Chili Cookoff 2008

On October 25th, some of Brooklyn's finest chili chefs assembled to go head-to-head in culinary battle. The entire event was held to raise funds for The Debate Society's upcoming production of Cape Disappointment which opens at PS122 on November 22. Get tickets and more info HERE.

Each of the chefs, pictured below, made their own signature chili which was then judges by a panel of distinguished gastronomes for the "Grand Champion Prize", and by the attending eaters, for the "People's Champion Award".

Pictured above are chefs (Left to Right) Lindsay Gilberto, Sheila Savage, Kristin Bennett, Gary Baum, James Knight (last year's People's Champion), and Rob Reddy. Not pictured are chefs Indrani Sen and Brian Ferreira. The prizes included free coffee from The Coffee Den, a solid supply of Australian Meat Pies from Dub Pies, a whiskey tasting from Lenell's, and a round of t-shirts and other awesome merch from our host Moonshine.

Of course the winners also walked with these classy trophies...
Although ineligible for chili-gold, The Debate Society made their own pots of chili to satiate the hungry hordes. Here is a shot of the pots...
Here are some pictures of the hordes...

And the winners are....

2008 Grand Champion:
Lindsay Gilberto with
"The Mayor of Chilitown"

2008 People's Champion: TIE!!!!!!
Sheila Savage with "Most Savage Chili" and
James Knight with "Jimmie's Dark Chili"

2008 The Debate Society Choice:
Rob Reddy with "The Teamster's Secret"

Special Thanks to all the chefs and to costume designer Sydney Maresca for making her own Veggie Chili, and for colllecting $10 from every civilian with a bowl and a spoon.
See you at the Next Cookoff.

Sunny Syracuse!!!

In September, The Redhouse Theater in Syracuse, NY will be producing our hit play, The Eaten Heart, as a part of their upcoming season. We have been to Syracuse twice, but for the purposes of simplicity in this blog, we will pretend that it was one epic trip.


We went out for dinner in downtown Syracuse and met with the Artictic Director, Laura Austin, Managing Director Natalia Mount, and our TD Lewis Colburn (pictured above). As it turns out, Paul was Lewis' counselor at a foreign language camp in Minnesota. Lewis remembers Paul was a big fan of Sandra Bullock.
Paul and Paul's new favorite star, Hannah (below).

And here is a picture of the whole team: Amanda Rehbein on the left, Lewis and Paul in the back, Oliver and Laura on the right, and Natalia and Amy (stage manager) on the ground.


We also got the chance to stay at Laura's lake house on Lake Skaneateles. Totally beautiful. Lots of swimming and BBQ-ing.

Syracuse has it all. And pretty soon it will have The Debate Society. We open there on September 26th.
Click here for tickets.

Cape Disappointment in Austin, Texas

The Debate Society is returning to Austin, Texas with a workshop performance of our newest full-length play, Cape Disappointment (formerly The Untitled Auto Play).



Here is our itinerary...

Wednesday April 23:
Oliver Butler (director) and Amanda Rehbein (scenic designer) fly to Austin to get the place set up for the rest of the team.

Sunday April 27:
Hannah Bos, Paul Thureen (writer/performers), Michael Cyril Creighton (additional performer) and Amy Ehrenberg (stage manager) fly to Austin and join Oliver there.

Monday April 28 - Wednesday April 30:
Crazy preparation and rehearsal. Working with Austin-based actress Cyndi Williams.

Thursday May 1 - Saturday May 3:
Perform the show.

Sunday May 4:
All return.

Dig? Dig. Anyone who joins us in Austin gets a free Margarita from Oliver.

Debate Society in Hartford

In December '07, The Debate Society was invited to perform A Thought About Raya at The Greater Hartford School of the Arts. Following the performance we had the pleasure of leading a workshop with some of their advance acting students.

Here you can see Hannah inspiring young actors to act right.

Paul and Oliver lead the students in Russian style warm up.
The students created their own theatrical pieces in the workshop and here you can see them perform their mini-masterpieces.
Here is another mini-masterpiece based on a selection of Danill Kharms text we provided them.

We had a wonderful time working with these talented young actors and creators. They inspired us and made us feel old.

Martha's Vineyard - 2 Times the Lobster Ice Cream

The Debate Society returned to Martha's Vineyard to bring our short play "The Bathroom" to The Built on Stilts Performance Festival. Built on Stilts (BOS) is in its 11th year bringing the best dance, clowning, poetry, and theater to the vacationing masses and the salty locals. This year, TDS brought the first non-Hannah/Paul actor to ever work with TDS, Michael Cyril Creighton (pictured below). Michael has chronicled our adventures on his killer blog Perpetually Nauseous.
Paul is pictured below with the Stage Manager of the festival, and one of our favorite people on the planet, Brent.
Here is what we looked like leaving the island.
Here is the cover of our new album.
Oddly, the sweet taste of New England Clam Chowder calmed Oliver's stomach for the trip home.

Everyone Arrives, Does Play, Dances In Bar.

The rest of the team did actually arrive , at 1:30 in the morning, after Oliver and Ron Berry ate some diner food at 11pm. Here is Ron in front of the diner sign, we think it is called "Magnolia".Early the next day the rehearsals began, and the whole team was putting the show together. Oliver is creating "the machine" for the production.
Opening night, and the best accordion player in Austin tore it up just outside of the theater.
While union rules won't allow us to show you actual pics of the performance, here is a picture of our stage manager Amy cleaning up from the production.
At the first moment of free time, TDS heads down to the natural springs. Everyone swims in their clothes. Show here is (Left to right, top to bottom) Paul, Ron, Oliver, Maesie, Hannah, and Mike.
And on the final night, it was all about mexican food and margaritas.
And an impromptu Act-off. Paul is getting his pants beat by a dancer.
Amy and Oliver shared a hotel room. They grew very close.
Then the dance party broke out.
and Hannah romanced a folding table.
Then, defending Paul's honor, she challenged the dancers to a SING-off.

And then we left the best of friends.
Goodbye Austin.

Oliver Has to Do It All By Himself

First, Oliver had to get to the airport all alone. He doesn't need anyone to keep him company. He is totally happy to do it alone.

No need to keep Oliver content on the plane. He's got the new Amy Winehouse album on repeat. And 35 channels of Direct TV. He got to watch the cast of "Eight is Enough" play celebrity Password on the game show channel.

And here is the theater where Oliver will be performing, directing, and choreographing the show all by himself.
Finally, he doesn't have all the rest of The Debate Society hanging around to get in the way of his amazing one-man "A Thought About Raya."

N'orEaster Slows D'Bate S'cty

Oliver's alarm went off at 4:30am, and the coffee was alreaady brewing (automatic timer) when Mike Riggs, our lighting designer, texted those terrible words "Flt Cancel'd". By checking the JetBlue website, I could see it was true.
Mike got on the phone with JetBlue and got the first flight that he could for the group. Oliver is actually flying out on a separate flight already (by noon we should know if he will make it out without delay), and the rest of the team - Mike Riggs, Amy Ehrenberg, Hannah, and Paul - are now going to make it to Austin by 12am Wednesday morning.

Cutting a full 2 days off of the tech schedule is going to make this week a lot harder, but still doable for TDS. With a little luck, Oliver will still be arriving in Austin by 5pm tonight, and can prep as much as possible. If necessary and if the rest of the team cannot make it, he will just have to Design the lights, Stage Manage, and perform the show all at the same time by himself.

A Thought About Raya
a new One-Man-Show
Directed, Performed & Designed by
Oliver Butler
Choreography by Oliver Butler
Oliver Butler - Dance Captain

Honor, Glory, Dutch-Oven Won at Chili Cookoff

On March 17th, 2007, some of Brooklyn's most talented Amateur chili chefs went head to head in a no-holds-barred, no-ingredient-banned First Debate Society Chili Cookoff at Moonshine in Red Hook. The event was a fundraiser for our upcoming tour of A Thought About Raya to Austin, Texas. The chefs and eaters helped us raise enough money to bring our stage manager, Amy Ehrenberg, on the tour. (As always, anyone can make tax-deductible donations to The Debate Society online HERE. Your further donations will go towards the upcoming New York premiere of The Eaten Heart at The Ontological Theater.)
Prizes were provided by A Cook's Companion, Dub Pies, The Coffee Den, and LeNell's. Over the course of the day, over 60 chili-eaters tried the spicy creations and drank the $5 buckets of beer. It wasn't until 9 o'clock that night that the last of the chili pots made their way out the door to spend a night soaking in Dawn, and the chefs exited to bask in glory or apply salve to the burning sores of defeat. (Photos by Ian Savage and others)

The Grand Champion
(Juried Award)
Chefs Javier Oddo & Lauri Berritta
SWEETIES SPICY CHILI
Javier and Lauri (center), Hannah (below), Paul and Oliver (flanking) and Thomas- one of the judges (local 10 year old). Lauri and Javier won a 5-Quart Double Dutch Oven from A Cook's Companion, 2 frozen meat pies from Dub Pies, 4 free coffees from The Coffee Den, and that kick-ass trophy.

The People's Choice
(Audience Votes)
Chef James Knight
JIMMY'S DARK CHILI

James "Jimmy Dark" Knight (Left), Sydney Maresca- TDS costume designer (grinning center), Oliver (Left). Jimmy Dark won a bourbon tasting for 4 from LeNell's, 2 frozen meat pies from Dub Pies, 4 free coffees from The Coffee Den, and that other kick-ass trophy.

2nd Places / 1st Runner-Ups

Richard Hughes with his Richard's Supreme Chili took a very close 2nd place in the juried competition. As you can see, he wasn't too sad to go home with 2 frozen Dub Pies, free coffee from The Coffee Den, and a medal.

The people chose Andrew Prior with The Free Zak Chili for their 1st runner-up. Prior also went home with 2 frozen Dub Pies, free coffee from The Coffee Den, and a medal.

3nd Places / 2nd Runner-Ups
Before winning the People's Choice, Jimmy Dark had already claimed 3rd place in the juried competition. At this point he won 1 frozen Dub Pie, free coffee from The Coffee Den, and a medal.

Chef Rob Reddy pulled in an easy 3rd place with the People's Choice with his Sweet Heat Chili. Rob also won 1 frozen Dub Pie, free coffee from The Coffee Den, and a medal.

All of the Chefs
Andrew Prior * The Free Zak Chili
Greg Tito * Erin's Smokehouse Chili
Richard Hughes * Richard's Supreme Chili
James Knight * Jimmy's Dark Chili
Rob Reddy * Sweet Heat
Kristin Bennett * Bean O'Round the World
Susan Storey * Snowbound 4AM Chili
Javier Oddo & Lauri Berritta * Sweetie's Spicy Chili

Thanks to all that made it out, and made it happen. Now we can go to Austin.