Yes, We’re Ready, We’ll Split an Order of Fries for The Table–Does That Work for You?–Sure, One Check Is Fine

Overview

Yes, We’re Ready, We’ll Split an Order of Fries for The Table–Does That Work for You?–Sure, One Check Is Fine

A table-top show about diners and the people inhabiting those space
Created by Mike Durkin and Nick Schwasman
Part of FringeArts Fest
September 9-17

Yes, we’re ready, we’ll split an order of fries for the table. Does that work for you? Sure, one check is fine. The clanking of the spoon against the ceramic mug, embossed with the diner’s logo. The flickering of the fluorescents in the kitchen. Berlin’s “Take My Breath Away” cuts through the shuffling of feet. Meetings, comings, goings, and reunions. Blue plate specials, no substitutions, and gratuity added on parties over 8 fill the menu. A tabletop show about diners and the people inhabiting those spaces. Artists, Mike Durkin and Nick Schwasman will lead audiences between 1-3 through a series of conversations, and performances, all while splitting an order of fries either at the Melrose Street Diner or Broad Street Diner in South Philadelphia.

Mike Durkin/Nick Schwasman

Mike Durkin (He/Him/His) is a large-bodied multidisciplinary social practice performance artist residing in Philadelphia and New York City. Mike was born in Boro Park, Brooklyn, and has lived in Philadelphia for the last 10 years before moving back to NYC. Mike is guided by the intersection between art and the everyday. With his performance group, The Renegade Company he has created site-responsive social practice productions exploring houselessness, food access, place, and gentrification. He is currently developing a performative cookbook that looks at the role recipes play in communities incorporating dance, video, and communal meal making. Mike has held residencies with Revolve Art Gallery in Asheville, NC, Space at Ryder Farm, Drop Forge, and Tool, and the Hambidge Arts Center in Rabun Gap, GA. Mike’s work has been presented at the Brandywine River Museum, Barnes Foundation, Mt. Moriah Cemetery, the Life Do Grow Farm, and in parks, churches, and fields, along the streets in Kensington, virtually, and most recently with The Performance Studies program at Texas A&M University. For more information, check out: https://www.mikedurkin.info. Mike is part of the 2017 MFA in Devised Performance class with Pig Iron Theatre Company/University of the Arts.

Credits

Created by: Mike Durkin, and Nick Schwasman