Idiot String Announces Peripatetic Players 2019 Summer Tour A LORD OF A RING IN A SUITCASE

Idiot String (Founding Producers Joan Howard and Rebecca Longworth) is proud to announce the Samuel Peaches Peripatetic Players' 2019 Bay Area Parks tour. This summer's show, created and performed by the five-member travelling troupe, is a parody of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring entitled A Lord Of A Ring In A Suitcase, and will play six performances in public parks on Saturdays and Sundays, August 17 - 25, 2019. Performances are free of charge, though donations are accepted. No tickets or reservations are necessary. For more information, visit www.peripateticplayers.org.

"This summer, Samuel Peaches and his gang are packing their entire production into several suitcases," explains Joan Howard, Idiot String's co-founder, who also plays Thumper of the Peripatetic Players. Past tours have featured Fluxwagon, the Players' folding mobile stage, but this year all the props, costumes, and scenic elements will come out of the suitcases -- as the parody's title implies. Joan says, "we figured that since the Hobbits and their companions had to carry all their possessions during their epic journey to destroy the One Ring, we should do the same for our show."

This year will mark the Peripatetic Players' sixth performance tour to Bay Area Parks. Past productions have included Shiver We Timbers(2018), a pirate-themed choose-your-own adventure; O Best Beloved (2014), an adaptation of Rudyard Kipling short stories; andShakespeare or Space Wars (2016-2017), a mash-up of Romeo and Juliet with Star Wars: A New Hope. Each show features a recurring cast of eccentric thespians, the Players, who take on various roles in the production, and whose backstage antics are as much a part of the show as the story itself. Especially since they don't always agree on how to put on the show.

"Samuel Peaches is the creative force behind each play and the impresario of the troupe," says Rebecca Longworth, Idiot String's co-founder and the director of the show. "But he can't really control the strong personalities of the other Players. They have their own ideas, and sometimes those come into conflict with Samuel's artistic vision. But somehow, they always make it to the end of the show together -- in under an hour!"

Traditionally, the audience also factors in Peripatetic Players productions, and A Lord Of A Ring In A Suitcase will be no different. "Mr. Peaches' grandiose staging ideas are sometimes difficult to pull off with just five actors," says Rebecca. "In past productions, the audience have been cast as a pirate army, alien ball guests, rebel pilots, and flocks of sheep. Samuel loves giving them acting tips along the way." The Players often find other reasons to interact with the audience during the show, and enjoy chatting with audience members both before and after the performance.

2019 TOUR SCHEDULE:

• Sunday, August 18 @ 11:00 a.m. - Lincoln Park, Alameda
• Sunday, August 18 @ 2:00 p.m. - Dimond Park, Oakland
• Saturday, August 24 @ 11:00 a.m. - Studio One Arts Center, Oakland
• Saturday, August 24 @ 2:00 p.m. - Franklin Park, Alameda
• Sunday, August 25 @ 2pm - Port Costa School, Port Costa

The Santa Clara performance is presented in association with the Santa Clara City Library, while shows in Alameda are presented in association with Alameda City Recreation & Parks, in Oakland with the Oakland Department of Parks, Recreation and Youth Developmentand in Port Costa, with the Port Costa Conservation Society.

Idiot String is a collaborative ensemble theatre company devoted to inciting delight and activating meaningful human connection through play. Their adaptations of popular stories featuring the Peripatetic Players have toured Bay Area parks and public spaces each summer since 2014. With a cast of eccentric thespians that appear in each show, the Peripatetic Players have a created a signature style of over-the-top performance and brightly-colored, unabashedly theatrical stage sets that usually appear on FluxWagon, their folding mobile stage. Idiot String also creates other plays, including Elixir of Life, an original, interactive play that toured Bay Area parks in the autumn of 2017; and a new site-specific play, Port Stories, that premiered in Port Costa this past June, taking the audience on a journey from the historic Port Costa School to various sites throughout the town to follow characters' stories. Idiot String is currently the resident theatre company of Port Costa via the sponsorship of the Port Costa Conservation Society, and hosts periodic artistic workshops and other public performance events at the Port Costa School in addition to touring Bay Area parks and public spaces. The company is fiscally sponsored by Independent Arts & Media, a San Francisco nonprofit organization dedicated to building community through media and the arts. More information on supporting Idiot String and the Peripatetic Players can be found online at idiotstring.org/donate or by calling 510-542-9009.

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