DDO Press Release

BrickaBrack presents new 60 Minute Audience-Interactive Show
                                     
Oakland, CA. February 8, 2013. BrickaBrack, the award-winning creators of Stalking Christopher Walken, announced the premiere of a new ensemble-created show, Duck Duck Octopus, at the Temescal Arts Center. The piece will play Friday evenings at 9pm from March 8th -  April 12th.

At this hour-long audience-interactive show, attendees receive a menu of thirty short acts from which they "order" the performance. BrickaBrack's ensemble of actor/dancers attempts to perform all thirty of these acts, as requested by the audience, in just sixty minutes. The show's menu consists of a combination of theatre, song, dance, comedy, and performance art style short pieces (averaging two minutes each), all geared towards involving and engaging the audience.

Gabriel Grilli, BrickaBrack's Artistic Director and the creator/director of Duck Duck Octopus, says, "I've seen a bunch of shows like this in the Bay Area that were audience interactive, fun, party-like shows, and audiences love them, but the ones I've seen have lacked content and truth. So I thought, why not create one that has the same crackerjack energy, but with more focused writing and direction? That's what we're trying to do with DDO."

An interesting twist is that the company adds from 1-6 new acts to the performance menu each week, depending on what an audience member rolls on a six-sided die at the end of each show. Even the ticket purchase give you a choice: You can buy advanced tickets for $15, or show up at the door and pay $9 plus the roll of a die ($10 - $15). Grilli says this is all part of a plan to engage the audience, "I can't stand shows where they tell you to sit back and relax. If you want to sit back and relax, stay in your living room. We're making theatre for people who want to be on the edge of their seats -- yell, laugh, cry, respond, do whatever. I think people in Oakland are hungry for something like this."

Duck Duck Octopus runs one hour without intermission. Performance dates & times are Fridays at 9pm: March 8th, 15th, 22nd and April 5th & 12th at Temescal Arts Center, 511 48th St. (at Telegraph), Oakland 94609 -- in the vibrant Temescal neighborhood), with a special March 29th San Francisco show at Shotwell Studios (3252-A 19th St. at Shotwell).

Duck Duck Octopus features Grilli’s writing, as well as the work of writer/performers Steve Budd, Alexander Lydon, Gloria McDonald, LeAnna Sharp, Isabel Siragusa, and Maura Tang.

Brickabrack was founded in February 2012 as a collaborative theatre ensemble that presents original stories about extraordinary people.

For tickets, go to www.brickabracktheatre.org.

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