Hello friends,
Oh you Pig Iron connoisseur—you with a taste for adventure, for unusual side dishes, and for the mysterious proteins of the future! Spring has sprung, and we are hard at work in Philadelphia’s test kitchens for experimental performance.
The Pig Iron MFA students are cooking up clown shows and documentary theater and full-length devised works. Our newest cohort—Season 11, as they refer to themselves—recently took a trip to the Southwest to research America’s water crisis. They successfully created an ensemble piece springing from their observations and encounters in Arizona and Nevada. And our recently graduated cohort served up Catapult, a new work to culminate their training and launch themselves into the world.
This month, our first NEH Institute, Preserving and Transmitting American Ensemble-Based Theatre, will gather 25 participants from all over the country and faculty from all over the world this summery for a potluck of scholarship that aims to reclaim the history and impact of devised theatre. We received nearly 100 applications for the two-week residential program, a sign to us that Pig Iron’s multi-decade deep dive into experimental performance is more resonant than ever.
The burners are still hot after a sold-out Fringe run this fall of Josephine Decker’s unsettling, critically acclaimed The Path of Pins or the Path of Needles. On the horizon, we’re prepping the ingredients for some new works for children and families, plus some exciting pilots in our Digital, Film, and Interactive initiative.
So we are still cooking! But we need oven mitts, meat thermometers, and an ever-growing number of bespoke spatulas in order to keep making the unusual art you know and love. So please, if you can, send us some tax deductible support so these palettes and palates can stay moist.
Deliciously yours,
Dan and Quinn
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Here are two honest-to-goodness recipes adapted by our foodie co-founders Quinn and Dan. Managing Director Jasmine Jiang test prepped them for the office, set decorated for the photoshoot, and confirmed their Bon Appetit-worthy tastiness. If you try these at home, please send pics!
QUINN’S BALINESE LONG BEAN RECIPE
Ingredients:
- 1-2 lbs of Balinese long beans
- 5-8 shallots
- 5 Lombok red peppers
- 1/3 cup shredded coconut
- Makrut lime leaves, thinly sliced
- 3 tbsp palm sugar
- Neutral oil
- Dried shallots or dried onions
- Salt & pepper (to taste)
Instructions:
- Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Trim the ends of the long beans, cut them in half, and boil for 3-4 minutes. Drain the beans in a colander and cut into 1/2cm length pieces.
- Thinly slice the shallots and sauté at relatively high heat in 1-2 tablespoons of oil until they reach a deep and rich dark color. Salt and add to a bowl with the beans.
- Slice the Lombok peppers in half lengthwise and remove seeds. Thinly slice and sauté in the oil. Add to the bowl. Say quietly, “yes. hotness. yes.”
- Add 2-3 tablespoons of oil to the same pan and toast the coconut, on moderate heat. Add to the bowl.
- Add sliced Makrut leaves, lime juice, and palm sugar into the bowl and mix very well together. Add juice, sugar, salt, and pepper to taste
- Top with dried shallots. Feel sense of accomplishment. Serve, gracefully.
DAN’S BANANA BREAD RECIPE
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup butter, melted & cooled
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup light brown sugar (packed)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 2tsp pure vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup Greek yogurt
- 4 ripe bananas(smashed)
- 1 1/2 cup whole wheat or spelt flour
- 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 cup raw millet, rinsed chocolate chips (add to taste)
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease and flour two 8×4 inch loaf pans and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together butter, oil, sugars, and eggs until thoroughly incorporated. Whisk in the vanilla, yogurt, and bananas. Set aside, without fanfare.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flours, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Stir in millet.
- Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the well and fold the batter together. Scrape that bottom! Sing a little tune.
- Divide the batter in half, then layer in thin layers of batter into each prepared pan. Lay chocolate chunks between each layer.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely.