Pig Iron Theatre Receives Two
Grants, Prepares Piece for Live Arts Fest

by Alex Weintraub '11
7/26/10

A cankerblossom

Pig Iron Theatre Company, founded by Dan Rothenberg '94, Dito Van Reigersberg '94, and Visiting Assistant Professor of Acting Quinn Bauriedel '94, recently received two prestigious grants in support of new projects and continued development. The first, awarded by the Philadelphia Cultural Management Initiative, is for $150,000 and will support the opening of the Pig Iron School for Advanced Performance, a new, two-year program in physical and ensemble-created theatre that will be based in Philadelphia. The second, for $75,000, comes from the Independence Foundation New Works Initiative and will support three upcoming projects, including the company's newest original work, Cankerblossom.

Cankerblossom will be performed as part of the 2010 Live Arts Festival in Philadelphia. Described as a "dark fairytale," the play follows a young couple's adventures in "FlatWorld, a planar landscape populated by characters whimsical, sinister, and flat as pancakes," as they try to save their adopted child, who is made of cardboard. In addition to Pig Iron's unique brand of physical theater, Cankerblossom makes use of stop-motion animation, video projection, live music, and the works of cartoonist and puppeteer artist Beth Nixon. It will run from September 1-18.