Hopefully This Will All Be Over Soon: A punk-theater election fantasia


John Chandler Hawthorne, Francesca Montanile, Jenna Strusowski, Sara Vanasse, and Michael T. Williams met while studying at the Pig Iron School for Advanced Performance Training and decided to form The Hopefuls, a satirical and highly theatrical punk rock band.

November 3-5, 2016, the group present A PUNK ELECTION FANTASIA, a free music-theater event funded in part by a grant from Citizen’s University. The political satire offers a chance to laugh at the absurdity of this unusual election cycle and engage in the real issues of the November 8 election.

The Hopefuls play with and mock the candidates, supporting characters, and issues around the 2016 election. Combining the energies of punk and the grotesquely comedic theatrical form of bouffon, they explore what happens when distorted bodies and theatricalized images are set to the stripped-down, abrasive textures of punk music. They claim influences as varied as SNL, The Colbert Report, Sacha Baron Cohen, Bikini Kill, and Fugazi. That’s got our vote.

[1fiftyone gallery + art space, 3312 Kensington Avenue] November 3-5, 2016, 
hopefulsdual

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