About "The Conspiracy Theorists"
My name is Stephen Bittrich, the writer/creator of THE CONSPIRACY THEORISTS, and on behalf of myself and my co-executive producer, David Marantz, we'd like to thank you for coming to our Indiegogo campaign!
I am a playwright/screenwriter, and I had been writing a web series for some time when Covid-19 began to appear. At first I was like, "Well, maybe I can adapt slightly... oh... no... I'm done... and I have to stay home!"
I started writing this new series, inspired by the feeling of uncertainty that seemed to overwhelm everyone as we all were forced into isolation by the pandemic. Soon there was lots of content being shared that was created on videoconference apps - playreadings and performances and such. Artists connecting on video while staying home. The idea for this series was to create something where the videoconference aspect was part of the conceit... instead of, "We're doing a reading of Hamlet... really suspend your disbelief, okay?" -- this series is “Here’s a show about people who only meet online in a videoconference app."
Why Contribute?
I lived in New York City for 26 years. (I'm in Austin now.). When Covid-19 hit New York hard, I called my artist buddies in New York, and they were really struggling. Their work was mostly gone unless they were lucky enough to have some voice over work. Traditional survival jobs like catering, gone.
I called Dave, who had helped to produce and starred in another webseries I wrote called Off Off. He was game and ready, and so we were off to the races.
Many of us met through our theater home, The Drilling Company, Hamilton Clancy Artistic Director (and cast member of this show). I wanted to create something to give us that sense of community that we have in the theater, now lost as we all are sequestered in our homes; a way to gather our talented buddies, create story, entertain people, give them a few laughs, bond with each other in creation, and and lift all our spirits. If we can also collect some donations to help the artists meet basic needs now and in the near future, that would be great, too.
The show is free for anyone who wants to watch it. We're going to make it no matter what we raise. But, if you are in a position at this time to help the artists and contribute what we're calling a "tip" for our hard work, we really appreciate it. We have 13 main cast members (a big cast) and other surprise actors to be added later.
We're doing what is called an In-Demand campaign. We keep any money raised. We've set an achievable goal, and if we reach it, we can continue to raise money beyond the end date of the campaign. We would like to raise MORE than $1500, but we wanted to set a safe goal.
The Artists
We've assembled an amazing cast and crew. Let's single out a couple of them for now... one of our cast members, Meghan McGeary, performs musically under the name, Amity Rose, and she wrote us an amazing theme song. I was so happy with the theme song, I asked her if she could write another SURPRISE song for another episode. What she came up with is my new favorite song. You are going to be so amazed when it comes out! I can't say more....
Another of our accomplished actors, Brian Dykstra, has written plays produced around the US, performs Slam Poetry, performed on Broadway with the great Brian Cox, but he may go down in history for his part in one of the Dave Chappelle Show's most famous skits. Look up "Clayton Bigsby, the World’s Only Black White Supremacist - Chappelle’s Show" on YouTube. That's Brian at about the 4 minute mark.
Hamilton Clancy does not yet make his entrance in Episode 01, but look for him in Episode 02. He has done guest starring roles in Orange Is the New Black, Mindhunter, One Dollar, Blue Bloods, among others.
Episode Frequency
We are going to attempt to release and episode each week. It's a lot of work!! We will try our best to follow this schedule. This will a be limited series. So far just planning 1 season
Other Ways You Can Help
Even if you can't contribute, there are other ways to help:
- Get the word out and make some noise on social media about this campaign and this show.
- Or use the Indiegogo share tools.
- Organize a watch party!
Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by.