The intentions may be admirable, but it’s not always easy being a do-gooder. Drawing on inspiration from pulp novels and comic books, Julia Rhoads’ dance-theater company, Lucky Plush Productions, will debut its Trip the Light Fantastic: The Making of a SuperStrip at Diana Wortham Theatre. Performances will be at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, February 26–27, and are a sneak preview of the company’s world premiere in Chicago next month.
In Trip the Light Fantastic, Julia, along with composer Michael Caskey and video designer Liviu Pasare, examine the roadblocks and pitfalls faced by those intrepid folks who dare try to make the world a better place. The performance is a winning blend of humor, passion, and insights.
The show’s script follows a group of has-been superheroes who attempt to reinvent themselves in a nonprofit think tank and explores the obstacles faced in fighting for “Truth, Justice and … Whatever.” Unable to agree on their mission, the unlikely league discovers that real-world problems are far more complex than singular forces of evil, and that organizational efforts can create unnecessary blocks to effecting meaningful change.
John Ellis, Diana Wortham Theatre’s managing director, says, “The region’s robust nonprofit community, and activists and leaders of any organization or business for that matter, will take special delight in (Julia) Rhoads’ examination of the process, and sometimes the absurdity, of getting well-intentioned work done—the number of meetings, the decision-making hijinks, the circularity of conversations.
“It’s a fun and humorous show: a highly-entertaining collision of content and forms.” He adds, the show “is a tremendous pick for Asheville, and one of our most anticipated performances this season.”
“Any attempt to truly merge dance and theater at the highest level of both dancing and acting, choreography and stage direction, is an ambitious goal that Lucky Plush is moving toward with bold and creative strides,” writes Lynn Colburn Shapiro in See Chicago Dance.
With world-class dance, witty and erudite dialogue, amazing design, and truly laugh-out-loud humor, Trip the Light Fantastic is an unprecedented blend of contemporary dance theatre and animated graphic novel.
There will be Pre-performance Discussions with director Julia Rhoads at 7 p.m. prior to each performance. These will take place in The Forum off the main lobby and are free to ticketholders on a first-come-first-served basis.
For tickets ($42 for adults, $37 for students, and $20 for children, with $10 student rush day-of-show), visit dwtheatre.com or call 828.257.4530.
