The idea is wonderful: a late-night interactive freak-show that runs for a little over 2 months with a $5 cover and new content every week. Out-of-Hand Theater is using the Friday late-night slot at Horizon Theatre to experiment with an interesting production model, hoping the cheap tickets and ever-evolving content will inspire repeat audience, and it looks like it has—on the night I came there were at least 8 people in the crowd who had seen The Show before, and I heard somebody in the lobby after the performance talking about how he liked having insight from an earlier performance into certain character histories. That's cool. Unfortunately, the performances I saw did nothing to make me want to come back, and I was disappointed to see such great performers spread so thin.
The Show advertises itself as being run by the audience, giving the crowd wooden sticks with marshmallow Peeps on the end to wave in the air in a democratic process that determines the order of performances. There are also points where the Beautiful Bearded Lady M.C. (Steven Westdahl) stops the show to offer the audience perks in exchange for their one-dollar “Interactive Fun Tickets” which can buy you a shot of whiskey or a personalized fortune-telling, which is an innovative financial model which only occasionally makes the performers seem whorish. The most dramatic moment of the night was seeing the sad look on an audience member's face after he payed a ticket to select a flask of absinthe from the “Suitcase of Wonders”* and was told he had to pay an additional ticket in order to taste it. Fortunately a kind audience member offered his ticket to the cause after an awkward moment.
Sometimes the whole is no where near as great as the sum of its parts, and the performers in The Show are a perfect example of this. Every artist involved in this show is an asset to the Atlanta community. Justin Welborn (Mr. Zero-Zero) in particular has an incredible physical instrument and I loved watching his surprisingly textured character, but the format of The Show leaves each of these skilled performers little room to explore any dramatic relevance.
So, what we get is this vague idea of the 10-in-1 circus freak sideshow with “spectacular acts” that rarely include any spectacle and a down-to-earth mock-showmanship that often makes it seem like the performers are apologizing for demanding the audience's attention. Too much felt thrown together with this attitude that if the performers don't take themselves too seriously neither will the audience, which is an unfortunate trend that I notice in Atlanta theater.
Please, do not get me wrong: go see The Show. It's an hour long, only costs 5 bucks, and these artists are worth supporting, but don't expect much more than a live-action drinking game. Keep an eye on future productions from Out of Hand. They're doing cool things, and in fact today Out of Hand is performing their show "Hominid" at the Strassentheater Festival in Detmold, Germany.
OUT OF HAND MISSION STATEMENT:
Out Of Hand Theater makes new work for new audiences. We are a collection of writer/director/performers who make ravishing, athletic performances with and for our ever expanding, beloved community. Out Of Hand creates razor-sharp, delight-filled experiences by:
- Involving the audience in a new way every time, giving you a stake in the show
- Magnifying the places where we, artists and audience, share common ground, causing moments of mass intimacy
- Embracing those who are unreached by conventional theater
Out of Hand is a 501 c3 non-profit organization.
*I am not sure what the proper name for this segment/prop is, nor whether it's appropriate to capitalize as a proper noun. Please don't go all Steven Wesdahl on me in the comment section. I am not a journalist, I'm just trying to encourage critical thought and communication among Atlanta audiences. I have no sources and am not that concerned about the name of a damn suitcase.
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