Mental disorder is a prickly theme for a comedian, at once courting a humane sympathetic response all but extinguishing of levity, while summoning a degraded, inhumane call for ridicule – an entirely viler form of laughter. As a chosen topic it is demanding, requiring skillful handling, but there are some who seem qualified to do so, much the way there are some who can juggle chainsaws. Maria Wojciechowski is one of those artful jugglers. In her self authored comedic monologue, Almost A Genius, playing at this year’s Frigid Festival, she offers an account of her fairly recent diagnosis as a bi-polar personality. A devastating label to be handed at any stage of one’s life, with presently no known “cure”, the knowledge carries a heavy burden of responsibility. It provides, however, a framework with which to look back on past experiences and reappraise them. It seems Wojciechowski is presently at this point in her young life, but it doesn’t stop her from finding comedy in reflection. And perhaps it opens up understanding in larger, freer ways.

Witness, for instance, her opening act here as slowly, painfully almost, she inches from behind a curtain wearing a head-to-toe banana suit, her face a riven mask of angst. She closes on the microphone and haltingly commences in a cringing voice a sequence of bad to very bad banana puns and humorisms. It’s agonizing. And darkly, deeply funny. Everything is up for the cut: the performer, the audience, humor itself, and the banana – most maligned of fruits. This is clever stuff. Mercifully the lights go down, the banana suit comes off, and she stands before us as herself, launching into the story of her recent real life diagnosis. She has a soft, gentle voice and a slight and graceful physical presence. There is something mild and vulnerable about her, altogether at odds with the evident sharpness of her intelligence and the gritty humor she conjures in this clear-eyed, slightly self-mocking account of her harsh situation.

Punctuating her affecting confessional monologue are a series of sketches and performances that crank up the laugh factor and deepen the investigation. Away from herself, in character, she is a bold and brassy performer, committed to her creations with a vitality that is almost scary – that banana is really quite alarming. We get some singing, some dancing, and a bunch of impersonations shedding various degrees of light on her personal story – some hilariously on point (an earnest nun singing How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?) – and some more vaguely so (a chatty Whitechapel prostitute who quips her way through a near fatal encounter with Jack the Ripper). Breezily she moves from act to act, effortlessly shifting gears, but the break in continuity and character sometimes damages the rhythm of the whole, and the proximity between scathing take-downs and heartfelt confession is an awkward one. What are we to make, for example, of her plaintive pronouncement concerning a cherished family pet -”sometimes I wonder if I loved that dog more than some of my family”? Does she mean it, or is she being funny again, sending up the trite sadness of the situation? Both, most likely. And really that’s the fine steel hook she can catch you with in this piece. She can use the comforting language familiar to support groups in a way that plays at once as sincere and as ridiculous. Many will be lulled by her soft ingenuous-seeming voice, the tender reality of her plight, but this is only half the story. Even though there are some broadly comical moments few could resist, by and large she’s a sly one.

With direction by Natalie Sullivan Shipman, as a piece it could use a little tightening up to improve pace, a little polish, perhaps even a little squaring up as to where the humor is contained and the real self prevails. But that might be tampering with a rare and delicate concoction from a distinctive performer. In its current form Wojciechowski has given us something already suffused with a vivid comedic sensibility and a brave creative reach. It’s almost a work of genius.

~~~
Almost A Genius
Directed by: Natalie Sullivan

Remaining Performance:
Mar 07, 5:30PM

Click HERE for tickets

Running time: 0 h 45 min
Price: $10.00 – $15.00
Seating: General Admission

UNDER St Marks
94 St Marks Place
New York , New York 10009
1st Ave and Ave A

Horse Trade Theater Group will present the 8th Annual FRIGID New York Festival at The Kraine Theater (85 East 4^th Street between 2^nd Avenue and Bowery) and UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place between 1^st Avenue and Avenue A) February 19-March 9. Tickets are available for purchase in advance at www.FRIGIDnewyork.info or by calling 212-868-4444. 

Related Posts:

• CLENCHED: 10 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2016 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)
• Dandy Darkly’s Trigger Happy!: 10 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2016 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)
• The BYU/Berkeley Plot: 10 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2016 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)
• Eighth Grade: 10 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2016 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)
• Don’t Move To Toronto: 10 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2016 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)

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

Almost A Genius

Maria Wojciechowski suffers from bipolar disorder and panic attacks, so she did what any other crazy person would do, she wrote a comedy show about it. In ALMOST A GENIUS, Maria invites you into her mind through storytelling, music, dance, and a colorful cast of characters.

Show Times:

• Fri 2/21 @ 7:05pm
• Wed 2/26 @ 8:20pm
• Sat 3/1 @ 5:15pm
• Sun 3/2 @ 12:30pm
• Mon 3/3 @ 10:15pm
• Fri 3/7 @ 5:30pm

Answers by Maria Wojciechowski
(writer and performer)

1. Your tag line is out there on postcards and press releases so we know the PR version of what this play is about.  But when you talk to your family and friends, how do you explain the show to them?

MW:  When I describe my show to friends I tell them it’s about mental illness, specifically my battle with bipolar disorder. It is a solo sketch show that is confessional, I suppose. I don’t know I’m bad at summarizing.

2. Here’s a scenario: After the show some audience members go have a drink.  What’s the part of the show you hope they’re discussing?

MW: When the audience leaves… well I hope they say they enjoy it, but I also hope they relate to it. As far a specific part, of course there are bits that are my favorite, but I’d be happy if any of it strikes a chord.

3. What drives your show – character, theme or plot?

MW: Theme drives my show for sure. Each of my characters are based on different elements of my experience with bipolar disorder and the monologues in between are there to unify the piece.

4. In rehearsals, read-thrus, or prior incarnations, what’s the one thing someone said about the show so far that made you (or the team) the most proud?

MW: I’ve gotten “I laughed so hard, I cried, and then I cried so hard, I laughed.” As a performer, affecting people emotionally is so incredible. And it’s like I always say, “You aren’t really a comedian if you don’t make the audience cry six or seven times during your set.”

5. Let’s fantasize for a moment. Let’s take the “off-off” off. Imagine this show is on Broadway. Would that change the production itself?

MW: Definitely. Right now it’s designed for an intimate setting. I’d need more showgirls if it were on Broadway.

6. Taking that one step further – after paying everyone what they’re worth of course, what is the most lavish, luxurious, pointless thing you would spend money on if there was no constraints?

MW: A yacht I guess. I like being on the water, and that seems pretty luxurious. Maybe an island. Maybe I’d buy an island.

7. Is there a scene, a moment, a gesture … anything at all in the show that you anticipate may get a completely different reaction depending on the audience that night?

MW: My show is very personal, and my mom and my sister will be there opening night. It will be the first time they’ve seen it, and I’m terrified. I’m sure there will be different reactions that night. Also the show as a whole can go either way. Sometimes audiences take the monologues very seriously when I wrote them to be lighthearted.

8. What’s your favorite line from the show?

MW: “You’re lucky.” My favorite character in the show says it. And I don’t know why, but it’s a really fun line for me to say.

9. Is the world of this play sustainable outside a theatre? In other words … do you think people live the way the characters do? Would you want a world where they do?

MW: Yes. In fact, most of the characters are based off of my own experience. I would want a world where these characters are accepted rather than ridiculed.

10. You scan the audience and you see a face that stops you dead in your tracks – who is it? And why are you shocked?

MW: My dad. I’d be shocked because I would have taken out a few more cuss words had I known he were coming. I’m a wimp.

Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament of DEAAAAATH

In the THM virtual Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament of DEAAAAATH which FRIGID Show do you take on? And what do you throw?

CHALLENGES:  Double Happiness. It’s my friend’s one woman show.

THROWS: I’d hit her hard with rock.

CHALLENGED BY:
~ East in Red who threw SCISSORS – that’s a WIN!
~ THE CANUCK CABARET who threw ROCK – that’s a draw …
~ Double Happiness: A Tale of Love, Loss, and One Forever Family who threw SCISSORS that’s ONE WIN in her match against you and ONE MORE WIN in your match against her leading YOU to a DOUBLE HAPPINESS OF TWO WINS THERE!!!!
~ A Date for the Evening who threw SCISSORS – that’s another terrific WIN!

Undoubtedly you are not “almost” a genius at all! You are COMPLETELY a GENIUS at racking up the wins!!! FOUR wins, one draw and NO LOSSES. Nicely played, Genius. Very nicely played!

Thanks Almost A Genius for participating in The Happiest Medium’s FRIGID New York Festival 2014 Q&A. And for playing our game! You’re officially ROCK in any and all challenges.  You may win, you may lose – 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 Almost A Genius!

~~~ 

  ~~~

Horse Trade Theater Group will present the 8th Annual FRIGID New York Festival at The Kraine Theater (85 East 4^th Street between 2^nd Avenue and Bowery) and UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place between 1^st Avenue and Avenue A) February 19-March 9. Tickets are available for purchase in advance at www.FRIGIDnewyork.info or by calling 212-868-4444. 

Related Posts:

• Confessions Of A Redheaded Coffeeshop Girl: 10 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2014 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)
• Questions Of The Heart: 10 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2014 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)
• The Eyes Of Orbach: 10 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2014 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)
• A Date For The Evening: 10 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2014 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)
• Petunia And Chicken: 10 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2014 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)