The Missoula Oblongata profile picture

The Missoula Oblongata

About Me

We are a touring theatre company that performs original, experimental work. We were formed in the frigid Montana winter of 2005. Since then, here are some nice things that people have said about us or that have happened to us:
“Top Ten Productions” -- 2006 Montreal Fringe Festival
“Best of the Fringe”-- See Magazine (Edmonton, AB)
"It's like arts and crafts on crack...like a bunch of summer camp counselors performing a fairy tale with a set designed by deeply disturbed scrap-bookers...It was a kick-ass, amazing performance." --The Seattlest
"Bizarrely frolicsome, cogently playful, sweetly surreal...Such is the genius of The Missoula Oblongata--quirky, but also exquisitely made and elegantly presented."-- The Santa Fe Reporter
"The romance of vaudeville, the adrenaline of punk, and the playfulness of the Children's Television Workshop...packing the house with theatre buffs as well as with those who tend to fidget in velvet seats." --St. Louis Magazine
"An ingenious musical playlet"-- The Knoxville Voice
“Twisted and beautiful…the stage is transformed into a place of magic again and again. 4.5 stars (out of 5).” – Edmonton Sun
“Gorgeous, poetic, funny, moving…I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it.” --The Urbana News-Gazette
"The 50 Greatest Ladies and Gentlemen kind of blew my mind. [The Missoula Oblongata's] shows are a tender mix of the charmingly fantastical and painful, raw emotion. It's cute and wacky at the same time it's exploring the painful ways in which war and ideas of self-worth affect the average person. I can wholeheartedly recommend it." --The Sun Break (Seattle)
"In The Missoula Oblongata's case, all signs point to an art form full of wonder that is not dying, one that long ago broke down the fourth wall and continues to be a transforming influence in a thriving arts community."-- The Valley Advocate
“I don’t want to say that it was the best show I’ve ever gone to, as that would be a disservice to a lifetime of wonderful memories, formative moments and transcendent, cathartic, or historical experiences. But it is safe to say that I have never been to a show at which I was so absolutely and thoroughly delighted. I absolutely, without a doubt, 100% could not have loved it any more.” –Fujichia.com
"The surreal and the unexpected intersect in The Last Hurrah of the Clementines...really inventive, really weird, smart, and different."-- The Seattle Weekly
“Witty writing and sharp acting…This visual delight is well-suited to its venue—a steamy boxing ring—and ideal for those not concerned with finding immediate, literal meaning. A-List.”—City Pages Minneapolis
“For a traveling three-person show, it's a play with a surprising breadth of vaudevillian pageantry...The most charming original production of the year...One of a Dozen Defining Arts Moments of 2006” – The Missoula Independent
"Playfully disorienting dialogue and amusingly low-budget set design...charming and even somewhat profound, thanks to the strength of the songs and the inventiveness of the writing."--Baltimore City Paper
“The Missoula Oblongata--whose last play moved even this cynical theater-hater-- prides itself on its "aggressively inventive and experimental" approach to theater. And while that may sound pretentious and a bit daunting, it's anything but.” –The Willamette Week
FOR BOOKING AND PRESS INQUIRIES, PLEASE E-MAIL BECKY RENFROW AT: [email protected]

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 16/06/2006
Band Website: www.themissoulaoblongata.com
Band Members: Immediate family: Madeline ffitch, Sarah Lowry, Donna Sellinger. Extended family: C. Leo Gebhardt IV, Travis Sehorn, Nick Stocks, Peter Dolan, Robert O'Brien.
Influences: The Marx Brothers, Maurice Sendak, Tove Jansson, Paula Vogel, The Shuttlecoque Sporting Hour, The New Enthusiast Movement, Rube Goldberg, The Nonsense Company, and The Suitcase Royale.
Sounds Like: Prime numbers, Morse Code, Tarantism, The World's Fair, Chocolate Eclairs, The Animal Kingdom, Sending Eggs to Outer Space, Containers That Are More Precious Than the Things Which They Contain, A Meteor Hitting the Earth and Everybody Dying.
Type of Label: Major

My Blog

Life goes on, people get Facebook accounts

Hello. This is just a formal announcement that we have a Facebook account. All of our tour dates will still and forever be posted on this, our MySpace account, until such time as Facebook makes it pos...
Posted by on Thu, 17 Sep 2009 08:50:00 GMT

Our updated website is up!

Thanks to the lovely and southern Dina Kelberman, we now have website that actually reflects the present-day! And it looks great, too. Visit www.themissoulaoblongata.comAs usual. But this time it's...
Posted by on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:47:00 GMT

A booking agent! What will happen?

Hello friends! This blog entry is to say that we now have someone handling our booking and press stuff for us! Hurray! We are so happy with this new situation so far! The company's name is Future Now ...
Posted by on Fri, 26 Dec 2008 23:18:00 GMT

You can Buy Tickets Here and Now to Our August 20th Seattle Show !

Tickets to Our Seattle Show at Theater Off Jackson on August 20th are on sale now at Brown Paper Tickets. Follow this link and tell your friends to follow this link:http://www.brownpapertickets.com/e...
Posted by on Fri, 20 Jun 2008 11:14:00 GMT

Electronic press kit! Also, Press release!

Hi!Please click below for our general press kit:http://www.themissoulaoblongata.com/Missoula_Oblangata_e pk.pdfOr, click here for the generic press release for "The Last Hurrah of the Clementines":http...
Posted by on Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:20:00 GMT

Valley Advocate cover story!

We are the cover story of the Valley Advocate today.  Read the article at http://www.valleyadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=7556
Posted by on Wed, 23 Apr 2008 07:42:00 GMT

Now we are on YouTube! Watch us for 5 whole minutes!

Hello! The short demo thing for "The Wonders of the World: Recite" is now on YouTube. You can view it by clicking here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R26sEvzbSUEIt was filmed and edited by the amazi...
Posted by on Tue, 25 Mar 2008 09:09:00 GMT

Donna directs Jurassic Park!

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Posted by on Thu, 21 Feb 2008 13:32:00 GMT

Read an article about us in the Baltimore City Paper!

We have arrived at the New Enthusiasm series at the Baltimore Theater project, and are performing for the next few days with each best pal. There is an article about us in the citypaper, and if you f...
Posted by on Thu, 21 Jun 2007 09:48:00 GMT

We have a website now! (no offense, MySpace)

Go to www.themissoulaoblongata.com to see our new website that looks like a box that a cake comes in, but is actually only concerned with serious art (ours) that means something.
Posted by on Fri, 20 Apr 2007 18:02:00 GMT