This cannot possibly be happening. Is this really happening?

Oh. My. God.

Dig this:

Join The Ruckus and Pandora Boxx for Biscuits & Mangravy: a filthy, naughty, witty, not-for-the-faint-of-heart fundraiser benefiting the company's world-premiere production of The Gay American. “The Lizard King” and Freddie Donovan host an evening of cocktails, lip syncing, celebrity judges and a performance by Ms. Pandora Boxx herself. So bring your cash and your cutest pumps (wigs are provided) and join us for a ruck of a good time. Doors open at 10pm ($10 cover). Free Colt beer from 10pm – 12am; $3 Mini-Teas benefit The Ruckus.

I know, right?

PS - Boxx Forever. Love, The Ruckus.

"It made me want a hot dog, real bad."

From Freddie Donovan, appearing as Philly Buster in THE GAY AMERICAN:

I was sitting at work, not sure what I was working on, probably a spreadsheet, when my phone buzzed on my mouse pad. I always have my phone on my mouse pad. One time it buzzed while my boss was sitting at my computer showing me something. That was embarrassing. Anyway, it buzzed, and tearing myself away from Excel, I saw that my friend Allison had texted me. She wanted to know if I would be interested in coming to Chicago for two months to do a show called The Gay American, in which I would play a Congressional page named Philly Buster who moonlighted as a go-go dancer and had a penchant for older male politicians. Given my own sordid past as Private Dancer for the Cheney family, I was intrigued.

After reading the script, I decided that the insane story of a gay governor, his strange estranged wife, their disturbed daughter and a pedophile Congressman was a little hard to swallow. If you know what I mean. It was too outrageous when it wasn't being hilarious and bizarrely heartwarming. There was no way a cast could make this story believable. But then I found out that the story was TRUE. I was apparently the last person to hear about Jim McGreevey when I Wikipedia'd him in February. But that's beside the point. I knew I had to be a part of something this biting, outspoken, real, and most importantly, important.

Upon arriving in town, I knew one of the first orders of business would be to find Buster's footwear, as he is often found within the pages of the script wearing rollerskates and go-go boots. The first time I skated was when I was on a third grade field trip, and I was the proud recipient of the Most Bruises Award, which consisted of a cheap certificate and a package of glow stars to stick on my ceiling. The second time I skated was Easter Sunday 2010 on a sidewalk by Lake Michigan. The x-rays showed that the damage was minimal. Onwards and upwards!

As for the go-go boots, Allison and I scrounged around Boystown one sunny day looking for the perfect pair. I wanted a pair that exploded with neon pink or orange and went up to my knees. After an afternoon of zero leads, I went out a few days later, once again in the town of Boys, for an altogether unrelated purpose, when I saw them: shiny, slick, and although not neon pink or green, they did explode with the patriotic fervor of a thousand Fourth of Julys. It made me want a hot dog real bad.

The perfect pair of go-go boots.

Watch out, Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Aaron Dean and Jason Rico at the first reading of 'ESCAPE...'

"Trade a coffee shop for a dive bar."

The last of our new five to make a blog appearance is Kate Holst. Kate makes the trains run on time, but she also tries to make the trains party trains. She isn't on board with Battlestar Galactica yet, so instead I'll speak her language and make a Deadwood reference: "This is her f*#^king blog entry, pardner."

Bloggtastic! Alright kids – I’m Kate, formally Katie, sometimes K-Ho. I’ve known Allison since we were in High School and the word on the street is hated one another for a majority of it. Seriously though, we didn't really become friends until we worked on our senior year production of Kiss Me Kate (I only wish I had a picture to include here).

[Editor's note: Kate -- you're welcome.]

After that our friendship was sealed after many conversations about where the best spinach and artichoke dip existed in Grand Rapids and whether or not one should eat it with chips or bread. Today we prefer pita bread, never fries.

So yeah…I grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan (well Jenison, but Grand Rapids is much more interesting, trust me or ask Allison) and for me Chicago was the place I always wanted to be. When I was a freshman in High School my teacher asked us to write a paper about where we saw ourselves when we were 30 years old. Mine said that I would be living in Chicago, working in the theatre and married to an Art History Professor. We would eat Chinese food on the floor of our studio apartment and hang out at our favorite coffee shop on the weekends. My teacher told me that it was a bit idealistic, but he wished me luck. So here I am being a bit idealistic and not quite 30. For clarity's sake I think I should mention that a few key differences to this earlier plan: not married, no longer think Chinese food is the most exotic or interesting thing to eat, and trade a coffee shop for a dive bar.

My mom also likes to tell a particularly silly little story about bringing me on a trip to Chicago when I was twelve years old - I begged her to take me to the Art Institute immediately. Apparently, I couldn’t bear to be close to a Picasso without seeing it in person. My mom can be a bit dramatic in its retelling, however the truth is The Old Guitarist still has this affect on me when I am at the museum.

Needless to say, I have always been interested in art in its many forms and have been passionate about finding my place in this world for as long as I can remember. I didn’t start working in theatre until the end of high school and didn’t get to Chicago until just a few months ago – however I know that this is the place for me, even if (as they say in Avenue Q) it is only for now.

Kate Holst is a Chicago based theater professional and artist, and is one of the newest members of The Ruckus. She's worked with theater companies all over the country, from The Alliance in Atlanta to Vermont's Weston Playhouse and many in between. She's currently the Audience Services Manager at Evanston's Next Theatre and is working her way through all of Chicago's dive bars and spinach dips.

"Shout out to nerds in their twenties and thirties."

Our latest in the series of posts I'm affectionately calling "better-know-a-Ruckuser" comes from production manager and bad-joke-teller extraordinaire Brian Ruby. Brian's the guy who can always get you what you need -- like the guy in The Shawshank Redemption that gets Tim Robbins the Rita Hayworth poster, only theater-related. Brian is also the only new Ruckus member who appreciates the Cylon jokes I've been making. Take it away, Brian!

Following in the footsteps of my fellow new additions to The Ruckus, allow my to start by blogging about blogging for a moment. Unlike the others, I must admit that I have a past that includes blogging. I had a blogger account; in college I was on LiveJournal; hell, I even had a blog of sorts on my old Angelfire website (Shout out to nerds in their twenties and thirties). I was of course not a real blogger per se, but rather I rambled somewhat self-indulgently in a manner none would care to read. (Side note: Microsoft Word does not recognize the words blog, blogger or blogging, but why should it, those word have only been in the lexicon a scant ten years or so). [Editor's note: iWork recognizes those words. Just sayin'. -- AS]

I suppose my involvement in theater technically began at summer camp when I was young, performing in plays crudely written by our counselors, and dealing primarily with the events of that summer. Looking back I suppose it was all rather Brechtian considering that due to a general lack of acting ability we mostly wore signs around our necks with our character names on them, though I’m guessing that was not a conscious choice on behalf of the camp and rather a happy accident I later realized.

In high school I reconnected with theater, acting in my schools play and musicals, as well as building sets, and becoming involved in local summer productions. At the time I viewed all this as merely a hobby, a belief I carried with me into college and my initial participation in the theater program there. It was over my first few summers home from college that I gained the certainty that theater was what I would pursue as a career. Returning home from my first year at college I found that the summer theater I had been involved with in the past was no longer in existence and took it upon myself to fill the void. Through mounting multiple productions with a company I created over the next few summers I realized that my passion was theater. That belief was only cemented by the time I spent studying theater in London and getting the chance to see approximately 75 plays in one of the most amazing cities for theater in the world.

I’ve worked with a number of theaters in Chicago, and while my experiences with them have ranged from wonderful to horrible, The Ruckus is the first group that’s made me feel like I have a home. I’ve been thrilled to work with them in the past, and look forward to everything I will do as one of them in the future.

Brian Ruby is a Chicago based director, designer and generally awesome guy. He was one of several talented directors that made TELL IT & SPEAK IT & THINK IT & BREATHE IT possible, and he'll be working tirelessly on The Gay American this spring. Brian is also an avid fan of bad movies; if you've got a great one, email brian@ruckustheater.org.

Friends of The Ruckus!

I just launched the latest edition to The Ruckus' website: Friends of The Ruckus. Check it out!

Our first Featured Friend: ElvisBride.

Wanna be friends with The Ruckus? Come and join the fun.

The Gay American - Teaser Trailer #1

Etcetera IX here we come. [Byron Melton]

I got in touch with my old pal Chris Rutherford, (exceptional playwright, actor and producer who’s been making his living in the Tampa scene for the past few years) and borrowed a script.

The first time Chris and I worked together we put up a small art show in the “gallery” on the first floor of our dorm.

It was a concept piece based around a hip-hop record cover from 1989. The Album and the show shared the same name:

“What is it, Yo?!”

The show mostly included garbage and found art. Scene shop dumpster diving will reveal some real treasures. We dressed up in suits, invited the press, and help court at the grand opening. Many people suspected it was a joke. We had no comments for them. The only thing we told people was that:

To this day I still really don’t know if it was a joke. And all this was done before I had ever done any drugs or drank heavily.

Chris and I teamed up a few times over the years, and later our projects turned to short films. He wrote a great script called “What Lies Ahead” and we never got to shoot it.

I thought it might be perfect for submission when Allison approached me about getting something together for this.

It’s a great script – I think with the right tweaking it might make a pretty cool short play. And given that Etcetera this year is billed as “four nights of contemporary, experimental, progressive, and interdisciplinary live performance”, I think we can show those sword swallowers and acrobats that theatre isn’t always cherry orchards and cancer.

So we’ll see if it wants to fly as a short play. Film on stage Byron? You swore off projectors. They never work! Well, maybe it’ll be different this time. I read somewhere that if Shakespeare was alive today he’d be doing films. Maybe this humble project can bridge the gap.

Also, I have no shortage of good actors around me. Who doesn’t have time to memorize 15 pages of dense, rapid–fire dialogue?

Further bulletins as events warrant.

Birthday Party!

We celebrated the second birthday/reading of our upcoming play, The Gay American by Kristian O'Hare this evening. We learned a lot--both about the play and the maximum length of audio recordings in GarageBand--and can't wait to punch you in the face with this awesome new "farcudrama" (c) The Ruckus, 2010. Watch us Ruckusers and our co-conspiring friends work to make this play better one slice of red velvet cake at a time.

Want in on the action? E-mail us at theruckus@ruckustheater.org or visit ruckustheater.org.

Intrigued, enticed and excited to see the thing? Get in line. Tickets go on sale soon.