Nobody's Lunch: The Podcast

How do we know what we know when everyone in power seems to be lying? (I Am) Nobody's Lunch was a Civilians investigation asking this question in the early 2000's, during the years of Homeland Security and George W. Bush's "truthiness." Emily Rossell plays a Columbia student who joined a cult, then Donnetta Lavinia Grays performs an interview with a Jamaican facialist. Aysan Celik plays a "remote viewer" who has a special technique for accessing truth. Lastly, Mike Madison plays a song by Michael Friedman inspired by interviews about this topic called "Super Secret Places."

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

LET ME ASCERTAIN YOU: BEST OF...!

Last weekend, The Civilians took over The Living Room in the Lower East Side for an afternoon of performances of some of the best interviews from our archives. Much like Disney, we cracked open our vaults and brought some great monologues to the stage. We had some great characters, including a Remote Viewer, a facialist, an Evangelical Christian in the air force, and the founder of Hot Nude Yoga, If you missed it, don't worry - all of these will be released on our podcast series (launching this fall). Here are couple of choice quotes from the event:

"...the pendulum swings, we talk about the pendulum at the academy, and just swingin’ from y’know too strict to too loose and that kinda thing,. I think the pendulum swung way the other way, to where it’s just getting ridiculous, you got cases where, uh, the protes – or the uh Inner-Faith council, you’ve got people complaining on the inner-faith council cause there were Easter Bunnies, on the tables on Easter, and saying well, Christian’s are tryin’ to evangelize, everybody’s getting an Easter bunny, well Christians, don’t like the Easter bunny. Y’know, we don’t like Santa Claus." - an Evangelical Christian

"Don’t get me started on Bush. And people say he’ll get re-elected. He can’t get re-elected, he was never elected in the first place. The Supreme Court handed him the presidency. Iraq, that war was fought for Halliburton. Don’t get me started on that. It’s a fact. It’s been all over the place. It’s a fact. Cheney worked for them years ago, and now he says he doesn’t – then why is he getting paid one million dollars a year by them? They have a contract to reconstruct Iraq." - A facialist 

And lastly, here is a photo of Emily Ackerman playing a 70 year-old lady who Emily interviewed for This Beautiful City, who said:

"And then I started picketing at Planned Parenthood.  And there were women who would come down there and have their children in strollers, and we would hold signs, but nothing really active... It’s just that killing those babies is just killing babies.  For no reason.  And they think there’s a reason.  And I dug that thing out, the thing I wrote, a few years ago, and I said Jeepers!  I wrote that?  I did a pretty good job on that!  It was the first thing I had done on my own, that I had written, and I could pick my own subject.  I’ve just been an activist from that time."

 

BENEFIT X Success!

Things went great on May 2 at (le) poisson rouge! We met all of our goals, which puts us in a wonderful position for launching our eleventh season, and we're so grateful for all of your support. The performance was lovely with our special guests, Ana Gasteyer and Marc Kudisch. We also had some really special guests: past interviewees saying hello! Here are some awesome videos that we played at the event!


From Nancy-Jo, the real Christian T-Girl from THIS BEAUTIFUL CITY


From Carol, the real Chaneler/Entity from (I AM) NOBODY'S LUNCH

Thanks so much to everyone who helped make this event such a fabulous evening!

How do you know what you know?

(I AM) NOBODY'S LUNCH is "a cabaret about how you know what you know when nobody knows if everyone else is lying and when someone or something wants to have you for lunch." So one of the interview questions that our artists asked people was about how they know what they know. 


A Young Republican answered, "Truth is…is there one truth?  Well, I think truth is whatever the majority believes is true. If the majority of people believe that Osama Bin Laden is an evil man— there are some that might believe otherwise, and people are entitled to that opinion. But it does go against the accepted truth. So, right if enough people believe something is true, then it becomes true, to a certain degree."

A Young Man in New York said: "I told you I have a very hard time with reading comprehension. Asperger’s people are more left-brained than right-brained which means we’re very good at anything that involves rules or language and not so good at things like reading comprehension, social clues and world knowledge. Like I’m not good at inferring things. For some reason it’s not the same with entertainment news. I pick it up; it’s in the air around me. But see what I am trying to do now is to learn how to distinguish the language of Melrose Place from the language of the real world."

And HERE is the Song of Progressive Disenchantment, which is also relevant.

Relevant to today's news headlines: 

OBAMA RELEASES LONG-FORM BIRTH CERTIFICATE 

to which Donald Trump is quoted saying, '"We have to look at it," Trump said. "We have to see if it is real."'

which brings us back to how you know what you know when nobody knows if everyone else is lying and when someone or something [or Donald Trump] wants to have you for lunch.

WHAT IS YOUR IDEA FOR A CIVILIANS SHOW?

If you have reached this page, it means that you just bought tickets to our benefit this year, BENEFIT X! Tickets will be held at the door for you under the name used to purchase the tickets. If you would like further confirmation, please email Rosalind at rosalind@thecivilians.org.

First and foremost, THANK YOU! Can't wait to see you on May 2!

Secondly, we are asking a question (as we do every year), and YOUR ANSWERS will be used to create an original Civilians' performance for the benefit! This year's question is:

WHAT IS YOUR IDEA FOR A CIVILIANS SHOW?

Tell us your answers in a comment at the end of this post!
(Or email them to liaison@thecivilians.org.)

And lastly, if you haven't seen all of The Civilians' shows since 2001 and are wondering what our ticket levels are all about, I'll just let the shows speak for themselves:

GUCCI PUMP - FROM GONE MISSING

TOM

So, do you know Laura? So she was meeting with some big TV people. And she had on this pair of black Gucci pumps and a nice skirt and everything, and after her meeting we were all going out. And somewhere along that night she lost her shoe.  One of her Gucci shoes, because she had changed at PS 122 because she felt overdressed. She thinks that she left the shoe in the bathroom. I think she actually lost the shoe later that night, because I think they went out drinking--

answering machine beep 

LAURA 

Hi, it’s Laura, um I was really hoping that you could have secured the shoe before you

left town but apparently you have not, so I’ve been working with Tom and Tom has gone back to PS 122 numerous times. And I’m leaving numerous messages for the house manager, the artistic director, the director of development to see if they have gotten their act together enough to find the shoe.  Um, I am sending a packet of flyers to you, to Tom, to Big Daddy, and to Elizabeth, and I’m sending maps of where I’d like you guys to post the flyers because I’m really hoping if someone sees some--you know-- one legged person wearing it–who wears a size six--that uh, it will become clear whose shoe that is and where they need to send it to in Los Angeles immediately. Um, I am working on the flyer, and I’ve also started an email address:  ilostmyshoe@earthlink.net.  So, um, I don’t know if you have gone back to PS 122 or not--no one there returns my calls and it’s really depressing-–but I’m really hoping the flyers will stir up some leads!

FRENCH GOOSE - FROM CANARD, CANARD, GOOSE?

CHARLIE

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a very special little treat for you tonight – no, no I’m sorry we can not give you a sad story about little lost frozen popsicle geese – there is no sad story about little sad chilly little imprinted-on-Anna-Paquin geese –No– tonight we give to you ladies and gentlemen the real geese of Long Lake.  They are from French.  France. And do not be tricked, ladies and gentlemen, although these geese star in a “documentary,” they are not amateurs.  No. They are professional performers.  And these geese live now in a comfortable tedious retirement with two French girls who wait ever so patiently for them to die.  So, please help me welcome these very very talented geese to our stage, they are very very happy to be here, as they have nothing else to do.

SCHRODINGER'S CAT - FROM (I AM) NOBODY'S LUNCH

MALE SOLO

I've been thinking how love is like Schrodinger's cat

Locked up tight out of sight in a box and how that

Means it's dead and alive at the same time and so—

When you think of the box it's like seeing a

Photo of a cloud or fog

It’s an outcome that remains uncertain

You can't see a thing in all that fog

You can't see a man behind the curtain.

FEMALE SOLO

What are you so afraid of?

We’re gonna find an answer, it’s just around the corner and I know…

What are you so afraid of?

We’re gonna find an answer, find an answer…

So leave your comments below! Thanks again!

 

Happy President's Day!

In honor of the national holiday that I am most prone to forget that celebrates the leaders of our nation, here are some quotes about leaders and leading from past Civilains' shows. Not terribly optimistic, I'm afraid... 

From (I AM) NOBODY'S LUNCH

NONAGENARIAN

Now I’m feeling unhappy about my country because I do not understand the president I have. Presidents have been inadequate. Presidents have been crooked. Presidents have been whatever… not behaving well. (Oh I can’t forgive Clinton. He should have had better taste.)  But this man is really incredible. I’m afraid… I’ll tell you that as a child of immigrant parents, who lived during McCarthy, I’m afraid to send a letter to the editor of the New York Times. I’m afraid to say something negative about Bush because someone will come down on me and I’m just too old now to handle it. And I’m very disappointed in the Democrats. I’ve always thought they were more concerned with the general population. They used to go out in the streets with papers and say, “This is not good. This is what’s really going on.”  But now … I don’t know what people care about. It’s like people have forgotten how to feel pain. And those are the type of people that don’t have dogs.

FROM SHADOW OF HIMSELF

The king learned much from his friend - 

 that his power was a gift,

and against the nature of things, to abuse it.

The people were glad.

There was peace, for a time...

But the heart of the king was not easy.

FROM PARIS COMMUNE

ACTRESS/LOUISE

Isn’t the whole point of the Commune that it’s—that it will be different? I think, sure, Louise Michel says too that the Commune will have to—it should be ready to fight to defend itself. And Louise, yeah, she’s prepared to fight and die even - but for liberation. Which I think is by definition the opposite of “authority,” right?

ACTRESS / ELISABETH

Well no.  I mean, not necessarily.  Not if the authority serves the people.  If you’re going to take over a city you’re going to need some sort of effective and decisive leadership, right?

RIGAULT

Paris, we are making a revolution!

ACTRESS / ELISABETH

Exactly.

Happy Valentine's Day from The Civilians!

Here are what a few of our shows have to say about the relevant, contemporary topic of this week - which is to say, love!

From YOU BETTER SIT DOWN Tales from my parents' divorce:

So I guess the main question is – why do people fall in and out of love?  Why is one second children are in the middle of a stable family, and the next moment, you know… you’re driving up to a vacation in Maine, right?  (laughs)  And you know, who is this dark-haired woman sitting next to you… Dad? 

As far as your Mom goes, there are two separate possible explanations, as far as I can see, and I don’t know which it was, really… either she fell out of love with me, or she just wanted to fuck other guys, you know?  (Laughs)

From PARIS COMMUNE:

I always will love, the cherries of spring,

The season which leaves a hole in my heart,

A wound that is never healed.

And all that may be by Fortune revealed

It never will soothe the grief in my soul.

I always will love the cherries of spring,

And think of the hole I guard in my heart.

From (I AM) NOBODY'S LUNCH:
I mean I’m not sure just hearing about things is real. The radio sings about love, for instance, but love’s something you have to experience for yourself to know it… That’s true. Or at least I think that’s true!