Another long, strange trip with Thaddeus Phillips - Philly.com
When experimental multimedia theater performer and playwright Thaddeus Phillips premieres The Incredibly Dangerous Astonishing Lucrative and Potentially TRUE Adventures of Barry Seal on Thursday at FringeArts, he'll be showing how far he's come... This colorful first segment of the tale of the most notorious drug smuggler in U. S. history (whose second, lengthier portion, Alias Ellis Mackenzie , will run during September's Fringe Festival) features a stage full of beat-up Cadillac parts and... All this is a far cry from 1996's Shakespeare's Storms , in which Phillips married The Tempest and King Lear with nothing but a cast of Barbie dolls, a suitcase, and a kiddie wading pool. "You know, Nick actually borrowed a curtain from my basement for the first Fringe," says Phillips of FringeArts chieftain Nick Stuccio, "and now he's a major supporter of my work - like letting me just bring him a crazy idea on a napkin, and then... "FringeArts and Thaddeus grew up together. Phillips' smart, snarky, hybrid productions have been Fringe must-sees that helped redefine and refine festival's brand: Latin-flavored comic travelogues 17 Border Crossings , Flamingo/Winnebago , and ¡El Conquistador. All done under Phillips' Lucidity Suitcase Intercontinental banner, each show was a mix of innovative stage elements based on worldly travels, his merry meeting of found and original texts, and his. Source: www.philly.com
