Silliness goes hand in hand with change.
We create work that takes advantage of the medium of theatre.
We reframe and recalibrate.
From Taylor Mac’s Gary A Sequel to Titus Andronicus:
The clown encourages the idiotic
By getting laughs and praise for being dumb.
But Fools, they tease out our stupidity
With brains, so spark our feelings and our smarts.
The clown’s a selfish bloke whose only goal’s
To satisfy his belly, heart, and groin.
But Fools are empathetic sorts who learn
The suffering of others ‘cause they’ve been
Thrown out of homes and had the poo of life
Thrown at them just for being different-from.
And so while clowns are in it for themselves,
A fool’s ambition is to save the world!
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The noun Volk is a German word that translates to people. It can be used to describe crowds, a community, ethnicity or nationality. You might find it parallels the English word Folk in meaning and sound. The pronunciations are very similar as the "V" in German sounds like "F" in English.
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Our logo is a whimsical play on the Räuberrad.
From German Theatre History Scholar Christine Korte:
The Räuberrad, is a roughly drawn wheel with two stick legs copied from a medieval graffiti associated with actors, criminals, and traveling people…the symbol was related to those whose existence was relegated to the margins of history…[connected to] subcultures, anarchists, and to disenfranchised communities—to the “losers” of history. The Räuberrad permeated the Berlin streets as a refrain of resistance.
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Harris Singer (He/Him/His) is a New York City-based artist (actor, playwright, designer, poet, etc.). Born in Georgia, he moved to New York City to study and was a Playwrights Horizons Theatre Studio student. He thrives on exploration, especially with a queer absurdist lens. He has a particular interest in sustainability and how to curate bio-diverse landscapes to foster healthier soil and a healthier world. His core artistic pursuits revolve around community making and work prioritizing actionable positive changes to groups in need. He continues to work on theatrical forms/structure, the interconnectedness of mediums, and how to understand humans and their choices. He creates under the assumption that everything is a continual work in progress (Including himself).
Katelyn Kahn (she/her/hers) is a multi-hyphinate artist based in New York City. Her skills include acting, directing, writing, SFX-makeup, designer, and anything she can sink her teeth into. Tired of being a native Texan, she moved to NYC to study theatre. She recently graduated from New York Universtiy with training at Playwrights Horizons Theatre School, the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute, and Stonestreet Studios. Her work is a blend between chaotic good and lawful evil; no in-between. She has a thirst for exploring the unexpected details inside circumstances and the rawness of self-expression surrounding fat and queer voices. You can find her pouring her sweat and tears in her day job and heart and soul in her projects.
Sammy Rivas (He/Him/His) is an actor, writer, director, musician, composer, puppeteer, and puppet-maker based out of New York City. Sammy moved from Raleigh, North Carolina to New York to study at NYU's Experimental Theatre Wing, and is now currently studying film acting at NYU's Stonestreet Studios. He enjoys creating art that focuses on his cultural background as a Jewish and Mexican artist, and makes it a priority to tell stories that bring communities together and showcase positive social change, often while using absurdism or humor. Sammy enjoys working in a multitude of different artistic mediums, and especially enjoys combining theater and film to create work that is not bound by a single form. Beyond his work in The Fool Volk, Sammy is also currently working on his own satirical puppet musical feature-film Gutter Soup which he hopes to produce within the next year or two.