The Great Ben Egerman Theatre Adventure!

Killer Robots to return to DC for FallFRINGE!

admin — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 19:32:01 +0000

Just when you thought you were safe… that the robocalypse was over… THEY HAVE RETURNED! You saw it once. You voted it best solo show. And now, it’s back for FallFRINGE, with an updated script, a few new props, and EVEN MORE ROBOTS THAN BEFORE! So it’s time to bring a friend and see it again! The pertinent details (click the dates to buy tickets for that night’s performance):

Venue: The Shop – at Fort Fringe

Find out all about how the show was made AND MORE at the Artist Talkback, Nov 20!

For you questioning types, there will be a talkback immediately post-show on Saturday, Nov. 20. Throughout the time I spent touring, I always had a lot of people asking me about a certain part or idea that had intrigued or confused them, and whenever I could, I love talking to audiences. However, this wasn’t possible during the hustle and bustle of the Capital Fringe fest. BUT IT IS NOW!!!!!!! Come and ask your most burning questions, and get equally burning answers! (it’s ok, I don’t really know what that means, either.)

Tournal 4: Boston, Atlanta, Capital Fringe Rundown; Epic Post of Awesomeness

admin — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 19:38:09 +0000

Sorry everyone for the month’s gap in between last Tournal entry and this one, I will do my best to cover the large amount of stuff that’s happened in this period. We’ll start with the last few days of Boston. There was a nice little show I did at my friend Chrissie’s basement, photo here, while the audience was small, all three of them enjoyed the show. Following that, I embarked on the longest leg of the Adventure, from Boston to Atlanta (only 18 hours via car)–with one stop in Baltimore beforehand, in order to 1. not have to drive 18 fucking hours all at once, and 2. see the amazing show by the amazing Cat Fish, “Fanciness Vs. The Void.” These folks are friends of mine from Bedlam, the same creative team who put together “Dali’s Liquid Ladies” in the spring of 2009, which is one of my favorite shows I’ve seen, and this one did not disappoint. After seeing the show, and hanging out in Baltimore with folks for a few hours, I continued on the epic journey to Atlanta.

Once I got there, Atlanta was a real blast. I was staying with my former roommate/creative co-conspirator/closest friend from college, Rachel Teagle, who I hadn’t seen in about 6 months. Beyond having a great time seeing her and her boyfriend Matt, another close friend who I hadn’t seen in far too long, she gave me some really wonderful feedback on my show which definitely helped me immensely. In addition, I got to see the piece she is currently working on for MN Fringe, “Rachel Teagle Believes in Ghosts,” which, of course, comes with my highest recommendation. After performing our pieces for each other, seeing her workshop hers a bit with a really awesome movement-based performer, and meeting some of her and Matt’s friends, I got to perform the piece in their living room for some friends, which was a really great time. Then we watched Up. Oh and I got to chill with Rachel and Matt’s awesome dog. It was really cool.

After that, I Made the epic trek from Atlanta to Washington, DC for Capital Fringe, and more importantly, to spend some time with my brother Mark, and sister-in-law, Alisha (collectively, MARLISHA). Due to some kind of amazing cosmic alignment of the something or other, Alisha’s cousin who lived in the city was out of town the whole time I was there, and I wound up housesitting for her. This meant that for the two and a half weeks I was in DC, I had my own apartment, which following a month of moving from place to place, often sleeping on couches, air mattresses, or floors, was a lovely change of pace.

But I digress–most of my time in DC was spent promoting and performing my show for Capital Fringe. It was really awesome being able to be a part of a different fringe, see what things are different and what are the same between my experience at MN Fringe and DC. I put together a list of pros and cons of the festival, as I see it, and an overall summary of my experience:

OVERALL: I had a real blast here. I hit the ground running, performing at the preview showcase right when I got in to town, which a lot of the press got a chance to see, and doing my standard promotional model of handing out hundreds of postcards, and talking to as many people as possible about my show. It worked: much to my surprise, I was spotlighted in several pre-festival ‘things to see in the fringe’ pieces, one in the Post’s free daily paper, Express, DCist, and the Washington CityPaper, who ran the big Fringe calendar and their top picks, complete with a huge, quarter-page image of yours truly.

I was pretty stoked for opening night. When said opening finally arrived, I was surprised that 1. I had sold just shy of the 50 tickets required to sell out, and 2. the air conditioning in the space was way insufficient, meaning it was unbearably hot onstage, and I was drenched with sweat by 20 minutes into the show. While I didn’t think I had bombed, and my brother, sister-in-law, and their friends all seemed to enjoy the show fine, I was pretty upset about the heat, as I thought it negatively affected my performance. I was fairly surprised, then, when I saw the review from the Washington Post, entitled, Humor Also Saves ‘Do Not Kill Me’ at Capital Fringe Festival, let alone when I saw the amazing review from CityPaper, which stated,

“I say see the show, remember Ben Egerman’s name, and keep your eyes and ears peeled for where he may be in five to ten years.”

Future performances, I wore a bandana around my forehead, Rambo-style, which adequately dealt with the sweat issue, and played to sizeable houses, and felt that the show was very well-received. As for the rest of the festival, it was definitely positive overall. At the official Fringe tent bar, the atmosphere had the same wonderful vibe I’ve come to expect of MN Fringe Central–fun, supportive, welcoming. People were excited to talk and hear about your show, tell you about theirs, if they’re performers, and just hang out, have a good time. I didn’t get to see too many other shows, as the Artists’ pass only provided for a 5 dollar discount from the 15 dollar ticket, one of my biggest gripes with the festival, but those I saw I generally enjoyed. I was definitely happy I was a part of the festival, and felt like I was very successful there as a first-timer. Also, there are some awesome pictures of the show here. [EDIT: I had a list of Pros and Cons up before, but on second inspection, I wasn't really satisfied with what I had put together. I'm currently rewriting them, and will put them in a separate post later.]

Tournal 3: CANADA! Vermont! Border incidents! and More!

admin — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 21:07:31 +0000

Sorry this tournal entry is really late. I’ve been really busy lately with promotional stuff, (like postcards, the front of which is shown to the right) and haven’t gotten a chance to provide you all with the updates you so desperately need. Here goes:

Hamilton did, in fact, have an impromptu show, which went very well. It was held in a working bar, where we were about 90% of the patrons, so they didn’t mind much, about 10-12 folks showed up, had a great time, all was well with the world. Said goodbye to the wonderful folks in Hamilton, which is a place i really need to return to sometime, because it’s awesome, or more specifically, the people there are awesome, and headed north, to Montreal.

Montreal is kind of a trip. First of all, it’s super-gay. I’ve been to plenty of really cruisy gay neighborhoods, but damn. Damn, Montreal. Damn. First thing I see, when I get into the city, two dudes just groping and making out with each other right in the middle of the street. At like 7AM. Yeah. All in all, Montreal was a blast. I just walked around a lot, got to chat with some folks, spent a good amount of time busking (I sorta ran out of money a little bit, gas is expensive in Canada), which was lots of fun, and saw what I could. I really wish I knew some french, that would’ve helped me out quite a bit. Oh well. Next time.

After Montreal, I headed towards Glover, VT, where I was staying with the fine folks in Bread & Puppet Theatre Co. But first, I had to cross the border. Which was… fun. As closer readers would remember, I am travelling with a carload of plants. I’m an avid gardener, and would be really sad if i didn’t have the chance to have a garden this summer. So it’s travelling with me. I was, of course, sort of expecting trouble at the border, but they waved me past going into Canada, as soon as they found out i wasn’t leaving the plants there, and I was hoping for the same treatment on the way back in.

I handed the border patrol officer my passport while another officer brought the drug-sniffing dog around the car. “What are you bringing in from Canada today?”
-Nothing
“what about those plants?”
-I brought them in to Canada–they’re from my garden in Minneapolis.
The border patrol officer looked tentative. Suddenly, the other officer, with the dog, pipes up:
“You can’t bring dirt into the U.S.”
-It’s U.S. dirt. I brought it from Minnesota.
“can’t bring dirt in to the U.S.”
“what should we do?”
“I’m not doing anything. Send him to agriculture”
So I got sent to their Agriculture specialist, who walked out to my car, and was really into what I was doing. He mostly wanted to make sure I didn’t have anything listed as an invasive species. He asked a lot of questions like, “so, you do container planting often? Why do you have the garlic planted next to the peppers? These look really great.” As he was ready to wave me by, the woman with the drug-sniffing dog comes by again:
“BUT WHAT ABOUT THE DIRT?”
“well, it’s from the U.S.”, the agriculture specialist responds.
“So you’re going to believe a complete stranger about this? I have no words. This is a border, you know.”
In the end, after they bickered for a while, the agriculture specialist basically told me, listen, it was his decision, I could go freely into the country, which I did. Mark my words, some day I shall write a political theatre piece about this. It was pretty amazing in a sort of brechtian way. I could’ve been a dirt-smuggler.

So, I spent a day with Bread & Puppet, which was awesome. I highly recommend visiting them, anyone in New England or elsewhere. When I was there, they had a group of about 15 college students from Montreal doing a residency of sorts with them, and one of the folks I know from the company suggested I do the show for them, which I did. It was definitely the toughest crowd I’ve had, largely due to the fact that i don’t think any of them knew what they were getting into, they were just told, “there’s a show, let’s all see it.” About 2 or 3 really enjoyed it, a few others seemed to enjoy parts of it, and about half sort of zoned out. Oh well.

Now sitting in my parent’s house in Boston. I have a real love-hate relationship with this town. But it’s nice to see my family, and a few really good friends from home who I don’t se enough of. In a few days, I head south, to Baltimore, Atlanta, and then up to DC. Wish me luck!

Tournal 2: Ann Arbor impromptu show, new show date planned, pictures, and CANADA!

admin — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 20:33:51 +0000

Got in to Ann Arbor yesterday afternoon, after driving there from Chicago. It was my first time in Michigan–which, I found out, is a really stunningly beautiful state when you drive through it. Originally, I was going to do a show at my friend Joe’s apartment, but he was a little overwhelmed by the prospect of putting that together, so we called it off, and I just planned on hanging out with him for a day before heading out. Well, he brought me out to a bar to meet with a few of his friends, one of whom was really excited about seeing the show, and asked “well, when are you doing it?” to which, following a little bit of pressure, Joe’s response was, “well, I don’t know, maybe tonight?” We decided to make it official, the show was back on.

When we got back to Joe’s place, he informed his roommate of the show, who was also pretty excited. He asked if I would want to do it in his living room, to which my response was, “can I see your basement?” It was just as I hoped: dank, tiny and with lots of pipes. We set up a few chairs, and the show went on for an audience of 4 (Joe, the friend who had pushed him to do the show, his roommate, and his roommate’s date), and was extremely well received. In fact, everyone was so gung-ho about it, we’ve made plans that August 1st, as I head from Theatron 5000 in New York towards Minneapolis for Minnesota Fringe, I’m going to stop back in Ann Arbor, so I can do another show in the same basement, but with more than two hours of planning. Excitement!

Also, there are pictures from the show. One is the image to the right. The others can be found on the Great Ben Egerman Theatre Adventure!’s facebook page.

Left Ann Arbor this morning, and headed across the border into Canada. Excepting the time I went to Niagara Falls when I was a kid, this is my first time in the country. It’s awesome. I heart it, big time. Hanging out with an old co-worker and friend in Hamilton, which is a super-cool city. Similar situation to Ann Arbor seems to be brewing, maybe another show tomorrow.

Ben out.

Tour Journal (Tournal?) 1: Des Moines, Chicago, et al

admin — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 15:21:35 +0000

Howdy there friends–currently sitting in my aunt & uncle’s home in the suburbs of chicago, about to leave for ann arbor and then CANADA!, but wanted to give all those interested a quick rundown of the past few days:

Had a ball in Des Moines. Major thank yous are in order to Andrew Tatge and his parents for being amazing hosts, and for being willing to have me and my show in their home.

The show went amazingly well. The small audience of 6 assembled had a blast, as did I. The show ran for a little under 40 minutes, which is AMAZING–I was expecting it to clock in at around 30-35 tops, which would have meant a lot more writing. Still have a few more pieces floating around in the ether, waiting to be put on the page, which should easily get the show up to the 50 to 55 minutes it’s supposed to be.

The audience reaction I got to the show was really encouraging. There were lots of comments to the extent that it was new, unexpected, and one guy insisted that I must read a lot of Asimov. All of these are very encouraging. I still have to write a few more pieces, and rewrite what I have, but I am doing so with a newfound determination.

Spent the last weekend in Chicago, with aforementioned aunt & uncle, and my good friend Des, who is awesome. The photo is taken in his apartment, and is my new promo shot for the show.

Aside from that, been spending time reading, writing, hanging out in cool coffeeshops and bars, two of which deserve note, the Des Moines Social Club (in Des Moines, duh), which is the happenin’-est thing this side of Iowa from any other point in Iowa, a really awesome combination bar/performance venue with all sorts of events going on all the time, and Dollop Coffee Shop, which is a really cool coffee shop in Chicago. I know, there’s probably only that one cool Chicago coffee shop, which is good, because it’s the only one I went to.

The Adventure Begins!

admin — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 00:05:27 +0000

Well, dear readers, at long last, the Great Ben Egerman Theatre Adventure!’s tour of “Do Not Kill Me, Killer Robots” is getting off to a start! Ben has been working feverishly to prepare the show, its props, publicity, script, and more, and also working on packing up his life in small boxes and moving out of his apartment. As we speak, he is finishing a quick meal at the spectacular Hard Times Cafe in Minneapolis before driving down to Des Moines, where I will have my first show! The rest of June will be spent traveling, and performing small house shows, before I head to DC for Capital Fringe, then NYC for Theatron 5000, then Minneapolis for Minnesota Fringe, and Indianapolis for Indy Fringe!

That’s right, by the way, yes, I just received word a few days ago that I will, indeed be a part of the Minnesota Fringe Festival! Check out my venue and showtimes by clicking the “TOUR” link below! Do it!

The image is of the Great Ben Egerman Theatre Adventure!-mobile!, which is currently packed to the brim with cardboard, props, living essentials, some tools for further props, writing implements, clothing, plants (I like plants), that looks like a guitar, some bags that have some stuff, and I forget what else. It’s really full, though.

Press Release(s)!

admin — Fri, 14 May 2010 20:43:36 +0000

For all those interested, here’s links to two different press releases I’ve written up in the past few days–one for Capital Fringe, specifically, and one for the whole tour!

Press Release: “THE GREAT BEN EGERMAN THEATRE ADVENTURE! TO TOUR ONE-MAN POST- APOCALYPTIC COMEDY JUNE-AUGUST 2010″

and

Press Release: “‘Do Not Kill Me, Killer Robots’ to Participate in Capital Fringe Festival”

Enjoy!

website up!

admin — Mon, 10 May 2010 18:51:22 +0000

here it is. After a few redesigns, I’ve finally put together this site, only about 4 months after initially registering it. But don’t worry, I’m not behind schedule or nothin’.

Let me know, of course, if you’re looking at this and notice anything weird about the site.

Hello world!

admin — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:43:48 +0000

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!