Season II: Riches & Wonders
From autumn 2024 to autumn 2025, DPL presented our second full season of live-action entertainment. Kicking off with The From Above/From Below Ball on October 27th & 28th, the year will continue with a full lineup of theatrical entertainment before ending in August 2025 with William Sockspeare's Antony & Cleopatra.
The 2nd Annual From Above/From Below Bâ’¶ll
On Thursday, October 24th 2024 we gathered at the Dormouse Theatre for the 2nd Annual From Above, From Below Ball to kick off our second season and to celebrate the release of our second Halloween anthology, Spectacular, Spectacular: An Anthology of Circensian Horror.
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The party featured musical entertainment from Grand Rapids-based folk punk mastermind Batshit Bill and a reading by Kathryn Healy of her story "The Lake Michigan Mermaid, & Other Freaks of Nature" from the collection, as well as tarot readings, a costume contest, drinks from the theatre's bar, and a special appearance by the Dormouse's resident canine critter, Finnegan! ​
Politically Incorrect: An Election Night Stand-Up Show
On Tuesday, November 5th, as the 2024 battle for the Oval Office reached its climax, we got together at Taco Bob's on the Kalamazoo Mall for Politically Incorrect: An Election Night Stand-Up Show to blow off some steam with a little bit of good old-fashioned jester's privilege.
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Guest-hosted by local comic Dominique Martinez, comedians Matt Hybels, Larry Zemlick, Josh Buddha and the Beaveman competed for the audience's vote to win a $50 prize and the title of Kalamazoo's Secretary of Silliness—a battle which culminated in Mr. Beaveman being sworn in under solemn oath to use comedy to spread as much joy as he can muster in the stressful years ahead.
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Yule Faire
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In between shows, we had the opportunity to vend at Yule Faire, a festival of winter celebration, with over 60 other incredible artists and merchants all stripes!
We had a selection of our publications for sale along with a smattering of other goodies. The event was hosted by Coyote Bones Collective in Market Square in St. Catharines, Ontario on December 15th.
The Vagina Monologues
On March 28th & 29th we gathered at Kanley Chapel on campus at Western Michigan University to present V's (formerly Eve Ensler's) classic docutheatre play The Vagina Monologues. Resurrecting what used to be a local tradition for an encore performance to benefit the Kalamazoo chapter of the YWCA, the show was performed to continue the V-Day campaign's mission of using theatre as a tool to fight intimate and systemic violence against marginalized people.
performed by:
â—†Ivan Bernhardt â—†Sereah Skutt â—†Elliot Behrendt
â—† v.f. thompson
Special thanks Western Michigan University's Office of Health Promotion & Education for their support of the project.
Theogony
On May 12th we gathered at Satellite Records in the Vine Neighborhood of Kalamazoo for a recitation of Hesiod's epic poem Theogony, chronicling the genealogy of the Hellenic cosmology.
Joining forces with Satellite's weekly open mics, the reading was bookended by musical performances from members of the public, with the readers of the poem also drawn from the pool of open mic attendees.
William Sockspeare's Antony & Cleopatra
On October 4th, we took to the streets to of St. Catharines, Ontario to end the season off with William Sockspeare's Antony & Cleopatra, an adaptation of Shakespeare's classic romantic problem play performed by sock puppets and narrated by William Sockspeare himself.
The show was presented in a guerilla format, setting up on an abandoned patch of St. Paul's street and presenting the show in the open air for the perusal and pleasure of passersby.