{"id":357279,"date":"2024-07-22T06:02:25","date_gmt":"2024-07-22T10:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/?p=357279"},"modified":"2024-07-22T06:02:25","modified_gmt":"2024-07-22T10:02:25","slug":"2024-capital-fringe-review-democracy-by-xy-players-1-%c2%bd-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/2024\/07\/22\/2024-capital-fringe-review-democracy-by-xy-players-1-%c2%bd-stars\/","title":{"rendered":"2024 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Democracy’ by XY Players (1 \u00bd stars)"},"content":{"rendered":"

I<\/span> completely understand the drive to creatively capture the chaotic state of today\u2019s democratic process in the form of a chaotic work, and maybe that\u2019s a good foundation to start with from which to elaborate on other ideas. But simply observing reality isn\u2019t art \u2014 that\u2019s journalism.<\/p>\n

Yes, the XY Players\u2019 Democracy<\/em>, starring Geoffrey Brand, Joe Dzikiewicz, Victoria Rose, Damia Torhagen, and Katrina Young, with listed playwright Robert Kittredge, observes through a few sketches and characters the utter chaos of our present political arena. But the core thesis of each sketch, and that of the show as a whole, is unclear. Most of the show\u2019s sketches seem to unpack highly specific phenomena in our political discourse and electoral system, but the characters and storylines consistently don\u2019t explain to us what those issues are. When a sketch\u2019s thesis does begin to reveal itself, it is quickly refuted by a character coming in and adding contradictory nuance. When multiple opinions are conveyed in one sketch, especially with near-equal intensity and detail, the work takes less of a clear stance and becomes more shallowly representational.<\/p>\n

\"\"For example, in the show\u2019s opening sketch, we see a team of playwrights who represent different archetypes of individuals engaging in political discourse, and unlike in the show\u2019s other sketches, the allegory is clear. At one point there\u2019s even a joke breaking the fourth wall to make sure we got the metaphor. While some of these playwrights push for peace and others push for destroying their opponents in the name of justice, ultimately each character ends up committing an act of murderous violence in a sketch devoid of punchlines, and by the end it\u2019s truly unclear what the sketch\u2019s opinion is about its proceedings.<\/p>\n

There are some interesting topics and ideas at play here \u2014 unpacking issues like judgmentalism in digital spaces and political tribalism through abstract characters and offbeat jokes is an interesting idea with a lot of potential, and the political comedy field certainly needs more stylistic diversity. But each character in the XY Players\u2019 show would need to more clearly represent a particular idea or force for these sketches to be comprehensible.<\/p>\n

I fully admit that I simply didn\u2019t understand what the sketches were trying to say, but I don\u2019t think I missed anything that would have helped. In one sketch, the plot has two sisters of antiquity who agree that the King is unattractive, and both sisters are ultimately killed. Then, a talking anthropomorphic rabbit hops on stage and offers the King a job on a production of The Sound of Music<\/em>. I want to give the playwright the benefit of the doubt here that there was a point \u2014 maybe even one related to the central topic of democracy. So: with more clarity in who each character is and what issue is being illustrated, more polish on the performances, and more jokes, this could be the start of a really interesting comedy show.<\/p>\n

But maybe the XY Players shouldn\u2019t force themselves into the \u201ccomedy\u201d label. It\u2019s understandable that creators of brief, sometimes lighthearted pieces about political issues would feel pressure to file their work under \u201ccomedy,\u201d but the work here is shying away from punchlines and is going for more situational humor and poetic, oddball energy. That\u2019s certainly a valid way to do comedy, but the label \u201csketch comedy\u201d as listed on the show\u2019s Fringe page sets up an audience with expectations the show doesn\u2019t currently meet. Currently, it reads more like a series of abstract, question-provoking morality tales. If read that way, which was not the creators\u2019 stated intent, the show becomes a little more coherent and creatively interesting.<\/p>\n

I am so eager to see what the XY Players do next, and I deeply appreciate their addition to the existing comedy styles currently oversaturating the world of political satire. I can\u2019t wait to see how they continue to bring their original vision to play with genre and inject some much-needed political life into the satirical world during a time with near-unlimited fodder to work with.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Running Time:<\/strong> 60 minutes
\nGenre:<\/strong> Comedy
\nDates and Times: <\/strong>(This show’s run has ended.)
\n<\/i>Venue:<\/strong> Cafritz Hall, 1529 16th St NW
\nTickets:<\/strong> $15
\nMore Info and Tickets:<\/strong> Democracy<\/a><\/p>\n

The complete 2024 Capital Fringe Festival schedule is online\u00a0<\/strong>here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few sketches and characters observe the utter chaos of our present political arena. By ALEXANDRA BOWMAN<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":357281,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[867,18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-357279","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-2024-capital-fringe-festival","8":"category-reviews"},"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n2024 Capital Fringe Review: 'Democracy' by XY Players (1 \u00bd stars) - DC Theater Arts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A few sketches and characters observe the utter chaos of our present political arena.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/2024\/07\/22\/2024-capital-fringe-review-democracy-by-xy-players-1-\u00bd-stars\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"2024 Capital Fringe Review: 'Democracy' by XY Players (1 \u00bd stars)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A few sketches and characters observe the utter chaos of our present political arena.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/2024\/07\/22\/2024-capital-fringe-review-democracy-by-xy-players-1-\u00bd-stars\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"DC Theater Arts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-07-22T10:02:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Democracy_800x600.jpg.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alexandra Bowman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alexandra Bowman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/2024\/07\/22\/2024-capital-fringe-review-democracy-by-xy-players-1-%c2%bd-stars\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/2024\/07\/22\/2024-capital-fringe-review-democracy-by-xy-players-1-%c2%bd-stars\/\",\"name\":\"2024 Capital Fringe Review: 'Democracy' by XY Players (1 \u00bd stars) - DC Theater Arts\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/2024\/07\/22\/2024-capital-fringe-review-democracy-by-xy-players-1-%c2%bd-stars\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/2024\/07\/22\/2024-capital-fringe-review-democracy-by-xy-players-1-%c2%bd-stars\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Democracy_800x600.jpg.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-07-22T10:02:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/#\/schema\/person\/df203528276ac6bb78ddd12b4b79a609\"},\"description\":\"A few sketches and characters observe the utter chaos of our present political arena.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/2024\/07\/22\/2024-capital-fringe-review-democracy-by-xy-players-1-%c2%bd-stars\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/2024\/07\/22\/2024-capital-fringe-review-democracy-by-xy-players-1-%c2%bd-stars\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/2024\/07\/22\/2024-capital-fringe-review-democracy-by-xy-players-1-%c2%bd-stars\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Democracy_800x600.jpg.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Democracy_800x600.jpg.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/2024\/07\/22\/2024-capital-fringe-review-democracy-by-xy-players-1-%c2%bd-stars\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"2024 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Democracy’ by XY Players (1 \u00bd stars)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/\",\"name\":\"DC Theater Arts\",\"description\":\"Washington, DC's most comprehensive source of performing arts coverage.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/#\/schema\/person\/df203528276ac6bb78ddd12b4b79a609\",\"name\":\"Alexandra Bowman\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d8d08ea330076efd7c6e9ccb7cbdbeeec1a1370311dede6f81d6fdbb061190bd?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d8d08ea330076efd7c6e9ccb7cbdbeeec1a1370311dede6f81d6fdbb061190bd?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Alexandra Bowman\"},\"description\":\"Alexandra Bowman (@scripta_bene\u00a0on Twitter) is a freelance writer and visual artist from Washington, D.C. In addition to writing and drawing occasional cartoons for DCTA, she has written for Screen Rant, the John Kerry and John Kasich-founded climate platform World War Zero, Washington City Paper, the Weekly Humorist, the Society of Professional Journalists News, Inside Higher Education, and the satirical theater publication The Broadway Beat. She also served as the official political cartoonist for the Lincoln Project during the 2020 presidential election. She has an MA from Georgetown University in English and a strange fascination with Cats the Musical.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/author\/alexandra-bowman\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"2024 Capital Fringe Review: 'Democracy' by XY Players (1 \u00bd stars) - DC Theater Arts","description":"A few sketches and characters observe the utter chaos of our present political arena.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/2024\/07\/22\/2024-capital-fringe-review-democracy-by-xy-players-1-\u00bd-stars\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"2024 Capital Fringe Review: 'Democracy' by XY Players (1 \u00bd stars)","og_description":"A few sketches and characters observe the utter chaos of our present political arena.","og_url":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/2024\/07\/22\/2024-capital-fringe-review-democracy-by-xy-players-1-\u00bd-stars\/","og_site_name":"DC Theater Arts","article_published_time":"2024-07-22T10:02:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Democracy_800x600.jpg.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Alexandra Bowman","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Alexandra Bowman","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/2024\/07\/22\/2024-capital-fringe-review-democracy-by-xy-players-1-%c2%bd-stars\/","url":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/2024\/07\/22\/2024-capital-fringe-review-democracy-by-xy-players-1-%c2%bd-stars\/","name":"2024 Capital Fringe Review: 'Democracy' by XY Players (1 \u00bd stars) - DC Theater Arts","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/2024\/07\/22\/2024-capital-fringe-review-democracy-by-xy-players-1-%c2%bd-stars\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/2024\/07\/22\/2024-capital-fringe-review-democracy-by-xy-players-1-%c2%bd-stars\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Democracy_800x600.jpg.jpg","datePublished":"2024-07-22T10:02:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/#\/schema\/person\/df203528276ac6bb78ddd12b4b79a609"},"description":"A few sketches and characters observe the utter chaos of our present political arena.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/2024\/07\/22\/2024-capital-fringe-review-democracy-by-xy-players-1-%c2%bd-stars\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/2024\/07\/22\/2024-capital-fringe-review-democracy-by-xy-players-1-%c2%bd-stars\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/2024\/07\/22\/2024-capital-fringe-review-democracy-by-xy-players-1-%c2%bd-stars\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Democracy_800x600.jpg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Democracy_800x600.jpg.jpg","width":800,"height":600},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/2024\/07\/22\/2024-capital-fringe-review-democracy-by-xy-players-1-%c2%bd-stars\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"2024 Capital Fringe Review: ‘Democracy’ by XY Players (1 \u00bd stars)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/","name":"DC Theater Arts","description":"Washington, DC's most comprehensive source of performing arts coverage.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/#\/schema\/person\/df203528276ac6bb78ddd12b4b79a609","name":"Alexandra Bowman","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d8d08ea330076efd7c6e9ccb7cbdbeeec1a1370311dede6f81d6fdbb061190bd?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d8d08ea330076efd7c6e9ccb7cbdbeeec1a1370311dede6f81d6fdbb061190bd?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Alexandra Bowman"},"description":"Alexandra Bowman (@scripta_bene\u00a0on Twitter) is a freelance writer and visual artist from Washington, D.C. In addition to writing and drawing occasional cartoons for DCTA, she has written for Screen Rant, the John Kerry and John Kasich-founded climate platform World War Zero, Washington City Paper, the Weekly Humorist, the Society of Professional Journalists News, Inside Higher Education, and the satirical theater publication The Broadway Beat. She also served as the official political cartoonist for the Lincoln Project during the 2020 presidential election. She has an MA from Georgetown University in English and a strange fascination with Cats the Musical.","url":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/author\/alexandra-bowman\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}