We all want to feel deeply connected to someone else in a new way that surprises us. How that connection comes about - emotionally, physically, mentally or sexually – is actually secondary. When that unexpected connection locks in there’s a heightened state of awareness that can overpower our conventional systems and methods, an allure that can captivate our essential nature on a level that we can’t always put into words – quite possibly because some times there are no words. Some times there just is what we do, how it makes us feel, and that chance we’re willing to take to feel it again.
The four plays of Connect Five all deal with a connection that’s either surprising, suspicious, inescapable or indescribable, and the gratification (as well as the guilt), that can come about because of it.
Four writers plus one audience equals Connect Five – The Common Tongue’s evening of one-act plays which will be going on from January 5 – 16 at The Ars Nova Building. The night brings together two emerging playwrights – Danny Mitarotondo (recipient of the Edward F. Albee Writing Fellowship) and Bronwen Prosser (Vital Theatre’s The Picasso Project) – with two established playwrights – Wendy MacLeod (Schoolgirl Figure; The House of Yes) and Lucy Thurber (Scarcity; Bottom of the World).
All four writers were kind enough to take a moment out of their busy schedules to do a short Q&A with me before I go to review the show.
When I was a little girl there was nothing I wanted to see more than Mummenschanz at the Bijou Theatre. To me it appeared to be a magical, strange show that made no sense yet appealed to me in ways I couldn’t put into words. Which was possibly the point, as Mummenschanz was a completely wordless production of a string of vingettes using a form of theatre that eclipsed mime but obviously paved the way for Blue Man Group.
Wondering what to do with the last week of the year? Maybe 2010 hasn’t been steamy enough for you and you need a little more sexiness before counting down to 2011? If that sounds like your kinda heat – especially in this snowy weather, then get yourself to the 2010 BURLESQUE BLITZ! For Four Nights Only (December 27th through the 30th) at the Kraine Theater (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Ave and Bowery) you can catch the hottest Burlesque in New York City.
I’ll be getting my fill of all things glamorous, glittery and gorgeous while being seduced by sweet sirens, beautiful boys and delicious drag queens. Come to some or come to all – but don’t miss what promises to be the hottest week of December!
My parents spent a great deal of money on my education. First they chose a strict parochial grammar school for 8 years, then I was sent off to an exclusive prep school for 4 years, and finally my education was capped off with a fancy private college. All this was done to ensure that I had a good working knowledge of the world. Yet my European-born mother still sadly shakes her head when I make such public blunders as exclaiming to a roomful of people that I have no idea where Holland is in relation to Norway. “I always thought they were the same place!” I remark, blithely, with not even a hint of embarrassment. “Aren’t they, though?” I go on – digging the hole deeper. Oh – American Education – how you failed me. Surely someone could have made politics, history, and geography stick in my brain in a way that made sense so that I don’t continually shame my family?
After spending a night with Colin Quinn as he delivered his one-man show Long Story Short(directed by Jerry Seinfeld) it’s obvious that he was that someone. Colin Quinn is like that teacher who comes into the urban school and makes all the tough kids love learning. But he already knows that. In fact, at some point during Long Story Short, he even does a spot on send-up of every To Sir With Love / Stand and Deliver / Dangerous Minds movie ever spit out by Hollywood — though his version ends with the teacher taking a job at the cushy prep school at the end of it all. The very prep school where I would have benefited so much! So you see how we’ve come full circle here. But wait! That’s only the introduction . . .
Don’t forget, boys and girls, that there is so much fun to be had at A VERY YOGA CHRISTMAS(3rd annual) you may not want to keep going for REAL CHRISTMAS. Does REAL CHRISTMAS have Coach (the greatest rock band in the world?) Mine doesn’t! Does REAL CHRISTMAS have comedy and music and dark weirdness? Mine doesn’t! Does REAL CHRISTMAS have A Holiday Man-Pain poem by Umberto MacDougal and a Steely Dan dance party from 8-9pm? MINE SURE DOESN’T! What about FREE CUPCAKES? No? Or Killy Dwyer’s world premier video Christmas Card “Getting Clean For Jesus’ Birthday”? No? NO?? What kinda sad REAL CHRISTMAS is that? Forget that! Instead, just make sure to be around for A VERY YOGA CHRISTMAS (3rd annual) where you’ll get all this and MORE.
Just head on down to UNDER St. Mark’s Theater (94 St. Mark’s Place [between 1st and Ave A]) this Thursday, December 23 at 8:00pm – 11:00pm
What? You don’t live in New York??? FIRST of all, there is NO hope for you. NONE. SECOND of all, there is a teensy tiny beam of YOGA CHRISTMAS HOPEfor you – because A VERY YOGA CHRISTMAS (3rd annual) will be live-streamed on the Internet at www.neuralimprints.com. So – I’ll either see you there, or you’ll see me there through the magic of the interwebs. I’ll be the cute one having the time of my life. Click Here for more info.
Just when you think that an Austin McCormick experience can’t get any more divine, any more sensual, or any more stunningly wicked, he whips up another tray of tempting treats which enthrall and delight you into a dumbfounded trance. Ahhh, Austin. You know what you and Company XIV have done to me. You’ve spoiled me for every other dance company in New York City. So yes, while others are flocking to (yawn) New York City Ballet to take in another predictable performance of George Balanchine’s “The Nutcracker” or pandering to Tinseltown’s “let’s get another take” and “we’ll fix that in the editing room” Black Swan – those who want the opportunity to have an amazing, mesmerizing, transcendent night of decadence, dance and debauchery will come to 303 Bond and let their senses be delighted.
Every now and then an artist comes into your life whose music is so dynamic, powerful and moving that you just have to know the stories behind the songs. When you’re lucky enough to know this artist personally, and he’s someone that you’ve always had a great time hanging out with, you’ve got no choice but to sit down in a noisy bar, buy him a drink (Arbita Turbo Dog), and find out where all this gut punching, heart wrenching, hand wringing music comes from.
Meet Joe Yoga – bass player for Kill The Band but amazing solo artist in his own right who currently has two albums in circulation. You can download (Free! December Only!) his first album The Dreamless Sea which is a compilation of his favorite songs from his earlier days. Life Out East is a full album of new songs that were written over a year and it’s currently available on iTunes.
Over the course of an evening Joe Yoga tells me how he’s able to juggle two different musical personas, how Life Out East will take you on a journey from heartbreak to healing, and even tells me a pretty funny joke. Eventually.
Okay, so – yeah . . . maybe Alter Ego is actually not usually appropriate for children. But you can be there, thinking of them! Because this Sunday – December 19th Alter Ego is having a very special Toys for Tots benefit performance party – at Fontana’swhich is exactly the place you wanna be thinking of wee Tots as you knock back your fifth tequila of the night and watch exotic belly dancing, alternative underground comedy, twisted freak folk music, avant garde antics, sultry modern dance, break-dancing straight from the streets, bawdy burlesque and Santa Elvis!
Entrance is free HOWEVER you MUST bring an *unwrapped* gift for a child. Cash donations are also accepted but not as fun.
Doors open at 7:30pm. Show starts downstairs at 8pm. Holiday fun party is upstairs in the main bar directly after the show until the wee wee hours!
Faye Lane’s Beauty Shop Stories (directed by Jay Rogers, and featuring music written by Keith Thompson, Larry Rosen and Carol Hall – who wrote music and lyrics for The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas) is a powerful message disguised as a sweet lil tale about a gal who started out life sittin’ on the porch in her Pretty Plus Jeans wearin’ a Burger King crown that she re-did with sparkles and glitter . . . who somehow ended up in New York City tellin’ stories. But don’t let Faye Lane’s Southern charm, flashing eyes and brilliant smile fool you – her story is as resounding and victorious as any by Horatio Alger – with twice the pluck and half the testosterone.
