Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood & That'swhatshesaid

"It’s the sincerity of the presentation here that sort of knocked me back—back into my own childhood, if I’m honest…to perform the character without comment, to embrace the simplicity of it and not raise an eyebrow but honestly engage Mr. Rogers without cynicism or irony? It’s kind of mesmerizing." --Twin Cities Daily Planet

Performance artist Billy Mullaney presents a split evening of new performance, featuring his own project Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood as well as hosting Seattle-based artist Erin Pike and her show That’swhatshesaid. This presentation follows his critically-acclaimed Uncreativity Festival ("stimulating, excruciating, and really one-of-a-kind in terms of presenting a practice" -Criticism Exchange) at Bryant-Lake Bowl earlier this year, in which both pieces were excerpted. Mullaney's Festival showcased "uncreative" performance work built using contemporary forms of appropriation: transcribing, cutting, rearranging, pasting, and recontextualizing. This August, Mullaney's and Pike's uncreative performances will be performed in full at the Open Eye Figure Theater.

Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood is a verbatim staging of a full half-hour episode of the eponymous television show (#1718: "Be Yourself, That's the Best"). After performing excerpts and iterations of the piece in cabarets and showcases in Minneapolis and New York, Billy Mullaney's Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood lands at the Open Eye Figure Theater, bringing together a phenomenal cast to stage the episode, featuring Mr. Rogers’ visit to a string quartet and a trip to the neighborhood of make-believe.

Piano accompaniment--quintessential to Neighborhood--is provided by Eric Mayson, known around Minneapolis as keyboardist for Crunchy Kids, Toki Wright & Big Cats, Caroline Smith, and recently debuted a solo album. Also featured in the episode is Lux String Quartet, recently named among MPR's 2015-2016 Class Notes Artists.

That’sWhatSheSaid is a one-woman show featuring Seattle-based artist Erin Pike. The performance consists of a mashup of only female dialogue taken from Theater Communication Group’s 2013 top ten most-produced plays in America. By delivering them out of context, Pike, writer Courtney Meaker, and director Hatlo interrogate with laser precision on how women are represented onstage in contemporary theater--by both male and female playwrights.

From Pike: "That'swhatshesaid is a brutal theatrical exercise in isolation. When a female character is left alone with no male protagonists to support, her behaviors gain both chaos and clarity, resulting in a concentrated dose of the modern theater's intended role for women."

In addition to Uncreativity Festival, Pike’s That’swhatshesaid was featured in On the Boards’ 2014 North West New Works festival in Seattle, Washington.

Tickets will be $10 for either show or $15 for both. Tickets available at the door or can be reserved by calling 612.599.5649 or email: [email protected]