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INSURGENT THEATRE’S ULYSSES’ CREWMEN
Thursday February 11th 7:00PM
INSURGENT THEATRE’S Written by Ben Turk PLAYWRIGHT STATEMENT: “I’d rather die at sea, with one deep gulp of death, than die by inches on this desolate island here!” -Eurylochus’ fatal reasoning in Homer’s Odyssey Homer’s Odyssey contains two episodes of mutiny. The first –when Ulysses has his crew plug their ears, tie him to the mast, and steer the ship past the sirens– is a false mutiny. The crew is put into an apparent position of power, and ignores their captain’s commands, but they do so at his request. This episode teaches us the lesson of rational restraint. We must limit our freedom now because we know temptation can make our desires and impulses untrustworthy. The second mutiny –when the crew eats the sun god’s cattle against Ulysses’ commands– is a genuine mutiny. The crewmen make a rational calculation that death by starvation is assured, while death by the gods’ wrath is only their captain’s speculation, a product of his faith. When Homer frees the ship from Hyperion’s isle and then promptly sinks it, killing everyone but the reverent (and miraculously unstarved) Ulysses, he teaches us the lesson of obedience to forces beyond rationality. For Homer, faith and reverence trump survival. This answer is certainly far more compelling than electoral politics or absolution through chanting and sign-waving. But it still leaves me dissatisfied. The production of ULYSSES’ CREWMEN offers a second answer: our material methods and economic practices attempt to participate in the creation of a radically post-capitalist economy. Will this economy find it’s legs, or should we dash toward the rocks? To even approach this question we must first unlearn the lessons of rational restraint and obedience to faith. We must stage a mutiny against both religion and liberalism, against the very roots of western civilization. RESPONSES TO ULYSSES' CREWMEN: “Fearless acting. Fearless writing. Fearless plot. Fearless art.” -Jospeh Pigg, Spore Infoshop, Columbus, OH “Insurgent’s project is noble and high minded... it takes guts to do work like this.” -Kurt Hartwig, SnapMilwaukee.com “A drama animated by dark brutality [that]... creates a fascinating dynamic.” “This is theatre that strives to become more real that reality.” -Russ Bickerstaff, Shepherd Express Online Milwaukee, WI “Intensely destructive and aggressivly beautiful, a thoughtful play that asks the age old question of ‘How the hell can we fix this fucked up world without fucking it up even more?’ Since the world has stopped listening to meek questions, this play screams it.” -Peter J Woods,FTAM, Milwaukee, WI "One of the most inpiring DIY tours I have ever encountered. Its execution is intensly captivating and provocative. What other play features an hour of harsh interrogation and pistol-whipping followed by remarkably constructive conversation with its audience?" -Robert Inhuman, Realicide “Ulysses’ Crewmen expertly challenges the psychological motivation behind direct activism... Because Turk’s Ulysses spends most of the play bound and gagged, the vast majority of the drama is left to Pleuss, and clearly, she is up for it.” -George Wietor TheRapidian.org, Grand Rapids, MI “An intense and claustrophobic play about resistance, idealism and futility... a necessary and urgent piece of modern Brechtian theatre that demands to be seen.” -Tom Foran, Blunt Objects, Storrs CT And for Paint the Town: Ben Turk co-founded INSURGENT THEATRE in the summer of 2003. That year he also began the first outlines of Ulysses’ Crewmen. Over the next six years he repeatedly put down this play to write, produce and occasionally act in others. Successful full length plays like BRING THE WAR HOME, all kinds of absurd one act festivals, wild theatre experiments like PLAY IN A DAY and the first Insurgent DIY touring show PAINT THE TOWN were self-taught lessons in every aspect of theatre production, from promotion and fundraising to set construction and lighting to playwriting, acting and directing. Ben looks forward to continuing to create radical theatre in punk basements, dive bars, classrooms, art galleries, alleys, bookstores, and any other autonomous space that will serve as a temporary performance venue, even the occasional black box theatre. INSURGENT THEATRE has been producing bad-ass DIY theatre since 2003. Insurgent's goal is nothing less than to take the future of theatrical production out of the clumsy hands of obsolete bourgeois institutions, one production at a time. These plays were all produced with no budgets, little fundraising, no grant support, and throngs of first time actors, writers and directors. Many of these people have gone on to pursue careers in theatre, activism, and community organizing. In 2008, Insurgent joined the burgeoning DIY touring theatre phenomenon with Paint the Town. This homegrown terrorist fairy tale about realizing it's hero’s revolutionary potential by murdering her entire family (and plenty of innocent bystanders along the way) toured sporadically for over nine months with over 40 performances. Paint the Town included a full scale callapsible set, a van full of props, an hour and forty five minutes of elaborate plot, combat, esoteric references and Brechtian verfremsdungeffeckt and ended with a muder-by-paint-can, after which the audiences were encouraged to paint the floor and walls of the venues. Ulysses’ Crewmen travels much lighter (requiring a single chair and a few props) but weighs heavier, thematically and formally. ON TOUR SINCE SEPT 09 Insurgent Theatre has staged over 30 performances of Ulysses’ Crewmen in various theatres, bars, infoshops, and other non-traditional spaces accross the US, including a performance in Pittsburgh during the G20 summit protests on Oct 24th. Contact: Ben Turk
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