by Stephen Tortora-Lee on June 16, 2010
The Riverside Symphony (written by Michael Niederman and directed by Hondo Weiss-Richmond) is truly a symphony of perspectives. It opens with Cassandra (Arlene Chico-Lugo), a young high school student speaking to us and to her park as she reminisces about the playground with hippopotami set into the cement. She cries out to the world wondering how any one can stand it – “always preparing for the future that will never get here”.
We switch perspective then to the bum lying on the park bench, Pigeon (Michael Gnat). From him we hear bits of poetry, bits of dissonance, bits of brilliance, blending in with weariness, and a rage at the world for no longer living up to the promise of what might have been.
Continue Reading…
Related Posts:
by Karen Tortora-Lee on June 16, 2010
For the first few minutes of his beauty (written by Ashley Jacobson and directed by Nadine Friedman) it’s almost impossible to understand what’s going on - all that’s obvious is that a couple is fighting. Soon enough, however, you realize that that’s pretty much all you need to know. The fact that they’ve stepped out of a bar (or a party, or a friend’s house) really doesn’t matter. All that matters is that she’s considered to be, by all around her, a Beauty . . . His Beauty. And he’ll do whatever it takes to keep her in her place by reminding her as often as he can that she belongs to him. That is, when he’s not telling her to stay away from him because she “smells like slut”.
Continue Reading…
Related Posts:
by The Happiest Medium on June 15, 2010
Planet Connections Theatre Festivity is New York City’s premiere eco-friendly theatre festival, connecting artists and audiences with diverse dynamic charitable organizations. The Planet Connections experience entertains, enlightens and informs.
The Happiest Medium (proud sponsors of The Planet Connections Festival), will be running Q&A throughout the festival.
Today we ask one question each of Emma Koenig, director and playwright (as well as one of the actors!) of I Don’t Want to Hurt Your Feelings and John Patrick Bray, writer of Liner Notes. Both shows have strong relationship-based stories. Let’s see what they’re all about . . .
Continue Reading…
Related Posts:
by Karen Tortora-Lee on June 14, 2010
Oscar Wilde wrote The Picture of Dorian Gray over a hundred years ago and while it wasn’t tremendously well received in its day Wilde’s cautionary tale of a man captivated by vice and enslaved by hedonism is such a timeless one that there have been numerous adaptations of Gray – from movies to musicals and even an opera. It’s a juicy story with a lot of thought-provoking themes wrapped in an alluring package.
This new adaptation of The Picture of Dorian Gray is no exception. Directed and written by Glory Bowen it’s playing now at The Robert Moss Theater.
Continue Reading…
Related Posts:
by Stephen Tortora-Lee on June 13, 2010
I’ve always been a fan of A Midsummer Night’s Dream because (like the other plays by this Shakespeare fellow) it is well written, but unlike Hamlet or Macbeth it’s a comedy making fun of all the foibles of humanity . . . rather than a tragedy about the consequences of all the foibles of humanity. But did A Midsummer Night’s Dream end happily-ever-after or did it just seem that way? That is the question that The Thyme of the Season (written and directed by Duncan Pflaster) seeks to answer, all the while utilizing lots of funny jokes and allusions to our changing attitudes in the last few centuries in order to do it.
Continue Reading…
Related Posts:
by The Happiest Medium on June 12, 2010
Planet Connections Theatre Festivity is New York City’s premiere eco-friendly theatre festival, connecting artists and audiences with diverse dynamic charitable organizations. The Planet Connections experience entertains, enlightens and informs.
The Happiest Medium (proud sponsors of The Planet Connections Festival), will be running Q&A throughout the festival.
Today we ask one question each of Mark William Butler writer of Book, Music & Lyrics of Cat Gets Credit Card! and Julia Sandra Rand writer of Sunrise, Sunset Or Breakfast With Julia. As different as two stories could be, one is a musical romp about, well . . . a cat getting a credit card, and the other story is Julia Sand’s personal journey as she deals with her mother’s failing health.
Continue Reading…
Related Posts:
by Sarah V. Schweig on June 12, 2010
“The Manhattan Project” was the code name for the research and development of the atomic bomb between 1942 and 1946. The project’s early manifestations did occur in Manhattan, but the project would later expand to about 30 different locations in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. and employ over 130,000 people.
One could assert that there are two kinds of people in this world: Those of a perhaps morose disposition who know seemingly erudite specifics about the making and dropping of the atomic bomb and those who don’t.
Manhattan Project, written by Ricardo Garcia and directed and designed by Oscar A. Mendoza, would also make binary assertions: Events are either predictable or unpredictable, mathematical or chaotic, physical or linguistic, which is to say, tangible or intangible. Even the medium of the play is divided in two—film and theatre.
Continue Reading…
Related Posts:
by The Happiest Medium on June 11, 2010
Planet Connections Theatre Festivity is New York City’s premiere eco-friendly theatre festival, connecting artists and audiences with diverse dynamic charitable organizations. The Planet Connections experience entertains, enlightens and informs.
The Happiest Medium (proud sponsors of The Planet Connections Festival), will be running Q&A throughout the festival.
Today we ask one question each of Andrew Rothkin – writer and director of Danny and Dorothy Marcic, writer of Married Plus One.
Continue Reading…
Related Posts:
by The Happiest Medium on June 10, 2010
Planet Connections Theatre Festivity is New York City’s premiere eco-friendly theatre festival, connecting artists and audiences with diverse dynamic charitable organizations. The Planet Connections experience entertains, enlightens and informs.
The Happiest Medium (proud sponsors of The Planet Connections Festival), will be running Q&A throughout the festival.
Today we ask one question each of Lenny Schwartz writer of The Six Month Cure and Kevin Davies, the Production Manager of The Untitled Project.
Let’s find out why two plays, which seem so different, actually have more in common than you might think . . . Continue Reading…
Related Posts:
by Diánna Martin on June 8, 2010
Planet Connections Theatre Festivity is New York City’s premiere eco-friendly theatre festival, connecting artists and audiences with diverse dynamic charitable organizations. The Planet Connections experience entertains, enlightens and informs.
This Summer I was quite fortunate to be able to direct a play for one of my favorite theatre companies, MTWorks, who hired me to direct Carol Carpenter’s Good Lonely People for the Planet Connections Theatre Festivity. It was such an honor to work on this important piece for MTWorks, of which I am a company member. I was also delighted to be a part of Planet Connections’ quest to bring awareness to our environment and give back to the community.
Continue Reading…
Related Posts:
