Show 7: Bloomington, IN

Turnout: variable

Door money: $55

Personal injuries report: 1. The gun spilled its guts (easily repaired). 2. Over-tight knots made Ben's right arm feel all tingly and gross. 3. Kate thought it looked really good when she smashed Ben in the head with the gun again, and the audience laughed. 4. Our pride took a pretty serious hit.

This was a really strange show, and we've got a couple hours to get to Colombus, so get ready for a long story. We played an all ages music club in the middle of Bloomington. First, the good news: Bloomington is a decent city to spend an afternoon in. Almost like Madison ten years ago. Boxcar books is a great bookstore (more bookstore than infoshop, though), Runcible spoon has amazing veggie burgers, the "people's park" is an active and open space populated by burnouts and weirdos (as it should be) and Rachel's Cafe is a kind of astonishing place to find in the middle of the bible belt.

Rhino's is also a really great space, an all ages club with a great sound system, community support and an awesome staff. But, this is where things start getting a little weird about this show. When we set up the show it somehow didn't occur to me that "all ages music club" meant "almost nothing but highschool". Cliques, drama and budding adolescence were here in full force. A group of metal heads and goths too poor to pay admission chased each other around the parking lot while suburban teenage girls squealed at the bands inside. The first of these bands, an Indie-rock group called My Hidden Track were rockstars, and I mean that in the worst possible way. About 40 kids sang and clapped along (on the singer's orders) to their songs which seemed predominantly about how every "bitch" they'd met "didn't matter". Their huge elaborate merch table and amp covers featured banners with pictures of a young blonde who will surely have an similar immature rant-song written about her one day. When they finished playing the place cleared out. We set up and tried to convince people that this isn't your grandma's theatre, mostly only the goth kids were buying it, but they didn't have money for admission, and had a reputation for being disruptive and shitty. We convinced the staff to let them in for free anyway and started the show.

So we started out with a little more than a dozen in the audience; the staff, the goths, the last band and a few of their fans. As we started the show I appreciated the reversal we'd staged. Poor kids who normally hang out in the parking lot were inside the space, while the trendy rich kids hung out outside. We started the play and the kids initially laughed at the violence, which we sort of expected. We are all desensitized, but kids with slipknot t-shirts are even more used to violent images as pure fun entertainment. By the time I was tied to the chair they'd gotten quiet. I'm speculating, but I like to think that the violence we presented was very different than what they were used to, which made it sobering rather than titilating. Throughout the play we don't focus on the violent act itself, but on what follows the violence. The pistol whipping is obviously fake and is undermined by the spoken stage directions, but the characters' reactions are complicated and true in a way that they aren't in the movies. Kate's character is horrified by her own actions throughout.

Unfortunately, shortly after the blindfold came off one of these kids left to answer a phone call and came back, herded the rest up and left us with about 5 audience members, mostly staff. We got the impression it was a parent on the phone and they left cuz they had to.

Divided Highway played last, to a mostly empty room. I feel bad that we apparently chased away their potential audience, especially since i enjoyed their music much more than the first band's. It was pop punk, still with break-up songs, but much more introspective and honest. Their musicianship was a little rough, but more genuine, which i appreciate, a little rawness puts the punk in pop-punk.

Overall i'm really happy with how the show turned out, unexpected things make for interesting experiences, and i feel like we showed the few people who watched us something they haven't seen anywhere else.

We left the show and started our drive to Colombus, spending our first night sleeping in the volvo (see pic) which was decent.

Show 6: Urbana Champaign IMC, Urbana IL

Turnout: 10

Monetary Votes of Support: 68 in donations, 12 merch

Personal Injury Report: Nothing on us. Though, after the show the gun needed stitches and the delegate pants light repairative surgery.

Show description: This is the third time we've done a show at the IMC, all of them with small audiences who have lots to say. Discussion is always good there. Afterward, at Mark Enslin's house we got to tell stories of doing Lucky and Pozzo which was enjoyable.

Oh, and Kate also victorized these plants:

If you've seen this show, write a review, comment or ask us some questions. We'd like to hear it because we believe in artistic transparency.

HEAR THE SIREN'S SONG!

A description and promotional materials for Ulysses' Crewmen

A militant dissenter abuses her hostage from the US delegation while faintly aware of the audience surrounding her. This claustrophobic scene creates a space for radical introspection, defiant theatre and tactical conversations. With only a few props, two actors, one of who is bound and gagged, and a serious commitment to DIY politics, Insurgent Theatre refutes ancient dogmas found in Homer's Odyssey and examines the psychosexual underpinnings of empire and rebellion.

OUR PRESS KIT

1/4 sheet handout flyer

PREVIEW VIDEO

We are all Ulysses’ crewmen. We’ve got wax in our ears and a madman lashed to the mast.

The Situation: Ulysses' Crewmen have mutinied. The captain has been captured and the moral of Homer's tale has been reversed. All the mutineers perished but one, who is now left alone with the hero of all western civilization struggling against obsolete morality and the impossibility of ethical action.

Unplug your ears, release the madness, hear the siren’s song and let yourself be dashed against the rocks!”

The Exposition, in the form of a fictional news report:
A member of the US delegation has been kidnapped. Police are currently out in force searching for the missing delegate and his abductors. The delegate was captured at the airport en route to the new global trade negotiations. Similar actions were attempted around the world. This appears to be a decentralized global effort by a network of highly sophisticated terrorist groups. Sources say that the organizations are domestic anti-globalization groups, hoping to shut down the negotiations by kidnapping the negotiators. The possibility that they are operating- perhaps unwittingly, under command or in coordination with Islamic terrorist groups like Al Queda has not be ruled out. Only the attack on the US delegation was successful. A replacement delegate is already en route to the talks, which will commence on schedule.

The Presentation: A 60 minute two-person play, to be performed surrounded in close quarters by an intimate audience on the same floor level. A chair. A gun. A radio. Two actors.

The Response:

“Insurgent’s project is noble and high minded... it takes guts to do work like this.”
-Kurt Hartwig, SnapMilwaukee.com

“A drama animated by dark brutality [that]... creates a fascinating dynamic.” “This is theatre that strives to become more real that reality.”
-Russ Bickerstaff, Shepherd Express Online Milwaukee, WI

"One of the most inpiring DIY tours I have ever encountered. Its execution is intensly captivating and provocative. What other play features an hour of harsh interrogation and pistol-whipping followed by remarkably constructive conversation with its audience?"
-Robert Inhuman, Realicide

Show 5: Jackson Ave Coffee House, Charleston IL near EIU

Turnout: 16

Monetary Votes of Support: 38 in donation, 8 in merch.

Personal Injury Report: Kate got popped in the chin. Realistic.

Show Description: Will Kendall set us up at the chill Jackson Ave Coffee House. We performed in the back room where, unfortunately, the people in the front of the cafe could hear the strangeness that was going on behind closed doors. Oh well.

This is the first time that there had to be serious improvisation in the show. One of the ropes used to tie Ulysses' leg fell out of its pocket at the beginning of the show a ways away from the open space it would normally be expected to be if it fell out. There was a bit of scrambling before the other rope used to mark the space's ten foot circle was spotted sitting all balled up behind two audience members.

After the show we went back to Will, Carly and Stephanie's house where they had some of the best polenta I've ever had along with lots of other delicious food. We talked about the show a bit, there was good music, good conversation and an all around good mood. We also silkscreened some shirts and saw a picture of the "Montana Grizzly Bear Artificial Insemination Team."

If you saw this performance, write a review of it, comment or ask questions here! Do it! We'd like to hear it because we believe in artistic transparency.

Show 4: Mess Hall, Chicago

Turnout: 40

Monetary Votes of Support: 12

Personal Injury Report: Well, though it's not a person, we found out before leaving for Chicago that our car was injured, and that this injury could turn into a mortal one if left unattended. That brings us to where we are right now, writing this post in Champaign IL waiting for Tim the Mechanic to intall a new catalytic converter so we can avoid an engine blow.

Also, Ben's pants recieved a personal injury. The zipper took a turn for the worst. This is the injury that led us on a journey to South Holland IL looking for a Jo-Anne Fabrics to purchase a new one, an Auto Zone to get a car manual we needed and a Radio Shack for a DC to AC adapter.

Guided by Google Maps, we discovered that only one of these three destinations we found online still existed. Empty lots, and more empty lots. Luckily, the Radio Shack was still alive tucked between two deserted bleached blacktop lots looking suspiciously similar to an unlikely survivor of arson, all scraggly and standing there saying, "well I don't know, I swear I had nothing to do with it, I just stopped, dropped and rolled."

At a loss concerning the zipper, we stopped at a Wallgreens and after finding out that they did not sell zippers and frustratingly only sold "handy little kits" of all kinds of sewing shit that failed to consist of the most basic pairing of needle and thread, we decided to rip the zipper out of an existing pair of pants and sew it onto the pants in need: a transplant. It turned out a little shoddy, but at least it works. Kind of like getting a liver transpalnt from an alcoholic. We have well wishes for the pants in the future.

Show Description: Mess Hall is an alternative economic space that holds workshops, education events, and lots more. No money is exchanged in the space. We silkscreened lots of free shirts for people afterwards.

Ryan Dunn of Instinct Control hosted us that night which was great. We discussed the possibilities of "Engine Cooking," which entails preparing food directly on the surface of a hot engine.

This would work great with VWs. Starting out in Milwaukee, by the time you get to Ryan Rd you should have a hot enough engine to throw an egg on it. By the next exit you've got it at runny, give it a flip and you're at over easy, let it go till the next one and you'll be at over medium. This concept needs to be applied quick given the lurking threat of electric cars which god damn them are only good for our short to long term interests.

If you saw this performance, write a review of it, comment or ask questions here! Do it! We'd like to hear it. Because we beleive in artistic transparency.

Philosophical Musing #1: Modern Life is a Total Hurns.

This tour is many things at once, an art project, an experiment in alternative economics, a political action, and a major life transition. We're moving from a life in Milwaukee's greatest neighborhood, to a life on the road. We are homless until November, and after that, we plan on touring as much as possible. Going from a stable job and home with cheap rent and roomates in a beautiful disaster area of half-finished art projects and dirty dishes, to transient adventures and focus on the development and execution of just one project. Kate and I welcome this transition, we long for it, we accepted the risks and prepared as much as possible. What we didn't realize was how much of this transition would involve jumping through the hoop of fire that is mainstream life, or just how unpleasant that hoop of fire is. In the last few days I've had a bigger dose of "normal american life" than I have in a long time, and I honestly don't know how we as a nation can handle it. I offer three examples.

First, the car. This is the first car I've really purchased in my life. I've owned cars before, but they've always been hand-me-down beaters from family members expected to burn out within a year or two. This car, after purchase, repairs, and DMV fees will suck up about $5000. This makes the years I spent living frugally and saving my meager paychecks to build a nest egg for artistic adventures like these seem absolutely trivial. Half that nest egg is gone on a modern contraption that most people consider an absolute necessity. I now think about traffic in terms of hours of invested labor power and driving through Chicago yesterday was like watching a staggering tradgedy. How can so many people value these smelly, loud, dangerous chunks of metal more than their life's work?

Second, the DMV. After spending Monday night moving out of the house and Tuesday morning working on remaining booking and accounting issues, we headed down to the DMV service center in Bayview to officially transfer the car title on our way to our first show. I'm not going to give the typical complaints about waiting, I didn't mind the crowded waiting room (witnessed some interesting case studies in parenting, which make me glad that I'm a new owner of a car and not of a child) the workers were patient, efficient and friendly. No, my problem at the DMV is completely my fault. I'm bad at bureaucracy. First, I got my number, sat down, read, waited, mentally transformed "I171" into "I177" in my memory, sat through my number being called, waited for 6 numbers after me to be called, then got to the counter and realized that I'm an idiot. Rather than doing the rational thing and asking the attendant if she could take me after the real I177, since I'd been already been waiting for about 2 hours, i got flustered and went back to the beginning of the entire process. I got a new number, waited another hour, and thought about how I am trying to do way too many things at one time.

Third, the suburbs. We had a great show at messhall, crashed with our friend Ryan (which invovled parking at around midnight in bridgeport, a 40 minute ordeal) and then headed down to show #2. Before we left we made plans to stop somewhere once we got out of the city to take care of a few things. We needed a fabric store (busted fly on costume pants), an auto-parts store (manual for the car), and a small electronics store (rechargable batteries for the camera and components of a solar generator). We used google maps to find all three in close proximity in the suburban strip malls of South Holland. Once we got off the interstate, we soon realized that 2 of the three stores (Jo-Anne Fabrics and Auto Zone) had closed. We did find a Radio Shack surrounded by empty buildings that used to hold other chain stores. I remember in high school everyone complaining about empty storefronts in downtown areas with a sense nostalgia for lost community. Now the chain stores and stripmalls that forced those small family operations out of business are closing, but we don't feel nostalgia, instead we regret the green spaces and wilderness paved to make way for these cookie cutter boxes surrounding our cities. In the past, corporate types and businessmen disregarded our complaints with aphorisms like "you can't stop progress" and "adapt or die". We should be mashing these motherfuckers' faces into the asphalt and fake brick facades of the stripmalls the way dog owners scold their puppy when it shits on the floor. Instead, we're devising bail outs and stimulus packages to turn the economy around for them. What is wrong with us?

Economic Report: Initial Outlay

This is the first economic report for Ulysses' Crewmen. The idea is to be as financially transparent as possible. We've created an online spreadsheet for people who want to look really close at the data. Below, you will find a description of our initial economic state. For a current update (and a history of such updates) see the economic reports.

We started production of Ulysses' Crewmen with about $350 in the Insurgent account. My personal savings account is the start-up fund and back-up if we end up losing money. Working fulltime and saving almost half my paychecks for a year or so helped me build up quite a bit of savings to bankroll this experiment.

The way we run things, there's a fine line between touring expense and personal expense. If we're successful, funds earned by the show, donations and merch sales will pay for production, promotion, merch, gas, car maintenance, lodging and food. Profits if there are any will go to the standard insurgent formula. 1/2 into company fund for future productions and 1/2 cash to the artists involved (myself and Kate).

The first major expense of touring is of course our touring vehicle. We've purchased a used 1998 V70 volvo station wagon for cheap. Then spent almost as much on repairing it (and need to replace the catalytic converter before the tour ends). This was more than we hoped we'd be spending and it's set us back quite a bit (will be at least $4200). We have little chance of breaking even if we count this as touring expense, so it's being accounted for seperately. If you'd like to help us recover some of these costs, we're taking donations through this thing:

If you'd like to make your donation tax deductable, do not use this thing. Email me at insurgent.ben@gmail.com and we'll put your money through our fiscal sponsor.

[UPDATE: car continues to need repairs we can't afford. Above chip in widget has expired, see smaller one on top right of this page.]

Second, is the materials involved in the show. Ulysses' Crewmen is an incredibly cheap show to produce. Props and costumes cost a grand total of $36.49. That's a used suit from value villiage, a shoulder-holster from army surplus, paper for programs and some rope from Bliffert hardware. Everything else is handmade (the hood), borrowed (the gun, from aaron at the alchemist), found in the trash (the radio found in a dumpster behind Matt Richardson's house, the chair from Borg Ward) or things we owned anyway (the rest of our costumes).

Third, is promotion. This got more expensive, because we decided to silk screen our own posters, we needed to spend a bunch of money on ink, screens, and paper. Ink and screens were from Utrecht, paper from cheapest online wholesaler we could find.

Forth is merch. We bought wholesale shirts from American Apparel (I have a wholesale account from years ago before they got so hip and sketchy) which we've silk screened ourselves. We're also selling scripts and essays, so more paper. We're hoping to earn this money back by selling this stuff on the road. It's really beautiful handmade stuff made by ourselves and some wonderful volunteers at last month's craft nights.

Fifth is gas. Which we haven't had to buy any of yet. The volvo is supposed to get 28 mpg highway. We'll be keeping track.

Sixth is food and lodging. Insurgent will not be buying expensive dinners or hotel rooms. For lodging, if we can't crash on someone's couch, we'll be sleeping in the car. For food, we're going to be eating as cheaply as possible while on the road. We've got a cooler, a coffee-machine (for hot water on the road), plans to build a dashboard oven and a solar generator. We started with a large bulk order of oatmeal, dried fruit, canned soup, and salsa from our good friends at the Riverwest Co-op. Once we start making sustainable money, insurgent will pay for some restaurant meals, until then, those will be paid for with personal expenses. Insurgent does not and will not buy booze.