We are just about TWO WEEKS away from opening day of A Lord Of A Ring In A Suitcase: A Two-Part Trilogy (The Extendish Edition)!
We are currently in the middle of our rehearsal period for our summer show. Costumes are being made, songs are being arranged, and props are being built — it is VERY exciting!
Make sure to check out our TOUR SCHEDULE page and mark your calendars!
The Peripatetic Players are seeking 1-2 additional performers to join us for our summer performance & tour, A Lord of a Ring in a Suitcase: The Two-Part Trilogy (The Extend-ish Edition), an original adaptation of JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. This is in part a remount of our 2019 production (Part 1), and an original production (Part 2).
We are looking for actors who love working in collaboration with an ensemble and who are comfortable with physical/devised theatre, movement, and music. We are looking to diversify our current ensemble, so we especially encourage femme- and woman-identified performers of color to audition.
Our production features imaginative leaps, incredible assertions, feats of theatricality, and a whole lot of mystical beings, far away places, and rings. Performers will embody characters and help create the ensemble-driven music, atmospheres and settings of the play.
For more information and to read the full audition announcement, please visit this link!
It’s been some time since you’ve heard from the Peripatetic Players, and we wanted to tell you – WE’VE MISSED YOU!
The past year (and then some) has been EXTREME in all the ways it could be. Ensemble members have begun and completed grad school, started new jobs and kept old ones, performed in and produced online performances, and some are even in the process of buying a home! Amidst all of that, we continue to learn and educate ourselves on how to defy white supremacy culture, in all its forms, and work towards consensus-based decision making.
It’s *a lot* and we are so happy to be doing it!
Our ensemble has been fortunate to safely gather a handful of times this late spring and summer, we look forward to continuing to come together as an ensemble and create art not only for ourselves, but for you!
You know how Shakespeare wrote all of those plays during the plague? Well, earlier this year, Marlene (Princess Gwen) finished writing the first draft of an adaptation of The Lord of the Rings. She started adapting The Two Towers in 2020, and finished The Return of the King in 2021. She hosted an online (private) reading, with friends near and far.
Rebecca (Madame D.) spent quarantine in graduate school at UC Berkeley, working toward a Masters in Education. This August she begins teaching 9th and 12th grade English at Albany High School.
Our next moves, so to speak, are to shake off the dust from our costumes, stretch our muscles, pull out our notebooks, and really start to train together as a theatrical ensemble. For those of you who might be unfamiliar with that means (and what we keep referring too), here’s an idea of what an afternoon (~4 hours) might look like when we participate in ensemble development:
One thing from these longer ensemble days is that we also look towards what we might want our next production to be. Part of this is us as a group learning how to reclaim/restructure/reinvent stories in a way that feels safe, appropriate, inclusive, exciting, and worth telling.
We hope to use the above work to develop an informal, invitation-only performance of A Lord of a Ring In A Suitcase for the winter, where we will formally introduce and welcome Crash and Inspector Quimbley. Check them out here & here!
Our utmost goal is to back in parks and public spaces by Summer 2022 for our annual summer performances! We’ve missed you all so much, and we hope you are finding ways to thrive in your homes & communities, and raising up those around you.
Thumper‘s very good friend, Joan Howard, will lead this Physical Comedy workshop. This workshop was postponed from its original date of March 17.
You’ll learn the basics of physical comedy and knockabout clowning, from solo slapstick to group melees and building comedic bits. You’ll build essential skills like tripping, tumbling, falling, and running into walls. We’ll also cover comic slaps, hair pulls, foot stomps, and head bonks. Finally, we’ll explore comic structure, and you’ll string your skills together to create a short slapstick performance with other workshop participants that will serve to develop character and tell a story.
This workshop is for actors, improvisers, clowns, comedians, and anyone who is excited to develop their physical funny. Open to all skill levels and ages 15 and up. Sign Up Here!
What: Physical Comedy with the Peripatetic Players
When: June 16, 2019, 12pm – 3pm
Where: Port Costa, California
How To Sign Up: Register at this link!
Cost is just $50, which supports both Idiot String and the Port Costa Conservation Society. Residents of Port Costa, Crockett, or Tormey pay just $10 thanks to the generous sponsorship of the Crockett Community Foundation.
After the workshop, explore the wonderful and tiny town of Port Costa, where you can hike the hills, relax with a book, or discover whimsical artwork and fabulous antiques — making the whole day an invigorating experience.
We are excited to play with you!
Joan Howard is a physical theatre performer and clown. She plays Thumper of the Samuel Peaches Peripatetic Players, and is one-half of the acrobatic clown duo Max & Antoinette, who have appeared at San Francisco Theater Pub and the foolsFURY Factory Parts Festival. Joan teaches the next generation of professional clowns at San Francisco Circus Center’s Clown Conservatory, where she is co-director of a new social clowning program called ClownCorps. Joan also feels particularly fortunate to visit hospitals with the Medical Clown Project. She has performed with We Players and foolsFURY, and has presented original performances at Physical Theatre Salon at Main Street, LEVYSalon, Barbary Coast Amusements, Literary Clown Foolery, The Clown Cabaret, and Ei8ht. In 2010, she co-founded Main Street Theatre in San Francisco’s Excelsior district, an alternative performance venue dedicated to physical theatre and the variety arts. Joan studied clowning and pedagogy with Giovanni Fusetti of Helikos, is a graduate of Flying Actor Studio’s Physical Theatre Conservatory, and holds a BFA in Sculpture/Performance Art from California College of Arts & Crafts. She is co-creator of Idiot String.
Mdme Directrix’s very good friend, Rebecca Longworth, will lead a workshop on January 27 called Ensemble Character Creation with the Peripatetic Players.
This workshop is open to all! In it, you’ll create your very own character, and play together with other workshop participants to perform an original adaptation of a short fairy tale… just like the Peripatetic Players do it! Read on for more info, then Sign Up Here!
What: Ensemble Character Creation with the Peripatetic Players
When: Sunday, January 27, 10am – 2pm
Where: Port Costa, California
How To Sign Up: Register at this link!
Cost is just $40, which supports both Idiot String and the Port Costa Conservation Society. Residents of Port Costa, Crockett, or Tormey pay just $10 thanks to the generous sponsorship of the Crockett Community Foundation.
In this workshop, Idiot String’s Artistic Director, Rebecca Longworth, will guide you through the Peripatetic Players’ signature style of character-building and collaborative creation, rooted in delight and play. You’ll come away with a new character ready to hit the stage in a variety of settings, new insight and confidence as a performer, and new collaborators dedicated to accessible ensemble theatremaking. You’ll also laugh a lot!
Using methods developed by the Peripatetic Players use to create their actor-characters, you’ll cultivate delight, vulnerability, and authentic presence on stage. You’ll gain insight into your habits as a performer, using those as strengths to build from. Then, through improvisation, eccentric exploration, and play, you’ll develop a brand-new character that’s unique to you! Your character will find their voice and form relationships, then build an ensemble with other delightful weirdos to adapt a short fairytale together.
After the workshop, explore the wonderful and tiny town of Port Costa, where you can hike the hills, relax with a book, or discover whimsical artwork and fabulous antiques — making the whole day an invigorating experience.
We are excited to play with you!
Who is this workshop for?
We’re looking for participants from a variety of backgrounds with a range of performing experience…
Your investment of $40 supports Idiot String, our workshop leaders, and the Port Costa School as a community space. Residents of Port Costa, Tormey, and Crockett pay just $10, thanks to generous sponsorship from the Crockett Community Foundation.
*Update: this workshop has been RESCHEDULED for Sunday January 27*
The Peripatetic Players and their very good friends Rebecca, Joan, et. al. will be leading a workshop this November 3 [rescheduled for January 27!] called Ensemble Character Creation with the Peripatetic Players.
This workshop is open to all! In it, you’ll create your very own character, and play together with other workshop participants to perform an original adaptation of a short fairy tale… just like the Peripatetic Players do it! Read on for more info, then Sign Up Here!
What: Ensemble Character Creation with the Peripatetic Players
When: Saturday November 3, 10am – 2pm
Where: Port Costa, California
How To Sign Up: Register at this link!
Cost is just $40 to pay workshop leaders, and help support Idiot String and the Port Costa Conservation Society. No one turned away for lack of funds.
In this workshop, you’ll experience the Peripatetic Players’ signature style of character-building and collaborative creation, rooted in delight and play. You’ll come away with a new character ready to hit the stage in other settings, new insight and confidence as a performer, and new collaborators dedicated to accessible ensemble theatremaking. You’ll also laugh a lot!
With methods the Peripatetic Players use to create their actor-characters, you’ll cultivate delight, vulnerability, and authentic presence on stage. You’ll gain insight into your habits as a performer, using those as strengths to build from. Then, through improvisation, eccentric exploration, and play, You’ll develop a brand-new character that’s unique to you! We’ll help them find their voice and form relationships, then we’ll take our characters for a spin… building an ensemble with other delightful weirdos, and adapting a short fairytale together.
After the workshop, explore the wonderful and tiny town of Port Costa, where you can hike the hills, relax with a book, or discover whimsical artwork and fabulous antiques — making the whole day an invigorating experience.
We are excited to play with you!
We’re looking for participants from a variety of backgrounds with a range of performing experience…
Cost is just $40 to pay workshop leaders, and help support Idiot String and the Port Costa Conservation Society. No one turned away for lack of funds.
Thanks to our fantastic donors and supporters, we met our challenge grant goal!
Through our spring & summer fundraising campaigns, we met our matching challenge of $4000 from the East Bay Fund for Artists! In face, we exceeded the goal by about $400, which will cover the associated costs of credit card and fiscal sponsorship fees. Hurrah! and THANK YOU!
Not only do these dollars help the Peripatetic Players to sail around the Bay this summer, the matching funds from the East Bay Fund for Artists at the East Bay Community Foundation will help Idiot String (the Peripatetics’ parent company) create a new play in Port Costa in 2019.
Thank you to all our generous supporters of the matching campaign who donated online or by filling out yellow slips or swiping a card at our shows… to those who pledged a Player for the Third Annual Particularly Obstinate Obstacle Course… and everyone who helped us meet our match!
And thank you also to everyone who gives at our performances. Your kind words and smiles put the wind in our sails, and the dollars that you drop in our hats keeps our shows accessible to all!
Here’s what it takes to put on an SPPP summer tour…
That’s $13,365 for the whole summer tour — or about $1215 per show. Yay, math!
Is it too late to donate? It’s never too late! We’re still counting on donations throughout the summer to meet our overall budget for the tour. If you’re moved, you can donate right here, right now! Or, come to a show and drop some dollars in our hat. In either case, we hope to see you soon!
Shiver We Timbers! is now open, and the Good Ship Peripatetic has already had two adventures on the high seas! Great audiences and glorious weather turned out for our opening weekend, at Dimond Park in Oakland on Saturday, and Noe Valley Town Square on Sunday.
the Good Ship Peripatetic in Noe Valley’s Town Square
Thanks to Oakland’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Youth Development, and to S.F. Recreation & Parks for hosting us at these gorgeous sites, and to the Noe Valley Association for helping to get the word out.
We’re looking ahead now to our next ports of call: Glen Canyon Park, San Francisco, at 3pm on Saturday July 14; and Niles Town Plaza in Fremont at noon on Sunday July 15. Click here for the full schedule, with links to maps!
gathering a miniature pirate crew at Dimond Park
Glen Park fans, have a look at the cool events that the Glen Park History Project has in the works — including a suffragette walking tour of Glen Park the morning of our show.
Over in Niles, train enthusiasts AND silent film buffs will find lots to discover. Sunday’s show happens to coincide with Charlie Chaplin Days, so you may see a bunch of Chaplins dressed in homage to one of our favorite knockabout clowns!
A Charlie Chaplin mural in Niles
Our Niles performance is generously co-sponsored by the Niles Main Street Association and the Alameda County Library Foundation, as part of the 2018 Niles Summer Concert Series. Remember… start time in Niles is noon.
Just one of the train cars – of the real and model variety – on view in Niles
And there’s still time to donate to our matching funds campaign — all donations made through July 15 will be matched by the East Bay Fund for Artists at the East Bay Community Foundation, up to a total of $4000. Read more here, or take the plunge and…
As always, check out our Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter feeds for real-time pirate adventure updates! Arrrrrrgh!
Ahoy, thar! Hope yer keepin’ a weather eye out for pirates… because Shiver We Timbers opens this weekend!
As always, Peripatetic Players shows are FREE to all! If you can donate some of your hard-earned doubloons, that helps keep us afloat. And right now, your doubloons are worth double! Make a donation by July 15, and your dollars will be matched by the East Bay Fund for Artists to help create a new show in Port Costa next spring.
Follow us on Twitter or Instagram to get a pirate’s-eye glimpse of our voyage!
The Peripatetic Players 