DOG POWERED ROBOT!

Dog Powered Robot is a live theatrical production featured at both the 2010 and 2011 Orlando International Fringe Theater Festival. The show was created and developed by Evan Miga and his company, Miga Me, based in Orlando, Florida. The performance presents a world as it might appear through a child's imagination, using actors in cardboard robot suits to act out the child's fantasies. As the title suggests, the star of the show is a giant blue robot with a dog in its chest serving as the power source.

 

THE ORIGINS OF DOG POWERED ROBOT

The concept for Dog Powered Robot began as a three-minute performance piece that was part of the Creative Mind Experiment, a bigger, more serious-minded talent show at the 2010 Orlando International Fringe Theater Festival. In the original version, Dog Powered Robot interrupted a somber soliloquy on big-city life and smashed a cardboard city with a driving techno beat as backup. The audience response was enthusiastic, so Miga decided to turn it into a full-length show, Dog Powered Robot and the History of the Future, the following year. Check out the original Dog Powered Robot production on our videos page.

RECEPTION

Prior to the show's debut on May 20, 2011, Orlando Weekly featured Dog Powered Robot and the History of the Future in a preview piece, listing the show as one of Orlando Fringe's "Best Bets and Wild Cards." Writer Seth Kubersky predicted, "Only at the Fringe could last year's one-note gag become a full-fledged play. Can the concept sustain itself for 50 minutes? Oh, who cares? It's. A. Pomeranian. In. A. Robot. Suit. There's your 10 bucks right there."


Dog Powered Robot and the History of the Future received praise from local theater critics, mostly for the use of "high-tech low-tech" audio and visual effects. Orlando Weekly called the show "the most ridiculously radical sugar-rush you'll see on stage this Fringe," comparing the performance to "punk-rock children's theater for the post-anime generation." The review also notes that "… the real star of the show (other than its heartbreaking cute Pomeranean star) is the astoundingly awful/awesome production values, which fuse cardboard boxes, obsolete electronic detritus, and old-fashioned overhead transparencies into a candy-coated carnival of kindergarten craziness."


The Orlando Sentinel praised the script and story, calling it over-the-top sci-fi cheese," adding that " the words are just there to support the visual nonsense on stage — black lights, dancers, the destruction of Cardboard City by colossal robot."


Orlando theater critic Elizabeth Maupin noted in her blog Elizabeth Maupin on Theater that Bateman's performance as Mr. No Bones is "a stitch and a physiological wonder," but points out that the show's main character is "nearly upstaged by this show's technological masterpieces – the profusion of robots and projections that populate this corner of the world."

 

AWARDS

Fabby Awards, presented by the Orlando International Fringe Festival Audience Choice Awards, presented by TheDailyCity.com Orlando Weekly Best of Orlando

 

 

CLICK HERE TO SEE WHAT ELSE PEOPLE ARE SAYING

"[My] particular two year old loved it and Lily is officially obsessed!"
- Andy Matchett, DPR Patron

"[My daughter] now talks about robots more than princesses, which is really saying something."
- Andy Matchett, DPR Patron

"This needs its own children's show- I can see it now!"
- DPR Patron

"Seeing Dog Powered Robot was like being 10 again, hyped up off 6 bowls of sugar-packed cereal and watching Saturday Morning Cartoons."
- DPR Patron

"Cardboard artistry"
- DPR Patron

"Were you at Dog Powered Robot today? I was. It was amazabulous - new word! I think that I smiled the whole time!"
- DPR Patron

"Hands down the best general audience show I have ever seen at Fringe."
- DPR Patron

"I think my brain just exploded due to sheer overload of awesomeness"
- DPR Patron

"I was like, this cannot get any nerdier....and then IT DID!!! It was AWESOME!"
- DPR Patron

"I have seen it twice and I am coming to see it AGAIN!"
- DPR Patron

"Dog Powered Robot was **cking awesome!"
- DPR Patron

"The show was fresh and fun - and the robot design was extremely creative!"
- DPR Patron

"Robots and humans alike should see Dog Powered Robot and the History of the Future Show especially if you like dogs, laughing, or have ever used cardboard!"
- Jonathan Painter, DPR Patron

"I. Loved. It."
- Tiffany Weagly, DPR Patron

"The show was awesome!!"
- Katie Forman Porter, DPR Patron

"Show was amazing last night... blew my mind!"
- Tracy Adams, DPR Patron

"I felt like I was a little kid again on Saturday morning. I didn't care what robots were good or bad, I cheered for all of them!
- DPR Patron

"...absolute smash hit! Well done"
- DPR Patron

"it was unlike anything I've ever seen."
- DPR Patron

"DOG POWERED ROBOT was right on. I am still laughing! What a wonderful concept. I can see why you guys got Patron's Pick! Please let the cast know that they have a #1 fan. If time permitted, I would see it again! I think I'll be thinking of that show for a long time. It was GREAT!!!"
- DPR Patron

"Only problem now is that the theme song has been stuck in my head ever since!"
- Tracy Adams, DPR Patron

"DPR is the most ridiculously radical sugar-rush you'll see on stage this Fringe."
- Seth Kubersky, Orlando Weekly

"With several sold-out performances under their belt already, the cast-of-thousands behind cult megahit Dog Powered Robot and the History of the Future certainly doesn't need my review to sell more tickets"
- Seth Kubersky, Orlando Weekly

"...a candy-coated carnival of kindergarten craziness"
- Seth Kubersky, Orlando Weekly

"DPR is punk-rock children's theater for the post-anime generation."
- Seth Kubersky, Orlando Weekly

"If you aren't giggling deliriously by the time giant robots start destroying their cardboard metropolis, check your pulse: you may already be dead."
- Seth Kubersky, Orlando Weekly

"Dog Powered Robot nearly conquers the world this time around."
- Elizabeth Maupin

"And just when you're musing that this production will singlehandedly save the cardboard industry, out comes Dog Powered Robot himself, and Fisher Miga steals the show from everybody else."
- Elizabeth Maupin

"Dog Powered Robot will get you too."
- Elizabeth Maupin

 

WHAT'S NEXT

Dog Powered Robot will be doing a brand new show May 2012 at the Orlando international Fringe Theater Festival. The show will be a much bigger production than previous years as it will be located in a theater that seats over 300 people. People can expect a brand new adventure with many new robots and characters.


 

ABOUT FISHER - THE POWER IN DOG POWERED ROBOT

Fisher Miga is a super smart 6 year old Pomeranian pup. He's pretty much the greatest hero that ever existed, he loves people, attention and we are convinced he has the brain of a 24 year old human. When Fisher isn't in his robot suit he enjoys sleeping, running around and riding on the back of a motor-scooter. Friend Fisher on facebook!

 

 

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