''The Alchemedians'' was an

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

that was put on in 1986 at the

Lamb's Theatre Lamb's Theatre was an Off-Broadway theater located at 130 West 44th Street, Manhattan, New York City inside the Manhattan Church of the Nazarene, near Times Square in New York City. It seated approximately 350 and specialized in musical producti ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. It premiered at Brooklyn Academy of Music's

Next Wave Festival Next Wave is a biennial festival based in Melbourne, which promotes and showcases the work of young and emerging artists. Next Wave encourages interdisciplinary practice and fosters the creation and presentation of works by emerging artists wor ...

Cast

Conception and choreography was by Bob Berky and

Michael Moschen Michael Moschen is an American juggler. Early life Moschen was a classmate of Penn Jillette's at Greenfield High School in Greenfield, Massachusetts, class of 1973. The two worked together developing juggling performances immediately after hig ...

, directed by Ricardo Velez and Joan Langue, lighting design by Jan Kroeze, set and prop design by

John Kahn John Kahn (June 13, 1947 – May 30, 1996) was an American bassist. From 1970 to 1995, Kahn was Jerry Garcia's principal musical collaborator outside of the Grateful Dead. Biography John Kahn was born in Memphis, Tennessee. Adopted at birth by ...

, music by

David Van Tieghem David Van Tieghem (born April 21, 1955) is an American composer, percussionist and sound designer, best known for his philosophy of utilizing any available object as a percussion instrument and for his collaborations with the experimental artists ...

, costume design by Mei-Ling Lui, production manager was

Dave Feldman Dave Feldman (born 1965) is an American sportscaster. Formerly at ESPN and WTTG-TV in Washington, D.C., Feldman began his current position as reporter and television anchor for Comcast SportsNet Bay Area in San Francisco, California on July 23, ...

. It was presented by

Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a multi-arts center in Brooklyn, New York City. It hosts progressive and avant-garde performances, with theater, dance, music, opera, film programming across multiple nearby venues. BAM was chartered in 18 ...

. The cast consisted of Bob Berky, Michael Moschen, and Fred Garbo.

Plot

The plot revolves around the two clowns. Moschen was a juggler, and Berky was a clown. The show was full of

juggling Juggling is a physical skill, performed by a juggler, involving the manipulation of objects for recreation, entertainment, art or sport. The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling. Juggling can be the manipulation of one object o ...

clowning A clown is a person who performs physical comedy and arts in an Improvisational theatre#Comedy, open-ended fashion, typically while wearing distinct cosmetics, makeup or costume, costuming and reversing social norm, folkway-norms. The art of ...

, and

mime A mime artist, or simply mime (from Greek language, Greek , , "imitator, actor"), is a person who uses ''mime'' (also called ''pantomime'' outside of Britain), the acting out of a story through body motions without the use of speech, as a the ...

. "Laboratory" is the first acts title.

References

Off-Broadway plays 1985 plays {{1980s-play-stub