It is difficult to remember the greatness of Nihilator.
The namesake dominant harness racing horse has their own page on Wikipedia. Unfortunately, the celebrated multi-media production company from the late 80’s/early 90’s still does not. Let us hope some brave soul (or frikkin ai) uses this legend as a primary source to set the record straight.
The idea of producing theater at an elite university somewhere in the greater Chicago metropolitan area was brewing for some time when the founding members found themselves in New Jersey. It gathering at a mutual friend’s mom’s house Christmas Break..
I know it was Christmas break, because the musical director of Nihilator reminded me clearly when I shared an earlier draft of this inspiring content.
Wandering a leafy suburban New Jersey sidewalks (on Christmas Break), someone (was it Sean ? was it someone else? … Sean is not in the rest of the story…or is he?) noticed a VHS videotape lying on the ground with the title “Nihilator“.
Whoever spotted it first, it was definitely in a snow bank, on Christmas Break. It was maybe or maybe not found in between a train and a friend’s house by someone named Sean.
Let us continue…
The mystery was “Nihilator.” Was this a heavy metal band ? A bizarre low budget sci-fi movie? The label was not hand written but clearly not a high production affair. There was no one in sight to whom this treasure could be returned. Collectively, the fearless founders took the tape back to their friends mom’s house.
The friends watched the VHS tape in fascination as the realization slowly dawned on them this was a tribute tape for a horse. A truly magnificent horse whose career was apparently already over. The phrase “it is difficult to remember…” repeated itself throughout the tribute although this magnificent creature’s career had only just ended. It was a labor of love.
When the time came to produce the first original script after securing approval from official University Theater authorities, the name of the ensemble was not in question. It was Nihilator.
Substantial portions of the debut script were written by two authors working as dishwashers in the kitchen of a summer camp in Maine.
This was a kosher summer camp kitchen run by an ex military person who was not themself Jewish but fully enforced the strict separation of knives, forks, spoons, plates, bowls, pots and pans used for either meat or dairy. It was always a relief when the menu called for pareve.
The script was surreal, literate, clever, funny, entertaining, and a LOT of words. The eventual production was brilliant. Technically it was what you might expect from the type of people who would embrace joining an ensemble known as Nihilator with limited theatrical experience.
Surprisingly, or not, in its short run, the crowds were large and enthusiastic. Nihilator had tapped into something far more interesting for a general audience than an average student production of an average Ibsen play.
The third wall was beyond smashed, it was demolished. In the spirit of improvisation, one of the authors was physically removed from a performance by his co-author for heckling at his own production. Nihilator was meta theater…very meta.
It was all great except for one thing. The Gravy.
One scene whose symbolism is debatable to this very day required the tossing of gravy on stage by trees whose only costume was a small sign that read “I’m a tree”.
The “trees” were a chorus in the great tradition of greek theater. They were at various times “a tree” and at other times “not a tree” and other times an “armadillo.” You would have to read the script not provided here for full context…but the idea here.
So the script was obviously brilliant, but not one of these brilliant minds thought to use stage gravy instead of real gravy. This is what the Greeks like to call “Hubris.”
Real gravy is fatty and can stain expensive velvet curtains. Which it did. Nihilator left its mark on university theater in so many ways, record crowds and gravy stained curtains being two of them.
Repairing the curtains was not cheap, although the unprecedented box office receipts probably covered most of the cost. However, working on the main stage was no longer an option.
As luck would have it there were many other venues available after Nihilator reorganized as an official student organization at the behest of one of the more motivated and organized producers.
What followed was a series of avant-garde showcases attracting a dedicated audience to showcase original art, music, poetry and many performances that defied categorization. The problem was these shows cost actual money which was in short supply. Then, one of the more motivated and organized producers had a brilliant funding idea: “Let’s join student government.”
Student government controlled the funding for student organizations and low and behold, at the next election, not one, not two, but three Nihilator folk were elected. The duties were mostly boring but carried out faithfully in the spirit of good citizenship.
The real gravy was in the great tradition of Chicago politics, as additional (modest) funding was secured for their continuing antics and artistic endeavors.
In addition to the showcase format, there was a yearly all hands on deck “multi-media” extravaganza format to highlight the troupe based on what could generously be called a loosely connected narrative. These extravaganzas did not rely on wordy clever scripts, it was all about the spectacle.
Memorably ten dollars of the student government funding went to a punk anthropologist artist person who insisted they should offer raw meat to any and all audience members who wished to partake. There were precious few partakers and perhaps none of them knew exactly what they were taking. Happily, no one ever complained about meat juice staining the expensive carpets in the ersatz performance space.
As these things go, all of the ensemble graduated, many if not most with honors and distinction in academics and none for participation in Nihilator.
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