DOPPELBANGER - Groupmuse's First Theater Performance!

Part cabaret, part gallery-style Tarot reading, Doppelbanger is an autobiographical solo performance embodying gay obsession, identity, trauma, and joy. In it, Jonczak conjures look-alike ex-lovers through storytelling and movement/dance on a quest to learn: Do I want to be with him, or do I want to BE him?

In one vignette, Jonczak depicts how, after a catastrophic breakup, he mimicked the way an ex-boyfriend washed his face in the morning as a method of holding on to him --until he could no longer remember having ever done it differently. In this striking physical performance, Jonczak combines his personal experiences with live Tarot card readings for select audience members on a journey to learn how to access the unlimited versions of ourselves.

Doppelbanger originally premiered at the Philadelphia Fringe Arts Festival in September 2017 and had a second run during Philadelphia Theatre Week in February 2018. It then toured to The Tank in NYC in April and to the Cincinnati Fringe Festival in May, 2018.

ADDITIONAL BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
Nick Jonczak (he/him/his) is a freelance producer, director, creator, and teacher of devised performance. His current work, the Re-United States Theatre Project (RUST), partners professional, urban theater-makers with rural communities in Pennsylvania to create original works of theatre that draw on unique local challenges in order to develop a shared vision for a New American Dream based on the principles of curiosity and empathy. RUST is a finalist for the Creative Capital Award and is currently seeking project partners in Philadelphia and rural communities throughout Pennsylvania.

Levittown, PA native and current Philadelphia resident, Jonczak holds a BA in Theatre Activism from American University in Washington, DC. He is also a Tarot card reader with more than 17 years of experience helping seekers find insight into everyday challenges and life-long aspirations. Founder of the critically-acclaimed Impossible Theater Company, Jonczak has worked in executive administration for Arena Stage, trained FBI agents, managed massive outdoor performance events for INVISIBLE RIVER and created sprawling immersive adventures with New Paradise Laboratories. He is a graduate of the Pig Iron School for Advanced Performance Training (www.pigironschool.org) and trained as an acrobat with Almanac Dance Circus Theatre (www.thealmanac.us), where he directed the 2016 Fringe Festival hit, Exile 2588. DC Metro Theatre Arts named Exile “Best of the 2016 Philadelphia Fringe,” and Howie Shapiro of NewsWorks WHYY remarked, “For its originality alone… Exile 2588 excels.” Jonczak has served as a freelance production manager for a variety of large-scale and long-term projects, including the Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus.

What's the music?

Nick Jonczak

Attendees

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Shoshana M.

Matthew A.

Samantha S.

Davinica N.