Walk into Five Things: A Webcomic in 3-D and you’ll immediately notice that it’s working hard to live up to its promise of mimicking a web comic; the rear screen projections (designed by Amy Overman) have “previous” arrows, and the sound effects, inner thoughts, dreams, and various other clever notions are all drawn out  (by Brooke Tarnoff) on cards which are then held up and dance above the characters’ heads with whimsical aplomb.  Well timed and well drawn, the effects come off  humorously and add a note of contrast to the play.

Initially as the story unwrapped itself I was engaged and charmed by this little tale.  The incidental music was bouncy and quirky and the dialog between The Girl (Emily Dalton) and her cat Ruby (Jillian Tully) was peppered with all my guilty pleasures –  Dr. Who, Nathan Fillion, bad monster movies.  And if one of these pebbles of pop culture flies over the audiences’ head, no worries … they’re tossed throughout the story like croutons and serve much the same purpose, just a little extra dash of flavor to let you understand the type of gal The Girl is.

The show is called “Five Things”, and those five things refer to the task set before Dalton’s sweet, awkward, blossoming artistic character by her Fairy Dragmother (the marvelous Cedric Jones) – who is little more than a flamboyant and doting stranger whom she meets in a bar one night.  The Girl’s Fairy Dragmother invites her to do five things over a period of time which terrify her in order to challenge herself and grow.

Like so many things, “Terror” is a slippery slope.  One man’s “meh” is another’s “Oh Lord NOOOOOOOO!” and with this girl, The Girl, the bar is set rather low. Simply changing out of a blah wardrobe and into a more colorful one counts as one terrifying thing; taking in a stray cat who wanders into her home and claims it as her own counts as another.  I’d put this on the list of “interesting” things, possibly “difficult” but I’ll allow that to our main character it’s “terrifying”.  Regardless, Fairy Dragmother (who, despite appearing dashing and lovely in a wide variety of snazzy outfits never actually appears in drag) seems pleased with each digital update sent to his smart phone and cheer leads in a way that makes me wish I had my own Fairy Dragmother in my corner. (If in the form of Mr. Jones, all the better).

The cat she takes in, Ruby, is no ordinary cat, but an anthropomorphic one who became a genius thanks to some testing done in a lab … the one from which she escaped.  Thanks to those lab experiments she is sentient, talks to the audience, and easily can having long soliloquies where she rhapsodizes about things that rack focus from the plot while performing calisthenics on the furniture along with the occasional tap dance.

Think of Ruby as a female version of Calvin’s Hobbes with a Pinky and the Brain like attraction to tinkering about in the lab she’s set up behind The Girl’s stove topped with a dash of Flowers For Algernon on top.  Yes, I get the whole cat-as-metaphor/omniscient-narrator/”I-will-be-your-guide” thing.  I just think the OTHER part of the play … you know, the part about The Girl who had to challenge herself with her Five Things?  THAT part of the play was the meat, and the cat part could easily have been reduced by half.

Emily Dalton as The Girl was entirely enjoyable to watch as she went through her transformations (regardless of where they landed on the “terror” scale) and additionally she proved quite talented as a singer and ukulele player.  Scenes between her and Fairy Dragmother, or later between Dalton and The Guy (Patrick Andrew Jones) were the scenes which crackles with the most excitement, held the most promise and gave the most satisfaction.  The blooming romance between The Girl and The Guy was  everything that young love often is – hesitant, excitable, dreamy, goofy, immersive, confusing, and sometimes not quite fleshed out enough to deal with life-changing decisions.

“Other Girl” who is actually several other girls was played gamely by director Amanda LaPergola who brought a full range of characters to the table; most enjoyable was the REALLY EXCITED open mic host slash waitress.

Playwright Jillian Tully who plays Ruby obviously feels very strongly about the cat’s story-line  (as metaphor, as pure cat-love, as something only she can explain).  She not only wrote the role but embodies it here as well as in other iterations of this play and keeps all cat things front and center at all times.  Therefore it’s obvious where she feels the perspective of the story lives.  Even the fact that the cat has a name and The Girl (or The Guy, or The Other Girl) doesn’t points a big neon sign to the fact that this is the cat’s story, despite the fact that everything else underscores that The Girl’s story-line is the one with the most potential for heart, passion, growth and strength.  And while Ruby does indeed make changes (from loner to social being, for example) she is, after all, a cat and not the one we’re identifying with.

Perhaps this is why the whole show didn’t come together for me.  This is The Girl’s story.  Sure, people love cats.  People love the idea of wondering what their cats may be thinking.  People love the idea of what it might be like if their cats could talk.  But my advice is: give The Girl a name, already.   And follow your own play’s advice – do something terrifying like make some cuts to the cat scenes.  A little change might reap a big reward.

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Five Things: A Webcomic in 3-D
Handtruck Lobster
Writer: Jillian Tully
A comic brought to life that asks: What if you promised to do five terrifying things in the coming year? In the spirit of Calvin and Hobbes, Five Things takes on Fairy Dragmothers, opposable thumbs, and the pursuit of happiness.
1h 30m   Local   Brooklyn, New York
Comedy   Multi-Media
Staycation: My NYC Story   Sci-Fi Tech SuperHero Camp
www.facebook.com/fivethingstheplay
VENUE #07: The Kraine Theater
Sat 11 @ 2  Tue 14 @ 9:15  Thu 16 @ 2  Thu 23 @ 4:30  Sat 25 @ 8:15

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The Happiest Medium Review By Linnea Covington

The charm of filmmaker Ed Wood’s low budget B movies is mainly seen through his poor lighting, technical difficulties, bad actors, and  all around sense that a child made the films for their school project rather than a grown man. This isn’t to say they aren’t brilliant, a trait Frank Cwiklik fully grasps. Hence, the reason for Cwiklik’s off the wall, exciting, and wonderfully executed series of plays based, mostly, on five of Wood’s films.

DMT Theatrics’ series, Final Curtain, the Last of Ed Wood provided laughs which shook you so hard you were grasping at the edge of your seat.    Cwiklik adapted, designed, produced, and directed Wood’s Bride of the Monster, Night of the Ghouls, The Sinister Urge!, Hot Ice, and The Violent Years. Unfortunately, it was a short run at the Red Room and as of this article, they are no longer playing  (such a shame!) but, fingers crossed- hopefully they do another run soon. If these plays are produced in a similar format again , I would suggest seeing them in the order mentioned above if you can, not that they won’t be enjoyable if you don’t follow this plan – I didn’t after all.

In Night of the Ghouls, the sinister psychic Dr. Ackula (Craig Kelton Peterson, C), and his ertswhile assistant (Ivy Hong, L), unwittingly anger the angry dead (represented by Josh Potter, R), (Photo by Frank Cwiklik).

While all the actors played their parts superbly, a few really stood out. For one, Craig Kelton Peterson as Dr. Ackula in Bride of the Monster and as Dirk Williams in The Sinister Urge!, nailed his roles. Peterson is just so, so weird in a perfectly Ed Wood way and managed to shimmy, shake, and slay with a straight face, wacky costumes, and comical grace. Funny enough, his middle name, Kelton, also brings to mind the bumbling buffoon that Adam Files expertly exuded in his reoccurring role as Officer Paul Kelton. It felt that in every play Files became more attuned to the audience and one time, before Bride of the Monster started, he sat in the audience and chatted with Cwiklik who was on stage. How unprofessional!  How Ed Wood.

Save for some very Wood-appropriate technical difficulties in the first few performances that made them start late, the shows went off without a hitch. Even when things didn’t appear to be running smoothly, it all seemed like part of the act. Jason Stanley did a great bit as Lt. Matt Carson in three of the plays and had a wonderful rapport on stage both with Files, as well as with Josh Potter, who played Sgt. Randy Stone in The Sinister Urge! and Victor in Hot Ice. In The Violent Years, Shiloh Klein stole the limelight with her portrayal as Paula Parkins, rich girl gone bad. Not only did she believably play the innocent and smart girl, but, with her pouty lips and well-timed glare, you forgot she was just an actor. When I saw her again in the other plays’ minor roles, the sultry adolescent was gone and Parkins became perky.

Brianna Tyson in Hot Ice; Emily Edwards in The Violent Years; Tom O'Connor in Bride of the Monster; Michele Schlossberg in The Sinister Urge!; and Craig Kelton Peterson in Night of the Ghouls. (Photo by Frank Cwiklik)

Brianna Tyson came through as Shiela Rosen, Paula’s crime-mentor in that same play. Though she killed in that part, her starring role was  as Charlotte Farthington, Winford Farthington’s wife and partner in crime in Hot Ice. She does rich glam well, but not nearly as well as the cat-burglar-ninja dance she performed in order to steal some diamonds. In Hot Ice Lindsey Carter shone as Danielle, the slutty wife of Potter’s Victor. Carter also rocked her role as the badass Captain Helen Robbins in Night of the Ghouls, and I am pretty sure she showed her underwear in every single play—not complaining.

The sexy pinup queens and smut peddlers of DMT's most popular Ed Wood tribute, The Sinister Urge! L to R: Lindsey Carter, Michele Schlossberg, Ivy Hong. (Photo by Frank Cwiklik)

Overall, the plays proved a tight homage to the master of B movies, and the cast of 17 actors clearly had a lot of fun with it. I am impressed they could carry out so many roles in such a short span, not an easy feat when producing five plays and sometimes playing two-plus characters in each. I hope they do another run of this because even if you aren’t familiar with Ed Wood, nothing will perk up your night more than a dash of his world as told by these performers.

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