New original drama was co-written by 'intergalactic clowns'
By ROBERT WALTERS 8/5/01
A musician played by Heather Smith channels her spirit in a communications port in the new production, "Warm Delicious Play." Below: Cast members cradle the oracular skull. Bottom: Grimes (Joseph Gomez, right) offers a flower to Harpocrates the Silent (Nicholas Foster). Photos by JAMES GIBBARD / Tulsa World
Medusa is staring at me.
Caravaggio's positively frightening depiction of the Gorgon's head is plastered on the poster for the Midwestern Theater Troupe's upcoming production "Warm Delicious Play."
One knows better than to call John Cruncleton -- the Midwestern's resident playwright, director and mischiefmaker -- on the strange coupling of the seemily docile title and grisly graphic. He recognizes the opposing ideas . . . and he loves it.
Cruncleton is, himself, an odd pairing of contradictory ideas. The bespectacled twentysomething looks like he'd be at home sipping lattes in a coffee shop, making mirth and merriment over the mundane. Instead, he is an amazingly articulate and well- read thinker, whose understanding of theater goes well beyond his years. If he were an academic, he would be the campus hipster-philospher prof, weaving his own ideas on civilization in with the ideas of the great minds of yesteryear. He may seem a little eccentric at times, but for the most part, he seems to have his feet firmly planted reality.
So, you might say it was a little . . . unexpected, when Cruncleton confided in that his latest play was conceived and co-authored by a race of intergalactic clowns.
Come again?
"I was on my honeymoon and we were camping on Windy Star mountain. There was this well on a cistern on Lennox Ridge. I found a crystal next to the well. Something compelled me to put it under my pillow. It wasn't long after that I started receiving transmissions from a race of Astroclowns from beyond Sirius," Cruncleton said.
Moments passed and no punchline was given. The stern expression on Cruncleton's (and Medusa's) face(s) suggested that it was not intended to be a joke.
Are you saying that you didn't write "Warm Delicious Play?"
"No, I was basically a scribe," he said.
The plays of the Midwestern Theater Troupe all seem to have a unique world view. Evident in the troupe's first production -- "Baby of Abadon Mountain" in 1995 -- as well as last year's critically acclaimed show "Romolo the Great," the troupe has always excelled in creating compelling, yet entertaining works. They are, as Tulsa World theater reviewer Michael Smith calls them "the irreverent clown pirates of theater." They take their playtime pretty seriously.
Through their nine productions, however, that playful spirit has always been confined to the stage. Are the Astroclowns a ruse, or a purposeful show-related plaything?
Cruncleton pushes on, elaborating on the painstaking process that he and the clowns undertook.
"I received the transmissions in no particular chronological order, rather as chunks of imagery, sometimes garbled language, sometimes everything in reverse. For each transmission, there was a small catalyst for understanding. Every few days, I would find a key to deciphering it all, such as an old nursery rhyme or old church hymn."
As near as can be made out, "Warm Delicious Play" is a hodge-podge of deconstructed Greek myths, (mainly focused on the myth of Demeter and Persephone) and Midwestern folklore sugared up and lacquered with Cruncleton's -- er, the Astroclowns' -- unique sense of character and imagery. It's a strange world of secret societies, intoxicating etcoplasmic slop, flea circuses, mute children, zombie hecklers and anything else Edith Hamilton or Mother Goose may have written about.
"Basically, I was left with all the chunks and I had to make the connections," Cruncleton said.
While the Astroclowns gave Cruncleton all of the pieces to the story, he said that the assembly of those pieces was supervised by a dramaturge.
"The Gorgon took on a guiding role in the assembly of the images. She could either paralyze me or fill me with ecstatic fervor depending on the choices that I made," he said.
Medusa was your dramaturge?
"Yes," Cruncleton said.
Any idea that arises about Medusa being an unusual dramaturge is lost with a glimpse of her intimidating face.
Cruncleton's obsession with respinning myths and legends can most directly be tied to his vision of theater. He believes that there is a deep-seeded spiritual center to the theater experience, a center that has long been in decline. He regards the theater experience as one that, under ideal conditions, should connect with something in both your mind and soul. Given Cruncleton's voracious reading appetite and reverence for the classics, it's not surprising that his vision owes a lot to the ancient Greeks.
The ancient Greeks' early tragedies were centered around their history and their relationship with their Gods. Because of this, the plays were chiefly moralistic tales with a hint of the supernatural and a lot of mystery.
Maybe it's the mystery and magic of "Warm Delicious Play" that Cruncleton is trying to keep guarded. Or maybe he's describing his process of writing using outrageous metaphor and hyperbole. Still, he could just be nuts.
"I guess I came to the clowns because of the energies that were created between my wife and I. Maybe it spawned a new understanding of the universe for me. Maybe they were always there, I just wasn't conscious of it."
As the conversation concludes, a gentle smirk dashes across the boyish writer-director's face.
Regardless of who actually penned "Warm Delicious Play," the Midwestern Theater Troupe is cooking up a genuine theatrical experience for just about everyone. Gorgons included.
"Warm, Delicious Play," an original drama/comedy presented by Midwestern Theater Troupe
WHEN: 8 p.m. Aug. 9-11, 16-18, 23-25
WHERE: Nightingale Theater, 1416 E. Fourth St.
TICKETS: $5, may be reserved by calling 583-8487 [As of February 2007, 633-8666]