Événement

SLIDESHOW at FringeArts

The humorous drama featuring real slides from the 19501980s alongside a fictional family narrative about vacation, America, and when visions of one's future meet up with reality. Written and performed by Josh McIlvain

"The punchy-colored slides and humorous yet heartfelt prose McIlvain recites is as uncanny and nostalgic as some of our own family scrapbooks. This piece invites the audience to be mesmerized and taken on a journey about transition, tragedy and connection." Philadelphia City Paper

"A thought-provoking, intimate, funny and poignant journey." Stage Magazine

75 minutes, mature audiences.

From the 1950s through the 1980s, the slideshow was a staple of the American household. SLIDESHOW drops audiences back into the time of Kodachrome colors, weaving a fictional family history around strangers' real slides of long ago vacations. A funny, disturbing, and deeply felt work about the disconnection between the lives of children and those of their parents, SLIDESHOW recreates a lost ritual and delves into the aspirations of 20th-century American life.

Real slides. A fictional family saga. An old fashioned slideshow becomes a theatrical experience.

Josh McIlvain (writerperformer) is a Philadelphia-based playwright, director, and performer. As the artistic director of SmokeyScout Productions, he writes and directs (or co-directs) original shows including American Wisdom, Return of Confessions of a Plate and Shoe, Carter's Play, and many others; he curates the Northwest Philly based Nice and Fresh performing arts series, and creates a new work for each show. In addition to SmokeyScout, he has had more than 115 productions of some 70 plays throughout the U.S. He has also directed plays (Alp D'Huez, Magick & Glitter) for Hella Fresh Theater and was the writer for the collaborative work Leaps of Faith and Other Mistakes by Almanac Dance Circus Theater.

SmokeyScout Productions (smokeyscout.com) was founded by Josh McIlvain and Deborah Crocker in 2008. Based in Philadelphia, the company produces theater written and directed by Josh McIlvain, and brings a close look at contemporary life to the stage with brilliant acting, bold humor, inventive staging, and a respect for audience intelligence. They also present the Nice and Fresh performing arts series.