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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 Karen Tortora-Lee on March 21, 2012
The Real Thing featuring Synge Maher & David Nelson
Art imitates life. Life imitates art. Often times -for the life of a playwright- the lines are so blurred that it’s almost impossible to distinguish realism from hyper-realism or acting from genuine feeling and emotion. When fact and fiction can no longer be untangled it isn’t always easy to recognize if the words you’re hearing are being spoken from the heart or simply being recreated from a scene plucked from the past. Somewhere amid all this, one would hope to find The Real Thing.
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by Lina Zeldovich on March 22, 2011
Three Sisters, Olga, Masha and Irina lead a quiet but not content life in a small garrison town of Russia, much longing for Moscow they had left elven years ago. The oldest, Olga, is only twenty-eight, yet she is already considered an old spinster; at some point admits that she would marry “any man, even an old man if he had asked.” Masha, having been wed to a kind-hearted but much older high school teacher Kulygin, is very obviously unhappy with her life. Irina is twenty, beautiful, cheerful and wooed by Baron, an army lieutenant prone to political philosophizing, Solony, an army captain who incessantly tries to put Baron down to make himself look better, and Fedotik, a sub-lieutenant and an amateur photographer. The three sisters have a highly educated and promising brother Andrei, who with his level of education could have been a professor in Moscow, but instead marries a seemingly gentle vulnerable Natalya, who turns into a shrew. The Moscow nostalgia is an ever-present and almost palpable entity like Russian snow in winters – everyone believes that if they could only return to Moscow, life would be so different. They may be right, although we never find out what exactly is holding them up.
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by Lina Zeldovich on September 29, 2010
Zaritsas: Russian Women in New York – a life-changing documentary by Elena Beloff will be screened on Oct 24 at the Astoria/LIC Film Festival.
Elena Beloff, a graduate of the New School University where she had studied film production, wanted to make movies since she was a little girl in her hometown in Tatarstan, Russia. When she was in high school she came to the USA as an exchange student and returned later to pursue her dreams. While living in New York Elena came across the infamous phenomena of the Russian women stereotype as materialistic gold-diggers and mail-order brides so she decided to make a film to explore the alleged stereotypes. As she was composing her student version of Zaritsas, she worked as an extra on the set of Law & Order where she met Vincent D’Onofrio who also starred in Men in Black and produced The Whole Wide World, and who became interested in her work and sponsored her film.
Elena’s documentary tells the stories of five Russian women in New York. Sasha, an exchange student loved the city and decided to stay. Katya’s dream is to quit her prestigious job at La Perla and become a photographer. The rapper Elena Ouri lives and breathes her songs and music – many about her vision of God. Tatiana rebuilt herself from rape and loss of her husband. Irina, an exotic dancer, takes refuge at a spiritual retreat to rebuild herself, and finds a job in the New York Jewelry district – with the emotional support of all the other women in the film.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on September 25, 2010
2nd Ave Poetry, vol 3: The Occult
Saturday, September 25
5-7 pm
FREE (or with suggested donation)
The Creek and The Cave
10-93 Jackson Ave, Long Island City
(on the E, G, & 7 train, B61 bus)
featuring readings & multimedia performances by
mitch HIGHFILL * toni SIMON * hector CANONGE * charles BORKHUIS * priscilla STADLER* brenda COULTAS * jill MAGI * kelly SPIVEY * douglas a. MARTIN * mark LAMOUREAUX
downstairs after-party with live set by dj DESPO
volume 3 also includes work by
kevin KILLIAN * leslie SCALAPINO * dodie BELLAMY* jeremy THOMPSON * rit PREMNATH * caitlin PARKER * tsering wangmo DHOMPA * thom DONOVAN * r. zamora LINMARK * thomas FINK * denise DUHAMEL * filip MARINOVICH * ca CONRAD * frank SHERLOCK * lyn GOERINGER * matt JONES * clayton ESHLEMAN * charles BERNSTEIN * stephanie GRAY * gerrit LANSING * vincent KATZ * rusty MORRISON * laynie BROWNE * tim PETERSON * john HARKEY * r.m. ENGELHARDT * emmy CATEDRAL * yago CURA * ernest CONCEPCION * jonny FARROW * alan ramon CLINTON
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by Lina Zeldovich on August 21, 2010
In Poligamy – a Hungarian indie feature film to be screened at the Astoria/LIC International Film Festival Oct 22-24, 2010 Dénes Orosz, a Hungarian director and producer,explores the ever-controversial subject of polygamy from the surprising angle of what would happen if someone’s coveted wish was miraculously fulfilled.
A young Hungarian couple, Andrash and Lilla, have been in a loving relationship long enough for a commitment. As a typical woman, Lilla wants marriage and children. As a stereotypical man, Andrash doesn’t know what he wants, but he feels he hadn’t played around enough and he wishes he would’ve. Then Lilla breaks the news of being pregnant and strange things start happening.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on August 19, 2010
1001 Nights
Sometimes you just need a break from all the Fringe going on all around you. Alternately, maybe you’re just looking for some good guacamole and chips with a side of laughs. Or you just want to hang out with your friends at the bar downing some beers with the cozy feeling of a room full of happy people laughing their butts off in the next room at something you can’t quite hear. Whatever you’re into, I suggest you find the answer at The Creek and The Cave – a surprising find (for me, at least) in the shadow of the Pulaski Bridge in Long Island City, Queens.
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by Antonio Miniño on July 1, 2010
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.
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by Antonio Miniño on June 30, 2010
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
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on November 9, 2009
If you know nothing at all about The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh you might mistakenly allow the deceptively downy title to lead you to believe this is a play about security and comfort. However, if The Pillowman brings up recollections of what you know about the Tony Award nominated 2005 Broadway run — and you still can’t resist the dark siren song of The Pillowman — then the new production being put on by the Astoria Performing Arts Center (APAC) is just what you’ve been looking for.
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