What if you had done something not necessarily evil, but very disturbing?  Enough to make you an outcast in society?   Hot Steams explores the lives of two imprisoned men who are mentally brilliant but socially inept.

We first meet The Man Awake (played by Zach Wegner), who has been in his cell awhile, as he writes in chalk upon the  floor, only to erase it, rewrite it … over and over again. On the other side of the cell is The Sleeping Man in a Santa suit, passed out with a pool of vomit beside him, which (according to Man Awake) is apparently from a night of heavy drinking by the smell of things.

When the Sleeping Man (Braeson Herold) finally awakes The Man Awake tells his story:  The long-time prisoner has an obsession with collecting (and caring for) the skulls of the deceased, starting from when his parents had died.   He was much young when they died, and with no one checking in on him, he was left to let them decompose for some time.   Eventually the act of  detaching, cleaning, and caring for his parents’ skulls gave him the sense of closure he hadn’t been able to get elsewhere.  After that it became an obsession which haunted him — driving him to find more skulls to add to his collection which now reside in his suitcase.

A twist involving grave-robbing, an unsolved murder, and wrong-place-wrong time leads The Man Awake to be imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit.  This sets into motion one of the largest bits of dramatic tension in this play: did The Man Awake do something evil? Or just distasteful?  And should we sympathize with him? Of course there is also the question of the other man being kept in his prison cell, but there is one more wrinkle to unfold.

We meet the Officer (played by Timothy Weinert) who (at times roughly) interrogates the formerly Sleeping Man and almost always is too personal as he works to find out what SM has learned about his cellmate, MA.  But often it is just rhetoric which creates a narrative for the other prisoner rather than incriminating evidence.  Weinert gives a very convincing performance as a brutish guard-cum-inquisitor who has all the power, but still has a shade of something else brewing beneath the surface which makes him lash out even more viciously when confronted with his lack of knowledge about the criminals under his “care”.

Immediately a feeling of “why” fills the room like a miasma which only gets thicker as time goes on. What playwright Zach Wegner does in Hot Steams is help  us understand that sometimes a prison is often  just the outward manifestation of  the walls that can hold back people who are misunderstood by society.  The fact that some of the thoughts that the characters have are disturbing only helps us remember a time when maybe we have harshly judged someone or been harshly judged, just for being different.

The set design is very basic- simply a door and then the stage itself outlined in various configurations. Books are in stacks and passed throughout the show.  There is a box on one side and a chair which only shows up when illuminated by a single spotlight – representing the inquisition chamber where the second prisoner is questioned.

The writing (by Zachary Wegner) and direction (by Jaclyn Biskup) work hand in hand to create a well timed play that keeps you spellbound throughout. Numerous dramatic pauses and silences are exquisitely painful;  this style of play is a treat for someone who likes to think and wants to see others doing the same.  The costumes by Deirdre Wegner give a beautiful Noir flair, that helps suck you into this world.

Throughout the play, there are numerous literary references and other interesting and elaborate wordplay. From poetry by Yeats or William Blake, to the corny detective story of “Joey Tonsillitis, Private Dick”, many fun and beautiful words are worked into this piece.  At times profound, at times laugh-out-loud gallows humor – even moments of subversive nonsense –  the Man Awake shows us the appeal of living in a dream-world made of random books and paper.  As he tells his favorite stories and ideas, he illuminates his view of the world as a lonely and often hostile place, one which doesn’t understand where he’s coming from.  His hope of salvation from a pen pal of sorts, “Anita Kiss”, shows us in stages the depths of his misunderstanding of the world at large. Perhaps the prison is actually a good place of nurturing quiet contemplation, and his second cellmate provides more social interaction than he has had in years…

But what does the title mean?  What are the Hot Steams that are behind the pressure cooker of this drama?

In part it may come from a southern folklore legend popularized by its mention in To Kill a Mockingbird, quoted toward the end of the play.

“What’s a Hot Steam?” asked Dill.

“Haven’t you ever walked along a lonesome road at night and passed by a hot place?” Jem asked Dill. “A Hot Steam’s somebody who can’t get to heaven, just wallows around on lonesome roads an’ if you walk through him, when you die you’ll be one too, an’ you’ll go around at night suckin’ people’s breath -”

Are one or more of the characters actual spirits, with the ability to inflict the type of damnation that is described above?  As you watch, it seems that regardless of whether the supernatural is involved you definitely feel the seductive pull of Wegner’s words which make you want to understand – even empathize  - with the three characters in this play who are all trapped by various layers of social restraint.   Finally the simple and  innocent prison of being different in the lonely world of The Man Awake makes him one of the strangest tragic heroes in a long time, with his prison of hope that grips him until the very end.

The biting social commentary of how the misunderstood are often imprisoned while the State works to find a charge that will keep them isolated from society is fit both within as well as inbetween the lines of this play.  The fact that most in a similar situation such as this do not get the chance to tell their story makes the charity that this play supports, the Innocence Project very fitting.  A small organization reviewing the many cases they receive each year of the often poor and forgotten by society, The Innnocence Project supports a limited number of cases who have used up all other legal avenues.  Their hope is that DNA evidence could shed enough light on their case for an appeal for their innocence.  Find out more here: http://www.innocenceproject.org/.

Hot Steams is a perfect example of classic absurdist theatre that I hope some day might become a classic itself. I certainly hope we get to see more of this play in the future.

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Hot Steams played as part of 2012 Planet Connections Theatre Festivity.

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• The Golden Smile: 10 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2016 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)
• Charlotte The Destroyer (2014 Frigid New York Festival)
• The Taint Of Equality Or, I Want Your Sex (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• Bubby’s Shadow: Whose Shadow Is It? (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• See Bob Run (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)

Duncan Pflaster is proving quite the prolific comedic playwright in recent years, with upwards of thirteen works written and produced, several of them award winners, not to mention numerous skits and sketches for various venues. Even then, he freely admits that one of his most recent works, The Taint of Equality or, I Want Your Sex, was likely the fastest in writing itself – if such can ever be said of this recalcitrant form. There is some sense of this fluid ease carried forward in the production playing at Planet Connections Theatre Festivity this year, and it may be down to the fact that Pflaster himself is directing. As author he knows distinctly the feeling he is trying to conjure and adroitly directs his cast accordingly. The result is a romping, light-hearted piece in a farcical vein, with some sturdy, crowd-pleasing muscle.

The story concerns happily partnered duo, Adrian and Javier, about to celebrate seven years of connubial bliss. Or rather, it would be connubial if legality had afforded the possibility. And now though, in New York state, it has and, well, Adrian and Javier are sensitive to the notion that perhaps their togetherness could be solemnized, completed in some manner. But as good queer theorists (Adrian is a renowned author on topics Queer) they balk at the conventional tone that marriage invokes; it goes against their queer credentials. Despite this, peer and media pressure is prompting a declaration of some kind from the pair and, well that just makes them mad, people! In fact, to reassert their standards as open-relationship, non-exclusive, unmarried queer men, they decide to engage in public sexual dalliances with other men. Damn straight! Or, for these two, maybe not. The easy pickings afforded in the contemporary gay milieu are denied them on account of a series of comically bungled sexcapades. A heavy pinch of farcical salt sees each of the duo initiate gambits and watch them unravel as situations credibly mundane (drug usage, decency policing) and broadly ludicrous (impersonation, histrionics, and pique) erupt at every turn. The mayhem is added to by well-meaning friends, and all comes to a glorious head in a pricelessly staged set piece which is the unexpected gem at the center of this production. This scene is enacted at a sex club on a blackout party night, when the men move through a darkened environment with just mini flashlights to guide them. Visually this is a stunner, comedically enriched by campy choreography (David Baxter) and some nice co-ordination by the entire cast, who happen to be – entirely naked. It’s a show-stopper.

There are some serious themes at the center of this tale, but Pflaster never gets bogged down in any of them. Entertainment is his bag, and deep thoughts about the possibility, or desirability of open relationships are paid only air-kissy acknowledgement. In Taint he holds fast to a light entertainment coda that’s purposely too soft-hearted to rank as satire. No incisor marks are left, and he’s altogether too knowing to endorse any single philosophical perspective. He does at the end, however, leave us with a twisting teaser, when Adrian – having newly plighted his troth to Javier – picks up the phone to use this information as a sexual lure for one of his earlier non-conquests. Is there the ghost of some shadow here, or is it just a case of what goes around, comes around?

In actors Alan McNaney (Adrian) and Mark-Eugene Garcia (Javier) he has two attractive leads who hint that they would be equal to a more sober examination of these dramatic themes. They are not, however, out of sync with the broader comic, caricatured presences surrounding them, and the cast gels nicely into a funny bone-seeking ensemble. Sparkling cameos are enjoyed by Joe Fanelli, Colin Godwin, and David T. Zimmerman, while some of the heavier lifting is done by Marvin Riggins, Jr., and Juan Carlos Diaz. Vin Macri is very effective at working sound and lighting effects.

As auteur/director Pflaster does show some signs of self-indulgence; a rather extended riff on Sondheim connected puns proves groaningly belabored. It seems a little gilt on the lily is too tempting to pass up; do we really require the play’s subtitle? But it’s all in good humor, plausibly with an air of self-mockery. It’s about fun, people, remember fun? There’s fun aplenty here. Last I checked, ‘taint no crime.

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Related Posts:

• The Taint Of Equality, Or I Want Your Sex – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• (un)missed connections – (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• The Empress of Sex (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• Pageant Princess – Music, Make-Up And Meltdowns (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• SAFE Is A Matter Of Perspective (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)

Have you ever wanted to be a fly on the wall, or maybe something even more ephemeral? Like a shadow? Bubby’s Shadow by Andrew Rothkin is a ghost story, but one where the living haunt those that have already passed on.

It starts, like many ghost stories, on a dark and stormy night.

There is a green glow of eyes, strange mystical chanting, crackling thunder and lightning and then . . .

We reenter the normal world again –  a house, though still draped in the shadows of a dark and stormy night where someone is knocking at the door. Nightgown-clad Debra (Rosie Cosch) comes to the door in an obvious state of alarm in response to the pounding and screaming of brother Jonny (playwright Andrew Rothkin).  Cosch as Debra does a great job conveying both annoyance as well as concern as she hears Jonny’s tale.

Apparently Jonny got a strange phone call which (Caller ID confirmed) came from Debra’s home but all he heard was strange wailing and muttering.  They both admit that they’ve been having dreams of their dear dead Bubby who raised them in that very house, but who has been dead for 19 years.

During their childhood their father was distant, so when their mother died Bubby, their larger-than-life grandmother, brought them joy and love and gave them all the support they could ever need.  She died in their late teens, leaving them feeling somewhat alienated with a disconnected father.  Their resentment toward him grew and Bubby’s set of memorabilia was stashed in the attic.

Now 19 years later Jonny is the workaholic, whose relationship with his wife is on the rocks because of his inability to express his emotions.  Debra is a single divorced mother to Cara, searching for Mr. Right to no avail.  Cara also becomes acquainted with her Great Grandmother Bubby through dreams.

In the morning we meet the friendly and spunky Cara who is up bright and early, having met up with her friend.  She arrives back home just in in time for the phone, which has been working strangely, to begin ringing bringing the ghost of Bubby on the scene.  For a moment Bubby and Cara talk simultaneously as Cara channels her long dead great grandmother.

In the final scenes of the show we find out that Debra and Jonny’s long estranged Father (played by Jeffrey Farber) also got a call.  He arrives back at the home and brings with him a charming male nurse, Eli (played by a very genuine and friendly Isaac Elkiss) , who is “a very good boy” about Debra’s age.  Eli gives Cara some wonderful reasons to check out the great programs at her local JCC where he teaches karate.   He is very learned in Rabbinical writings as well as a freethinking spiritualist who has  looked into Buddhism, Kabbalah and many other interesting things because (he tells  Cara when no one else is around) he can sense ghosts too.  He confides that sometimes when people are angry or confused it can cause a darkness to be cast about that can be dangerous.

Related Posts:

• Bubby’s Shadow – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• The American Play (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• Scene/Unseen – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• Coyote On A Fence – FREE Staged Reading – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• (un)missed connections – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)

Here’s a one-woman performance piece authored by Canadian playwright, Daniel MacIvor, which has been knocking about since the mid-80s. It’s not difficult to see why, as a dramatic work, See Bob Run is attractive for many smaller production companies: it deploys just one performer, is immediately emotionally and linguistically  accessible, requires no real props, and treads with great poise the line between comedy and tragedy. This is an intensely felt, fast-paced, wordy monologue that would whet the appetite of any attentive, aspiring actress, or director. In Dancing Torero Productions’ current embodiment of the play, running as part of the 2012 Planet Connections Festivity, we can be mighty grateful  that it should have come to the attentions of David Gautschy, who directs, and Allison Plamondon, who plays the eponymous Bob. Together they pull out all the stops and deliver an hour of scintillating theatre.

Our character, Bob (never Roberta!), is a young woman hitchhiking across Canada, heading east – where there’s “a lot of water”. She’s hoping to reconnect there with her estranged father, who was kicked out by her mother years before. Nervous, chatty, somewhat ill at ease, Bob might not be the safest hitchhiking bet you’d stop for. She has a slightly cracked sense of humor and – guarded as she is -her undisciplined conversation quickly strays on to intimate territory, and toward gun play. By turns she’s sharp and confiding, but all her bravado only thinly masks a sense of great trouble, which she won’t be drawn on. It’s this trouble, ultimately, she is running from. Right from the beginning, when Bob stands tall, straddling two chairs, and addresses the audience directly, relating a fairy tale about a lovely young princess, a doting father, and a jealous mother, we may think we know in which direction this story is heading. It’s Plamondon’s vibrant performance which keeps recalling you to the moments unfolding on stage, distracting you from the sense that maybe you know what has prompted her flight. This is a performance of some power and complexity, one that uncovers a magnetic sense of drama and appeal in a character who is herself blind to these qualities.

As you enter the auditorium you will see Plamondon busily moving about the stage, establishing the set. There isn’t that much to do, as everything is minimal and basic, but her frenetic energy subtly broadcasts that she is already in character. On “curtain up” she very much already owns the stage, and has elaborated an emotionally charged environment. She uses the space effectively to conjure domestic settings, car interiors, rock bar venues, and desolate roadside locations. As a presence Plamondon’s Bob is instantly appealing, with a bold, open gaze to the audience – calculating but not dismissive. There is a physically expressive character to her movements, very natural, never clownish, that speak volumes about a brittle sense of self command, a defensiveness that disowns a history as a fat girl who took tap classes. Bob is adept at conjuring the presences of personalities from her past: Tamara, her self-abandoned, damaged best friend; Timmy Prince, her adoring rock-singing boyfriend. Plamondon invests Bob with a lively sense of verbal and physical comedic timing, something which deepens the character’s otherwise glib assessments, shadowing a burgeoning sense of self-mockery, the ghost of a self-awareness. This is a subtle undertaking as Bob, in more important ways, is willfully blind to herself, her history, her goals. She depends desperately on the stories she spins for herself. They’re adopted blinkers she wears in a bid for a sense of self control. But it’s only a matter of time and opportunity before they will slip. This is all electrifyingly clear from Plamondon’s characterization, but her performance will keep you glued to your seat, hanging on every next utterance.

The strengths of performance, and writing, are thrown into relief by the production’s stripped-down, impressively spare set and lighting effects (Donald Eastman, Giovanni Villari). Additional atmosphere is generated with sound and rock music excerpts (Tracey Toth, Daniel Zaitchik) but is deployed frugally, giving prominence to words and actions. The result is a choice piece of theatre which packs quite a punch. Gautschy has delivered a memorable version of a drama piece presently coasting into its quarter century, and Plamondon gives what has to rank as one of the outstanding performances of this year’s festival. See See Bob Run; don’t walk – run.

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See Bob Run

Benefiting: RAINN
Produced by Dancing Torero Productions
Written by Daniel MacIvor
Directed by David Gautschy

$18 General Admission

$9.00 for Film/Music Participants

FREE for Theatre Festivity Participants

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Wednesday 6/6/12 – 5:00pm = Performance #1
Monday 6/11/12 – 4:00pm = Performance #2
Saturday 6/16/12 – 8:00pm = Performance #3
Wednesday 6/20/12 – 4:00pm =Performance #4
1 Hour 8 minutes

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At Bleecker Street Theatre (Downstairs)

45 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012

Conveniently located near:

Bleecker St (4 & 6)

Broadway – Lafayette St (B, D, F, M)

Prince St (N, R)

click here to purchase tickets

Related Posts:

• See Bob Run – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• The Taint Of Equality Or, I Want Your Sex (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• Bubby’s Shadow: Whose Shadow Is It? (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• The American Play (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• Scene/Unseen – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)

It’s almost impossible to imagine that someone could use Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho as source material for a play and both do the original theme justice while simultaneously create something completely new that doesn’t just ape the original.  And yet Ashley Jacobson’s The American Play does just that – not only gives a nod to American Psycho but goes one further and deepens the richness of the original, heightens the irony, darkens the humor and updates the flavor to address the passing of the last 20 years.  The American Play pays homage in a way that both manages to celebrate the original work and — quite frankly — leaves it in the dust.

To say that I’m a fan of the book (and subsequent movie) American Psycho is a stretch – rather, I was a student of it … but nowhere near as dedicated as the two main characters of The American Play – Luis (Shane Jensen) and Tim (Jimmy Dailey) who meet at a critical time in both their lives.  In terms of trappings, Luis is an updated Patrick Bateman – a well dressed, caustic observer of his surroundings who makes brilliant deductions about his fellow travellers and reduces everyone to a cog in the constantly churning wheel.  Tim, however, has the soul of Bateman, which is a far scarier prospect.

The Robert Palmer Girls

Director Alexandra Siladi’s dark and moody staging deepens the jaded view of the men’s microcosm:  seeing the world through their eyes the stage is barely illuminated, the nondescript crowd is made up of seductively black-clad women who remain anonymous and interchangeable behind their ominous cellophane masks.  These women rarely speak, they often move in unison and can be reminiscent (somewhat ironically – perhaps somewhat intentionally) of the Robert Palmer girls.  They are as blank, as choreographed and as “Simply Irresistible” – though of course the ironic twist is that even the most luscious among them are dismissed as too stupid, “a five” or “the fat friend”.  In the one small moment when the crowd of women actually speak they do so in soundbites, and harshly … and as men.  It is a brilliant, if bitter, moment.

And this is where both Jacobson’s script and Alexandra Siladi’s direction shine: Ellis gave the world an American Psycho whose brutality was graphic and gruesome and indifferent, but Jacobson and Siladi give audiences a team in Luis and Tim who, 20 years later, have digested the once-terrifying images like so much top-shelf liquor and waves it away with an impatient dismissive flourish.  Weaned on the very pablum that Bateman was spewing both men idolize the text, digest the contents, and in turn serve it up in far more palatable, poisonous bites.

While Luis has the outward trappings of the perfect American psycho, it is the elusive Tim who is hiding his trailer-park upbringing and a history of peer abuse; Tim who actually cloaks a perfectly cloned inner-Bateman underneath his mismatched clothing, awkward social interaction and public misfires.  When the two meet it is like two halves of a sacred coin coming together with a crack of lightening.

TIM:  [ ...] everyone has a uniform. It’s fucking New York. Everyone has a part they’re playing. Ellis was just honest about it – he said this is what it’s like for yuppies, but you can apply it to everyone.

LUIS:  Everyone. Even this little pill with the Tom’s shoes, Those Red-for-Aids T-shirts, Starbucks cups and Smart Water. Hello dumb ass. Those are BRANDS. Those are companies. They make money. She knows exactly what they are, so that’s why she uses them. [...]she probably only fucks guys that wear Tom’s shoes too [...] tell me, how is that different than some wasp-y upper east side trash that  only fucks with guys who wear Armani? Tell me how it’s different.

And so, upon the hallowed ground of Bateman, a friendship is forged with Luis molding Tim in his image and Tim fashioning a mask of disdain and a uniform of Ralph Lauren that will gain him entry to the rarefied world that was so fleeting to him before he met Luis.

As the friendship burgeons the women of  The American Play continue to interweave among them; they silently become the mothers, the ex-girlfriends, the memories.  They are the landscape of this new America and without the choreographed movement there wouldn’t be a Luis or a Tim — because without insignificant people to dismiss and rise above there would be no measure of success.

 LUIS : See, at first, it’s simply about survival [...] Then its about success, exceeding within the parameters laid about by the rules. Becoming the perfect fit. It surpasses survival – survival is now for the homeless, figuratively and literally, the weak – they simply survive. For the strong – it’s about perfection. Self excellence.  [...] Self-control transcends to self-excellence, then pure excellence, and then it’s no longer about your own survival. You escape the animal fight to survive and sit back and impose your own criteria on others. You decide their survival.

With this  exchange Jacobson has transmuted Batemen’s actual murderous rampage – divining other’s actual survival – into Luis’ more calculated plan to become a puppet master … a killer of careers, a snuffer of opportunities, an eviscerater of self-w0rth.  In effect, this is far more chilling than serial-killing-with-a-smile; we are givin the man who maims and then leaves his prey broken, but not dead.

Through a a few uncomfortable monologues the past of both these young men is illuminated and while they couldn’t be more different from each other there is a shared road of sharp and broken tragedies which shaped who they are now, which fed this caustic and jaded psyche, and which connect the dots of exactly where they themselves were maimed, limping, and left crippled by circumstance.  Overcompensating for these past trials, Tim and Luis see nothing wrong with doing unto others.

The watershed moment occurs when the two men host a party which they blithely theme an American Psycho party.  Attendees are dressed appropriately (A sea of suits, and greased hair, and ladies with high heels) and are expected to talk the talk – though of course no one is expected to actually walk the walk (beyond “So these bitches need to shut their mouths and abide by the theme of the party. They are here for decoration and servitude.”)  It is when Shelly arrives on the scene, however, that all bets are off.  She is not only there not adhering to the dress code but she has no intention of shutting her mouth and acting as decoration.

Rachel Napoleon does a strong job of first portraying herself as seen through the eyes of Luis, then morphing into the actual Shelly who knows the trailer-park version of Tim (a dangerous adversary at a critical juncture), and finally devolving into the Shelly who withstands the exact brutality that not only echoes the Batemen of old but that is preached by Luis to Tim – the brutality of imposing “your own criteria on others”.  With hardly a thought the two men play a cat-and-mouse game with Shelly – at the end of which the mask slips and the inner Bateman takes up residence in just one of the two men.  Shelly is left broken, but by the end, everyone has been altered.  Everyone survives, but some have felt the brutality of having another’s criteria imposed upon them.

Shane Jensen as Luis and Jimmy Dailey as Tim are nothing short of remarkable here.  These characters are unlikable, uncomfortable, chilling and brash, but the actors who portray them are filled with the kind of brilliant talent that can make you lean forward in your seat, yearning to know more about what makes them tic.  Together they play off of each other with a perfect chemistry that is not only believable but entrancing.  Each actor also delivers monologues which are equally strong; Dailey breaks your heart as he recounts his brutal past and Jensen has you holding your breath as he recalls the memory of his sixteen year old girlfriend. While I look forward to watching both these fine actors in other shows I also wish I could see them re-create the magic they brought to these roles.  The work they did here is something I won’t soon forget.

 The American Play is everything an homage to American Psycho should be:  chilling, dark, bitingly funny with humor that is as black as the atmosphere.  The production is stunning from the first moment to the last, and will leave you with a much richer understanding of the original message of American Psycho, as well as gift you with an entirely brilliant message of its own.

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The American Play

Produced by The Dirty Blondes
Written by Ashley J. Jacobson
Directed by Alexandra Siladi

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$18 General Admission
$9.00 for Film/Music Participants
FREE for Theatre Festivity Participants

Mon 6/4/12 – 6:00pm
Thur 6/7/12 – 10:30pm
Thur 6/14/12 – 4:00pm
Wed 6/20/12 – 8:30pm
Fri 6/22/12 – 6:00pm
Sat 6/23/12 – 6:30pm

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At Bleecker Street Theatre
45 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012

Conveniently located near:
Bleecker St (4 & 6)
Broadway – Lafayette St (B, D, F, M)
Prince St (N, R)

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Click here to purchase tickets

Related Posts:

• The American Play – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• Bubby’s Shadow: Whose Shadow Is It? (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• Scene/Unseen – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• Coyote On A Fence – FREE Staged Reading – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• (un)missed connections – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)

Scene/Unseen

Benefiting: Brooklyn/NY Public Library
Produced by Antonio Miniño’s Fab Marquee Productions in association with MidNite’s cHild Productions
Written and Performed by Riti Sachdeva
Directed by Antonio Miniño

“Through song, dance, poetry and food, a captive woman known as “Z” explores the connections between addiction and violence as she delves into a state of mental imprisonment and self-abuse. In time the path to freedom is revealed but the consequences might be deadly. A plosive new choreodrama by Riti Sachdeva.”

Show Times:

• Friday 6/1/12 – 5:00pm
• Sunday 6/3/12 – 6:00pm
• Tuesday 6/5/12 – 5:00pm
• Saturday 6/9/12 – 1:30pm
• Wednesday 6/20/12 – 10:00pm
• Saturday 6/23/12 – 8:00pm

Answers by Riti Sachdeva –

(creator/performer)

Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
How did you come up with the title for your show?

Riti :  Without giving away the punch line, the character’s act is a “scene” that we witness on the news occasionally; the piece explores the unseen circumstances and rituals that lead her to the final act.

Diánna Martin’s Question
If you were going to invite 5 people (from the past or present) to see your show – who would you invite … and why?

Riti : Malcom X, Mohandas Gandhi, Cherie Moraga, Oprah, Coco Fusco – because they’re all people who have confronted, in one way or another, addiction and/or violence in their own lives and/or in the larger state. I’d want to hear what they’d contribute to the development of the piece.

Antonio Minino’s Question
What is the biggest sacrifice you’ve made for your art and was it worth it?
Riti :  Fear: of the unknown, of success, of failure, of being loved, of being ignored, of being laughed at (it’s a daily sacrifice.) Definitely worth it.
Geoffrey Paddy Johnson’s Question
Was there any unexpected discovery made during the development of this production and can you share it with us?
Riti :  One can bathe oneself with popcorn and if done properly, it can be quite seductive. Conversely other things can be done with popcorn that are not so seductive…come see for yourself!

Michelle Augello-Page’s Question
What do you hope the audience receives from the experience of seeing this show?
Riti :   A willingness to look at people/ places in their lives where addiction and violence manifest and how addiction and violence don’t exist in a vacuum, they are cultivated, often through shame.

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Planet Connections runs from May 30 – June 24 at The Bleecker Street Theater located at 45 Bleecker Street, New York, NY. To purchase tickets to this or any of the shows click here.

Related Posts:

• Baby Plays The Banjo – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• Bubby’s Shadow: Whose Shadow Is It? (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• The American Play (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• Coyote On A Fence – FREE Staged Reading – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• (un)missed connections – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)

Okay now, stay with me: Jamie used to be with Eric until Eric realized they were basically incompatible, though Jamie doesn’t understand why. Caleb, unattached, takes up with Jamie, though he feels basically incompatible with everyone. Jamie suspects Caleb is cheating and answers an ad on line seeking a massage while pretending to be Caleb. Bruce actually just wants a massage, because something has prevented him from being the masseur he used to be. Bruce’s favorite clients were Simran and Daniel, who have now broken up, and have less time for Bruce since he stopped giving massage. Simran has discovered Daniel is cheating and in a swiftly co-ordinated move has left, taking lock, stock, and barrel, without notifying Daniel. Daniel dramatically discovers he has been rumpled only after he has brought Caleb home for sex. Down at the STD clinic, Eric meets Simran and suggests that maybe they could be compatible. Is that all perfectly clear?

Such elaborately contorted routes of connection and coincidence might seem to strain credibility if it weren’t so true to the actual complexion of sexual social life in the contemporary gay male community. Arthur Schnitzler penned a play in 1897 which became known as La Ronde, outlining almost precisely this pattern of sexual interaction amongst heterosexual couples of the period. That play became a cause scandale, trespassing on moral codes and class divisions, alluding to uncomfortable issues of sexual and social exploitation, and raising the spector of – shudder to murmur it – sexually transmitted disease.  Published in 1900 that play is now an august 112 years old. Have we come a long way baby, or is Mark-Eugene Garcia‘s (un)missed connections really more of the same?

It can’t be more of the same because, yes, society has in large measure unbuttoned to a degree where none of these events are considered even mildly scandalous. The sexual dalliance of two openly gay men only rarely offers the potential for social embarrassment. Sexual mores, by and large, have moved on from being shocked by infidelity to such a point where its opposite, over a lifetime, is considered more peculiar. And STDs? Well, come on! So what is there left from the bones of Schnitzler’s dramatic premise for playwright Garcia to play with? Only connection; that great human theme – and the part that sex plays in establishing and, more pointedly, undermining it. It’s frankly a big theme, and the burning soul at the heart of both Garcia’s and Schnitzler’s works.

(un)missed connections hardly pays attention to social backgrounds, or even psychological histories. Its characters are all just on the horns of a situation, a situation prompted by sex. More specifically they are men who have a great sense of a missed opportunity, something that could answer the question of who they truly are; something that could show them themselves. In the face of this enduring quest, fragile humanity is characteristically evasive. Skittish, non-committal, these men throw themselves into situations they aren’t adequately prepared for, no matter how steeled they may feel against intimate trespass. Structured into several acts featuring different couples in dialogue, Garcia’s play first offers us Jamie – a soft-hearted, seemingly harmless character, who impulsively tries passing himself off as Caleb. And as a masseur. Not surprisingly, in short order he is exposed as fraudulent and out of his depth. He is lucky in encountering someone like Bruce in this instant, who is a sucker for a truthful sob story. Bruce opens up Jamie about his troubles and ends by giving him the massage, even as his cramped hands protest at their work. This exchange encapsulates the other experiences shown here and, in the spirit of a gentle, comedic humanitarianism, ensures that nobody suffers too severely. Remorse there is, and psychological shadow, but rather generously each character is given a break. Garcia is sharp enough never to suggest anyone’s travails are at an end, and indeed, with a note of poetic realism, most of the men end their scenes hardly wiser than they were when they began. In a clever conceit, any shade of connection that results here, stems from the ability to acknowledge a missed connection. The hamster wheel of desire is driven by the urge to put a face on ourselves, and as only Eric – the “arty” one – can testify, following an encounter with the artist Marina Abramovic‘s “The Artist is Present” installation, facing yourself is hard. Hard!

Garcia keeps this potentially dark matter light, and quite artfully, given all the potential mines and sinkholes. There is, however, something of a sameness in the voices he gives his disparate characters, despite a skillfully selected cast. Perhaps director Rodrigo Bolaños might have tweaked his performers more aggressively to compensate. Other directions that served to suggest a universality to the stories were clever, but unnecessary, and a bit stagey for my taste. The set and lighting effects (Sean Lum) are spare and lean, and effective for it. Jaspal Binning (Simran) and Kyle James Johnson (Jamie) are the most effective at finding distinctive individual voices for their characters. As a thoughtfully crafted dessert, (un)missed connections hones close to the sweet, though never loses sight of the bitter. It won’t make your teeth sing, and won’t leave you with that uncomfortable feeling of too full.

~~~

Related Posts:

• (un)missed connections – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• The Taint Of Equality Or, I Want Your Sex (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• Bubby’s Shadow: Whose Shadow Is It? (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• The American Play (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• Scene/Unseen – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)

Coyote On A Fence

Benefiting: CEDARS
Produced by The In-Pulse Group
Written by Bruce Graham
Directed by Diánna Martin

Two men convicted of murder await execution in the state of Texas: one a member of the Aryan nation and the other a champion for inmates’ rights. One is considered a monster and the other an outcast of society – but what defines true guilt or innocence? In this thought provoking drama by Bruce Graham, there is no clear verdict.

Show Times:

• Wednesday, June 20th @ 1pm - FREE STAGED READING, one day only

Answers by Diánna Martin 

(Producer, Director, Actress)

Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
How did you come up with the title for your show?

Diánna: This is a revival of a play by Bruce Graham, a brilliant playwright with many titles to his credit. It was brought to my attention by my dear friend and fellow actor/director David Robinette four years ago…and my life has never been the same since. They call these backer’s readings…so I dearly hope someone sees it, and is moved to work with me on backing a production of this show.

Diánna Martin’s Question
If you were going to invite 5 people (from the past or present) to see your show – who would you invite … and why?

Diánna:
You mean besides my Mom and Dad? lol

This reading is very personal to me, I produced it completely (The In-Pulse Group is my producing arm of Martin Acting Studios), and have been working on it on and off for nearly 4 years, so I am going to answer with people on a more personal level than the “if you could pick anyone” that I originally wrote that question in relation to.
~ Bruce Graham – I’d like to see what he thinks, seriously – he wrote this amazing piece and I’d love to do a production of it. We are only doing a reading – but in some ways that is much harder because you only have the actors and their work to bring the script to life.
~ Anyone who’s ever had to give the order to kill someone using capital punishment.
~ David Robinette and Robert Michaels, my original collaborators who worked on this with me over the years.
~ My Grandmother, Esther Bearden. She grew up in Texas, a state we all know has the death penalty…and I’d like to see what she thinks of this play….and also I’d love for her to see my act and direct, something she never did before she passed away.

Antonio Minino’s Question
What is the biggest sacrifice you’ve made for your art and was it worth it?
Diánna:  Sleep. I work a day job 9-5, and do all of my art in any microsecond that I can outside of that. Some days I feel like I could easily be a stand in for a zombie on “The Walking Dead” – but that would be kinda hot, so yeah, it’s totally worth it.

But seriously… totally worth it because I need to act and direct to live a fulfilled life. I cannot and will not leave those things out of my life. I was asked by the brilliant actor/director/teacher Charles Gerber (in an offhand manner, a parable, actually) if I simply WANTED to act/direct…or NEEDED to act/direct. It is, indeed, the latter.

Geoffrey Paddy Johnson’s Question
Was there any unexpected discovery made during the development of this production and can you share it with us?

Diánna:  How difficult/time consuming/expensive it is simply to produce a reading, alone (I have nobody helping me, really – to get the materials to the PCTF marketing team, booking space, money, or anything) for a live audience in a festival. It’s worth every penny, and PCTF is very generous – what you get to be a part of is amazing – but it was definitely a learning experience, because I got a taste of what it’s like for the producers of shows I’ve directed or acted in – or have been “part of the producing team” on. When you produce it by yourself…oh, yeah, and act and direct it as well, it’s a whole other enchilada. I have to thank Duncan Pflaster for creating amazing artwork for the reading/show (I think of it as a show). He captured the essence of what I wanted. He’s amazing (but we all knew that already!!! – but he’s more than just a brilliant playwright!)

I suppose one more would be that this play deals with a convict who is an Aryan – and a vocal one. During rehearsals (both the original cast I worked with, and the current one) we discussed…and dealt with what shouting anti-semitic and anti-African American slurs in rehearsal would be like…I applaud my actors for going the distance and able to fully engage in a character unflinchingly, despite their strong belief system being so removed from what is actually said. Hats off to Mark Emerson for going the distance. I also thank my Stage Manager, Adam Samtur, for allowing us to shout said slurs in his apartment he let us use for a few rehearsals. I hope his neighbors don’t start avoiding him. LOL

Michelle Augello-Page’s Question
What do you hope the audience receives from the experience of seeing this show?
Diánna:   I hope that they walk away thinking about how there are two sides to every coin. Is Bobby the true definition of guilty, no matter how grisly and horrific his crime? Or evil?

I want them to see the multi-layered characters in this piece – all of them are, all of them – and think about what drives people to do the things they do.

I want them to think about of all these people…who is the most honest?

And then…see if it makes them question their thoughts on capital punishment. I have no answer – nor do I give an opinion. The play just simply provokes thought and enlightenment on the human condition of damaged people and their damaged lives…and why they are they way they are.

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Planet Connections runs from May 30 – June 24 at The Bleecker Street Theater located at 45 Bleecker Street, New York, NY. To purchase tickets to this or any of the shows click here.

Related Posts:

• Bubby’s Shadow: Whose Shadow Is It? (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• The American Play (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• Scene/Unseen – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• (un)missed connections – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• Smacker And The Highway – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)

In The Wilderness written by John Kearns is a multi-layered play highlighting the struggles of the students and faculty of St. Philomena’s High School as they try to make their way through their own wilderness of the South Bronx in 1987.  It is powered by two strong themes: the myth of Sisyphus (rolling his boulder up the hill only to have it roll down as he neared the top each time) and the story of the Israelites who made their way through the desert after escaping from slavery in Egypt.  Both are strong metaphors for the students trying to escape the life of poverty,  early pregnancy, violence and drugs that awaits them were it not for the shelter of the private school.   The play makes the point that, like the Israelites after their escape from Egypt, the struggles of  the students and faculty of St. Philomena’s High School For Girls are often about perspective.

And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

Carmen with Mr. Logan and Ms. Farrell

 

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• Bubby’s Shadow: Whose Shadow Is It? (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• The American Play (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• Scene/Unseen – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• Coyote On A Fence – FREE Staged Reading – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)

Strap in folks, and get ready for Pageant Princess, The Musical - a live-action version of that reality show train wreak, Toddlers & Tiaras – only this show is set to music and the girls on the runway are a little taller than knee-high.  But fans of the controversial reality show which runs on TLC will recognize all the things that keep people burning up the chat rooms, wagging their fingers, shaking their heads and coming back for more every season.

There’s a lot that this show gets right – and as a (not so closeted) fan of Toddlers & Tiaras myself I went in hoping to find – and was rewarded with – all the ingredients that make up any good episode of the show.  There is the overly ambitious pageant mom who lives vicariously through her daughter now that she is no longer on the pageant circuit herself.  There’s the bratty child who is self-centered, conceited but – let’s face it – the strongest contender for the crown.  There’s the clueless dad who gets swept up into the game without really understanding all the rules, and his sugar-addicted child who joneses for candy in a way that we only hope is not a precursor to what will one day be a sad relationship with something much stronger.  There are the parents who force their tomboy into a dress because her twin got sick and they already paid for everything (room, dress, entry fee, flipper – watchers of the show know how the costs can mount into the thousands).  There’s the acknowledgement that all this is costing a bundle and the grand prize of $200 is a mere fraction of what it took to get there.  And of course orbiting the whole thing are the pageant coaches, host and judges who live so deeply in this world that the imprint of their own crown leaves a permanent trench in their hair-sprayed weave.  Yup, it’s all there.  But somehow I’m not sure  Pageant Princess, The Musical was ready to win Ultimate Grand Supreme, or even Mini-Grand Supreme this year.  Somehow the final package was just a little off.

When creating an homage it’s easy to toss in the ingredients that echo the original, but with the actual tv show already providing so much raw material to poke fun at it’s not easy to come up with more than a lot of one-dimensional characters who are simply retreads of what any random episode of T&T itself will already bring to the table.  Developing the show as a musical is a novel idea and allowed for several inspired moments (“New Dancin’ Shoes” performed by Staci [Lorelei Mackenzie] and Miss Louisa [Emily Billig] was a show stopper) but also invited several pitfalls.  Some songs such as “Packing Song” were nothing more than several minutes of repetitive lyrics that did little to move the plot along.

When Pageant Princess deviated from the T&T format it rose to the occasion and provided an opportunity to give the characters some complexity to explore.  The storyline of Max (Kristen Penner) was terrific – delving into the heartbreak of the never-seen “other” child – the sibling of the pageant child.  On any other day Max is playing baseball while her twin sister is doing the pageant circuit. Now that her sister’s illness forces her to step into a role she’s uncomfortable with, she’s afforded an opportunity to voice a very strong point (“Max’s Lament”) and highlight what these pageants do to the forgotten family members – something never explored on these reality shows.  Watching that relationship of “other” child and parents deepen and strengthen was probably one of the most rewarding of the show.  I would have liked to have seen this storyline extended in an effort to expand the overall impact and leave audiences with a resounding message.

Other highlights include Susanna Merrick who is fun as the candy addicted Donna Lou but whose role is too one-dimensional to give her much room to shine above the material.

Overall the show has some fun moments and, thanks to the very talented cast who each prove they have flair and ability there is a lot here to be enjoyed.  In the end, however, the scores just aren’t high enough to walk away with the big crown.

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Pageant Princess, The Musical

Benefiting: Adam R. Spector Foundation
Produced by Violet Productions
Music by Joni Ernst
Book by Abigail Taylor
Book, Lyrics, and Music also by Lorelei Mackenzie & Kristen Penner

$18 General Admission
$9.00 for Film/Music Participants
FREE for Theatre Festivity Participants

Tuesday 6/5/12 – 7:00pm = Performance #1
Saturday 6/9/12 – 3:30pm = Performance #2
Sunday 6/10/12 – 1:30pm = Performance #3
Saturday 6/16/12 – 11:00am = Performance #4
Wednesday 6/20/12 – 4:30pm = Performance #5
Saturday 6/23/12 – 11:30am = Performance #6

90 minutes

At Bleecker Street Theatre (Upstairs)
45 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012
Conveniently located near:
Bleecker St (4 & 6)
Broadway – Lafayette St (B, D, F, M)
Prince St (N, R)

click here to purchase tickets

Related Posts:

• Pageant Princess, The Musical – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• The Taint Of Equality Or, I Want Your Sex (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• SAFE Is A Matter Of Perspective (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• Ye Elizabeths: Living Vicariously Because … (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• Deuteranomaly: A One-Act in Two Parts – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)