There are absolutely certain things and people that inspire us to be more. There are also many things and people that inspire us to be less. Theatre of The Epic disappointment is about being less.
It's a stupid and vicious notion to think something must be done well in order for it to have been worth doing. However, this is the prevailing wisdom of our culture. Our culture inspires me to be less. To lower my aspirations and disobey the ethic of accomplishment.
Theatre of The Epic disappointment was born of two sock puppets. I was trying to prove that original crudeness is more interesting than traditional proficiency - at least, more interesting in a context that knows only the latter. I was kind of successful. Not really in a "I succeeded in proving my point!" way, or in a "This is a critical and artisitic triumph" way, but really more in a "At least I'm not a twat like these other achievement whores" way.
The majority of Theatre, in fact all of Theatre, is bullshit: it's all nonsense. And that's important, and that's good, and that's rejuvenating for the soul, as long as we remember it's all nonsense and we're not bound to any greater personal stakes. Modern life is about forgetting the absurdity of self-important competition; and while I understand that people too smart for god need a game to distract themselves until they die, I can't begin to imagine why they chose such a stupid and painful game as that.
Epic disappointment is a movement about remembering that no one wins for being a prick, and that no prick can go through life avoiding disappointment. Running from failure is about the most self-defeating thing you can do in a world of elusively undefined success. I recommend embracing disappointment, using it as a medium - not that you become complacent, but rather, deconstructed, humbled, forgiven. The approach has traditionally been to expose how an ideology is contrived, that we may free ourselves from the pain it produces; Epic disappointment works to contrive pain, that we may better explore our dependency to external validation.
It is the priority of this Theatre to celebrate the stupidity of imagination as it rages against those too stupid to have one. We are going to tell stories about losers, and we're not going to tell them very well. Finding some whimsy and inspiration in that crappy bleakness is our gift to anyone sick of being unable to be more.
My name isn't Franco, but that doesn't matter.
FRANCO
