One of the best things about the Fringe Festival is how it embraces diversity – it becomes one of the best summer reminders as to how culturally rich and fascinating this city can be. In Swaha: Rituals of Union Trinayan Dance Theater mixes tradition, with dance, storytelling and ritualistic precise movements that will evoke your senses and successfully accomplish the  elephantine task of getting you out of your head, no verbal dialogue required.

(...)
Read the rest of Swaha: Rituals Of Union (Fringe Festival 2010) (377 words)

© Antonio Minino for The Happiest Medium, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Dixon Place, Fringe Festival 2010, Guru Durga Charan Ranbir, Leena Mohanty, Odissi dance, Swaha: Rituals Of Union, Taiis Pascal-Charles, The Late Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, Trinayan Dance Theater

This one woman show at the New York International Fringe Festival is the stuff we live for here at The Happiest Medium; as managing director Karen Tortora-Lee will tell you, our mission is to highlight, showcase and celebrate our favorite medium, and that is exactly what writer/performer Leila Arias does in Omarys Concepcion Lopez Perez Goes To Israel (to Speak to God at the Wailing Wall). It takes a certain kind of performer to pull off a solo-show, and Ms. Arias has the spunk, chops and enthusiasm to transport us to Jerusalem, the Bronx and Puerto Rico in a 40 minute journey.

(...)
Read the rest of Omarys Concepcion Lopez Perez Goes To Israel (To Speak To God At The Wailing Wall) – (Fringe Festival 2010) (362 words)

© Antonio Minino for The Happiest Medium, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: FringeNYC, Leila Arias, New York International Fringe Festival, Players Loft, solo show

Never Norman Rockwell

We’ve reached our final installment of our Midtown International Theatre Festival’s Q&A. Today we chat with Kyle Baxter, writer of Never Norman Rockwell, and co-artistic director of The Collective Objective.

(...)
Read the rest of Entrevista: Never Norman Rockwell (Midtown International Theatre Festival 2010) (390 words)

© Antonio Minino for The Happiest Medium, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Anthony Gargano, Kyle Baxter, mid, Midtown International Theatre Festival, Never Norman Rockwell

Until We Find Each Other

We continue our Midtown International Theatre Festival Q&A and speak with not only the playwright of Until We Find Each Other (Brooke Berman), but we also asked the show’s director, David Winitsky some questions.

(...)
Read the rest of Entrevista: Until We Find Each Other (Midtown International Theatre Festival) (692 words)

© Antonio Minino for The Happiest Medium, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Midtown International Theatre Festival, Theatre: Entrevista, Until We Find Each Other

The Starship Astrov

We continue our Midtown International Theatre Festival Q&A with writers Duncan Pflaster of The Starship Astrov, and Michelle Glick, writer and performer of the solo show Asian Belle.

Let us start with Duncan.

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

Not until about 15 years ago- I thought for a long time I was going to be an actor.  There’s something really wonderful about making an audience laugh and react, which I loved as a performer… But as a writer, you get to play all the parts!  Now I only act if people specifically ask me, or if there’s an emergency casting.(...)
Read the rest of Entrevista: The Starship Astrov and Asian Belle (Midtown International Theatre Festival 2010) (1,172 words)

© Antonio Minino for The Happiest Medium, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Anton Chekhov, Asian Belle, Christine Renee Miller, Closure, Daniel Damiano, Duncan Pflaster, Eric Parness, I Hate Love, Jonathan Wallace, Kyle Baxter, Layla and Harley, Meri Wallace, Michelle Glick, Midtown International Theatre Festival, Never Norman Rockwell, Star Trek, The Gospel According To Josh, The Hyenas Got It Down, The Starship Astrov, Together Again

The Gospel According To Josh

In case you haven’t noticed, it’s pretty hot outside… summer, yeah… summertime! What that also means is it’s theatre festival season. If you live on the motto that “life is like a box of chocolates,” you can easily apply the same to the festival circuit. Festivals hold lovely truffles covered with exquisite themes, filled with yummy character developments that leave you with a thought provoking aftertaste. They also have strange, oversweetened eerie stuff.

Out of the Midtown International Theatre Festival box –a festival running from July 12th through August 1st in the Big Apple– I’ve chosen a couple of possibly lovely truffles. We start our first Q&A with Joshua Rivedal, writer/performer for The Gospel According To Josh.

(...)
Read the rest of Entrevista: The Gospel According To Josh (Midtown International Theatre Festival 2010) (411 words)

© Antonio Minino for The Happiest Medium, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Asian Belle, Josh Rivedal, Midtown International Theatre Festival, Moms Mabley, Sammy Davis Jr, The Gospel According To Josh

When Shea Elmore talks about his upcoming project, This Is Storybox, his face lights up and you can’t help but listen and be intoxicated with his excitement and sincerity.  What he brings us is an interactive approach to performance, where audience members choose to be part of the action or plainly be a viewer.

The project is reminiscent of the 60s movement of the Theatre of the Opressed and Brazilian Augusto Boal, yet Elmore’s contemporary take was inspired and emerged from his collaboration with a professor from the University of Central Florida.

In our Q&A you will find out what makes Storybox different and why you should step in.

(...)
Read the rest of Entrevista: This Is Storybox (@Shetler Studios) (606 words)

© Antonio Minino for The Happiest Medium, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Augusto Boal, Jeff Wirth, Shea Elmore, Shetler Studios, Theatre of the Opressed, This Is Storybox, University of Central Florida

A professor once told me –”If you want to be cast in the kind of plays that you really believe in, if you want to do work that is meaningful to you, with actors  trained in the same way as you, and have the same aesthetic… create your own theatre company together, the most important thing in this business is networking, and that starts NOW, in this classroom”– great advice from a very wise man. Seems to be that Rachel McPhee and Jackie LaVanway, cofounders of On The Square Productions, received the same words of wisdom.

Their company strives in non-traditional casting, and community outreach, which might give us a clue as to why their production of William Shakespeare’s A MidSummer Night’s Dream takes place in a garden in Astoria.

Here’s a Q&A with both ladies regarding their upcoming venture.

(...)
Read the rest of Entrevista: Shakespeare In The Garden (A MidSummer Night’s Dream) (1,498 words)

© Antonio Minino for The Happiest Medium, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: A MidSummer Night's Dream, A MidSummer's Night Dream, Actors' Equity Association, Bareburger, Brick Cafe, Daytime Emmy Awards, DeSales University, Diwine Bar, Don't Tell Mama, Drama Studio London, Fractured Atlas, Michael Howard Studios, New World Stages, On The Square Productions, S Factor, Stage Entertainment USA, Sweet Afton, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Vitality and Health Natural Market, William Shakespeare, Winegasm

The other day I was walking by myself, minding my own business down Riverside Park, trying to have some me time with . . . well . . . me, and I noticed these pianos just lying there unattended. So I snapped a shot and did some snooping around, and found out about a fantastic non-profit  called Sing for Hope, and their Play Me I’m Yours arts project.

Play that thang! ©Antonio Minino

(...)
Read the rest of Play Me I’m Yours (Sing For Hope) (84 words)

© Antonio Minino for The Happiest Medium, 2010. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Music, outdoors, piano, play me i'm yours, sing for hope

It’s the 20th Anniversary of D&G men’s line, and boy do those two know how to throw a party on the runway (and off the runway I’m sure). Linens, sheer whites and khakis abound in this special Spring 2011 show featuring the lovely Annie Lennox tickling the ivories.
Watch video 1 and 2, and celebrate that the clothes are only one year away to legally have a drink.

© Antonio Minino for The Happiest Medium, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: annie lennox, dolcre & gabbana, fashion show