Kickstarter

WHO WE ARE

The Paperwork:  Avalanche Theatre Company is committed to emotionally honest works that challenge its participants.  Through a tangible and unapologetic connection between actor and audience we cultivate an atmosphere for introspection, discussion and catharsis.

The Humans:  We are Elizabeth Hansen, Jon Jon Johnson and Mikhel Wirtanen.  Three people who magically love the same type of theatre enough to try and make all of this work.  We can’t wait to show you what we’ve done!

THE PROJECT

Despertar was conceived as many ambitious things are conceived:  in a coffee shop during the darker hours of the night.  While deciding on our next Capital Fringe venture, Jon Jon Johnson stated that he had recently come up with an idea for a play.  Using The Five Tango Sensations by Astor Piazzolla as a guide (and backing soundtrack), he wanted to write a show that combined the most intense and passionate parts of theatre and tango.  Upon hearing this idea, our interests were piqued and we decided to entrust him with our 2012 Capital Fringe Festival slot.  That’s what Fringe Festivals are for, right? 

The play focuses on two couples fighting through the gray areas of their love.  Emotions get complicated, lives are changed and, one can hope, life lessons are learned.  You’ll just have to see it during the 2012 Capital Fringe Festival for that answer, won’t you?

GOALS

- Experiment with the complicated gray area:  both in play structure and theme. 

- Show LGBTQ characters in a way that doesn’t solely focus on their sexuality.  While each character in Despertar identifies within a LGBTQ lifestyle, we don’t want the sexual status of the characters to be the focus of the piece.  Rather, we want to show people in all their intricacies.  We feel that too often artists will rely on stereotypes and generalizations to get their point across.  We strive to avoid this and hope to show that all types of peoples and all types of couples have the same core problems as the rest of humanity.

- Combine theatre and dance into a form that the three of us have never experienced.  Each of the actors will be involved in the choreography to ensure that the dance fuses seamlessly with the acting.  If successful, the end product should be an organic fusion of dance and script that heightens each scene.

WHERE WILL THE MONEY GO?

Good question.  As with everyone else on a low budget, we are trying our best to do all these things as creatively and inexpensively as possible.  Every single dollar you give is going to help us out greatly.

Here’s an example of where your dollars will go:

Capital Fringe Fees (Entry, Insurance, etc)
Tango Lessons
Actors’ Compensation
Costumes
Advertisements/Marketing

PRODUCTION HISTORY

This will be our second foray into the Capital Fringe Festival.  Last year, Avalanche Theatre Company put on a performance of Sarah Kane’s Crave.  Here’s what some people had to say:

“The four performers (Elizabeth Hansen, Christopher Herring, Joey Long and Mary Myers) under Jon Jon Johnson's direction are all devoted to the material and completely believable. Their clear understanding of what is going on helps carry the audience along even during sections where the actual meaning of the words gets murky, and all five deserve total praise for maintaining the balance between fearlessness and self-control.”

- The DCist

“…Avalanche Theatre Company takes on this difficult text with courage and gusto.”  

- Fringe and Purge

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Feel free to check out our various websites and social media outlets.  We'd love to have you join us!

Website: http://www.avalanchetheatre.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Avalanche-Theatre-Company/

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/as_subtle_as