| Dirty Laundry, the long-running live improvised soap opera, found itself mired in its own drama last week after its host venue suddenly went out of business, leaving it temporarily homeless.
The theatrical troupe’s producers, however, quickly found a new venue for the weekly performance, and without missing a beat even managed to weave some of its real-life problems into its performance.
"We like to say it’s our soap opera turning into a real-life soap opera, but it seems to have worked out," says producer Karen Johnson-Diamond. "We really had no warning. We were really shocked."
Dirty Laundry has performed out of Buckingham’s Pub on 9th Street S.W. for the past four seasons. Last week the show’s producers learned that the pub, a longtime downtown stalwart, had gone out of business and its doors were locked with Dirty Laundry’s props inside.
Johnson-Diamond says it was only a benevolent call from the pub’s owners that alerted them to the closure and advised them how to retrieve their gear.
Phone calls to Buckingham’s Pub rang unanswered on November 10, and its owners couldn’t be reached for comment. The pub’s doors were locked and the only signage in front of the pub was a Dirty Laundry sandwich board.
The real problem for Johnson-Diamond and co-producer Elinor Holt, however, was to quickly find a new venue for the popular show.
"We really didn’t want to miss a Sunday," Johnson-Diamond says. "I got on the phone to some friends in the theatre community and… they were happy to help us."
She credits members of company Theatre Boom for alerting them to the possibility of relocating to Ceili’s Irish Pub at 513, 8th Avenue S.W. A few phone calls later, and less than 24 hours after Buckingham’s closure, Dirty Laundry had, as Johnson-Diamond describes it, a new "foster home."
"We even had a couple of other options if we needed them," she says. "It was great."
Dirty Laundry managed to stage the latest instalment of its ongoing soap opera at Ceili’s on November 9, and even drew a significant crowd.
"We have an audience that is so loyal. They are so fantastic and they all brought their friends," Johnson-Diamond says. "I think (Ceili’s) was a bit taken aback by the (size of the) crowd."
True to form, cast members of Dirty Laundry managed to incorporate the sudden move into the performance, cheekily blaming the relocation on a windstorm that relocated the Depression-era town where their soap opera is set.
Johnson-Diamond says they will perform out of Ceili’s at least until Christmas, and she is hopeful a permanent arrangement can be worked out in the meantime. |
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