The story’s the thing for PigPen Theatre Co.

Just ask how the seven artists came up with that nom de porcine.

“One of the guys is from Austin, Texas,” Ryan Melia began. “So it was rural and there was a lot of farmland. And he actually had a pigpen where he would do plays with all of his pigs. And he outgrew that, and the pigs outgrew that as well.

“And he went to college and he met six people whose characteristics matched each of the pigs. So he decided, ‘You know, guys, I think I have this thing that you would really fit into, it’s called PigPen Theatre Co.’ And we all for some reason agreed. We all took to it, and now we’re here.

“That’s the story today,” Melia said and laughed during a call as the indie folk-rockers motored toward Charlotte, N.C., for a show.

Part of that prologue is true.

“We all met when we were freshmen at Carnegie Mellon; we were all acting majors,” he said.

It was 2008, and the guys put together a play for an annual festival at the university.

Since then, the troupe has produced original works that combine theater, music and film both off-Broadway and at regional playhouses around the country. PigPen Theatre Co. is the first group to win the New York City Fringe Festival’s top honor two years in a row.

“We really just did [our 2012 debut disc, ‘Bremen’] because people who knew us already were asking for the music from our plays, and we had no way of giving it to them,” Melia said. “The fact that it garnered a little bit of traction with people that had never seen our plays, that’s been the biggest reward.”

The band’s 2013 EP, “The Way I’m Running,” is filled with more gorgeous harmonies, banjo-picking, acoustic guitars and accordion.

What’s more, the renaissance men have served up scene-stealing online covers of Adele’s “Someone Like You,” Outkast’s “Hey Ya,” The Looking Glass’ “Brandy,” Fleetwood Mac’s “Go Your Own Way” and The Beatles’ “When I’m Sixty-Four.”

“That was a Kickstarter reward if people gave a certain amount of money for [‘Bremen’], they could request a cover and we had to do it,” said Melia, who sings and plays guitar, banjo and fiddle. “Sometimes we pull them out and do them in concert.”

PigPen Theatre Co. — Melia, Alex Falberg, Arya Shahi, Ben Ferguson, Curtis Gillen, Dan Weschler and Matt Nuernberger — will play at 8 p.m. April 11 at The Ark in Ann Arbor. Tickets are $15. Doors open at 7:30 p.m.

“Even though when we do a concert there’s no real theatrics It’s a pretty straightforward concert setting. I think that we all still go back to the idea of a story and a journey and a fully fleshed-out story basically coming through with each song,” Melia said.

“If people can come away with an idea that they listened to something that wasn’t just the same the whole time, that dynamically a journey happened, I’d say that’s probably the most important thing to us in everything we do.”

Consider the life of the supervillain. These are not individuals who believe in taking any half-measures. More often than not, their goal is nothing less than world domination. They hatch grandiose schemes designed to accomplish diabolical ends on a daily basis. For pete’s sake, the word “villain” is right there in their job title. These are people who go big or go home.

How tragic it is that they inevitably end up getting the snot beaten out of them by their superheroic opponents.

“You’re talking about guys that always lose,” said Matthew Senreich, co-creator of “Robot Chicken,” in an interview with Toledo Free Press. “These guys never win. What’s that do to your ego and self-esteem after years of abuse?”

“And those guys have to go to work together,” added actor and fellow “Chicken” co-creator Seth Green. “Every f***ing day… and look at each other, and know they’re going to lose again,” Senreich added.

It must be disheartening, to consistently fail at what is the sole goal of your entire existence. And at the end of the day, all supervillains have to fall back on is one another. God help them.

“They suffer through each other’s failings, and all these grand personalities,” Green said.

“People who believe they’re the star of their own show,” Senreich added.

Villains in paradise

Well, for once, the bad guys will actually be the stars. On April 6 at 11:30 pm, “Robot Chicken” will air its second DC Comics special, subtitled “Villains in Paradise.” While Superman, Batman and their ilk are still well-represented in the episode, the focus is mainly on Lex Luthor, the Joker, Gorilla Grodd and other inept baddies as they end up taking an unplanned (though richly deserved) trip to the beach.

Taking the outskirts of pop culture and examining the underlying realities of it — to hilarious effect — is a big part of “Robot Chicken’s” modus operandi. About to enter its seventh season, the stop-motion-animation series was created by Green — already famous for his work on “Family Guy,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and more — and Senreich in 2005. It’s consistently been the highest-rated original series on Cartoon Network’s late-night Adult Swim lineup.

“Chicken,” a sketch comedy show using animated action figures, prides itself on a rapid-fire, absurdist form of comedy in which anything and everything can happen. It’s a realm in which DC’s rogues gallery feels right at home.

“I think it’s because villains rarely get the spotlight, and to dive into why these people do what they do, what their normal days are like,” Senreich said. “I always say it’s taking the absurd and making it mundane, in a way. It’s just putting that into the real world, I think, just shines that light and makes it funny. A scene like, Lex Luthor going to a supermarket, just in concept, is funny.”

Where the DC specials differ from the traditional “Robot Chicken” episodes is their construction. While the usual “Chicken” runs for less than 15 minutes and features anywhere from 10-20 quick, unrelated sketches, the DC shows — like previous “Star Wars” specials on “Robot Chicken” — have some semblance of story structure and narrative underneath the madness.

“We write the specials the way that we write the show, which is to get a group of writers together whose voices we like and focus them in a single direction,” Green said. “Everybody generates dozens and dozens of sketches and then we go through as a group and vote on what makes the most sense.

“And we tried to outline what we thought was going to be a through line — we had a strong sense before we started of what we thought the through line was going to be. So that helped. And then, it’s just about picking the funniest stuff.”

Streamlined

“It’s pretty much identical,” Matthew Senreich said of the creative process behind a “Robot Chicken” special. “I think we have just a hair more time. And I think the difference is, we’re more laser-focused. We have one topic that we’re talking about, as opposed to saying, you have the world to make fun of.

“And I think it actually streamlines the thought process and helps you create funnier content.”

Green — who along with Senreich has been with the show since its launch in 2005, even as his own career as an actor continued to flourish — agreed that the specials’ specific focus actually makes them easier to construct than your average episode of “Chicken.”

“Because when we’re doing episodes of ‘Robot,’ you can mix and match the content. We’ll move sketches across four episodes and piece them all together. But on DC, or when we were doing ‘Star Wars,’ you have to be focused on a single story. And that makes it easier to edit.

“There’s rarely things that we’ll include just for storytelling that aren’t funny,” Green continued. “And you know, the whittling-down process is months long. We whittle down the writing every day until at the end of our writing, which is usually … what did we, write for five weeks on this?”

“Three,” Senreich replied.

“Three weeks.

“After the three-week writing process, we whittle the whole thing down into a document that we felt would be shootable, and then we recorded that document. Once we got all the recordings, and put them against the storyboards, we got a rough estimate of the timing, and still we had to cut nearly 13 minutes of recorded dialogue and storyboards,” Green said.

“So that just becomes judicious. You just say, ‘What’s in the show and what isn’t?’ And then you just start cutting until you have your time.

Hands-on

Despite their love for the material and getting to put their spin on it, the creative process is clearly not a complete piece of cake for Green, Senreich and their writers. In addition to the pressures they feel about meeting fan’s expectations, they also worked hand-in-hand with DC Comics representatives themselves throughout the making of the episode. Considering how DC was preparing to give bad guys the spotlight in the pages of their actual comic books — they recently wrapped an event called “Forever Evil” which gave each villain his or her own issue — the focus of this satirical special fit well with their plans.

“One of the things we actually knew going in was that we were spotlighting villains across the whole company, so this became a part of that in a very different way,” said Geoff Johns, DC Entertainment’s chief creative officer. “It was a very conscious effort to do that.”

“Geoff is very organized,” Senreich added.

“You should see his vision board, it’s beautiful,” Green joked.

The dedication that DC has toward everything that bears its name — even an animated show poking fun at it — is plain to see. Johns noted that this wasn’t a matter of simply giving the “Chicken” staff their blessing and then ignoring them. “The whole writing staff is at DC when we do these specials, and I’m in there, so we’re pretty — that’s as hands-on as you can get,” he said.

“In addition to running a company, Geoff is also in the writers’ room every day,” Senreich added.

The power of The Force

The fact that a late night comedy show featuring animated action figures can get the chance to play with pop culture icons as big as Superman and his brethren is already pretty remarkable (though the fact that Warner Bros. owns both Cartoon Network and DC Comics probably helps matters). It might have seemed especially unthinkable before 2007, when Lucasfilm gave the “Chicken” crew its blessing to lampoon “Star Wars” in their first double-length special devoted to a specific subject.

“It’s hard to say,” Green said. “I think that the fact that a company as large as Lucasfilm and a creator as renowned as George Lucas trusting us with a brand as big as ‘Star Wars’ definitely makes us look competent to anybody else that would want to engage us in the same way.

“But Geoff and Matt have been friends for a long time, and we were kinda spitballing the idea of doing a special — or finding some way to collaborate — even before the ‘Star Wars’ specials.”

So what’s next for Green, Senreich and the rest of the “Chicken” universe? Well, the aforementioned seventh season gets started the week after the second DC special airs. They may not be done with DC, either — there were three “Star Wars” specials, after all, so why would their take on the DC Universe be any different?

But no matter what they take aim at, surely the twisted minds at “Robot Chicken” will tackle it with the same delightful abandon they bring to every subject they lampoon.

“The process is pretty quick and ruthless,” Green said. “It’s all based on gut. And if it’s funny, it’s usually in, and if it’s not, it’s usually cut.”

EXCLUSIVELY ONLINE: TFP Pop Culture Editor Jeff McGinnis takes a character-by-character look at how “Robot Chicken” sees the DC Universe.

How “Robot Chicken” interprets the DC Universe

Written by Jeff McGinnis

Their names are the same, they look like the characters you know and love (or loathe, as the case may be), but in the world of Adult Swim’s animated phenomenon “Robot Chicken,” the heroes and villains of DC Comics may not act exactly as you’d expect them to. Here are a few examples of what separates DC characters from “RC”’s depiction of them.

Lex Luthor

Played by: Alfred Molina (“Spider-Man 2,” “Chocolat”)

First Appearance: “Action Comics #23,” 1940

Biography: Superman’s arch villain, because it makes total sense that the greatest nemesis of history’s most powerful hero would be a bald businessman with no discernible superpowers. His wealth and power are exceeded only by his ability to act surprised when Superman ONCE AGAIN foils his evil schemes. He somehow assumed control of the Legion of Doom despite the fact that many of his “minions” could break him in half at will.

The Robot Chicken Spin: Lex is a fiercely overprotective parent whose daughter’s infatuation sets the plot in motion. He also has a secret past in glam rock that he’d rather not talk about. For now.

Lena Luthor

Played by: Sarah Hyland (“Modern Family,” “Vampire Academy”)

First Appearance: “Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane #23,” 1961

Biography: Lex’s younger sister, Lena grew up not knowing of her villainous family connections, which probably made for some really awkward Thanksgivings once she did find out. She had psychic powers, as well, though she clearly couldn’t have been that GOOD a psychic if it took her so long to figure out who her brother was.

The Robot Chicken Spin: Lena is now Lex’s young daughter, who yearns to be out from under her father’s wing, not to mention his swamp-based evil fortress.

Superboy

Played by: Zac Efron (“High School Musical,” “That Awkward Moment”)

First Appearance: “Superboy #1,” 1949 (though that version was just Superman as a kid and the modern one is a clone of…oh, you don’t really care, do you?)

Biography: Created in the aftermath of Superman’s death (remember when a hero dying was a big deal?), the modern Superboy was a clone with all of Superman’s powers and, sadly, none of his fashion sense. He stuck around for years under the guise of being Clark’s cousin Connor and even represented DC in the “Marvel vs.” event, though he got his butt handed to him by Spider-Man (who coincidentally was also a clone at that point, just to confuse you more).

The Robot Chicken Spin: Superboy has a real Romeo-and-Juliet crush on Lena, which could certainly complicate matters since her dad and his…uh…clone source?…are bitter enemies. There are also some not-so-broad hints that the whole “clone” thing could just be a not-so-elaborate cover story.

Wonder Woman

Played by: Alex Borstein (“Family Guy,” “Getting On”)

First Appearance: “All Star Comics #8,” 1941

Biography: One of the three most recognizable heroes in the DC Universe, Diana Prince is an Amazonian demigod who by all rights should be able to eat most any villain for breakfast and have time to save the world three times over by brunch. She hasn’t gotten her own movie yet because supposedly her backstory would be “too confusing” for modern audiences. Meanwhile, Marvel’s putting out movies with Rocket Raccoon and Ant Man. Go fig.

The Robot Chicken Spin: There MAY be more between her and Superman than even a crack reporter like Lois Lane suspects. And what happens if someone else has to fly the invisible jet in an emergency?

Batman and Green Lantern

Played by: Seth Green (co-creator of “Robot Chicken”) and Nathan Fillion (“Firefly,” “Castle”), respectively

First Appearance: “Batman: Detective Comics #37,” 1939; “Green Lantern: All American Comics #16,” 1940

Biography: If you don’t know who Batman is, you need to get out more often. As for Green Lantern, Hal Jordan is a test pilot who ended up being chosen to be part of an intergalactic fighting corps with nearly limitless power, except in the continuities where they made his weakness the color yellow. Seriously. Yellow. This guy could be threatened by a Post-It note.

The Robot Chicken Spin: Since Batman has (cough cough) no superpowers, it’s usually up to Lantern to carry him along into battle, and Bats is getting a little resentful of the humiliation. Will these two powerful forces learn to work together? Do we dare point out what color Batman’s belt is?

Emanuel Enriquez delivered a striking pitch to the Arts Commission of Greater Toledo: Picture it, 1927, the year the Toledo Mud Hens won the AA pennant.

“I thought of what baseball meant to the kids, and I happen to be old enough to remember ‘The Little Rascals.’ So I thought 1927, and I decided to do a sculpture with young kids,” the Bowling Green artist said.

“I knew most of the class AA baseball teams had old fences around them, so I decided to make the kids peering through the wooden fence,” Enriquez said.

“Who’s Up?” has delighted baseball fans since the bronze sculpture was unveiled on St. Clair Street outside Fifth Third Field in September 2002. The life-size figures — three boys and one girl — and fence weigh in at about 3,000 pounds.

“I thought [the sculpture] would relate to the young kids, and the old-timers would remember when they played baseball as kids,” Enriquez said.

After his design was selected in 2001, the sculptor read Mud Hens historian John Husman’s “Baseball in Toledo” and pored over historical accounts. He dug for details.

“I went to the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library, and I picked out some old Sears catalogs and tried to get some reference to the period of dress,” Enriquez said.

“I did research on the little girl’s bib overalls, the boy’s pants with the leather strap in the back for tightening. I did research on the shoes, the cap the barefoot boy is wearing; it goes to that period.”

Even the hair had to be perfect.

“A lady friend helped me design the little girl’s braids,” he said. “She told me they would use strings; they didn’t have rubber bands in those days.”

He hunted down vintage wood in Pennsylvania and cast each side and welded the pieces together so the fence would be authentic.

And the Pemberville, Ohio, native  hit the road to visit the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y.

 “They had a 1927 period glove in the showcase; I took a photo of that and I put it on the little girl,” he said, adding he picked up a souvenir — a baseball stick like one of the youths is holding.

Three of the kids are based on grandchildren of his friends.

“The tallest kid on the right I modeled after me, back when I was 50 pounds lighter,” Enriquez said and laughed. “There’s a mole on his right cheek, a light dimple on the left cheek. Very few people know this.”

The artist had a ball working on the project — and knocked it out of the park.

“It was a lot of fun,” Enriquez said.  “I’m really pleased with the sculpture; people enjoy it a lot.”

Not that he hangs around to watch people looking at his work when he drives up I-75 for a Hens game.

“I go to watch the baseball game, eat a hot dog — that’s part of Americana, you know?”

Installed in and around the eight-acre baseball campus are works of art and artistic components that give the ballpark its “unique distinction,” in the words of Marc Folk, executive director of The Arts Commission. The inclusion of this public art — from home plate gate flourishes and manhole cover designs to freestanding sculptures — anchors forever the populist sensibility of Toledo’s county-owned and corporate-named ballpark.

‘I’ve Got It!’

Nowhere is that wondrous link to the common man (and child) more evident than behind section 101 where, just steps inside the Third Base Gate, a bronze sculpture depicts three boys reaching high in the sky for a home run ball. That artwork is entitled “I Got It!”

“It captures the youthful exuberance of so many kids,” said Folk, who added that the sculpture “really connects” with just about everybody who ever played around with a bat and ball. So many times has Folk seen people posing with that sculpture that, in his estimation, “I Got It!” is probably the ballpark’s No. 1 photo op. (Sorry, Muddy.)

When the ballpark was being built back in 2002, Folk was in charge of The Arts Commission’s Art in Public Spaces initiative. The Arts Commission set up a partnership between the city, the county and private donors with the goal of incorporating public art into the ballpark, Folk said. With funding in place, a national call to artists went out. Folk does not recall the exact number of entries but said there were about 80 submissions from around the country.

The artist

Vermont sculptor Frank C. Gaylord II was one artist whose design, the aforementioned sculpture of the three boys, garnered approval by a review board comprised of area stakeholders.

“The ‘I Got It!’ sculpture is a tribute to your fine city and its rich baseball history,” Gaylord told Toledo Free Press in an email sent by his son-in-law, John Triano. Gaylord, now 89 years old, is renowned for such public artworks as the national Little League monument in Williamsport, Pa., a policeman’s memorial in Jacksonville, Fla., a fireman’s memorial in Eugene, Ore., and the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

After the “I Got It!” sculpture was complete, it was decided in Toledo to install the work on a rotatable mount so that it can be swiveled to face the sidewalk and street outside the gate when the Hens are not on the field.

“I thought it was a great idea to put the artwork on a turntable,” Gaylord said. “I create all my sculpture on a turntable but never before has it been displayed on one.”

The artist also had kind words for Toledo’s Arts Commission when recalling his efforts from more than a decade ago.

“Everyone was fair and polite. They let me create,” Gaylord said. “That was not the case in some of my other commissions.”  

Folk, who earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the University of Toledo, shrugged off any praise, saying merely that handling artists is integral to the nature of the business of The Arts Commission.

It’s the commission’s job to “empower their design,” he said.

Gaylord explained his own evolution as an artist by saying he is “a big fan” of French sculptor Rodin “and of course Michelangelo. That led me into sculpture.”

Now approaching 90, Gaylord continues to create art.

“I am working on abstract drawings and enjoying every bit of the creative process,” he said. “Art to me means leaving the world a little nicer than when I found it.”

Folk echoed that sentiment in a separate interview.

“I’m very lucky,” he said. “I can work to make my city a better place.”

Folk credits the success of the public art at Fifth Third Field with helping subsequently to bring art to the Huntington Center. But Folk knows art at Fifth Third Field was only a qualified success. Originally, five initiatives were slated for inclusion. The fifth, a mural, never came to fruition. Funding for it dried up in the economic downturn following 9/11, Folk said.

As for one of the designs that did get funded, Gaylord calls his Mud Hens sculpture “one of my best works. Better than Washington D.C.”

Today, with the ballpark nearly paid off and expansion plans on the drawing board, who can tell, perhaps the county will decide to re-commission that mural.