With last year’s “Event End,” a freewheeling performance meditation on the end of civilization, Found Theater Company emerged as one of Philly Fringe’s most inspiring troupes.
This year the company is moving up in the world: It’s no longer performing in a dilapidated North Philly warehouse, but in the plush, respectable confines of the Painted Bride Arts Center. However, its latest won’t utilize the Bride’s actual theater space; that would be far too obvious for these young experimentalists.
Instead, “Electric Jungle” promises to transform the backstage and rehearsal spaces of the venue into exactly what the title suggests, using papier-mache and a whole lot of voltage.
“We’ve created this place where nature and technology meet, where we have this tension between the natural world and the digital world,” says director Phoebe Schaub.
Thematically, “Jungle” presents the same basic dramatic question as “End”: Where exactly are we, as a species, headed? But Schaub promises a little more levity this time around.
“It’s definitely not a comedy by any means, but I was finding that so much of the work in this was playful and funny, which was surprising, because last year things were so heavy. But, I gotta admit, I don’t think we’re ever going to make a comedy. That’s just not us.”
