Poster Illustration by Emmanuel Tavarez of The Jupiter Press. http://emmanueltavares.com
True Believers by Local Playwright, Thom Dunn was VTG’s fourth summer production and ran July 12-21 at The Factory Theatre in Boston. The Play tells the story of aspiring comic book artists, psychotic fanboys, cybernetically enhanced humans and girls who dress like Princess Leia as their lives intertwine during a week at a comic book convention.
With character descriptions that include phrases like “Recently divorced. She took his entire Star Wars collection in the settlement. Yes, that includes his Han Solo in Carbonite coffee table. Not that he’s bitter or anything.” and “Seriously didn’t mean to make Wolverine gay,” this play entertains, engages and brings out your inner nerd!
Production photos are on our Facebook Page and check out our Digital Program for more about the cast and crew!
Press:
“As heroes and villains clash, it’s not the fate of the cosmos that hangs in the balance, but rather the personal worlds of everyone involved. Comic books are wildly colorful exaggerations of life, a form of contemporary myth, and Dunn understands this. Dunn’s energetic script takes on the general form of a farce, albeit one in which aimless young men dress in crude cardboard approximations of cyborg armor. The play’s particulars may be specific to a certain social subset, but its themes and motivations are universal. The characterizations are well wrought and the jokes are smart, sometimes downright wicked sharp.” – Kilian Melloy, Edge Boston
“Vagabond Theatre Group has put so much effort, attention and above all, utter geek and nerdy love into this production. Yes, we get a taste of Comic Con, but we see that even in an environment that feeds off of fantasy, there is truth and faith under all those layers. “True Believers,” again, seems like not just a clever title, but rather something within, something we maintain as we latch onto something bigger. Even though we might lose faith in ourselves, we realize that we are more much more capable than we first thought. We just need someone to help us, or in this case, believe in the world of “superheroes, cyborgs and slave Leias” to help give us that extra push. Kudos to Vagabond for wonderfully bringing it all together, culminating in a great night of theatre. Check it out!” – Christian Hegg, Muffin Eats Dragon: A Boston Theatre Review
“To wrap up: go see this play. Their lights are clever, their sound is full of hilarious nerdy references, the script is clever, the characters are interesting, and the actors are brilliant. I could not recommend this show more… one of the most enjoyable nights I’ve had at the theater in a long while.” – Elizabeth Ramirez, My Entertainment World
“It’s just like Closer, but significantly less highbrow (several scenes actually take place inside a World of Warcraft-like MMORPG—and are 100% computer animated!) If that’s not enough for you, I have heard rumors that there will be spandex superhero costumes involved. That’s right ladies, who needs Magic Mike?” – Opus Affair
About the Playwright:
Thom Dunn is a Boston-based writer, musician, homebrewer, and new media artist. He enjoys Oxford commas, metaphysics, and romantic clichés (epecially when they involve whiskey and/or robots). A graduate of Emerson College, his plays have been performed in Boston and Hollywood. His first play, “Absolution,” was originally published in THREAD Magazine in 2008, and his since received several productions, and was recognized as the best of Boston short plays in 2010. His newest full-length, “True Believers” was recently awarded with a workshop fellowship at the Berkshire Fringe Festival. His comic books have been published by GrayHaven Comics. By day, Thom is a mild-mannered Web & New Media Manager at the Huntington Theatre Company and blogs regularly for a number of websites, including Quirk Publishing and FiveByFiveHundred.com. He grew up outside of New Haven, in the same town as Eli Whitney and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (but not at the same time). He regularly directs and performs as guitarist and keyboardist for Boston’s premiere all-male Lady Gaga glam rock cover band, ALEJANDRO AND THE FAME. Thom was once paid $200 to dress up like Spider-Man and sign autographs at a Wal-Mart. This remains the single greatest moment of his life, despite his best efforts to top it. More at thomdunn.net
Indiegogo Donors
This production would not have been possible without the generosity of those who have contributed to the show. We would like to take a moment to thank those who have donated! If you would like to join the ranks of these fantastic, generous souls, we appreciate any and all donations regardless of whether they are related to a specific production!
$10
Kt Bell
Jason Blanchard
Amy Davidson
Jennie Kilduff
Danielle Lavoie
Adam Lebowitz-Lockard
Sam Marshall
Joseph Ruscio
Mark Wein
$25
Anonymous
Colleen Donovan
Jacqueline Dunn
Jacqueline Church
Deborah Gibbons
Rob and Cheryl Granucci
Jessica Keefe
Andy Michaels
Abigail Schreer
$50
Thomas Bardwell
Christian Hegg
$75
Anonymous
$100
Patrick Jones
Jim Remmes
Amy Robinson
$250
Anonymous
Anonymous Amount
Greg Ferrisi
Katryn Geane
Deborah Hendrick
Eric Larnick
Conor Olmstead
Vagabond Theatre Group 