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From a deep pool of possible career paths, including becoming a police officer or a firefighter, Terry Brennan selected a theater-based existence, with the immediacy of feedback partially influencing his pick. With a penchant for “jarring people in a good way,” the resident of 20th Street and Snyder Avenue will certainly receive rapid reactions tonight as the director of the FringeArts Festival production “Two Street: A Tale of Star Crossed Mummers.”
“We had love on the brain,” the 38-year-old artistic director of Tribe of Fools said at The Church of the Crucifixion, 620 S. Eighth St., which will stage the group’s brainchild through Sept. 13. “We’re looking to challenge the so-called rules and expectations of love that we pick up, often willingly, by siding with popular entertainment’s notions of how relationships should go and how perfect everything should be.”
To counter those considerations, the West Passyunk dweller and his peers, including fellow South Philly inhabitant Tim Popp, who is choreographing the 80-minute offering, have devised a script that essentially says matters of the heart lack a flawless script and that pressure to pursue and expect perfection leads to the loss of perspective and the growth of grief.
“Years ago, my original aim was to make movies, so I know what’s often popular tries to have us escape our problems and provide a catharsis,” Brennan said. “They frequently involve gender issues to do that, so we wanted to have a project that skewered that.”
The 11-year-old troupe chose to chastise such works by, among other measures, creating Ronnie and Jules, members of rival Mummers brigades who foster romantic feelings for each other. Brennan contends casting men as the love-laced leads possesses numerous pluses, including addressing notions of needing to believe in “the one” who will make a person’s life complete and tackling the true diversity of interactions between partners.
“Society has become more tolerant,” he stated, “so there has to come a time when we write love stories that have gay characters instead of tales that deal with the fact that they’re gay. For us, the tension had to come from their being from rival groups. Their sexuality is incidental.”
No matter an individual’s partner preference or interests of any kind, the roles in “Two Street” will encourage viewers to balance severity and levity, with Brennan commending Isa St. Clair’s turn as Ronnie’s oft-vulgar sister Marcy as giving the action a sort of “poetic in an obscene way” identity.
“People say so much great art all comes down to loss and death,” the co-writer said, adding that the latter has come to color his mindset but not morbidly, as someone once tabbed him as a “master of death comedy.” “When you look at the harshness of life, you could either make fun of it or lament it and make a tragedy. ‘Two Street’ makes it clear what route I prefer.”
Unlike many theater professionals who realize in early childhood that stages will sate their stakes, Brennan battled bafflement as a Nebraska youth. He considered many careers and usually envisioned becoming so accomplished in a field that someone would tell his tale.
“I eventually realized that I wanted to be paid attention to,” the Cornhusker State native said of noticing his niche. “I came to the point where I said, ‘I think I want to be an actor.’”
Taking a year off after high school, he enrolled at the University of Nebraska as a theater major. Desiring even more energy for his comedic impulses, he studied at the California-situated Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theater, a location that would not only help him to “play on stage,” but also yield colleagues who would come to form Tribe of Fools.
“I thought that after Dell’Arte I would move to Los Angeles or San Francisco and start this new life, but we eventually all moved to Philly,” he said of the outfit, which began in Germantown in 2003 and has had South Philly as its center for a decade. “The rest, as they say, is history, but it hasn’t always been a good one. Regardless of that, I know how lucky I am to be here.”
Tribe of Fools’ early years involved “throwing stuff against the wall to see what would stick,” a period in which Brennan wondered why the City of Brotherly Love would even want to hear what he wished to say. His patience and resolve tested, he has benefited from a supportive Philadelphia theater scene, and he and his fellow fools have become bankable beacons.
“I love being in Philly,” Brennan, who has also called Passyunk Square and Pennsport home, said. “There’s no main streak in the practitioners of theater here, and there are so many people who genuinely want you to do well.”
Audiences have helped his maturation, too, as Tribe of Fools has garnered acclaim for, among others, “Antihero,” “Armageddon at the Mushroom Village” and “Heavy Metal Dance Fag,” pieces that have proven Brennan’s commitment to staying sharp and fresh as a creator.
“It’s a must to evolve and go after new solutions and ways of thinking,” the introspective individual, who has also gone on national tours with Enchantment Theatre Co., served as road manager with the entity for three years and has amassed credits through such heavyweights as BRAT Productions, EgoPo Classic Theater, the National Theater for Children and Simpatico Theatre Project, said. “It’s great to feel you’re relevant, but it takes effort to remain so.”
Brennan also serves as the circus coordinator for the Philadelphia School of Circus Arts, a Germantown-situated vocation that, along with helping him to continue to foster excitement within children, enhances his contributions to Tribe of Fools, especially his enthusiasm for physicality. Corporeal elements will become more apparent as he and the others march on, with Brennan sure to continue to “do things that are shocking.”
“I like being a responsible storyteller,” he said. “We think we have all showed that in producing ‘Two Street.’”
For tickets, visit fringearts.com or call 215-738-2207.
Contact Managing Editor Joseph Myers at jmyers@southphillyreview.com or ext. 124.
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