Brian McManamon as Andrew

Frigid Festival has really stepped up their game this year, is what I was thinking as I descended down the stairs from the Red Room, still reeling from the one-man show It or Her by Alena Smith. The medium of madness is one that has so many artistic possibilities, and when performed well it can be a goldmine for the audience. Nuances and colors of the human condition can be given a larger leash with which to run. Nothing is as delightful, for me, as a luscious character study set into a well-told tale. This production is all that and more.

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Read the rest of It or Her: Madness Reigns Supreme (Frigid Festival 2010) (484 words)

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Post tags: Alena Smith, Brian McManamon, dianna martin, Frigid Festival, Jessi D. Hill, one-man show

Lauren Roth as Clair and Tyler Hollinger as Chris

What do you get when you pair a narcissistic, yet emotionally fragile sex addict with her wanna-be-normal husband, whose penchant for punishing women is taken out on his wife’s lover’s girlfriend? The result is something even more bizarre and difficult to follow than that opening sentence. Kaleidoscope Theatre’s “Sex and Violence” did its best to shock the audience into submission, but unfortunately it really just backfired because all of the sex and violence in the world won’t fill in the enormous gaps in the plot, script, acting and character development.

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Read the rest of It’s Everything But The Kitchen Sink In “Sex And Violence” (480 words)

© Diánna Martin for The Happiest Medium, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: dianna martin, The Kaleidoscope Theatre Company, Travis Baker

Christina LaFortune and Vince Gatton

Henry James’ novella The Turn of the Screw is one of my favorite works committed to paper, being a wonderful macabre pastime that my Grandmother and I used to share together, acting out the roles as we read along. I feel it is truly one of the most important staples of Gothic Literature. With every read or artistic version (such as the film The Innocents) a new strata of possibility can be found in the characters, who are as fascinating now as ever. Two Turns Theatre Company’s amazing adaptation of this piece has put their finger on the pulse of these characters, and found an innovative way to share a classic tale.

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Read the rest of Two Turns Adaptation Of Henry James’ Novella Successfully Merges Theatre & Philanthropy (714 words)

© Diánna Martin for The Happiest Medium, 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: book-tie-ins, Christina LaFortune, dianna martin, Theatre, theatre based on literature, Theatre: Off-Off-Broadway, Two Turns, Vince Gatton

Kristen Vaughan as Zelda and Montgomery Sutton as Edouard

When Clothes for a Summer Hotel premiered in New York City in 1980, the world wasn’t quite able to wrap their mind around the play. It closed after 15 performances and was Tennessee Williams’ last Broadway production. With a myriad of plays that changed the face of modern theatre across the world, winning everything from a Pulitzer Prize (twice) to a Tony Award, one would think the man would have been given a little artistic license. Alas, no. People were not ready for this “Ghost Play”; and the fact that it’s been re-mounted in New York City only one other time since its original opening is a testament to the stigma surrounding it. It’s a play that is very tricky to pull off properly, and I’m still not sure if White Horse Theatre Company was able to do that.

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Read the rest of Williams’ Clothes For A Summer Hotel: A Ghost Play Returns To NYC (1,079 words)

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Post tags: dianna martin, ernest hemmingway, f. scott fitzgerald, ghost play, surrealism, tennessee williams, white horse theatre company, zelda fitzgerald

Tea, Anyone? (Photo courtesy of Screenrant.com)

I’m very excited about Tim Burton’s new take on Alice In Wonderland. I honestly can’t think of anyone else who could bring the tale to the screen and give it that surreal (read: trippy) quality that it properly deserves. The cast is amazing and includes Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Mia Wasikowska, Stephen Fry, Crispin Glover, Anne Hathaway,  Christopher Lee, Matt Lucas, Alan Rickman, and Michael Sheen. I’m about as excited to see Rickman as the Caterpillar as I am Depp as The Mad Hatter! (”Whoooo Are Yooooou?” lol)

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Read the rest of Book/Movie Tie-Ins: Alice In Wonderland (367 words)

© Diánna Martin for The Happiest Medium, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: alan rickman, Alice In Wonderland, barnes & noble, BookMovie Tie-Ins, dianna martin, Helena Bonham-Carter, Johnny Depp, Screenrant.com, Tim Burton

Peter Sabri

Ah, New York is not as big a place as one would think. At least not when it comes to theatre – sometimes, you can meet interesting actors, directors, and producers by walking across the hall in your building.

My neighbor and dear friend asked me to join him for an evening of theatre sometime last year.  “My nephew is in this great play – you should meet him, he’s into theatre like you!” he said happily. Little did I know that my friend (who’s name is also Peter – I wonder how many of them are in the clan) was taking me to a wonderful staged reading of Visiting Mr. Green starring Eli Wallach and Peter Sabri…his nephew. As I watched this young man share the stage with one of the most legendary actors of the 20th century, I was impressed with his work and his craft; he made interesting choices, was a joy to watch and the reading was beautiful, heartfelt and heartbreaking.

Upon hearing he was in Penang, a war drama by James L. Larocca, I was thrilled to see him working again, amused by the “Wow, it’s a small world” thought that went through my head, and eager to talk to Peter about his experiences working on this show that earned him a nomination at the 2008 Midtown International Theatre Festival, one of five that the show received. Now, brought back by Madison Street and Boo-Arts Productions, he has a chance to work again on a piece that is an intense drama whose tagline is: In war the only thing that matters is the guy next to you.

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Read the rest of Interview – Peter Sabri, Co-Star of Penang (1,395 words)