“Before Dada was there, there was Dada.”
- Hans Arp, 1919

[note: Amanda, look away now]

Yes, that is a beer bottle stuffed inside a dead animal. But not just any beer. “The End of History” is the newest in the “World’s Strongest Beer” category, weighing in at 55% al. or 110 proof, and costs £500 a bottle.

From the brewmaster himself:

BrewDog co-founder James Watt describes The End Of History as “a perfect conceptual marriage between taxidermy, art and craft brewing”.

“This is the beer to end all beers. It’s an audacious blend of eccentricity, artistry and rebellion; changing the general perception of beer, one stuffed animal at a time,” he continues.

It should be noted that the animals were not killed for bottling, but died of natural causes before they were stuffed by taxidermists…and put into formal wear.

Alright, so this is definitely weird, and pretty gimmicky, but it’s bold at least, and majorly outside the box. What’s the theater equivalent? What theater is going the extra mile to do shows that are as weird as a 110 proof beer inside a dead rodent? And what theater makes it worth £500? Put your nominations in the comments.

(via Metro.co.uk, photo credit David Branfield /BrewDog/PA Wire)

I teach and direct improv pretty regularly.  Some of the same challenges come up in every class or rehearsal regardless of age, background, and even skill level.  Some common challenges involve being fully present and open to others’ ideas, allowing oneself to be affected by what is happening, and reacting sincerely and honestly in the moment.

When addressing the subject of challenges, I admittedly can babble on a little too long hoping that maybe something I say will pinpoint the essence of the matter and possibly even help someone understand.  For the most part, it’s just lots of babbling.  But every once in a while, I actually come up with something that I feel communicates one of my philosophies on the craft.  I discovered one such as this the other day.

Improvising isn’t about pulling something out of your ass.  It’s about pulling something out of your heart.  The audience knows the difference.  And they’d prefer not to watch something that smells like ass.

I’ll probably have to come up with a different one for my kids’ classes.

If you haven’t heard Don’s vitrol about Chase Community Giving then it doesn’t make much sense for you to read a post with Don’s name in the title. If you haven’t been contacted by everyone you never knew to vote for them in Chase’s “New Way Forward in Giving”. then I envy you. I wasn’t against it at first, but it’s become so Lord of the Flies that I’ve been turned.

I don’t agree with Don that because Chase is inherently evil, we’re all evil as well for begging Chase for money. One, I use Chase, they are evil, but I appreciate that they have ATMs downtown. Two, if their foundation grant wing was giving out money (as opposed to their marketing wing) then I personally would have no problem taking it for my own NFP. I also don’t buy that we’re all whores so what does it matter, but that’s a different argument.

Here’s where Don is right on the (giveaway) money though.

In the desire for the easy Chase Bank money, I believe a lot of the participating companies have overlooked the potential consequences of the relentless online telemarketing, spam-oriented hawking for votes.  I believe that the successes of campaigns like this Chase thing is going to lead to more of them, which in an effort to compete financially with institutional theater, Chicago artists will become known more for the annoying plea for money than for the work.

They’re ruining their audience base, and they’re destroying their ability to fundraise in the future, especially for those who pushed too hard and then didn’t end up getting any money. A month from now, when they hold their already scheduled Summer Karaoke Donata-Blast, and they send out a Facebook invite, no one is going to show up. Why would they? They already did their part by “clicking” for the cause.

I reached a boiling point when I saw one theater AD on Facebook comment giving away two comps to their next show for a vote. Oh yes, please, destroy not only your fundraising base but the worth of your shows as well. Let’s all devalue the work that we do for a vote, and make it even harder to convince people to pay for any theater.

So here’s my modest proposal.

You give me 2 comps to your next show and I will vote for you. I will also make it my mission to never go to another show of yours again, and I’ll try to convince others to do the same.  You’ve got 15 hours left for a chance at $20K, and all it’s going to take is the guaranteed loss of at least one audience member ad infinitum. If you do the math, it’s a pretty good deal. You’ll likely only wring out of me $1600-2500 over the next 10 years at a typical season schedule.  I’d have to convince 10 people to do the same to match the $20K you’re getting. So do it. Make the statement that a Facebook vote is the ultimate in artistic endeavor.  Tell the world that an audience for your work is worth less than a chance at cold hard cash right now. It’s easy. It just takes one click.