Everyday objects get new life in ‘Tossed and Found’ at Millibo Art Theatre
Peter Davison didn’t go looking for the objects he interacts with on stage. The objects found him.
The Boulder performer presents “Tossed and Found,” his one-man, silent show, at The Millibo Art Theatre from Thursday through Jan. 11.
As he describes it, audiences can expect to see a lot of junk on stage – nothing circuslike, just ordinary props he’s spotted, like wooden bicycle rims, an antique tennis racket, cardboard boxes and furniture. And then he interacts with them in surprising and graceful ways.
“Nothing is really banal or mundane,” Davison says. “It just depends on how you interact with things. And it’s about an appreciation for old things – the objects in the show and an entertainment style that’s not digital. It’s immediate, and based on somebody doing something in a space in real time that is low-tech.”
The hourlong, family-friendly show is based on the lost art of vaudeville, he says, including dancing, juggling and physical comedy.
“Vaudeville is early 20th-century entertainment that was around until TV wiped out live performances,” he says. “People have described me as a combination of Fred Astaire, because of the elegant movements, and Charlie Chaplin, with a more visual clown element.”
Davison, a longtime performer, got his start in Los Angeles, then moved to Boulder in 1980 and trained in visual arts, juggling and dance. His one-man shows have traveled to fringe festivals and theaters around the country, and he’s earned numerous awards for his multiple talents.
How does he make his physical comedy, including sliding off a table and onto a chair, look so easy?
“I once read about Fred Astaire, and that Ginger Rogers asked him why he practiced so much,” Davison says. “He and Gene Kelly were known for rehearsing all night for three-minute movie dances. They’d go for days on end for a two- to three-minute thing. He said he rehearsed so much to make it look easy.”
7:30 p.m. Thursday through Jan. 10, 2 p.m. Jan. 11, Millibo Art Theatre, 1626 S. Tejon St., $16 Thursday, $22 other days; 465-6321, themat.org
JEN MULSON, THE GAZETTE, 636-0270, JEN.MULSON@GAZETTE.COM
