Act 2: 2010 Yes, you have to wear that paint-covered pig's head
Act 2: 2010
Winter. At the start of 2010, Wishbone had the opportunity to begin development on it’s first original show. Collective member Kimberly Van Ness had the idea to devise a play about superheroes and their influence on our belief systems. Through a grant, Wishbone was selected to develop the idea for the DCA Incubator program at the Chicago Cultural Center. During this month-long program, Director Jeff McLaren led us through an exploration about superheroes and their importance to American society. This workshop involved Laurie Jones, Brandon Little, Mandy Stertz, Kimberly Van Ness, Katie Jones, Aine Carlin, and Sam Hicks and involved the creation of new superheroes such as Wax Man. While it would be awhile before SPANDEX became a finalized play, this process was the beginning of a new era for Wishbone Theatre Collective in which we realized the importance of developing our own work (the journey!). We straight up don’t have a photo of this.
Everyone’s costume is still drying.
These three people are wonderful sports. More Erin than John Mark. Brandon may have long term damage from breathing in a tube of glue. We are sorry.
Summer. It our first original show for children, Wishbone developed an adaptation of Berkeley Breathed’s book Pete and Pickles. What did we say at the start of this post? We seek the journey? Well, we certainly went on a journey with Pete and Pickles which, to this day, stands in the Wishbone Hall of Fame as our most challenging show. While the story adaptation was a breeze, the behind-the-scenes was so dramatic we created a pilot for a TV show called Tech Week based on the experience! To understand the real insanity that unfolded, we will just leave the link to that pilot here. It’s basically a dramatised documentary (not quite Vice, but not quite not like Vice).
Fall. Many members of Wishbone met doing improv comedy. In 2010, with collective members participating in various programs at Second City and iO, we decided to stage a comedy show with original sketches entitled Awkward Turtling (an homage to Mock Turtle Soup, the improv troupe started by Katie Jones through which many Wishbone members passed before coming to Chicago). The show teamed up with very talented comedians from the Second City Conservatory: Punam Patel, Sarah Shook, Tim Lane, and Anthony Venturini who are now doing awesome work in the TV, comedy, and theatre world!
Cast Photo of Awkward Turtling!
This is our favorite promo.
2010 was ridiculous, challenging, and sooo much fun! #10yearsWishbone