As part of the Board of Directors of MTWorks I’m really proud to be involved with the National Newborn Festival. Part of my job was to help choose the Excellence in Playwriting Award (see below for the winner!) and this year I’ll be introducing one of the plays — but I won’t tell you which one!  You’ll just have to come join me at the festival.

So what is Newborn?

Now on its sixth year, The National NewBorn Festival is MTWorks playwriting competition and flagship program created to find talented emerging playwrights from across the US, introduce their work to the New York community, and open new doors to regional voices.

READINGS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

TO RESERVE YOUR SEATS CLICK HERE
(OR VISIT http://tinyurl.com/72h4jfw)

February 2-4, 2012
The City College of New York (map)
North Academic Center, 160 Convent Avenue  New York, NY
First Floor Lecture Hall (1/202)

THE 2012 PLAYS & SCHEDULE

Thursday, February 2nd at 7pm

The Tragedy of Dandelion by Duncan Pflaster, directed by Leah Bonvissuto, produced by Jessica Thornhill.

The Tragedy of Dandelion follows a Princess named Dandelion, who attempts to escape, by dressing as a boy, a forced marriage to Ratliff, a man who raped and impregnated her. She collaborates with Prince Crispin, son of Queen Alice, telling him that the baby is his, to gain a place in that kingdom and while waiting in the Queen’s orchard, meets the Queen’s daughter, Princess Cèlie, and shares a kiss with her. She gains a place in Alice’s kingdom, till Ratliff and her father King Stephano, come to Alice’s palace and point out that Dandelion is a female, and drag her away. A new lesbian verse play by Duncan Pflaster.

Friday, February 3rd at 7pm

Denny and Lila by August Schulenburg, directed by Tom Wojtunik, produced by London Griffith.

After her husband Marcus divorces her for their much younger maid Lucia, Mary turns to the con artist team of Denny, Lila and Jabber for revenge. They take the job, with Denny pretending to be the Neruda-quoting electrician ‘Fred’ to seduce Lucia; and Lila pretending to be the daffily charming British novelist ‘Mara’ to seduce Marcus. All goes well until Denny develops an unexpected connection to Nettie, Mary and Marcus’ manic-depressive daughter.

Saturday, February 4th at 5pm *Excellence in Playwriting Award Winner*

The Excellence in Playwriting Award is bestowed by the MTWorks’ Board of Directors. The board selects the winner before the festival takes place and is not influenced by the work the director and actors are achieving at the readings.

Absinthe by Joe Musso, directed by Dev Bondarin, produced by Martha Goode.

It’s July 1900, and a race riot has engulfed New Orleans, sparked by a black man killing two white policemen. At first, the violence on the streets is far removed from the genteel parlor of Grace Newman, a blind white woman cared for by her house servant, Curtis, a former slave owned by Grace’s father. Grace and Curtis’s relationship is forged by respect and compassion. However, their true feelings for each other must remain hidden from Grace’s racist brother Henry, a Civil War vet who fought for the South and who is hell-bent on bringing justice to a black man who killed two white policemen. As a race riot in the streets unfolds, Grace and Curtis’s relationship unravels.

Saturday, February 4th at 8pm *Resident Reading*

On Egdon Heath adapted by David Stallings from Thomas Hardy’s novel The Return of the Native directed by Glory Kadigan, produced by David Stallings.

Award-winning playwright David Stallings’ adapts one of the most powerful works of famed author Thomas Hardy, “The Return of the Native”. The ensemble of townspeople On Egdon Heath will take you on a journey of love, passion and folklore, centered around the beautiful and mystical Eustacia Vye. Her hunger for escape and a devastating twist of fate will affect the lives of the Yeobrights, the Wildeves and the heart of the heath.

Related Posts:

• A Day In The Life … “The Family Shakespeare” By The Numbers
• MTWorks National NewBorn Festival Kicks Off Tonight
• The National Newborn Festival: Celebrating Emerging Playwrights In Style
• Delving Into DARK WATER With Diánna Martin
• The Empress of Sex (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)

It’s astonishing that with all Liat Ron and Shelly Feldman have in common they haven’t met already.  They are both talented Israeli-American women working in theater in New York and happen to have shows which are opening presently.   But even though the world of Off-Off Broadway is a small one there’s still a chance to make new bonds and form new bridges.  That’s why when we added up the body of work, history, common background and upcoming shows of these two women it was almost a no-brainer – let’s have them connect!  More than connect – we thought it would be a fantastic idea for them to interview each other to see where they merge and where they diverge.

Liat Ron

First let’s meet Liat Ron, superwoman–smart, savvy, Israeli-American-New Yorker, similar to the semi-autobiographical character she created, Hellthy.

In Liat’s one-woman show, GUTS, Hellthy moves back to Israel, after an exhausting breakup, she is the center of attention for her over-bearing parents. Hellthy battles with a dangerous obsession to fit into a size 0, at any cost. Her heart never seems to be in sync with her brain and her diary is her only real confidante.

How does she overcome it all? — She has GUTS!

Liat has GUTS too–and to meet her is to love her.

Now let’s meet Shelly Feldman.

Antonio Minino, THM Contributor and part of the production team who is working with Feldman on Costa Rehab would like to personally introduce Shelly to our readers:

Shelly Feldman

“Shelly Feldman is a magnetic artist – her allure is due to her concentration, strength and no nonsense attitude towards life and the craft. As an actress she took on the role of Anaïs Nin in MTWorks’ production of Anaïs Nin Goes to Hell at the New York International Fringe Festival back in 2008 and made Nin her own. She was not trapped in research or what she should have been like, she simply was Nin. She was childlike yet assertive, sensual and powerful. She made bold choices yet portrayed them in the subtlest most fascinating ways.

“She brings that bold quality to her directing and to motherhood, a new role she has recently taken on at the same time she directs Costa Rehab. Her offspring seems to convey the same magnetism as her parents, just ask the cast who has embraced him fully in the rehearsal room as she juggles notes and rocks him to sleep.

“I read the stage directions for the reading of Costa Rehab in the National NewBorn Festival and in those rehearsals I could tell that she just got it — was it her humanity itself or the fact that she had served in the Israeli army that helped her nail it? who knows – why question theatre magic when it happens. The truth is Shelly Feldman is not a soldier, but a warrior that charges her craft with great passion. She has been able to illustrate and enrich playwright Rich Rubin’s play in ways that will never be recreated again. They now belong to Feldman’s world premiere production and I hope you get a chance to check it out.”

Liat and Shelly spent some time getting to know each other and found that they had so much to talk about from art to creating to Israel, true love, work, giving birth and so much more.  They settled on some things that they really wanted to know about each other that they thought our readers would enjoy hearing about too.

~~~

Shelly: How did this play come to you?

Liat: GUTS was culled from diary entries during a very pivotal time in my life, not too long ago, while trying to move back to Israel where I was born and raised. When I returned to New York, I read a few lines from my diary to my mentor, Gregory Simmons, and he said to me, “A play must come out of this”. My reaction was very strong- “No way!” There was no way that I was going to share any parts of my diary with the world, since I am a very private person (and by the way, a lot of people who know me will be shocked to learn about the issues I have been hiding until now). I try to maintain my image as a superwoman, and not someone who has struggled or struggles. I know, hilarious. I take a lot of pride in how I am able to inspire others, but my tendency is to do it from a position of strength. This is new for me to try to affect the world by sharing my vulnerabilities. So…Mr. Simmons kept insisting that there is something unique about my language and the way I personalize “things”, including my own diary. Also, he argued that the themes in (what became) GUTS are very universal and can empower, inspire, educate and open many eyes…Now, a couple of years later, I finally believe in the power of GUTS. It tells a story of triumph, learning what home really means, and finding health. The name GUTS came to me one day, and made so much sense. All the associations of the word GUTS exist in the play, except for the actual word.

Shelly: As an actress, how does it feel to act in your own play?

Liat: It’s quite a ride, I’d say. Not only is it a play that I wrote, but it’s also based on my personal story. Even though a lot is fictionalized, it is theater after all, the seed is still my very personal story. I will say that the role of Hellthy is the hardest role I’ve ever worked on, but also provides the most rewarding and thrilling acting experience I’ve ever had. The autobiographical aspect of GUTS definitely added an acting challenge I’ve never faced before.

Regarding the dual role of playwright and actor, it can potentially blur boundaries during the rehearsal process, which is something I had to be mindful of throughout my intensive work with my director. It requires relinquishing control and being constantly mindful of your role as a performer in the rehearsal room. It is also an incredibly empowering experience, knowing that I have ideas, life lessons and inspiration to share with the world, and that I am able to utilize my skills as an actor and a dancer in order to do so. As an actor, I have always felt that I have more to offer artistically than performing-wise, and since I’ve always written and had “big ideas” in me, such as changing the world (call me naïve), GUTS has become the culmination of that aspiration. Acting in my own play also created comical moments during rehearsal in which I felt extremely challenged as a performer by what the playwright created, whether it was my set vision or scenes that were simply difficult to perform. And I will say that it is truly a strange phenomenon to feel angry with the playwright while performing one of the very demanding scenes in GUTS …when I am the playwright!!! You’ll know what I am referring to when you see it for yourself. All in all, I have a remarkable director to share this exhilarating ride with me.

Shelly: How does your Israeli origin manifest itself in this play? (Does it?)

Liat: I would almost risk it and say that Israel actually plays a role in GUTS. Israel is where Hellthy came from and the place she is trying to move back to. In my writing, I used my own experience, my childhood memories, the culture, the traditions. There is even a little spoken Hebrew in the play, and I feel like you can actually smell and sense Israel throughout the play, even when Hellthy is in New York. It’s where her roots are.

THE TABLES ARE TURNED …

Liat: How did this play come to you?

Shelly: I’m one of the MTWorks company actors and knowing about my experience in the Israeli army, they suggested that I direct Costa Rehab for their NewBorn stage readings festival. We got wonderful reactions from the stage reading and decided to go ahead and make a full production of the play.

Costa Rehab featuring Nicholas Urda as Wheeler and Sarah Chaney as Lewicki

Liat: Being an actress, how do you feel being on the other side as a director?

Shelly: As an actress, you have the privilege to not care about anything but the story, your partner and your character. You have the room to dive in to your character’s world and find as many ways to enrich it as you can. I find that to be extremely fun and fascinating. However, to be a director is a lot more creative and a lot more of a headache. You’re not just responsible for the acting, but for the whole piece. You have to make sure that the acting, music, lighting, set… all of that needs to come together to one story that makes sense. And it’ll be nice if you can make it entertaining while you’re at it… So it’s a lot more to think about. Totally different kinds of energy. But I truly believe that if you want to be a better director, you need to experience acting. It makes you a lot more helpful to the actors because you know exactly what they are going through and it makes it a lot easier to help them and easier for you to get what you want out of them.

Liat: How does your Israeli origin manifest itself in this play? (Does it?)

Shelly: In Israel, the army service is mandatory so I know what it means to be a soldier. I know that humor that comes from a very painful place. I understand sarcasm as a defense mechanism. I know fear and I know the ways to hide it. I know what you look like when you go in the army and what you look like when you come out. I know what’s it like to grow up real fast and I know how to laugh about it all. Even when you really want to cry.

_____________

Thank you so much, ladies, for taking the time to interview each other as you juggle so many other important things in your life!  We can’t wait to see your shows.

Please check out GUTS and Costa Rehab … see below for details

~~~

Tickets are $20 and are now available. They may also be purchased in-person at the Theatre Box Office, 30 minutes prior to the performance.

~~~

Related Posts:

• The 2012 National Newborn Festival Is Almost Here!
• A Day In The Life … “The Family Shakespeare” By The Numbers
• MTWorks National NewBorn Festival Kicks Off Tonight
• The National Newborn Festival: Celebrating Emerging Playwrights In Style
• Small Town, Big Show – “Barrier Island”

If you’ve never directed a show you probably don’t have any idea how many things need to be juggled, handled, addressed, discussed, solved, finessed, smoothed out, put in order  … it boggles the mind.   I asked my beloved friend Antonio Minino to tell me what a random day is like for him as he directs David Stallings’ The Family Shakespeare for MT Works.  I need a nap just reading his answers!

The Family Shakespeare is a magical and dark fictional look into the dangers and consequences of caging innocence. It is inspired by the true story of the Bowdler family and delves into the psyche of a family who thinks it has the right to cross out and modify words with the supposed aim to protect youth and purity.

As the director of this ambitious tale Antonio is busy from (early) morning till night (or … would that be even earlier morning?).  Here is a breakdown of how he spent his Saturday …

UP AND AT ‘EM

When did you wake up?
Around 8am today.

The amount of times you hit the snooze button
I actually don’t hit the snooze button, I just check my phone (which is my alarm clock) every 2 minutes to see how many minutes I can get away with – I should probably start embracing the snooze.

The cups of coffee you need to wake up
Two cups will do it!  Normally I brew it at home but with rehearsals I’ve been buying it at the closest deli or Starbucks to wherever we are rehearsing that day.

The time you REALLY feel awake
Lately around 11am - I’m normally a good morning person, when I hit the gym I like doing it at 6am – last time that routine happened it was 1985… no just kidding, it was a couple of months ago. The show has changed all my routines and added back the 10 pounds I had successfully lost.

BREAKFAST

What did you eat?
Coffee

The number of emails you answer before you take your first bite
I try and check all my emails before I walk out the door, probably an average of 20 emails.

The number of emails you ignore / put off for later
Lately I’ve been putting off for later more than ever. Normally I’m very good at replying, I feel like the person that emails me is waiting on the other side, desperately seeking for an answer.

The number of emails you write that have the words “Shakespeare” in them
Probably all of them … Well if my signature counts which says “buy your tickets to The Family Shakespeare” then definitely all of them.

FIRST THINGS FIRST

The songs on your iPod that you listen to the most
I’m obsessed with Jamie Cullum, if you don’t know him look him up. Lately I’ve been listening to Jessie Montgomery’s compositions for the show. They are just beautiful and get me in the mood for rehearsal. I also like the Black Swan soundtrack.

CALL ME!

The number of calls you take
Not many, maybe 5 a day tops.

The number of calls you send right to voice mail
Probably 4 of the 5 :)

The number of calls you make
I’m more of an email, facebook and text person. So maybe 1 call a day keeps the doctor away.

The number of people who meet with you about the production
Including the designers, cast, marketers, press rep, company staff … around 26

The number of people who come to rehearsal 13

The number of people who say “what do you think about …” 26

DON’T QUOTE ME

The number of times you yelled
Do the number of times I’ve wanted to yell count? if they do around 5 times.

THE BEST MEDICINE

The number of times you laughed
Every rehearsal I laugh, so maybe 5 times a rehearsal? not bad for a drama.

GIVE ME STRENGTH!

The person who gets me through the day is …
If it wasn’t for the playwright of The Family Shakespeare, David Stallings, the stage manager Carolynn Richer and the producer Martha Goode I’d be lost every day of this process. Totally lost at sea with no lifeboat or water or sexy trunks.

ORDER UP!

What did you have for lunch?
A grilled chicken salad … well no that’s what I should have had for lunch … a ham and brie sandwich.

LET’S TAKE IT FROM THE TOP

The number of notes you take at a rehearsal
An average of around 7 pages. I have big hand writing though and only give the actors around 1 page of my 7. A lot of notes I take are things that I know will resolve themselves on their own.

The number of changes you made today
Today we fixed a couple of blocking issues that were making me lose sleep and a “floating” moment. We cut a couple of lines that are now acted and need not be said with the words.

The number of times you said “that was amazing”
I can’t remember the last time I said that was amazing and not for lack of amazement. Wait that’s not true, 4 times today when I was talking about Jessie Montgomery and her Quartet.

The number of times you thought “I want to quit!!!”

Only twice and at the beginning of the process. You see I was a replacement and accepting the gig completely changed my routine and it meant directing actors I did not cast, so it took me a couple of days to feel them out and understand how they work and how our styles would merge. Also walking into the first production meeting with the designers when they already had some ideas as to what the show would be and basically changing their concepts on them was also difficult for me, thankfully they liked what I had to bring to the table.

MIRACLE WORKER

What miracle happened today?
We ran the show at 10am in the morning. We’ve been running the show since last Tuesday which is a miracle of its own in the off-off circuit. We’ve been running the complete show two weeks before opening! On a not show related miracle I napped from 4pm to 9pm.

CANDLE LIGHT SUPPER

What time was dinner?
It’s 10:41pm and I haven’t had dinner yet. I guess I should sign into seamlessweb and figure that one out.

What did you have?

Haven’t decided. Something decadent. I’m dreadful to my body temple during a show. Something I definitely need to work on.

Who was your last email of the day to? What was it about?
It was sending these answers to you! No really it was about bar options as to where to celebrate our opening night party.

What was your last thought of the day before hitting the pillow?
I know it will be “Is rehearsal really at 10am again tomorrow? on a Sunday! I miss Unity of New York” that will be my last thought for sure.

LIGHTS OUT

Time you went to sleep?
I’m predicting 2am. I just can’t seem to make my brain slow down and I’ve tried meditating every night, using nature soothing sounds … 2am seems to be the norm.

~~~

Now that you know what’s going into this amazing production you know you want to see it.  Click Here to purchase tickets for this wonderful play.  I’ll see you there.

Related Posts:

• The 2012 National Newborn Festival Is Almost Here!
• The Stranger To Kindness: 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)
• MTWorks National NewBorn Festival Kicks Off Tonight
• Small Town, Big Show – “Barrier Island”
• Eli and Cheryl Jump … Look After You (Fringe Festival 2009)

As the recently appointed Vice-Chair of Maieutic Theatre Works-MTWorks I’m honored to be (just a small) part of the very talented team that brings The National NewBorn Festival to life.

Please join me tonight for the first in the series of free readings dealing with such hot topics as: immigration, sexuality, war and freedom.

**Resident Reading**

THE REEDUCATION OF ARIZONA

by MTWorks Artistic Director David Stallings

directed by MTWorks Resident Director Cristina Alicea

A satirical comedy that dissects the trickled down effect of Gov. Jan Brewer’s immigration bill in Arizona.

-

Thursday, February 3rd at 8:30pm
The Aronow Theater (First Floor)

SKIN AND BONE

by Jacqueline Goldfinger (Pennsylvania)

directed by Dev Bondarin

A cannibalistic dark comedy about aging, set in a cozy B&B in the South.

Related Posts:

• The 2012 National Newborn Festival Is Almost Here!
• The National Newborn Festival: Celebrating Emerging Playwrights In Style
• A Day In The Life … “The Family Shakespeare” By The Numbers
• Small Town, Big Show – “Barrier Island”
• Ever Seen A “NewBorn” Play? (Part 1)

There are two kinds of die hard New Yorkers.  Those who were born here and will never leave, and those who came here to escape small towns . . . and will never leave.  If you’re reading this, chances are you’re one of those two, and if you’re the latter then Barrier Island will remind you of home, but may also remind you how far from home you’ve come.

Small towns are really more like big families with everyone related to you either by blood, marriage, business, church, club or calamity.  There is both comfort and  consternation in  those ties that bind.  In one regard,  you know someone always has your back.  But in another way, someone always is on your back.  And depending on the kind of day you’ve had, that’s either a blessing or a curse.

In Barrier Island playwright David Stallings takes a microscope to a small Galveston, Texas town and delivers it to us through the eyes of two very different prodigal sons.  On the one side of the boomerang we have Trey (the fantastic Anthony Crep) who left town after a tragedy in a hurry and hasn’t been back since.  On the other side is prickly Laura (Jennifer Laine Williams) who comes back with an 11 year old son, Daniel (Frankie Seratch) and an almost too-perfect story about a husband who decided to stay back for a while.    Both are brought back to town  by family obligations in anticipation of Hurricane Ike.

For Laura and Trey, stepping back into town is as fraught with the stickiness of their respective histories as falling backwards into a vat of fly paper.

Not exactly awaiting their return, but seemingly never having left their appointed spots in the last decade, are the town locals with a little more dust on the sill but still spouting that small-town-small-mindedness that can sound so quaint to an urban ear until you realize they’re not joking.  That bigotry you’re hearing is heartfelt.  Under Cristina Alicea’s direction Stallings’ zingers melt like chocolate-coated Sour Patch Kids.  Only for an instance does that sweet southern accent soften the initial blow before you’re left with the acidity of the words burning your tongue.  These folks say what they think and they don’t apologize for it.

Big Nate (David L. Carson) has been running his bar out of Laura’s dad’s building with his wife  Susie (Alex Bond) for as long as any one can remember.  Perennially glued to one end of the bar is Bob (Stu Richel), curmudgeonly and cranky and living to insult the counterweight to his see-saw at the bar, a young woman named Cheryl (Carol Hickey).  Between these two anchors  other patrons include Carl (Mark Emerson) a man-child of indeterminate age who is slow witted but not too slow to toss back some beers and find himself a gal.

One generation down is Cheryl’s daughter Steph  (Anne Clare Gibbons-Brown) who is pinging around that bar (all 15 underage years of her) like a restless pinball that’s just been released; bored of small town life but too young to do anything about it.   Several years younger than Steph, and as much an outsider as his mom, little Daniel generally seems shaken by what he’s been brought into.  Fiercely protective of his mom, but unable to latch on to much else, Daniel serves as the audiences’ quiet but steady navigator through this town and its customs.

Stu Richel, Jennifer Laine Williams, David L. Carson and Alex Bond (photo credit: Antonio Minino)

And boy, are there customs here.  Nothing shows the town’s insistence on staunch observance of tradition as well as Susie’s tangling with the school board as she tries to convince them to use 1-800-Flowers for Homecoming instead of the local Patsy’s Florist.  Once we see that drama play out, it’s easier to understand how a town won’t let a man outlive his past (in the case of Trey), and still casts him as the bad boy who “did that thing and had to leave”.  It’s also easier to understand how business deals, such as the one between Laura’s father and big Nate, were created on a handshake.

Trouble can shake this town up and unsettle it like a snow-globe, and in the 2 hours you’ll spend in Barrier Island trouble rains down with as much ferocity as the impending Hurricane.  However, like a snow-globe, this is a contained world, where issues are handled from within in a way that makes sense to the parties involved, and outsiders (that would include you) don’t really need to understand, nor get involved, thank you very much.  This is Town business.  The Town will handle it.

Working alongside this story of small town ways is the bubbling romance between Laura and Trey.  Both were run out of town by their own demons and both feel a little awkward being back.  It’s hard to fit big ideas back into a small box, and it’s hard to take a step back and regress back into the human being you once were in the eyes of people who consider you family when you’re staring back with eyes that have seen more that you have words to explain.  And so, the two inside/outsiders find themselves drawn to each other.  The only trouble is, Laura has a wall around her heart that rivals the height of  any seawall, and perhaps this story isn’t so much about whether the seawall can protect Galveston and keep out Hurricane Ike . . .  but more about whether Laura’s defenses can protect her heart and keep out hurricane Trey.

Ultimately, Barrier Island is a glimpse into small town living that (if you’ve lived it) will make you nod in recognition and that will (if you’ve never experienced it) make you cock your head to the side in wonder. David Stallings has created such an honest, sometimes awful, sometimes heartwarming portrayal of what it means to come from a small town that it will either make you homesick  . . . or happy you were born in New York.

Carol Hickey and Anne Clare Gibbons-Brown (photo credit: Antonio Minino)

Strong acting from David L. Carson and Alex Bond bring Stallings words not just to life but right  into your lap; there are times when you feel like you’re just another patron at their bar – just another member of their family, and they’d as easily give you a beer or a hug as they would a menacing stare of warning should you step out of line.  Their chemistry together  is undeniable and there are moments between them that are so real  that you check the program to make sure they don’t share the same last name.  Same goes for Carol Hickey and Anne Clare Gibbons-Brown; the mother-daughter bond there is so powerful that you could envision them in any situation together, and you know they’d have the strength to pull through.

Carol Hickey as Cheryl brings tiny details to her performance that put a lump in your throat; she’s an exquisite force of nature who embodies this small town girl who is unwillingly put in a position of needing to define and defend a life that’s been the best one she was able to pull together, and Carol Hickey imbues her character with dignity as well as determination.

The set designed by Craig Napoliello (colored and shaded by the sound design of Martha Goode) is so spot-on that, upon entering the theatre, you have to make sure you head to the seats and not over to the tables, as the lure of a frosty cold one might make you forget that you’re actually in a theatre and not in a bar.

If you can’t get away this week but are looking to explore small town life for all its pride and peculiarity, then buy a ticket and take the short ride to the small town of Barrier Island.  You’ll come away with a feeling of having spent an evening getting to know a town, its people, and its ways.

~~~

Related Posts:

• The 2012 National Newborn Festival Is Almost Here!
• A Day In The Life … “The Family Shakespeare” By The Numbers
• MTWorks National NewBorn Festival Kicks Off Tonight
• Win Tickets To Barrier Island
• Eli and Cheryl Jump … Look After You (Fringe Festival 2009)

You can tell it’s Fringe Season when theatres ’round the city are suddenly bustling with life at odd hours of the day and escorting people in and out quickly so they can strike a set and get ready for the next show which is happening in, oh, about a minute.  Yes, it’s all about endings and beginnings at Fringe which is why it’s rather fitting that I started my rounds this year with two very different plays that both dealt with the same fine line between living and dying, and what you do with that quick snap of a moment in between the two blackouts.  Eli and Cheryl Jump takes you off on the wind of fanciful, magical, dreaminess while Look After You shows the realistic portrait of a life interrupted by a flash of illness that comes quickly and takes certainty with it.  Both plays speak to the frailty of what we take for granted every day, both highlight what it means to be a survivor.
On Friday I saw Eli and Cheryl Jump written by Daniel McCoy, directed by Nicole A. Watson and featuring Charles Linshaw  (Eli) and Cassandra Vincent  (Cheryl et al).  I’d had the pleasure of chatting with Dan and interviewing him for this column so I was a little more prepared than my fellow audience members about what to expect at the top of the show.  Still, as promised, Martha Goode’s amazing sound design does much to start this play off with a wail … the pump of adrenaline that went coursing through my system within the first few moments did an amazing job of making me (and I suspect everyone else in the audience) part of the play, not just passive spectators.  It was a very good(e) way of getting 100% audience buy-in right from the get-go.

Eli and Cheryl Jump tells the sometimes magical, sometimes unbelievable story of Eli and his amazing gift of survival.  From a young age Eli could avoid harm, but always had a tricky way of inadvertently sacrificing someone (or something) else in his place, a type of karmic debt handed off to another soul.  Of course, by the time Eli realizes that this is happening it’s already too late … there’s been one too many lives lost and one too many parts of his heart that he can’t seem to function without.  His once joyful dream now  becomes an escape plan;  he runs off  to New York in the hopes of doing less harm in this huge anonymous pool of humanity.  Unfortunately, it’s here that he does perhaps the greatest harm of all.

Cassandra Vincent and Charles Linshaw

There are only two actors in this play, but several characters.  As Eli moves through his life he encounters several pivitol women, each of whom is played by Cassandra Vincent.  While Charles Linshaw has the arc of the story on his shoulders, it is Cassandra Vincent who holds the nuance of the story; with out her and her talent of transforming into the various women in Eli’s life with the simple use of a shawl, or a drawl this would just be the story of a lone, sad man who exiles himself in order to not hurt anyone.  It is also Cassandra’s New York landlady which provides some of the lighter notes to this play, a nice moment of comic relief before the play gets back to business.

The last scene of the play, which brings us back around to the first scene, is so well done that it’s almost too painful to watch.  I was so emotionally transfixed by not only the actual scene being played out, but by the rush of memories (you’ll just have to see it to know what I’m referencing), that I’m not sure I was even remembering to breath until the show was over.  I’d read the script before seeing the show and I’d said to myself  then (after wiping away tears)  … if this is half as good in person as it is on the page I will be a wreck afterwards.

I was.

That’s a good thing … theatre should move people to tears.  Or chills.  Or shaking.  Or all three.

Eli and Cheryl Jump
Ignited States in Association with Crosstown Playwrights
Writer, Daniel McCoy
Director,  Nicole A. Watson
www.ignitedstates.com
VENUE #9: The Players Loft
Remaining Shows:  Thursday August 20 @ 7:15;  Monday August 24 @ 3:15;  Friday August 28 @ 11;  Saturday August 29 @ 12:45

Look After You

Look After You – by Louise Flory, directed by David Stallings

Hannah (Louise Flory) is a photographer which makes sense; this play is not just a snapshot of a life but (to stretch a metaphor) this play shows us Hannah’s world clearly framed through her lens after an aneurysm has taken away a lot of the way she used to look at life.  Her life before is fuzzy and half forgotten, everything which came after is captured in flashes of stark realization.  While a picture may be worth a thousand words, what do you do when some of your pictures are gone?

We come upon Hannah on the cusp of a brain aneurysm; her boyfriend  Jake (Jason Altman)  is devoted to her, which is obvious, but is also slowly growing angry/fearful/uncomfortable [insert not so smiley emotion here] with her condition.  And how couldn’t he be?  Apparently without the engagement ring on her finger (taken off before surgery)  Hannah has forgotten that Jake has asked her to marry him; and in her present condition he’s not so sure he should ask her again.   Flory (wearing her play writing hat) does an excellent job of showing how this is not as black and white as it would appear; this is not simply about a man afraid of committing to a woman who now is living in a limbo state, sometimes remembering things they did, sometimes not, and always living in the shadow of the possibility that she could “re-bleed” any time and die.  (“The statistics are not pretty” we’re reminded over and over again in one form or another of  casual conversation between each pairing of characters). Nor has he stopped loving her now that she is “damaged”.  Rather, he’s contemplative … and sometimes being too thoughtful is a dangerous thing.

Jason is a writer, currently penning a book about Sherpas who scale Everest over and over again without harm despite the threat of avalanches, falling rocks, severe exhaustion, sickness, infections and of course accidental death. By giving Jake an obsession with Sherpas who climb  and always come back,  Flory simultaneously makes Jake heartbreaking yet hopeful.  Here is a man who is consumed with trying to understand how to beat the odds, he needs an answer on what makes a survivor survive.  What is the key, the magic wand, the secret incantation that keeps these Sherpas alive year after year, trip up the mountain after trip up the mountain?  By studying them, will he find it?  And even if he does, will knowing their secret be enough to then save Hannah?

Adi Kurtchik (Lucy) and Louise Flory (Hannah)

In a supporting role is Lucy (Adi Kurtchik), Hannah’s Get-Right-Down-To-Business Sister who arrives like a whirlwind and over turns every stone in the hopes that her sister’s condition is really just the fault of everyone else’s ineptitude (she doesn’t want to hear that anyone else has done research, that any of the mental exercises are strenuous enough, or that Hannah is being realist [read fatalistic] enough).  Kurtchik is an absolute gem, and surprisingly layered; while she plays the one note invasive sister very well, when it’s necessary for her to blow up, or show her softer side she is alternately volcanic and vulnerable and even when she’s annoying Hannah you tend to, if not be on her side, then at least see where she’s coming from.

Similarly, what could have been merely expositional scenery … the role of Jake’s friend Paul … is brought charmingly to life by Lowell Byers.  He’s a bartender by trade and carries the easy grace of someone who’s used to being taken into someone’s confidence. When Jake reveals that Hannah no longer remembers that she and Jake are engaged, Paul argues convincingly and from the heart as to why Jake needs to tell Hannah the truth.  He’s a good best friend to Jake, but over all he’s just a really good friend to Hannah when he needs to be, even though she has no memory of knowing him at all.

Some of the best plays conclude not so much with an ending, but with a beginning, as if what you’ve just watched was the prelude to a life you can now settle back and continue to imagine.  Look After You is definitely one of those plays.  At the end we’re left with just as many unanswered questions about these characters, their lives, their motives, what will happen next, and how it will all bear out, but at least we now know them all a little better, and we had the opportunity to walk in their shoes for a little while.

Look After You
Maieutic Theatre Works-MTWorks
Writer, Louise Flory
Director, David Stallings
www.LookAfterYouThePlay.com
VENUE #16: The SoHo Playhouse
Remaining Shows:  Friday August  28 @ 9:30  Saurdtay August  29 @ 1:30

I plan on seeing as many of the Fringe shows as I can; look for more of my reviews here and on The Fab Marquee.
For more information about Fringe click here  …

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• Jumping Into The Fringe with Daniel McCoy (Fringe Festival 2009)
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• A Day In The Life … “The Family Shakespeare” By The Numbers
• MTWorks National NewBorn Festival Kicks Off Tonight
• Small Town, Big Show – “Barrier Island”