Audition for Strange Worlds, Mar/Apr Hideout Mainstage show

Roy Janik · Post by **Roy Janik** » December 7th, 2012, 5:57 pm

The Hideout is proud to announce its March/April Mainstage show:

STRANGE WORLDS, an improvised anthology of pulp hero adventures, playing Saturday nights at 8pm, directed by Jordan T. Maxwell.

Inspired by such iconic characters as Doc Savage, The Shadow, Tarzan, Zorro, and Buck Rogers, STRANGE WORLDS will present pulse pounding tales of action, adventure, romance, exotic locales, weird menaces, mad science, and two fisted justice, with no limits but the imagination of the performers and audience!

We’re looking to cast a core ensemble of 7-8 improvisors who will each develop their own pulp style hero over the course of rehearsals to serve as the protagonists in our improvised tales, along with possibly 2-3 featured players who will help flesh out the world in performance. Every member of the cast should be willing and able to research the original pulp stories, as well as derivative works in film, TV, radio, and comic books. The cast should also be comfortable with physicality and fight choreography training. We would ideally like for the whole cast to be available for the entire eight week run.

Rehearsals will be at The Hideout on Wednesdays; 8pm-10:30pm in January, 7-10pm in February, and probably continuing through the performance months (March/April) from 6:30pm-8pm.

Auditions will be held Sunday, December 16th from 3:30-7:30pm in 30 minute blocks.

Sign up for auditions here:
http://hideout.cc/strangeworldsaudition

Brad Hawkins · Post by **Brad Hawkins** » December 7th, 2012, 6:50 pm

Oh HELL yes!

Rev. Jordan T. Maxwell · December 10th, 2012, 8:52 am

if anyone's curious about this show in its most protoplasmic form (or how long it takes me to actually execute an idea...or how badly i can overwrite just about anything...), check this out from the ghost of forums past:

http://forum.austinimprov.com/viewtopic ... highlight=

...and then let us speak on it no more!

Ryan Austin · Post by **Ryan Austin** » December 10th, 2012, 12:33 pm

Sweet. Love the breakdown of the archetypes of the heroes.

cassdiddy · Post by **cassdiddy** » December 10th, 2012, 4:36 pm

Rev. Jordan T. Maxwell wrote:
...and then let us speak on it no more!

Bummer. I just read through that thread and now all I want to do is talk about it!

Rev. Jordan T. Maxwell · December 10th, 2012, 4:43 pm

cassdiddy wrote:
Rev. Jordan T. Maxwell wrote:
...and then let us speak on it no more!
Bummer. I just read through that thread and now all I want to do is talk about it!

sigh...all right, we can talk about it a little, but i want to save SOMETHING for rehearsals and performances.

Heidi.N.Rogers · Post by **Heidi.N.Rogers** » December 11th, 2012, 1:27 pm

****GIDDY****

cassdiddy · Post by **cassdiddy** » December 12th, 2012, 12:28 pm

Since Jordan said it was okay to talk about it a little...

The way the archetypes are laid out is awesome and I loved the idea that all the heroes lived in the same world.

And, there's this:

"combining and subverting archetypes is what this is all about anyway! Also, for the purposes of clarity, I refer to each archetype in the male sense...but I absolutely WANT females to fulfill some of these parts and subvert that expectation!"

Right on.

That's the stuff that's been bouncing around in my skull since I read this. Enough talking, now I want to watch this show!

Rev. Jordan T. Maxwell · December 12th, 2012, 2:20 pm

yeah, pretty much all of the main protagonists in the original stories were male...so i'm curious to see what a feminine energy/perspective can bring to these characters and stories. and there are definitely female heroes in modern fiction who fit into those pulp archetypes...Lara Croft, Buffy Summers, Veronica Mars, Tara Chace, Sidney Bristow. so there may be some level of reverse engineering to figure out how that translates into their pulp predecessors. like, what makes them work as both females and heroes, instead of either just being male heroes with boobs or exaggerated fulfilments of male sexual power fantasies ("I'm an empowered woman...so i CHOOSE to fight crime in a corset, high heels, and mild bondage gear!"

).

i definitely want to embody much of that era of storytelling...but i also want to examine and subvert some of the prevalent misogyny and racism that bleeds through as well...

Rev. Jordan T. Maxwell · December 13th, 2012, 1:11 pm

there's still time left to sign up, y'all!

Seth Johnson · Post by **Seth Johnson** » December 14th, 2012, 5:33 am

Of course the first article I find on the topic is by the superhuman Jess Nevins:
http://io9.com/5802941/badass-women-of-the-pulp-era

I own his League of Extraordinary Gentlemen annotations and as soon as I have an extra $300+ I'm going to get his out of print "Encyclopedia of Fantastic Victoriana."
http://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Fant ... ess+nevins

Maybe you could offer Mr. Nevins a free ticket if he has time to drive up to Austin for the show.

Seth Johnson · Post by **Seth Johnson** » December 14th, 2012, 5:37 am

From the article on badass women of the pulp era:

1931: Underworld Romances was one of the less-successful efforts by pulp publishers to create a hybrid pulp which would appeal to both male and female audiences. In some cases, like the cowboy romance pulps, the end result was staggeringly successful. But Underworld Romances was designed to merge the crime and romance genres into a single pulp, a task it which it failed. Underworld Romances lasted only three issues, but each issue had a story by Jane Littell in it about Pussy Fane.

Fane is a beautiful escort ("party girl") for the Pauline Whiting Entertainment Agency. But she's a little screwed up. She grew up in a circus, among the big cats, "and then, because someone said, within her hearing for the hundredth time that she wasn't human, that she was more than half cat herself, that she even reeked with that acrid, pungent odor of the cats, she had walked from the circus without a penny or shred of baggage." She continues to fear that "the strong jungle odor of the cats would cling to her for life," and regularly douses herself in the strongest perfume she knows. But the athleticism she learned in the circus, and the superhuman strength which she was born with–"any sudden need always found her possessed of the strength of twenty men"–help her in times of peril, and when in danger, from gangsters or would-be rapists, she is capable of literally tearing a man's arms from his body.

Seth Johnson · Post by **Seth Johnson** » December 14th, 2012, 5:47 am

Last thing from me today:

Interesting flicker set with a bunch of pulp mag covers:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22809952@N ... 191109300/

One of the pics shows multiple covers featuring women:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22809952@N ... 5191109300

Another features a variety of forgotten heroes (including "Gorilla Girl" on the cover of "Gun Molls Magazine"):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22809952@N ... 5191109300

Rev. Jordan T. Maxwell · December 14th, 2012, 11:45 am

yes! Nivens is brilliant. he's been one of my go to research resources for this show, and his essays in the back of Incognito reignited my desire to make this format happen. did his Encyclopedia of Pulp Heroes ever come out? i remember it being announced, but i can't find evidence it was actually published. lol!

Rev. Jordan T. Maxwell · December 14th, 2012, 1:15 pm

Auditions have been scheduled! if you didn't get to sign up but still would like to try out, we'll be at the theatre from 4:30 until 7:30 if you want to show up. we'll try to fit you into a group (but priority of course goes to those who have already submitted and been scheduled!). thanks, and see y'all on Sunday!