Here is a review from a Minneapolis performance of this play:
Named one of the “Top Ten” shows of the 2006 Montreal Fringe, The Wonders of the World: Recite is a macabre coming of age story taking place on a lighthouse on the last day of the world. The show features two writers/performers (Donna Sellinger and Madeline ffitch), one live musician (Nick Stocks), Ulysses S. Grant as the ideal male specimen, a pop-up diorama, and a felt pigeon.
Also there’s cake………
“Each Fringe, you sit down to watch one show that could not have been made here in Minneapolis—you sit down and watch a group that’s been working somewhere else, and what they bring is so breathtakingly fresh that it makes you want to follow the group around trying to get some of those ideas to rub off on you.
Wonders is that show.†— Dan O’Neil (fringefestival.org)The Missoula Oblongata is back in Minneapolis after a smashing summer tour where they received rave reviews from critics and standing ovations from audiences throughout The United States and Canada. The Wonders of the World: Recite was named one of the “Top Ten†productions at the 2006 Montreal Fringe and listed among “Best of the Fringe†by See Magazine in Edmonton, Alberta. The Missoula Independent (Missoula’s free weekly paper) listed the play in their year-end issue as one of “A Dozen Defining Art-World Moments of 2006”, and called it “the most charming original production of the year” and said that it “took DIY theatre to imaginative new levels”.
The Wonders of the World: Recite is a macabre coming of age story taking place on a lighthouse on the last day of the world. The show features two writers/performers (Donna Sellinger and Madeline ffitch), one live musician (Nick Stocks), Ulysses S. Grant as the ideal male specimen, a pop-up diorama, and a felt pigeon.
The Missoula Oblongata is the name given to the newly formed collaboration between long-time friends Donna Sellinger and Madeline ffitch. It is committed to creating original theatre that manages to be aggressively inventive and experimental, while tipping its hat to established traditions such as clown, vaudeville, and storytelling. The Missoula Oblongata grew out of Totally Realistic Productions, a company which had already completed three season-long tours, received a grant from the NEA (through the Idaho Arts Council), and performed at the Tony Award-winning Cincinnati Playhouse. Totally Realistic Productions received a Fotis Award for “Best Script†at the Minnesota Fringe Festival and have held residencies at The Dragon’s Egg, Grinnell College, and The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center.
The Missoula Oblongata is proud to be a completely self-sufficient production company. This means that the artists who write the script also perform, design, build, and light the play themselves. The company provides all of their own lighting (usually desk lamps and footlights) and the actors run the lighting and sound from the stage. This technique allows the company to perform anywhere that there is electricity and enough space. Vacant lots, classrooms, basements, roofs, Italian restaurants, and main stage theaters have all been host to The Wonders of the World: Recite.
Reviewers have said of past shows:
“The dialogue has an often poetic beauty, and Sellinger inhabits her character with a dark conviction that stuns..a must see†-View Magazine
“succeeds brilliantly…part theater, part dramatic storytelling, and part something else that’s a little difficult to determine†– Cincinnati’s CityBeat.
“The character development proves to be tight and the plot deceptively thoughtful. Even more impressive, the peripheral props eventually become vital—the lighthouse, the suitcases, even a birthday cake are all prominently involved. At one point the space is transformed into a romantic beachfront, and in another it becomes the scene of an octopus hunt. For a traveling three-person play, it’s a show with a surprising breadth of Vaudevillian pageantry.†–Missoula Independent
“Come for the cake. Stay for the most amazing experience ever.†–(audience review) MontrealFringe.ca