The Happiest Medium » Red Room

Initium / Finis: Bold From Beginning To End (2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)

Michelle Augello-Page — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 03:30:57 +0000

Initium / Finis is “a sensual tale of violence and revolution born in a futuristic metropolis. Theatre Reverb combines media, red-light cabaret, live music, Judeo-Christian and Hindu myth, and classical Indian dance-theatre to envelop spectators in a lush sci-fi noir.” This Frigid Festival performance is an excerpt from a larger work, which will be two hours in length and is scheduled to be presented in 2013.

Initium / Finis is an ambitious project, carried by Kristin Arnesen’s performance throughout, as the story expands in many layers, as well as many directions, including an interesting sci-fi premise, sub-plots of intrigue, and cabaret-style entertainment. The play is supported by live music, visual images and written information in montages of video, and the use of screens to paint pictures with light and shadow. Kristin Arnesen pulls all of these elements and more into a riveting performance; she is a delight to watch on stage as she illustrates the story, demonstrating her evident talents as a performer.

There are many visually stunning moments throughout this play. In the beginning sequence, a video montage of the beginning of creation, as told through Hindu myth, is displayed as backdrop on the screen. In front of the screen, Kristin Arnesen performs a ritualistic dance, retelling the myth in the spirit of classical Indian Dance-Theatre. Her facial expressions tell the story as much as her body does, engaging the audience with allure and humor, taking them through both light and dark. Towards the end of the dance, a scroll of canvas screen is held in front of her, illustrating the remainder of the myth in song and shadowed movement, creating a mesmerizing effect.

A series of cabaret-style performances are woven into the play and comprise some of the most interesting and engaging moments throughout; the role of fetishistic entertainment in this futuristic metropolis is demonstrated and explored, and Kristin Arnesen shines, revealing her amazing ability to hold the audience in her thrall, rapt, willing to go wherever she is going to take them. Initium / Finis is a multi-sensory, funny, serious, erotic, and fascinating piece of theater, which takes the audience on a journey into the complex landscape of a futuristic world.

~~~

initium / finis

Company: Theatre Reverb

Written by: Kristin Arnesen

Radoslaw Konopka

Feb 28, 8:00PM

Mar 02, 8:00PM

Mar 03, 2:00PM

$15.00

The Red Room

~~~

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.

Year Of The Slut – It Was A Very Long Year (FRIGID New York 2011)

Diánna Martin — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 20:30:25 +0000

Year of the Slut featuring Jen Lieberman (Photo by Lindsay Goldman)

Jennifer Lieberman’s one-woman show, Year of the Slut, is an odyssey through the life of a young Canadian getting her feet wet in the bright lights and big city of New York. The main things on her mind besides getting her acting career in high gear is to successfully 1) lose her virginity 2) survive the land mines of available yet dysfunctional bachelors who she finds herself involved with and 3) meet Mr. Right while opening up her horizons to channeling her sexuality through her creativity.

Playing the role of nearly ten different parts as she narrates her tale, the hour is interspersed with moments where she quotes poetry she has written throughout her life. As a whole, the show did not really work for me as much as I’d hoped it would; this started from the very top of the play when one of these poems is read aloud in complete darkness. Later, when the lighting came down to a spotlight on the actress and she quoted her writing again, it worked so much better. That said, I was sometimes thrown by the poetry, and felt it was too much at times.

Lieberman exhibits a lot of talent, but only certain characters seemed to really come to life (particularly when she plays her mother) and only certain moments seemed to really have much depth (such as her best friend who is hospital-bound back in her hometown and their relationship). I find it interesting that these moments are the ones that have the most at stake, despite the turbulent relationship with a flake Brit ex-boyfriend (taker of said virginity) or her gay cousin, who seems more of a cliché that could have gone deeper. I never really got much of a picture of these people.

Solo Performer shows are tremendously difficult to pull off, and I applaud Lieberman for sharing her story with us. Jeff Murray’s staging is more often than not, fluid. I just feel that the piece slightly overstays its welcome and at times was more of someone telling a very, very long story instead of a theatrical event; and one which didn’t quite allow me to see all the characters as vividly as I would have liked.

~~~

Year of the Slut

Written by Jennifer Lieberman
Presented by JJ Rockstar Productions Maple, ON Canada
The Red Room (85 East 4th Street) $15
Thu 2/24 @ 9:30pm, Sat 2/26 @ 11pm, Sun 2/27 @ 3:30pm, Tue 3/1 @ 6:30pm, Fri 3/4 @ 11pm, & Sat 3/5 @ 9:30pm

FRIGID New York Festival 2011 will run February 23-March 6 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 1sr Ave and Ave A). Tickets ($10-$16) may be purchased online atwww.FRIGIDnewyork.info or by calling Smarttix at 212-868-4444. All shows will run 60 minutes long or less.

The Last Supper – Don’t Drink The Wine

Karen Tortora-Lee — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 16:43:59 +0000

There’s always a catch when a group of grad-school liberals invites you to their dinner party, or so Dan Rosen’s The Last Supper (currently playing at the Red Room) will have you believing. This play, based on the movie Rosen wrote which was released in 1995, adapts well for the stage and under Akia Squitieri’s direction it doesn’t lose any of the meat that the original film dished up.

The Last Supper (the movie) wasn’t a box office smash, but seeing it on the smaller stage it’s easy to see why – this story was meant to start its life off as a play and perhaps become a movie later on, not the other way around. With thoughtful platforms, weighty discussions and deeply ponderous moments, not to mention strong character evolutions, this story is meant to be played out in front of an audience. It’s also a heck of a lot funnier in person – and it’s the humor which acts as the spoon full of sugar which helps the poison go down.

I tend to shy away from family dinners that may result in loud, antagonistic, polarized debates on the situations of the world. The way I see it, the dinner table is a place to have a nice meal, and if you want to have a rousing discussion that may result in physical violence, take it to the living room while I finish up dessert, thanks very much.

The grad students in this small Iowa town feel exactly the opposite.

So, who are these grad students anyway? On the surface, they’re just a bunch of 20somethings who like to debate over veggie potluck at the close of each week. We meet them on their appointed night as they begin the ritual of dinner: Jude (played by Nicole Howard or Becky Sterling Rygg depending on which cast you see), Pete (David Anthony or Jeff Ronan), Paulie (Lindsay Beecher/Anastasia D. Peterson), Mark (Michael Bernardi/Ariel Heller), and Luke (J.L. Reed /Barry Kennedy, Jr.) who proceed to invite Zach (Joe Beaudin / Erik Gullberg) to have dinner with them after he helps Pete with his car. To their surprise (and open-mouthed horror) Zach turns out to be an unapologetic racist and anti-Semite. Sure, he’s a true blue American who served in Desert Storm, but the toxic rant he kicks up is as hard to swallow as a handful of desert sand.

Last Supper (photo by David Anthony)

Obviously there’s only one thing to do when your dinner guest gets rude – kill him. Well, of course, the murder isn’t premeditated, but it’s certainly post-meditated (if there is such a thing) and the grads act as judge and jury – ruling it a justifiable homicide. After all, good ole boy Zach wasn’t really benefiting society, was he?

And so begins a little experiment on the part of these potluck pals – to only invite extreme right-wings to dinner and see if polite debate is enough to change the mind of a potential (to their mind) Hitler or Stalin. If their narrow minded dinner guest leaves with a better view of the world, then they’ve done their job and everyone had a delicious, healthy Sunday Dinner. If, on the other hand, the unsuspecting guest staunchly remains faithful to their world views they get treated to a little swig of poisoned wine. Their bodies are then promptly disposed of under the tomato plants in the garden with no one the wiser and only a harvest of gorgeous tomatoes to indicate that there’s something giving the soil back there a little extra kick.

The message is meant to be delivered tongue-in-cheek, and for all the intelligence of the grads there’s still a note of farce to their actions. In fact, as egregious as some of their guests’ opinions and ideals seem to be (a priest who believes AIDS is a punishment for homosexuality, a young anti-choice activist), there’s a gleeful spark that runs round the table as the group, through silent declaration, mark their next victim and hand them their lethal libation.

Eventually the king of all hate-speakers Norman Arbuthnot (Christopher Enright /Leal Vona) – A Limbaugh-patterned Yakker who delivers darts of hate with a wink and a smile so bright you can hear the gleam – darkens their door and the group gets their chance to rid the world of a true – in their eyes – criminal. When Arbuthnot comes off as more likeable than loathsome the group is left with a very interesting decision on their hands. How the ending plays out will surprise you.

The Last Supper ‘s rotating cast, is rounded out by Alexia Tate, Anthony Mead, April E. Bennett, Ben Friesen, Jessica Ritacco, Larry Gutman, Mariana Guillen, Matt Riker, Michael Jones, Michael McManus, Patrick J. Egan and Susan Burns.

Featuring an original music score by film composer & Blue Man Group performer Christopher Bowen the scene changes – a little clunky to sit through (after all, they must set and re-set the table in real time) passes far more enjoyably, and the playful music goes a long way to underscore the satirical nature of the play.

While some of the ideas put forth may be a little hard to swallow, this dinner has enough courses to make sure you leave fully satisfied.

~~~

The Last Supper
Horse Trade Theater Group and Rising Sun Performance Company
Red Room, 85 E. Fourth St., NYC.
Running until Aug. 25. on Wednesdays at 8 p.m.

For tickets call (212) 868-4444 or go to www.smarttix.com.

Listen Up! – “Radio Star” Tells A Tale Of Dames, Dicks And Double-Crossers

Karen Tortora-Lee — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 02:25:58 +0000

While sitting in the audience of Tanya O’Debra’s Radio Star (Directed by Peter Cook) you may be tempted to close your eyes and pretend you’re sitting around the 1941 Philco radio with Dad smoking his pipe nearby while little Sally sits on the floor doing her arithmetic and Billy works on his model air plane. Breathe in deeply enough and you can smell that meatloaf mom is cooking! Yes, you may be tempted, but I’d suggest keeping your eyes open to enjoy every delicious hand-in-a-tap-shoe bit of foley art you can drink in. For while it would be just as much fun to stage direct the story in your mind’s eye, the real joy of Radio Star is watching Ms. O’Debra seamlessly transform herself from saucy dame Fanny LaRue to hard-boiled private dick, Nick McKittrick, to dopey company schlep Wally, to hearty Irish Cop with little more than a change of facial expression. Welcome to Radio Star, where the year is 1941, the story is decidedly campy, and the anachronisms are made of easter eggs.

This show is an homage to the days of radio, and as such, you can forgive the Mac planted solidly atop Mr. J. Lincoln Hallowell, Jr.’s desk from which all the little cleverly disguised hissing and popping commercials and other Andrew Mauriello-composed ditties emerge … just as you can forgive the water bottle Ms. O’Debra sips from. (What did radio personalities drink from back before plastic? Glass bottles of Nehi Grape Soda?)

Radio Star is a show within a show; we’re not there to watch a woman put on a show, we’re there to pretend we’re in a different era watching a woman putting on a show – a “radio star” who has no problem acknowledging that her audience is there to watch her work, but then quickly lowers the invisible shield which allows her to get down to business. O’Debra’s version of a radio star is charming as well as talented, and while she easily could turn an arched brow toward the audience during her down time moments, throwing us an “ain’t I great?” kinda wink, she doesn’t, and that’s nicely played.

Radio Star (photo by Molly Peck)

The innuendos are plentiful and when they’re in danger of becoming too plentiful there’s a nice self-referential hand smack that acknowledges how part of Ms. O’Debra’s joke as a playwright is seeing just how far a joke can go. In her deft hands, she manages to give more steam to some than you’d expect.

Every now and then there was a reference that stuck out a bit and played for cheap laughs, pulling me out of the rhythm of the piece . . . but those moments were rare. Still, if there was any criticism I’d give to Ms. O’Debra it’s that the overall pacing of her show is so snappy and quick that slowing it down with a few clunkers isn’t necessary when laughs were already so plentiful and dialogue already so deft. Then again, you never know what’s gotten a big laugh at a prior show, and Ms. O’Debra may know her audience better than I do … I have a feeling that if she’s keeping that Clinton joke in there, she knows it’s working for her.

Radio Star is actually on its second go-round; it’s been extended from its January run and I highly suggest that if you can get over to the Red Room over these next few days that you do so. Radio Star will leave you with a huge appreciation for the very talented Ms. O’Debra, and a bit of a hankering for those good ole days.

~~~

Radio Star

Written by: Tanya O’Debra

Directed by: Peter Cook

The Red Room (85 East Fourth Street)

To purchase tickets go to: www.smarttix.com or call 212-868-4444

Tickets are $15; Students and Seniors $12

Remaining Performances – 2/18-2/20 @ 8pm

Feeling the Chill? It’s FRIGID!

Karen Tortora-Lee — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 20:52:53 +0000

Gosh, it’s cold outside. Like, tried-to-dial-my-cell-phone-so-took-off-my-glove-and-immediately-regretted-it-because-my-fingers-froze-into-a-claw type of cold. But does it have to be frigid inside too?

According to this festival … yes it does! With January ’09 having the sad distinction of being the month that saw the close of such long running hits as Hairspray, Spamalot and Spring Awakening, as well as other fine productions (such as All My Sons, Boeing-Boeing, Dividing The Estate, Grease, Gypsy, and Young Frankenstein), 2009 is already turning into a sorry year for Broadway. But don’t let it get you down! Go catch one or two or five of these great shows at any or all of these cozy theatres: The Kraine Theatre, The Red Room or Under St. Marks. (And yes, I used “cozy” euphemistically the way those people do when they’re trying to get you to rent their “cozy extra bedroom” … come on, folks it’s obviously a closet!).

FRIGID is around for 2 weeks starting February 25th so I again ask you to DVR LOST, put on your mufflers and your mittens, steel yourself with the Luden’s cough drop flavor of your choice (nothing’s more annoying than having to listen to that annoying chick two seats away dry-choke her way through the show. Having been that annoying chick at three recent performances now, I can tell you — if spitballs were still popular with the over 4th grade set, my hair would have been littered with them) and get your little butts out to see one of these great shows!

And don’t forget, this is a theatre festival … just like those street fairs where endless booths of home made soaps and funnel cakes and throw-the-dart-to-win-a-prize games hold secret joys you could never predict … that’s what this festival will do for your mind. There’s Comedy at one theatre. Drama at another. Solo Shows. Poetry. Puppets. WHAT? Yes. I said it. PUPPETS. Real live (but not alive) puppets. And all tickets are between $8 and $15 dollars. That’s less than three rings in the ring toss game. (Because you know you need more than three rings if you’re gonna win, right?) And what do you actually win anyway? A Spongebob Squarepants doll? A Stewie Griffin doll? Something equally loseable-on-the-way-home-able?

But instead, for $8 – $15 dollars the Frigid Festival will give you all these words and thoughts and emotions and visuals. And … you know, like I mentioned before … puppets. Which are like dolls. Only dolls that stay in the theatre and don’t get lost on the way home. (Or, at least if they do, it’s not YOUR fault … it’s their own fault. And that, my friends … is just a little creepy.)

Look at this. Look at what you have to choose from.

Sorry. That was probably a little too overwhelming. Why don’t I give you a small sampler platter, a dainty dim sum platter, a tiny tapas bar portion of what you could see some time in the next 2 weeks:

The Dysfunctional Guide to Home, Perfection, Marital Bliss, and Passionate Hot Romance
This “How To” piece will use a blend of vintage and original writings to teach you how to be the perfect housewife (or househusband) – Dysfunctional style.

habeas corpus
“What would you like to be rid of?” Fueled by anonymous responses from all over the country as well as live audience responses within the theater itself, the real kim harmon performance collective creates a voracious and tender multi-media performance art experience.

Hysteri-Killy! A One Freak Show
A magical, multimedia march through the mad mind of a manic -depressive, cockeyed optimist.

The Expatriates-Liz Maher as Zelda Fitzgerald

The Expatriates
F. Scott, Zelda Fitzgerald, Dorothy Parker, and Ernest Hemingway are placed into a devilish purgatory to face their lives all over again. Flappers, booze, and jazz are the guides to untold wealth and unimaginable excess leading this fast paced show barreling towards certain destruction.

So, now … go grab your honey, or use this as an excuse to find a new honey … and go get Frigid.

The Happiest Medium » Red Room

Initium / Finis: Bold From Beginning To End (2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)

Related Posts:

Year Of The Slut – It Was A Very Long Year (FRIGID New York 2011)

Related Posts:

The Last Supper – Don’t Drink The Wine

Related Posts:

Listen Up! – “Radio Star” Tells A Tale Of Dames, Dicks And Double-Crossers

Related Posts:

Feeling the Chill? It’s FRIGID!

Related Posts: