From the archives…

Paradise Park (Idiopathic Ridiculopathy): Men in Dresses

If your favorite part of Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was the creepy boat ride or if you even remember that scene with a tingle of cinematic delight right down in your nethers, then you’re definitely of the constitution to enjoy PARADISE PARK by Charles Mee. Put up by Philadelphia’s Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium (“We bring good nothingness to life,” says their mission statement) at the intimate Walnut Theater’s Studio 5, PARADISE PARK presents a circus of bizarre characters and bent story lines as disparate as the rides in a carnival. The raucous characters and their absurd trajectories stand out against a dramatic structure which flows almost seamlessly from one event to the next, drawing the audience along until  they give up trying to ascribe meaning and let the ineluctable events unfold. more…