“Jacques”alope, November 4 through 13
Thursday, November 4, through Saturday, November 13
The Mockingbird on Main, 320 North Main Street, Davenport IA
According to North American folklore, the mythical creature known as the jackalope is a jackrabbit outfitted with antelope horns. But what if one was French? And interfered with your plans to get to Burning Man? And was making his debut at a theatre near you?
Then you'd have “Jacques”alope, a world-premiere one-act running November 4 through 13 at the Davenport venue the Mockingbird on Main.
The writers and stars of this surreal comedy with music and puppets, TJ Green and director Calvin Vo, certainly have experience with comedy, music, and puppets. St. Ambrose University graduate Green has appeared in numerous area productions including Quad City Music Guild's Monty Python's Spamalot, the Spotlight Theatre's Matilda: The Musical, and the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse's Elephant & Piggie's “We Are in a Play!” Augustana College alum Vo, meanwhile, has been seen in Genesius Guild's Twelfth Night, the QC Theatre Workshop's Bat Boy: The Musical, and the Playcrafters Barn Theatre's Avenue Q.
But “Jacques”alope marks the duo's first collaboration as co-writers and co-stars under the banner of their production company Haus of Ruckus – even if neither can fully describe what their original play is about. “The thing I usually say,” says Vo, “is that no one can be told what 'Jacques'alope is about.”
“What I say is 'I dunno,'” adds Green, though he follows that with, “I mean, it's hard, because I usually just sort of say what's on the [Mockingbird on Main] Web site. It's a buddy comedy about two friends trying to slay a jackalope to get to Burning Man on time.”
If such a synopsis suggests a stage exploration into, shall we say, recreational substances, Vo clarifies, “It isn't a stoner comedy in the Cheech & Chong or Seth Rogen way. It's more like a comedy that lampoons the idea of drugs and stoners rather than being about, 'Hey, let's all do drugs!' If that makes sense.”
Green's and Vo's initial idea for“Jacques”alope originated near the end of 2019. “We'd been trying to write a play together for years, and we were at a Texas Roadhouse, and there was a jackalope there,” says Green, hopefully referring to a stuffed and/or mounted one. “So I said to Calvin, 'Hey, what if we wrote a play about a jackalope?' And he said, 'I don't think so.'
“But then,” he continues, “like 20 minutes later, I was in the car and I said, 'What if he was French, and his name was Jacques?' And Calvin said, 'Yeah.'”
“I'm a self-proclaimed sort of neo-Dada-surrealist-whatever-entertaining-writer-performer person,” Vo explains. “Both of us enjoy that sort of surrealist style – we write that way, and our ideas come out that way.”
Although the pair had a rough script for “Jacques”alope completed last year – Green says, “The day we finished the first draft was, like, the day before COVID shutdown happened” – the pandemic and other difficulties kept the play from finding a home until the Mockingbird opened this past summer.
“We contacted a lot of different spaces to try to get the show produced,” says Vo, “but each space had different reasons for why we couldn't be there. But then the Mockingbird had this M.O. of 'We have a space where people can move in and move out,' and they said we could use the space.” He adds that the venue has been a good fit for“Jacques”alope and its budgetary constraints. “I'm surprised at how much tech we can infuse into the space on a shoestring.”
With Green and Vo playing the pals on their way to Burning Man and the show's cast also featuring Sarah Goodall, Joseph Lasher, Max Robnett, Isaac Smith, and David Weaver, Vo's cousin Riley Carizey is providing live musical accompaniment.
“Any time there's a production where I'm at the helm,” says Vo, “I want to work in live music in some way. I always want to create a full theatre experience that way. So the world of “Jacques”alope is sort of underscored, or painted, with this mix of Western-y tropes – that sort of twangy bent guitar – and this psychedelic, electric-organ grooviness. It's really really cool.”
As the play's Web-site description states, “Jacques”alope also finds puppets contributing to the full theatre experience … but don't expect Green and Vo to provide more information than that. “There are a couple elements that we're trying to keep under wraps until we open,” says Vo. “And that's one of them.”
Both Green and Vo expect that their debut is just the beginning for works developed under their Haus of Ruckus banner. “We're hoping to consistently keep producing more plays,” says Green. “We'd love to maybe do more sketch writing or a compilation of short plays. We'd love to do something with disco and ancient Greece. We have a lot of little ideas that we want to expand on and have a good time with.”
“Our idea for this show, like theatre-admin-wise,” adds Vo, “is to (1) foster and cultivate an audience that would enjoy our stuff, and (2) sustain our next and subsequent shows. We'd really like to get more young people into the theatre – that young energy and artistic vision being part of the audience, and part of the performances.”
And while the show's creators won't reveal everything they have in store for“Jacques”alope patrons, they will explain their production's unusual start times, with the Mockingbird doors opening at 6:59 p.m. and the performances beginning, theoretically, at 7:34 p.m.
“TJ was like, 'We're putting out the promo material, and we've got to have start times. What time should it be?' And I was like, 'Just give 'em a random time – like 7:34.' I wanted it to be close to 7:30 so that people would know it was a normal type of start, but I wanted it to be nonsense.
“And ever since we released 6:59 and 7:34, every person who's, like, theatre-savvy has come up to me and said, 'I think that's really funny.' Because everyone wants to open early, but everyone starts their shows late.”
“Jacques”alope will be performed in Davenport November 4 through 13 on Thursdays through Saturdays, admission is $10, and more information and tickets are available by visiting TheMockingbirdOnMain.com. For more information on Haus of Ruckus, visit the company on Facebook and Instagram, and e-mail HausOfRuckusQC@gmail.com.
