Twinhead Theatre Exudes Passion for the Play
The troupe
Two heads are better than one. But the eleven heads of Twinhead Theatre really know best. Eli Banks, James Yates, Laura Krueger, Diana Brown, Molly Kristyn, Cherry DelRosario, Bobby Andrews, Stephanie Rucker, Krista Carothers, Rob Bullard and Ben Bowlin are into something good.
This renegade crew got their start in 2003 at Georgia State in an effort to create a home to experimental and avant-garde theatre. Not too soon after, Georgia State dropped the Bachelor’s of Theatre Arts degree, which widened the thespian creative gap. Thankfully, the Georgia State student founders had already ensured an outlet for the theatre community.
In talking with the Twinhead troupe members, they agreed that theatre is an art form that is underappreciated especially for their generational counterparts. “Most of my friends have never been to a theatre performance other than a Twinhead show,” one troupe member remarked. The troupe focuses on bringing the theatre art form to audiences who may not have had prior exposure or even interest in theatre performance. Keep the stage alive, Twinhead!
The process
They’re not only actors, but also the members of Twinhead Theatre write more than 80% of their productions. Oftentimes, Twinhead’s creative process stems from a film that a troupe member envisions as a stage production. Each member has an opportunity to take the lead on a production and collaborate with others. Twinhead has experimented with shows that exhibit video as well as live stage performances.
Past shows have included creative stage productions written by Twinhead playwrights as well as humorous adaptations of classics, like inserting zombies in Anton Chekov’s The Cherry Orchard or manipulating the effects of illicit substances in Shakespeare’s soliloquies. Twinhead recently released a full-length film, Loaded Guns: The Movie, on DVD and even hosted a cake site in which audience members concurrently sat upon cakes. The troupe is currently working on a web series in hopes of reaching a wider audience.
The community
Twinhead admits to being on the fringe of the mainstream Atlanta theatre scene, which makes them perfect candidates to advocate to bring the famed Fringe Festival to Atlanta. The Fringe Festival began in 1947 in Edinburgh, Scotland
as a showcase for independent, original, and otherwise unrepresented theater companies, amateurs, and professionals. Since then the Fringe Festival has grown immensely and is hosted in cities around the globe such as Prague and Minneapolis. The New York City Fringe Festival is the largest multi-arts festival in North America. Twinhead Theater has been working with other local theatres to add Atlanta to the list of international hosts of the Fringe Festival.
Between writing and performing, launching a new web series and bringing the Fringe Festival to Atlanta, Twinhead Theatre certainly has their work cut out for them. But given the abounding energy of this group, I think that is just the way they like it.
Check out Twinhead Theatre online at: www.twinheadtheatre.org. Better yet, see Twinhead in action during the Drive-By Theatre Festival on July 17 at 7 Stages theatre.
Photo Credit: Laura Polmear