Reach the top of the stairs of Quinn’s Bar and Grill and you’ll no longer be in the heart of midtown, elbow to elbow with the crowds maneuvering through the streets; swivel-headed tourists getting in the way of fast walking commuters rushing for the A train.  No, somehow, mid-staircase you’ll be transported to a small bar in Queens run by the personable Sean, patronized by the chatty Stella and transfigured by the team of Penny Jackson’s Bitten.

Come early and you’ll get some personal attention from bartender Sean and barfly Stella (played by Logan McCoy and Lucy McMichael respectively).  Depending on the day you may get some candy, and you’ll definitely get a bit of a chat up.   How you interact with the players before the show begins is up to you – feel free to give real answers to their just-passing-the-time questions … or as real as you feel like giving.  After all, this is theatre and your participation in it beforehand can be as much or as little as you wish.   It’s not your job to be entertaining after all … it’s all just a bit of fun before the actual story is brought to life around you in this site-specific play.  Bring your thirst, however – the bar that flanks the wall is fully functional and well stocked.

BITTEN begins with a joyful jig before it unfolds into a seemingly straightforward story. But like the rings of condensation left on a bar, these interlocking stories are ingrained enough to leave their mark.  Look closer and each facet of this tale has an undercurrent that tells of a hidden longing that is either the promise of a new world or the foreboding of an unfortunate eventuality.

Bartender Sean (Logan McCoy)

Bartender Sean (a delightful, affable McCoy) is attentive to his favorite aging barfly, Stella (played by McMichael as a whirling dervish of tipsy flirtation). The elderly lady has obviously had one … or more … too many as she dashes about and burbles about this and that in a lilting brogue that mirrors young Sean’s.  While at first glance it may seem that tonight is about as ordinary as many of the evenings which have come before it, we soon find that before the night is through Stella will be faced with two proposals – one of marriage and one of moving to a retirement home in New Jersey at the request of her grandson. All of this will unfold in the 10 minutes it takes to wait for car service to arrive.  But if you’ve ever waited for a livery cab to take you from Queens to New Jersey at night as the snowfall begins to threaten an impending storm, you know those 10 minutes are arbitrary and more than enough time to tell a good story.

Sean, early 20s, may seem like a good natured regular Joe just off the boat from Ireland, but when he’s not wiping down the bar and passing out the Irish whiskey he lets a little dream of continuing his education at Fordam creep into his thoughts.  Given the chance to dream a bit, and encouraged along by Mrs. O’Conner (Stella! she’ll remind him) you can see the mixture of resignation and doubt on his face.  Is he really meant to do more than what is required to keep alive the legacy of sustaining the bones of the family bar?  No doubt he’s smart enough to make the change, but is he willing to take the risk?

Bar patron Professor Alexi Negretsky, (a deeply charming J. Dolan Byrnes) is a man who’s lost his hearing aid for the sixth time and his heart to Stella more times than he can count.  Alexi is also dreaming a dream that’s just out of reach.  No longer teaching Molecular Biology in Russia he now spends his days fixing copiers and his nights sitting in Quinn’s wooing Stella and proposing to her as often as he can in the hopes of marrying her.   While she persistently declines she is no doubt quite fond of him and the two, according to Sean “… enjoy their toasts.  Their many toasts.  Sometimes they’re spread out on the floor like corpses”.   This isn’t quite as sinister as it sounds, for while it seems that each contributes to the other’s vice perhaps Billy Joel put it best when he noted “they’re sharing a drink they call loneliness … but it’s better than drinking alone.”

Director Joan Kane has saturated Jackson’s elder lovers with all the hallmarks of young infatuation – they are romantic, affectionate, giddy, giggly, distracted by each other and even rather impetuous.  There are moments when one can not be sure that the intoxication is from the drink which they both adore, or the shared merriment of rubbing a new sheen on an old feeling.  Perhaps, in the case of these two, it’s a little of both – as the Professor is known to pass out in the bar around 6:30 each night, and his affectionate pet name for his amour is “Stella Stoli” after the vodka.  Still, relationships have been built on less and there’s no denying that there is a deep fondness underneath all the crowing, the posturing and the apparent foolhardiness.

The Professor speaks with the flowered tongue of a man in love, setting Stella off like a top as she whirls about the bar in a fit of girlish ebullience. It’s part inviting, part unseemly and – to Stella’s grandson Brian – it’s downright disturbing and uncomfortable.

Nick Palladino as Brian – BITTEN

When Brian (Nick Palladino who perfectly paces the unwrapping of his tightly-wrapped character) enters Quinn’s this snowy evening he’s a man on a mission: to get his grandmother Stella out of the bar.  Not just for the night but for good; tonight is the last chance they have to meet with Dr. Patel of Sunset House – an old age home (Supervised Adult Community corrects Brian) “with a garden and a greenhouse and the recreational room with HDTV”.  Brian, raised by Stella and the now-deceased Frank after his mother ran off, wants nothing but the best for the grandmother who cared for and nurtured him.  He also needs to save Stella from the eviction that looms and the whisky that beckons.  Brian has his own hands full – as well as tied.  He’s a doctor with a full patient load and when he’s not attending to women as a gynecologist he’s volunteering his time at a rape crisis center.  He sees his fair share of women in pain, in need, and past the point of no return.  As he works to balance all of that, he now must fold in the management of hearing stories about his grandmother who drinks too much and stumbles home at 3:00am … who forgets appointments, who sets the tea cozy too close to the burner and almost burns down her apartment … and who would just make everything easier if she went to Sunset House.   Brian is also struggling with his sexuality, but love is something that doesn’t fit neatly or start and end cleanly and so therefore he’s compartmentalized it as he has so much of his feelings and emotions.

On the surface, perhaps these four wouldn’t overlap much on a Venn Diagram.  Some like to drink.  Some are related.  Some are from Ireland.  Stella is the connection that’s easy to spot.   But underneath, they’re all wondering if the future is already written, or something that sheer force of will can change.  Is Sean destined to work behind a bar?  Is Stella destined to pass along silently into her sunset years at Sunset House?  Is Brian destined to only keep faithful to the parts of his life he can control: his job, his neatly measured out moments and appointments and time-marked meetings without giving in to the recklessness of letting love make you feel stupid and foolish … and lovely and awful and terrified and glorious?

Penny Jackson’s characters quite unexpectedly take the audience on a journey that will certainly hit a note with anyone who has ever felt at  a crossroads – unsure about that next step, unable to ask for help, unwilling to admit that help is something that doesn’t automatically appear – and certainly not always in the form we desire.  Each of these characters, despite their differences in age, in background, and in dreams feels somewhat marginalized, perhaps a bit criticized, and even the youngest among them feel the years marching on with choices not as plentiful as they’d once hoped.  Each character is leaving Quinn’s with a fear – or at least a tremor – of the unknown.

BITTEN isn’t about an elderly woman who must decide if she can face her golden years in a retirement home.  At its heart, BITTEN is about our human need to feel we have a choice, and that we have another one after that one.  It is about the fervent wish that we all have an endless amount of choices – all filled with the possibilities of what we wish for ourselves.  BITTEN is also about how we handle ourselves the moment we realize that while we still have choices, they may no longer overlap with our hopes.   Eventually we’re all bound to find ourselves on that path.  Maybe, before you head out on that path, though … grab one last drink at Quinn’s.

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Ego Actus presents a site-specific production
BITTEN
by Penny Jackson
directed by Joan Kane

Quinn’s Bar and Grill (2nd Floor)
356 W 44th St
New York, NY
Thursday, Friday and Saturday FEB 6 – 22nd at 8:00pm.
All tickets are $10 cash at the door.
For reservations call (646) 246-4131.

Related Posts:

• SAFE Is A Matter Of Perspective (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• SAFE – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• The Foreplay Play – What Comes Before
• It Is Done – Careful What You Wish For

There is a very telling moment which comes two thirds of the way into Mariah MacCarthy’s play The Foreplay Play which is currently being produced by CAPS LOCK THEATRE  at a site-specific location (WAY off-off Broadway) in Williamsburg.  This dramedy about the tension which builds between two couples as they tentatively (and sometimes not so tentatively) lay the foundation for a night of orgiastic bliss has many titillating moments, but the one which encapsulated this show for me was probably the least sexual of the night.

After a series of awkward missteps, false starts, jumping the gun (but not without a few hot hot, drrrrrty, breathtaking, throw-you-up-against-the-wall, take-you-right-now-on-the-kitchen-counter moments) Kyle, the sole male of the intended foursome is strumming a guitar and the quartet has just finished a rousing rendition of Springteen’s Hungry Heart.  In and of itself  Hungry Heart is a beautiful moment – each character singing with completely different motivation: some with actual hunger in their heart, some with nothing more than Springsteen Joy, and others with the taste of a memory, perhaps.  Regardless of subtext, the four voices blend beautifully, and yet perfectly naturally – the way any four people with decent singing voices might automatically take the harmonies.  They all know the words, they understand the nuances, they enjoy the camaraderie the singing produces, and the moment is binding.  The telling moment comes right after, when three of the four decide to launch into Since You’ve Been Gone.

Nic Grelli, Lindsey Austen,Diana Oh and Parker Leventer (Photo by Kacey Stamats)

“I don’t know this song,” pouts Anika (Lindsey Austen) and soon her pout erupts into full-on anger.  She has a tantrum, runs from the room, and leaves the others feeling awkward, embarrassed, perhaps guilty, but – let’s be honest – a little smug.  We know something you don’t know.

Herein lies the key to good group ANYTHING – but for the purposes of this review we’ll stick to group sex.  In order for it to work, everyone has to be in harmony.  Everyone has to feel comfortable.  Everyone has to know where to pick up, where to leave off, where to come in, and when to hold back.  Moving forward when someone clearly doesn’t “know the words” to a certain song (read – doesn’t know the rules of a certain situation) is only going to lead to tantrums.

What The Foreplay Play illustrates and illuminates beautifully is that bringing the fantasy (again, of anything, but specifically group sex) into the real world is a daunting process even if all the clothes are laid out neatly on the bed for you beforehand.  Just because you have a piano and ten fingers doesn’t mean you’ll suddenly sit down and start playing Mozart.  Even further – simply because you can play the piano doesn’t mean you’ll be able to play a complete performance of all the Chopin Etudes.  And so – just because you like sex doesn’t mean you can have it with three other people you’re fond of without someone hitting a harsh note.  Perception is easy.  Reality is hard.  Or … let’s go with “difficult”.

The foursome of The Foreplay Play is made up of  Kyle (Nic Grelli) who is sweet, earnest and charming.  He’s manly and studly but he’s gentle enough to break down and fall apart when emotions overwhelm him.  (And this night is rife with overwhelming emotions of all types).  Kyle’s girlfriend is Anika (Lindsey Austen) - a yearning, tentative girl who fancies herself experimental but, when push comes to shove, can’t get out of her own way far enough to move past “vanilla” (which, to this crowd, is more of an insult than a subtle flavor choice).  They are hosted for the evening by Anika’s co-worker Isabel (Diana Oh) who is a power house of sexuality and seduction.  While Izzy doesn’t actively set out to seduce everyone in the room she is somehow the center of the sexual vortex here as both Kyle and Anika find themselves longing for her in ways that (if you’re an audience member with any sort of pulse) will have you catching your breath.  The quartet is rounded out by Isabel’s live-in lover Kelly (Parker Leventer) who is sure of herself, a self-professed Dom who dominates in rooms other than the bedroom and enjoys making others feel uncomfortable, even as she insists on ground rules and guidelines for the evening.

Throughout the evening of foreplay each gets their turn to take a spin in front of the mirror, as it were.  On display this evening for all of us (and for each other) to see are each character’s most charming qualities, their most annoying habits, their sexiest urges, their most awkward discomfort.  Separately and together they all find themselves acting out, taking the lead, taking a backseat, or simply bobbing along as they watch the inevitable happen.

The cast is strong, each delivering a nuanced performance which gives you an opportunity to side with them or against them depending on the flow of the evening.  Under Leta Tremblay’s fine direction the night is hyper-real.  The play is, as I mentioned, site specific – so this Williamsburg apartment (big by New York standards but rather intimate for a play) creates an immediate fly-on-the-wall scenario.  (Be warned that seating is limited and, like a game of musical chairs, there’s a rush for seats once the apartment door opens.  Latecomers will be sitting on cushions up front.  Those with knee problems who are loathe to sitting on the floor are, unfortunately, SOL).

The intimacy of the space allows Tremblay to give the characters a whole host of real-time actions to work with – actual dinner to be prepared, actual exits from the apartment to be made.  Tremblay also deftly balances all the craziness (Twister! Knife play! Costumes and fake accents! Spin the bottle!) with a solid anchor of gravitas so that rather than feeling MacCarthy is throwing a lot at the wall to see what sticks in terms of theme this feels much more like four actual people who are twisting and turning their way through a strange encounter in order to make it fit for all involved.  Unfortunately no matter how many games of Twister they play the right combination just won’t fall into place.

MacCarthy aims for – and delivers – a night of questions rather than answers.  A night of seeking rather than finding, and a night which flips over the rocks to explore the grime underneath.  While no one gets very naked, emotionally the cast strips bare and the four individuals share intimacies on a level much deeper than the simple exchanging of bodily fluids.  Ultimately sex is besides the point.  MacCarthy, in her Playwright’s Note, admits that the play “ends up being a celebration of love, not sex”.

CAPS LOCK THEATRE, on their website, states, “We like plays where people are at both their worst and their best; where people screw each other–or themselves–over, and have to find a way to deal with it; where people’s hearts hurt, or open, or blossom.”  I’d say that The Foreplay Play does all of this – and perfectly.

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THE FOREPLAY PLAY

A new play by Mariah MacCarthy
Directed by Leta Tremblay
This play takes place at a site-specific apartment in Williamsburg - Brooklyn, NY
Location will be disclosed to audience members upon ticket purchase

Thursdays-Sundays at 8pm

April 19-May 6, 2012

Click here for tickets

Related Posts:

• Magic Trick – Baring It All (Fringe Festival 2012)
• Mariah MacCarthy’s New Play Looks For Laughs In All The Dark Places: Lysistrata Rape Play
• The Un-Marrying Project: Passion Is Easy – Commitment Is Hard
• BITTEN – One Last Drink
• Songs Of Love: A Theatrical Mixtape (Fringe Festival 2012)

Site-Specific theatre productions are all the rage now, and in a city like New York where every conceivable set already exists in real life it’s really just a matter of finding the perfect spot for your play to unfold.

It Is Done written by Alex Goldberg happens to take place in a bar, but it’s also being produced in a bar; The Mean Fiddler Bar & Grill located in the heart of the theatre district just a stone’s throw from the hustle and bustle of the Great White Way.  Still, it’s a sure bet that even the patrons dining right above in the main room have no idea there’s such wicked goings-on underfoot in the lower level.

The set up is perfect, and upon entering you can’t help but think that this bar already looks like a staged set.  Ease back and begin to eat and drink (that is, if you come at the suggested time, which is one hour before showtime) and you get to wear a personal groove in the seat while enjoying the It Is Done menu and knocking back your free drink (beer and wine) and soaking in the atmosphere.   This is no Tony and Tina’s Wedding, however … once the show starts there is a lot of action going on around the bar, but the audience has no part in it.  For all intents and purposes you all might as well be ghosts.

Hank, the bartender (Matt Kalman) | Photo by Jen Maufrais Kelly

Which is fitting, given the spooky nature of It Is Done.  Despite the full bar there is a certain desolation that cloaks this place once the show gets underway; a lone bartender, Hank (Matt Kalman) bides his time behind the bar with not much else to do except read porn (avidly), ignore the phone calls from his ex-wife (pointedly) and welcome the one lone stranger who is blown into the bar by the dust storm that’s been kicking up outside.

“You’re not from around these parts” Hank notes.  It’s easy to tell … no one’s from “around here” he explains.  They’re 90 miles from anything in any direction, making this both a bastion of hope as well as an outpost for the hopeless.   Therefore it’s the perfect place for the stranger, Jonas (Ean Sheehy) to settle in and have a drink or two till the storm dies down and he can be back on his way to wherever it is he’s going.

Catia Ojeda, Ean Sheehy, and Matt Kalman | Photo by Jen Maufrais Kelly

Into this cozy setup another stranger is blown.  Only this one is a very attractive woman.  We can call her Ruby (Catia Ojeda).  She’s even more obviously not from around here … and seems even more annoyed at having to while away her time in the bar until a tow truck can come rescue her.  Well, she’s annoyed at first.  Until she begins to find an amusing way to pass the time … by trying to melt the icy exterior of the stranger who calls himself Jonas and “doesn’t like conversation”.  She rebuffs the attentions (salacious) of Hank (who she pointedly insists on addressing as “BARKEEP!”) and as Hank skulks off to the back room to do whatever it is he does she attempts to engage Jonas in conversation.

Divertive at first, Jonas does manage to give up certain details.  In a type of tit-for-tat game Ruby offers up some personal information of her own.  Or so it seems.  And so, eventually, in this desolate bar with no one around but this total stranger who (she insists) he will probably never see after this night Jonas reveals the secret that has him on the run.

From here the tale turns from eerie thriller to supernatural horror and to give any more away would be to spoil both the plot as well as the enjoyment of the piece.  Suffice it to say, there’s a reason these folks are all together this terrible night … and it ain’t pretty.

Tom Wojtunik’s direction is fabulous; he uses the space to its utmost advantage.  There are even some neat little tricks built into the existing room, such as a number of reflective surfaces, which allow the audience to see the faces of the actors regardless of their seat.  This gives the actors free range of the performance space while keeping the audience from having to whip their necks around constanly in order to keep tabs on the action.

Wojtunik also does a great job in creating the mood of the piece; again – despite the crowded room there’s a real feeling of emptiness and desolation that simply can’t be explained but is very well executed.  Even though we all know we’re all there, these three are as alone as they appear to be.

The actors all come through with strong performances.  Matt Kalman as Hank is perfect as the libidinous average joe who doesn’t work too hard, doesn’t think too much and doesn’t care about your story as long as you’re paying.  Ean Sheehy’s Jonas telegraphs his tension and nervous energy in every awkward angle.  His lanky frame almost bends in upon itself  in an effort to appear as unremarkable as possible in order to keep you from noticing him.

Finally Ruby is perhaps the most intersting character to examine.  At first Catia Ojeda’s style could be taken as bit too smarmy, full of her self, too pat, too grandiose.  However when Ruby’s true nature is revealed it all makes perfect sense and you realize that she couldn’t have been any other way. Ojeda does a fantastic job of keeping the camp out of her character; there is a moment — several in fact — when some scenes could chew the scenery, but Ms. Ojeda commands her lines with power and authority.  If the audience is laughing it’s becuase they’re meant to.  And there are moments when she is downright terrifying.

It Is Done is like a good Masters Of Horror episode taken from the small screen and moved to the real world.  But putting the audience in the midst of the action the creepienss factor is upped, the tension is tightend and the payoff is higher.  Plus, after the show you get to stick around and finish your beer right there on the set.  What could be better?

If you’re looking for something differernt, you’ll find it here.  If you’re looking for a good night of theatre with a twist – this is it.  Either way, It Is Done gets it done.

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Related Posts:

• BITTEN – One Last Drink
• The Foreplay Play – What Comes Before
• The 2012 National Newborn Festival Is Almost Here!
• Clandestine: It’s A Secret {But Tell Your Friends} . . . (Planet Connections 2010)
• Sweet Dreams? The Pillowman Comes To Astoria