AUTUMN NEWS!
October 12, 2009
HERE ARE THE DETAILS…
Mark Jaster has been selected as the winner of the 2009 Montgomery County Executive’s Excellence in the Arts and Humanities Outstanding Artist Award for his achievements in, and contribution to, the arts in Montgomery County. Also, Happenstance Theater received an Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County Creative Projects Grant and have been invited to perform at the Montgomery County Executive’s Ball on October 19th, 2009 where we will show a short preview of Look Out Below! and Mark Jaster will receive his Outstanding Artist Award. This event is free and open to the public. Click HERE for more information.

Are you looking for an affordable alternative or supplement to the usual Christmas season entertainments? LOOK OUT BELOW! opens this December and promises to be another Happenstance Tour De Force.
at Round House Theatre Bethesda
December 4 – 6, 11 – 13, 18 – 20, 2009
Get your tickets HERE
THUNDER! MOONLIGHT! SLAPSTICK! The end of the 19th century is at hand…Pierrot is on his way to Paris where he intends to make the very first recorded sound. En route he meets Augustine, a would-be Hot Air Balloonist. Accompanied by an eccentric one-person Band they encounter comic misadventures at the Circus, the Paris Metro, the Eiffel Tower and the Moulin Rouge. Starring Mark Jaster as Pierrot, Sabrina Mandell as Augustine andKaren Hansen as The Band.
Happenstance Theater employs whimsical imagery, physical comedy and live music to engage imaginations of all ages.
Come see us at the Maryland Renaissance Festival. We are A Fool Named ‘O’ and La!La! There are only 3 weekends left. We perform at 10:30am, Noon, 2pm and 4pmon the Lyric Stage every Saturday and Sunday. It is a wonderful way to spend a cool autumn weekend day.
Also we are helping out our friends at the Capital Fringe Festival by emceeing their FRINGE FOLLY Fundraiser on Hallowe’en. So come frolic in the folly with Diz and Izzy Aster.
Well, the audiences voted for Cabaret Coo Coo as the Best Comedy of the 2009 Capital Fringe Festival.
Thank you all so much for coming out to see our chaotic Vaudeville extravaganza. Look for a remounting of Cabaret Coo Coo in the fall…

Fringe and Purge Blog Hip Shot of Cabaret CooCoo
July 11, 2009
This is a remarkably astute REVIEW! We were trying to take it easy this year having built so many new shows the last couple of years and so we decided to try something a little less “devised” and a little more “assembled”.
Thank you so much for your sensitive eye and patience with us while we experiment with ways to make art when there is no time and no money.
Love you DC city paper cats!
Cabaret CooCoo at the 2009 Capital Fringe
July 1, 2009
Get your tickets HERE
___________________________________________________
______________________________________
Be sure to cast your vote for Cabaret CooCoo at capitalfringe.theatremania.com ______________________________________
FarFar Oasis NOW RUNNING! One more weekend April 23 – 26
April 20, 2009
FarFar Oasis
“Where the warm winds of the East become the hot air of the West”

In the early 20th Century, Europeans and Americans indulged romantic notions of the Middle Eastern Desert in popular culture: Rudolph Valentino’s The Sheik was an international sensation, spawning a host of imitators and the hit song, “The Sheik of Araby”; R.J. Reynolds used the long-standing allure of the desert and pyramids to sell Camel Cigarettes, while Gertrude Bell and Freya Stark actually went exploring and mapping the region, writing for a ravenously fascinated public. FarFar Oasis takes as its point of departure this rich cultural phenomenon, contrasting the era’s charmed perceptions with the reality they missed, in a pastiche of poetry, image and song. It is the companion piece to our original theatrical scrapbook, Low Tide Hotel and will feature Mark Jaster, Sabrina Mandell, Scott Sedar and Tina Chancey.
It will run at the Round House Theatre in Silver Spring from April 16th – 26th, 2009. For Tickets click HERE
Reviews:
Plunkett and Tremolo at Wolftrap
March 26, 2009
Plunkett and Tremolo
Tuesday, July 14 - Saturday, July 18 at 10 am
Enjoy a picnic in the meadow between performances at Wolf Trap’s Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods. Tickets may be purchased for a single performance for $8 or for both the 10 am and 11:15 am performances for only $2 more.
The incomparable Mark Jaster returns to Wolf Trap and this time he’s got fellow entertainer Sabrina Mandell with him creating all sorts of trouble. As star of the show, Tremolo is full of spectacular skill, knock-about comedy, and classic physical antics but Plunkett is determined to upstage him! Hilarity ensues as these two mute fools try to prove who is who.
For Tickets and Info Click HERE
WORKSHOP: Text? Assembly Required! Process by Happenstance
October 16, 2008
Presented as part of the Capital Fringe Festival Training Factory.
Cost $85
Monday night sessions (Nov. 17 & 24) 6:30 – 9:30pm –
OR
Tuesday sessions (Nov. 18 & 25) 6:30 – 9:30pm –
We have created three successful productions for the Capital Fringe Festival: Prufbox, Low Tide Hotel, and Manifesto!, all of which have enjoyed further lives at venues such as the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, NY Clown Festival, The Peabody Essex Museum, and Round House Theater. The team of Mark Jaster and Sabrina Mandell have developed these shows through a collaborative process that treats text fragments with visual imagery, character, clown, puppetry and physical expression.
In a pair of workshops we will take text fragments and explore a range of possible treatments. In the first meeting we will provide the source material, and stimulate its creative exploration and presentation in a small group format. In the second, material brought in by the participants will provide the points of departure, allowing guided collaborative inquiry and the experience of a variety of approaches. In both meetings, supportive, interactive, creative play will set the tone.
This Training Factory Event will run on two consecutive weeks, with a Monday class and Tuesday class for your scheduling convenience. That’s six great hours with Happenstance Theater for only $85!
Workshops will be at FORT FRINGE – 607 New York Ave. NW, Washington DC 20001
We’ll see you at the Fort!
Come see us at the Maryland Renaissance Festival
August 26, 2008
4 shows a day on the Lyric Stage
10:30am, 12:30pm, 2:30pm and 4:00pm
Every Saturday and Sunday and Labor Day Monday
August 23rd – October 19th
Family-friendly physical antics and classic knock-about comedy. A Fool Named “O” has endeared himself to Festival audiences for over 20 years. “O” and his partner, “LaLa” introduce new material again this year as they have since 2005. Impossible feats compete for laughs.
For tickets and more information visit the
and don’t forget about MANIFESTO! at the NY Clown Theatre Festival
coming up September 9, 10, 11 – more info below…
We are performing at NY Clown Theatre Festival!
August 10, 2008
The DC City Paper says “These merry pranksters get it!…glorious nuggets of nonsense…a delightful romp through the surreal…an extra-sensory extravaganza…it is belly-laugh humor“.The Washington Post called it “…an ingeniously oddball deconstruction …brash…seductive…Futurism and dadaism pulsed with revolutionary zeal“
@ THE BRICK THEATER – 575 Metropolitan Avenue – Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
(Between Union Ave. and Lorimer St.)
Tuesday 9/9 – 8:30pm
Wednesday 9/10 – 7pm
Thursday 9/11 – 9pm

