by The Happiest Medium on February 4, 2012
Five Questions. Five Answers. And One Big Decision: Rock, Paper, Or Scissors?
Death, It Happens (Photo by Cathryn Lynne) Pictured from left to right; Maureen Van Trease, Lori Kee, Bricken Sparacino and Rebecca Chiappone)
Death, it happens: A girl’s guide to death
Company: Bricken and Birch Productions
Directed by: Lori Kee
4 different women lost 4 different fathers. Hear their true, diverse, moving and sometimes funny stories. Learn what happened, what they did to cope (or not cope) with death and what to wear to a funeral.
Show Times:
- Sat 2/25 @ 8:30pm
- Mon 2/27 @ 9pm
- Tues 2/28 @ 7:30pm
- Sat 3/3 @ 1:30pm
- Sun 3/4 @ 4pm
Answers by Bricken Sparacino
(conceiver, producer, performer and co-writer)
Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
That’s some title. How did you come up with it – and what does it mean?
Bricken: Well, our show is about Death, I didn’t want to sugar coat it, but I also wanted there to be a little humor in it as well. Our show is honest, sometimes sad – but we also use a lot of gallows humor. I hoped to reflect that in the title. I wanted the word “Death” to stand out and the rest to follow a little smaller. Almost as if to say “Do I have your attention now?”
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by The Happiest Medium on February 4, 2012
Five Questions. Five Answers. And One Big Decision: Rock, Paper, Or Scissors?
Fear Factor: Canine Edition
Written by: John Grady
Fear Factor: Canine Edition is about the peculiar and misguided true adventures of a man and his very trusting, very forgiving, therapy dog. An award-winning tale of true love and overcoming obstacles, while staring fear in the face.
Show Times:
- Sat 2/22 @ 9:00pm
- Mon 2/24 @ 8:30pm
- Tues 2/26 @ 1:00pm
- Sat 3/1 @ 9:00pm
- Sun 3/3 @ 7:00pm
Answers by John Grady
(Writer, Performer)
Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
That’s some title. How did you come up with it – and what does it mean?
John: Thanks. I watch too much television…clearly. Is life merely a game?…Where everything I thought I’ve wanted, wished, or fought for, is always on the line? Am I the clutch hitter, stepping up to the plate, attempting to knock it out of the park to claim the title of The Natural? Or do I maybe bunt, or possibly force an error, hoping for something else?…and now just add a dog, and a ticking time bomb to that little scenario. Come watch Fear Factor: Canine Edition to see how it all plays out.
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by The Happiest Medium on February 2, 2012
Five Questions. Five Answers. And One Big Decision: Rock, Paper, Or Scissors?
Rabbit Island
Company: Elephant Run District
Directed by: Aimee Todoroff
Alex zigzags irregular relationships with an erratic therapist, his off-again/on-again girlfriend, and an untamed burlesque dancer. What more will it take to become a Real New Yorker? “When life sucks as bad as your mental health, go to Rabbit Island.”
Show Times:
- Thur 2/23 @ 9:00pm
- Sat 2/25 @ 8:30pm
- Mon 2/27, @ 7:30pm
- Thur 3/01 @ 6:00pm
- Sat 3/03 @ 5:30pm
Answers by Chris Harcum
(Playwright)
Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
That’s some title. How did you come up with it – and what does it mean?
Chris: Oh, I bet you say that to all the Frigid Festival shows.
My friend, and brilliant costume designer, Kathryn Rohe, suggested I develop a character named Alex from my solo show Gotham Standards for a full play. He’s a Canadian in New York City and always slightly out of place, which is my default setting. I was looking at a Not For Tourists Guide and saw that Coney Island came from the Dutch “Konijn Eiland.” In English, that’s “Rabbit Island.” I also found out that Coney Island isn’t actually an island, it’s a peninsula. Something about that is fitting for the characters in this play who are freakshows on the inside and not all they seem on the outside. Plus, come on, rabbits. (You should ask me sometime how we came up with the company’s name, Elephant Run District. It’s a far more entertaining answer.)
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by The Happiest Medium on February 2, 2012
Five Questions. Five Answers. And One Big Decision: Rock, Paper, Or Scissors?
Mac Rogers (photo by Lauren Arneson)
Judge, Yuri & Executioner
Company: Temerity Theatre Company
Directed by: DeLisa White
Zack is an 85-year-old masochist who prefers older women. His girlfriend just left him. Where can he find a kinky senior citizen now? Time to tell his darkly funny life story!
Show Times:
- Thur 2/23 @ 8:00pm
- Fri 2/24 @ 11:00pm
- Sun 2/26, @ 12:30pm
- Thur 2/01 @ 9:30pm
- Sat 2/03 @ 8:00pm
Answers by Ed Malin
(Playwright)
Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
That’s some title. How did you come up with it – and what does it mean?
Ed: The title is a pun on several episodes from the main character’s life. He is 85 years old, has seen a lot, and is a very happy masochist. As such, he finds himself identifying with Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.
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by The Happiest Medium on February 1, 2012
Five Questions. Five Answers. And One Big Decision: Rock, Paper, Or Scissors?
Little Lady featuring Sandrine Lafond (Photo credit Paolo A. Santos)
Little Lady
The transformation of Cirque Du Soleil performer and Celine Dion dancer to performer generated theater artist is mirrored in this dark, comic and at times grotesque fable about our modern obsession with image. The exquisite movement skills of Lafond juxtapose with the world of distortion and manipulation accentuating LITTLE LADY’s tormented and blissful metamorphosis.
Show Times:
- Thu 2/23 @ 6:30pm
- Sat 2/25 @ 2pm
- Tue 2/28 @ 9:30pm
- Thu 3/1 @ 11pm
- Sat 3/3 @ 5pm
- Sun 3/4 @ 12:30pm
Answers by Sandrine Lafond
(Creator and performer)
Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
That’s some title. How did you come up with it – and what does it mean?
Sandrine: It was last summer, I was on Manitoulin Island in North Ontario. I was working on two different characters and I needed a name to make sure I wouldn’t mix them up. It was the first thing that came to my mind. The only reason I kept it is because people liked it right away, so they decided! The name of the character and the piece are the same as ,I wanted simplicity.
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by The Happiest Medium on January 31, 2012
Five Questions. Five Answers. And One Big Decision: Rock, Paper, Or Scissors?
I MARRIED A NUN! Dyan Forest
I Married A Nun!
A one-woman show that dramatically depicts D’yan’s search for love and meaning in life, finding the answers—at age 77—in the smoldering cabarets and demimonde of Paris. With humor, art and her ukulele, she reveals the truth that’s valid for all of us.
Show Times:
- Wed. 2/22 @ 9:00 PM
- Thurs. 2/23 @ 6:00 PM
- Sun. 2/26 @ 1:00 PM
- Thurs. 3/1 @ 7:30 PM
- Sat. 3/3 @ 8:30 PM
Answers by D’yan Forest
(Playwright & Performer)
Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
That’s some title. How did you come up with it – and what does it mean?
D’yan: It’s the truth, and the reason I wrote the show.
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by The Happiest Medium on January 31, 2012
Five Questions. Five Answers. And one big decision: Rock, Paper, or Scissors?
Nicole Pandolfo
Love In The Time Of Chlamydia
Company: Hard Sparks
Love In The Time Of Chlamydia is one woman’s search for love in a world full of absent dads, dirtbag boyfriends, and premature ejaculators. Your first time wasn’t weirder – and your best time wasn’t wilder – than writer-performer Nicole Pandolfo’s.
Show Times:
- Thur. 2/23 @ 10:30 PM
- Sat. 2/25 @ 4:00 PM
- Sun. 2/26 @ 4:00 PM
- Wed. 2/29 @ 6:00 PM
- Sun 3/4 @ 5:30 PM
Answers by Nicole Pandolfo
(Writer, Performer)
Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
That’s some title. How did you come up with it – and what does it mean?
Nicole: Well, it started out originally as monologues from the perspective of prostitutes who had seen really weird stuff go down on the job, and it was called Five Fucked Up Fetishes. Then I realized I was using a lot of back story from my own real life – God that sounds bad – and then I was like ‘ok, this is actually going to be a one person show based on my life.’ And then, because there is a vignette with venereal disease, I came up with Sex in the Time of Chlamydia. I came up with that very quickly and it was obviously inspired in its form by the title Love in the Time of Cholera. And then when I was really getting into writing the first draft I realized that even though there was a lot of sex in the piece it was really about love. And it took me a minute for that to sink in. But once it did I decided to stick with Love In The Time Of Chlamydia, and it made it even closer to Marquez’s title, but it just felt right so that’s how it came to be. I think it hints at the way sex is presented in this piece specifically, which is kind of funny, and kind of weird, and it’s sexy but not in a conventional way.
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by The Happiest Medium on January 30, 2012
Five Questions. Five Answers. And one big decision: Rock, Paper, or Scissors?
Suzen Murakoshi
BREATHE LOVE REPEAT:a near-life experience
Produced by: The Mustique Projects
A samurai super daughter struggles with her mother at the crossroads between east and west to affirm life between this world and the next.
Show Times:
- Wed. 2/22 @ 10:30pm
- Fri. 2/24 @ 7:30pm
- Mon. 2/27 @ 7:30pm
- Fri. 3/2 @ 10:30pm
- Sun. 3/4 @ 7:00pm
Answers by Suzen Murakoshi
(Playwright, Performer)
Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
That’s some title. How did you come up with it – and what does it mean?
Suzen: THANKS! It’s the mantra I was wrestling with at one of the lowest points in my life. The ‘repeat’ part is the hardest, because it’s like, “you mean, I have to do it again? And, again?”
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by The Happiest Medium on January 20, 2012
1,934 Days
a play about longing and hope.
Isramerica Production
Conceived and Created: Sivan Hadari
Directed and Co-created: Charlotte Cohn
While sharing their own personal experiences and real life stories, ten actors haling from diverse cultural backgrounds (American, Asian, African, Israeli, Palestinian, Latin) explore the deep rooted connection they all have with “longing”.
Show Times:
- Wed 1/18 @ 10:00pm
- Sat 1/21 @ 10:00pm
- Sun 1/22 @ 6:00pm
Answers by Sivan Hadari – Creator/ Producer
Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
This is an international festival. What part of the world are you coming from … and will your show tantalize the NYC audience with a taste of your nation’s culture?
Sivan Hadari: I am an Isramerican. Born in Brooklyn, raised in Israel and now back in New York. The actors in our cast are from Japan, Israel, France, The Philippines, USA, Kyrgyzstan, China and Singapore.
While sharing their own personal experiences and real life stories, twelve actors hailing from diverse cultural backgrounds explore the deep rooted connection they all have with “longing”. We will hear their tales of unrequited love, separation, heart-break, mourning, homosexuality, religion and faith while they draw inspiration from the story of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit who was held captive in Gaza by Hamas for 1,934 days.
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by The Happiest Medium on January 19, 2012
Superman 2050
Theater Un-Speak-Able
Writer and designer: The Ensemble, Theater-Un-Speak-Able
Director: Marc Frost
Superman 2050 is featuring seven actors performing on a single 3’ by 7’ platform. It is an original Superman story, taking place in a fictional Metropolis in the year 2050. At no time do any actors exit the platform, instead existing as either speaking character or background object in each scene, utilizing transitional moments both within and between scenes to shift between the two. It is a fast-paced, high-energy show for all ages.
Show Times:
- Thu 1/19 @ 7:30pm
- Sat 1/21 @ 2:30pm
- Sun 1/22 @ 7:00pm
Answers by Zachary Baker-Salmon – Producer
Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
This is an international festival. What part of the world are you coming from … and will your show tantalize the NYC audience with a taste of your nation’s culture?
Zachary Baker-Salmon: Our company, like the titular character in our play, hails from the Midwestern United States. We aim higher than corn fields and tornadoes, however, for our approach to storytelling is heavily influenced by European forces. Our “Platform Style” is taught at the London International School of the Performing Arts and our mentor is Italian. Did I mention she’s teaching a three day workshop coinciding with the festival? Sign up if you want to know where the real action is.
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