Theater

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: If you can't do it in a bar, you shouldn't do it in a theater.  In that sense, this page could just as well be called "Bar."  But then, you probably wouldn't have clicked on it.  Or would you have?  Would've you?  Hm?  Anyway, these are some things I've done...

You Will Experience Silence

Writer: Dan Fishback
Director: Stephen Brackett
Production Manager: Katharine Croke
Cast: Dan Fishback, Max Steele, Joseph Keckler, Cole Escola
Designers: Elias Orling, Jessica Pabst, Anjeanette Stokes, Daniel Zimmerman
Publicity: Blake Zidell & Associates

First Performed: Dixon Place, April 2009

Major Press: The Village Voice, Time Out New York, Backstage, The New York Blade, Popnography, Time Out New York Blog

Synopsis: In ancient Israel, at the dawn of the Chanukah war, the "chosen people" are bored and horny.  Judah Maccabee (Dan Fishback), a surly queer teenager, travels to Jerusalem one day with his best friend Ezra (Max Steele).   When they encounter a sexy Greek soldier (Joseph Keckler), they must reckon with their responsibilities -- to their people, to their libidos and to each other.  Their story is interspersed with tale of Ian Fleishman (Dan Fishback), a crazed activist who spends his morning in bed, calling the White House to complain about the state of the world, the state of the war, and the state of his love life.  Erotic, neurotic and dorky, performance artist Dan Fishback is fiercer than ever in this absurdist meditation on citizenship, imperialism and sexual ethics. 

"You Will Experience Silence" was supported by the Six Points Fellowship for Emerging Jewish Artists, a partnership of Avoda Arts, JDub Records, and the Foundation for Jewish Culture.  Six Points is made possible with major funding from UJA-Federation of New York.

Official Website: http://www.youwillexperiencesilence.com


Absentia Dementia

Writer/Director: Dan Fishback
Stage Manager: Aaron Burns
Cast: Dan Fishback, Max Steele, Jon Russell, Matt Katz, Andrew Hoepfner, Nan Turner, Dave End, Phoebe Kreutz, Angela Carlucci, Tina Harris

First Performed: Dixon Place, January 2008

"Absentia Dementia" explores gay sexual culture through the eyes of gay men who abstain from it.  With live performers interacting with video projections of characters played by Fishback, the piece playfully examines notions of presence, absence, intimacy and disease with a dark, cutting sense of humor.


Waiting For Barbara

Writer: Dan Fishback
Director: Michael Schulman
Cast: Dan Fishback, Max Steele, Julie Lake

First Performed: Galapagos Art Space, December 2006

Press: Gawker.com

Synopsis: As the world braces for war in Iraq, two coked-up gay Yalies wait for the President's daughter to escort them to a Fox News Shock-and-Awe viewing party.  As the hour approaches, and she does not arrive, Davenport Rosenfeld (Dan Fishback) and Bryce Wilson (Max Steele) occupy themselves by doing drugs and psychologically destroying each other.  As much an homage to "Boys in the Band" as it is to "Waiting for Godot," this upsetting comedy examines what it means to be simultaneously disenfranchised and powerful as a gay, white American.


Please Let Me Love You

Writer: Dan Fishback
Director: Billy Rosen
Stage Manager: Cora Levin
Cast: Dan Fishback, Megan Gaffney, Sammy Tunis, Jason Rabinowitz, Preston Spurlock, Eric Lippe

Major Performances: Dixon Place, June 2006

Previous Workshops: Glass House Gallery, February 2006; Kelly Writers House, November 2005 (Dir: Michael Schulman)

Press: Culturebot, NYTheatre.com

Synopsis: Michael Jackson "loves" children. George W. Bush "loves" Arabs. Your psychotic ex "loves" you. Is "love" tantamount to extermination? Can we truly love someone without obliterating them entirely?  Performance artist and songwriter Dan Fishback tries to answer those questions in "Please Let Me Love You."  Through the eyes of several troubled characters, including a gun-wielding Jackson clone and a pair of Iraqi lesbians, we discover a violent landscape of self-deception and ontological terror. With a cast of three actors and two musicians, Fishback exposes the sexuality of war, and the militarism of sex.


No Direction Homo

Writer/Performer: Dan Fishback
Collaborators: Peter Cook, Dibson Hoffweiler, Preston Spurlock, Julie Lake, Cheese On Bread, The Bloodsugars, The O'Debra Twins, The Tri-Lambs, Deb Margolin, Rae C. Wright, Casey Holford, Nan Turner, Angela Carlucci, Yoko Kikuchi, Steve Espinola, Jessica Blue

First Performed: P.S.122, March 2006

Synopsis: "No Direction Homo" was a three-night festival of Dan Fishback's many projects, highlighting his songwriting, storytelling and his work with the band Cheese On Bread.  Each night featured many guest artists from the worlds of performance art, indie-rock and anti-folk.  Audience members were encouraged to make crafts and eat free pizza.


Boi with an I

Writer/Performer: Dan Fishback
Directors: Lacey Langston, Billy Rosen

Performances: Collective:Unconscious, September 2004; Dixon Place, July 2004

Press: Culturebot

Synopsis: In this piece of self-consciously "traditional, character-based queer solo theater," Fishback examines gay narcissism through a variety of characters, including a violent metrosexual, a Republican twink raver, and a Senate intern who's obsessed with Andrew Sullivan.


Assholes Speak Louder Than Words

Writer/Performer: Dan Fishback

First Performance: Sidewalk Cafe, January, 2004

Synopsis: In his first solo piece, Dan Fishback presented a sprawling hodge-podge of stand-up comedy, surreal spoken word performance and audio/video gags to explore his fraught relationship with sex and language.  A precursor of obsessions to come.  Highlights included a story about anal bleeding, footage of the artist as a 17-year-old video auteur, and an answering machine message from Ronald Reagan.  Thanks, performance art.  Thanks a lot.