The mission of Maximum Verbosity will be to stimulate questions; more specifically, to interpret old mythology through the lens of the new and, perhaps more importantly, to interpret our new mythology through the lens of the old, with an especial focus on the use of language to create myth. This aproach implies a willingness to embrace creative anachronism and to explore issues of religion, spirituality, and politics across a wide variety of genres and disciplines. The troupe will function as a decentralized collective of individuals without relying on state recognition or support.

History

On the application to take our first show to the Minnesota Fringe Festival, there was a space labeled Artist or Company Name. I asked the cast to come up with a name. They didn’t. I came up with a list of names. They hated all of them. I told them to pick the one they hated the least, and thus Maximum Verbosity was born.

For an Infocom-style transcript detailing our origins, click here.

What does the name mean?

maximum: adj: the greatest possible degree; "he tried his utmost" [syn: utmost, uttermost, level best]
verbosity: n: an expressive style that uses excessive words [syn: verboseness] [ant: terseness]

It's also an extremely obscure reference to interactive fiction from the nineteen-eighties, as if we needed any more geek cred.

So what the heck are we, anyway?

Maximum Verbosity isn't your mild-mannered theatre company. It's more like a garage band, only for theatre. It's what happens when a bunch of cool, creative folks get together in people's basements -- frequently not their own, and without the knowledge of the homeowners -- and set out to be as entertaining as possible. There's no building, no board of directors, nor are they desired -- this is a place for a bunch of artists to just get together and jam.

Wait a minute. So is this a group of people, or just one guy?

Man, I wish this question was less complicated. We're unincorporated, so we technically don't exist as a legal entity. There's currently a staff of three, and a show happens when we either hold auditions or call up a bunch of colleagues and say "You want to make some theatre?" If I never write a show again, the company ceases to exist. So in that respect, I'm the driving force. But our process is usually a collaborative one. Whatever Maximum Verbosity is, it's bigger than I am.

This question has grown progressively more complicated over the last year -- as we're all in our early twenties, the members of the original troupe have largely gone their separate ways. Shows are somehow still being produced, however, so it's become an evolving organism that's increasingly difficult to define.

I don't get it.

Y'know what? I really don't, either. It's best not to think too much about it. At the end of the day, the title "Maximum Verbosity" is nothing more than words. But if Maximum Verbosity is about anything, it's about the idea that words are important.

And what's this site all about?

Whenever we're producing a show, you'll find all of the relevant information here. You can also find my resume and some script samples, if that's your idea of a good time.

I have an awesome script. Will you guys produce it?

I dunno. Let me see it first. So far I've written everything we've done -- the company was originally conceived of as a vehicle for my own work -- but I'm extremely eager to try anything new. Who knows?

Mission Statement

...appears at the top of the page. I wrote an essay about its creation for our five-year anniversary show. There's also a series of essays about Theatre and Theology I wrote for the Minnesota Fringe in July of 2006, that comes as close to a manifesto as anything I've ever done.