Site-Specific theatre productions are all the rage now, and in a city like New York where every conceivable set already exists in real life it’s really just a matter of finding the perfect spot for your play to unfold.

It Is Done written by Alex Goldberg happens to take place in a bar, but it’s also being produced in a bar; The Mean Fiddler Bar & Grill located in the heart of the theatre district just a stone’s throw from the hustle and bustle of the Great White Way.  Still, it’s a sure bet that even the patrons dining right above in the main room have no idea there’s such wicked goings-on underfoot in the lower level.

The set up is perfect, and upon entering you can’t help but think that this bar already looks like a staged set.  Ease back and begin to eat and drink (that is, if you come at the suggested time, which is one hour before showtime) and you get to wear a personal groove in the seat while enjoying the It Is Done menu and knocking back your free drink (beer and wine) and soaking in the atmosphere.   This is no Tony and Tina’s Wedding, however … once the show starts there is a lot of action going on around the bar, but the audience has no part in it.  For all intents and purposes you all might as well be ghosts.

Hank, the bartender (Matt Kalman) | Photo by Jen Maufrais Kelly

Which is fitting, given the spooky nature of It Is Done.  Despite the full bar there is a certain desolation that cloaks this place once the show gets underway; a lone bartender, Hank (Matt Kalman) bides his time behind the bar with not much else to do except read porn (avidly), ignore the phone calls from his ex-wife (pointedly) and welcome the one lone stranger who is blown into the bar by the dust storm that’s been kicking up outside.

“You’re not from around these parts” Hank notes.  It’s easy to tell … no one’s from “around here” he explains.  They’re 90 miles from anything in any direction, making this both a bastion of hope as well as an outpost for the hopeless.   Therefore it’s the perfect place for the stranger, Jonas (Ean Sheehy) to settle in and have a drink or two till the storm dies down and he can be back on his way to wherever it is he’s going.

Catia Ojeda, Ean Sheehy, and Matt Kalman | Photo by Jen Maufrais Kelly

Into this cozy setup another stranger is blown.  Only this one is a very attractive woman.  We can call her Ruby (Catia Ojeda).  She’s even more obviously not from around here … and seems even more annoyed at having to while away her time in the bar until a tow truck can come rescue her.  Well, she’s annoyed at first.  Until she begins to find an amusing way to pass the time … by trying to melt the icy exterior of the stranger who calls himself Jonas and “doesn’t like conversation”.  She rebuffs the attentions (salacious) of Hank (who she pointedly insists on addressing as “BARKEEP!”) and as Hank skulks off to the back room to do whatever it is he does she attempts to engage Jonas in conversation.

Divertive at first, Jonas does manage to give up certain details.  In a type of tit-for-tat game Ruby offers up some personal information of her own.  Or so it seems.  And so, eventually, in this desolate bar with no one around but this total stranger who (she insists) he will probably never see after this night Jonas reveals the secret that has him on the run.

From here the tale turns from eerie thriller to supernatural horror and to give any more away would be to spoil both the plot as well as the enjoyment of the piece.  Suffice it to say, there’s a reason these folks are all together this terrible night … and it ain’t pretty.

Tom Wojtunik’s direction is fabulous; he uses the space to its utmost advantage.  There are even some neat little tricks built into the existing room, such as a number of reflective surfaces, which allow the audience to see the faces of the actors regardless of their seat.  This gives the actors free range of the performance space while keeping the audience from having to whip their necks around constanly in order to keep tabs on the action.

Wojtunik also does a great job in creating the mood of the piece; again – despite the crowded room there’s a real feeling of emptiness and desolation that simply can’t be explained but is very well executed.  Even though we all know we’re all there, these three are as alone as they appear to be.

The actors all come through with strong performances.  Matt Kalman as Hank is perfect as the libidinous average joe who doesn’t work too hard, doesn’t think too much and doesn’t care about your story as long as you’re paying.  Ean Sheehy’s Jonas telegraphs his tension and nervous energy in every awkward angle.  His lanky frame almost bends in upon itself  in an effort to appear as unremarkable as possible in order to keep you from noticing him.

Finally Ruby is perhaps the most intersting character to examine.  At first Catia Ojeda’s style could be taken as bit too smarmy, full of her self, too pat, too grandiose.  However when Ruby’s true nature is revealed it all makes perfect sense and you realize that she couldn’t have been any other way. Ojeda does a fantastic job of keeping the camp out of her character; there is a moment — several in fact — when some scenes could chew the scenery, but Ms. Ojeda commands her lines with power and authority.  If the audience is laughing it’s becuase they’re meant to.  And there are moments when she is downright terrifying.

It Is Done is like a good Masters Of Horror episode taken from the small screen and moved to the real world.  But putting the audience in the midst of the action the creepienss factor is upped, the tension is tightend and the payoff is higher.  Plus, after the show you get to stick around and finish your beer right there on the set.  What could be better?

If you’re looking for something differernt, you’ll find it here.  If you’re looking for a good night of theatre with a twist – this is it.  Either way, It Is Done gets it done.

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Related Posts:

• BITTEN – One Last Drink
• The Foreplay Play – What Comes Before
• The 2012 National Newborn Festival Is Almost Here!
• Clandestine: It’s A Secret {But Tell Your Friends} . . . (Planet Connections 2010)
• Sweet Dreams? The Pillowman Comes To Astoria

What kinds of secret do you know?

Is it classified?  Is it torrid?  Do you feel it’s necessary to preserve your identity?  Do you have a secret identity?  Is it ruining your life?  Is it a second life? Is it real or just pretend? Do you need to expose it to be free?  Do you need to preserve it just to stay sane?

The blurb for this Planet Connections  show was very brief:

It’s a secret.

I want to keep the surprise as well so you can find the answers for yourself by coming to the play.  So the questions that are sparked within you will hopefully expose new truths to you, or make you laugh in surprise at the craziness of a situation, or cry at the irony, or smirk in bemusement at an unexpected twist, or revel in satisfying conclusions.  Or hopefully lead you on to examine yourself deeper and find new secrets about yourself.

But I will tell you one thing . . .

This show is 5 one-act plays that has a running time of 100 minutes and is a strong showcase of playwrights who have other longer pieces in this festival (Duncan Pflaster who wrote and directed Thyme of the Season,  Jonathan Wallace who wrote A Dream about Sunflowers and Glory Bowen who adapted and directed The Picture of Dorian Gray) as well as others don’t have multi-act plays in this festival, but are also cutting edge playwrights:  Nandita Shenoy and Alex Goldberg.

When looking through the program of shows in a festival like Planet Connections (such as Frigid, Fight Fest, or that other little one coming up – Fringe (here’s its schedule))  . . . How do you decide which plays to go to?  You can’t get to them all, so you have to pick and choose.  Therefore, the blurb becomes an artful attention grabber – one where you have to pick and choose your words carefully to reach the right balance.

The same can be said about a one act play.  You only have a small amount of time to get your story across and almost always you’re going to be grouped with a number of other one act plays.  It’s gutsy to have only a three word description of the play.  And it worked for me.

In the same spirit, below are “micro-reviews” of each of the one acts you’ll find in Clandestine.  But overall this is a great show with Chae-kyung Lee as House Manager, Nicole M. Smith as Stage manager, and very dramatic  lighting effects done by Eric Kasprisin and further design by Jessica M. Burgess (lighting), Dan Ozmininkowski (light) and Jacob Subotnick Sound.  NewGround Theatre Collective did a great job in getting everything in this show coordinated together and  I look forward to seeing their work in the future.  Hopefully they’ll consider putting this show together again as the components fused together really well.

UFO Weather by Jonathan Wallace
Directed by Rachel Klein

Shane (Teisha Bader) and Lainie (Mariel Matero) finish walking up the side of a small mountain so they can either see some UFO’s in the fog, or figure out what they really want to do with their lives.  The answers should surprise you.  Great sound and lighting design on this one.

Fabulous by Glory Bowen
Directed by Cindy N. Kawasaki

When two old friends meet for coffee, one keeps secrets of her liberal nature from her friend while the conservative one just keeps being inadvertantly offensive. The secrets they have from each other quickly escalate from simple small talk to accusations and much more as misunderstandings create many funny situations to keep the audience laughing throughout.  This fast paced play showcases Mariel Matero as Jean and Rosebud Baker as Clara.

Rules of Engagement by Nandita Shenoy
Directed by Luke Harlan and Assistant Director Brendan Naylor

Nora (Bona Tek) and Eugene (Eugene Oh) meet at a cafe over lunch break from the company they both work at.  Eugene tells her his secret – he loves her.  Nora says he can’t love her because they only made out that one time at a party, and she doesn’t date guys like him.  Like what?  And she tells him.  And tells him.  And tells him.  She seems to have every possible reason to not want to start a relationship with.  Eugene tries to pop each of these secret “rules” with charisma and intelligence, and Nora finds out some secrets about herself.

Lying Naked by Alex Goldberg
Directed by Michael Schwartz and Assistant Director Samantha Cooper

In this intense play Lily (Rosebud Baker) and Carter (Dominic Spillane) start off naked on a bed furiously ravishing each other.  “Naked” that is in all ways except in how they really feel about all the layers of secrecy they have in order to maintain their illicit relationship with each other.  We see in this play how being intimate and being together aren’t the same thing without honesty.  The choreography of the bedsheets is almost as good as the witty dialogue and surprising twists all packed into this one act play.

The Russet Rascal by Duncan Pflaster
Directed by Luke Harlan and Assistant Director Brendan Naylor

In this play the powers of derring-do and good reporting live in a fun and zany world with caped crusaders, super-villains and a female butler named Bertha (Leslie Nemet).  Can the Russet Rascal (Doot-doo-doo) played by Kate Michaud keep her secret identity as a rich industrial tycoon safe when a nosy reporter by the name of Alice “Ace” McAllister comes around looking for a scoop about the disappearance of an experimental prototype of the dangerous freeze-ray molybdenum gun  is stolen from her nearby factory?  Who is the likely culprit?  None other than the Spanglish Fly (Fly…Fly… Fly…) played by Matt Carr, who drops in to cause trouble in the middle of the play.  Alice and the Rascal learn each other’s secrets and Bertha finally gets what she really wants for Secretary’s Day.  This play does a great job at laughing at as well as appreciating the ridiculousness of those old super hero shows of the 50′s and 60′s (especially Bat Man and Robin).

Only one show left, Sunday June 20th at 2:30.  If you can make it you won’t be sorry.  If you can’t check out some of the other works by the playwrights of this show.

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Related Posts:

• Entrevista: The Starship Astrov and Asian Belle (Midtown International Theatre Festival 2010)
• The Thyme Of The Season: Even Better The Second Thyme Around (Planet Connections 2010)
• Planet Connections Q&A: The Picture Of Dorian Gray / The Thyme Of The Season
• The Taint Of Equality Or, I Want Your Sex (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• The Empress of Sex (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)