I Promised Myself to Live Faster

Pig Iron Theatre Company will create a melodrama inspired by the aesthetic of theater legend Charles Ludlam, founder of Greenwich Village's Ridiculous Theatrical Company. Ludlam was known for comedic, absurdist works that drew upon a range of sources, including graphic novels, old movies, Shakespeare, and Wagner. Live Faster will refer to the scripted style of film melodramas, with their heightened stakes and heated, over-the-top conflicts. The play will also feature drag and camp to indulge and undercut the intensity of the actors' emotion, and to ask larger questions about the transgressive power of drag in pop culture today. Conceived by Co-Artistic Director Dito van Reigersberg and directed by Dan Rothenberg, this new work builds on Pig Iron's longtime fascination with characters that live on the margins of society—Ludlam being a trailblazing gay theater artist. Robert O'Hara, author of Antebellum and Bootycandy, will serve as collaborating playwright, infusing the script with his daring, taboo-busting approach to gay themes and contemporary theater.