Kickstarter

Help Tiny Dionysus descend on San Francisco and save us from The Great Recession with this wildly theatrical, Drag, Music, and Puppetry-filled Dionysian Celebration!

About the Play

HOLD ME CLOSER, TINY DIOYNSUS: A Greek Comedy Rock Epic               by trixxie carr                                                                                                          Directed by Ben Randle                                                                               Conceived by trixxie carr and Ben Randle

In Greek mythology, Dionysus was the Greek God of wine, and ancient festivals in his honor were the driving force behind the development of Greek Theater. He was also a liberator, whose wine, music and ecstatic dance freed his followers from fear and care, and subverted the oppressive restraints of the powerful.

Set in contemporary San Francisco, HOLD ME CLOSER, TINY DIONYSUS is about Tiny Dionysus, a god banished from Mount Olympus who is called upon by a group of unemployed San Francisco artists to teach them how to survive The Great Recession. Exploding from their adventures are lavish production numbers, eruptions of classic rock and pop songs, drag, and puppetry, featuring original songs by trixxie carr!

Ancient History

Hold Me Closer, Tiny Dionysus was first produced in a workshop production at Mama Calizo Voice Factory, as part of a DIY Residency in 2009.

The production was truly a product of several communities coming together. The cast was made up of performers from a variety of performance backgrounds, such as dance, theatre, drag, and clowning. In each performance, there was a cameo made by a different celebrated local legend, drag queen or performer. And all of the puppets were made by talented artists experienced in making festival puppets, but never for a theatrical production. The use of artists from so many different disciplines brings people together who may not know each other to share their talents and audiences, beginning a dialogue of change. And we are excited to create this multidisciplinary environment again.

From the success of that production we learned that the audience was with us on Tiny Diny's journey, and thus, we could go further, and deeper, into our desire to create an event that would free us all from fear and care, subvert the oppressive restraints of the powerful upon us, and help heal the anxieties caused by The Great Recession. Big aspirations, true. But why else work so hard?

Tiny Diny Returns

This new production of Hold Me Closer, Tiny Dionysus is part of CounterPULSE's Winter Special, and will play February 17-19, 2012. Looking at the events of today, with Occupy movements around the world voicing frustrations of "the 99%", it's clear the play is even more relevant now. We need Tiny Dionysus more than ever!

The funds raised through this Kickstarter will go directly to the production costs, the majority of which are performance and rehearsal space rentals, but also include: publicity and marketing materials; material cost of physical production, like sets, costumes and props; and also artist fees. While certainly not large enough to make a dent in anyone's rent, the artist fees are important to the intentions of the play itself: a play about the struggle to gain employment and use the truly unique contributions we each have to offer society, it is important these artists are paid for their work, even something small.

Please help us conjure Tiny Diny, so we may all be freed!

BEN RANDLE recently directed "The Chalk Boy" for Impact Theatre; "Into the Clear Blue Sky" by JC Lee for Sleepwalkers Theatre; A series in "The 2nd Annual SF One-Minute Play Festival"; "Last Five Years" for Poor Man’s Players; "Treefall", "Don’t Ask", "Doubt" (BATCC Nomination, Best Director), "Baptized to the Bone", and "Friends are Forever" at New Conservatory Theatre; "Hold Me Closer, Tiny Dionysus" (Mama Calizo Voice Factory), "Come As You Are!" (Brava!); Thrillpeddlers’ "Shocktoberfest" 2010 (assoc. dir.); Joe Besecker’s  "Loving Fathers" (Best of SF Fringe 2008); several productions with Katya Smirnoff-Skyy, which have played Don't Tell Mama (NYC), Rrazz Room, The Jewish Theatre, and Eureka Theater. Ben has a B.A. from San Francisco State University and was a member of Lincoln Center Theatre Directors Lab 2010. benrandle.squarespace.com

TRIXXIE CARR is a musician, faux queen, actress, chanteuse, playwright, and San Francisco native, who performs her original music as theatrical pieces at venues such as The DNA Lounge, Supperclub, Folsom Street Fair, and Café Du Nord.  Her first EP, 'A Souvenir for the Existentialists', was self-recorded in San Francisco and released in 2011. As a faux queen (a born-female drag queen) who performs regularly at Trannyshack, Some Thing, and countless other drag, political, festival events and street fairs, she mixes comedy, performance art, dance and theater into musical montages, always with an eye for social relevance, glamour, and philosophy.  In addition, until 2010, she was a lead singer/mash-up creator for the uniquely inventive cover band Smash-Up Derby, who toured in the US as well as internationally.

Recent credits include Peaches Christ’s touring live pre-show for 'All About Evil', which included showings in Manchester, UK and Lausanne, Switzerland as well as appearances in NY, LA and SF; Taylor Mac's "The Lily's Revenge" at The Magic Theatre;  “Work More” and “The Unbearable Lightness of Raya” at CounterPULSE. trixxiecarr.com