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by The Happiest Medium on August 14, 2011
The Happiest Medium Review by guest contributors Anjali Koppal and Saurabh Paranjape
Craving, writer/performer Delphine Brooker’s one-act, one-woman play about her own battle with anorexia and bulimia, is a unique animal. Rather than indulging in the kind of pedantic damnation of outside societal influences that one expects, Brooker chooses to frame her narrative as a view into the inner thoughts of a bulimic girl after she has already made peace with the idea that being thin is what real beauty is all about. Thus we get some rather poignant, yet funny, anecdotes about the practical difficulties of maintaining a bulimic lifestyle in shared bathroom living situations and the bothersome battles with hunger pangs triggered by a stroll past a Parisian bakery.
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by Geoffrey Paddy Johnson on August 14, 2011
Perhaps director Greg Foro and the BAMA Theatre Company could not have asked for a better setting than the Connelly Center’s Connelly Theatre on East 4th Street to stage their production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. A miniature old world theatre stage, complete with grinning classical masks on a battered, gray painted proscenium, it quietly, without the use of scenery flats, and a minimum of props, establishes a subtly pointed atmosphere for this admirably pared down presentation of one of the English language’s greatest stage tragedies.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on August 13, 2011
Yes, we may have Fringe on the brain, but that doesn’t mean that other things aren’t going on this weekend. And, quite fittingly one of those other things is something called The OTHERS Project. Paul Bedard, co artistic director for Theater in Asylum, took a moment to chat with me about a very exciting evening of theater, music, dance, poetry and drinks that will be going on this Sunday night. Read on as Paul explains their particular definition of “asylum”, how they’re using their themes, and what their version of Frankenstein will look like …
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on August 11, 2011
Nothing gets us more excited at THM than a festival, and when it comes to festivals, Fringe is the one we wait for all year … the way other people wait for Christmas. Silly, silly Christmas-waiting people. Sure, getting presents is fun … for a while. But running around from theatre to theatre seeing what very well may be the next smash hit is the kind of thing that REALLY gets a gal excited. So for the next 18 days we, your faithful THM contributors — along with a few guest reviewers — will be covering 44 of the 194 shows that are out there. Here’s where we’re going. Will we see you there?
2 Burn - Ever give an apple to your teacher to get his attention? In this gay, noir drama, one college student is willing to give much more as he and his professor vie for power over language, sex, and each other.
74 Minutes of Stereo Radio Theater - A parlor game escalates into marital warfare. An ancient civilization faces death by over-enthusiasm. Comedy mates with legitimate theater for the amusement of a jaded audience. Stereo Radio Theater: Post-alternative sketch comedy for the non-attention deficit-disordered.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on August 11, 2011
Redd Tale Theatre Company has a knack for taking well-worn stories and delivering them with a fresh perspective. Currently during their “summer of creation” they are exploring the themes of what it means to be human and how our need to connect on a deeper level drives all living creatures. By currently pairing a well-known and time-honored old fashioned horror story – Frankenstein – with a newly written modern sci-fi piece – Gabriel – this talented ensemble is virtually flipping a coin for us and showing two sides of a very complex issue during one ambitious night of theatre.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on August 8, 2011
Imagine if you could re-visit a tragedy and restore the hope; take away the shadows of doubt, the shudders of despair. Imagine if you could re-visit shabby rooms, where stale air does little but circulate the layers of dust and melancholy, and breath in fresh life imbued with optimism and energy.
Imagine if you could see a classic play such as Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie from a whole other persective, one of possibility, where the “bitter” of bitter-sweet is removed and all that is left is a revving of the heart at what is yet to come. The Pretty Trap currently playing at The Acorn Theatre (Theatre Row) does just that. Written by Williams as one of the earlier drafts of Menagerie it is a sparkling one-act starring Katharine Houghton as the matriarch Amanda Wingfield.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on April 17, 2011
There are so many ways that the notion of gender can be fucked with (or – to continue a theme “f*cked” with) that the idea of throwing it all up there on the stage and cabareting the hell out of is an appealing one. Mariah MacCarthy’s The All-American Genderf*ck Cabaret (directed by Heidi Handelsman) takes a whole lotta gender and then, indeed, fucks with it like crazy.
All the stereotypes are there in full force: as Ms. MacCarthy put it in her interview with me earlier this month “a Feminine Woman, a Feminine Man, a Masculine Woman, a Masculine Man, a Gay Woman, a Gay Man, a Promiscuous Woman, and a Promiscuous Man. Which translates roughly into Girly Girl, Nice Guy/Metrosexual, Tomboy, Meathead, Feminist Lesbian, Gay Best Friend, Slut, and Player.” However, even though these labels are slapped onto the envelopes of these characters, they are soon peeled away with just as much intention. So, just when you think you know what’s what you’ll find that the tough girl, Devon, (Lauren Hennessy) is actually not a lesbian (what?) - she’s just a tomboy. And that sweet guy, Benji (Jordan Tierney)? No, he is not gay (huh?). He’s actually very straight – and the best lover his (promiscuous girlfriend) Gwen (Catherine LeFrere) has ever had. Meanwhile the mouthy guy, Dick (Jamahl Garrison-Lowe) who talks the talk doesn’t walk the walk at all. He’s a (gasp) virgin and would rather talk to his toddler nephew than seriously pursue a woman. But you’d never know it from the way he throws out statistics of his romantic conquests.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on April 14, 2011
Meet Simon and Kim – passionate. About their cause (we’ll get to that in a moment), about each other (when we meet them they’re taking a cozy bath together) and about their work which (currently) is a documentary film they’re shooting called The Un-Marrying Project. As it stands, this play IS the film. Or is it the other way around?
So passionate are they about their work, their relationship and their cause that it all blends together for them in one big ball of “Here we are! Simon and Kim!” (Exclaimed in unison, no less. Well … after some practice). They’re so deeply connected that they even have joint panic attacks. (Awwww – cute). But is all this passion enough to get them through their act of civil disobedience – The Un-Marrying Project: documenting the process of several married couples who willingly get un-married (yes, also known as divorced) in the name of protest … living apart until ALL people can be married EVERYWHERE? In other words … they’ve decided that until Gay Marriage is legal, no marriage should be valid and several brave couples are taking up the cause, allowing their journey to be filmed. So here’s the question … can they all stay committed to the cause? To the film? To each other? Is their committment as strong as their passion?
In The Un-Marrying Project writer Larry Kunofsky has taken a controversial matter and then turned it inside out. This is no easy topic and Kunofsky doesn’t gloss over any of it. With the overarching premise being that we’re watching two documentary film makers (Documentarians!) create a record for posterity, we gain access into nooks of participants lives in ways that perhaps they wouldn’t be so quick to divulge.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on April 8, 2011
Bricken Sparacino sure has been licked a lot in her life … but not exactly the way you’d expect from a show titled I’m Not Sure I Like The Way You Licked Me!. I mean, of course, there is the requisite anecdote about the guy who french kissed her in a way that was more akin to a barbecue pit chef mopping ribs with secret sauce, leaving her face covered in saliva and in need of a good rinsing … but this solo show (directed by Lori Kee) has a few more licks in it – the kind of licks that could also be called bummers, hard knocks, and just plain disappointments.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on April 4, 2011
If you’ve never directed a show you probably don’t have any idea how many things need to be juggled, handled, addressed, discussed, solved, finessed, smoothed out, put in order … it boggles the mind. I asked my beloved friend Antonio Minino to tell me what a random day is like for him as he directs David Stallings’ The Family Shakespeare for MT Works. I need a nap just reading his answers!
The Family Shakespeare is a magical and dark fictional look into the dangers and consequences of caging innocence. It is inspired by the true story of the Bowdler family and delves into the psyche of a family who thinks it has the right to cross out and modify words with the supposed aim to protect youth and purity.
As the director of this ambitious tale Antonio is busy from (early) morning till night (or … would that be even earlier morning?). Here is a breakdown of how he spent his Saturday …
UP AND AT ‘EM
When did you wake up?
Around 8am today.
The amount of times you hit the snooze button
I actually don’t hit the snooze button, I just check my phone (which is my alarm clock) every 2 minutes to see how many minutes I can get away with – I should probably start embracing the snooze.
The cups of coffee you need to wake up
Two cups will do it! Normally I brew it at home but with rehearsals I’ve been buying it at the closest deli or Starbucks to wherever we are rehearsing that day.
The time you REALLY feel awake
Lately around 11am - I’m normally a good morning person, when I hit the gym I like doing it at 6am – last time that routine happened it was 1985… no just kidding, it was a couple of months ago. The show has changed all my routines and added back the 10 pounds I had successfully lost.
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