes up with their own stories to tell from their personal life experiences. This play as a whole is a combination of a lot of different genres, there is usually not a common theme to the performances except on some special occasions; what connects the pieces is the honesty in which they were written by the performers. This is also Chicago’s longest running show with twenty-one years of performances.
#5. Dedicated to the Revolutions
http://www.eyeweekly.com/arts/features/article/55747
Dedicated to the Revolutions, 2010, Magnetic North Theatre Festival, Ottawa, Canada.
Dedicated to the Revolutions is a continuous seventy-five minute production that delves into seven scientific revolutions that have been said to have changed the world. At times this show has the feeling of an interesting and humorous school lecture; it even includes non scripted question and answer segments during the run where the six performers, who, while not claiming to be experts in science, try their best to answer. It is an entertaining theatre production at the same time as being somewhat informative. They show the importance of these revolutions, while keeping things interesting with songs, demonstrations, white boards and things they found, plus jump roping. For additional information and video clips visit their website http://smallwoodenshoe.org/2010/performance/dttr/
6. Hey Girl!
http://wexarts.org/pa/index.php?eventid=2639
Hey Girl!, 2008, Thurber Theatre, Columbus, Ohio.
Hey Girl! Is a unconventional piece of theatre that delves into the struggles of a girl’s life, her fight for independence and discovery of who she is and what it means to be a woman. This performance involves a lot of creative imagery and symbolism; it begins as a nude woman emerges from what appears to be a liquid cocoon that is oozing all over a table. The show uses masks, laser beams, shattering glass and many other unusual elements. It has some very provocative moments and it gives the audience the chance to really think about what is happening on the stage. This creative production takes an uncommon approach in showing the difficulties of life and the fight each woman goes through.
#7.The Adventures of Pinocchio
The Adventures of Pinocchio, 2011, Deaf West Theatre, Hollywood, California.
The Adventures of Pinocchio is a classic tale done many times over, but Deaf West does something unconventional with the way they perform the piece; they double cast the roles so two people are performing the same part at the same time during every show. The way this works is that the actor on stage is deaf or hard of hearing and perform all the stage movement and uses American Sign Language, while his counterpart does a voice over so that the hearing audience can enjoy and understand the show too. Deaf West has had a lot of success with this type of plays and it give deaf or hard of hearing actors a chance to perform as well as it makes a unique experience for the audience. For more about Deaf West visit their website at www.deafwest.org.
#8. Macbeth
http://www.usatoday.com/life/theater/2007-07-07-macbeth_N.htm
Macbeth, 2007, Clark Street Playhouse, Arlington, Virginia.
Director Jose Carrasquillo from the Washington Shakespeare Company had an idea for an unconventional and controversial take on William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth; he wanted to do the play with all the character’s being in the nude. He started the play with the actor’s imitating trees that came to life in human form after the witches cast a spell. They were all completely naked, with only some stage makeup dirt and mud smeared onto their bodies, and remained that way onstage throughout the performance. This is both a unique way to render Macbeth and also a controversial way since many people have a problem with nudity and watching an entire cast of unclothed adult perform this piece would make some of the audience very uncomfortable.
#9. Twelfth Night
http://findlocal.latimes.com/listings/twelfth-night-l-a
Twelfth Night, 2010, Chalk Repertory Theatre performed at the Masonic Lodge of the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Hollywood, California.
Chalk Repertory Theatre is known for taking plays and performing them in unconventional locations. They took William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and performed it inside of the Masonic Lodge in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Besides locating the play in an actual cemetery they also integrated a live indie band into their show. These elements give the audience a unique experience of a classic play.
#10. Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical
http://wavelinks.net/m-daddy.htm
Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical, 1968, Biltmore Theatre (now called the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre), Manhattan, New York.
When Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical first came out in 1967 it created a lot of controversy. This musical had illegal drug use, profanity, irreverence to the America flag, nudity, and many other elements that made this production very controversial. These were all big issues in the 1060s and caused a lot of notoriety for this production. It was also unconventional at the time; it was a “rock musical” which was not common like it is today.
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