In The Past…
A Brief History of Zebra Crossing
Drayton and Chloë met at the Bushwick Starr on June 1, 2007 (Drayton’s 28th birthday, btw), and only a few short months later presented their first collaboration, Wikipedia Brown and the Mysterious Development at the very same theatre. Drayton had been wanting to do a play in the form of a cartoonish “Kid Detective” story for awhile, and when Chloë suggested doing something inspired by their joint love of Brooklyn neighborhoods, the ideas clicked and Wikipedia Brown was born.
Conceived as one of many episodes from the very large case files of Wikipedia Brown (and given a very confusing numbering system by Drayton, which no one else really seemed to understand), the first installment was created in a semi-collaborative environment with a group of seven talented actors. The lab production premiered in November, 2007. Along the way, larger ideas of how and why Zebra Crossing would function began to percolate, and Chloë and Drayton spent the rest of 2007 and the beginning of 2008 working out the nuts and bolts of their partnership.
Continuing the Wikipedia Brown series, Zebra Crossing premiered a lab production of Episode 7, Wikipedia Brown and the Accidental Occidental. For this installment, the subject matter grew darker - global population and resource issues - as well as more kick ass - ninjas, elaborate fight sequences and even an opium trip. Leaving behind the Scooby Doo aesthetic of the previous episode, Accidental Occidental took its cues from Zhang Yimou and “Alias”, prompting one audience member to ask “Is it a play? A movie? A TV show?”
To which the answer was “Yes.”
Presented in June and July, 2008, at The Tank.*
*We were actually the last theatre piece to play the Tank’s downtown location, but that’s a story for another day.
