SISSYDUDE: a dandy rock musical.

"Just posted a leaner, less over-wrought more campy version of the script. Click on the left hand..."

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 22:05:00 -0400

“Just posted a leaner, less over-wrought more campy version of the script. Click on the left hand pages to see.”

Songs

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 10:59:14 -0400

Song 1
To be confirmed- already written

Song 2
Cut a Girl Loose to be written
Pop music with humour.
Purpose: Jamie and Frank have just met this song shows Jamie’s eccentricity. Frank is planning to sublet the small one bedroom apartment and asks what comes with the place. Jamie responds sarcastically: “A mouse named Mindy comes with the place. She wanted to move out with me, the rat, but sometimes you just gotta cut a girl loose.”
Song about Mindy’s family tree as a mouse, what they’ve done together as friends in the apartment, her old relatives who died in various funny ways.
Song should be fun, a little campy.
Potential inspiration:
Lily Allen-Alfie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RgOm_WJKpE

Song 3
No title yet - to be written
Folk music/Pop/Rap - Really anything
Purpose: The three roomates decide to move in together. The song doesn’t need to further the plot, it just needs to set the mood and assert their comfort with one another. Should comment on the action rather than re-explain the action. Just a good song.

Song 4
No title yet - to be written
Trashy 80s Hair Metal
Purpose: The three roommates are sunning themselves on the roof when conversation turns to the fear. Does fear make you stonger/weaker?
In the style of “Rock the Cradle of Love” Frank reveals his vanity with a metal song basically saying : “I don’t fear anything, people should fear me.”
Potential inspiration:
Billy Idol- Rock the Cradle of Love http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1xUvcGMWBk

Song 5
I Want it All- Adrian is currently working on this
Pop rock
Purpose: Laurie and Frank have discovered Jamie’s hoard of stuff in the closet and they demand he get rid of it. Jamie talks about how important each piece of kitsch he’s collected is to him. Jamie urges them out of the apartment and claims he’ll work on the mess.

<Note: song 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 will eventually lead into one another in the style of most rock musicals.>

Song 6
Suck the Life Out of You- to be written
Punk/Pop
Purpose: Frank confronts Jamie over whether he intends to leave the apartment at all and reveals the feelings he has. Other than the obvious gayness of the title, it’s also meant to forshadow the room which literally will “suck the life out of you.” Song should verge between kissing or killing. Blood, wrestling, yelling.
Potential inspiration:
CSS- Alala http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cnOvMFnRvs
Peaches and Iggy - Kick it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4-n1ISQyqU&feature=fvst

Song 7
Untitled Laurie piece- to be written
Focus on the vocals
Purpose: Pipes rumble and Laurie emerges from the bathroom where she’s been sleeping in the bathtub since Jamie refuses to allow anyone to stay in the empty room. Laurie is scared, uncertain of the weird sounds, uncertain of how lucky she has been to find this apartment and these friends.
Song ends with the sound of pipes getting louder, the closet door vibrating and the band becoming possessed asking for souls and Jamie and Frank emerging from the bedroom.

Song 8
I Never Meant for it to Be this Way- to be written
Unknown style
Purpose: Jamie explains he was trying to save them and runs to the door struggling to keep it (and the portal to hell) closed. Portraits come alive, wails from the band, a portal is opening and Jamie is supposed to feed them to the closet like he’s done many times before but this time he cares about them and doesn’t want to.

Song 9
Burn burn burn - to be written
Rock
Purpose: Laurie takes control, her voice rises above everyone else and calls for the whole place to “burn, burn, burn” so they can all escape alive. A struggle, the portal opens, there’s fire and the song ends in blackout.

Song 10
To be confirmed - Reprise.

Purpose: The whole place has burned down, Jamie didn’t survive, Frank and Laurie sit in the rubble.

Plot description:

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 10:51:33 -0400

Jamie places an ad in the paper to sublet his Gottingen street apartment. Laurie and Frank show up separately eager to rent the place even before Jamie had planned to leave. Rather than be displaced Jamie invites both of them to live with him until he is ready to move out at the end of the month. They reluctantly accept the offer from the bizarre character who reveals little about himself or the new home they’ve moved into other than a bizarre humming noise and a wall of portraits.

Laurie and Frank are suspicious of Jamie, but his flamboyant personality puts them both at ease. The three roommates grow closer to one another despite Jamie revealing nothing of his past and the lack of signs that there are any other tenants living in the apartment building despite Jamie’s claims. When Frank and Laurie discover a bedroom filled with hoards of stuff, they demand it be cleared for them and Jamie goes on the defensive.

Frank privately confronts Jamie revealing his attachment to the family they’ve created as roommates, ending the confrontation in the bedroom. The humming which has plagued the apartment since the play’s start grows loud and turn to calls for the souls of Frank and Laurie. The portraits come alive as former tenants and Jamie is outed as the gatekeeper to an underworld hungry for life. With the closet door pulling the roomates in Jamie shows he has mended his ways by trying to save his new friends. Taking decisive action to offer a permanent solution Laurie decides to burn the place down and seal the gates once and for all.

Character descriptions:

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 10:50:15 -0400

Jamie Man of indeterminable age who has lived in his apartment for an undetermined amount of time. He is the “Sissydude” in the show’s title. Sarcastic and aloof he’s a campy character who’s obsessed with death, collecting things, and wearing extravagant outfits. Based on the gay blogger John Webster who runs the sexually charged website sissydude.com.

Laurie Small town lesbian who still has some small town ideals Laurie enjoys her friendships with gay men. Fascinated by the idea of luck, and who is or isn’t lucky she allows herself to believe in things like fate even though she it otherwise a rational person. Laurie and Jamie understand one another in their insults and sarcasm, and she cares for Frank like an older sister.

Frank Raised on a mink farm and sent to private school, his isolation has given him a narrow view on human personalities and relationships. He is vain but only recently aware of his attractiveness. He’s drawn to the assertive personalities of Laurie and Jamie, but frustrated by their distrust in the world.

Their New Album Sucks: SissyDude: A Dandy Rock Musical

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 22:53:05 -0500

Their New Album Sucks: SissyDude: A Dandy Rock Musical:

theirnewalbumsucks:

After doing Rocky Horror Sam and I were scheming to come up with our next project. We contacted Ian Mullan who I knew put on a production of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” with a few questions.

This lead to a whole new world of prospect when he brought to our attention that he was planning on…

This guy is Adrian Bruhm. He co-hosts $Rockin 4 Dollar$ every Monday at Reflections and is helping pull together this project. Scenes 1-4 are now up if you want to take a look. We will be sending out promotional materials across Canada to shake the branches starting in 2 weeks. Things are heating up. Send me an email at ian@trrrash.com if you want to be involved.

Plays well with others.

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 16:20:14 -0500

Starting December 4th trrrash will start the online collaboration of ‘Sissydude: A dandy rock musical’. Anyone can submit songs or suggest script edits. Anyone. That doesn’t mean we’ll use them all. Grab a guitar or piano or a kazoo and help us add original music to what we’re developing into a campy rock musical in the style of ‘The Rocky Horror Show’, and ‘Hedwig and the Angry Inch’. Maybe you’re in a band that has been itching to try something like this, maybe you’re a musician who wouldn’t mind the exposure. We want you. We want to hear from you. We want to talk to you. We want every style of music in the rainbow as long as it’s good and catchy, so don’t think we don’t want you.

To make this happen we have a rough script being honed and finessed. Your mission is to help us guide it into a rock show by using script text or squeezing your own mind-grapes for lyrics. A rock musical is the goal, so that means the music needs to either further the plot or say something about at least one of the characters or what’s happening on stage. Anything you compose will be posted and discussed and if we’re interested we’ll seek you out and let you know any edits or changes we need to make so it fits in the show and the band we have available to us. You can be from anywhere, or anyone to contribute. Just don’t steal someone else’s song okay? Original stuff only.

Edits and development will happen before your very eyes here at trrrash.com as well as performance announcements. Songs will get a full rock-band treatment for the show, but for now all we need is a youtube video or an mp3 where the audio is clear enough we can hear the song you’ve devised. We’ll be in online development from now until May 4th 2012, but submitting early and often will give us more time and more material to choose from to make a better show.

People who contribute music and songs used in the final product will profit share a percentage of money made by performances of the completed show. This isn’t a get-rich quick scheme, it’s a project for people who love a good rock musical. If we’re successful, you’re successful. So let us know what you think, send us songs, this will be one hell of a good time.

About trrrash.

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 17:06:00 -0500

Originally formed in 2009 on a lark, trrrash was a name chosen to conjure images of gritty theatre with a healthy dose of humility— “we’re named after garbage!”

Five productions later the shows now have a focus on site-specific or occasion-specific entertainment. Sometimes provocative, always fun; trrrash isn’t here to save the world, we just want to make it a little more interesting.

A dandy rock musical.

Sun, 27 Nov 2011 14:23:53 -0500

Sissydude is a campy rock musical inspired by the sexually charged blogging and art of John Webster which on December 4th will begin its online collaboration. The play is about the life of Jamie, a gay dandy with extravagant style. After seeking out someone to sublet his apartment Jamie ends up with two new roommates eager to take his place. The arrival of Laurie and Frank cause Jamie to question if he’s ready to leave his old home and all of the ghosts of his past that still haunt it.

We’re calling on the internet to help contribute to the show.

Stay tuned.

Launch of ‘Queer Acts Theatre Festival’ 2012....

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Launch of ‘Queer Acts Theatre Festival’ 2012.

Click here for some fabulous images of the launch by Timothy Richard Photography.

Music by Serious Business.

From the 2011 Queer Acts Comedy night.

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0500

From the 2011 Queer Acts Comedy night.

Click here to check out the rest of ‘The Santaland...

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Click here to check out the rest of ‘The Santaland Diaries’ album on Facebook.

Santaland Diaries: All work and a play Ian Mullan pulls from...

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Santaland Diaries: All work and a play

Ian Mullan pulls from real-life experience for his adaptation of Santaland Diaries, David Sedaris’ hilarious memoir of working as an elf

by Holly Gordon

Every adult knows the roles. Whether as a kid climbing onto Santa’s lap to snatch a spot on the “nice” list, as a parent forcing a child onto that same lap decades later or as a passerby watching the drama, the cliche of the mall Santa is part of the Christmas ritual. This year, Halifax actor Ian Mullan gives you a chance to see it all anew with David Sedaris’ Santaland Diaries.

The play is a one-man show based on writer Sedaris’ experience working as a Christmas elf in Santaland at Macy’s. The story follows Sedaris’ move to New York with the aspiration of being a writer for the soap One Life to Live, but his plans don’t pan out. “The show is based on this person who has all these hopes and dreams and is trapped working as an elf,” says Mullan. “Who hasn’t worked a bad job and just thought, ‘Oh my god, what am I doing here?’”

Mullan began looking for a one-man show because he wanted to bring something home to Ontario for Christmas (he’ll perform Santaland in Carleton Place days after the Halifax show), and it wasn’t long before he came across Sedaris’ work.

“I’ve been told, ‘Ian, you really remind me of David Sedaris in your humour,’” says Mullan. After reading the script, he knew he’d found his piece.

“It’s definitely the type of person I am where you enter into something wholeheartedly and with a touch of sarcasm and cynicism,” Mullan says of Santaland’s main character, Crumpet the Elf. Sedaris “has the insight to sort of show a slice of North American culture in its truest form: people, children crying, parents telling their children they won’t get any toys for Christmas. All those bizarre scenes that you see, he’s able to just take them and tell them in a way that’s funny.”

Being an actor who’s decided not to act full-time, Mullan can speak to the sense of that “other job.” He works as a secretary for the government during weekdays, and runs his theatre company, Trrrash Productions, on the side. While he’d love to have acting as a full-time gig, he’s realistic in knowing that, in a place as small and full of creative minds as Halifax, he’s more suited to having acting as a smaller piece of the career puzzle.

“In one [life] I’m a secretary and need to file reports and submit financials, and in one I get on stage and prance around in an elf costume; it’s the yin and yang,” Mullan says, pointing out that he has no problem having both jobs.

Trrrash Prod is new to the theatre scene this year—-Hedwig and the Angry Inch was its first production back in July. Mullan says he keeps telling people the company name comes from the sense of “rising out of the garbage that life throws at us,” and while that’s true, he has another reason.

“I just like trashy music,” he says with a laugh, not wishing to divulge anything more. Regaining some seriousness, Mullan adds that he thinks people instantly get what Trrrash is about once they see the name: something grittier and alternative.

Santaland fits that bill. The play includes an age warning—-not for kids younger than 13—-and Mullan quickly scans the coffee shop for kids before explaining.

“In the true spirit of the show, as much as David Sedaris makes fun of all these ridiculous things happening at Christmas, I think he knows, and he knows the audience knows, that Christmas is for children…I don’t want to ruin Christmas for anyone.”

Audience review from the 2009 production of ‘Hedwig and...

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Audience review from the 2009 production of ‘Hedwig and the Angry Inch’!

Giving an angry inch Everyone’s favourite almost-transsexual...

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Giving an angry inch

Everyone’s favourite almost-transsexual rock goddess, Hedwig, brings her leopard-skin legendary moves to the Paragon stage.

by Virginia Insua

Hedwig, the most famous “internationally ignored” transsexual, is coming to Halifax.

Actor, writer and director John Cameron Mitchell gave birth to Hedwig in New York’s famous drag club Squeezebox; since then she’s had her own cult musical, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and a namesake movie that was the sleeper hit of 2001 (nominated for a Golden Globe but not an Oscar—-surprise, surprise).

The phenomenon is often compared to The Rocky Horror Picture Show, but “Hedheads” follow a cult of personality, so comparisons don’t stand.

“You say you saw ‘her’ in a movie, whereas with Rocky Horror Picture Showyou say ‘I saw the movie version,’” says Ian Mullan, who plays Hedwig in TRRRASH’s July 24th production of the musical at The Paragon Theatre. “The way that Hedwig entrenches herself into legendary rock status! In her last song she sings: ‘Here’s to Patti, here’s to Tina, here’s to Yoko—-and here’s to me.’”

It’s surprising that with all its subversive cues, Rocky Horror is as mainstream a phenomena as it is (I wonder the same thing every time Freddie Mercury blares anthemically at a sporting event). Could Hedwig speak to Joe Middle-America Blow?

Mullan pauses for thought. “I don’t know. I think that it’s always weird to detect what other people are going to be interested in,” he says. “It’s like putting people into boxes again. You view people through specific lenses, and this show is about stopping that.”

Hedwig and the Angry Inch is the story of a self-confessed “girly-boy” who starts life as Hansel Schmidt in East Berlin, takes an American GI lover, and, in order to join him in the US, undergoes a sex-change that is botched and results in a few inches of unformed flesh—-neither nugget nor molten clam, just an “angry inch.”

So begins an exploration of gender identity and a musical journey toward a peculiar heart of darkness—-no Colonel Kurtz here, but a fresh-faced boy-next trailer-door, Tommy Gnosis, whom Hedwig loves, tutors in the ways of rock ‘n’ roll, then chases through America after he steals her songs and finds stardom with them.

The musical follows Hedwig and her band, The Angry Inch, as they tail Gnosis on his tour, performing like Tina to the masses in local restaurants and group homes, down the street from where her ex sings to sold-out stadiums.

Mullan was “blown away” by the movie when he first saw it as a teenager in small-town Ontario. “There’s a message of love and truth and this quest for love, wholeness. It’s a sadder story, but a really positive story about being who you are—-be there, really put yourself out there.”

It’s the first production by Halifax-based TRRRASH, a theatre company Mullan formed last summer.

“In coming up with the name TRRRASH, I was thinking, you know, there’s so much garbage in the world and there’s so much stuff that you have to deal with every day,” he says. “People have to take on jobs that they don’t necessarily want, or they’re put in circumstances that they never dreamed for themselves as kids, but somehow people survive, somehow you make do with the little joys that come into your life. I think that that’s what Hedwig’s story is, and that’s a really important story to tell.”

SISSYDUDE: a dandy rock musical.

"Just posted a leaner, less over-wrought more campy version of the script. Click on the left hand..."

Songs

Plot description:

Character descriptions:

Their New Album Sucks: SissyDude: A Dandy Rock Musical

Plays well with others.

About trrrash.

A dandy rock musical.

Launch of ‘Queer Acts Theatre Festival’ 2012....

From the 2011 Queer Acts Comedy night.

Click here to check out the rest of ‘The Santaland...

Santaland Diaries: All work and a play Ian Mullan pulls from...

Santaland Diaries: All work and a play

Ian Mullan pulls from real-life experience for his adaptation of *Santaland Diaries*, David Sedaris’ hilarious memoir of working as an elf

Audience review from the 2009 production of ‘Hedwig and...

Giving an angry inch Everyone’s favourite almost-transsexual...

Giving an angry inch

Everyone’s favourite almost-transsexual rock goddess, Hedwig, brings her leopard-skin legendary moves to the Paragon stage.

Ian Mullan pulls from real-life experience for his adaptation of Santaland Diaries, David Sedaris’ hilarious memoir of working as an elf