Agile Rascal Bicycle Touring Theatre

This August, Agile Rascal Artistic Director Dara Silverman will be heading up to New Hampshire for a residency at to continue working on the script for GHOSTRIDE for a possible remount.

After the success of GHOSTRIDE in 2024, it was clear there is so much more life in this piece. But there is also more work to be done to keep excavating the complexity, rage and compassion the piece holds.

MacDowell, with its bucolic landscapes, perfect (seeming) blend of community and solitude, and its ludicrous list of ‘who’s who’ former residents (along with plenty of probably equally-talented bread-and-butter artists you’ve never heard of) will hopefully be the perfect place to dig into this work.

Thank you to for the opportunity

I have never written a play that skimmed so close to real life before, and where it touched - the streets of Philadelphia, the world of messengers, the life of Pablo, the Avendano family - are the places the piece seemed to find root, find earth, find sky. The parts of the play that were imagined - what happens after one leaves their physical body - are where the play touched air, space and sky.

Thank you to all who helped join earth and sky.

When I first started working on GHOST RIDE, a play on bikes that followed its lead into the afterlife, I had so many concerns. Would the audience “get” it? Would it feel flippant to have a play about something so serious be set on a ride? But from the audience response, both in person and in the comments for fringe, it’s clear that our audience connected with the work, both form and content, in a deep way.

Ghost Ride was not only Agile Rascal’s first Fringe play, it was also our very first project here Philadelphia, where Artistic Director, Dara Silverman, moved in 2021.
With an already vibrant ecosystem of wildly creative, crustily DIY, and collectively and community focused artists, Philly has been the perfect place to land and put down roots.

One of the most meaningful parts of this project has been hearing from those impacted by traffic violence about how they experienced the play and what it meant to them. Although we can never get back those we love, or undo the impact of our unsafe streets, it’s beautiful to know that we could be some small part of their healing process.

Okay, nobody likes a bragger, but we were just so incredibly moved by the kind words that people anonymously wrote in the comment section of their Fringies Ballot that we had to share. We are glowing with pride! Over the next handful of posts, we’ll share some of our favorites comments, written by the audience of GHOST RIDE. Thanks again to everyone who came out to the show, offered their feedback, and supported in a myriad of other ways.

We were joined by the Avendano family at the end of our final performance. Every step of the way through this project, from meeting them for the first time two years ago, through the final bow last weekend, has been suffusing with a strange kind of kismet. Art often has a feeling of destiny woven into the fabric of creation, but this project in particular felt like it needed to be made, needed to connect certain people, and was being guided by forces outside of ourselves as artists.

Yesterday would have been Pablo’s 41st birthday. The Avendano family keeps his spirit alive in the most sacred, devoted way. Thanks to them for being the keepers of the memory, of the story.

It’s been a little over a week since our last performance of GHOST RIDE. Over the three weekends and eleven performances, the show found its shape and cohesion, and with each performance, the performers connected more deeply with the material. We were bowled away by the interest in the project and sad to have to turn so many people away on that last weekend, but it’s clear that there’s a real desire for immersive, embodied theater on bikes, so hopefully this isn’t the last you’ve seen of this piece.
Thank you so much to everyone who came out and rode with us!

Huge thanks to , who came out last night to capture our show on video with his beautiful and skilled eye. Les rode alongside our cycling audience from the comfort of our pedicab, and after the show, he insisted on switching places to try hauling the pedicab himself!

Wow!!! This was one of my favorite moments of this whole project, when , a friend of Pablo Avenando, showed up for the ride, sporting his very own GHOST RIDE hat, made by the incredibly generous and wondrous . So moving, so sweet! Pablo truly does live on in the people who love him! ¡¡PABLO VIVE!!

GHOST RIDE is officially all sold out! We have been overwhelmed by the interest and support in this project and are doing our best to get everyone who wants to see it in.

If you missed your chance to grab a ticket, but still want to see the show, we often have cancellations and no-shows, so if you show up at the starting point, we’ll do our best to get you in.

Big thanks to all who came out for GHOST RIDE'S Opening Night! Also our deepest appreciation to those who joined us for the Dress Rehearsal and Preview performances, including the bumps in the road.

OPENING WEEKEND IS SOLD OUT! But you can still grab tickets for GHOST RIDE Sept. 12-15th and Sept. 19th-22nd! Link to tickets in bio!