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An Evening With Kirk Douglas (Fringe Festival 2012)

Geoffrey Paddy Johnson — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 16:02:38 +0000

Katherine Maughan‘s An Evening With Kirk Douglas opens on a modest, tidy motel suite, with a neatly made-up bed, a nightstand, and a backpack resting on a table. Enter Maisie Kingsley, a young wife celebrating her first anniversary with a road trip around northern California. Her hands are covered with blood. Lots of it – that garishly bright, glistening theatrical blood favored by make-up artists. Immediately there is tension. Maisie moves about restlessly in a state of shock. She wants something in her backpack, but is reluctant to touch anything with her gore drenched hands. A beat. She tries delicately picking at a pocket zip on the bag. Okay – now it’s funny. The phone begins to ring. Maisie’s eyes open wide with terror. The tension tightens as we witness her dilemma. Enter -thank goodness! – her husband, Walter. Without batting an eyelid he begins a discussion about answering the phone. The phone continues to sound shrilly, and your nerves begin to stretch, as you watch these two – presumably imperiled fugitives – show every sign of bungling their escape because of some thick-headed disagreement.

As an introductory scene that builds dramatic tension while playing on comical ridiculousness, these opening moments are truly a class act. It’s contemporary screwball with a nod in the direction of something darker. The humor is sustained, the scenario explained (weird and funny), as our protagonist couple try to come to terms with what they have done, and what they must do. While a body lies bleeding in their bathtub, the high drama of the situation is comically undercut by their frequent segues into petty irritable exchanges and inappropriate sentimental overtures. High-strung Maisie is hopelessly panic-prone and histrionic, and Walter contrarily hard-headed and calculating. Everything they have done thus far, around the scene of an accident, is exactly the wrong thing to have done. It’s a funny metaphor, but only a matter of time, you surmise, before Maisie deploys those blood-stained hands in an inadvisable manner. Which shortly she does in epic fashion, hysterical to observe. As played by Morgan Grace Jarrett (Maisie) and Winston Noel (Walter) this first part of Maughan’s two act play is clever and funny, wickedly so. It’s too bad everything it has going for it is let down by what follows.

Farcical as the first part was, we have removed to much further along the comedic scale, and foolishness, for the second act. We are in heaven, in the company of God, Jesus, and St. Peter, who are conducting a dull staff meeting regarding the day’s expected entrants at the Pearly Gates. It may be amusing to entertain the notion of these figures as broad 21st century types – God as an unimaginative authority figure with a soft spot for celebrities, Jesus as a responsibility-shy, feel-good slacker, and St. Peter as a put-upon, under-appreciated, make-do manager – but only mildly so. The day’s big arrival is going to be Kirk Douglas, which is exciting for God who has been trying to reel him in for some time now. Jesus meantime is grumbling about the present batch of his followers who find their way up here; they’re limited and boring. Heaven is presented as something like a less than spectacular, under-serviced holiday camp. Everything, however, is thrown out there merely for its humorous appeal, and nothing activates to drive along a plot, or even describe one. With a start-stop momentum, it’s a loose sequence of sketches, of variable impact, set in the same environment. Except for the fleeting appearance of Kirk Douglas – with allusions to the reason for his demise – it has hardly any connection to the previous act, holds nothing of its pedigree, and leaves a much weaker wake in its trail.

Too bad, as some of the actors – Brian Faas (in a class of his own as St. Peter), Austin Rye (Jesus), and Brandon Scott Jones (Caleb, a Jesus freak) – have something going here. The author’s looser writing, however, just goes nowhere. It’s not aided by Kerry McGuire‘s slack hand in the directing role, who might have contributed something with just a tighter blocking of her actors. The obvious unevenness between the two acts is problematic and partly spoils enjoyment of some promising comedic writing by the young Katherine Maughan.

~~~

An Evening With Kirk Douglas was part of the 2012 Fringe Festival.

Mahmoud – Selected As A Fringe Encore (Fringe Festival 2012)

Geoffrey Paddy Johnson — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 02:04:37 +0000

Iranian-Canadian actress Tara Grammy portrays three distinctive characters in her one-woman show, co-authored by director Tom Arthur Davis, Mahmoud. We see her as the titular Mahmoud, a Toronto-dwelling, Iranian ex-patriot taxi driver in his middle years; as Emanuelos, a gay Spanish immigrant working happily as a department store cologne salesman; and as Tara, a twelve year old Iranian-Canadian schoolgirl with aspirations to acting. Each character is richly invested with a clutch of mannerisms and a particular voice, stylizations which -while attention-grabbing – come perilously close to stereotypes. There’s something more than just a little cartoonish about Grammy’s turn as the rapid-speaking, gasp emitting young Tara, and her Emanuelos could cause Will & Grace‘s Jack McFarland to blush. There may be a political point being made here about westerners – they’re spoiled, shallow, and self-centered – but it’s a pretty broad one. Mahmoud, by contrast, an immigrant who fled Iran during the cultural revolution, is shown as friendly and engaging, with a moderately pitched voice. Even though he wants to talk relentlessly about how wonderful his former country is, and he’s no slouch when it comes to sounding off at other predatory drivers, he’s the soul of modesty. But it’s a comedy – isn’t it? – so go with it.

We’re in Toronto and it’s 2009. The television news media is focused on the protests and social upheaval surrounding forthcoming presidential elections in Iran. All of the characters are vaguely impacted, even Emanuelos who, it transpires, is dating a nice Iranian man (who just happens to be Mahmoud’s closeted nephew). The stories begin to draw together and broader themes of cultural displacement, immigration, racism, and homophobia come into focus under a wider banner of -’what price personal liberty?’ The writing in this regard is skillful and more subtle than the performances suggest. Time passes, things change. Tara gives up on the notion of ever being seen as anything other than Iranian. Emanuelos becomes engaged to his boyfriend, who returns to his country to “announce their plans.” As things continue to heat up in Tehran, the three characters encounter each other in telling exchanges. Tension mounts until the video-captured shooting of a young Iranian woman attending a rally is broadcast around the world; the Neda story. Various simmering issues in the lives of the three principals abruptly erupt with dramatic consequences. The comic vein the piece began in has been left well and truly behind, and the stereotypes melt into more recognizable flesh and blood individuals.

There has been method in Grammy’s broad impersonations after all. Commencing with almost two-dimensional types, the story closes in on the real individuals as the political, social realities of their lives close in on the characters themselves. The climax has a somewhat melodramatic, symbolic over-reach perhaps, but the story holds together and is deftly brought off. For all her enjoyment of comic overkill, Grammy is an agile and attractive performer. She proves disciplined and well timed, both in conducting the story’s narrative flow, and in her changes from one character to another. The performance is all the more praiseworthy for being enacted on the limited platform stage at Jimmy’s No. 43, with no curtain or props; just fluidly synchronized lighting (Jenna Koenig) and sound effects (Mike Conley). As co-author, director Tom Arthur Davis knows what he is looking for from her, and she delivers here handsomely.

Mahmoud is a winner of a 2012 FringeNYC Overall Excellence Award, and will be part of the Fringe Encore Series. Details about the encore performance are below:

~~~

Mahmoud
Pandemic Theatre
Writer: Tara Grammy and Tom Arthur Davis
Director: Tom Arthur Davis, Consulting Director: Soheil Parsa, Assistant Director: Omar Hady
One Iranian actress, three characters: an Iranian engineer-cum-taxi driver, a fabulously gay Spaniard, and a pre-teen Iranian-Canadian girl. Their stories intertwine in unexpected ways in this personal and hilarious story. Learn more about Iranians, and maybe even yourself.
Huron Club. 9/22 at 8PM; 9/23 at 3PM; 9/25 at 8PM; 9/29 at 5PM; 9/30 at 5PM.
1h 0m
Solo Show Comedy

www.mahmoudtaxi.com

The FringeNYC Encore Series will present 19 “Best of The Festival” shows in rotating repertory at SoHo Playhouse and The Huron Club (both located at 15 Vandam Street between 6th Avenue & Varick) as well as at The Players Theater (115 MacDougal Street between Bleecker and Houston Streets). Tickets are $18, available at 212-691-1555 or www.SohoPlayhouse.com

Songs Of Love: A Theatrical Mixtape (Fringe Festival 2012)

The Happiest Medium — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 01:02:29 +0000

The Happiest Medium welcomes guest reviewer, Mariah MacCarthy. Mariah is the Producing Director Of CAPS LOCK THEATRE.

It’s a shame that the word “charming” has the air of damning with faint praise, because I’m not sure how else to characterize Nat Cassidy’s Songs of Love: A Theatrical Mixtape. “Charming” sounds cutesy, it sounds mediocre-romantic-comedy, it sounds fluffy, and Mixtape is none of these. It’s simply charming as all get-out. It’s, like, Jon-Stewart-charming. It’s that-fun-co-worker-who-makes-you-actually-look-forward-to-going-to-work charming. You get the idea.

Mixtape is just that, a mixtape (or its theatrical equivalent), in which short plays about love are interspersed with songs about love, which Cassidy sings and plays on guitar. It’s like an episode of “Kids in the Hall” written by Ionesco and scored by Jonathan Richman. And this mixtape is so diverse that at times, you find yourself wondering, “Who is the real Nat Cassidy?” Some shorts are more sketch-y (a song about giving your girlfriend HPV, or a couple of ditzy-seeming club girls who intersperse “I know, right?”s with hilariously highbrow academic references). Some are more absurdist (an unexplained ticking noise that drives a couple apart, or a parking space scuffle that leads to decapitation). It can be hard to believe that the same writer wrote them all, and is a testament to Cassidy’s versatility that he did.

But there are two shorts in the evening where I found myself saying, “Ah-ha. THIS must be the real Nat Cassidy.” In these moments, Cassidy’s voice is truly unique, confident, and strong. These two shorts are so gorgeous they just about defy gravity.

One is a monologue performed by (dare I say the incomparable?) Kristen Vaughan, in which a third-person “she” looks at the moon and thinks about a long-deceased first love. I can’t think of a way to describe this monologue in a way that does it justice, except to say that I wrote nearly half the thing down verbatim in my notebook as I watched because I wanted to make sure I’d remember those lines.

Lines like, “Innocence is simply experience that hasn’t made up its mind yet.”

Or, “When a possibility dies, it does not leave a body … but it does leave a smell.”

Or, “Bodies are the worst, cruelest liars. And they make up their minds without having all the facts.” It’s hilariously self-referential, and poetic, and chilling.

The other is the penultimate track on this mixtape, a first date that is going really well. When the girl (Abby Royle) presses her date (Ben Williams) to tell her how he found her online, his answer is more than she bargained for: it involves suicide, and manslaughter, and porn, among other things. Williams’ performance in this moment is one of the most upsetting, honest, jaw-droppingly raw moments of theater I’ve ever seen. His date almost runs away (and perhaps we wouldn’t blame her if she did), but when she doesn’t, you feel a little better about humanity, and maybe your eyes mist up.

The ensemble is solid, and they do that unquantifiable thing where you get the impression they really like being onstage with each other and saying these words.

With just a couple of chairs and a table (and a big poster covered in pictures of genital warts), they make rapid jumps in location and tone without ever losing us.

They are energetic and adorable and it’s very easy to want to hug them.

As for the “actual” songs on this mixtape that intersperse the action, the ones that Cassidy performs live…well, they came with the press kit and I’m currently listening to them on repeat and imagine I will be doing so for the foreseeable future. So, there’s that.

At the end of the evening, my date turned to me and said, “This restored my faith in theater,” and it’s easy to see why. Mixtape is compassionate, hysterical, and has moments of gut-punching raw beauty. My one regret is that I saw it so late in its run and can’t actually drive people into its audience. Here’s hoping it comes back to charm us once again.

~~~

Songs of Love: A Theatrical Mixtape
Tin Drum Productions
Writer: Nat Cassidy
Director: Nat Cassidy
Genital warts. Mothmen. Decapitation. Pornography. Bagel fucking. And, of course … love. Join multi-award-winning author Nat Cassidy through terrifyingly twisted, outrageously heartfelt stories of love–each complemented by an original song performed onstage by a live (not dead) musician.
1h 45m   Local   Brooklyn, New York
Comedy   Drama
Staycation: Ride the Rollercoaster of Love   Fantasy Island Excursion
www.whatsyourmixtape.info
VENUE #10: The Players Theatre
Sat 11 @ 2:30  Tue 14 @ 7  Thu 23 @ 9:45  Fri 24 @ 9:45  Sat 25 @ 2:15

This show ran as part of Fringe Festival 2012.

Bang! The Curse of John Wilkes Booth (Fringe Festival 2012)

Geoffrey Paddy Johnson — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 00:21:14 +0000

Dressed in a dapper costume of 19th century clothing, with a drawn on mustache, Scott Baker addresses us in the opening section of his self-authored, one-man show, in the character of John Wilkes Booth, the pompous Shakespearean actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln in a theatre in 1865. Of a distinguished acting family, an inveterate performer, Booth speaks in a hammy, stage pentameter which borrows heavily from the Bard, seeking to ennoble his murderous intentions with an eloquence that would prove less suspect, perhaps, on the boards of a 16th century play house. He glowers and fulminates, preens and pontificates in ways that make you despair of his Brutus, or his Hamlet. The tyrant must die! He brandishes a Bowie knife and his pistol – stagily turning the barrel on himself – before re-directing it, leaping to action, and killing the house lights with a shout of “bang!”

Bang! The Curse of John Wilkes Booth is divided in to two parts. Mopping off his mustaches with a handkerchief at the commencement of the second act, Baker shifts gears, engaging a more measured tone as he tells us of what first excited his interest in Booth as a subject for a monologue. Not only were all the elements of the story, with their own theatricality, so richly and historically in place (in a diary entry Booth actually recounted a sort of dress rehearsal of the planned assassination, like the scene we have just witnessed), but obscure parts of the tale persist. Parts that suggest that Booth did not die in an army-lead raid just days after the event, but escaped to settle in Texas where, years later, as a wealthy, married man, he allegedly died at his own hand. Claims for his survival are presented, details elaborated, conspiracy theories revisited, as gradually we discover in the telling – the dramatic persona of Booth having been discarded – that we are now in the hands of quite another theatrical animal; narrator Scott Baker. With stagey flourishes of his own – lame vaudeville style jokes, acts of prestidigitation, vocal atmospherics – Baker assumes a 21st century Boothian hamminess in his accounting. As the trail leads gradually toward increasingly outlandish claims, Baker’s delivery proves spot on. Following not one, but two enacted death-bed confessions, there is perhaps something inevitable about the introduction of a traveling sideshow and some mummified remains. Imagine (if you will) Jack Palance concluding a narrative, as drawing to a close, he intones haltingly, breathily, “believe it or not”, and you’ll catch something of the spirit.

It’s all very enjoyable, sharp and humorously self-deprecating at the same time. Baker’s narrative delivery makes wise use of past theatrical styles, weaving them together into a teasing game of revelation that diffuses factual data even as it presents it. A secret society? A sinister globe-embracing plot? A curse? Well, of course there’s a curse! Now listen closely … An elaborate game of smoke and mirrors history may well be, but there’s an admirably restrained use of contemporary effects here; just the deployment of some long-serving, cheap magic of yore – a good story and an entertaining speaker. Strange the potency.

~~~

BANG! The Curse of John Wilkes Booth
The Drilling Company, Hamilton Clancy Producer
Writer: Scott Baker
Director: Richard Harden
One Actor! Thirty Roles! One Twisted Shocker! Verse, Song, Magic, Sideshow Antics and Stand-up Comedy! Discover how your History book lied to you about Lincoln, Booth and just about everybody else. And yes, there’s a mummy involved…
1h 20m   Local   Manhattan, New York
Vaudeville/Sideshow/Magic/Burlesque   Solo Show
Staycation: Ripped from the Headlines   In Someone Else’s Shoes
www.drillingcompany.org
VENUE #09: The Gene Frankel Theatre
Sat 11 @ 4  Fri 17 @ 7:15  Tue 21 @ 5:45  Wed 22 @ 2  Sat 25 @ 7

This show ran as part of Fringe Festival 2012 an is now closed.

Final Schedule Announced for Fringe Encore Series

Karen Tortora-Lee — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 20:23:13 +0000

There’s one more chance to see some of the most exciting Fringe Shows of the 2012 festival! Beginning September 7th, the FringeNYC Encore Series will present 19 “Best of The Festival” shows in rotating repertory at SoHo Playhouse and The Huron Club (both located at 15 Vandam Street between 6th Avenue & Varick) as well as at The Players Theater (115 MacDougal Street between Bleecker and Houston Streets). Tickets are $18, available at 212-691-1555 or www.SohoPlayhouse.com
Below is the complete list – see which ones we reviewed to help you decide which show you’ll see … or see them all!

ALL MY CHILDREN
Writer: Matt Smith / Director: Bret Fetzer.
Max Poth takes “what-might-have-been” to extremes. He tracks down the now-grown children of long-ago girlfriends, and tells them he’s their real father (knowing that he’s not). A strange lark takes on a life of its own.
Huron Club. 9/12 at 8PM; 9/14 at 7PM; 9/16 at 5PM; 9/17 at 8PM

What we said: ” …this is sophisticated, sharp, and wise comedy, delivered by an actor at the top of his game. Miss it and you lose.” [read the full review by Geoffrey Paddy Johnson]

BELOW
Writer: Tess Howsam / Director: Karyn Joy DeYoung.
“Something’s dead.” Driven into a world of uncertainty, disease, and darkness, a group of survivors dwelling beneath an abandoned toxic metropolis are suddenly threatened by the arrival of a child-like stranger. Will they survive this new assault?
SoHo Playhouse. 9/8 at 8PM; 9/15 at 3PM; 9/23 at 8PM; 9/29 at 8PM

CANON IN D MINOR*
Writer: Jessica Liadsky / Director: Rachel Slaven.
Beth is lost after her best friend takes her own life in their final year of school. She glides the bow of her violin through the music that connected them in this tender and poetic story of friendship and forgiveness.
SoHo Playhouse. 9/15 at 8PM; 9/19 at 8PM; 9/27 at 7PM; 9/29 at 5PM; 9/30 at 5PM.

DANNY VISCONTI IS HILL-BENT: MY NIGHT WITH HILLARY CLINTON
Writer: Danny Visconti with Adam Wachter / Director: Connor Gallagher.
Hillary Rodham Clinton is Danny Visconti’s idol. After a chance meeting with the Secretary of State, Danny is immediately sucked into a scandalous night of booze, strippers, and prank-calling Michele Bachmann…all set to music!!
Huron Club. 9/10 at 8PM; 9/15 at 5PM; 9/27 at 7PM; 9/29 at 3PM; 9/30 at 8PM.

5 LESBIANS EATING A QUICHE*
Writer: Evan Linder and Andrew Hobgood / Director: Sarah Gitenstein.

It’s 1956 and the Susan B. Anthony Society for the Sisters of Gertrude Stein are having their annual quiche breakfast. Will they be able to keep their cool when Communists threaten their idyllic town? “Sharp, smart and hysterically funny.” – Time Out Chicago.
SoHo Playhouse. 9/12 at 9:30PM; 9/23 at 5PM; 9/25 @ 8PM; 9/27 at 9PM; 9/28 at 9PM; 9/30 @ 8PM.

GAY CAMP*

Writer: Philip Mutz and Susan-Kate Heaney / Director: Phillip Fazio.
It’s gay. It’s camp. It’s Gay Camp! ‘Confused’ campers Josh and Anton are sent to be ‘cured’ at Camp Acceptance. Prepare for a deliciously evil headmaster, gay Twister, Santorum surprises, and more innuendos than you can shake a dildo at!
The Players Theatre. 9/21 at 10PM; 9/22 at 10PM; 9/27 at 10PM; 9/28 at 10PM.

HAVE I GOT A GIRL FOR YOU*
Writer: Josh Mesnik / Director: Sara Sahin.
How does a newly sober gay musical theatre actor get his life on track? He gets a job running a female escort agency of course! The hilarious true story of the most unlikely new member in the oldest profession.
The Players Theatre. 9/13 at 10PM; 9/14 at 10PM; 9/15 at 7:30PM; 9/21 at 7:30PM; 9/22 at 7:30PM.

INDEPENDENTS*
Writer: Marina Keegan, Music by Stephen Feigenbaum, Lyrics by Mark Sonnenblick / Director: Charlie Polinger.
Strapped for cash, burnout crewmembers of an antique tallship become Revolutionary War reenactors. Armed with a less-than-potent combination of Wikipedia and marijuana, they face disaster in this folk musical about friendship, adulthood, and whatever those three-cornered-hats are called.
SoHo Playhouse. 9/7 at 7PM; 9/8 at 5PM; 9/11 at 8PM; 9/14 at 9PM; 9/18 at 8PM; 9/21 at 7PM.

LENNON IN DENMARK
Writer: Vibeke Hastrup & Frede Gulbrandsen / Director: Frede Gulbrandsen.
An encounter between a young woman and John Lennon in a remote part of Denmark forever changes her life. But for the better? A journey of love, forgiveness, being stuck and letting go. It’s never too late to begin again.
Huron Club. 9/15 at 3PM; 9/16 at 8PM; 9/18 at 8PM; 9/20 at 7PM

MAHMOUD*
Writer: Tara Grammy and Tom Arthur Davis / Director: Tom Arthur Davis.
One Iranian actress, three characters: an Iranian engineer-cum-taxi driver, a fabulously gay Spaniard, and a pre-teen Iranian-Canadian girl. Their stories intertwine in unexpected ways in this personal and hilarious story. Learn more about Iranians, and maybe even yourself.
Huron Club. 9/22 at 8PM; 9/23 at 3PM; 9/25 at 8PM; 9/29 at 5PM; 9/30 at 5PM.

What we said: ”The stories begin to draw together and broader themes of cultural displacement, immigration, racism, and homophobia come into focus under a wider banner of -’what price personal liberty?’ ” [read the full review by Geoffrey Paddy Johnson]

NIGHTFALL ON MIRANGA ISLAND

Writer: Justin Moran and Jonathan Roufaeal, Music by Adam and Matt Podd / Director: Justin Moran, Music Direction: Adam and Matt Podd.
Somewhere off the coast of Guatemala: our swashbuckling hero, Declan Bruntfodder, has finally tracked the legendary pirate captain Vicious Martin LaFoe to his hideout on the lawless Miranga Island in a quest to find his sister kidnapped ten years ago.
The Players Theatre. 9/8 at 7:30PM; 9/13 at 7:30PM; 9/15 at 10PM; 9/28 at 7:30PM; 9/29 at 7:30PM

PIECES*

Writer: Chris Phillips / Director: Brian Zimmer
When an openly gay Hollywood power player is brutally murdered, his body parts distributed around the city of Beverly Hills, Los Angeles Public Defender Rory Dennis is assigned the defense of Shane Holloway, the damaged young man accused of the crime. While unlocking Shane’s past, Rory is forced to confront his own scorching ambivalence about his place in a community to which he’s lost almost all connection.
SoHo Playhouse. 9/7 at 9:30PM; 9/9 at 8PM; 9/12 at 8PM; 9/13 at 7PM; 9/16 at 8PM; 9/17 at 8PM.

What we said: ” … Pieces works as entertainment and as drama with teeth. Go, for pity’s sake, while you can. You should consider yourself lucky to be so bitten.” [Read the full r eview by Geoffrey Paddy Johnson]

PULP SHAKESPEARE*
Writer: Ben Tallen, Aaron Greer, Brian Watson-Jones &Jordan Monsell / Director: Jordan Monsell
“This lively and imaginative re-invention” (LA Weekly) imagines what it might be like had the cult film “Pulp Fiction” been written by William Shakespeare. Set in Elizabethan England, Pulp Shakespeare weaves the story of a pair of murderers, their boss’s alluring wife, and a desperate knight, all brought to life by a cast of acclaimed Los Angeles Shakespearean actors.
SoHo Playhouse. 9/19 at 8PM, 9/20 at 9PM, 9/22 at 3PM, 9/24 at 8PM, and 9/26 at 8PM.

What we said: ” … between the smooth directing skills, the flawless cast, and a darn good script, Pulp Shakespeare was hilariously engaging, and made me want to revisit the movie. “ [read the full review by Linnea Covington]

RATED M FOR MATURE
Writer: Greg Ayers / Director: Paul Dobie
Inspired by real events. This hard-hitting dark comedy follows Eric, a troubled teen bullied to the breaking point. He’s able to find refuge in an online game but when his computer is taken away, who will pay the price?
SoHo Playhouse. 9/10 at 8PM; 9/14 at 7PM; 9/16 at 5PM; 9/20 at 7PM; 9/22 at 5PM.

SALAMANDER STARTS OVER*
Writer: Armando Merlo, Director: Leigh Ann Pedra
The words every teenage punk dreads: All-Boys Catholic School. But this isn’t your average preparatory education. Eccentric teachers. Militant coaches. Dance-fighting students. Add these with the love of a Cuban mother and see how Salamander starts over.
Huron Club. 9/7 at 7PM; 9/9 at 8PM; 9/13 at 7PM; 9/15 at 8PM; 9/19 at 8PM; 9/28 at 7PM.

STANDBY – THE MUSICAL

Writer: Book and Lyrics by Alfred Solis, Music by Keith Robinson and Amy Baer, additional book and lyrics by Mark-Eugene Garcia / Director: Marc Connor Eardley
Five travelers, haunted by troubled pasts, await the flight of their lives. Their unresolved baggage lands them on standby, where the end of the line is the beginning of a journey to redemption in the afterlife.
The Players Theatre. 9/7 at 7:30PM; 9/14 at 7:30PM; 9/20 at 7:30; 9/27 at 7:30PM; 9/29 at 10PM.

SUPER SIDEKICK: THE MUSICAL

Writer: Gregory Crafts, music and lyrics by Michael Gordon Shapiro / Director: Steve Knight, Music Director: Stephen Bent
Adventure! Romance! Ninja koalas! Sorcerer Slurm has captured the greatest hero in the kingdom! Can lowly sidekick Inky save the day? “…perfect for small children, with audience participation, a perfect hour run-time and catchy musical numbers” -L.A. Theatre Review
SoHo Playhouse. 9/8 at 1PM; 9/9 at 1PM; 9/15 at 1PM; 9/16 at 1PM; 9/22 at 1PM; 9/23 at 1PM; 9/29 at 1PM; 9/30 at 1PM.

What we said: ” … with the fast pace, audience participation, and fun characters, if you have children this play is right up their alley. But, even as a grown woman I found it humorous, saucy, and a lot of fun. [read the full review by Linnea Covington]

THIS TOO SHALL SUCK
Writer: Matt Graham

A merry romp through performance anxiety, professional Scrabble, stand-up comedy and the psych ward, Matt Graham’s one-man traumedy reveals his transformation from drunken bum into reclusive cat lady/professional gambler. How bad can it suck?
Huron Club. 9/11 at 8PM; 9/21 at 7PM; 9/23 at 8PM; 9/24 at 8PM

THE ZEBRA SHIRT OF LONELY CHILDREN*
Writer: Matthew Trumbull / Director: Matthew Freeman
In this comic monologue, Trumbull stumbles through a world of urn catalogs and last-minute eulogies. It explores the bond between Trumbull and his useful-minded father, Jonathan, a dying Minnesota engineer who donates his cadaver to science.
SoHo Playhouse. 9/8 at 8PM; 9/16 at 3PM; 9/23 at 5PM; 9/26 at 8PM; 9/29 at 8PM.

* Denotes FringeNYC Overall Excellence Award Winner.

Becoming Butch (Fringe Festival 2012)

Geoffrey Paddy Johnson — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 05:24:14 +0000

Would anyone today contest the notion that growing up gay, as the youngest only son in a traditional white Catholic family in Queens during the seventies, would not be easy? Such is Vincent James Arcuri’s story, and in his one man, self-authored show, Becoming Butch, he delivers himself of it in an engaging comedic monologue. Vincent wasn’t one of those quietly gay boys (whoever they may be) but a real – shall we say? – screamer right from the checkered flag. There were three older sisters in the house and an atmosphere of femininity into which he fit right in. Until, that is – as a little boy who was supposed to do things “normal” little boys do – he didn’t. His father and uncles tried to wean him off Barbies and cheer leading and get him on to “harder” things, like baseball. At which his instinctual nature balked. At which Vincent sucked. It was the beginning of a fostered sense of inadequacy and self-rejection which many gay children experience, and prompted his prolonged stop-start campaign of becoming butch.

With so little in the way of external positive reinforcements available, is it any wonder he took an avid interest in the on-tap fantasy worlds television entertainment offered? Even here, however, perhaps something resistant and pugnacious was at work when he elected as his childhood role model Arnold Jackson, the character played by black actor Gary Coleman in Diff’rent Strokes. Arcuri dwells on the humorously inappropriate aspects of his youthful enthusiasms more than their psychological edge and import. In some measure those speak for themselves, as when he re-enacts a high school bullying scenario which abruptly shifts the tone and atmosphere of the narrative. It’s harsh and unsettling, devoid of the comic twist used to disarm the jibing critiques thrown his way by well-meaning, masculine relatives. Which speaks impressively of the degree of control Arcuri exercises over of his audience. Just how much of a “faggot” he really is occupies a huge part of his developing personality, and the trauma is suggested through recollections of incidents played more for laughs than for any claims of sympathy. Sympathy, the broader reach of this performance, is something young Vincent rarely finds for himself; not until fears, tears, and years later.

All the TV soap bubbles propel young Vincent toward a career as an actor. But even in this would-be-make-believe realm he is told he is unacceptable, too much a type as himself, too “gay” to find favor with casting directors. He takes speech lessons and tries sports in order to butch himself up. It’s arduous and all but ineffectual. The breakthrough, believe it or not, occurs when he falls in love. A shift begins that launches him into the greater world, or at least to L.A., where dreams really can come true (for actors).

In essence it’s not a story that is unfamiliar, certainly to gay people or anyone in touch with them. There’s something generic about it, its insistence on the ordinariness of the social environment, the family dynamic of tough, straight-man dad; ever-approving, doting mother; extended family of types. Nothing in his story – from his childhood fears, to his Catholic guilt, and West Hollywood run-ins – partakes of the unusual, the strange. Can this really be the case, or are we being served an account that has been tamed, pruned of thorns; a history divested of anything that might be deemed too queer? There’s something gratingly mainstream in its address. A projected dial graphic, like something from a TV game show, regularly clocks score ratings for the butch factor in each episode.

As a performer Arcuri is captivating – sharp, funny, and convincing. He has a deft sense of comic timing and a highly expressive face that can swoop up and down the register with the flick of an eyelash. Enjoyable as this piece is, one feels that he could go much further without the weighted attachment to light entertainment. In the meantime though, perhaps he can be happy in the knowledge that he’s certainly a crowd pleaser.

~~~

BECOMING BUTCH
Writer: Vincent James Arcuri
Director: Gary Riotto (NY), Louis J. Cuck (CA)
From the streets of Queens, NY to life amongst the queens in West Hollywood, CA, Vincent’s coming-of-age tale takes audiences on a rousing journey through baseball, soap operas, speech lessons and more to redefine the true meaning of becoming butch.
1h 5m   National   Los Angeles, California
Comedy   Solo Show
Staycation: Family Vacation   Celeb-reality TV in Hollywood
www.BECOMINGBUTCH.com
VENUE #11: The Steve & Marie Sgouros Theatre
Fri 17 @ 3  Tue 21 @ 2:45  Thu 23 @ 6:30  Fri 24 @ 8  Sat 25 @ 5:45  Sun 26 @ 12

Steve Seabrook: Better Than You (Fringe Festival 2012)

The Happiest Medium — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 01:38:32 +0000

The Happiest Medium Review by guest contributor Rebecca Bernard

What would you be if you truly were your best self on all fronts of life: in work, play, mind and body? Why, you would be “better than you!” says Steve Seabrook of the show Steve Seabrook: Better Than You, a show conceived and directed by Kurt Bodden. Using the format of a motivational speaker, Bodden takes us through the highlights of a weekend crash course workshop aimed for greatness. We as audience members become his subjects as self-help lectures and demonstrations unfold. In the spirit of Tony Robbins, Seabrook spouts rhetoric and catchy affirmations that all conveniently tie back to merchandise and 5 disk sets that can be purchased before leaving the theatre.

Bodden is a charismatic performer, grabbing his audience from the moment he steps onstage and first addresses us as “people he would not want to be at 7pm on a Friday night.” This he insists will all change towards the end of the workshop as we undergo a revolutionary transformation. Also a gifted improvisor, Bodden often includes the audience’s energy (or lack of energy) in his performance, delivering some of the wittiest lines within these moments.

Though the speaker’s material is solid, the true magic of this piece lies in the contrast Bodden creates by showing Seabrook both on and off the stage. A relationship is forged between he and an offstage lighting designer that allows us to see a different and more vulnerable side of Seabrook. It soon becomes clear that Seabrook is not always the better version of himself he describes onstage, a point driven home when the lighting designer offhandedly compares him to the Wizard in the Wizard of Oz.

It would have been nice to see Bodden take this idea one step further by allowing us to not only see Steve Seabrook unravel backstage, but onstage as well. Instead we are left with more of the same, having been granted a peek under the wizard’s curtain, to then continue with the illusion that has just been broken. The audience sees the “light” of who Steve really is, but we are left wondering, is he aware of his own?

~~~

Steve Seabrook: Better Than You
Kurt Bodden
Writer: Kurt Bodden
Director: Mark Kenward
The master motivator takes the audience to a safe, nurturing place of empowerment to examine why they’re vaguely disappointing. Survivors of actual personal-growth seminars call it “hilarious” and say it “nails the tone perfectly,” including “that little creepy edge.”
1h 0m   National   San Francisco, California
Solo Show   Comedy
Staycation: Spa Getaway (Mind & Body)   In Someone Else’s Shoes
www.steveseabrook.com
VENUE #04: JIMMY’S NO. 43
Fri 17 @ 4  Sat 18 @ 7  Sun 19 @ 1:45  Thu 23 @ 9  Sat 25 @ 3:30  Sun 26 @ 3:30

Contrasts (Fringe Festival 2012)

The Happiest Medium — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 01:12:51 +0000

The Happiest Medium review by guest contributor Rebecca Bernard

A man and a woman wake up in bed beside each other, neither one recognizing the other and then going about their day. This is the premise or idea behind Contrasts, a highly physical story that “reveals the ever-present contrasts between men and women.”

Much happens in this hour long duo performance, conceived and performed by Dana Cavaleru and Richard Bovnoczki. The gifted performers transition from scene to scene with little dialogue, creating beautiful pictures and humorous scenes. Familiar and not so familiar scenes are explored through the specific style of theatre the two Romanian actors have developed; a fresh combination of pantomime, dance and theatre. A stand out scene includes the recreation of a black and white picture, complete with scratchy erratic movements that Bovnoczki depicted so well the night I attended that the audience burst into applause. Dialogue introduced in the performance doesn’t distract – it sparkles, proving that both the performers’ voices and the use of different languages are as engaging as their physicality.

Though beautiful moments are created and the premise is strong, the play does not entirely follow through. One is not quite sure who the characters are. Is the man and woman the same man and woman throughout, or are they musings on a theme? Each scene ends and goes into another, often with the absence of a transition to help make sense of this. And though the performers’ miming is often very good, this same lack of follow through shows up at times when an object is created and suddenly dropped, breaking the illusion it created for the audience. Half way through the actors start to include the audience, reacting to breaths, sighs and reactions from the audience.

Though this quality is nice, it becomes confusing since it wasn’t present from the beginning of the piece. Overall, though, the contrast of confusion to beauty, inventiveness and fun wins over the audience, making Contrasts a joy to watch.

~~~

CONTRASTS
Richard Bovnoczki and Dana Cavaleru
Director: Richard Bovnoczki, Dana Cavaleru
Theatre. Pantomime. Dance. Original stage vocabulary. Stories that make you laugh or cry. Two Romanian actors revealing contrasts. An ever changing imaginary set. Several European Awards. “If Tom and Jerry saw this show they would have reasons to be envious.”
1h 0m   International   Bucharest, Romania
Comedy   Dance
Staycation: In Someone Else’s Shoes   Ride the Rollercoaster of Love
www.contrastsshow.blogspot.com
VENUE #19: HERE Dorothy B. Williams Theater
Wed 15 @ 8  Thu 16 @ 4:15  Sat 18 @ 6  Sun 19 @ 8:15  Tue 21 @ 7  Thu 23 @ 7

Dancing Into India – Being Becoming (Fringe Festival 2012)

Lina Zeldovich — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 19:45:12 +0000

If you feel like taking a trip to New Delhi or Mumbai this summer, skip the flight and hop on the 6 train to Astor Place. There, at the White Box Theater at 440 Studios, Malini Srinivasan accompanied by Kadhambari Sridhar and Umesh Venkatesan will transport you not only to the Indian subcontinent, but also back in time to the second century, B.C. with their mesmerizing Bharathanatyam performance, Being Becoming.

At first, she’ll hide from you behind the translucent magenta curtain, where she will skillfully put on her make-up so her already beautiful eyes will dazzle even brighter. Then she will wrap the jiggling bracelets around her ankles. Next, she will weave flowers in her hair – and the curtain will rise – lifted by the other two dancers as if to invite the audience into a world none of us really know. For the next hour or so, the lithe and nimble trio clad in gold, blue and red iridescent costumes will tell us stories about a spiritual seeker, a woman in love and even about the Hindu gods Shiva and Parvati – all without a single word. The artists don’t need any sounds but the music and the changing staccato of its beat. The mastery of Bharathanatyam is being able to tell the story without speaking.

One of the oldest Indian classical dance forms, Bharathanatyam has a name as complex as the techniques it employs. In Tamil, a language spoken in South India, Bha- stands for Bhavam (expression), Ra- for Ragam (music) and Ta- for Talam (beat or rhythm) while Natyam means dance. So if Bharathanatyam looks unpronounceable, try Bharatha Natyam.

Having evolved from ancient Indian dancing, Bharatha Natyam is characterized by nrtta – the movement technique of complex rhythmic patterns and sharp and clear geometric shapes made by the dancers’ bodies. Another unique characteristic of this classic art form is abhinaya, the mastery of expression, and the dancers’ use of hand gestures and symbols to relate the story and their emotions to the audience.

There is a reason why the performance in called Being Becoming. It’s not just a beguiling title, made to catch your eye in the nearly 200 Fringe shows this year. The name takes its origin in the essential ideas of Hindu and Buddhist beliefs, presenting the concept that a person can become one with the object of his or her desire or devotion. This idea, also popular in Indian poetry and painting, weaves through the performance pieces of the show: the spiritual seeker wishes to unite with Lord Shiva and the lovesick maiden wants to be one with Lord Vishnu.

Granted or not, their desires and explorations are a way to disappear in your dreams, and a form of meditation, perhaps. And so the dance goes on with its sharp and precise hand movements, the seductive head rolls and the gentle flutter of eyelashes followed by fervent looks up above for an ultimate solution for all the mortal and immortal ills – leading us through the wonders of Indian mythology and thousands of years of history.

~~~

Being Becoming
Malini Srinivasan and Dancers
Choreographer: Malini Srinivasan
She puts on her make-up and becomes a classical Bharatanatyam dancer. With each dazzling gesture she transforms into a playful child, forlorn lover, or Ardhanariswara: half-man, half-woman. Join us on a journey where gestures create and each of us transforms.
1h 15m   Local   Queens, New York
Dance   Drama
Staycation: Overseas Adventure   Ride the Rollercoaster of Love
www.malinisrinivasan.com
VENUE #06: The White Box at 440 Studios
Sat 11 @ 2:30  Fri 17 @ 6:15  Sun 19 @ 9:15  Tue 21 @ 2  Thu 23 @ 9:15  Fri 24 @ 7

All My Children (Fringe Festival 2012)

Geoffrey Paddy Johnson — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 16:12:54 +0000

The narrator of Matt Smith‘s self-authored, one man show, All My Children, goes by the name Max Poth – an unassuming, if not altogether uninteresting handle to swing through life on. The dictionary gives a definition of pother as a verb meaning to harass and perplex. This little revelation gives you something of the low-key, thoughtful style of engagement Smith uses to come at a subject, and there’s much more of it in evidence in his writing and performance of this, really, quite twisted tale of a middle aged man, who fixates on the idea that there’s a slender chance – but not really – six of his past girlfriends may have borne his children in unions they made with subsequent partners. Six of them. But not really. This sets Poth off on the trail of the far-flung offspring, hardly hesitating to draw breath, before he arranges meetings with each in order to relay the, er, news.

We first meet Max at some sort of support group where he addresses us as his fellow attendees. He doesn’t reveal much about himself, and the focus of the group is sketchy – something to do with self-improvement – which is why his unselfconscious announcement of this fraudulent project is all the more perplexing; and/or breathtaking. Indeed he hardly skips a beat as he launches straight into how the first meeting with “his eldest”, Jennifer, went. Not well. Which perhaps spurs him on to the next. Such alarming egotism – and is it simply mischief making? – compels, and we are enrapt as, in rambling order, we are introduced to five additional unsuspecting strangers, while Max stretches himself to include everyone. It’s appalling and it’s funny, and that’s some clever cocktail to shake. Actually it’s more than clever. It’s brilliant.

Smith as a writer has a canny sense of how much information it takes to convince, and how much can be left out so that an audience will enter a tale. There’s a masterful game of hold or play going on. He’s sharp enough to throw out humdrum-seeming details that quietly glow – the sense of boundless enterprise a comfortable train ride can induce; what it might mean for someone to be in a kitchen “not cooking”; a faded My Little Pony tattoo. Shrewd enough too not to bother with the larger details, such as why? why? and why? You don’t have to have studied Advanced Narrative. Just don’t be stupid. Some areas are left pointedly grey, which is as it so often is with the texture of life.

Smith’s delivery partakes most naturally of the style of Max Poth, a digressive, elliptical narrator who will tell it as he sees fit – unabashedly, selfishly, cynically. He’s not interested in talking to anyone about their cancer- “I’m waiting for that conversation to end.” But he’s someone who notices things about people that others might not, and he acts – in his roundabout way – to help. He doesn’t explain this. It’s just evident in his story. Preposterous and wrong-headed, Max proves peculiarly winning when it comes to his capacity to stick with his highly individual “progeny”; like some sort of satellite dad with sub-particle sensitivity powers. He makes a virtue of mockery when he bribes one of his “daughters’ to give him an Eskimo nose rub in a diner, while intoning koobie-boobies. It’s plausible this icky baby talk acts as a sort of strange soul food for both parties. Max doesn’t say this, but odd things occur afterward.

Max doesn’t know what he wants from these exchanges. Perhaps his dry, detached style has shorn his life of melodrama, and he needs a fix. None of “his kids” prove particularly disposed toward that humor, so perhaps he has to up the ante a little. He doesn’t want to answer the phone to his “real family” – who are ringing all the time now, thank you! – but there may be a way. Something that involves a measure of bribery; an allusion to an inheritance; a conditional gathering. The imagined scenario proves thrilling not just for Max, but the audience, who at this point are putty in his hands. Who are all but convinced, it might, after all, not be such a bad thing for the other parties involved to drop along. Or at least, if Max Poth gets to tell the story. Or rather, Matt Smith. Directed by long time collaborator Bret Fetzer, this is sophisticated, sharp, and wise comedy, delivered by an actor at the top of his game. Miss it and you lose.

~~~

All My Children
Matt Smith
Writer: Matt Smith
Director: Bret Fetzer
Max Poth takes “what-might-have-been” to extremes. He tracks down the now-grown children of long-ago girlfriends, and tells them he’s their real father (knowing that he’s not). A strange lark takes on a life of its own.
1h 30m   National   Seattle, Washington
Comedy   Solo Show
Staycation: In Someone Else’s Shoes   Family Vacation
VENUE #09: The Gene Frankel Theatre
Tue 14 @ 3:45  Sun 19 @ 7:30  Thu 23 @ 8:30  Fri 24 @ 2:45  Sun 26 @ 12

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