Dinner! Franny and Connor
Write a Cookbook, 2020/21
Stay at home orders has meant more people are finding themselves alone in a kitchen packed with groceries they never would have bought before the pandemic. It also meant that theatres closed for the most part. So, what did devised theatre artists Francesca Chilcote and Connor Hogan do? They created an online show to help at-home cooks better understand their kitchens and the ingredients they hold. The result was Dinner!: Franny and Connor Write a Cookbook.
In March of 2020, Connor and Franny gratefully accepted an advance for a cookbook deal on “quarantine cooking.” Neither of them expected things to get as bad as they did. It’s now a year later and they have nothing but a spoiled sourdough starter, several more pounds and an unfinished manuscript. Help these lifelong amateur cooking partners finish their cookbook by collaborating on a dish with them using only the things in your pantry.
Dinner! is a comic romp through your own pantry, exploring the ways we cope with crises through food and the stories that emerge from those dishes. Designed for an audience of one, Dinner! demonstrates that you don't need to be a five-star chef to create a great meal.
Gilligan Gigs Again, 2021
Do you suck at trivia? Feel like you never get any questions right? Always down on yourself for being on a losing team? Then you’d fit right in at Gilligan Gigs Again, a trivia cabaret on radical self-acceptance, coming this September to the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. With your host, out of work rock star, Gilligan Gideon, you can rest assured you won’t be the dumbest person in the room. Join us at the Victoria Freehouse in Old City, and you’ll learn the answers to questions like: When was D-Day? What’s that song I’m thinking of? And why are we so mean to ourselves? But hey! Don’t worry! At this gig, everyone will know the answer to something!
Produced as part of the 2021 Philadelphia Fringe Fest
Photo by Sarah Gardner
Fidget, 2019
Fidget is a dance film dedicated to my utter inability to sit still. Comprised of everyday movements that are pushed to the edge, the film depicts two strangers who suddenly find themselves intertwined in each other's world—for better or worse. This dance asks us to examine the movements that take up space in our body and how we express them without thinking.
Devised in collaboration with Francesca Chilcote.
Featuring Christine Octavia Shaw, Jacqueline Libby, and Mark Kennedy Photo by John Hawthorne
Featuring Christine Octavia Shaw, Mark Kennedy, Jacinta Yelland, Jacqueline Libby and Adam Montgomery Photo by John Hawthorne
Featuring Mark Kennedy, Adam Montgomery, Christine Octavia Shaw, Jacinta Yelland and Jacqueline Libby Photo by John Hawthorne
Featuring Christine Octavia Shaw, Jacqueline Libby, and Mark Kennedy Photo by John Hawthorne
The Usual, a new work of physical theatre, explores the suddenness of death and the absurdity it leaves in its wake. Set in a local diner, the audience follows five members of a small town who witness the traumatic death of an eleven-year-old girl. This shared confrontation with death ripples through their day-to-day routines changing their relationships to each other and the world around them. Using a rich physical language - acrobatics, dance, magic, mime - The Usual takes the audience on a journey through the complexities of trauma and grief.
The Usual was devised as the culminating thesis project for the Pig Iron Theatre Class of 2019. Co-devisors and originators include Mark Kennedy, Jacqueline Libby, Adam Montgomery, Christine Octavia Shaw and Jacinta Yelland.