Shameless Plug of the Day - Ringtone (one weekend only)

Starting tonight (Thursday) and continuing the next two nights only, a new offering from Alan Berks and his latest batch of co-conspirators, called Ringtone. (There's a link to a trailer here and at the end of the post, if you're curious)

I'm mighty fond of Alan. His work is always funny, but that runs alongside whatever other subject matter he may be hunting at the moment. It's been alternately romantic (How To Cheat), creepy as hell (3 Parts Dead), and tragic (Everywhere Signs Fall). Plus, he's one of the three masterminds behind the scrappy instant theater experiment Thirst Theater, which was fun to both write for and be part of the audience.

So if Alan's gathering artistic friends of similar talent together for an experiment, it's definitely worth checking out. Here's his message with the details...

Hi Friends,

I want to invite you to this work-in-progress, Ringtone, about how technology is drawing us together and keeping us apart and there are only three performances (Thursday, April 30, Friday, May 1, and Saturday, May 2) and very limited seating. At 8 pm.

At the Rogue Buddha Gallery (next to the Ritz Theater). Space is limited to 40 per night.

Tickets are only $5-10

PLEASE CALL 612-886-2868 TO CONFIRM YOUR RESERVATION

Ringtone was created collaboratively with Katie Kaufmann, Lindsay Marcy, Ben McGinley, Matt Sciple, Anna Sundberg, and Adam Whisner -- incredible performers and generous to a fault. With sound design by Mike Hallenbeck.

It's a site-specific play with movement. Or a hodge-podge of dramatic event with cell phones and televisions and a dj. Or a funny new work with six actors in search of their identities in an art gallery even when they can't get their cell phones to stop ringing.

I really hope to have a friendly but discerning and engaged bunch of folks fill up the Buddha for this experiment with dialogue, movement, and technology that combines or plays with or teases out different structural or thematic aspects of the work (Thirst Theater, "How to Cheat," "3 Parts Dead") that I've been working on for the last four years. I promise you'll be amused at times; I'll bet you'll be confused at times -- but I'll look forward to hearing your honest reaction afterwords.

O, did I mention there will be wine and beer available for small donations?

You can check out a trailer that, I think, captures the spirit of the collaboration, at http://vimeo.com/4207808

Thank you,
Alan