by The Happiest Medium on August 23, 2010
The Happiest Medium Review by guest contributors Anjali Koppal and Saurabh Paranjape
In Chad Beckim’s frothy romantic comedy Cookie, it is hard not to cheer for mopey, instantly likable man-child Alan as he awkwardly navigates the unexpected pitfalls and redemptions of a hastily put-together ‘Green Card marriage’ scam. Told through a series of short and consistently entertaining vignettes, Cookie is a breezy story of unlikely love that also takes the occasional light-hearted jab at society’s unspoken racial stereotypes.
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by Antonio Miniño on August 22, 2010
One of the best things about the Fringe Festival is how it embraces diversity – it becomes one of the best summer reminders as to how culturally rich and fascinating this city can be. In Swaha: Rituals of Union Trinayan Dance Theater mixes tradition, with dance, storytelling and ritualistic precise movements that will evoke your senses and successfully accomplish the elephantine task of getting you out of your head, no verbal dialogue required.
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by Stephen Tortora-Lee on August 21, 2010
To see a World in a grain of sand,
And Heaven in a wild flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.
William Blake
William Blake belongs on Off-Off-Broadway. Or at least he would have appreciated it, because of his belief that Art should be about Imagination rather than style and fashion of what people expect a work to be like just so that it can become more commercially acceptable. He said in response to his contemporaries, “I must create a system or be enslaved by another man’s.” He had strong beliefs in trying to touch the mind of God through soaring visions of what he believed beauty really was. By doing this, he was fundamental in the creation of Romanticism – which was the genesis of many other more modern movements in philosophy and the arts . . . either directly or by inspiration.
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by Stephen Tortora-Lee on August 20, 2010
What’s Beat? The Beat is Beat? Do you dig? (snap,snap).
The story we have is the story we were, twirling and twisting about in a blur whose end and beginning is a boy and a girl. That story – two ends – are tender and sweet . . . But what we got in the middle is what we call the Beat. (roll of tom-toms).
Jerry'Chip' Scuderi, Maureen Duke
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by Stephen Tortora-Lee on August 19, 2010
What do you do when you’re waiting….And waiting….AND WAITING….
At Gate B23 (written and directed by Debbie Slevin) we watch as 7 people try to figure out what to do when they are forced to look more deeply into their lives – because this time they’re not allowed to just gloss over all the situations as they normally would. The escalating tension turns to transformation again and again, as being forced to actually talk with those you’re with pushes everyone to make decisions they never would have otherwise. Whether new bonds are forged, burst asunder or reinforced to stay the same, the play is always moving along as it focuses on the different people who are waiting – so it’s really like several small plays wrapped into one.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on August 18, 2010
If you’re looking for a simple little story, told in a simple little way, but one which deceptively leaves you with the feeling that you’ve just seen a full scale production, The Nightmare Story is the show for you.
Taking a cue from old folk tales, the men of PigPen begin to weave a tale that begins in the dark and is brought out from the shadows.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on August 16, 2010
I hadn’t intended to see Ruby Wilder, but boy am I glad that I mistakenly stood in front of the wrong theatre for 20 minutes waiting for my show to begin; it gave me an opportunity to meet and chat with a terrific new talent – Eric Hoff – who I hope I can interview in the future. Turns out, missing my show was fortuitous because it led me right to the unique, eerie, funny, sleazy, rip-roaring world of Ruby Wilder. And what a world that is.
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