Some of you may know this was Batman Jones' theatre. Farewell, IBP. Here's hoping for new things from the good people there, in their solo ventures. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/4997119.html July 25, 2007, 1:31PM Infernal Bridegroom Productions ceases operations Financial difficulties blamed for closing By EVERETT EVANS Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle Infernal Bridegroom Productions, Houston's foremost avant-garde theater company, has ceased operations because of "insurmountable financial difficulties." The news was made public late Tuesday in an email released by IBP board president Chet Farmer. The company's phone line was disconnected. Tamarie Cooper, a founding company member and IBP's current acting artistic director, could not be reached for comment. Founded in 1993, IBP specialized in Houston premieres of bold works by such cutting-edge playwrights as Richard Foreman, Maria Irene Fornes, Sarah Kane, Heiner Müller and Wallace Shawn, mixed with avant-garde classics by such masters as Samuel Beckett, Bertolt Brecht, Jean Genet and Eugene Ionesco. For its often rough-hewn yet usually potent renditions of daring fare — as well as its troupe of original and idiosyncratic writer-performers — IBP attracted a loyal following locally and, in recent years, increasing national attention. IBP drew the most notice with its world premieres, including Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks' ****ing A, Brian Jucha's We Have Some Planes and Lisa D'Amour's Hide Town, all featured in American Theatre magazine. IBP reached a new level of visibility with last summer's explosively inventive rock opera Speeding Motorcycle, based on the songs, art and writings of cult figure Daniel Johnston. Developed by founder and former IBP artistic director Jason Nodler (who returned for the project), the piece drew favorable coverage in the New York Times and Art in America, as well as local and regional media. With its summer run sold out, it returned for an encore run in fall 2006. IBP also premiered works by company members, including Nodler's In the Under Thunderloo (the apocalyptic phantasmagoria that launched the as-yet-unnamed troupe in 1993) and his later plays, including MEAT/bar. Troy Schulze's Me-sci-ah satirized Tom Cruise's involvement with Scientology, while his Jerry's World drew on the broadcasts of cult radio figure Joe Frank. Cooper made IBP's biggest splash with her Tamalalia series of annual revues, purportedly based on her own life — but containing much that was, clearly, sheer fantasy. A gifted comic actress, Cooper co-wrote, staged and starred in the tongue-in-cheek summer shows, which became IBP's reliable cash cow and gave the troupe the rare chance for a just-for-laughs outing. She discontinued the series in 2005 with the 10th installment, a "Greatest Hits" retrospective. IBP sometimes produced more well-known playwrights like Sam Shepard and David Mamet, and even put its spin on such mainstream classics as Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard and Frank Loesser's musical Guys and Dolls. It was during its second production, Brecht's In the Jungle of Cities, that the company found its name in a line from that play. For its first nine years, IBP was a nomadic troupe, working in bars, restaurants and warehouses. They performed one of Cooper's shows aboard a moving bus and, memorably, Tennessee Williams Camino Real amid the ruined remnants of the defunct Westbury Square shopping complex. A few times, IBP even worked in an actual theater, such as Stages Repertory Theatre or DiverseWorks. During the past five years, IBP operated in what seemed the ideal venue — the Axiom, a punk music club in Houston's warehouse district. In total, the group staged 68 productions. Reached Tuesday afternoon, Farmer declined to share any details of the "financial difficulties" that killed IBP. "I can't comment," he said, noting his occupation is "software guy" but that as board president it had fallen to him to make the unhappy announcement. "The decision was made by the organization, unanimously." Farmer added that key players like Cooper and Schulze would not discuss the details either. "Nobody can comment on it. It's just a hard environment out there," he said, presumably meaning the financial climate for arts groups. One cannot help wondering whether the crisis was somehow connected to recent changes in the troupe's artistic leadership. Nodler left in Sept. 2003 to devote himself to his writing and work as a free-lance director. Anthony Barilla, previously associate artistic director, became artistic director. Under him, IBP operated more or less from show to show, as opposed to announcing a full season or year of programming. Barilla departed in January of this year, to join his wife, Emily Patterson, in Kosovo, Serbia, where she'd taken a job as a human rights officer for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. "Tony has been an integral part of IBP for many years now, so his absence will be keenly felt," Farmer said at the time — perhaps a prophetic observation. When Barilla left, Cooper became acting artistic director. IBP began a national search for a new leader, with the selection anticipated for this summer. Instead, Cooper's 20 Love Songs, a revue-format stepchild of her Tamalalia series, which closed June 16, turned out to be IBP's last hurrah. It's hard to believe that, if IBP's financial crisis were known, one or more of the city's arts benefactors would not have come to the company's rescue. Though relatively small in size, IBP was large in content and impact. With its intriguing programming and flair for the unexpected, it filled a unique niche in a city whose theaters rarely stray from convention and predictability. It had the vibe and the aesthetic of a troupe you'd find in a funkier, more free-wheeling town — say, Austin, or pre-Katrina New Orleans. Even with the occasional misfire, and there were a few, IBP was always interesting. If it's really true that there's no way for the IBP gang to re-group and resurrect the company, then Houston has lost a crucial component of its cultural scene. IBP will be sorely missed.
