Tina Brock, writer, actor, co-founder and producing artistic director of the Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium (IRC) since 2006—Philadelphia’s only absurdist theatre company—studied at the University of Maryland and West Chester University; she is a Case Developer at the National Board of Medical Examiners. She makes the impossible possible, year after year, with some of the most thought provoking and unusual productions.

Few people, other than IRC actors, know that (in spite of her shoe string budget) she goes all out to further awareness of the Theatre of the Absurd. She coordinates trips for colleagues and ensemble members to New York to see rarely-produced absurdist plays. In her widely reviewed production of Ionesco’s Rhinoceros, she talked openly about her approach to directing and the actors in her widely acclaimed new production.

Henrik Eger: Ionesco’s RHINOCEROS is not an easy play. How did you go about casting for it?  

Tina Brock: The script is hugely demanding, textually and rhythmically, so I selected performers who were firstly comfortable with the technical and emotional demands of the work, and then positioned them in roles to highlight their individual uniqueness. You can’t play interesting. Actors are interesting through what they bring to the table and what they deliver to the audience.

To create this town, we wanted as varied a representation of height, size, vocal quality, and physical ability as possible to create a picture of a unique and somewhat eccentric, but representative, group of citizens.

HE: Before the invasion of the herd of rhinos, the people in the little town argue a lot over trivialities. How does this play, written in 1959, relate to an audience in 2014? 




TB: The “clump” of humanity huddling together, from many different walks of life, says something about the world today, and gives the audience the foundation for and illustration of the group’s positions in the philosophical debate.

HE: Your Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium (IRC) is probably the only Philadelphia theatre company that specializes in the Theater of the Absurd. That brings with it some freedom but also, perhaps, some restrictions.

TB: In our productions, we can take casting risks that aren’t feasible in realism—men playing women, women playing men, you name it—it all flies as long as there is a logic behind the choices. You cannot play absurd–it’s real people in unreal situations, so we can define the terms. There’s nothing to compare it to. It helps if you tip off the audience that “this is an absurd situation, it’s OK to laugh” by introducing actors with wonderful unique qualities who they might recognize as an eccentric neighbor or aunt. 

HE: How did you work with Ethan Lipkin, who played Berenger, the main character of the play? 

TB: I felt most connected to Berenger when he doesn’t feel sorry for himself, but stated [his feelings] as a matter of fact that required acceptance and understanding. That seemed like a gateway to understanding people different than ourselves. I was interested in the person who wears his emotions on his sleeve, who shares how he feels, and often how we don’t accord confidence to that person. 

Ethan and I didn’t agree on this key issue at first and many discussions took place about Berenger. I was hoping we could both achieve something we could be happy with. I loved the teddy bear quality about Ethan. He is, for me, an actor/character that audiences can identify with.

Because the characters are broadly drawn on the page, it is possible to interpret the lines in opposite or distinct ways. There are dramatic reasons, as a producer, for having Berenger be in search of meaning and on an active journey. This play needs to keep the sense of the absurd and insane circumstances that hold it up.

HE: Could you give some examples?

TB: Jerry Rudasill [who plays Pappillon and the Waitress] is skilled in physical comedy and moves quite well. He enjoys wearing bold costumes and using props. Since the Waitress is a comedic part, it seemed right to pile on the challenges for Jerry. High heels, a huge wig, a tray with flying glasses and plates, those are challenges Jerry handles well. I wanted a sassy waitress who was very emotional to be able to have a conflict between her and her boss who is always condescending to her. By making her strong and emotional, she could be funny; we could laugh at her because she’s strong enough to take it.

At the other end of the cafe block is the cafe proprietor, played by Bob Schmidt. In dress rehearsal, he was suited up as the owner of a dusty Italian cafe, but that seemed out of sync with the waitress Jerry Rudasill was bringing to the table, so [Costume and Scenic Designer] Erica Hoelscher and I went back to the table and came up with the aging rocker, all leather and chains. There’s a rock star in all of us, so that one was an easy assimilation for Bob.

[Brothers] Michael and Tomas Dura enjoy working together. They both have a very wry, droll sense of humor, and are hilarious as counterpoints in this play with all the adjunct hysteria going on. They have been cast before as two doddering aunts in Ivona: Princess of Burgundia. Last year, they played the K’s nincompoop twin assistants, who can’t get anything right, in Kafka’s The Castle.  

HE: Tell us about Jean, whom Ionesco wrote as the dominant character. 

TB: David Stanger [as Jean] is very easy to work with on this material.  His technical instrument is well-honed. His vocal quality, breathing, physicality, and emotional work are at such a pitch that there’s little ramping up to be done—it’s more a sculpting process with David. He’s worked on many shows with IRC and understands the trajectory of how our shows are built, so there are no surprises for him or for the director.

HE: How did you and David manage to create the perfect dandy?

TB: Erica Hoelscher actually had a real New York dandy in mind, who reminded her of Jean, when designing the costume. In this case, she steered David to this socialite’s website to give David an idea of the visual, outer representation as we saw him. 

HE: How did you envision the townspeople and the rhinos?

TB: When directing, I envisioned the rhinos roaring by as a manifestation of the townsfolk’s inability to properly integrate their emotions—to the point where they boil over and consume, polluting the gestalt.

The townspeople have little ability to think or feel for themselves–everyone asks the other what they thought of the events. The Housewife feels grief over the loss of her cat; they offer Cognac as a solution because it makes them uncomfortable. The tamping down of feelings and emotions can’t come to a good end. It consumes each in the end and takes the town down as well.

HE: I heard you are “tweaking” the production while the rhinos are on their run. 

TB: I feel you’d have to do three weeks of previews to be ready to open this show–we had three [nights]. We learned a great deal in those three nights. I’m a director that continues to watch and give notes that can keep the show aloft. I’m really more a conductor than a director with this material. It’s very musical and has a definite rhythm—when it’s off you can really tell. So a lot of the notes are about intention and pacing that comes out of that. It’s about the action that comes from the feeling. So regardless of what you start with, there’s no room for contemplation—these characters are only reacting, not steeped in thought. They are at a fever pitch of anxiety, which is one of the issues I was examining, and how this anxious contagion spreads from character to character.

It’s my job to keep the Rhino in the pen, so it doesn’t cut loose and trample the town.

HE: And you did—with great success.

"On becoming a RHINOCEROS" was published by Phindie on September 16, 2014.

Henrik Eger: Every year you present often radically different productions of classical literature, for example a naked Captain Ahab hunting Moby Dick in a bathtub. This year you chose Victor Hugo’s Hunchback of Notre Dame. Your inspiration seems to come from mysterious places. What filled your well this time around? 

Michael Durkin: I have been inspired by the silent films of the 1920s and ‘30s, primarily these films: The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Phantom of the Opera, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Metropolis, the films of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, and the films of Georges Méliès.

HE: As a director and playwright, you tend to work with your actors as a collaborative team. Tell us more about that approach.

MD: I start with a cast in a workshop environment where we talk about the source materials: novels, plays, films, etc. We also discuss the iconography of the source material, its relationship to contemporary culture, and the relationship between the material and ourselves.

Through these discussions and a series of improvisational exercises we generate material centered on text, stage images, choreography, etc. I don't like to put constraints on what the piece is going to be in these workshops, but let the cast and myself find the structure. The actors not only aid in the structure and text, but also aid in understanding the environment of the piece and the design. They offer up suggestions for design.

Through these workshops, discussions, and material generated, I then go away and "write" the piece. I put "write" in quotations because it is more sketching out the piece, creating a framework for us to go off of when we get into standard rehearsals.

HE: How many weeks do you spend on preparing for a new piece through this workshop approach, and what happens if some of your actors get a job at a big theatre?

MD: What’s great about the workshop environment is that we are generating material that can be used in the final product — it doesn’t have to be. We’ve started workshops in April and May and had a two-month break before standard rehearsals. A lot can happen in that time frame. The workshops were more about generating material than rehearsing for the show. All of the participants in these workshops will be credited as creators of the project.

HE: What do you want to explore in your new production?

MD: Religion, archetypal characters, and what it means to be a monster. What happens when we let obsession pulsate through our veins? Are we capable of denouncing our beliefs for the sake of lust?

HE: Interesting, why don’t we start with religion?

MD: The performance takes place in the sanctuary space of an active Presbyterian church. People have some sort of relationship to religion — positive or negative. A universal truth to this piece is the character of Archdeacon Claude Frollo [Quasimodo's guardian, played by Steve Wright] and his doubts towards the church.

He experiments with alchemy and lusts after Esmeralda [Lee Minora], both of which contradict his faith. He becomes engrossed and obsessed with these "ungodly" aspects and ultimately is destroyed by his newfound beliefs. Though Frollo's plight is extreme, we can extrapolate the sense of doubt and temptation — only the strong can survive the temptation.

HE: Why are you using archetypal characters?

MD: The silent Lon Chaney film and the Disney characters are drawn fairly flat, in spite of Hugo's novel. We therefore have chosen to break through these archetypal characters and really understand them as deeply flawed and complex individuals, dispelling their iconography.

HE: How are you going to present Quasimodo — a monster? A troubled human being?

MD: Quasimodo [Dan Higbee], the grotesque individual, exhibits a physical embodiment of what a "monster" is. We are interested in exploring what monster qualities are in the characters. We decided that the seven deadly sins are the "monster"-like qualities the characters possess. These sins cause the characters harm to themselves as well as other characters. We have framed the experience of creating a "Quasimodo" — people projecting their inner monsters onto others. Quasimodo becomes a scapegoat, an all too familiar attitude that continues to be understood today.

HE: What frames this production?

MD: Quasimodo, half-blind, disfigured, and, due to the ringing of the bells, he is experiencing severe hearing loss. With the help of Joo Won Park and Adam Vidiksis, we have settled on a sound design, based around an exaggerated, expressionistic, silent film aesthetic and live Foley work simulating a sensation of tinnitus, a persistent, non-stop ringing in the ears, all to create a fever dream with lighting by Eric Baker and movement by Annie Wilson.

HE: I hear you’re collaborating with Genevieve Geer’s Le Puppet Regime as well?

MD: Yes, I was at a fair looking around for potential collaborators and found a table with stained glass puppetry. I talked with Genevieve about her work and asked if she would be interested in creating puppets for the show. She was very enthusiastic and will be providing detailed puppets in the style of German Expressionism.

HE: Given Quasimodo’s deafness, are you using deaf actors?

MD: We are using actors with full hearing. We are presenting a dance-theatre piece with actors, and actors with movement experience. Some have gone through the Pig Iron School as well as the Headlong Performance Institute.

HE: How did you create a play without words that takes us into the inner world of Quasimodo?

MD: The performers riff and experiment with one another, trying abstracted versions of the characters and creating situations that range from the mundane to expressionistic interpretations of the environment.

HE: Anything else you’d like us to know?

MD: Our Hunchback of Notre Dame isn’t an adaptation of Hugo's novel, more of an extension of the story, sometimes minimal, sometimes exaggerated. It is a new way to present the familiar story. This is a movement inspired piece, a "mute play" — a wordless drama.

HE: Thank you.

"The Hunchback of Notre Dame" was published by Broad Street Review on September 15, 2014.

I asked cast members of the Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium (IRC), Philadelphia’s absurdist theatre (since 2006), founded by artistic director Tina Brock, what Ionesco’s RHINOCEROS brought up for them as actors and as people. The range of responses is as astounding as this production. A big thank you to everyone who participated in this Phindie interview.

HE: Michael Dura, you played a range of roles—the Grocer, one of the Firemen, the Old Man, and several rhinos. Did you see them as dangerous invaders?

Michael Dura: I’d be willing to give the rhinos a chance. I’ve seen it happen many times in my life that multitudes of people get swept up in a new idea or fad, and it’s usually over something that’s either stupid or downright bad, but when this happens, it’s usually short lived and soon fizzles out. You don’t always know where it will lead, until it’s been in process for a while. 

HE: If quite a few people in your life act like Ionesco’s rhinos, how do they respond when you try to communicate with them? 

MD: What’s really dangerous in my mind is a complacent, uninformed attitude of some people. When I try to argue with that crowd over a serious mistake that society is making, I usually get answers like, “That’s the way it is.” 

The main character of the play, Berenger, knows that the rhinoceros fad is bad, but he can’t explain why. He says he knows instinctively or intuitively. Well, this is most of society. You ask them how they feel about this or that segment of society and they say, “Kill the bastards.” You ask them why, and you get, “This is America.”

HE: Jerry, you go all out as Papillon and The Waitress. What did Ionesco’s RHINOCEROS bring up for you in your life in terms of group mentality at work?

Jerry Rudasill: I actually had fellow Black People [Mr. Rudasill's caps] call me a “sell out” for not condoning the violence [during the 1992 LA Riots sparked by the beating of Rodney King]. During the OJ Simpson trial, many White People were so enraged by the verdict they took it upon themselves to share that disappointment with every Black Person they knew, to the extent I was frequently accused of thinking OJ was innocent when I had very publicly and frequently explained how I thought he was guilty—which led to some very uncomfortable moments at my job at the time. And just about every discussion I’ve had involving politics, religion, abortion, race, war, income inequality, and the myth of trickle-down economics.

HE: David Stanger, you take on the role of Jean, the brilliant, argumentative counterpart to Monsieur Berenger. How do you relate to the herd of rhinoceros?

David Stanger: The rhino herd, at least for me, has come to symbolize the primal aspect of conformity. Perhaps it’s due to our ancestors’ necessity to survive that we look for strength in numbers, but whatever the reason, I think there still exists a survival instinct to follow the herd, even if that means following something we wouldn’t necessarily invest or believe in were we to take the time and effort to examine the cause. 

HE: If conformity is part of one’s social and sometimes physical survival, how do you survive?

DS: I have never felt overly comfortable with a crowd mentality, and I deeply sympathized with Berenger’s plight—both his being ostracized for not keeping with social norms and his fear and defiance in the face of a world gone mad with its desire to conform.

HE: Ethan, you give us a moving portrayal of Berenger, the survivor. Where do you see rhinos in America today? 

Ethan Lipkin: To me Rhinocerotitis is best illustrated in modern political speech, and that filters down to general political discourse between the herds of “we, the people.” The phenomenon is most striking on the right, where there is an organized network of televised news sources, nationally syndicated talk radio programs—that do not exist on the left—and journalistically dubious news websites which echo daily messages that are then absorbed by followers and parroted in discussion, social apps, and message boards nationally—as if in one voice.

HE: Bob Schmidt, you act as both the Café Proprietor and Monsieur Botard. Could you give an example where you were drawn to a herd and did something that you now regret?

Bob Schmidt: When I was much younger, my best friend was the neighborhood mayor—a very outgoing, savvy kid, a natural born leader. He organized and hosted most of our daily activities. Unfortunately, he was also a bit of a bully, and enjoyed harassing and teasing certain neighborhood kids. Even though I knew it was wrong, I joined him on numerous pranks that, at the time, we thought were extremely hilarious, but, in retrospect, were downright mean and often an insult to the poor kids’ religion. Since then, I’ve made it a point not to be swept up in anything like it ever again.

HE: What did performing RHINOCEROS in 2014 bring up for you?

BS: In today’s world the herd of rhinos is the constant motion of modern life. We’re so busy running from one thing to another and multitasking that we’re really focusing on the wrong things. The tools that have been created to draw us closer—smart phones, Internet, social networks—are actually alienating us from each other. All of this is pushing us away from each other into our own insulated world—a mass conformity of isolated individuals.

HE: Maryruth, you play the Housewife and Madame Boeuf. How do you see the rhinoceros? 

Maryruth Stine: While there are many contemporary and historical allegories for the rhinoceri, I must admit that substitutions have never worked for me as an actor. So, while I have drawn many political parallels in considering the play from a dramaturgical perspective, especially in regards to “the change” as a disease as opposed to a political movement, as an actor I just go all in. The world of the play is the realest world, and it’s the rhinos that are the most terrifying, captivating, soothing, and seductive. 

HE: Steve Lippe, you present Ionesco’s illogical Logician and you bring down the house numerous times with incorrect answers or new absurd definitions. What is your take on RHINOCEROS?

Steve Lippe: The rhino herd or meshpocha [Hebrew for "family"] is a physical manifestation of the conflict all people have of wanting to be part of something versus the need to be apart. The conflict is humanized, or should I say rhinocerized, by Jean and Berenger’s relationship to each other, and each individual’s relation to themselves.

HE: And where are you with your life in this challenging, fear inducing play? 

SL: My personal response? I imagined I was being confronted by my worst fear—which I am not disclosing!

HE: Let me disclose to you and the whole ensemble that this production made me laugh and think—often all at once. Many thanks to everyone.

"Give the rhinos a chance" was published by Phindie on September 16, 2014.

BELGIUM
Welgekomen, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. Philadelphia, with our many dance companies, is ready to get challenged by your minimalist abstract feminist Rosas danst Rosas. Your work has even inspired Beyoncé in her “Countdown” music video.

BORNEO
Selamat datang, and Yindī t̂xnrạb khuṇ, Skowmon Hastanan, from Thailand now New York, taking us on your interactive and experimental Borneo Odyssey, following in the footsteps of the Borneo Expeditions by the Penn Museum scientists of 1896-1898, even meeting a talking orangutan.

FRANCE
Bienvenu, Aaron Cromie et Mary Tuomanen avec votre The Body Lautrec about Toulouse Lautrec, the famous painter of the Moulin Rouge, outsider, exhibitionist, and medical object.

Bienvenu, Michael Durkin and your collaborators and co-conspirators at the Renegade Company, reimaging Victor Hugo’s Hunchback of Notre Dame as a mute play, a wordless drama, a silent film on stage.

GERMANY
Willkommen, Helgard Haug, Stefan Kaegi, und Daniel Wetzel und Euer Rimini Protokoll. I can’t wait to hear from 100 real Philadelphians—expert performers acting only as themselves—answering hot button questions, giving everyone a chance to see where we stand.

Willkommen, Engelbert Humperdinck, the Grimm brothers, and the Children’s Opera Box, performing yourHansel and Gretel--a frightfullydelightful musical journey into the woods for children of all ages.

GREECE
Kalós órises, Achilles and Briseis in Jon Lipsky’s Living in Exile: Retelling of the Iliad who, with the help of the Philadelphia Experimental Theatre Ensemble,lets us experience the “war-making rage in us all” and “the horror outside and inside our living rooms.”

Kalós órises, Aesop and the Drexel Players, who promise to make us part of the famed Greek fables by taking us into the “dog-eat-dog corporate world” in AE$OP.

Kalós órises, Sophocles and Van Martin Productions with your comedic musical retelling of the incestuous Greek tragedy Oedipus, not shying away from herpes spreading through Athens.

Kalós órises, Trajal Harell from New York. Your provocative, gender-bending, cat walking version of ancient Greek theatre in Antigone Sr., might upset traditionalists while delighting cutting edge dance aficionados.

IRAN
Khosh amadid. Nassim Soleimanpour. You can’t leave Iran because you refused to do military service, but you sent us your work. Your play, White Rabbit, Red Rabbit, is being performed by actors around the world who have never read, let alone rehearsed, it before they take the stage.

ITALY
Benvenuto, Romeo Castellucci e Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio. Last year, you shocked even some of the most avant-garde theatre goers with On the Concept of the Face, Regarding the Son of God. Now, I can’t wait to see one of Europe’s most hard hitting directors present another thought provoking piece— Rothko’s rebellious act at The Four Seasons Restaurant.

NAMIBIA
Wayakurua, Jackie Sibblies Drury. Your “dark, funny, and unruly play” about “late 19th century subjugation of the indigenous Herero people by German colonialists” is putting you on the map as a rising playwright. Coming from Germany, I am particularly interested in We Are Proud to Present (a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as Southwest Africa, From the German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 1884-1915), directed by Matt Pfeiffer.

ROMANIA
Bine ai venit, Eugène Ionesco and Tina Brock, director of The Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium, whose production of Rhinoceros is so lively and entertaining that the audience will laugh almost non-stop and yet—leave deep in thought.

SPAIN
Bienvenidos, Fernando Arrabal y Emily Schuman, the translator, director, and actor of your Fando y Lis. The play lets us follow Fando and his crippled bride through a post-apocalyptic wasteland, searching for the city of Tar, a place where all wishes come true. The film version of this play led to riots in Acapulco in 1968. Film director Alejandro Jodorowsky said, “The spectators took offense, hated me. They wanted to lynch me. I had to escape sunk in the chest of a motorcar.”

THE JEWISH WORLD
Shalom, playwright Martin Sherman, director Fernando Gonzalez, and the cast of Truth Be Told Productions. Your moving Jewish-Gay play Bent, performed in Philadelphia for the first time in 15 years, is bound to make us remember the many people who perished in the concentration camps during the Holocaust.

Shalom, Shechinah, and the team behind your multidimensional, interactive Kabbalah: The Musical! You are not only teaching us about Jewish esoteric traditions, irrespective of our backgrounds, but you are involving the audience with story, song, chant, and meditation.

OUTER SPACE, INNER SPACE
Live long and prosper, Gunnar Montana. Your Resurrection Room allows us not only to live through some of your disappointments and nightmares, but to visit futuristic worlds beyond the norm.

Live long and prosper, Brian Sanders and your team of nude dancers in Suspended, described as “raw, brash, erotic, and extreme” with your trademark “audacious physicality.” In previous years your amazing work has led to sold out productions, which might explain some the most expensive tickets at The Fringe this year, ranging from $30 to $75—a bargain by New York, Las Vegas, or L.A. standards for spectacular events.

Live long and prosper, you many artists of The Institute for Psychogeographic Adventure, covering almost every theatrical art form with your Experiment #39, sending us on a wild tour through Philadelphia’s Old City. Each of your events and happenings are different, impossible to describe, except to say that you asked us to “make an appointment, wear comfortable shoes, and join the adventure on this sneakily guided walking tour.”

A hearty WELCOME to all playwrights, artists, dancers, directors, performers and, above all, the many theatre-goers supporting cutting edge theatre in Philadelphia at the 2014 Fringe Festival.

HENRIK EGER

"A welcome to far-flung artists" was originally published by Phindie on September 7, 2014.