Holy Matrimony! Part III

We’re here with episode three of four podcasts of our Let Me Ascertain You: Holy Matrimony! series looking at all things about weddings. Our crew of artists talked to real-life couples as well as the people in the amazing and strange world of the wedding industry. And all these interviews were performed live by actors at Joe’s Pub in our hometown of New York City. Our first piece is a little bit of a twist: one of our Associate Artists Donnetta Lavinia Grays interviewed and will play here, her very own wife, Shalema. Then, we’re off to New Jersey as Brian Sgambati and Emily Rossell portray the couple Dominick and Rachel. And for this episode’s song, we have something written by composer Andrea Grody inspired by an interview we did with a high-end wedding dress saleswoman in Chicago. "Best Dressed" is performed live by the vivacious and talented Miss Emily Rossell, with Michael Friedman on piano.

The interviews for this podcast were conducted by Nora Sørena Casey, Donnetta Grays and Leicester Landon. If you like what you hear or if you have an opinion, please write us or tweet us or facebook us, we love to hear from you.

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Occupy #S17, The Podcast, Part II

Occupy Wall Street had its one-year anniversary on September 17, 2012. Civilians artists were out for that entire year conducting interviews with the protesters. We presented some of those interviews on September 17 at Joe's Pub, along with thirteen other colleges and theater groups from around the country, who also put on their own performances of Occupy interviews on the same day. This week's podcast episode, recorded at our live performance at Joe's Pub, kicks off with Dan Domingues as Billy in an interview conducted just before #S17. Next is an interview performed by Emily Rossell that was conducted after Zuccotti Park was shut down. This episode closes out with Caitlin Montclare, Alex Nolan, Amanda Ruzza, and Liz Kelly perform The Punk Prayer: the song that was performed by Pussy Riot in Russia that led to some of the members serving a two-year term in prison. Interviews for this podcast were conducted by Dan Domingues and Kelly McCreary, and the live performance at Joe's Pub was directed by Mia Rovegno. Thanks for listening - subscribe, rate, and review us!

Click HERE to watch videos from the event!

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Death, Part I

The Body Farm in Knoxville, TN is the world's first research facility dedicated to the study of human decomposition. The two monologues in this podcast episode are from interviews conducted there by Civilians Associate Artist Alix Lambert as part of ongoing projects of her own. We're very grateful that she has shared this fascinating material with us. Greg McFadden plays Bill Bass, the founder of the Body Farm, then Emily Ackerman plays a forensic artist. Lastly, Meghan McGreary sings a song by Shaina Taub called "Sleep and Death" accompanied by Kris Kukel. This episode was recorded during our Let Me Ascertain You: Death cabaret at Joe's Pub.

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A Pretty Filthy Podcast, Part VIII

What's it like to be a male adult entertainment performer? Find out in Michael Friedman's doo-wop-like song "Waiting for Wood" performed by Heath Calbert, Robbie Collier Sublett, and Andrew Kober. This week's episode also features interviews with power couple Elizabeth Starr and Tommy Gunn performed by Jennifer R. Morris and Brian Sgambati. Plus, we've got more audience participation in this one: audience answers to the question "What is the dirtiest thing you've ever done in real life?" These recordings are from a live performance at Joe's Pub in New York.

This episode contains material that is not appropriate for children of 18 years or younger.

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A Pretty Filthy Podcast, Part VI

The legendary Axel Braun starts off this week's episode. Our interview with him inspired both this monologue, performed by Brad Heberlee, and the song "Squirting 101" in A Pretty Filthy Podcast: Part IV. This week also has Porn Charades, Round 2 (in which an audience member tries to act out a porn movie title and the cast and audience try to guess what it is), Kelly McCreary as Ms. Brown Sugar, and Lexy Fridell singing "ABC, 123" by Michael Friedman. The live performance took place at Joe's Pub. These interviews were conducted by our artists with real adult entertainment professionals for Pretty Filthy, a new musical by Bess Wohl and Michael Friedman.

This episode contains material that is not appropriate for children of 18 years or younger.

TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE LET ME ASCERTAIN YOU PODCAST SERIES ON ITUNES, PLEASE CLICK HERE!

LET ME ASCERTAIN YOU, OWS PART II: Inside The Movement

A lot has happened in the Occupy movement since The Civilians occupied Joe's Pub on October 28th, 2011. And so - get ready for round 2! Let Me Ascertain You: Occupy Wall Street is back at Joe's Pub on January 13, 2012 at 9:30 PM with a whole new round of interviews from across the Occupy spectrum. For the past few months we've had interviewers out in the streets (and parks and plazas and public atria) of New York City getting the stories of over 100 protesters. The aftermath of  the Zuccotti Park raid? We were there. December 6th Occupy Home Foreclosures? We were there. Occupy Broadway? We were there! (And not just to perform.) Check past blog posts for highlights from those events and many others.

We've also been working our way inside the movement, to get the stories of people who have been organizing and strategizing day in and day out - to hear not only what's been going on, but also to find out their opinions and predictions on the future of Occupy.

In order to gear up for the 2nd installment of Let Me Ascertain You: Occupy Wall Street at Joe's Pub on January 13th, 2012 (tickets here) we're featuring material from people who've had a key role in the development of the movement. These excerpts are CIVILIANS BLOG EXCLUSIVES from material that we won't have time to feature in the cabaret. So, keep an eye on the blog and get ready for January 13th!

Mary Notari was fired from her job for pretending to be a spokesperson for the Bloomberg administration at at protest event, as part of Yes Men performance (watch that video here). She told The Civilians about her experience:

"What ended up happening with the way the media responded to it was wholly unexpected as well. I don't think we expected it to make much of a splash. Because it just seemed too ridiculous for anyone to take it seriously at all. But apparently not. Because the point of the action was never to fool the media. It was never to fool anyone, except maybe the police, and maybe Bloomberg. But like, it was just supposed to be a satire, like, oh look at this ridiculous, these ridiculously contradictory things. Like, I don't think at any point, we really expected people to be fooled by it. And honestly, on the ground, people weren't. For like, maybe 15 minutes, people were like, 'What is this?' Like, really? But then all it took was someone texting Stu Loesser, and him saying, 'No. I don't know—there's no one by that name.'

Stu Loesser is the, um, press secretary for the Bloomberg administration. He tweeted—and this is of course why he's press secretary. Tweeting's such an art, and I haven't mastered it yet. Um, he just—on Sunday afternoon that we did it, he said, 'I'm going into the train. For the next hour, please no one impersonate any members of my staff.'"

Keep an eye on The Civilians Blog for more exclusive excerpts from over 100 interviews. And get your tickets for Let Me Ascertain You: Occupy Wall Street, Part II on January 13th!

SNAPSHOTS FROM OCCUPY WALL STREET: Omar

With The Civilians' Let Me Ascertain You: Occupy Wall Street cabaret at Joe's Pub only a few days away, we're giving you a sneak preview of some of the interviews featured in the show. To hear more from this story and many others, come to the cabaret!

The cabaret is on October 28 at 7:30PM at Joe's Pub (425 Lafayette Street in Manhattan). To purchase tickets, click HERE!


Omar is a Teamster from New York who came out for the rally on October 5th. 

“It feels good that we’re seeing other people with the same plight. We’re all here to support each other and it makes it feel good that everybody’s willing to speak up and say something against corporate America, you know what I’m saying? Because pretty soon if it wasn’t for the union what would it be like? It would be like Thailand where you have an 8-year-old,you know, doing the job of his father or mother instead of going to school, you see what I’m saying?  If we don’t speak up, nobody’s going to listen. Politicians won’t listen. It’s like when you vote, if people don’t vote, nothing happens, nothing changes, it’s just going to be the same old good old boys controlling the reins, you know? Hopefully this protest we have going here, will – will affect, um, the politicians to make some changes, you know, let – let the big guys pay some of the tax bill for bailing out the banks and Wall Street , you know? Why should it always be the middle and lower class paying for everything? You know, they stay with the money in their pockets and we lose ours, you know, that’s just not fair. It’s not fair. “

Miss the snapshots from earlier in the week? Click here to check out some of the other preview posts!

Be sure to check out our features about the interview process and the role of art in the movement in the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal!

And if you can't make the cabaret on Friday, it'll be streaming live online! HERE is the link that will allow you to watch the performance at 7:30PM EST!

Jeff Daniels or Jeff Bridges?

Here's a video from LET ME ASCERTAIN YOU: CANARD, CANARD, GOOSE?, a concert version of our very first show ever that we recreated at Joe's Pub last Friday! Watch as The Civilians try to retell the plot of Fly Away Home (whose actual plot - and cast - can be found here!)