RatFest '97

The venues at which the conference will take place:

further contact: Gabriele Schafer / Nick Fracaro Thieves Theatre P.O. Box 170218 Brooklyn, NY 11217 718-834-4542 / thieves@interport.net

If there's a mistake in the schedule or you want to add a description to your discussion/event, send the info to Barry Rowell and Catherine Porter, Peculiar Works Project, 312 E. 6th St. #E3, NYC 10003, tel. 212-529-3626, e-mail pwpny@aol.com.

DURING THE CONFERENCE, INFO HOTLINE: 718-832-6504.

INFORMATION CENTRAL during the conference will be a bulletin board to post notes to each other, changes of venue, etc. at the Ohio Theatre beginning Sunday, 8/17.

5 - 7 pm
GENERAL MEETING at East 4th Street Theatre The Big Kick-off. A chance to get to know each other and find out any late breaking conference news.

7 - 10 pm
PARTY at the East 4th Street Theatre Food and drink and socializing... or use the time to catch theatre by Rats performing around town.

10 pm
TERRA INCOGNITA at HERE Cafe ...a place to hang out and talk the night away.

Midnight
LATER TERRA INCOGNITA at KGB Bar, 85 E. 4th Street

TIRZA'S WINE BATH WORKSHOP Tirza's was the most glorious and notorious of the "girlie revues" in the Coney Island of yesteryear. Its sumptuous pink decor, fabulous bubble machine and swell girls earned Tirza's a renown well beyond Brooklyn's coast line. To gain a grasp on exactly what it consisted of is impossible today, as hearsay and legend have obscured much of its true nature. The one and only irrefutable fact is that Tirza herself was immersed in a bathtub full of red wine as part of her performance. For the first time in Decades, Tirza's Wine Baths will return to the shores of Coney Island in a new run. The times have changed, and so has Tirza. Every Saturday Night will bring an all new show with outrageous new acts. A blend of old style Burlesque, new Vaudville, and exotic, erotic performances from the edge. Thieves Theatre will hold open workshops throughout the Conference-- time and place depending on schedules of participants-- that will culminate in performance at Coney Island, USA on August 23, 10pm. http://www.coneyislandusa.com/tirza.html

10 am - 1 pm
MULTICULTURALISM AND THEATER at HERE Led by Denis Moritz, Theatre Double (Philadelphia)

1 - 2 pm
LUNCH

2 - 4 pm
THE ELECTRONIC RAT at HERE Led by Gabriele Schafer and Nick Fracaro, Thieves Theatre (Brooklyn). Including discussions on the Rat webpage -- there's only one now; there should be a dozen; on creating a Rat playwrights database accessible from the Internet -- how to set it up, maintain it, how to edit, who has access and how much, etc.; on what we want from the Rat-list mail serve.

4 - 6 pm
MEYERHOLD WORKSHOP at HERE Led by Carlo Altomere, Alchemical Theatre (NYC).

6 - 7 pm
RAT PACK at HERE Workshop (downstairs) The daily meeting to look back on the day, get updates on additions and changes to scheduled discussions, performances, etc.

7 - 8 pm
DINNER... or BITS OF RAT WITH YOUR TAKE-OUT at HERE Organized by Peculiar Works Project (NYC). Presentations by fellow Rats during the dinner hour; a chance to see, hear and smell what other people are working on. Grab a falafel sandwich and a designer water and come back for Big Cheap work.

8 - 11 pm
TERRA INCOGNITA at HERE Or check out a show by a fellow Rat, something from the Fringe Fest... it's your call!

8 - 10 pm
RATSO'S RATCHET at the East 4th Street Theatre Led by Joshua Furst and Jonathan Pascoe (NYC). 200 different three-minute plays will be presented. Continues daily through Friday, 8/22.

11 pm
LOUNGE PARTY at HERE Cafe INDEPEDENT is HERE's regular weekly lounge party featuring DJs (but no dancing), video projection, drinks and talk. This one is in honor of RAT and RAT'S ASS beer will be served.

Midnight
LATER TERRA INCOGNITA at KGB Bar, 85 E. 4th Street

Noon - 2 pm
RAT: WHAT DO WE WANT? at the Ohio Led by Mitchell Gossett, Bottom's Dream (L.A.). Bagels and coffee, too!

2 - 4 pm
YOU WANT FRIES WITH THAT? at HERE Workshop led by Brad Rothbart (NYC). A chance for us to stop discussing co-production and actually create something together. This workshop will address the idea of the commodification of desire and how it affects us in our everyday lives. Continues daily through Friday, 8/22.

2 - 6 pm
GESTURE WORKSHOP at the Ohio Led by Kristin Marting, HERE (NYC). Kristin will show some of the gestural vocabulary work she's been developing for the past seven years and wants other workshop participants to show any codified physical work they have been working on.

6 - 7 pm
RAT PACK at the Ohio The daily meeting to look back on the day, get updates on additions and changes to scheduled discussions, performances, etc.

7 - 8 pm
DINNER... or BITS OF RAT WITH YOUR TAKE-OUT at the Ohio Organized by Peculiar Works Project (NYC). Presentations by fellow Rats during the dinner hour.

8 - 10 pm
RAT CO-PRODUCTIONS -- HOW DO WE GET THERE? at the Ohio Led by Mitchell Gossett, Bottom's Dream (L.A.) and Kristin Marting, HERE (NYC).

8 - 10 pm
RATSO'S RATCHET at the East 4th Street Theatre Led by Joshua Furst and Jonathan Pascoe (NYC). 200 different three-minute plays will be presented. Continues daily through Friday, 8/22.

10 pm
TERRA INCOGNITA at HERE

Midnight
LATER TERRA INCOGNITA at KGB Bar, 85 E. 4th Street

1 - 3 pm
ALTERNATIVE DOESN'T HAVE TO MEAN DISORGANIZED at the Ohio A roundtable discussion led by Sarah Hughes, Undermain (Dallas).

2 - 4 pm
YOU WANT FRIES WITH THAT? at HERE Workshop led by Brad Rothbart (NYC). A chance for us to stop discussing co-production and actually create something together.

4 - 6 pm
ARTS MANAGEMENT, GRANT WRITING & SCHMOOZING at the Ohio Led by Andrew Mellen (NYC).

6 - 7 pm
RAT PACK at the Ohio The daily meeting to look back on the day, get updates on additions and changes to scheduled discussions, performances, etc.

7 - 8 pm
DINNER... or BITS OF RAT WITH YOUR TAKE-OUT at the Ohio Organized by Peculiar Works Project (NYC). Presentations by fellow Rats during the dinner hour.

8 - 10 pm
FAILURES DISCUSSION at the Ohio Facilitated by Barry Rowell, Peculiar Works (NYC) and Mary Agnes, digital artist (L.A.). An open-forum discussion of our failures -- artistic, administrative, political -- how we dealt with them and what they taught us. A confessional talk show without the humiliation, the judgmental audience, or Montel Williams.

8 - 10 pm
RATSO'S RATCHET at the East 4th Street Theatre Led by Joshua Furst and Jonathan Pascoe (NYC). 200 different three-minute plays will be presented. Continues daily through Friday, 8/22.

10 pm
TERRA INCOGNITA at HERE

Midnight
LATER TERRA INCOGNITA at KGB Bar, 85 E. 4th Street

2 - 6 pm
STRANGE FRUIT at the Ohio Workshop led by Ruth Margraff, playwright (NYC).

2 - 4 pm
YOU WANT FRIES WITH THAT? at HERE Workshop led by Brad Rothbart (NYC). A chance for us to stop discussing co-production and actually create something together.

6 - 7 pm
RAT PACK at the Ohio The daily meeting to look back on the day, get updates on additions and changes to scheduled discussions, performances, etc.

7 - 8 pm
DINNER... or BITS OF RAT WITH YOUR TAKE-OUT at the Ohio Organized by Peculiar Works Project (NYC). Presentations by fellow Rats during the dinner hour.

8 - 10 pm
POST-VERBAL PERFORMANCE IN A MULTI-DYNAMIC ENVIRONMENT at the Ohio Workshop led by Jason Neulander, Salvage Vanguard (Austin).

8 - 10 pm
RATSO'S RATCHET at the East 4th Street Theatre Led by Joshua Furst and Jonathan Pascoe (NYC). 200 different three-minute plays will be presented. Continues daily through Friday, 8/22.

10 pm
TERRA INCOGNITA at HERE

Midnight
LATER TERRA INCOGNITA at KGB Bar, 85 E. 4th Street

11 am - 1 pm
RATS IN THE WALLS at the Ohio A roundtable discussion one site-specific production led by Lisa D'Amour, Playwrights Center (Minneapolis).

1 - 2 pm
LUNCH

2 - 4 pm
YOU WANT FRIES WITH THAT? at HERE Workshop led by Brad Rothbart (NYC). A chance for us to stop discussing co-production and actually create something together.

2 - 6 pm
RATS IN THE WALLS (cont'd) at the Ohio Led by Lisa D'Amour, Playwrights Center (Minneapolis). A workshop, continuing the discussions, to create a short piece using a specific site in or near the theatre.

6 - 7 pm
RAT PACK at the Ohio The daily meeting to look back on the day, get updates on additions and changes to scheduled discussions, performances, etc.

7 - 8 pm
DINNER... or BITS OF RAT WITH YOUR TAKE-OUT at the Ohio Organized by Peculiar Works Project (NYC). Presentations by fellow Rats during the dinner hour.

8 - 10 pm
CRITICAL RESPONSE at the Ohio Led by Karen Ott, Thieves Theatre (Brooklyn).

8 - 10 pm
RATSO'S RATCHET: An expo of nationwide playwrights at the East 4th Street Theatre Led by Joshua Furst and Jonathan Pascoe (NYC). 200 different three-minute plays will be presented. Continues daily through Friday, 8/22.

10 pm
TERRA INCOGNITA at HERE Cafe

Midnight
LATER TERRA INCOGNITA at KGB Bar, 85 E. 4th Street

11 am - 1 pm
YOU WANT FRIES WITH THAT? at HERE Workshop led by Brad Rothbart (NYC). A chance for us to stop discussing co-production and actually create something together.

2 - 6 pm
THE PLAGUE WORKSHOP at the Ohio Led by Brad Rothbart (NYC). An experiential form originally created by The Living Theatre based on Artaud's description of the Black Death in his seminal essay, "Theatre and the Plague."

6 - 7 pm
RAT PACK at the Ohio The daily meeting to look back on the day, get updates on additions and changes to scheduled discussions, performances, etc.

7 - 8 pm
DINNER... or BITS OF RAT WITH YOUR TAKE-OUT at the Ohio Organized by Peculiar Works Project (NYC). Presentations by fellow Rats during the dinner hour.

8 - 10 pm
ALTERNATIVE MEDIA MOVEMENT at the Ohio Led by Robert Lyons, Soho Think Tank (NYC). Roundtable discussion of theatre in relation to other alternative media activists (video, radio, public access, publishing, etc.).

8 - 10 pm
RATSO'S RATCHET at the East 4th Street Theatre Led by Joshua Furst and Jonathan Pascoe (NYC). 200 different three-minute plays will be presented. Continues daily through Friday, 8/22.

10 pm
TERRA INCOGNITA at HERE Cafe

Midnight
LATER TERRA INCOGNITA at KGB Bar, 85 E. 4th Street

2 - 4 pm
YOU WANT FRIES WITH THAT? at HERE Workshop led by Brad Rothbart (NYC). A chance for us to stop discussing co-production and actually create something together.

2 - 6 pm
RAT SCAM SWAP at the Ohio An opportunity to share with each other some cheap, yet tasteless, ways we get by. An open forum discussion.

6 - 7 pm
RAT PACK at the Ohio The daily meeting to look back on the day, get updates on additions and changes to scheduled discussions, performances, etc.

7 - 8 pm
DINNER... or BITS OF RAT WITH YOUR TAKE-OUT at the Ohio Organized by Peculiar Works Project (NYC). Presentations by fellow Rats during the dinner hour.

8 - 10 pm
PRESS, CRITIC & RAT at the Ohio Roundtable discussion led by Gabriele Schafer, Thieves Theatre (Brooklyn) and Wendy Knox, Frank Theatre (Minneapolis). What do we want our relationship to be. What is the role of the web page and rat-list.

8 - 10 pm
RATSO'S RATCHET at the East 4th Street Theatre Led by Joshua Furst and Jonathan Pascoe (NYC). 200 different three-minute plays will be presented.

10 pm
TERRA INCOGNITA at HERE Cafe

Midnight
LATER TERRA INCOGNITA at KGB Bar, 85 E. 4th Street

2 - 6 pm
AN AMERICANA MIXER at Coney Island, USA Mary Feast, TravS.D., Dick Zigun, The Great Fredini, Combustible Kiva, Johnny Stranger and others mix it up on the subject of Americana yesterday, today and tomorrow.

6 - 10 pm
THE PROFESSIONAL RAT at Coney Island, USA Led by Nick Fracaro, Thieves Theatre (Brooklyn). Don't quit your day job; a national job network?

10 pm
TIRZA'S WINEBATH PERFORMANCE at Coney Island,USA Led by Gabriele Schafer and Nick Fracaro, Thieves Theatre (Brooklyn).

1 am
DJ PROJECT at HERE INDEPENDENT, HERE's weekly lounge party features DJ Project by Ruth Margraff, playwright (NYC) and Tim Maner, HERE (NYC). RAT'S ASS beer will again be served.

10 am - 5 pm
I'LL SHOW YOU MINE IF YOU'LL SHOW ME YOURS at the Ohio This is another opportunity to show our work to each other. Small pieces we've brought with us or things we've created during the conference that we'd like to share with each other.

5 pm
STRIKE AND PARTY at the Ohio

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