Season I: Laughter in a Time of War
From Autumn 2023 to Summer 2024, DPL presented our first full season of live-action entertainment. Kicking off with The From Above/From Below Ball in October in Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids, Michigan, the season ended in August with a recitation of Mary Lamb's rendition of Much Ado About Nothing in St. Catharines, Ontario. The season primarily explored the relationship between comedy and tragedy as opposites and as lovers in a time of global strife, through a multiplicity of mediums.
The 1st Annual From Above/From Below BⒶll
We kicked off our '23-24 Season with the first annual From Above, From Below Ball, a two-night event of mind-bending magic and mystery to celebrate the release of our first annual horror anthology. Night I: From Below was held in Western Michigan University's Student Center in Kalamazoo on Fri. Oct 27th, with Night II: From Above occurring the next night at Books & Mortar in Grands Rapids on Sat. Oct. 28th.
Both events featured live music from Akron, Ohio-based indie rock musician Skeleton Drive, with localish folk punk hero Batshit Bill joining for the Night I show. We released both the print edition of x/y: a junk drawer of gender exploration issue #2: knowledge & mystery and Trans Rites: An Anthology of Genderfucked Horror, with drinks, party favors, and charcuterie provided. We were also joined for Night II by Lennox Rex and C. C. Rayne, who remotely read their stories "Birthday Suit" and "Dr. Frankenstein Dabbles in Self-Discovery" for the assembly.
Samson Agonistes:
A Benefit Performance to Support the Palestinian Social Fund
ft. One with the Riverbed
On February 3rd, 2024, we gathered a group of poets at the First Congregational Church of Kalamazoo for a recitation of John Milton's closet drama Samson Agonistes, a retelling of the tragedy of Samson and Dalila. Composed in the mid-1600s, the piece presents the story of one of mythology's first superheroes in tragic verse, opening with a blind Samson stumbling out onto the stage, beginning and culminating in an explosion of righteous Violence, played here by live musical accompaniment from metal band One with the Riverbed.
~Cast~
Samson....................................................................Devyn Abdullah
Dalila Messenger...........................................................Alexandra Newton
Manoa, Father of Samson........Michael "Midnight Mike" Parker
Chorus.................................................................v.f. thompson
Harapha of Gath.......................................................Edward Draven
Violence..........................................................One with the Riverbed
This new abridged adaptation recontextualized Milton's original text, turning it into a multicultural meditation on the ways that war and holy terror ravage the land itself, a defiant statement of interfaith solidarity in a time of great strife, with proceeds benefiting the Palestinian Social Fund, an organization which supports grassroots cooperative farms on the ground. The new edition of the text was published as a zine distributed at the event and includes four recipes from the region that were researched, prepared and served at the event by chef Jack Keough, presented alongside a selection of jewelry from artist @irishhamsa.
Freud's Last Session
On March 29th & 30th, we partnered with Western Michigan University's Department of World Religions and Cultures and Office of Health Promotion and Education for a special presentation of Mark St. Germain's Freud's Last Session under the revived banner of the university's former Theatre for Community Health program. The show was held on campus in the Clifford Film Auditorium in Brown Hall and presented remotely as a live radio play. Suggested by the as a hypothetical debate between C. S. Lewis and Dr. Sigmund Freud at the dawn of World War II, the two intellectual rivals discuss the nature of sex, the mind, and the soul as the world outside prepares to go nuclear.
~Cast~
C. S. Lewis........................................................Mars Wilson
Sigmund Freud................................................Tobin Bates
This collaboration was pursued as an educational opportunity for both students on campus and community members to grapple with the complicated role played by spirituality and reason in the fields of psychoanalysis and mental health in a structured, mediated format, featuring a talk-back following the performance with the actors and Professor Kevin Wanner from World Religions & Cultures.
Knock Knock, Boo-Hoo!
A Stand-Up Tragedy Show
On April 19th, we held our first stand-up show at Waldo's Campus Tavern, Knock Knock, Boo-Hoo!. Comedy and Tragedy have long been lovers, complementary flavors that mediate between different emotional states, and we commiserated as seven comedians (five billed and two walk-ons) competed for the audience's pity to decide who could tell the funniest sob story (or saddest funny story).
~Lineup~
❖ David Philips❖ Jogun❖ May Recchia
❖ Austin Williams ❖ Dominque Martinez ❖ Nathan
❖ KT
Hosted by Dr. Funeebonez of the Frankenfellows
Each comic stepped up to the plate and told their tale of woe, competing for the coveted title of Meister of Misery and a fifty dollar cash prize. At the end of the show, the audience elected KT, a member of the crowd who had taken a walk-on spot and a total stand-up virgin, as winner!
Litha Faire
In between this season's shows, we had the opportunity to vend at Litha Faire, a festival to celebrate summer equinox, with over 60 other incredible artists and merchants of all stripes!
We had a selection of our publications for sale, along with a smattering of other goodies. The event was hosted by Coyote Bones Collective in Market Square in St. Catharines, Ontario on June 23rd.
Shakespeare Storytime:
Much Ado About Nothing
Capping off the season was our Shakespeare Storytime performance of Much Ado About Nothing, an unabridged recitation of Mary Lamb's adaptation of the original text, held on Thursday, August 15th at Mahtay Cafe & Lounge in St. Catharines, Ontario.
Working together with her brother Charles, the Lamb siblings worked together to retell the bulk of the Bard's plays in a prose form which was suitable for younger readers in the book Tales from Shakespeare, published in 1807. Mischief and mirth abounded in the classic comedy as two sets of lovers dipped in and out of infatuation, the bastard brother of a prince schemed and scammed, and the party reveled on as a flurry of lies and love letters sent the players tumbling right into romance.
