Touring an independent theatre production can be challenging, but also really rewarding—and really fun.
Maybe you’ve been out on the road with a show; if you have had the pleasure of touring, now imagine you’re doing it on your bicycle. All the props and sets and costumes and your camping gear and your personal living essentials are in your panniers. Everything you need for the show, and for yourself, is on that bike.
For three months.
Sounds like quite an adventure to me. And that’s just what Agile Rascal Traveling Bike Theatre did with their play Sunlight on the Brink. Beginning from their home-base in Oakland, CA, the Rascals finally landed in New York City a couple weeks ago for shows in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and celebrated reaching the Atlantic with a trip to Coney Island.
Though sadly I missed their show, I sat down with Rascals Dara Silverman and Ren Dodge for a coffee and an interview; listen in as we discuss the leap from bicycle touring to bicycle touring with a play, logistics, preparation & adaptation for an epic journey, finding venues across the country, and the kindness of (quirky) strangers who become new friends.
“…there was an intention to write a play where the themes of the play would hypothetically sync up to the themes of the biking as well…so that as we rode across the country, the play would deepen and change based on what we were experiencing…”
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…sadly, the tour is over, and as of now you won’t have a chance to catch Agile Rascal’s Sunlight on the Brink—however, I thought this was such a great concept, and Dara and Ren’s stories and experience are so useful to indie theatre artists, I had to share this interview.
All best to all the Rascals with their future work, whether as a company or as individuals, and hope to see you in NYC again soon!
Agile Rascal Traveling Bike Theatre artists
Dara & Ren, after our interview