Strange Attractor Has Been Making a Play. . . 

In March 2010, Strange Attractor, our two-year-old devising company based in Providence, RI, Juneau, AK and Philadelphia, PA, decided to make a new play using Ibsen's Brand as a point of departure. Some people thought making a new physically-created performance using a classically "unperformable" 19th century Norwegian play about living your life "all or nothing" as source material sounded tricky, but we thought it sounded really tricky, and therefore, perfect.

Why It Matters. . . 

Providence and Juneau, though far away from each other, are both filled with artists and dreamers and do-ers. Residing in the biggest and the smallest states, the people who call these cities home are similarly northern and similarly extreme. A Terrific Fire, which has become a meditation on living in the extreme, has found its voice in and because of these two disparate and unique communities. 

The time is right for this show. Everywhere we look the world claims to be seeking balance, but only becomes more polarized. A Terrific Fire, part haunted-house, part adventure story, allows audiences to slip into a time warp, a world of total extreme, a place where even they are pushed to their limits. We describe our work as "sub-political." We never aim to present a message, but underneath our outlandish characters and playful facade are deep concerns about the state of the world.

Along the way of A Terrific Fire's creation, it became clear that not just Providence and Juneau audiences were interested, but the national conversation around devised and ensemble-created theatre too. Something that started as a theatrical dare among collaborators has turned into a play that may achieve national touring and attention, putting a cultural spotlight on our company as well as two communities that have not yet become known for 21st century performance art. In the thrill of moments like these it is easy to get carried away, dream bigger than we've even dared and forget how much work stands between us and that final product.

So now we have to finish making the show.

What We Need & What You Get

The total development of this project has received funding from the state arts councils in Rhode Island and Alaska, a Providence Provision award and generous contributions from individual donors. For this final phase alone, we have thus far received $5,800 through grants and ticket sales from past projects. That is enough to secure travel for our out-of-town artists, housing, performance space, lighting, props, and costumes. However, the play we are building, much like our point of departure, is huge.  

To create a finished product worthy of the piece we are building we still need $3,500. Where does that go?

• Personnel: Our team is doubling in size. For the first time ever Strange Attractor is incorporating two writers, an outside-eye, a sound designer and a lighting designer. Adding that to our team of four actor/creators means engaging nine artists for two months of work. Compensating all that talent, even at a token rate, will cost $2,000.
  
• Sets: The spaces we hope to create are expansive and then small, growing and shrinking as we move the audience through areas they never thought they were allowed to go. And then we mountain climb all over them (seriously). Materials alone will cost $1,000.
  
• Marketing: We have spent a year making this show, and we want people to come For the first time, we are buying ad space in local papers and on-line. We are printing more posters than ever before to be hung in even more coffee shops and bookstores. We can get all that done conservatively for $500. 
  

In return for your donation to our cause you get handsomely rewarded in the form of physical gifts, a tax deduction thanks to our fiscal sponsors AS220, and a moving, ground-breaking, life-changing play in Providence and then, if we did it right, beyond.

Other Ways You Can Help

Whether you can donate at this point or not, there are loads of ways to offer support in addition to your financial contribution:

• Come to the performances in March.
• Follow us on  facebook.
• Sign up for our  email list.
• Volunteer -- hang lights, hang posters, whatever. Tell us what you like to do and we'll find some way to occupy your time.
• Share our story on facebook, twitter, email, smoke signals
• Talk to your friends about performance and art and fundraising over dinner, drinks, and coffees.

Find Out More About Strange Attractor. . .

Strange Attractor at Perseverance Theatre

Strange Attractor presents Phase II 

Strange Attractor's F.orward O.perating B.ase

Strange Attractor's Special Happy (Christmas)

Where we were One Year Ago 

Attribution

Actor/Creators: Aram Aghazarian, Roblin Davis, Jed Hancock-Brainerd, and Rebecca Noon

Text Contribution: Mia Chung and Adara Meyers

Outside Eye: D'Arcy Dersham

Funding for A Terrific Fire provided in part by a grant from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, through an appropriation by the Rhode Island General Assembly, a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and private funders.

All Photos taken by Flordelino Lagundino.

Vivaldi's Four Seasons, performed by John Harrison with the Wichita State University Chamber Music Players. 

Opportunity by Brasstronaut