Patchwork Puppets Parading on Mercury
Are We Delicious? and Mercury Players Theatre
Madison’s own Are We Delicious? and Mercury Players Theatre team up to create an evening of musical vignettes — written, rehearsed and audience-ready in only one week — featuring puppets created by local designer Laurie Everitt. After taking suggestions for her furry characters from the cast, Everitt presented the custom puppets back to the intrepid team of writers and directors, encouraging their imaginations to go wild. No one knows what this adults-only, puppet-filled performance will contain until opening night, but based on previous Are We Delicious? evenings, it’s bound to be creative, off-beat, funny and irreverent. Through Nov. 2.
press release: Madison’s own Are We Delicious? and Mercury Players Theatre team up to create fun night of crazy puppets within the Patchwork World of local designer Laurie Everitt. Everitt built each puppet by hand based on the creative ideas of the Delicious ensemble. The ensemble then worked with their custom puppets and each other to write scenes in a topsy-turvy world where Mercury has gone into retrograde! Oh no!
Starting with the barest outline, each puppeteer in the Are We Delicious? ensemble writes scenes that are stitched together into a complete comic play in only one week. It’s a mad dash to opening night as scripts are written, puppets sewn and lines learned. Packed with wit, wisdom and a lot of anxious energy, Delicious is always fresh and a little dangerous, but when it comes together, a wonder to behold.
Patchwork Puppets Parading on Mercury is a show for adults.
FUN FACTS
Title: Patchwork Puppets Parading on Mercury
Writer/Puppeteers: Casem AbuLughod, Stacey Garbarski, Gina M. Gómez, Craig Johnson, Jaclyn June Johnson, Autumn Shiley, and Tony Trout
Director: Trevin Gay
Designers: Laurie Everitt (puppets), Zak Stowe (lights)
When: October 24, 25, 26, 31, Nov 1 @ 7:30 pm with special matinee November 2nd at 4 pm
Where: Bartell Theatre, 113 E. Mifflin St., Madison
Tickets: $20
Buy in advance: http://arewedelicious.com/
Running time: 75 minutes with intermission
Are We Delicious? is an ensemble of Madison writer/performers who write, rehearse and perform an original one-hour show in a seven days. Everyone writes, everyone acts, and no one can rest until the final curtain. Visit arewedelicious.com
Mercury Players is a company of theatre artists. We are dedicated to creating exceptional productions of original, new and unusual plays. With our work, we challenge participants and audiences to see themselves and their world with a fresh perspective.
WRITING AND PUPPETEERING ENSEMBLE:
Casem AbuLughod is a Madison based performer. He improvises with the Monkey Business Institute most weekends. He has acted with multiple Madison based companies including Strollers, Mercury Players, Whoopensocker, and several previous Delicious casts. He has directed several pieces and earned his Masters in Applied Theatre from the City University of New York. Favorite roles include Friar John in 11 Variations on Friar John's Failure, Froggy in The Foreigner, and Musa in A Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo.
Stacey Garbarski is a 2016 graduate from Edgewood College with her degree in Theatre Performance. She has worked with many wonderful theatres in Wisconsin (Are We Delicious?, Ground Up, Broom Street Theater, Majestic Theatre-Madison, Strollers Theatre, Mercury Players Theatre, Series 125, StageQ Inc, and many more) as well as New York Fringe Festival, which lead to a review of her performance in the New York Times. She was the first student from Edgewood College to advance to finals and win an award at the Kennedy Center Theatre Festival; Irene Ryan Competition (2015.) She recently won a Bartie Award for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy for her performance as Berenger (Rhinoceros).
Gina M. Gomez is Wisconsin native with more than 20 years of theatrical experience. In 2016, she moved back to Madison from Minneapolis where she has written and performed with various companies including Freshwater Theater, Little LifeBoats Theater, and The Playwrights Center among others. Since coming back to Madison, Gina has worked with Mercury Players Theatre, Madison Theatre Guild, Strollers, Stage Q, Theatre Lila, Broom Street Theater, Whoopensocker, and various other companies.
Craig Johnson has performed in four AWD's and directed one. If you want to see him on stage he performs with the Monkey Business Institute improv comedy group. If you want to see him on line, you can see him in "Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager" as Weird Jimmy and in "Welcome to the Basement" doing movie reviews as himself.
Jaclyn June Johnson is an Actor, Director, Playwright, Costume Designer and Teaching Artist. Johnson has worked across the state (St. Croix Festival Theatre, Milwaukee Fringe Festival, Children's Theatre Madison) and across the country (Creede Repertory, Riverside Shakespeare Festival, Chicago's UTG Improv Theatre, Riverside Theatre). Audiences may have seen her work onstage locally with Broom Street Theatre, StageQ, or CTM. Johnson holds a BA in Theatre from Cornell College. Johnson wishes to thank: her family, husband and cats for their encouragement and love; and you for your support to the arts and specifically to the uniquely healing community of theatre.
Autumn Shiley has recieved an MFA in acting from University of Virginia and has performed and trained locally and internationally. Favorite directing credits include House, Gertrude Stein and A Companion, and her own play On the Corner of Clark and Vine which was produced at Broom Street Theater. She has taught theatre classes at CTM, Madison College, UVA, and at BST.
Tony Trout is the founder and impresario of Are We Delicious?, an ensemble of Madison performer/writers who conceive, write, rehearse and perform an original one-hour show in a single week. The Delicious formula has been refined in over 30 full productions in 6+ years, student productions at Edgewood and MATC, a partnership with StageQ, and its own ensemble theatre class. Tony is Executive Director of Delicious Creative Inc. the 501(c)(3) non-profit that coordinates performances, classes and events using the Delicious formula. Tony is also a producer, director and actor with a BA in Theatre from the University of Iowa. Previous projects include directing A Little Night Music and My Fair Lady for Four Seasons, directing Uncle Vanya, Apartment 3A and others shows for Strollers, and performing as George in Alley Stage's production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and Bernard in Mercury's production of A Number.
Trevin Gay is a teaching artist, director, actor and arts administrator. He has directed and performed internationally in England, Germany, France and Wales and stateside in Kansas City, Denver, Madison, and Chicago. Madison audiences may have seen his directing work in The Little Mermaid (Four Seasons Theater), Butterfly Wings (Forward Theater), The Young Playwrights Festival (CTM), SPRUNG!(Are We Delicious?), Fully Committed, Bus Stop (Madison Repertory Theatre) or his assistant directing in Souvenir (Four Seasons), The Diary of Anne Frank, Carousel or Our Town (MRT) Madison audiences may have seen him onstage in Matilda (CTM), Whoopensocker (Theatre Lila), All For One! The 3 Musketeers Musical, Puss in Boots (Are We Delicious?), An Adult Evening of Shel Silverstein (The Bricks Theater) Sylvia, The Misanthrope, You Can’t Take It With You (Strollers) or Compleat Female Stage Beauty (Mercury Players). He holds an MFA in Actor Created Physical Theatre from Naropa University in conjunction with the London International School of Performing Arts. Trevin is thrilled to currently serve as the Artist Relations Manager for CTM, Core Ensemble Member of Are We Delicious? and as a teaching artist for Whoopensocker and CTM.
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