11 Seconds Of Ecstasy!: 3,600 Seconds Of Agony (Planet Connections 2010)

Sarah V. Schweig — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 01:35:41 +0000

Art is hard. If an artist wants to articulate something about boredom, he or she cannot simply write and produce a deliberately boring play. Audience members could instead go sit in a Starbucks for an hour and save twenty bucks. Similarly, if an artist wants to articulate something about the absurd, he or she cannot simply formulate a scatterbrained pageant of pastiche and call it existentially profound. 11 seconds of ecstasy!, created, written and directed by Roi Escudero, purports to be based in “realismo magico, transformation art, the theatre of cruelty’s awareness, and the irreverent humor of the absurd.” But the play isn’t so much based in magical realism as it is in surrealism. And where it further describes itself as an “eco-musical embodied in a performance art piece,” this seems to mean a collage of grotesque space aliens from a planet called Utopia, occasional attempts to retell the story of Genesis in Earth’s post-apocalyptic era, an actress in a tutu sometimes referred to as an “orgasm,” a predictable sexual reference here and there complete with thrusting into the air in case the references were unclear, and, to top it off, a mock bowel movement accompanied by the astute and subtle explication of the symbolism of this action, “I shit all over the world!”

Anyone who has ever taken a writing class has heard this bit of advice: “Show, don’t tell.” For all the showmanship of the production, complete with masks, capes, papier-mache heads, dance numbers, show tunes, video clips, etc., there was very little of substance actually shown. “Greed,” “money,” “war,” “oil,” “death,” and other abstractions were the go-to words in a script that was platitudinous and preachy where it attempted to be profound. (At one point, in case we missed it, the word GREED was flatly projected in large red letters on the wall.) The perhaps well-meaning environmental and political messages of the play were obscured by its shoddily thought-through production—often, the actor’s lines couldn’t even be heard over the music playing on the loudspeakers—and if the medium is the message, then the entire play begs the question, “Come again?”

There is a quote sometimes attributed to a letter written by Blaise Pascal, other times to one written by Mark Twain. “I am sorry this is so long,” it says, “I didn’t have time to make it shorter.” 11 seconds of ecstasy! was about 3,589 seconds too long.

~~~

11 seconds of ecstasy!
An allegory from Bubulinos’ Dreams Connected Series

An ETdC Projects’ Lab Production benefiting The Children’s Aid Society Philip Coltoff Center

Created, Written and Directed by: Roi Escudero
Running time: 60 minutes, no intermission
Venue: The Robert Moss Theater, 440 Lafayette Street, 3rd Floor

Performance dates:

Tues 6/8 @ 4:30pm
Wed 6/ 9 @ 9pm
Sat 6/19 @ 7pm
Sun 6/20 @ 3:15pm
Mon 6/21 @ 9pm
Tues 6/22 @ 7pm
Sat 6/26 @ 1pm

Purchase Tickets Here.

Planet Connections Q&A: 11 Seconds Of Ecstasy! / Fox Tales

The Happiest Medium — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 21:06:26 +0000

Planet Connections Theatre Festivity is New York City’s premiere eco-friendly theatre festival, connecting artists and audiences with diverse dynamic charitable organizations. The Planet Connections experience entertains, enlightens and informs.

The Happiest Medium (proud sponsors of The Planet Connections Festival), will be running Q&A throughout the festival.

Today we ask one question each of Roi “Bubi” Escudero – creator, writer and director of 11 seconds of ecstasy! and Gabrielle Fox, writer of Fox Tales. Let’s find out what makes their shows so wonderfully unique . . .

11 seconds of ecstasy!

answers by Roi “Bubi” Escudero

Here’s Antonio’s question -

If you would have to single out a quality between dialogue, plot or character, which one is the strongest in your play/piece, and why?

The strongest is the concept holding the dialogue, plot, characters and all the multimedia elements of the “performance art-piece”.

Here’s Karen’s question -

What has been the most surprising or unexpected thing that’s happened during this play?

Our AP/TD left us … maybe for a Broadway show!?

Did that wind up taking the play in a new direction?

YES! To a positive and better one!

Here’s Anne’s question -

What do you think is the central theme and reason this play was conceived?

To surpass stereotypes and biases and communicate beyond languages, in an undivided world, blessed with peace.

Here’s Stephen’s Question -

Why should the audience (we) go to your play? What will the audience learn about the “human condition” by going to your play?

Because this production will arouse their flames of passion and will be a mirror of themselves and of the world.

Here’s Sarah’s Question -

What is your favorite line from the play?

“In an arena without bulls without blood in the sand, no bull, no bullshit!”

Here’s Diánna’s Question -

What about this play do you feel most drawn to personally, and because of that, what message do you hope the audience walks away with?

Its absurd irreverence and how the force of passion is used as a weapon to expose the truth and bring dirty things out of the worldwide closet.

* * *

Fox Tales

answers by Gabrielle Fox

Here’s Antonio’s question -

If you would have to single out a quality between dialogue, plot or character, which one is the strongest in your play/piece, and why?

Character. Each character in each of these short plays is struggling between hiding their need to connect and acting on it…ultimately the human struggle to overcome loneliness.

Here’s Karen’s question -

What has been the most surprising or unexpected thing that’s happened during this play? Did that wind up taking the play in a new direction?

Discovery is the most wonderful part of the process. We’ve discovered in each play that a tremendous amount of humor comes out of dark experiences and ultimately gets the characters (and all of us) to connect on deep personal levels.

Here’s Anne’s question -

What do you think is the central theme and reason this play was conceived?

Fox Tales is an evening of one acts that brings out the human need to overcome loneliness and to connect…we are pack animals!

Here’s Stephen’s Question -

Why should the audience (we) go to your play? What will the audience learn about the “human condition” by going to your play?

The audience will learn that we are all the same at the core…whether you are a drag queen in a cemetery or a worker in “Jesusland”…we all need each other. AND…more importantly..they will laugh…a lot!

Here’s Sarah’s Question -

What is your favorite line from the play?

From Winfluence, the first of the 3 short plays in Fox Tales -

“We’re friends who haven’t met yet. We go to friendinars to try to influence each other to win. Winfluence. We try to spread it….winfluenza.”