Last week, we showed you inside the major Capitol Hill theater and development project opening this fall at 12th Ave Arts. One of the companies that will be resident in the 12th Ave Arts theater facilities is looking for community support for the high-concept live theater special effects planned as part of its first show in the Studio Theater. The $3,210 pitch from the Washington Ensemble Theatre is above. You can learn more and pitch in here:

In January 2015, The Ensemble will open the 12th Ave Arts building with the world premiere of Josh Conkel’s darkly hilarious Sprawl. Cornish alum and writer of The Ensemble’s eighth season smash success Milk, Milk, Lemonade, Conkel’s Sprawl nestles a group of friends and frenemies in a Washington suburban model home for a book club meeting only to have them witness the brutally campy end of the world. Part Mars Attacks and part Serial Mom, Sprawl reminds us that beneath suburban tranquility there are nasty secrets that are wickedly laughable. This production continues and expands The Ensemble’s legacy of big, wild design elements as it requires flying alien insects, battle robots, and crystals that sprout from the ground before our eyes! The questions is: how do we make this playwright’s vision come to life in the most thrilling way possible for our community? This November, the Ensemble will spend a week in a warehouse space experimenting with giant puppets, remote control robots, and motion capture video projection technology. Our goal is to develop new methods of integrating cutting-edge technology with existing theatre traditions, and we can’t do it without your help! With $3,000, we’ll be able to pay for the space, purchase robots, small drones, and reimburse our artists for their time.