Upcoming: The Poison Squad by The Duplicates at The Off Center, November 7 - 10

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The Poison Squad

The Duplicates' sixth collaboration sneak peeks Wednesday, November 7 through Saturday, November 10 at the Off-Center, 2211-A Hidalgo St (click for map).

From the creators of the highly acclaimed The Fictional Life of Historical Oddities at the 2011 Cohen New Works Festival and dazzingly drive-in spectale Elvis Machine at Fusebox Festival 2012 comes The Poison Squad, a metaphorical four-course meal that examines the 1904 food experiments of Dr. Harvey Wiley.

As the nation's food supply began to industrialize, grocers and butchers laced food with chemicals in an effort to lengthen shelf life and grow profts. Acting on a good old fashioned scientifc hunch, USDA chemist Dr. Harvey Wiley designed an experiment to test those exact dangerous chemicals-like borax and formaldhyde-on a dozen hungry volunteers. Fashioning the basement of the USDA as a fne eatery and inviting the press into every little bite, this little know moment in food history continues to shape our quiche Lorraine today.

THE POISON SQUAD vibrantly ventures from the halls of Congress to the brain of Wiley to the bowels of the men. This highly physical, vaudevillian inspired show features the performing talents of Will Davis, Harrison Harvey, Aly Talley, Diego Medillin, Patrick Shaw and Travis Tate. Told through a mash up of mediums including puppetry, installation and music, The Poison Squad asks how we as a society feed ourselves?

The Duplicates, an Austin-based theater ensemble, was formed in 2009 by co-creators Rowan Doyle, Darwin Gilmore,Tom Horan, Courtney Sale and Cheng Wei Teng.

The Duplicates create theater using an enormous array of subject matter and theatrical styles. The works combine elements of hi-tech and lo-tech design, folk music, shadow puppetry, baffoon and clown styles, existing and new text, performing objects and illusion. Defying defnition and creating from a true sense of collaboration, the group describes its process and product as the ultimate expression of democracy where the majority rules and tyranny retreats.

The Duplicates have been featured in American Theatre Magazine, Dramatists Magazine, Austin Chronicle, The Daily Texan and UT Know. Our work has been funded by Austin Scriptworks, USA Artists, UT's School of Graduate Studies, The University Co-op and UT Department of Theatre and Dance.

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