World Cafe Live once billed us “Acoustic Theatrical Rock.” While we prefer our usual “dork-rock” descriptor, we can’t deny that we have a penchant for, shall we say, theatricalrocktasticness. So being the house band for a theater group seemed like the perfect opportunity for us.
I’ve said this in a previous blog post (by paraphrasing the theater group’s website), but I’ll say it again:
Philadelphia is known for having a great underground theater scene, and one of the driving forces is Philly’s Primary Stages. PPS is a “down and dirty script-in-hand staged reading series of new 10 minute plays,” where audience members are encouraged to give feedback to the playwrights, actors, and directors. Audience members are even bribed with beer, wine, sodee pop, bottled water, assorted chips, dips, vienna sausages and puddin’ packs. Once in a while a bottle of something and a shot glass, or 2, show up as well.
Being a House Band for a night of 10-minute plays means that we play for 30-ish minutes before the show and for about 10-15 minutes during intermission, too… but we also perform hand-picked segue music between plays. Matt and I come from a pretty strong theater background ourselves, so we love getting to split our time between being on stage and back-stage.
In June 2011, Hot Breakfast! filled in for PPS’ usual house band who had a conflict of some kind. The folks at Philly’s Primary Stages liked what we did so much that they’ve asked us to be their permanent house band.
This month’s shows are happening on August 7th and 8th. We play a 30-40 minute set beginning at 7:30pm, and then 15-ish minute set at intermission. We also play the outtro music from each play– songs that are hand-picked by the directors.
There are different plays each night, so if you’re feelin’ theatery, you could come both nights and see a ton of amazing stuff. I can’t promise we won’t repeat any songs, however. 🙂
If you’ve been to Philly’s Primary Stages before, they’re at a new location now– it’s bigger!
WHERE: New Location! Community Education Center: 3500 Lancaster Ave. (vaguely sorta by 30th St. Station) Philadelphia, PA 19104-4916
WHEN: August 7th and 8th. Doors open at 7ish, HB! plays at 7:30, the plays start at 8pm. Different plays both nights!
CASH: Five bucks!
For a measly five bucks ($5!), you get a night of terrific theater, food, beverages, and music. What better way to spend a mid-week night?
See you then!
Your pal,
Jill