WHAT A TRIP

Thaddeus Phillips has made a career out of successfully combining things that appear incompatible.

The actor, director and playwright has used toy soldiers to create a powerful antiwar statement in his one-man version of Shakespeare’s “Henry V.” “Drive-In Lost Soles” explored the Cuban revolution through the medium of tap-dancing. In “El Conquistador!” he convincingly played off of filmed characters in an avant-garde take on Hispanic telenovelas.

“Flamingo/Winnebago” — the new Phillips show that premieres Thursday at Colorado College — may be his most timely creation yet, with one of its story lines dealing with the cutting-edge issues of disappearing bees, global warming and Peak Oil, the theory that the era of cheap oil is coming to an end.

“Muni (Kulasinghe, another actor in the show) plays an Indian immigrant who runs a gas station,” Phillips said. “He notices the bees are gone from the trash cans. It’s the first thing that hits home for him about the reality of climate change.”

The character sets off across the country in a vegetable-oilpowered Winnebago, heading for Bombay Beach in California. In a diner in Kingman, Ariz., he meets Phillips’ character — a man in the throes of a midlife crisis, who’s headed for Las Vegas on a bicycle to learn about his grandfather.

That character is partly autobiographical: Phillips’ grandfather was Abe Schiller, a Las Vegas legend who was publicist for the Flamingo. Schiller was known as “the Jewish Cowboy” and was famous for his collection of flamboyant, hand-embroidered cowboy suits.

“I never knew him,” Phillips said. “My mom was the result of a one-night stand between him and a showgirl.”

Phillips calls the result an “epic theatrical road trip” — and to play up its epic qualities, the play will have a more opulent look than his other shows, which were designed to be easily transportable.

“There will be huge video things to overwhelm you, like Las Vegas,” Phillips said. Panoramic shots of the West will also help set the scene.

There’s even a 3-D video segment, with glasses provided.

“Of course, all live theater is 3-D,” Phillips said.

And the show will also feature underscoring by Kulasinghe’s band, Le Chat Lunatique, an Albuquerque-based gypsy jazz quartet.

In researching his grandfather, Phillips was surprised at how little he could find about a person who had such a well-known public persona.

“His Las Vegas is gone,” Phillips said. “Nobody there knows anything about the city’s history.”

Phillips was also struck by the visual similarity of a nuclear explosion and the implosion of the old strip hotels.

“That part of the play is based on the idea of erasing the past,” he said.

details

The Colorado College Summer Festival of the Arts Presents Thaddeus Phillips

When: 8 p.m. Thursday and July 13, 3 p.m. July 14

Where: Armstrong Theatre, 14 E. Cache la Poudre

Tickets: $15/$10 with a CC ID/$5 students; 389-6607