WHO ARE WE?
“Somewhere in every one of us, no matter how deep it may be hidden, is a latent germ of beauty, and to suppress it will only lead to life-long disappointment. We create because this germ of beauty demands such expression, and the more we give it outlet the more we encourage our own instinct for graceful forms. It is with the steady elimination of everything which is ugly—thoughts and words no less important than actions—and with the substitution of true and lasting beauty, the whole progress of humanity proceeds.”
-Anna Pavlova
London, Daily Graphic October 26th, 1925. Sourced from Pavlova: Portrait of a Dancer by Margot Fonteyn
Devil’s Dice Productions is a company of artists dedicated to finding and encouraging the germs of beauty within ourselves, our crew, and our audiences. We are passionate about creating new works in a collaborative fashion so that every member of our crew has an equal hand in the creation and expression of beauty.
Because we feel that art, both the creation and consumption thereof, has the power to help and to heal those who partake in it, we believe that it is a necessity to make theatre as accessible as possible. We hope to create a space that is constantly learning and making efforts to be welcoming and inclusive, as well as helping to educate others on how their art can be more accessible.
DEVIL’S DICE?
Devised Theatre, also called collaborative creation, is a process of storytelling where instead of memorizing from a script, the script is created through rehearsal from collaborative and often improvisational work from an ensemble. To any fans of tabletop gaming out there, the process might sound a little familiar: you have a guiding story given to you by your Director/Game master, but the overall plot is improvised together by the players, and with a simple roll of the dice everything can change in ways you never expected.
Performing new works is, of course, a bit of a gamble: you’re putting your faith entirely in your ensemble, as opposed to an existing playwright or production, in the hopes you’ll be able to create something entertaining. In a way, it’s a bit of a deal with the devil.
Actually, in this case, it’s very literally a deal with a devil, but you’ll read about that later.
So that’s why we call ourselves Devil’s Dice. We’re taking the uncharted path and finding inspiration in moves as small as the roll of the dice. Hopefully, our gamble pays off- but you’ll be the judge of that!
MEET THE DDP’S MOST WANTED
…AND ALL THE REST OF OUR CRIMINAL CREW!
These are our founders, but don’t get it wrong- they’d be nothing without the help of the fabulous heretics you’ll see on and off stage for every show.
You’ll see their mugshots and bios when you come to a performance (hint, hint)!
MEET SHAKES
Making a theater company isn’t easy. It requires money, talent, ideas, money, a studio space, and money. So what if you don’t have any of those things, but you still want to make art? Well, there’s a lot of things you could do: you could seduce old women so they’ll fund your bad plays, or you could rob a bank, or you could break into an abandoned warehouse at the edge of town and put all your faith in squatter’s rights. But after those three things didn’t pan out, we had to try the next logical step to get what we want: a deal with the devil. And that’s when Shakes entered the picture (and our artistic director).
Shakes the Imp is a fun-loving little devil who helps supply us with the ideas and resources we need to make our work- at a terrible cost, of course, but we’re familiar with how capitalism works. Audience members of our shows might see him darting through the isles or giggling from inside the walls- feel free to say hi to him, but watch out: he nibbles! And if you ever see our artistic director fall to the ground or start moving strangely- don’t worry, that’s just how Shakes communicates with us.
Shakes didn’t know much about theatre before joining us, but he’s had a hell of a time learning, and is becoming more and more involved with the company every day. He says he wants to have a Personal Connection with each of our audience members. We’re not really sure what that means, but just in case- be careful shaking Shakes’s hand, okay?
THEATRE IS FOR EVERYONE-
OR AT LEAST IT SHOULD BE.
“A man walking along the beach spots a young girl picking up starfish that have washed up on shore and throwing them back into the sea. When he reaches her, he tells her, ‘You’re wasting your time. There are so many starfish washed up on the shore, how do you expect to make a difference?’
The young girl looked at him, then picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea. Turning to him, she replied- ‘It made a difference to that one.’”
-Roughly adapted from “The Star Thrower” by Loren Eiseley
As we’ve said before, we believe that art is meaningful and has the power to greatly enrich people’s lives. But are the people with the ability to partake in such enrichment always the people who need it?
Too often art is treated as a luxury for the rich, privileged, or able-bodied. If theatre is essential, and if art is needed in this world, then it is immoral for anyone to be denied it when accommodations could be made to allow them. We are dedicated to doing everything we can to make our company and future theatre space disability friendly and inclusive. We expect this to be a learning experience, and although we know we won’t be able to meet the needs of every person in the world, we hope to prove to others that trying is worth the effort if it changes the life of even a single person.
As we firmly believe that art has the power to help and heal its audience, we hope to help prove that belief by using a portion of the earnings we receive towards various charity works. We’re still getting our feet on the ground, but we’ll be partnering with Humanitix for our ticket sales to donate a percentage to educational programs, and one day hope to have merch that will also have a percentage of the proceeds donated to researched charities.
If you know of a charity, program, or cause that you think we should consider supporting, please use our form located here to tell us about it! We’ll research and consider all submissions we receive, and we thank you for your support.