Theatre Is Dead and So Are You
A vaudevillian take on mortality that
stares death in the face and laughs.
Theatre is Dead and So Are You is an irreverent funeral for the stage. Read the obituary. A ragtag bunch of variety hacks are laying their sometimes beloved MC to rest, performing his funeral live, travelling from city to city, until such time as his body is too decomposed to make the proceedings pleasant. Their "eulogies" are performed à la classic variety, with slapstick, melodrama, song & dance, and feats of illusion and mentalism, each taking its own deadly turn as they celebrate the life and death of their dearly departed dead dead dead friend. Even in their joyous performance, a spectre looms as each knows they've all been exposed to the fatal disease that killed their MC: Life. Watch these seasoned has-beens kill theatre, live before your very eyes.
Production History
January 2009
@ The Connelly Theater
Written by Kiran Rikhye
Directed by Jon Stancato
Devised by Stolen Chair with David Bengali, David Berent, Rainbow Dickerson, Tommy Dickie, Liza Wade Green, Aviva Meyer, Emily Otto, Kiran Rikhye, Noah Schultz, Jon Stancato, & Alexia Vernon
Dramaturgy & Music Direction by Emily Otto
Production Design by David Bengali
Coffin Design by Daniel Green
Costume Design by Julie B. Schworm
Stage Management & Props by Aviva Meyer
Make-up Design by Cat*
Postcard by Carrie Leonard & Aviva Meyer
Additional Design and Construction by Noah Schultz & Rainbow Dickerson
Music Management by Raphael Biran
Weapons Consultation by Mike Yahn
Production Assistance by Margot Connolly
Featuring David Bengali, David Berent*, Julie Coe, Rainbow Dickerson*, Tommy Dickie, Liza Wade Green, Noah Schultz, David Skeist, & Alexia Vernon
*Appears courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association
Musicians Raphael Biran, Emily Otto, G. Doug Pierson, & Beth Price
Press for Theatre is Dead and So Are You
NYtheatre.com's Pick of the Week!:
"A macabre and weirdly off-kilter cabaret that revels in death: in looking this greatest of taboos in the face and then throwing a custard pie at it..smart, stylish, and virtuosic, deconstructing what bothers us about the Final Rest by throwing as many theatrical gimmicks as possible at it. If the opportunity to see one of indie theater's smartest and most adventurous young companies tangle with the Unknowable tantalizes you, then a visit to the Connelly may well be in order."
- Martin Denton, NYtheatre.com
"Kiran Rikhye's raucous spectacle is a pastiche of dead and dying theatrical forms: song-and dance, slapstick, melodrama and old-timey conjuring. Loosely structured as a wake for a dead MC as performed by his now bereft charges, the script of Theatre Is Dead and So Are You is merely a vehicle by which this young but accomplished downtown theater company can resurrect the corpus of companies past and you, the viewer, too. Bottom Line: A Frankenstein-y send up of old theater forms performed by young, vital and warm bodies, happily proving its title wrong"
-Joshua David Stein, New York Press
Production Stills (Carrie Leonard, 2009):
Rehearsal Photos (Aviva Meyer, 2008):
Photos by Aviva Meyer, 2007
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