PRUFBOX is an original production loosely based on T.S. Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Drawing inspiration from Dada assemblages and the box constructions of Joseph Cornell, the hit show’s spare aesthetic conjures the 1920s and ‘30s eras. Two characters animate the stage collage: a woman from the sea who rides a cycle of existence, and a man who hesitates. Their poetic world balances between whimsy and angst over tea in a life-size shadow box with dancing puppets.

Here are some reviews from The City Paper’s Fringe and Purge blog:

“Elegant, eloquent, and visually engaging in its simplicity and precision, Prufbox is a beautiful little show. Based on “The Lovesong of Alfred J. Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot (don’t let this scare you), Prufbox , by Happenstance Theater, is like looking into a moving Joseph Cornell box. For those who need a “story”, there is one, told in visual vignettes, about the relationship between a man (Mark Jaster, a gem in the world of movement-based theatre) and a woman (Sabrina Mandell, in a performance that compliments Jaster’s in style, playfulness, and pathos), with support from a host of object/characters, played by Lindsay Abromaitis-Smith. But the story is not what you’ll remember; it is the moving images- a pas de deux between a teacup and an umbrella, a Chaplinesque “day-in-the-life” sequence, and beautiful moments where the man and woman connect- that will stay with you long after the well-deserved curtain call. Prufbox is playing through Wednesday on the mainstage at the Warehouse.
Thanks to all the performers and administrators who are bringing this really cool stuff to a city that deserves really cool stuff!”
- Michael

“Just got back from an awesome double-feature of
Prufbox and Beginnings. Prufbox was brilliant. Just
completely beautiful. And my favorite of the 10 shows
I’ve seen so far at Fringe. But alas, its run has ended…”
-Dan N.
“Prufbox is a charming existential clown/mime, puppetry and the occasional spoken word piece that delighted and confounded the small group of women (and Colin) I was with. The performers were subtle but powerful and the conventions used were… unconventional….”
-Rachel G.
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Most of the current popular concept of Mime is not popular at all, and images of annoying white-faced street performers being brutalized receive laughs and cheers in films and on TV, much more frequently than any actual Mime performance does in its own right. The American public is more likely to remember these images now than the great silent-films, or the very popular and highly mimetic Commedia dell’Arte, which dominated European stages from the 16^th to the early 18^th century. Even the great mute clowning of the late 19^th and early 20^th-century circus now seems remote. In the Ballet world, as Balanchine moved the aesthetic towards “pure dance”, pantomimic sections of the great early story ballets fell from favor and are now frequently excised.

My great mime teacher, Etienne Decroux worked to create a modern Art of Mime, after it had lost its home in the silent film. But it was Decroux’s student (and my other great teacher), Marcel Marceau, singular in his genius, who was able to capture the heart and mind of a broad public. So dominant has his presence been since he first performed in New York in 1955-56, that his work has come to define “Mime.” The world began to expect “Mime” to mean a solo performer in white face on an empty stage, forgetting the art’s many previous incarnations. A host of lesser imitators then further clouded the picture. Many serious artists now even avoid the word “mime” when describing their work, to avoid comparisons with Marceau or unpleasant associations with his imitators.

But even Marceau, who defines mime as “the Art of Gesture,” would readily admit that the art is larger than any individual artist. His own work hearkens back to that of Charlie Chaplin, and the great Deburau before that, whose forbears trace back to ancient Greece.

So, here is a story of Mime, largely in Mime. I have liberally ”borrowed” or re-imagined the best work I know from some of the best performers of all-time.

- Mark Jaster

Here are some reviews and links about the show:
Curtain Up

Washington Post article by Nelson Pressley

Washington Post article by Michael Toscano

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LOW TIDE HOTEL is a DADA day at the beach…flotsam and jetsam coming ashore. It is a nostalgic postcard, a surrealist voyage through maritime atmospheres. The message in the bottle is poetry. The waves roll away and comedy looks up like a clam.

The show’s aesthetic conjures the days of ocean travel on ships, drawing inspiration from antique maritime documents, luggage labels, posters, literature and song.

Low Tide Hotel was selected as a 2007 Capital Fringe Best Bet and was voted best comedy (tied with For Boston) by the Washington City Paper.

Here’s what the Washington Post had to say:

“For a really satisfying cultural riff, however, you’d have had to take in “Low Tide Hotel,” an enchantingly whimsical montage of maritime-themed songs and literary excerpts performed three times last weekend. Cast members Mark Jaster, Sabrina Mandell and Scott Sedar lent mystery and humor to a script that sampled songs such as “Moby Dick” and even the Police’s “Message in a Bottle.” The retro visual aesthetic — straw boaters, a hatbox, a tray of saltwater taffy — dovetailed beautifully with Jaster’s foley-artist-style sound effects, which included “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean” played on a musical saw.”
Celia Wren
Special to The Washington Post
Tuesday, July 24, 2007; C08

Here are some reviews from The Charleston City Paper:

REVIEW BY JON SANTIAGO

photos courtesy of Bob Morrison – www.BBPPix.com – do not use without permission _____________________________________________________________

Three clowns, two visionaries, and a noise maker walk into a bar.THIS IS NOT A JOKE!
Fresh from sold out shows at the Capital Fringe Festival and the NY Clown Theatre Festival…

The DC City Paper says “These merry pranksters get it!…glorious nuggets of nonsense…a delightful romp through the surreal…an extra-sensory extravaganza…it is belly-laugh humor”. The Washington Post called it “…an ingeniously oddball deconstruction…brash…seductive…Futurism and dadaism pulsed with revolutionary zeal”

The setting is a surreal Cabaret ReVoltAire. It is war time.

The guests are visionaries. Everyone has something to say. It all becomes part of the play.

Beware of Forgeries! Text is from ACTUAL Manifestos. MANIFESTO! excites everything!

DC Theatre Scene Review by Carrie Klewin

“If you are looking for an hour of whimsical delight, this café, created by surrealists and run by clowns, is the place to be.  Don’t know anything about Dada, Futurism or Surrealism?  It doesn’t matter.  If you’ve ever had the urge to stand on your head to see the world from a new perspective, you will enjoy this merry dazzle.

Of course, if you do appreciate any of the above named artistic movements, all the better… a text created from fragments of Futurist, Dada, Communist and Capitalist manifestos weaves political propaganda into an imaginative romp.  Manifesto! is set in a café that evidently throws a riotous party every night.  Cabaret Re-Voltaire, housed in the café, features three clowns who frolic in intellectual banter, apparently to inspire revolution.  Along the way, those same clowns tightrope with death, various means of destruction, and magical acts, accompanied by a very talented Foley artist with impeccably hilarious timing.  The effect is a kind of hypnotic Dada séance.  And the mood is so infectious you will be laughing and applauding without quite understanding why.  But isn’t that the point?

Raising awareness and understanding of Dada?  It’s possible…  More importantly, it’s just an absurdly good time.”

Richard Byrne Blog Review

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CABARET COOCOO

Voted Best Comedy of the 2009 Capital Fringe Festival!
Check out this Fringe & Purge Blog REVIEW
and The Washington post Going Out Guru says:
“It’s awfully winsome…this charming band of entertainers has a little something up its collective sleeve…the Gracie Allen quality of Sabrina Mandell as Diz Aster, who sings plaintively yet winningly with Izzy Aster (Mandell’s real-life husband, Mark Jaster). The duo discovers neat opportunities for subtle slapstick in the midst of standards like “Bicycle Built for Two,” and Jaster — a gifted physical clown — graciously cedes the spotlight to Mandell’s adorably kooky persona.

Happenstance Theater’s Cabaret CooCoo Features Classy acts and Captivating Characters: Hosted by Scooter Undercroft, and starring The Legendary Dancing Cigarette Girls, Izzy and Diz Aster Singing Cheery Songs of the Great Depression, Nicolo the Juggling Accordionist, the Amazing Illusionist Catastrafi, the Melodious Pit band, and surprise(d) guests!
It’s a Chaotic Vaudeville Concoction.

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PLUNKETT & TREMOLO
As star of the show, Tremolo is full of spectacular skill, knockabout comedy, and classic physical antics, but Plunkett is determined to upstage him! Hilarity ensues as these two mute fools try to prove who is who.

Featuring Mark Jaster and Sabrina Mandell. This show is available for booking and is perfect for school, library and assembly programs, or family entertainment series. Contact us at contact@happenstancetheater.com

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The end of the 19th Century is at hand…

Thunder! Moonlight! Slapstick!

Pierrot (Mark Jaster) is on his way to Paris where he intends to make the very first recorded sound. En route he meets Augustine (Sabrina Mandell), a would-be Hot Air Balloonist.  Accompanied by an eccentric one-person Band (Karen Hansen) they encounter comic misadventures at the Circus, the Paris Metro, the Eiffel Tower and the Moulin Rouge.

Happenstance Theater employs whimsical imagery, physical comedy and live music to engage imaginations of all ages in this “SteamPunk” alternative to the usual family entertainments.

WASHINGTON POST

DC THEATRE SCENE

OUR KIDS.COM

and HERE is an article about us from the Gazette