November 9 - December 10, 2011
(no shows Thanksgiving week)
Wednesday - Saturday Nights
Performance with dessert potluck begins at 7:30pm
Capitol Hill Arts Workshop
Every night includes a dessert potluck. Attendees are encouraged (not required) to bring a nut-free dessert to share.
Welcome to Beertown's 20th Quinquennial Time Capsule Day! Every five years this small American town unearths its beloved Time Capsule and ritualistically reviews its contents--Beertown's "artifacts." But celebrating the past is not enough for this community. On Time Capsule Day Beertonians not only review and remember, but they also revise by voting in new artifacts. Because if one goes in, one must come out. Beertown's quirky civic ceremony requires its citizens to consider what objects best represent the community and its history. Beertown: creating community and revising its history, nightly.
Beertown is made possible in part by the Capitol Hill Community Foundation and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanites.
Audience Response to Beertown summarized here.
Beertown Accolade-ed!
Howard Shalwitz, Artistic Director at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, reflected on the nominees of Direction of a Play for the 2012 Helen Hayes Awards on DC Theatre Scene. In it he notes the following:
"Beertown, the dog & pony [dc] show from last year — now there’s a really great example of civic discourse. I loved that show, and I’m happy to see it nominated for Outstanding New Play. Beertown, I hope, turns out to be a trend-setting piece of theatre. It was created from scratch, with multiple points of inspiration. It wasn’t a story so much as a participatory event, a made-up communal experience. It was at a kind of remove from Washington, but it also held a mirror up to the discourse that happens in Washington. It was very moving and thought-provoking. Everything about how it was created was quite unconventional. That’s the kind of show I’d love to see more in town. It’s one of the most important shows I saw in Washington in 2011, and very entertaining."
In her review of Beertown during its premiere run, Jane Horwitz wrote in the Washington Post that Beertown was "so gently satiric and utterly involving that you’ll find yourself voting for and against issues before you even realize you’ve raised your hand."
In a city saturated with theatre that is usually ‘more of the same,’ it takes a boldly innovative company like dog & pony dc to stand apart from the crowd.
--MD Theatre Guide
Beertown is the most interesting show I've seen in a long time.
- @drewCourt
Truly impressive, hilarious and poignant creation by wildly creative artists.
--Karen's FYI:TheatreOpps
A stunning performance last evening! Thank you for raising the bar for excellence in theater once again!
- FB post on Beertown, USA page
...it’s the creation of community that is the real trick this dog & pony dc pulls off.
--MD Theatre Guide
Beertown is not to be missed. The best show I've seen in months.
- @pombous
Kudos to the group for devising a novel theatrical event that celebrates community and civility in contested deliberations as we prepare for the coming year of political struggles.
--DC Theatre Scene
Beertown is a true experimental work of art...
--MD Theatre Guide
