Get Your Freak On!

Image by Ashley Gates for Dawson Street Dramatic Society

Quick Facts: Winter Freak One Act Showcase

THE DSDS present
The Winter Freak One Act Showcase
featuring new works by the DSDS players and NYC-based sketch group Jamie Wright and the Machine. Bluegrass dance party reception to follow with music by West Philly stompers Sour Mash.

March 5th, 8 pm @
Community Education Center at the Meetinghouse Theatre
Tickets $10 presale, $12 at the door (student, senior discounts)
Very limited amount of seating, one night only and can be purchased here
Hope to see you there!

Press Release for Winter Showcase

“The un-dead?  Sketch machine? Bluegrass?

Brains, Twang and Jang a Jang”

"Mindless, drooling shambling zombies..."--Philadelphia City Paper "The zombie apocalypse, shown a la Orson Welles War of the Worlds. A brilliant idea.":-Geekadelphia.Com

 

                                                                                      February 7^th, 2011

For Instant Relief:

To the south the un-dead zombies rise from the grave in the city of New Orleans, but lurk in every office, every cubicle.  New York City is the land full of funny, and a sketch comedy machine is oiled, ready and coming down here.  When the two meet there will be chills, thrills and belly laughs.  Afterwards, there will be wine and live bluegrass music to dance to.  This, friends, is the Dawson Street Dramatic Society Winter Freaky One Act Showcase! March 5^th at the Meetinghouse Theatre (CEC) at 35^th and Lancaster, Philadelphia PA

The Dawson Street Dramatic Society began in 2008 as the Zombies Aint Shit Co, a collection of Saint Joe’s alumni, hippie dead heads, painters, musicians and classical thespians to present very low-tech, brand spanking new original one act plays and radio performances in the comforts of corner bars in Philadelphia. Founded and directed by Gregory Day, a playwright from Houston, Texas and Antonia Cruz Arias, a flamenco singer from South Philadelphia. Together, the Dawson Dramatic Society presents fringe theatre concerning the horrors from beyond: previous works included Dead Air, Trickster spirits, rigor mortis enthusiasts and of course, lots and lots of home made blood spattered zombies

Our latest showcase features BRAND NEW WORKS from authors and directors Greg Day and Rena Dayton More, modern masters of horror designed to shock, crawl and shake you in your skin!  We aim to explore what happens when the dead return to life. They live; answering the phones in the pits and basements of our modern global economy.  Travel back in time to the cradle of jazz and voodoo in that damned place on the banks of the Pontchatrain when the fear of mortality meets your lust for life.  Come see what the Philadelphia City Paper calls “mindless, shambling zombies” live and in the flesh!

The DSDS is also very proud to present the Philly debut of NYC based

Jamie Wright and the Machine

From Jamie,

The machine builds the show in a writer’s forum.  They are interested in pushing the limits of what sketch comedy is by breaking away from traditional forms, and exploring the genre’s  limits- incorporating absurdism, vaudeville, and indie rock aesthetics. 

 The group’s experimental nature is inherent in their exploratory process and collaborative writing.

The company, comprised of young twenty-somethings on the brink of real adulthood, will use this evening to reflect back on the moments that impacted them, as individual people, and as a generation during the formative years (for them) of 2000-2009.  What made them laugh?  What made them cry?  How did growing up in this time period define their generation, support their generation, or really, ruin their generation?  What cultural icons will leave lasting impressions, and who are those cultural icons beyond a Hollywood or Washington, DC persona?  How does a world so filled with communication still leave people so utterly confused, and almost empty?  What does it really mean to grow up in the suburbs?  Who (I really mean who) are the suburbs?  All these questions will be stabbed, poked and prodded at with puns, musical numbers, routines, vaudeville, and a little bit of emotional babble as the company moves chronologically through the decade.

Following the performances, there will be a reception dance party featuring the music of West Philly’s acoustic bluegrass jam group Sour Mash and the DSDS’s own Stephen Rockwell.  Join us for a glass of icy cold beverages and lets celebrate the dreg and silent beauty of our winter season!  Also, please feel free to assist us in our donation drive to help us raise funds for the 2011 Philly Fringe Fest, where the DSDS has continued to bring you new works by emerging artists,  collaborations with talented folks from across the spectrum and engaged in acts of fake blood spattered cannibalism all for your viewing enjoyment

There is a very limited amount of tickets and you won’t want to miss this

Pre Sale Tickets are $10/Day of the Show $12, discounts for students and seniors

Ticket Sales provided by Event’s Bot and can be purchased in this “hyperlink”

Hope to see you there!

Love,

The DSDS

Jamie Wright and the Machine

Sour Mash

Check out our blog for audio podcasts, info on past shows and cast and crew info!

The Dawson Street Dramatic Society Blog

    

What is One Book, One Philadelphia?

This is the ninth year that One Book, One Philadelphia has been happening in Philadelphia. Basically it is a time for Philadelphia to read one book, and there are programs related to that book all year long. This year the book is War Dances and The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Spokane Indian author Sherman Alexie.  For information on Alexie, check out his website at
http://www.fallsapart.com/

 There is sure to be good conversation and interesting programs and Dawson St Dramatic is lucky to be a part of it all!

For more information on the War Dances, and One Book, One Philadelphia check out Free Library of Philadelphia or click here.

Trickster and Red Cloud Screams

March 1st, 7pm
One Book/One City
Free Library of Philadelphia, Parkway Central Library, Room 108, 1901 Vine St., 215-567-7710

Local playwright Greg Day from the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin presents staged
readings of two of his most recent works: Trickster, where an intern is confronted with
a mysterious presence upon discovering an ancient mask in the basement of a museum;
and Red Cloud Screams, featuring a protagonist who goes to confession in order to work
through his experiences in Native American boarding schools.

Hope to See you there!

NY Dance Exchange Performance!

We will be performing a short piece in the NY Dance Exchange event taking place at the CEC  located at 35th and Lancaster in beautiful West Philly! This is going to be an excellent event featuring dance, theater and musical performances. 

The event page!

Come out to the CEC on November 6th at 8pm
$12 for all ($10 for students/seniors)

DEAD AIR Live 9-18-2010 PODCAST

Click on the link below to download our END OF THE FRINGE podcast

Thank you to everyone who came out and saw DEAD AIR--making this year's Fringe the most successful year yet!

Please enjoy scenes from our closing night of DEAD AIR: Live at the Dawson Street Pub 9-18-2010

DEAD AIR LIVE PODCAST

Scenes from Dead Air PODCAST

Please enjoy


SCENES FROM DEAD AIR: The Podcast


Final Performance of DEAD AIR is Saturday, Sept 18th at the Dawson Street Pub, 8 pm Tickets $10 dollars available at the door or at the Philly Box Office

Reviews, Press & CLOSING NIGHT

This week is the final week for the 2010 Live Arts and Philly Fringe Festival!  The Friday, September 17th show at Connie's Ric Rac has been canceled!--Final show Saturday September 18th at Dawson Street Pub

DEAD AIR will have the closing night party at the Dawson Street Pub at 8 pm, Tickets are $10 dollars and can be purchased at the door or in advance at the Fringe Box Office

Don't miss your last chance to see DEAD AIR: The Final Broadcast of the Zombie Apocalypse

"Mindless, drooling shambling zombies..."--Philadelphia City Paper

"The zombie apocalypse, shown a la Orson Welles War of the Worlds. A brilliant idea.":-Geekadelphia.Com

Check back later this week for the mid-show run PODCAST
We'll see your brains Friday Night! 

BLOOD AND BRAINS

Today's Special: Blood and Brains

by Molly Eichel

	print	email	reply

Published: Sep 1, 2010

(1)

Tribe of Fools wants to scare the bejeezus out of you so badly with their version ofDracula, they're making you sign a waiver. Not kidding. Instead of some clichéd Béla Lugosi knockoff, they're digging deeper, focusing on the brain fever suffered by hapless solicitor Jonathan Harker from Bram Stoker's OG novel. "The stuff that we're playing with comes from us doing about a year of research about fear — both the psychological and biological mechanisms," says Tribe artistic director/Draculadirector Jay Wojnarowski. The idea is to work your amygdala over pretty good.
Sept. 2-6 and 8-11, $20, St. Stephen's Theater, 923 Ludlow St.                                                                 

(2)

There are a ton of meaningless musical genres that make sense only to bloggers and nerds, but Rainbow Destroyer's self-proclaimed "zombie-pop" could not be more apt. Rainbeaux Bite and Brian Reignbow make dancefloor-ready New Wave tunes that would fit right in at Making Time — if Making Time were for dead people. And if their YouTube channel has anything to say about it, the duo is straight-up hilarious and dead sexy (rim shot!). Zombies Are Forever is your turn to audition for the band — zombie affects optional — in a karaoke rumpus. I call The Hooters' "All You Zombies."

Sept. 9-11, 11:45 p.m., $10, RUBA Club, 414 Green St.

(3)

The Dawson Street Dramatic Society (DSDS) is hardly a bunch of undead posers; they originally called themselves Zombies Ain't Shit Co. (and, perhaps unrelated, they're huge Grateful Dead fans). For Dead Air: The Final Broadcast of the Zombie Apocalypse, the company takes cues from Orson Welles and his Mercury Theater Co. Just as that famous 1938 broadcast of H.G. Wells' War of the Worldsfreaked out unsuspecting listeners, DSDS will broadcast humanity's last gasps during a world-ruining zombie takeover.
Sept. 3-4, 10 and 17-18, $10, Connie's Ric Rac, 1132 S. Ninth St.                                                              

(4)

Call it a counterpoint to Dead Air's prediction of the zomb-pocalypse: Little Bunny Voodoo — a puppetry company that seeks to bring its kid-friendly medium to adult audiences — imagines a world in which the whole undead-revolution kerfuffle has been avoided. In A Tale of Two Brains, all that's left are two toothless zombies roaming the Earth, seeking out the meaning of life — and maybe a good dentist. 

Sept. 9-11, $10, RUBA Club, 414 Green St.

OPENING NIGHT!!!

Opening Night of DEAD AIR
has come and gone, but was a great success!
Thanks to Dave, Steve and all that came by the Dawson Street Pub last Friday to help us kick off DEAD AIR and the 2010 Philly Fringe!  Dave managed to get everyone a seat up close to the stage and the sound was crystal clear---there was also lots of good food and drink, oh and the play went well

SATURDAY NIGHT saw us live in Center City for the first time and what a turn out!  Connie's Ric Rac, a south philly staple, lives up to the reputation with the creepy surroundings and bright stage lights!  Its no longer a BYOB though, so empty all those bottles into soda cups before coming

The Fringe Fest is also underway and I can't wait to get out there and see Marat/Sade, Dracula, A tale of Two Brains, and 448 Psychosis---one of the first Fringe shows I ever saw (Edinburgh Fringe 04) and directed in a one act festival in Texas.

DEAD AIR runs Friday Night Sept 10th at Connie's Ric Rac at 9th and Washington starting at 8 pm.

We will then finish the Fringe with a final Friday at Connies (Sept 17th) and close out the 2010 Live Arts Philly Fringe Fest at Dawson Street Pub on Saturday (Sept 18th)

We'll be back next week to put up our newest podcast including LIVE CLIPS FROM THE SHOW, on the spot reviews, and the secrets to making home made blooooood.

In the meantime, check out this great article the Philly City Paper did on horror in the Fringe!

Today's Special: Blood and Brains :: Cover Story :: Article :: Philadelphia City Paper

Today's Special: Blood and Brains :: Cover Story :: Article :: Philadelphia City Paper

Meet the players...

of DEAD AIR! We are proud to present podcast numero dos from all of us at Dawson Street Dramatic Society, featuring interviews with Steven Rockwell and Rena Moore, recorded in West Philly, edited in our underpants, and uploaded from the coffee shop!

PODCAST DOS

...we are officially TWO WEEKS AWAY from the premier of DSDS's newest spectacle!

BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW FROM The Philly Fringe Website

Also, join our email list for superfluous updates full of hilarity and obscenities! Send us your email address or put 'em in the comment box and we'll send you stuff occasionally!

AND: check out our very own Greg Day on the Philly Fringe BLOG. Brief and silly-a must read!

Check out secret cast-mate, home-brewer, constant contributor and occasional zombie/Sasquatch stand-in JJ Darling's blog http://www.kenyonstreetbrewery.com/ and official site (for photography) The JJ DAAHLING website!

See you at the show!!

Dead Air: UPDATES!

Dead Air: the Last Broadcast of the Zombie Apocalypse is coming soon to the 2010 Philly Fringe...until then, tune into our newest addition A PODCAST!

PODCAST PART ONE
PODCAST PART TWO

(Simply click on the link, and play through iTunes or your preferred mp3-playin' program.)

Each bit is about 20 minutes long, in which Greg Day and Toni Arias (co-directors of DSDS) chat about the Dead, the undead, Earth, radio...

AND you get to hear clips from our newest work-in-progress, world-premier...Dead Air!


Tell your friends! Neighbors! Optometrists! And don't touch those dials, we'll be back soon for another edition of...DEAD AIR: the PODCAST.

DEAD AIR: The Title

"Magic is what we do, music is how we do it."
--Jerry Garcia

Hello All!  With the Fringe fast approaching and rehearsals/recordings well under way for the DSDS upcoming WORLD PREMIERE new work "DEAD AIR: The Final Broadcast of the Zombie Apocalypse."  There has been a little confusion as to the origin of the title of this work (a radio play starring the survivors of the zombie uprising) and I wanted to clarify, but also give credit where credit is due

Dead Air--–noun

the loss or suspension of the video or audio signal during atelevision or radio transmission

Ok so far so good, DEAD AIR is also the name of the roller hockey team some guys in my office play on so its a pretty general term.

But why call this play DEAD AIR?  I mean, it could be because that after the un-dead rise and consume the living, there won't be much to listen to on the radio....but really, the title itself comes from a little place called...

When I was growing up out near Houston, Texas, as a young dead head in training, my weekly exposure to the infinite world of Jerry and the boys came in through my radio speakers, with DJ Sandy bringing us DEAD AIR---playing live un-cut sets from those bootlegs and tapers, for all those additional Saturday nights when it was time to tear this old building down.  I can recall one weekend, living out in Brazoria county on the banks of the San Bernard river, and after sneaking a smoke in the backyard, found and managed to tune an old radio to KPFT during those twilight hours full of the dead.  Sitting outside, I can still see the lights and feel my mind really think as Jerry sang of the ship of fools right into my brain and showed me the only truth: that there is nothing like the Grateful Dead. Its magical what the Dead can do to a young guy staying up late just to listen to the sounds.

"Deadheads are kinda like people who like licorice. Not everybody likes licorice, but people who like licorice, REALLY like licorice!"

--J. Garcia

Even with my love of the Dead and their music firmly implanted in my mind and personality from birth, Sandy's weekly broadcast proved that there would always be a Dead show, floating around out there, not asking for anything other than a good listen, and maybe some dancing!

Check out KPFT's DEAD AIR website!

http://www.deadairkpft.com/index.htm

I hope this clears up any and all misinformation regarding the title!

and remember to check out the Fringe website for Tickets and Information!!!

http://www.livearts-fringe.org/details.cfm?id=14042

TICKETS ON SALE FOR 2010 FRINGE

Please visit the 2010 Philadelphia Live Arts and Philly Fringe website to purchase tickets, check out upcoming shows and get ready for an amazing festival!

http://www.livearts-fringe.org/details.cfm?id=14042

For Tickets and Showtimes for Dead Air!

DEAD AIR Videos

Dead Air: The Final Broadcast of the Zombie Apocalypse  is an original new full length radio play presenting the last words of mankind.  The constant pollution and destruction of our natural world has given way to the dead rising from the grave to feast on the flesh and brains of the living.  DEAD AIR is an inspired new production, and I thought I'd come on here and give you an idea of where and how Dead Air came to be:

The Original Broadcast from Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds"



John Trudell, is an American Indian activist, poet, actor and songwriter.  The following clip is from the documentary "Trudell" in which John explains the connection to the land.





One of my absolute favorite Grateful Dead traditional ballads, "Walk Me Out in the Morning Dew"---a folk song concerning the apocalypse and end of days.  Here is a video of the Dead performing the ballad in March 1986 at the Spectrum in Philadelphia




Another rocking and rolling version of the song by British folkie Tim Rose



And of course, because DEAD AIR is a throwback, or homage I suppose to the classic days of radio, this sketch with a gigantic sweaty Orson Welles and a spry Dean-o Martin should give you an idea of the madness that awaits you in our live performances---minus the abundance of sweat

A Quick Biography

The Dawson Street Dramatic Society began in 2008 as the Zombies Aint Shit Co, a collection of Saint Joe’s alumni, hippie dead heads, painters, musicians and classical thespians to present very low-tech, brand spanking new original one act plays and radio performances in the comforts of corner bars in Philadelphia.  Founded and directed by Gregory Day, a playwright from Houston, Texas and Antonia Cruz Arias, a flamenco singer from South Philadelphia.  Together, the Dawson Dramatic Society presents fringe theatre concerning the horrors from beyond: previous works included Trickster spirits, rigor mortis enthusiasts and of course, lots and lots of home made blood spattered zombies. The Society returns this fall with an exciting new work Dead Air: The Final Broadcast of the Zombie Apocalypse for the 2010 Philly Live Arts and Fringe Festival.  Taking their cue from Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre’s 1938 production of War of the Worlds, DEAD AIR explores those desperate last words broadcast on the airwaves, as the pollution and industry overflows and spills, causing the dead to rise from their graves and feast on the living, DEAD AIR brings you all your favorite radio personalities being torn apart with original music by Stephen Rockwell and jamming of the Grateful Dead. The Society’s Mission Statement is to continue to showcase emerging new works, collaborate with musicians and artists of all shapes and sizes, and to preserve the history and the culture of the living dead.

A little write up from last season...

The Manyunk Review wrote a bit about YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE in February of 2010.
Check it out, ya'll. 

Many thanks to Jon Campisi.

Some photos from YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE!

Sal Davila, Rena Moore in "Trickster".
Mask by Antonia Arias

Steve Rockwell, Rena Moore and JJ Darling in "Are You Dead Yet?"

Rena Moore and Sara Solt in "The Beholder"