A Day In Dig Nation

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A DAY IN DIG NATION
Rex will not pull himself away from his television. He´d rather channel surf or play video games than sleep. When his body involuntarily nods off, Rex steps through the video screen into a bizarre world of media-drenched dreams where he can become the icon of his choice. But can Rex face the real world in the wake of his fantastical evenings? This one-man adventure contains mind-boggling animation, original music ranging from rock to country to symphonic, singing, dancing, acrobatics and capoeira.

Michael McQuilken works as a recording engineer, composer, a teacher of music, and an inventor of new instruments. Outside of A Day In Dig Nation, he is best known for his scores that incorporate ‘loopers´, allowing him to play several instruments at once. In 2002, Michael performed a live score for Nickel and Dimed at the Intiman Theatre in Seattle and the Mark Taper Forum in LA. This earned him a Backstage West Garland Award. Michael is also noted for his work as a street performer, creating music with homemade instruments of car parts, kitchenwares, plumbing supplies and other discarded materials. Michael has also received some notoriety for co-writing and composing an original avant-garde musical, Ballyhoo, ‘best play´ of the 2000 Seattle Fringe Festival. In 2003, Michael co-founded the Seattle arts collective, Collaborator. This group received critical praise for their shows Extropia and Paper Airplane, which combined live music, physical comedy, folly, dance and animation. Michael was Collaborator´s concept generator, composer, director, writer, designer, carpenter and seamstress. Seattle Weekly named Extropia one of the three best shows of 2003. Michael premiered A Day in Dig Nation at Seattle´s re-Bar, in November of 2005. He is a long-time member of Flying Carpet Theatre and has composed scores for many of their shows.

A New York based company, the FCT has produced five world premieres in New York and toured extensively with engagements in Europe and throughout the states. Devoted to new work, their world premieres include 1001 Nights, an acclaimed original musical by the Tony Award-winning composer Robert Lopez (Avenue Q) and The Dancing Handkerchief, of which the New York Times raved, “you will fall under its spell.” Their 2005 production of The Mystery of Chung Ling Soo played at the Edinburgh Fringe and received multiple five star reviews. It was called “pure dead magic sprightly, thought-provoking, and hugely enjoyable” by Metro, “brilliant” and “wonderful” by the Edinburgh Evening News and The Scotsman said, “The Flying Carpet Theatre holds all the aces.” Its Edinburgh run landed The Mystery of Chung Ling Soo further international engagements – a tour through Ireland in 2006 and a booking to play in Dubai, U.A.E. in 2008. Building on the company´s previous Edinburgh success, Flying Carpet Theatre´s 2007 productions Extropia and A Day In Dig Nation opened the Edinburgh Festival Fringe to wide acclaim and will continue to tour.

Adam Koplan (director)
Adam Koplan, a writer and director based in New York City, is the founder and artistic director of The Flying Carpet Theatre Company. Under Adam´s leadership, The Flying Carpet Theatre has premiered multiple new productions, toured around the United States and Europe, been artists-in-residence at several universities, won accolades and garnered rave reviews. Adam has directed nine FCT CO. productions, including 1001 Nights, The Dancing Handkerchief, Man of Infinite Mystery, and The Eleventh Hour, Extropia, and A Day in Dig Nation. The Mystery of Chung Ling Soo, a play that Adam co-wrote as well as directed, toured to Edinburgh, Dublin, Clonmel, and Atlanta, GA playing to sold-out houses. In Edinburgh the play received several coveted five star reviews. His most recent American production, Liliom, recently premiered at Atlanta’s 7 Stages Theatre and was named a “Best Bet” by the Atlanta Journal Constitution and Creative Loafing enthused, “Director Adam Koplan achieves marvelous effects.” In addition to his own company, Adam has assisted at several Off-Broadway and Regional theatres including Playwrights Horizons, The Intiman, The Alliance, The San Francisco Mime Troupe, Primary Stages, People´s Light and Theatre Co., and The Aspen Opera Center. In addition Adam works as a teaching artist and arts administrator in New York City Public Schools through the Dreamyard Project. Training: M.F.A. in directing from the University of Washington, B.A. from Swarthmore College. Ecole Jacques Lecoq. Peter Brook Seattle Directing Workshop. Member: Lincoln Center Director´s Lab.

Tommy Smith – (co-writer)
Tommy is a New York based playwright and director. His plays include The Wife, White Hot, Sextet, Air Conditioning, Sunrise, April´s Subject, Caravan Man (with Gabriel Kahane) and Demon Dreams & The Tale (with Michael McQuilken). His work has been seen at HERE Arts Center, The Flea Theatre, The Ontological Theatre, 78th Street Theatre, Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Huntington Theatre, ACT Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Eugene O´Neill National Playwrights Conference, among others. He is a two-time winner of the Lecomte du Nouy Prize for emerging writers (2005 and 2006), a graduate of The Juilliard School´s Playwriting Program and a recipient of the 2008 Page73 Playwriting Fellowship. His work has been published in the 2008 New York Theatre Review and “Laugh Lines: Short Comic Plays”, printed by Vintage. As a director, Tommy co-created (with Reggie Watts) the theatre piece Disinformation, which has been seen at the 2008 Under The Radar Theatre Festival at The Public Theatre, The Portland Institute for Contemporary Art’s 2007 Time-Based Art Festival, The Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago), Painted Bride (Philadelphia) and The Warhol Museum (Pittsburgh). Their new work, Transition, will premiere at the 2008 PICA TBA Festival in September. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Welcome to the citys eagerly awaited annual marathon of theatre, dance, comedy, music and film from around the globe. All shows are in English, Czech or are non-verbal and are programmed so that you can see up to 6 shows a day and over 30 shows over the 8 days of Fringe Festival Praha. Shows take place from the afternoon to late evening, most last for an hour or so with time between to zip from venue to venue and grab a bite to eat. Enjoy a warm welcome at our fringe club where you can join the fun, meet the artists and swap notes with other fringe goers on your “hot tickets” for the day…its the fringe way from Edinburgh to Adelaide, now entering year seven here in Prague.