THE DOPE ELF (2019-2021)

The Dope Elf as performed at Yale Union in 2019 where actors lived on set and audiences followed the action as it developed over the first three plays. The plays follow the lives of humans who move between worlds, the unseen and seen America, informed by European myths of supernatural greatness that eat away and malform the characters, who are shifting multiples of desire, deadness, and internalized horror. With Michael Bonnabel, Zut Lorz, Philip Littell, Joe Seely, and Jacqueline Wright.

Elves, trolls, magicians, and infectious agents of Europe’s historical disease come to life in the form of ordinary American folk who inhabit a landscape of psychic pain set upon the structures of white supremacy and violence.

Gawdafful National Theater’s most ambitious piece to date, The Dope Elf is a six hour tragic-comic saga of the lives of American otherworldly-everyday people whose souls have been deformed by the legacies of white supremacy. Meaninglessness, dissociation, unsatisfied lusting for power, partial orgasms and workplace blah underscore this serial jaunt through white power’s psychic legacy. In this clip, The Dope Elf, played by Jacqueline Wright, performs “Buckwild,” the elf’s admission of who she is and the power she wields.

Written and directed by Asher Hartman

Pictured: Jacqueline Wright; Costume by Sofia Benito.
Photos and video: Ian Byers-Gamber

Performances
Yale Union, Portland, OR, September—October 2019
The Lab, San Francisco, CA, October 2021. Live and in a series of 6 films made during before and just right after the first vaccines.

Set design for the Yale Union performances by Nina Caussa, Aubree Lynn, Nic Gaby, Brian Getnick, and Trulee Hall. Robes and masks by Brian Getnick, constructed by Nikii Henry. Day costumes by Sofia Benito. Lighting by Chu-Hsuan Chang. Production and stage management by Roz Naimi.

Cast: Michael Bonnabel, Philip Littell, Zut Lorz, Paul Outlaw, Joe Seely, and Jacqueline Wright.

Paul Outlaw in The Dope Elf

Paul Outlaw, as Dirk/Cornhen, sits beside robes and masks by Brian Getnick in The Dope Elf at Yale Union.

Zut Lorz, Philip Littell and Joe Seely

Lorz, Littell and Joe Seely in sets by Brian Getnick, Nic Gaby, and Joe Seely.

Trulee Hall's Dope Elf house

Trulee Hall’s masterful abode created for The Dope Elf.

The Magician's house by Nic Gaby

Nic Gaby’s home for The Magician played by Joe Seely, built of dozens specially created rectangular structures, light, found materials, with Joe's magic table.

Michael Bonnabel and Paul Outlaw

Michael Bonnabel in one of Alfred’s alter ego with Paul Outlaw’s Cornhen playing his alter Dirk, the actor.

Michael Bonnabel and Paul Outlaw

Michael and Paul as seen through Aubree Lynn’s set.

Jacqueline Wright as The Dope Elf

Jacqueline Wright as The Dope Elf in the sequence “Bodysnatch Lane.”

Alfred and John frightened by Gingy

Michael Bonnabel and Philip Littell are frightened by their neighbor Gingy the Troll played by Zut Lorz, rolling toward them in her crib home by Brian Getnick.

The Dope Elf capes

Capes designed by Brian Getnick, built by Getnick and Nikii Henry.

Michael Bonnabel as Alfred

Michael Bonnabel as King Elf, Alfred, costume by Brian Getnick.

The Littell Man

Philip Littell as the dangerous American salesman, The Little Man.

Joe Seely as The Magician

Joe Seely as The Magician in costume Brian Getnick and Sofia Benito.

Gingy and The Dog

Philip Littell as the hellhound aspect of his character John and Zut Lorz as The Troll.

Jacqueline Wright as The Dope Elf

Jacqueline Wright as the elf in her natural habitat of urban corn.

Joe Seely, Zut Lorz, Jacqueline Wright, Michael Bonnabel and Philip Littell rehearse for The Dope Elf in our Alhambra studio, 2019. Photography by Ian Byers-Gamber.

Reviews of The Dope Elf

Fox, Michael, “Now Playing! Gawdafful National Theater Acts Out at The Lab,” KQED, The Do List, June 24, 2021.

https://www.kqed.org/arts/13899338/now-playing-gawdafful-national-theatre-acts-out-at-the-lab

Quick, Genevieve, “In Tackling White Patriarchy ‘The Dope Elf’ Erodes Life-Fiction Boundaries,’ 48 Hills, October 6, 2021.

https://48hills.org/2021/10/in-onstage-tackling-of-white-patriarchy-the-dope-elf-erodes-life-fiction-boundaries/

Choksi, Neha, “It is Dense and Bears Repetition: Notes on Rehearsals of Asher Hartman’s The Dope Elf “

https://www.riting.org/post/628657034325295104/it-is-dense-and-bears-repetition-notes-on

Cohlmia, Kyle, “The Dope Elf considers white power,” Oregon Arts Watch, October 28, 2019

https://www.orartswatch.org/performance-review-the-dope-elf-considers-power/

Daghlian, Martha, “TBA Report: aggressive whimsy, meditative chaos, kinetic violin,” Oregon Arts Watch, September 17, 2019.

https://www.orartswatch.org/reports-from-tba-aggressive-whimsey-meditative-chaos-and-kinetic-violin/

McLaughlin, Laurel V., “The Dope Elf at Yale Union,” Art Practical, November 6, 2019

https://www.artpractical.com/review/the-dope-elf-at-yale-union/

Herron Root, Raechel, “Shining a Light on Portland’s Art Scene: 10 Exciting Venues in the Rose City,” Hyperallergic, October 22, 2019

https://hyperallergic.com/522955/shining-a-light-on-portlands-art-scene-10-exciting-venues-in-the-rose-city/

The Dope Elf (2019/2020) FULL

THE DOPE ELF (2019-2021)

Elves, trolls, magicians, and infectious agents of Europe’s historical disease come to life in the form of ordinary American folk who inhabit a landscape of psychic pain set upon the structures of white supremacy and violence.