“punkparty”
Posted by Dave Perez on 4/15/2010
(Dave is the Director of punkplay, a part of the Visiting Company Initiative Garage Rep)
Pavement Group likes to party.
More specifically, we love to throw parties. While most young theatre companies are guilty of this indulgence, I think we may be the only one that has it in our mission statement - “We throw great parties.”
A little on partying:
We believe that most people go to theatre for entertainment or to improve their social lives. Pavement Group wants to harness that energy by making coming to the theatre an event - a visual and physical experience that requires your presence, your participation and your contribution. We think great art can also be - dare I say it - fun. If it takes the promise of a dance party to get people in the conversation, then dance we must.
With that in mind, you can imagine how pumped we were to throw “punkparty” in Steppenwolf’s gorgeous Yondorf Hall. In partnership with CHIRP Radio, “punkparty” proved to be another night of PBR fueled fun - with some dynamic art/engagement thrown in for good measure.
“punkparty”, borrowing the aesthetic of our current production of punkplay, turned Yondorf into a museum of a secret history of the punk movement. Underscored by CHIRP’s Mike Gibson and his ferocious music library, the event provided context for the murky world that Duck and Mickey attempt to resuscitate in punkplay. And to make sure there was evidence of the night, photog extraordinaire nk mooneyham constructed a punk photo booth for us to forever archive our foolishness.
Old friends, donors, new friends, and cast alike bumped shoulders and PBRs at what turned out to be one wonderful celebration. Part education, part cocktail hour, “punkparty” proved to be another great night of seemingly different people joining together over a tall boy and some art.
