Death, It Happens (Photo by Cathryn Lynne) Pictured from left to right; Maureen Van Trease, Lori Kee, Bricken Sparacino and Rebecca Chiappone)

Down at UNDER St. Marks there are four ladies discussing it. The big, black elephant in the room. Death.

Terrifying, heartbreaking and unrelentingly emotional, losing a loved one is a different journey for us all, but it is in the commonality that we find comfort. In Death: It Happens (A Girl’s Guide to Death) (directed by Lori Kee) we meet four real-life women (Maureen Van Trease, Courtenay Harrington-Bailey, Bricken Sparacino and Rebecca Chiappone) who have lost their fathers in the not-too-distant past; all relatively suddenly, all equally as shocking. They range in age, in background, they are different, but they’re hurting just the same.

This is a brutally honest account of what it means to lose your parent; from the awkward euphemisms to the choosing of the coffin, the bills, the wills and everything in between. It’s hard stuff, but it is told with humor and perspective that keeps it from being a 60-minute sob-fest. An element for which I, personally, was all-too grateful.

I don’t like to get personal in my reviews, but I feel as if I have no choice with this one. I am fortunate enough to have my parents, but I lost both of my grandmothers within a year of each other only too recently. They were strong presences in my life, powerful, beautiful matriarchs who held their families together, loving unconditionally, and shaped me into the person I am today. My maternal grandmother got a big Catholic funeral and wake, and much of what these women talked about summed up my experience: the awkward Facebook messages, the relatives you’ve never seen checking in on you every five minutes, the food and the flowers and the strangeness of it all. But it’s necessary. As weird as it is, as the ladies of Death relate, funerals help.

The production is clearly a cathartic experience for these women in their personal struggles, but it touches the audience nonetheless. By the end, the sniffles and tissues abounded, everyone having their own experience of fear, grief, and loss alongside these brave women. And they are brave. The actual process of death is not often talked about openly. We get memories, stories of the last days, but it is the losing and burying and starting to miss – that is the part that is hardest to openly discuss. Yet these four women are doing it.

Relaxed, confident, and with a little bit of sass, they are truly doing their fathers proud.

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Death, it happens: A girl’s guide to death

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The 2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL will run February 22-March 4 at The Kraine Theater & The Red Room (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Ave and Bowery) and UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place between 1st Ave and Ave A). Tickets to all shows may be purchased online at www.FRIGIDnewyork.info or by calling Smarttix at 212-868-4444.

Related Posts:

• Death, It Happens: A Girl’s Guide To Death – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)
• The Terrible Manpain Of Umberto MacDougal: The Total Package Of Manpain (2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)
• I’m Not Sure I Like The Way You Licked Me – She Takes A Lickin’ And Keeps On: Bricken
• Lickin’ With Bricken – An Interview With Bricken Sparacino
• Love In The Time Of Chlamydia: Love And War Stories (2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)

Five Questions. Five Answers. And One Big Decision: Rock, Paper, Or Scissors?

Death, It Happens (Photo by Cathryn Lynne) Pictured from left to right; Maureen Van Trease, Lori Kee, Bricken Sparacino and Rebecca Chiappone)

Death, it happens: A girl’s guide to death

Company: Bricken and Birch Productions
Directed by: Lori Kee

4 different women lost 4 different fathers. Hear their true, diverse, moving and sometimes funny stories. Learn what happened, what they did to cope (or not cope) with death and what to wear to a funeral.

Show Times:

• Sat 2/25 @ 8:30pm
• Mon 2/27 @ 9pm
• Tues 2/28 @ 7:30pm
• Sat 3/3 @ 1:30pm
• Sun 3/4 @ 4pm

Answers by Bricken Sparacino

(conceiver, producer, performer and co-writer)

Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
That’s some title. How did you come up with it – and what does it mean?
Bricken: Well, our show is about Death, I didn’t want to sugar coat it, but I also wanted there to be a little humor in it as well. Our show is honest, sometimes sad – but we also use a lot of gallows humor. I hoped to reflect that in the title. I wanted the word “Death” to stand out and the rest to follow a little smaller. Almost as if to say “Do I have your attention now?”

Diánna Martin’s Question
If you were going to invite five people, anyone from past and present, to see your FRIGID show – who would you invite and why?
Bricken: Ah, well I’d love some dead people to come and tell us what happens after its all over. But that could add an unintentional zombie action adventure angle to the show.

Seriously, the show is about dealing with loss, how we survive when loved ones die and was written collaboratively. So, Eve Ensler would be great. I would love to hear what she thought of our collaboration compared to her work. Christopher Guest for the same reason (though he works in the made up world, I would still like to see what he thinks). My grandma – she is 92 and can’t travel to NY anymore. I would love to hear what she had to say about it. My father-in-law, who is a rock when dealing with death, and Eleanor Roosevelt keeps coming into my head, I’m not sure why, except she was a fantastically strong woman and I bet she’d have some great additions to our story.

Antonio Minino’s QuestionWhat is the biggest sacrifice you’ve ever made for your Art and was it worth it?
Bricken: This is a tough question. I feel like whenever I make art it is worth it. Sometimes we have to put aside our egos, some times we have to fight, sometimes we try our hardest and no one comes. But I always feel like it is worth it.

Geoffrey Paddy Johnson’s Question
Was there any unexpected discovery made during the development of this production and, if so, can you share it?
Bricken: That other people were willing to tackle this subject with me. In America we don’t like to talk about death, when someone dies we get about 3 days off of work for it and are supposed to just “get over it”, I guess, or suffer silently. After my dad died I questioned that, why not talk about it? It would help me. So I reached out to several women who had also lost their fathers and was relieved/pleased to have 3 wonderful women join me on this development process.

Michelle Augello-Page’s Question
What do you hope the audience receives from the experience of seeing this show?
Bricken: I hope they come. If they come they might cry a little, but they will laugh too and I hope feel the load lifted off a bit. We have death in common. I hope this show will leave the audience feeling like we all can make it through these losses together with humor and compassion and that they are surrounded by strong loving support. Plus they will learn some helpful hints like what to wear to a funeral.

Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament of DEAAAAATH

THM Bonus Question – We’re serious this year!
In the THM virtual Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament of DEAAAAATH which FRIGID Show do you take on? And what do you throw?
Bricken: I think we are 4 strong women and can take on any show in the old RPS. However I know one overly emotional Scotsman who will cry at the drop of a hat.
So I throw a rock right at The Terrible Manpain of Umberto MacDougal.

Oh Bricken! … you have chosen wisely. Rock is always a strong choice! Especially when you’re hurling it at someone who’s already in such awful Manpain. Also – as you know – you’ve already been challenged by Rabbit Island who threw the match in your favor (nice trick!). That’s one win right there! Love In The Time Of Clamydia challenged everyone and threw ROCK so that’s a tie. You’re off to a very good start, Ms. Bricken! Let’s see what Umberto MacDougal throws when that Manpain Q&A gets serve up. You might be the big victor of this whole shebang!

Thanks Death, It Happens: A Girl’s Guide To Death for participating in The Happiest Medium’s FRIGID New York Festival 2012 Q&A. And for playing our game! You’re officially ROCK in any and all challenges. You may continue your streak  - who knows! This is how it works in the crazy world of the Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament of DEAAAAATH!

For the rest of you don’t forget to check out Death, It Happens: A Girl’s Guide To Death

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The 2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL will run February 22-March 4 at The Kraine Theater & The Red Room (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Ave and Bowery) and UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place between 1st Ave and Ave A). Tickets to all shows may be purchased online at www.FRIGIDnewyork.info or by calling Smarttix at 212-868-4444.

Related Posts:

• Death: It Happens – Still Daddy’s Girl (2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)
• The Terrible Manpain Of Umberto MacDougal: 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)
• ‘Til Love Do Us Part: 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)
• Drowning Ophelia: A New Rock Musical – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)
• Big Plastic Heroes: 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)

 

Bricken Sparacino sure has been licked a lot in her life … but not exactly the way you’d expect from a show titled I’m Not Sure I Like The Way You Licked Me!.  I mean, of course, there is the requisite anecdote about the guy who french kissed her in a way that was more akin to a barbecue pit chef mopping ribs with secret sauce, leaving her face covered in saliva and in need of a good rinsing … but this solo show (directed by Lori Kee) has a few more licks in it – the kind of licks that could also be called bummers, hard knocks, and just plain disappointments.

Bricken Sparacino by Cathryn Lynne

Using a backdrop of childhood (and beyond) photos Bricken (yes, yes – rhymes with Chicken … she gets that out of the way right up top) throws out highlights – or perhaps low-lights – of her life when she felt particularly licked.  Sometimes the lick takes the form of a gaggle of Mean Girl roommates using an unfortunate collision with a can of paint (oops) as a springboard to dive into all of Sparacino’s sore spots.  With a POW and a THWACK and a BOFF they reel off her shortcomings, ending with “no one likes you anyway … not even the people who say they do”.  OOF.

Time and again Bricken puts herself out there – with a boy, with a friend, in an acting scene, with her husband-to-be … and time and again Bricken gets licked.  Friends turn on her, parts she is perfect for go to the other actress, songs she can’t quite master don’t get transposed in order to accommodate her lower range, her live-in boyfriend of five years psyches her out before proposing to her (never fear – 14 wonderful years later they’re still happily married).

Yes, there’s a lot of pitfalls here, but it’s not the stories that are the revelation.  For really, anyone’s life story can be told in a way that accentuates the licks.  We’ve all been there, and we all can relate – to the bullying, the name calling, the need to be accepted, the need to feel loved … the confusion when we do something out of love that gets misconstrued and thrown back in our faces.  So the stories themselves aren’t particularly new.  Rather, it’s the over arching lesson that’s the cherry on the sundae here.

And Bricken’s lesson is simple, yet profound:  We only go around once.  We’ve only got one chance, and confidence goes a long way to make the ride a better one.  So, have faith in yourself.  Have faith in your abilities.  Cherish those around you who support you and reflect your best self back to you.

Bricken’s delivery is straightforward and no-nonsense with often hilarious moments that will have you laughing out loud.  It’s not all a laff-riot, however; she’s equally adept at plucking at your heartstrings and often just the simple look of sadness that veils her eyes at the appropriate moment is enough to quiet the room.  When this woman says she is a Shakespearean actress moments like this prove she’s got the goods.

Just a 3 show run – one’s already gone.  You’ve just got 2 chances to see Bricken get licked.

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Related Posts:

• Death: It Happens – Still Daddy’s Girl (2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)
• Death, It Happens: A Girl’s Guide To Death – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)
• Lickin’ With Bricken – An Interview With Bricken Sparacino
• The Terrible Manpain Of Umberto MacDougal: The Total Package Of Manpain (2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)
• The Terrible Manpain Of Umberto MacDougal: 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)

Bricken Sparacino is an award winning/nominated performer, writer and director. She is also a bright, confident woman who has been involved in theatre for most of her life. To watch her work is to watch an artist with a powerful command of her talents. I have seen her ability to transform a space, as well as her own persona, as she captivates and connects intimately with an audience, provoking a wide range of meaningful responses to her performances.

Bricken’s latest show I’m Not Sure I Like the Way You Licked Me! is running April 7,8,9 at HorseTrade’s Under St. Marks Theatre in NYC. Using humor, story telling, honesty and a little bit of rock and roll, Bricken shares the battles she has fought, the mountains she has climbed, and the licks she has endured! I’m Not Sure I Like the Way You Licked Me! was chosen as part of the Frigid Festival ‘11 and is “a very brave, honest, funny, endearing show.” – Amy E. Witting, aWe Creative.

Whenever I see Bricken perform, I am always left with a gift – laughter, lingering tears, revived memories, profound thoughts – sometimes all at once. It never ceases to amaze me. And Bricken makes it seem so effortless. Her quick wit, gentle eyes, and sweet smile are disarming; her ease comes from years of hard work doing what she loves. I was so happy to have the opportunity to meet up with Bricken as she prepares for her upcoming shows, and to interview her about her life as an artist.

Michelle: You have been involved with theatre your whole life. Do you come from an artistic family background? How supportive were your parents in your decision to become a performer, director, and writer?

Bricken: I am very lucky; my parents never once questioned my interest in theater. I was in my first play around 3rd grade and wrote a play about the same time. It was pretty clear there was nothing else I really wanted to do with my time. My mom said that when I was born, I looked up and posed for a photo my dad was taking, and that I was “on the stage” ever since. My father was an artist, my grandmother was a ballerina, so I think I got my creativity from the two of them.

I think the biggest example of my parents supporting me was just that they let me move to New York. I remember the day I moved, my mom watched me get on the plane and cried and cried. I’m an only child and it was the hardest thing in the world for her to let me get on that plane. But she never said “no, that’s a bad idea.” She and my father said “great, go to New York … we’ll support you … what do you need?” I didn’t appreciate it at the time. I sure do now.

You’ve mentioned how you first started in theatre as a litterbug in a kid’s show about cleaning up the environment, and now you work in the zoo doing children’s theatre about keeping the environment clean. What did being involved in children’s theater give to you as a child, and what does it give to you now, as an adult?

I grew up working with a group called “The Santa Clara Junior Theater.” This was children and teens working on plays. I now work at my day job with adults performing for children. When I was a child we worked on all different kinds of plays and our focus was on being the best we could be. I learned a lot about myself, how to make friends, how to lead, how to be creative.

The focus of what I do now is about educating those who are watching, which is a much less self involved thing. We go into schools all over NY and the tri-state area. We hope we entertain and leave the students with hopeful messages about the world around them and their future. An unexpected result with some schools, especially inner city schools, is that the children meet a group of adults who they probably wouldn’t on their own and learn that these adults care about them and what they think. I always try to tell the students they are smart and have wonderful ideas and questions. You see their faces light up and you know you have done a little bit to help.

March is Women’s History Month. What does it mean to you to be a performer, director, and writer from the standpoint of being a woman? How have perceptions of you as female affected you as you have grown into yourself as a woman?

Well, it is hard working in theatre and not noticing that there is a divide between the amount of woman directors and writers who reach success and the amount of male directors and writers who reach success. I try not to dwell on the statistics, as they are rather disappointing, but to lead by example. I do what I do and do my best. Have I ever had problems as a female director? Yes. Does it make me mad when some one doesn’t listen to my direction or rolls their eyes at me in a way that makes it clear that they are not listening to me because I am a woman? Yes. What do I do? Never work with that person again. I try to gather positive people around me. If I see something I say something!

Growing up I had (and still do) wonderful woman role models that taught me not to let your gender stop your dreams. My mother is City Manager of a pretty good size city. My grandmother was a ballerina. They taught me from a young age to be myself and follow my dreams. My mother told me when I was young that if I ever got married I shouldn’t feel like I had to change my name. She never wanted to change her name, but when she got married it was unheard of to keep your “maiden” name, so she was bullied into taking my father’s name. When I got married, I didn’t even think about it. I kept my name. If you think about it, just the term “maiden name” is ridiculous.

You live and work with your husband, Michael Birch, and it appears you have a special, synergistic relationship. “I’m Not Sure I Like the Way You Licked Me!” is produced by Birch and Bricken Productions, and you have directed his popular “One Man Hamlet.” Can you talk a bit about your relationship as artists?

I have a wonderful working relationship with my husband Michael. But I don’t recommend what we do for everyone who is in a long term relationship with another creative person. We have written together, performed together, I have directed him, he has directed me, we produce together. But it took awhile to work out the kinks. You have to have off times and rules. Like when you are falling asleep, don’t wake the other person up with “Oh, I just thought of the perfect song to start the show out with!” or “Oh, I just remembered what line you forgot”. It can lead to sleepless nights and fights.

We remember it is a job and just like any other job you have to have a lunch break, so to speak. It took time to learn the right way to talk about things we don’t agree on with out hurting each other’s feelings. But we are pretty good about it now. We still have little clashes, but considering we work together at the zoo as well as everything else, they are few and far between. It might be crazy, but it makes for a lot of fun wonderful times.

You ran the 10:17 Comedy Night for several years at the Gershwin Hotel, and you’ve workshopped parts of your show at different places as it has unfolded. How important do you think it is for other artists to be part of something where work is often in progress, growing, and being tested in front of an audience?

Having an open forum to practice your art is one of the most important things going on out there for performers. Creating art in a vacuum is not easy. How would you know if you are on to something if you just perform for yourself in the shower? (though I sometimes get great ideas when I am in the shower!) I wish there were even more outlets for new work. Every time I have workshopped in front of an audience, whatever it is, it gets better. You also get ideas from the way people respond after. The old saying practice makes better is really true. And to practice in front of an audience is a real luxury.

For many years, you have been involved with the Midtown Theatre Festival and the Frigid Festival. What are your experiences with this process, and how festivals and other resources support performers, directors, and writers in the community?

I have been a part of many of our New York “festivals” and they really have become the next step in creativity. First, it helps to have a weekly or monthly show that allows you to try new material and works in progress. Then, once you have created your show, you can select one of the yearly festivals to debut the new piece. Self producing is very hard, time consuming, and costly. Being a part of a festival can take a lot of the burden of self producing off of the artist’s shoulders. Having a space ready for you, lights and sound ready, a box office person, ticket sales, publicity etc. is a real perk of the festival world.  Also often you get a couple of reviews, which can further promote your show.

My current show I’m Not Sure I Like the Way You Licked Me! was helped and supported by ArtEffects Workshop Reading, Manhattan TheaterSource’s PlayGround workshop for new plays, HorseTrade Theater Group, and performing at Penny’s Open Mic. These groups and shows all stand up for new plays. If anyone out there is looking for a place to start something new, I recommend all of these resources. I also want to mention Martin Denton and nytheatre.com; www.nytheater.com really promotes independent theatre, giving it just as much attention as it does the Broadway theater world.

Many thanks and hugs to Bricken for sharing wine, sangria, and laughter with me at a downtown bar on a Tuesday night, and for sharing some of her thoughts and experiences with “The Happiest Medium.” If you enjoyed reading about Bricken, you do not want to miss the special three day showing of “I’m Not Sure I Like the Way You Licked Me!”, April 7,8,9 at Under St. Marks Theatre in NYC,  presented by HorseTrade and produced by Birch and Bricken productions.

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I’m Not Sure I Like the Way You Licked Me!

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More about Bricken!

• Bricken Sparacino was one of nytheatre.com’s “People of the Year ‘08.” Under her direction, Chris Harcum’s American Badass (Frigid ’08) was selected to be in a collection of “best of” and is now published. Other nominated/winning shows include Those Whistling Lads (Planet Connections and MITF) and Pizza Man (MITF). She was nominated for “Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Musical” for her portrayal of her original comedy character Cherry On Top (Planet Connections).
• As a comedy powerhouse, Bricken performed, co-wrote, produced, and directed numerous original works including Comedy Period, All About The Comedy (1 &2), Alien Sympathizer Henry Platt Is Missing, American Treacle for the Midtown Theater Festival as well as the wildly successful 10:17 Comedy Night, which ran every Saturday night for 3 years at the Gershwin Hotel. Bricken’s short play Are We Freaks and her one person storytelling show I’m Not Sure I Like the Way You Licked Me! were chosen as part of the Frigid Festival ’09 and the Frigid Festival ’11, respectively.
• Upcoming plans for Bricken include turning her short plays Pointy the Starfish and Are We Freaks into full-length plays, and directing Emleigh Wolf’s The Terrible Manpain of Umberto MacDougal for the mini Frigid in Summer, 2011.
• To find out more about what Bricken is up to, check out her website www.bricken.org

Related Posts:

• Death: It Happens – Still Daddy’s Girl (2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)
• Death, It Happens: A Girl’s Guide To Death – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)
• I’m Not Sure I Like The Way You Licked Me – She Takes A Lickin’ And Keeps On: Bricken
• FRIGID New York Festival 2011 – Five Questions For: I’m Not Sure I Like the Way You Licked Me!
• Outskirts of Eden: 10 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2016 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)