1990 - Matthew Pauli

1990, summer

Avalanche! Theatre- first and only season.

It seemed like a good idea at the time. The idea was that while Washington, DC is the center of American politics, there was very little political theater at the time. Avalanche set out to change that with a season consisting of Oedipus the King and The Memorandum, by Vaclav Havel.

On the heels of the scandal of mayor Marion Barry's arrest for smoking crack cocaine in a hotel room with a woman who was not his wife, the artistic director of Avalanche! set out to produce Oedipus the King, drawing parallels between Oedipus and Mayor Barry. In the exposition, this is plausible. A city (Thebes/DC) in the throes of a decline. A young, charismatic leader comes to power and revitalizes the city by the force of his own will. After a brief period of regrowth, however, the city begins to languish again. The charismatic leader is too self absorbed to see that he, himself, is the biggest problem the city now faces and that the only way to save the city is to leave it.

Unfortunately, once you get into the actual events of the play, the parallels end. This was obvious to reviewers and patrons alike, both of whom stopped coming shortly after the run began.
In fact, the producers had been counting on a positive review from the Washington City Paper to turn the tide on attendance. The paper had a history of antagonism toward Barry, and the producer felt sure that would translate into a love of this production. In fact, the paper ran a review that was quite negative and followed up with a series of articles about the problems of Avalanche! Theatre and its misguided vision.

The run closed early when the money to pay the actors ran out.

Rehearsals for The Memorandum began with some difficulty. Several of the actors who had been cast at the beginning of the season left the company after it failed to pay them in full for their work on Oedipus. Replacements were hired, but after a very brief rehearsal period, the company folded.