Results tagged “eXtreme eXchange” from Inkblog!

Folks, it's Anne here on this snowy/rainy Thursday letting you know that the event hosted by The Inkwell and eXtreme eXchange made a real impression on Peter Marks, one of the theater critics for The Washington Post.  Read his article and his thoughtful take on what eXtreme eXchange is bringing to Washington, DC's theater — and political — ecosystem.  Here's an excerpt from the article:

"Extreme Exchange was formed, in the group's own words, 'to tackle national issues that are on our minds but not our stages.' As such, the company is a wholly welcome experiment for a city that's too often resistant to the types of theater that critique its preoccupations, its peculiar ways and means.

It's certainly true that a lot of what passes for topical theater in this country is shallow, and designed to capitalize on audiences' ingrained partisan leanings more than to provoke deeper thinking. And maybe anything smacking of overt agitprop can be inordinately offensive in a town that likes to think of itself as forever engaged in a policy discourse on a more nuanced plane.

Yet judging from the articulate responses Saturday night in a talk-back session after the show at H Street Playhouse, you got the feeling there is an appetite in Washington for more theater with an agenda."

And here's another interesting snippet, which captures something of The Inkwell's aesthetic, and the energy around a raw, newly formed piece of theater:

"Tautly rolled out in just over an hour at H Street for a capacity crowd, the playlets, in all their rawness, managed to feel like something authentically of this particular time -- and place. The intriguing question arises of whether the process and material could be developed further -- or whether it best remains entirely of the instant."

Hat's off to eXtreme eXchange — for bringing all of us this fun, provocative angle on political discourse and for bringing a new audience into the DC theater scene.

Here's Patrick Bussink, Hannah Hessel, Gwen Grastorf, and Jonathon Church in the movement piece "Untitled," performed at the eXtreme eXchange/Inkwell event last Saturday.  This photo was taken by The Inkwell's own Melissa Blackall and was published in The Washington Post with the article by Peter Marks.  Congratulations Melissa!