It’s Hard Times at the Camera Blanca

After a devastating fire and an economic crash, out-of-work circus performers camp out in the bar Camera Blanca.  Scarred by the outside world and scared of what changes might be asked of them, they are tightly controlled by their tyrannical Ringleader and deeply resented by the bar’s beleaguered owner.  When a young clown shows up with new ideas, a power struggle is set in motion that leads to salvation for some and ruin for others.

Performed in the 2009 Philadelphia Fringe Festival at Murph’s Bar in Fishtown, Philadelphia.  The script stole language from Casablanca, Trapeze, and The Greatest Show on Earth; the story was performed in a loop.

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Broad Street Review

“[It’s Hard Times at the Camera Blanca] presents the valid, real concerns felt particularly by artists during an economic recession that makes the production of art a luxury and further drives the existence of artists to the margins…. while [Applied Mechanics] may not have found any answers about the economy, their new work asked important, and theatrically rewarding questions about the dramatic nature of theatre.”
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