Into the Absurd: A Virtually Existential Dinner Conversation

Overview

For the last 16 years, The Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium has staged unique interpretations of classic absurdist plays including Eugene Ionesco’s The Chairs, Rhinoceros, Exit the King and Franz Kafka’s The Castle along with fresh interpretations of classic works The Eccentricities of a Nightingale by Tennessee Williams and Come Back, Little Sheba by William Inge.

In June 2020, we began gathering virtually with creators and artists around the table to delve into our passions and purpose as artists, to stay connected and to move day to day through a very surreal world, together. We titled our weekly arts and culture conversation series Into the Absurd, A Virtually Existential Dinner Conversation. Over the past year, we’ve dined over 60 times, every Saturday at 5 pm, exploring the ins and outs of creative life and the artist’s trajectory as we imagine life during and post-pandemic.

The IRC’s mission when on stage live is to produce absurdist theater exploring the existential issues illuminating the human condition, promoting reflection about living in a contemporary world. Our contemporary world is unfolding at an unprecedented speed, with events that are dislocating and surreal. Over the last year, during our weekly conversations, we have explored the artistic horizons with physicians and poets, playwrights and painters. It’s been a pleasure to spend this time exploring what art can do to heal and keep us connected.

Join the IRC’s Producing Artistic Director Tina Brock, Saturdays at 5 pm. We’ll chew the fat and explore what it means to live and to think about art and life in a radically different world, one that is experiencing long-needed change. Bring a beverage, your curiosity and your questions. Yell over the fence to your neighbors to eavesdrop on the virtual conversation and chat us up in the Zoom dining room. There is no dress code, no waiting lis

The Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium

The IRC’s mission is to present classic absurdist theater exploring existential issues to an international audience in the Philadelphia region. Since 2006, these rarely-produced stories, exploring and illuminating the human condition -- its purpose and meaning -- have promoted reflection about living in a contemporary world. This Fringe, join the IRC's Producing Artistic Director Tina Brock in weekly virtual dinner conversation, where she'll share the table with artists and creators in the community. Saturdays at 5 pm, we'll dig into the Who, What, When, Where and Why of the Existential challenges we face as artists and creators, illuminating the people and the stories in our backyard and beyond. At the IRC, We Bring Good Nothingness to Life.

Credits

Patissier, Host: Tina Brock

Chef de Cuisine: Bob Schmidt 

Maître d'hotel: Erica Hoelscher