RE-WRITING THE AUTHOR
A dark comedy about a god and the mess he made.
Season 16
The Lie Detector • A fundraiser for Colorado Gives Day
Members of Buntport Theater Company are getting hooked up to a lie detector for your entertainment! What will be revealed when these people who lie by trade are forced to either tell the truth or beat the machine? A silly night of entertainment, complete with snacks, drinks, and the opportunity to ask your own questions all while raising funds for Buntport!
Even if you can’t make the show PLEASE DONATE! You can schedule donation for Colorado Gives day at any time at ColoradoGives.org/Buntport!
So You Think You Can Watch Us Dance!
A new dance battle with Buntport and 7dancers.
Beautifully talented dancers side by side with us.
Including the triumphant return of our infamous Pepto Bismol dance from 2013. Two nights only.
- $13 online NO ADDITIONAL FEES!
- $15 at the door
The Rembrandt Room @ Millibo Art Theatre
We are taking The Rembrandt Room on the road!
The winner of this year’s Henry Award for Outstanding New Play will play for 6 nights only in Colorado Springs. If you missed it last spring, make sure to catch it now!
Check out Millibo Art Theatre’s Website for more info and tickets!
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Middle Aged People Sitting In Boxes
Middle Aged People Sitting in Boxes barely needs to be described because the entire show is perfectly encapsulated in the title. (more…)
Siren Song: A Pirate’s Odyssey
A comedy series for all pirates and their parents- bringing you new high seas hijinks returns to the stage fall of 2017! Inspired by Homer’s Odyssey, an audience-suggested song launches each play-full voyage.
From the people who brought you Trunks and Duck Duck Dupe!
$7 online ($8 at the door)
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Denver Post- Buntport’s Middle Aged People Sitting in Boxes
It was — and fortunately remains — quite the weekend for intriguing theater.
I was going to say “unusual” theater. And although Buntport Theater’s latest original work “Middle Aged People Sitting in Boxes” is a quirky take on modern identity, doing playfully ruminative work is hardly unusual for this five-person company.
Four large rectangles draped with black fabric sit on the concrete floor of the theater. They are boxes big enough to hold a person; each has three sides and a ceiling of Plexiglass.
As promised, there are people already in these containers. And as the pre-performance music grows faint, each performer pulls at the curtain to reveal themselves.
In this show, the actors go by their own names, which doesn’t mean they aren’t characters. Over the course of the show, Erik Edborg’s box will get cluttered as he unpacks little cardboard cartons of stuff.
Erin Rollman, who’s maintaining the Facebook page for her 25th high school reunion, stands or leans or sits on a stool in her more vertical habitat.
A laptop often in her lap, Hannah Duggan sits typing away on the keyboard. Brian Colonna’s pen has a pile of laundry on its floor. He’s in boxer briefs, a phone in his hand.
There are holes cut into the Plexiglass that aren’t particularly noticeable until a character does something odd: like sidle up to another box or gather laundry from a clothesline stretched across the stage or plug a vacuum in to an extension cord to take a swipe at a rug.
Colonna doesn’t just have a land line, his old-school phone is tethered to a wall jack outside his box. That Muzak-like sound — diabolically imagined by frequent collaborator Adam Stone — is actually the punishing drone of being Colonna on hold.
Familiarity breeds contemplation in “Middle Aged People Sitting in Boxes.”
Rollman starts things off early with questions about what exactly constitutes “middle age”? It’s not a bad quandary in a society that half jest that “50 is the new 30” and so forth. What to make of one’s place on a spectrum between twenty-something and “elderly.”
That this quartet hardly seems “middle age” to this late Boomer is part of the point in this exploration of generational identity.
What are the indicators, the indices that define us? What boxes do we check to claim our space in a overly connected society? And how connected are these characters, really, in a world in which a comforting hug meets Plexiglass?
What are the account numbers and passwords that make a galling, if useful, claim on who we are? Until, that is, they’re misplaced and you must seek the compassion of some faceless, practiced customer service rep, as Colonna experiences in his looping purgatory of hold.
Central to the sly artistry of this ensemble are the offstage machinations of fellow Buntporter SamAnTha Schmitz, who applies layers of light and sound to what appears a stripped show. “Middle Aged People Sitting in Boxes” has deceptively spare staging.
And at times the characters’ riffs have the rhythmic pay-offs of stand-up routines. But four stand-ups weaving their acts is no easy feat. What seems cleverly conversational is highly orchestrated. The casual and flippant serves a philosophy of our quotidian, our daily lives shaped by memories and shot through with way too much information.
That mixture can be amusingly inane It can be magical. Occasionally it can be both.
-Lisa Kennedy, April 23, 2015 Denver Post
Boulder Magazine- Middle Aged People Sitting in Boxes
The Denver Post says that “at the top of their game, nobody does silly like Buntport Theatre Company.” And this show is at the absolute TOP of their game. As is often the case, their seemingly silly pieces of fluff makes you laugh while you are at the theatre and think about it more deeply as you drive home. This one causes you to question the whole concept of “middle aged.” What is the middle age and when are you in it? In my personal case, I wondered all the way home when did middle age end and “elderly” begin?
Taking their cue from Seinfield, a Buntport quartet of players (Erin, Hannah, Erik and Brian) indulge in a 90 minute discourse about … nothing. They ponder the purpose of their ‘jobs,’ the importance (or not) of high school reunions, how to pack to move, what makes up a ‘good’ neighborhood, how can you pay a bill when you aren’t in the system, do you really have to put on your socks before your pants, and on and on. But these are merely diversions as they try to find a solution to the initial problem of defining middle age. Is it when you have to get drunk to clean your living space? Is it when you have a crisis – by definition then, a midlife crisis? Is it when you have lost control of the chaos in your life? Or is it dependent on the mean life expectancy of people of your origins, hereditary background, lifestyle, etc? I’m happy to report that no concrete definition was ever found so we can all continue in the delusion that we are still in our middle years!!
One very interest concept was explored to great length. There is a subclass between the X and Y generations of people born in the late 80’s that are the last ones to use things that are now perceived as ‘old-fashioned.’ They are the group that knows what a telephone book is but has never used one. That remembers record players but never owned one. That used to use a map or a card catalog or a dictionary in book form to receive needed information. An interesting classification that they called “networld.”
The ‘boxes’ of the title are beautifully made plexiglass units on wheels with artfully placed feet and hand holes that allow the actors to move about (somewhat) and to reach outside the boxes (awkwardly) to grasp other things like the vacuum cleaner and the phone. One of the joys of each new Buntport show is watching how they stage it. Their sets are always simple but cleverly constructed with imaginative sound effects and lighting.
As usual, I’ll be thinking about this one for a long time. Isn’t that the whole purpose???
A WOW factor of 9!!
-Beki Pineda, April 20, 2015 Boulder Magazine (getboulder.com)
Westword- Buntport Thinks Outside The Box With Middle Aged People Sitting in Boxes
A clothesline on which tops and bras are hung spans the stage. Other than that, the set consists of four shrouded forms that are eventually unshrouded to reveal four middle-aged people sitting in boxes — if you consider Buntport Theater Company’s Brian Colonna, Erin Rollman, Hannah Duggan and Erik Edborg middle-aged. But as Rollman points out, middle age is a shifting boundary, hard to define, and this is territory explored in the latest Buntport creation, Middle Aged People Sitting in Boxes.
The characters can hear and speak to each other, but they can’t touch each other through the plexiglass barriers of their boxes; they can also stand up and walk these boxes from place to place, creating interesting geometrical configurations. In the box on the right, Colonna struggles with that ubiquitous modern horror: trying to get something done by phone. He can’t access the site he needs online, because it no longer recognizes him. But when, after a long wait, he actually gets a human being named Angela on the phone, she can’t help him, either — because the system says he doesn’t exist. All of this is particularly hard to cope with because he’s tethered to a landline by a long, curly cord and is wearing no pants. Periodically, the others exhort him to please put them on, but he explains that he can’t until he finds his socks — because first socks and then pants is his rule for dressing.
In her box, Duggan occupies herself with her job, which involves classifying data. On the other side of her, Rollman organizes a 25-year high-school reunion on Facebook. And then there’s Edborg, who seems to have moved into a new place and is trying to organize his belongings. This is hard because he’s a hoarder and has also mislabeled his stuff: The box that says “cutlery,” for instance, contains an embroidered pillow. And another box that arrives in the mail labeled “spice rack” turns out to be something else entirely.
What is Middle Aged People Sitting in Boxes about? There are a lot of lists and a lot of attempts on the characters’ part to categorize. This passion for order takes an array of forms, from enumerating all the buildings and businesses in a particular neighborhood to Edborg’s musings about how to use a spice rack when he can name only three spices to how you’re defined by those quizzes that ask what historical personage you’d be or reveal how your favorite fruit exposes your personality. “You’re trying to control the chaos,” Duggan tells Edborg kindly. “That’s what middle-aged people do.”
The idea of order is all mixed up with the idea of data — how we acquire it as well as how we sort it — and that leads to talk about generations: X-ers and Y-ers and Networlders, all of whom view the world in different ways because of the different ways in which the world comes to them. There are references to the usual targets: people’s obsession with their gadgets, the proliferation of emoticons and selfies, the way one generation fails to understand another’s way of using technology — though the cast also points out that dividing human beings into generations with arbitrary cut-off points is deceptive in itself. But the dialogue isn’t obvious: The Buntport crew goes deeper, showing that there’s something profoundly mysterious about the way our brains work, and raising a slew of questions about the ubiquity of facts and the ease with which we can look them up: Does this make people dumber because they no longer know how to research, or smarter because they don’t have to waste time unearthing facts and can use the easily acquired information to deepen understanding?
Since this is a Buntport production, everything is hilariously askew, and the show is both filled with absurdities and dizzyingly clever. The performances are spot-on and the timing impeccable. Middle Aged People does communicate a sense of loss: These people are boxed in, after all, time is inexorably passing, and we’ll never know what’s happened to poor Angela or even if she really exists. Still, there’s a willingness to embrace the unknowable — and even magic in the shape of a little one-horned fairground goat passed off as a unicorn. It may have been just a sad, sickly animal, but there’s something about the idea of a unicorn and our willingness to accept it that transcends lists and data and frees the imagination — just as this play does.
-Juliet Wittman, April 16, 2015,Westword
North Denver Tribune- Buntport’s Latest is a Unique, Absurd Look at Who We Are
Buntport Theater’s latest original creation, Middle Aged People Sitting in Boxes, nails the absurdist comedy genre perfectly. While nothing of importance happens in the play, and it presents the “vast swaths of mundanity” that make up most of our reality, the dialogue is engaging, compelling, very funny, and even insightful at times. Many thought-provoking questions are asked, with perhaps the key question coming at the end of the show: “Is that all there is?” This clever, absurd, hilarious production will both challenge and entertain you, in classic Buntport style.
This is the story of four middle aged people (how exactly middle age is defined is the subject of some discourse) living their lives. One is on hold, trying to reach customers service. Another is planning a 25th High School Reunion. The third is checking the supplier websites for Fortune 500 companies and signing up as a WMBE. The last is unpacking after an apparent recent move. Oh, yes, and they are all in large plexiglass boxes on wheels. The four actors quickly establish that this odd environment is normal for them, just a part of life. The boxes function both as the obvious metaphor for isolation, but also a source for some brilliant comic moments.
The language is mundane, everyday stuff, but it is compelling nonetheless. As we watch, we want to know more, we want to know what will happen, even though we know that nothing earth-shattering will occur. Questions are asked and discussed, with much of the discussion about who we are, what labels apply to whom, and what the meaning of different labels is. The formal arrangement and movement of the boxes adds another dimension to the verbal sparring between the characters. Much of the language is delivered in parallel monologues, with the characters sometimes interacting and sometimes in their own worlds, nearly always doing something. The whole show has a lovely rhythm created by the level of conversation, the changes in focus and interaction, and the movement onstage.
The four actors play unique characters, each in their own world and their own reality. Erin Rollman is planning her High School Reunion, interacting with her former classmates via social media on her cell phone. She is flippantly judgmental about those asking questions, making comments that many of us have probably thought at times. Poor Brian Colonna is trying to talk with customer service about his account, but keeps getting stuck on hold. His frustration builds nicely, and he gets to perform most of the show without pants. Erik Edborg is unpacking boxes, genuinely surprised and a little bit amused that the contents don’t match the labels he himself wrote. Hannah Duggan is on her laptop the whole time, researching the websites of Fortune 500 companies. Her work is important to her, and she plugs on and on, without knowing exactly why she is doing it. This may seem very familiar to many of us.
The set, primarily consisting of the four different sized and shaped boxes, is an integral part of the play. The actors can move using the small holes in the bases, and they each have one or two ways to reach outside, but are otherwise trapped. The constraints of the boxes reinforce their separateness, but also create opportunities for wonderful pure silliness. The lighting is consistent and effective, and is used to highlight each nicely in succession during the culmination of the show. Since they are in boxes, the actors use microphones, an element that is necessary and effective. Adam Stone’s sound design includes the notification beeps on Erin’s cell phone, and all the hold music, recorded voices, and customer service reps for Brian.
The four characters are all believable as people, but are in an unrealistic environment (sitting in boxes), doing things that are not completely normal. But we can all relate to what they are doing and who they are. As we watch, we connect with how they feel in their interactions with each other and the world. We laugh both at the craziness of what they are going through (which is really, really funny), but also because we understand and know their experiences. We connect, we laugh, we think, and we are entertained. What more can we ask from theater?
-Craig Williamson, April 16, 2015,North Denver Tribune