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Welcome to Yuba City is exactly what you’d expect from Pig Iron, Philly’s most renowned, daring and unique experimental theatre company – that is to say, it’s completely unexpected. The performance is at The Hub, the Live Arts & Philly Fringe Festival’s epicenter, and to get to your seats you have to cross Yuba City’s warehouse-sized set, strolling across a truck stop parking lot off a dessert highway before taking a seat in front of the town diner. The sprawling set and huge space instantly made me feel like I had stepped out of Northern Liberties and into a vast cactus-dotted expanse.

As soon as the lights went up and a troupe of bizarre cowboys started philosophizing, dancing, and singing, the actors’ energy seemed to transmit itself to the sold-out crowd, and the whole place was crackling with an electricity that much brighter than flickering neon sign in the set’s parking lot. Pig Iron’s signature is their magical mix of drama, dance, clowning, music, and song, and Yuba City is replete with all of them. The “story,” as much as there is one, weaves together the myths of the American South West. It follows the inhabitants of a small desert town as they pass through the local diner. Characters include cowboys, aliens, Indian mystics, waitresses, mysterious black-suited agents, bickering couples, and (my favorite) a trio of flamboyant Italian bicyclists. The stories are fun, but the real joy of watching the show comes from the physical comedy and sheer brilliance of the choreography, wit, songs, costumes, and striking juxtapositions that bring the characters to life.

Of course, the cast is insanely talented, featuring James Sugg, Dito Van Reigersberg, Sarah Sanford, Geoff Sobelle, and others. There are cowboys. There are clowns. There is a lot of stick-on facial hair. There’s an alien dance party. And, though I couldn’t catch a glimpse of him, there’s supposedly an invisible jackalope who dines all day on pie! If you’re ready for some adventure, snag yourself a one-way ticket to Yuba City. And after your done seeing one of the hits of this year’s festival, step outside the theatre and right into the Festival Bar. The bar is filled with art installations, vintage couches, dessert decorations, and cheap drinks, and morphs into a DJ-fueled dance party as the night goes on!

Welcome to Yuba City
Pig Iron Theatre Company
September 2nd – September 19th
www.livearts-fringe.org/details.cfm?id=6849