Sometimes performance art gets the reputation of being a bit esoteric, experimental, or just plain weird, and all of these come into play in varying degrees in < the invisible draft >.  However I think at the core there are some strong messages to be filtered through the barrage of multimedia and interpretive movement, and this play almost subliminally infiltrates the audience with a message that is both important as well as worth the effort of trying to digest during this challenging piece.

Here is a cheat sheet for those who are interested in knowing more about the world created in  < the invisible draft >.  My intent is to perhaps sort the ideas which I saw portrayed,  or at the very least help them  percolate more freely, much in the way Italo Roma does in the book heavily referenced in this play called Invisible Cities. This book inspired  the live action silent movie (ie mime and interpretive movement piece) called “Our Man of the World” that is simultaneously enacted along with a radio play, The Girl With A Backpack (performed with the voice talents of Briana Posner),.  This mixture is then interwoven throughout with lush multimedia contributed by Lotte Maria Allen (prints and animation), Jonah Rosenberg (sound design), Emma Grace Skove-Epes (video performance) and Nickey Frankel (scenic designer).  It’s all  baked together onto a large canvas that, with the assistance of pulleys, contraptions and the audience’s imagination,  becomes a house,  a swan,  a whirlwind…At least I think that’s how it goes.

We open with  a large fabric construction, silence and a face beaming out at us. He emerges from a flap just large enough in the “building” and is then followed by another man. They have a silent discussion/transcendent emergence about a feather.  Both are  ”Our Man of  the World” played by brothers Maxwell and Milo Cramer.  They help become the screen that the message of the play is projected across throughout this piece.  Whether silent shadows,  a room drowned in multimedia  — or the bright stark emptiness where the two converse dissonantly; they literally speak in random postcards in a way that mirrors the shifting beauty for the rest of the play.

The message is complex, but also simple.  There are many ways that we can move  between different parts of our lives and the meanings (or lack of meaning) that  are a part of the urban (or even just the social) life we live.  Sometimes thinking about who we are helps, but other times this investigation of who we are sets us more firmly in the void of objectivity that the world tries to enforce upon us, perhaps eventually we “become lost” when we try to think  of what would come next once we get to a place that’s stable in our way of seeing the world.  We are part of the world in every macroscopic and microscopic way, but sometimes our imagination is too much for our own good.

This is the third iteration of this piece, and  creator/director Claire Moodey has done a good job setting the balance between confusion and deeper understanding. However, it takes longer than the time of the performance to have everything slide in place — it is a very moving piece, but I think you definitely have to be prepared to “do the work” in order to have that movement.  If you think you’re up to the task, check out a clip of some of the multimedia below  to see if this show will be a good one for you.

Hope to see you on the other side of meaning.

~~~

< the invisible draft >
Preview the Arts
Writer: by Claire Moodey, sound by Jonah Rosenberg, set by Nickey Frankel, and animations by Lotte Marie Allen and Claire Moodey
Director: Claire Moodey
Enter a liminal space between reality and its representation: a map of consciousness constructed by the Girl with a Backpack and conducted by Our Man of the World. Where these gods meet blossom stop-motion “cities” inspired by Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities.
1h 0m   Local   Brooklyn, New York
Performance Art   Multi-Media
Staycation: Literary Lane   Spa Getaway (Mind & Body)
www.theinvisibledraft.com
VENUE #14: New Ohio Theatre
Sat 11 @ 7:15  Sat 18 @ 10:15  Thu 23 @ 4  Sat 25 @ 5:45  Sun 26 @ 12

Related Posts:

• 20 Somethings–The Game Of (Quarter) Life (Fringe Festival 2012)
• … And Then She DIES At The End! – On Why Even Nicholas Sparks Can Be A Hero (Fringe Festival 2012)
• Petunia And Chicken (2014 Frigid New York Festival)
• Songs Of Love: A Theatrical Mixtape (Fringe Festival 2012)
• Final Schedule Announced for Fringe Encore Series

 The Mini-Fridge Elevenses*

11 Questions, 11 Answers … ZERO calories, and 100% YUMMY!

 *Elevenses is a snack that is similar to afternoon tea, but eaten in the morning and might consist of some cake or biscuits with a cup of coffee or tea. The name refers to the time of day that it is taken: around 11 am. 

Kill The Band – Mock Bottom Mockumental CD Release Experience

Produced  by: Killer KIlly Productions
Directed by: Killy Dwyer + Bill Chambers

KILL THE BAND presents a surreal, multi-media theatrical experience to celebrate the release of their triumphant second comedy rock album, MOCK BOTTOM. Part CD release party, part psychodramedy, MOCK BOTTOM mockuments the farcical cycle of the band’s breakdowns and break throughs. *A 13-song CD with a 12-page art/lyrics booklet is INCLUDED in the price of each ticket*

Show Times:

• Thursday June 27th and Saturday June 30th at 10pm

Answers by: Killy Dwyer and Bill Chambers
(The Wonder Twats)

 1. Your tag line is featured above, 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?
I barely know how to explain it to the cast and crew – it’s pretty off the wall as my productions tend to be. It’s comedy. It’s a surreal, multimedia play. It’s performance art. It’s a mockumentary! It’s a CD release! It’s a party! At the heart, It’s a story about a band. It’s an accessible avant grade, expressionist, mostly live mocumentary of the journey towards making our new album, Mock Bottom.

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?
If it had to be one thing, hopefully it would be the music.  When they leave the show, they will have a copy of our new album in their hands. The whole show revolves around Kill The Band’s new CD, which is something we put a lot of time and passion into over the last 2 years. The show is ultimately about that: the process and the people, and above all, the musical result.  It’s the show you can take home!

3. What drives your show – character, theme or plot?
Character. I have lots of character. Too much, probably. Wait. No. It’s theme. The play is conceptual in theme and is told (comically) through the 7 stages of grief. Yes. I said 7 stages. You may think there are 5 but KILL THE BAND needs 7. Trust me. Although, when I think about it, the plot is how the album developed over the last 2 years. Simply put: the thing that drives this show is the music from the album. And Jameson. Obviously.

4. What’s the one thing someone said about the show so far that made you the most proud?
Holly Hunter wandered into the theater one afternoon during rehearsals, and said “Oh sorry, are you guys rehearsing something?” Then she left. But she totally said that. *beams with pride*

 5. Let’s fantasize for a moment. Let’s take the “off-off” off. Imagine this show is on Broadway. What would that change about the production itself?
Not much, except that my part would be played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman in a blonde wig and a tutu.

6. Taking that one step further – after paying everyone what they’re worth of course, what is the most lavish, luxurious, frivolous thing you would spend money on if there was no constraints? (Think of the helicopter in Miss Saigon).
There would be a scene in the middle of the show where we all go see Miss Saigon, and watch the meticulously recreated “helicopter scene.” Then suddenly out of nowhere, a guy dressed like Spider-Man falls from the rafters and seriously injures himself. And Holly Hunter would randomly walk in and say “Oh sorry, are you guys rehearsing something?”

7. Is there a scene, a moment, anything that gets a completely different reaction depending on the audience that night?
 This is the first time this show will be seen, but at one point, I will bring an audience member onto the stage and force them to be the band therapist in that particular scene. Audience participation can be a huge pay off or a huge disaster and I love the unpredictability of it. Risk is my favorite. Honestly? The whole show is a risk. Who releases an album like this? KILL THE BAND does. BOOM!

8. What’s your favorite line from the show?
“Most of them are little animals made out of glass, the tiniest little animals in the world. Mother calls them a glass menagerie!” 
Oh wait, did you mean MY show?
“Don’t attack me with your happiness, I want you all to suffer for my art”. Which is the lyric of one of our songs.

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?
Absolutely, this IS my world.  It’s a wild, weird, weird world. The characters are real people that I know and love, playing themselves… it’s all essentially true. The narrative is definitely up for interpretation in many ways, an attempt to illustrate what’s going on in my own head… but the story is something that everyone can understand.  Breakdowns vs. break throughs.  Tragedy + time.  Issues with my mother.  I mean sure, one of the characters is a house plant, but that’s what my world is all about.  Join me.  Let’s let go of reality for a bit, eh?

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?
Oh my God, it’s ME! Is this all some sort of weird dream? Why am I the only one in the audience? OH NO!! IT’S A NIGHTMARE!!!

11. Time for Elevenses! Go to the mini-fridge of your fantasy hotel. What’s your dream 11:00am snack?
Sherried figs, on an extra-plain bagel. The rest is filled with mini-bar bottles of Jameson and a tiny Holly Hunter dressed as a leprechaun.

Thanks, Killy and Bill, for having your Elevenses with us here at THM!  We can’t wait to see Kill The Band – Mock Bottom Mockumental CD Release Experience!

If you’d like to catch Kill The Band – Mock Bottom Mockumental CD Release Experience at The Mini-Fridge Festival find out more by clicking this link.

~~~

HORSE TRADE THEATER GROUP IN ASSOCIATION WITH FRIGID NEW YORK PRESENT THE 2012 MINI-FRIDGE

JUNE 28 – JULY 4 @ UNDER ST. MARKS The mini-festival will play at UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place between 1st Avenue and Avenue A) June 28-July 4. Tickets ($15/$12 students & seniors) are available online  or by calling 212-868-4444. 

Related Posts:

• 2nd Season Mini Fridge – Tasty, Filling And Leaving Audience Wanting More! (Jun 28, 2012 – Jul 04, 2012 )
• Last Looks At The Happiest Medium In 3-D – Pull Your Glasses Out
• It’s Time For Mini-Fridge Elevenses With Lord Gregory & Mademoiselle Godin’s miniXMAS Spectacular!
• Mike Milazzo — Open Mike
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Daniel McCoy, Cara Francis, Richard Gamboa, & Jill Beckman

Those who are even remotely familiar with the Off and Off-Off-Theatre scene in New York have, by this point, either heard of or seen work by the New York Neo-Futurists. The company, whose work has awarded them the New York Innovative Theatre Foundation‘s Caffe Cino Fellowship and the respect of critics and audiences alike, is known for pushing the envelope, to say the least. Thinking outside the box while creating said box is really what they do, and their latest piece (which is one of their longest, at a full hour compared to the dynamic two minute plays they are most known for) performed at The Living Theatre and incredibly well-directed by Rob Neill, is a tour of fear in a manner that most of us would never think of; but one can only be glad that they did and chose to share it with us.

Anyone who knows me (or some of my writing) knows that I absolutely adore “scary” things – books, movies . . . and theatre. So of course anything having to do with “fear” in a theatrical setting is something that I would want to see. However, what I found when I went to see (un)afraid is that the piece is more about what individuals find frightening; things that make you uncomfortable and threatened, and those fears are things that most of us share in one way or another  – be it claustrophobia, a ghost story, fear of the planet losing its resources, the fear of the concept of death (performed with such raw depth by Ricardo Gamboa)…or the fear of a woman who is running out of time to have a child. The last, which was performed by Jill Beckman and Cara Francis in monologues while the latter balanced the former on her shoulders (which blew me away alone) struck a chord with me, and reminded me that we attach the word fear to many things.

So, although I wasn’t necessarily going to see something that Goes Bump In The Night, or vignettes of the macabre nature, I was being shown personal experiences of the actors in the piece who brought up things that might be anyone’s nightmare. This was brought about with humor, live music, video and audio pieces; hats off to the technical director Lauren Parrish and all of the designers who made this minimal set become so many things for this playground of performance art.

Gamboa and McCoy Fearlessly Bringing Lyrics to Life

There are spooky and macabre aspects, don’t get me wrong.  The performance I saw started out with Daniel McCoy sticking a sewing needle and thread through his fingertips to form a spider’s web as the concept of fear is explained…and the actors used a ouija board to attempt to contact various people who have contributed to “frightening” artistic work throughout time. The choice for the show I saw was Tod Browning, director of Classics like the 1931 Dracula staring Bela Lugosi and Freaks (1932) – and apparently every show is going to be different.

What is another plus of the show is the manner in which people are drawn in to become a part of it. This is a very interactive show, so expect to participate unless you sit way in the back! One moment that stuck out for me was when I had a mask placed over my face and was led into a dance with an actor . . . and then was told in a sweet whisper “dance with each other” as I was paired with another audience member. Soon most of the audience was dancing, and what was at first fun and amusing became very creepy as the music and lighting added to the fact that I had no idea who I was dancing with. I suddenly was treated to another face of fear – well, more of being uncomfortable – but I didn’t mind it. It was enlightening. Even my friend I brought, who made it clear before the show that he did NOT want to participate (and who was, ironically, the first person pulled out of the audience) enjoyed himself because the actors were so engaging.

Francis, Gamboa, Beckman, McCoy

Calling upon a vast spectrum ranging from politics to tales of lost love; images of our favorite horror films or simply the dark with nothing but a flashlight – (un)afraid manages to make an impact on the audience on a myriad of levels. I walked out of the theatre feeling as if I’d just experienced something important -having learned something about the world . . . and myself. To me, that is the mark of stimulating and dynamic performance art and theatre – indeed, one would say it is the mark of a Neo-Futurist.

~~~

Related Posts:

• Jumping Into The Fringe with Daniel McCoy (Fringe Festival 2009)
• < the invisible draft >: A Dense Dissertation, But Perhaps Still Drafty (Fringe Festival 2012)
• It’s Time For Mini-Fridge Elevenses With Kill The Band – Mock Bottom Mockumental CD Release Experience!
• I’ll Take The Soup … Neo-Futurists Serve It Up Fresh At “The Soup Show”
• Win A Pair Of Tickets To The Soup Show!

What do Bernie Madoff, Wasabi Peas, change of a $10, Kaiser Soze, the shell game, orange juice, a bar bet, a deck of cards and a floating cigarette all have in common?  They’re all elements in Jeff Grow’s very entertaining part-magic-show-part-performance-art-piece “Creating Illusion” playing a limited engagement at the D-Lounge.

With a winning smile, a twinkle in his eye, and a quick hand, Jeff Grow (creator and performer) tells stories of illusionists who bring people into their confidence (“Confidence” the root of “con”) and then take them for their money … or for something else.  But usually their money.  

With astonishing tricks (hey, where did that ripped up newspaper go?) quick slight-of-hand (how did that card get there?) and good ole fashioned deception Jeff Grow states over and over again that he is distracting us, deceiving us, diverting us, all in the name of giving us the big reveal in the end.

Even in the wake of such spoilers as The Masked Magician a good performer still needs to be able to make you believe you saw what he wants you to think you saw … which is the whole point of any con from the shell game right on up to the man who masterminded the biggest ponzi scheme in history.  Jeff Grow’s stories are entertaining, his jokes are good, and his magic holds up, even from just a few feet away (which is where I was sitting).  If you like intelligent patter and a bit of a history lesson thrown in with your magic, then this show is for you.  But get tickets quick — with just one more show left you better grab it or POOF … it’ll be gone.

~~~

CREATING ILLUSION

LIMITED ENGAGEMENT

The D-Lounge

Related Posts:

• < the invisible draft >: A Dense Dissertation, But Perhaps Still Drafty (Fringe Festival 2012)
• It’s Time For Mini-Fridge Elevenses With Kill The Band – Mock Bottom Mockumental CD Release Experience!
• Last Looks At The Happiest Medium In 3-D – Pull Your Glasses Out
• Be [un]afraid … Very [un]afraid: The Neos Show Us The Many Faces Of Fear