Idiot String has a new look! During Fall 2018, the TBD* design studio at California College of the Arts created a new identity package for us: a new logo, color palette, typefaces, and templates for business cards, letterhead, and more. We feel the new look really captures Idiot String’s playful, collaborative nature. Working with Triet and Alexis pushed us to create a new tagline — “Theater Out Of The Box” — and examine they way we present ourselves to the world.
In connection with our residency at the Port Costa Schoolhouse, sponsored by the Port Costa Conservation Society, Idiot String is proud to announce our 2019 Workshop Series in Port Costa. This workshop series is supported in part by generous funding from the Crockett Community Foundation.
Site-Specific Creation Lab : Oct 27, 2019 (postponed!)Be sure to join our mailing list so you’re the first to know about upcoming events.
Every workshop is an all-levels creative workout, geared to accommodate folks with little to no performing experience and to challenge veteran artists. Individualized attention at each workshop ensures that you can come as you are. We aim to be sure you leave inspired!
Most workshops are suitable for ages 14 to adult. Participants under 18 must have their parents’ permission. Port Costa, Crockett, and Tormey residents can attend 3- and 4-hour workshops for just $10!
Ahoy, mateys! It’s time for Shiver We Timbers! — A Peripatetic Pick-Ye-Own Pirate Adventure, touring Bay Area parks and public spaces July 7 through August 12. Set your course to the Peripatetic Players’ website for more info, and come aboard for a swashbuckling adventure!
At the invitation of the Port Costa Conservation Society, Idiot String is beginning an artistic residency in Port Costa. We’re thrilled to be deepening our relationship to this magical town by spending more creative time there, finding inspiration in the history and landscape, and activating spaces inside the historic Port Costa School with rehearsals, workshops and other activities. While there, we’ll be developing new plays for site-specific performances in Port Costa and for touring on our mobile stage; and will begin to offer occasional education programs — in the hopes that they’ll become regular education offerings — as early as fall 2018.
The East Bay Fund for Artists at the East Bay Community Foundation has awarded us a matching grant to fund the creation of a new play in Port Costa that will premiere in 2019. In order to receive this funding, we need to raise $4,000 from individual donors before July 15, 2018. Donate today to help us create this new play!
We’ve been visiting Port Costa with the Peripatetic Players each year since their inception in 2014, and have always been thrilled at the warm welcome we’ve received there from locals and visitors alike. The Burlington Hotel and Bull Valley Roadhouse have helped to keep us fed and housed; Wendy Addison and her magical shop, Theatre Of Dreams, is a true inspiration (and creative consultant to Elixir of Life); and the dedicated folks at the Port Costa Conservation Society have made the Port Costa School a delightful stop on each of our tours. Throughout 2017 we also developed (the entirely fictional play) Elixir Of Life with inspirations from Port Costa and the surrounding area — including bona-fide history as well as tall tales and the general feeling of what it’s like to live in a small community.
Meanwhile, enjoy these photos from some recent exploratory days in Port Costa…
We’re thrilled to announce that the East Bay Fund for Artists at the East Bay Community Foundation has awarded Idiot String a matching grant to support the development of a new site-specific play in Port Costa — part of our residency hosted by the Port Costa Conservation Society — that will premiere in 2019.
It’s a challenge grant, so we need your help! We have until July 15 to raise $4000 in individual donations, to match EBFA’s pledge.
Your donation will support us today, and commission a new play for next year!
Idiot String has been awarded a 2018 CA$H Creates grant from Theatre Bay Area!
This funding will help increase our capacity by hiring a publicist to promote the Peripatetic Players’ 2018 Bay Area Parks Summer Tour, and Idiot String’s upcoming residency in Port Costa. We’re working with consultant Jonathan White to help increase our exposure in the local media.
Thank you Theatre Bay Area for believing in us!
On September 30, we accepted the invitation of artist Bethany Carlson Mann to present excerpts from Elixir of Life at the opening of Bethany’s art show, Fairytales for Feral Children, now on exhibit at the Burlington Hotel.
Serena Morelli photographed the event — enjoy! — and don’t forget… Elixir of Life starts October 20!
Take a peek inside some of what’s inspired our development of Elixir of Life, playing October 20 – November 12.
Our friends at the Bull Valley Roadhouse, Burlington Hotel, and Port Costa Conservation Society generously co-sponsored three weekends of on-site devising and research in Port Costa, California. There we had the privilege to study the history of Port Costa and the surrounding area, and to talk to residents about their experiences of living in a small community amidst the larger Bay Area.
With a generous helping of poetic license, we’ve based aspects of our characters and the town of Port Promise on stories we’ve gathered in Port Costa, and hope to honor Port Costans sense of pride in their community and sense of connection to one another in the themes of our play.
Some photos from our time in Port Costa: (l-r) examples of artist Wendy Addison’s Victorian-inspired poster designs for her shop, Theatre of Dreams; two photos (both courtesy of Wendy Addison), one featuring some Port Costans around the turn of the century; the other a circus parade through town (notice the elephant!) from the early 20th century; and the Elixir workshop ensemble outside the Port Costa School.
We hear that it is also called the “Hysterical Museum”… and the wealth of artifacts, photos, ephemera, and oddities is a wonder to behold. There we were inspired by the good works and mysterious rites of fraternal orders, old pharmaceutical bottles, and the sense that storytelling can take many forms. Here’s a fun article about the museum from Roadside America. And photos we took there:
This is a small sampling of some of our inspirations and research… we hope you enjoy exploring them as much as we have!
Idiot String 