Before avant-garde theatre icon Richard Foreman passed away, he posted several of his notebooks on his website for any theatre enthusiast to direct, stage, use, etc. As a huge fan of Foreman’s work, Michael Verderber jumped at the chance to use the scraps of dialogue to create new theatre pieces in experimental and brand new ways.

Thus comes… “Throne”, one of the many Notebook sections that Verderber is taking a short stab at using object manipulation. This piece will set up a much larger and more complicated work, called “Richard Foreman’s Potatoland Paradise” (derived from multiple Notebooks and staged in Foreman’s infamous Potatoland setting). Both “Throne” and “…Potatoland Paradise” will be released online. More info coming soon!

Here is “Throne”:

Here are pics of every performer from the Textual Overture on June 12th at Hatters Beverage Company! And below is a video of “The Lady Doth Protest” play performance; the two actors Julio and Daniel were given a brand new script that they had never read, seen, nor rehearsed and were just expected to perform it! Hence, why it is called “Zero Practice”!

And here is an audience-shot filming of Roslyn’s and Bryson’s song “My White Dog”!

We have two shows scheduled in June and July! First up, we have a ton of short, weird content happening on our Tik Tok and YouTube account, so do check those out. Most recently, a performance poem called “Unconditional” and the Down Chamber Drone Day 2026 performance! The latter two can be viewed if you scroll down below this post!

Secondly, and for LIVE shows, we have a TEXTUAL OVERTURE at Hatters Beverage Company (recently voted the #1 coffee shop in Kingsville!) on the 12th at 7 pm. And on JULY 25th (this is the new date!), we will have a Premature Punchline show at the Rialto Theatre in Aransas Pass; see flyers above.

Down Chamber’s annual involvement in the world-wide Drone Day festivities has been released early on YouTube! Drone Day 2026 is officially May 30 and is now upon us! The video is now available for viewing (starting May 25_). The song is called “The Harsh Space Near the Prometheus”, in reference to the sci-fi film “Prometheus”; music was created on a Monotron DUO and a Behringer Phara-O.
Cover art by Katherine Orozco-Verderber

Other contributing artists and their locations for this world-wide event can be seen here. You can find ZU/Down Chamber under the “Kingsville, TX” section on the EVENTS page.
https://droneday.org/events.html

Not a listed or numbered production in our catalog, however, this is a newly-filmed version of the performance poem “Unconditional” written, directed, and performed by Michael Verderber. Camera and Director of Photography was Katherine Orozco-Verderber for this quick little project. This was originally performed years ago at a Textual Overture and was published by Transcendent Zero Press in Houston.

Our great friends at the Equity Library Theater of New York has added our filmed play “The Absence of Everything” by Katherine Orozco-Verderber and starring Daniel Rodriguez to their site! Their site is a go-to resource for several fantastic theatre productions, festivals, readings, and events in the New York area and beyond.

Do check our their upcoming summer festivals and shows like “Overtones” and “Oh Francis”, and of course “The Absence of Everything” here now: www.pineyforkpress.com
If you keep scrolling you will see our previous award-winning productions with them: “Epitaph By Moonlight” and “Unending Repetition / Treason” from previous festivals.

Our film “Echo” has been selected for the ICJ Award 2026 in Ukraine! More information coming soon, but see the screenshot for the information we DO have.

Whelp, it looks like wherever the cast of “Death In The Aisles” go, mysterious murders are sure to follow… oh, wait, that’s the point. Well, in this revival of DITA, the cast and crew showed up to the Rialto Theatre in Aransas Pass, TX, for a murder at an old lady’s cookie shop and then a rich man’s malibu beach house. For this one-day revival, playing the suspects were Scara West, Julio Martinez, Stephanie Wright and the investigator was Katherine Orozco-Verderber.

Zero Untitled’s official submission inspired by the “2026 Water, TX Film Festival” call for films is a bleak work called “Echo”, written by Katherine Orozco-Verderber, conceived and directed by Michael Verderber, with the Director of Photography, Julio Martinez. All entrants to the festival should have a heavy focus on “water” as a topic in the film submission. ZU is going the ironic route, but we were not accepted into that particular festival. It has since been submitted elsewhere.

Utilizing the bunraku puppeteering skills of Dakota West, Martinez, and Verderber, the short film focuses on a crane (recently used in “My Friend, Mr. Crane”) searching his habitat for something edible in the water. Only problem – there is no water left. The film is a scathing indictment on water issues arising in south Texas, as well as mankind’s negative effect on animal habitats.

Director – Michael Verderber
Words – Katherine Orozco-Verderber
Storyboarding and Director of Photography – Julio Martinez
Bunraku Puppeteers – Dakota West, Julio Martinez, Michael Verderber
Camera – Katherine Orozco-Verderber
Music – Down Chamber “Through the Forest Lies Treachery” and “Echo Theme”

The film is now viewable on YouTube and was submitted to the “2026 Water, Tx Festival”.

Our show interactive show “Attempting Bunraku” is BACK! Or is it BunrAKu? The next performance will be at the Texas State Museum of Asian Culture as part of Japan Day on March 14! We will do multiple shows starting at 1:00 pm with breaks in between performances.

Below are some photos from recent performances. See you on the second floor of the museum!