by The Happiest Medium on May 16, 2012
Benefiting: GEMS
Created by Members of Project Girl Performance Collective
Directed by Ashley Marinaccio
Show Times:
- Mon 6/4/12 – 4:00pm
- Fri 6/8/12 – 6:00pm
- Sun 6/10/12 – 5:30pm
- Sat 6/16/12 – 4:30pm
- Thu 6/21/12 – 5:00pm
- Sat 6/23/12 – 1:30pm
Answers by various cast/staff members of TRAFFICKED including
Mildred Jones-Hamm (Performer), Monica Furman (Performer/Creator), Chioneso Bakr (Performer), Ashley Marinaccio (Director)
Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
How did you come up with the title for your show?
Ashley Marinaccio: Trafficked tells the story of sex slavery and child exploitation through the eyes of fifteen young women. In an ensemble devised performance constructed by interviews, research and media, the cast puts a name and face to the thousands of undocumented girls and boys who are trafficked into the billion dollar sex industry each year. We chose to call our show Trafficked because it summarizes what our show is about.
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by Geoffrey Paddy Johnson on May 15, 2012
There’s an undeniable elegance about the Irish singer/performer (composer, orchestrator, producer) Julie Feeney who is appearing for a 10 day booking at the Irish Arts Center on 51st Street. The elegance is there in the assemblage of instruments she has corralled on stage, as well as in the controlled voice, smooth flowing toothy lyrics, and sophisticated orchestral arrangements she deploys. But the elegance really comes about when Feeney emerges into the auditorium, using the regular patrons entrance way, singing in hushed tones the introduction to her song Myth. Leaning over from the aisle, she breathily exchanges some of the words with a surprised, somewhat unnerved audience. She’s sparkling in the reflected stage lights, an ornate crystal gemmed collar on her dress and tiny rhinestones in her hairnet twinkle in the shadows. It’s nothing to get really alarmed about, but that towering beehive coiffure is teased up just that little bit high enough to signal caution; who is this? And the song she is singing keeps dropping into abrupt silences. Before picking up once more and conducting you along a melody that achieves its pop bounce from a delicate arrangement of strings, bowed and pizzicato. She attains the stage and relaxes the audience with a complicit, almost coy smile, while working a silken black balloon dress that is at once sumptuous and brief. It’s a wonderfully poised balancing act between refinement and boldness, and it proves the perfect introduction for what is to follow.
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by Geoffrey Paddy Johnson on May 9, 2012
New York City is host to two concurrently running productions of Shakespeare’s Macbeth this Spring: Aquila Theatre‘s presentation at the Gym at Judson (April 18th – May 6th), and Epic Theatre Ensemble‘s interpretation at the 47th Street Theatre (April 20 – May 26th). A stable of many a theatrical company’s portfolio, apart from its matchless, vivid language, Macbeth as drama has much to attract aspiring ensembles, not least the challenge presented in portraying two of Shakespeare’s most unsympathetic lead roles. We watch as Macbeth and his wife are enticed into evil by the lure of power and then, as good stage villains, are punished for their crimes. The trick, however, is in making them into more than stage villains, for in that resides the case for tragedy and its capacity to ennoble human existence. It is a tricky bit of the equation as both of these productions can testify.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on May 8, 2012
There’s a reason that the second rule of Fight Club is the same as the first rule of Fight Club. Because Tyler Durden (and by extension, author Chuck Palahniuk) understood that it’s human nature to break rules. First rule of Fight Club – don’t talk about Fight Club. Second Rule of Fight Club: DO NOT talk about Fight Club. So what did people do?
What does this have to do with August Schulenberg’s new play DEINDE? Simple. DEINDE – a sci-fi story of quantum biologists who use a Dineural Entangled Intelligence Network DEvice [a "clumsy acronym, really, not even a real E at the end"] to “loop in” in order to juice their brains so that they can be smart enough to cure a virus that has been killing the world’s population – begins with four simple rules:
- When using DEINDE do not think of anything other than work.
- Do not keep the connection to DEINDE live outside of work.
- Do not use DEINDE to communicate with each other.
- Do not use DEINDE to accss the world online.
Sounds so easy to follow, right? So did “Don’t talk about Fight Club” and we all know how that turned out.
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by The Happiest Medium on May 7, 2012
Benefiting: Sanctuary for Families
Produced by The Dirty Blondes
Written by Ashley J. Jacobson
“A sinister tale of a burgeoning friendship in an increasingly sociopathic society hell-bent on making monsters of its men and objects of its women. What would Partick Bateman do?”
Show Times:
- Mon 6/4/12 – 6:00pm
- Thur 6/7/12 – 10:30pm
- Thur 6/14/12 – 4:00pm
- Wed 6/20/12 – 8:30pm
- Fri 6/22/12 – 6:00pm
- Sat 6/23/12 – 6:30pm
Answers by Alexandra Siladi (Director),
Ashley Jacobson (Playwright),
Elizabeth Sarkady (Manager)
Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
How did you come up with the title for your show?
Alexandra Siladi: Our show was inspired by American Psycho – playwright Ashley Jacobson decided on this specific title because we also realized this story was a capsule of modern American life. It is about white men, a demographic who not only who founded the country we live in, but continue to decide on the laws & regulations that govern its citizens. We see this play as a comment on American society and how in 20 years since American Psycho was written, not only has the story of Patrick Bateman been embraced by a large majority of those who know it, but it has become an iconic vision of the American male’s greatest concerns: image, sex, power, and money.
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by Michelle Augello-Page on May 7, 2012
Actress and Comedian Livia Scott hosts this monthly variety show, where dead celebrities are brought back to life and stellar guest performances contribute to the experience of Livia’s Castle of Enchantment at the UCB Theater East.
I attended Livia’s Castle of Enchantment on Tuesday, April 24, and was pleasantly taken on a whirlwind as Livia morphed into the dead celebrity of the evening: Mike Wallace. Livia’s portrayal as Mike Wallace was as respectful as it was funny and had the crowd laughing throughout the show, highlighting her skills in stand-up, improv, and impersonation.
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by The Happiest Medium on May 6, 2012
Benefiting: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center
Produced by Cross-Eyed Bear Productions
Written/Directed by Duncan Pflaster
“Adrian and Javier are a gay couple who don’t believe in marriage- but everyone assumes they’re married. When they realize they’ve never actually opened up their “open relationship”, they decide to each go out and get laid, with hilarious and erotic results. Featuring an all-male cast of 13 in an epic satire of modern gay society. Warning: Nudity.”
Show Times:
- Fri 6/8/12 – 6:30pm
- Wed 6/13/12 – 10:00pm
- Sat 6/16/12 – 10:00pm
- Mon 6/18/12 – 7:30pm
- Thu 6/21/12 – 10:00pm
- Sat 6/23/12 – 6:30pm
Answers by Duncan Pflaster
(Writer, Director)
Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
How did you come up with the title for your show?
Duncan: It actually took a long time and I went through several titles- It began life called Fidelity, was called Sex and Sensibilities for a while, then went through a number of options that weren’t quite right: One Touch of Penis, The Salad of the Bad Young Men, I Am Into Champagne, Wang the Drum Slowly, and then I tentatively settled on the somewhat bland Equality for the first draft and private reading with my playwright group… but then I read an interview with Paul Rudd in US Weekly where he mentioned the awkwardness of doing nude scenes and pitied the poor soundman who had to look at his hairy taint- and BAM, “The Taint of Equality” it was. The pun sounds vaguely dirty and makes people giggle, but the other meaning resonates with the Gay Marriage themes of the play. And the subtitle of course is from the 80s George Michael song- since he’s struggled in his personal life with some of the same fidelity/monogamy issues as my characters (and is mentioned in the play), that just seemed to be appropriate.
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by The Happiest Medium on May 5, 2012
Benefiting: UJA of New York
Produced by Provident Productions
Book, Music & Lyrics by James Behr
Composed & Arranged & Musically Directed by James Behr
“The Count of Monte Cristo, a musical based upon the famed Alexandre Dumas novel, now comes to the Broadway stage! Come see the beloved and thrilling story of love, revenge and redemption in this prize-winning and critically acclaimed new musical.”
Show Times:
- Tue 6/12/12 – 6:30pm
- Sat 6/16/12 – 8:30pm
- Sun 6/17/12 – 4:00pm
- Mon 6/18/12 – 7:00pm
- Thu 6/21/12 – 9:00pm
- Sat 6/23/12 – 3:30pm
Answers by James Behr
Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
How did you come up with the title for your show?
James: The title is based upon the book, “The Count of Monte Cristo” by Alexandre Dumas, which the musical is adapted from.
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by The Happiest Medium on May 4, 2012
Benefiting: National Eating Disorders Association
Produced by Ego Actus
Written by Penny Jackson
Directed by Joan Kane
“SAFE is a drama set in Manhattan about two unhappy teenagers, one anorexic and the other overweight, who find themselves in danger when they encounter charming Phillip, an older teacher with a dangerous secret.”
Show Times:
- Fri 6/1/12 – 7:00pm
- Sat 6/2/12 – 3:00pm
- Mon 6/4/12 – 10:00pm
- Wed 6/6/12 – 4:00pm
- Sat 6/9/12 – 8:00pm
- Thu 6/14/12 – 6:00pm
Answers by Penny Jackson
(Playwright)
Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
How did you come up with the title for your show?
Penny: As a teacher and parent, I would always hear the term “safe” when discussing children and adolescents. I decided to write about two teenage girls who, although they may be protected by money, find themselves in real danger by their parents’ selfishness and the pressure of today’s world for women to be physically perfect.
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by The Happiest Medium on May 4, 2012
This is your brain on Kimberly Pau. Any Questions?
Benefiting: Brooklyn Public Library
Produced/Written by Kimberly Pau
Directed by Eric Mercado
“I’m having Justin Beiber’s baby. Really. I am. BABY PLAYS THE BANJO explores our love of the mainstream media and how it comforts us.”
Show Times:
- Wed 5/30/12 – 6:00pm
- Sun 6/3/12 – 10:00pm
- Tues 6/5/12 – 9:00pm
- Sun 6/10/12 – 8:00pm
- Sat 6/16/12 – 6:30pm
Answers by Kimberly Pau
(Writer, Producer)
Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
How did you come up with the title for your show?
Kimberly: It’s about a girl who believes her baby was fathered by Justin Beiber and is thus a musical genius.
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