Theater company brings ‘radical’ approaches, style to Bloomington

They perform in living rooms, dirty basements that “violate all sorts of fire codes” and just about any place that has electricity – all in the name of live performance art.

The Missoula Oblongata, a three-person, unconventional touring theater company, will come to Bloomington to perform “The Moon, The Raccoon, The Hot Air Balloon” at 7 p.m. March 17 at Boxcar Books. Admission is $5, but theatergoers can donate more to help support the group.

Steven Stothard, general coordinator of Boxcar Books, said the touring company has performed in Bloomington before and sought out the local bookstore as a venue.

“The way The Missoula Oblongata does performance work and high art would be similar to the way we operate,” Stothard said. “They perform radical plays that cater to radical themes found in Boxcar.”

For Boxcar, this means catering to the needs of Bloomington’s artistic community. Its shelves are stocked with zines, comics and books from local artists that promote abstract ideas about social justice, politics and media, according to its Web site.

The store itself is independently operated and run by volunteers.

For The Missoula Oblongata, expressing radical ideas employs a similar do-it-yourself sensibility, said Donna Sellinger, co-founder and performer in The Missoula Oblongata.

“Everything you see as far as set, props and lighting we made and do ourselves,” Sellinger said. “For smaller performances like the one at Boxcar or in someone’s living room, we have a 6-by-6-foot square as our stage.”

Sellinger said inspiration for show ideas comes from making a list of “impossible dreams” with co-founder Madeline Fitch and director Sarah Lowry, who complete the trio.

The list for their latest show “The Moon, The Raccoon, The Hot Air Balloon” includes “eating giant cakes, flying on stage and playing detective,” Sellinger said.  

This brainstorming process led to the creation of the characters, which are “an obese raccoon, her trainer and an allegedly Panamanian magician whose lives all collide at the World’s Fair,” according to a press release for the show.

Another part of the do-it-yourself sensibility of the touring company includes promoting a political message of independence from traditional theater and inventing new ways to express oneself.

“Performance artists are also social artists,” Sellinger said. “We have to be engaged, politicized critical thinkers. Our method of performing that encourages people to think outside the box and come up with new ways to create art is our political process.”

Sellinger said she hopes the work of The Missoula Oblongata will inspire others to create unique theater opportunities in their own communities.

“We’re always so excited to collaborate and work with other artists if the opportunity comes, but we encourage people to establish their own companies that go on tour to promote a form of live art that isn’t just music,” she said.

Becky Renfrow, booking agent for The Missoula Oblongata, said Bloomington was attractive to the company because it embraces artistic expression of many kinds, and local businesses like Boxcar Books lend support to the artists of the community.

“We were interested in Boxcar Books because it’s a space that, through books, encourages creative thinking and allows us to think about our place in society and how we can contribute to our communities,” Renfrow said. “I think The Missoula Oblongata does that well. It’s fantastic.”

The “impossible dreams” the group lists as inspiration for shows might not be so impossible after all.

“The way The Missoula Oblongata does performances is very organic,” Stothard said. “The intimacy they hope to establish with the audience should inspire people who appreciate their work to do it themselves.”