Apocalypse Town, This Week

sigh. Dropped the ball yet again, I’m afraid — it’s happening so damn often I’m sorely tempted to try to come up with some kind of football-related way to describe it, except I dunno a damn thing about the state of the sport these days, so eh. This freaking month, I swear…

So, here’s me attempting to make up for lost time, at least a little bit. There’s new play called Apocalypse Town that just opened last night up at DiverseWorks, written and staged by Anthony Barilla, and from what little I’ve heard/seen about it so far, it sounds very cool.

If Anthony Barilla’s name sounds familiar, well, that’s probably because he used to be one of the main movers behind the sadly-deceased Infernal Bridegroom Productions theater company (which has ironically gotten more famous — and justly so — recently because of ex-IBP member Jim Parsons becoming a big-time TV star), or maybe because he did the music for Bluefinger back in 2010 (which our own Creg Lovett covered on this here site), or because of his work on the Daniel Johnston rock opera Speeding Motorcycle. Either way, the guy’s done some awesome stuff.

And yeah, Apocalypse Town looks to be similarly awesome. Barilla has been dividing his time the past five years between Houston and a little town in recently-independent Kosovo, of all places, called Mitrovica, and the play is kind of a diary of sorts, apparently, of his time there, living and running a bookstore/library/cafe and collecting Kosovan music.

The press materials describe the show as a combination between a monologue and a rock concert, with Barilla’s take on the traditional music he’s been exposed to over there, mashed in together with rock ‘n roll, hip-hop, and punk. The musical interludes are performed by The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which is the playwright/musician/composer’s own band, and the whole thing comes across as a kind of multi-continental ode to two cities, both Mitrovica and Barilla’s hometown here in Houston.

The show runs from — well, technically, from last night, but the “regular” performances start tonight, Thursday, March 22nd, and go through Sunday, March 25th (8PM Thurs.-Sat. and 6PM Sun.), and the tickets are a measly $10 apiece, which makes this hard to beat. I’m hoping to drag the wife to a show some time this weekend, myself; seriously, it sounds like it’ll be worth checking out.