by The Happiest Medium on February 9, 2012
Five Questions. Five Answers. And One Big Decision: Rock, Paper, Or Scissors?
The Terrible Manpain of Umberto MacDougal
Written by and starring Emleigh Wolf
Directed by Bricken Sparacino
Also starring Mike Ogletree
Umberto MacDougal allows you to look through the window of his tragic manpain. With a beard full of tears and a melancholy guitarist playing a sorrowful tune, Umberto reveals the pain that men feel.
Show Times:
- Thu 2/23 @ 9:00pm
- Sun 2/26 @ 7:00pm
- Mon 2/27 @ 6:00pm
- Fri 3/2 @ 7:30pm
- Sat 3/3 @ 2:30pm
Answers by Emleigh Wolf
(Writer / Performer)
Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
That’s some title. How did you come up with it – and what does it mean?
Emleigh: Umberto MacDougal’s mission in life is to educate people about manpain, the pain that men feel. To do this, he must relate his own personal manpain to the audience, and it is, indeed, terrible.
Continue Reading…
Related Posts:
by The Happiest Medium on February 8, 2012
Five Questions. Five Answers. And One Big Decision: Rock, Paper, Or Scissors?
BLIND TO HAPPINESS
Company: Better to Burn Out Productions
BLIND TO HAPPINESS is a drama/comedy about Couks, a quirky and socially awkward dishwasher, who is struggling to get by. He is helped by his co-workers Mike, a Psychology PhD student, and Bliss, a hapless lovelorn poet. Couks is also helped by his cat, some beer, S Club 7, and (perhaps) life’s most important question – is happiness a choice?
Show Times:
- Wed 2/22 @ 7:30pm
- Fri 2/24 @ 9:00pm
- Sat 2/25 @ 5:30pm
- Tue 2/28 @ 6:00pm
- Wed 2/29 @ 7:30pm
- Sat 3/3 @ 10:00pm
Answers by Tim C. Murphy
(Creator/Performer)
Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
That’s some title. How did you come up with it – and what does it mean?
Tim: The title was inspired by a visual experiment in Daniel Gilbert’s book Stumbling on Happiness that one of my characters, Mike (PhD. Positive Psychology student), performs in the play. My play explores the question “Is happiness a choice?” through the three different characters, each struggling to find their own way towards happiness.
Continue Reading…
Related Posts:
by The Happiest Medium on February 8, 2012
Five Questions. Five Answers. And One Big Decision: Rock, Paper, Or Scissors?
Coosje
Company: No.11 Productions
Coosje is the story of two artists, husband and wife, finding their playful aesthetic together and attempting to escape death. Meanwhile, the singing Pear embarks on a heroic quest to achieve immortality. Their journeys intertwine in this fantastical love story.
Show Times:
- Thu 2/23 @ 7:30pm
- Sat 2/25 @ 10:00pm
- Wed 2/29 @ 9:00pm
- Fri 3/2 @ 6:00pm
- Sat 3/3 @ 7:00pm
Answers by Ryan Emmons
(Co-Artistic Director of No.11 Productions)
Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
That’s some title. How did you come up with it – and what does it mean?
Ryan: Coosje refers to the Dutch artist, art historian and critic, Coosje van Bruggen. The play is inspired by (and a celebration of) the relationship she had with her husband/collaborator Claes Oldenburg. She influences everything in Claes’ life…so it seemed appropriate that the title be influenced by her.
Continue Reading…
Related Posts:
by The Happiest Medium on February 7, 2012
Five Questions. Five Answers. And One Big Decision: Rock, Paper, Or Scissors?
The Stranger To Kindness
Company: D&A Productions
Directed by: Heather Cohn
Years of routine bind Lena and Nance, two lonely senior women from the Upper West Side. When Nance no longer answers her door, Lena takes it on herself to call the police and her friend’s family. What arrives is a strange dose of animosity and generousness from unlikely places.
Show Times:
- Thu 2/23 @ 6:00pm
- Sun 2/26 @ 2:30pm
- Wed 2/29 @ 9:00pm
- Thu 3/1 @ 7:30pm
- Sat 3/3 @ 4:00pm
Answers by Antonio Miniño
(Performer)
Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
That’s some title. How did you come up with it – and what does it mean?
Antonio: The title is a play on words from the famous final lines of A Streetcar Named Desire, “I’ve always depended on the kindness of strangers”. The characters in The Stranger to Kindness are all figuring out what kindness means, how to give it and how to accept it from others, especially strangers.
Continue Reading…
Related Posts:
by The Happiest Medium on February 7, 2012
Five Questions. Five Answers. And One Big Decision: Rock, Paper, Or Scissors?
Tali Brady, Afternoon Tea With Jane Austen (Photo by Karin Benedict)
Afternoon Tea With Jane Austen
Orange Wine Productions
Meet English novelist Jane Austen (the woman behind such beloved books as Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice) in this solo show about the creator of some of the most popular stories and characters in the English language.
Show Times:
- Fri 2/24 @ 6:30 pm
- Sat 2/25 @ 3:30 pm
- Mon 2/27 @ 9:30 pm
- Wed 2/29 @ 6:30 pm
- Fri 3/2 @ 9:30 pm
- Sun 3/4 @ 3:30 pm
Answers by Tali Brady
(Playwright / Performer)
Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
That’s some title. How did you come up with it – and what does it mean?
Tali: I first came up with the title “Tea With Jane Austen” because I was creating an intimate show about a woman telling us about her life and I loved the mental image of telling one’s story over a cup of tea. (On the more mercenary side, I put in “Afternoon” at the beginning of the title to make sure it shows up higher in alphabetical listings!)
Continue Reading…
Related Posts:
by Karen Tortora-Lee on February 7, 2012
If you read THM with any frequency you already know that I am a HUGE fan of Austin McCormick and his amazing Company XIV. What comes out of the 303 Bond Street Theatre is almost impossible to describe – because how can you describe the way your life is changed, over and over again?
The Company is now taking things to the next level with their Workshop (full information after the jump) which will take place March 5-10, 2012. Space is limited so I urge you to take a look at the schedule and see if you can join Austin McCormick, Laura Careless and Sean Gannon who all made this marvelous workshop possible. During the week fantastic instructors will take you through Repertory Classes (know what it feels like to be a Company XIV member), Lucid Body Classes (open to actors as well as dancers) and Gaga Classes (no! NOT Pokerface! This is the movement language developed by Ohad Naharin).
I’m also thrilled that THM will be intimately involved in bringing this Company XIV workshop to you: I’ll be doing an exclusive two-part series on the website and you won’t want to miss it.
I’ll start off a few weeks before the workshop with an in-depth article, then I’ll follow that up with an on-the-scene report. Best of all – I’ll be moderating a panel discussion with Austin McCormick himself (Friday March 9th 1:15 – 3:00). That panel is open to the public and admission is by donation, so give what you can. You won’t want to miss hearing the man himself answering some fantastic questions – I know I can’t wait to hear what he has to say!
So, check out the information below, sign up, mark your calendars … and get ready to have the time of your life with COMPANY XIV!
Continue Reading…
Related Posts:
by The Happiest Medium on February 6, 2012
Five Questions. Five Answers. And One Big Decision: Rock, Paper, Or Scissors?
Poe-Dunk, "Annabel Lee"
Poe-Dunk – A Matchbox Entertainment
Company: Playlab NYC
Beyond the tales of terror! On a tabletop lies the quaint and curious work of Edgar Allan Poe. Newspaperman. Playwright. Critic. Humorist. An itty-bitty puppet repertoire of obscure curios, marginalia, and even a couple popular classics from America’s most versatile writer.
Show Times:
- Wed 2/22 @ 6:30 pm
- Fri 2/24 @ 9:30 pm
- Mon 2/27 @ 8:00 pm
- Wed 2/29 @ 11:00 pm
- Sat 3/3 @ 12:30 pm
Answers by Kevin P. Hale
(Creator / Performer)
Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
That’s some title. How did you come up with it – and what does it mean?
Kevin: A podunk is a small place that is regarded as unimportant. Cast members don’t get much smaller than the pair of three-quarter inch lovers in my version of “Annabel Lee.” Additionally, it was my goal to shine a light on some of Poe’s lesser-known works, seemingly unimportant stories like “The Scythe of Time” and “The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion.” And finally Edgar Allan Poe loved puns, so Poe-Dunk seemed inevitable.
Continue Reading…
Related Posts:
by The Happiest Medium on February 6, 2012
Five Questions. Five Answers. And One Big Decision: Rock, Paper, Or Scissors?
Missed Connections – An Exploration into the Online Postings of Desperate Romantics
Company: Royanth Productions
Directed by: Ricky Dunlop
Drawing from the sometimes touching, oftentimes torrid (and almost always grammatically incorrect) postings on craigslist’s most notorious section, Missed Connections is a collection of the best and brightest.
Show Times:
- Wed 2/22 @ 7:30 pm
- Sat 2/25 @7:00 pm
- Mon 2/27 @ 6:00 pm
- Thu 3/1 @ 10:30 pm
- Sun 3/4 @ 1:00 pm
Answers by Ricky Dunlop
(Writer, Director, Performer)
Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
That’s some title. How did you come up with it – and what does it mean?
Ricky: Missed Connections – An Exploration into the Online Postings of Desperate Romantics is directly inspired by the source of the material in our show. Check out Missed Connections on Craigslist.com if you don’t know what I’m talking about.
Continue Reading…
Related Posts:
by The Happiest Medium on February 5, 2012
Five Questions. Five Answers. And One Big Decision: Rock, Paper, Or Scissors?
Daughters of Lot (Marlena Kalm, photo by Rachel Kerry)
Daughters Of Lot
Company: Brain Melt Consortium
Directed by: Rachel Kerry
The evening’s entertainment is a sexy and silly retelling of an ancient story, until the performers do a trick that requires more than flexibility. Arousing and agitating in Biblical proportions, this is not your daddy’s burlesque club… or maybe it is.
Show Times:
- Thu 2/23 @ 7:30 pm
- Sat 2/25 @ 5:30 pm
- Tue 2/28 @9:00 pm
- Fri 3/2 @ 5:30 pm
- Sun 3/4 @ 4:00 pm
Answers by Alexis Roblan
(Playwright, Producer)
Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
That’s some title. How did you come up with it – and what does it mean?
Alexis: Daughters of Lot takes place in a burlesque club where the performers conjur up a couple Biblical characters to play with — Lot’s daughters. So in one sense, the title’s pretty literal. It’s also a reference to the fact that Lot, from the story of Sodom & Gomorrah, has a name, but none of the women in the story (including his daughters) are ever given names.
Continue Reading…
Related Posts:
by The Happiest Medium on February 5, 2012
Five Questions. Five Answers. And One Big Decision: Rock, Paper, Or Scissors?
The Rope In Your Hands
Written and performed by Siobhan O’Loughlin
Directed by Danielle Skraastad
The Rope in Your Hands, written and performed by Siobhan O’Loughlin, is an interview-based solo show featuring the stories of thirteen different survivors of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Show Times:
- Wed 2/22 @ 9:30pm
- Sat 2/25 @ 8:00pm
- Wed 2/29 @ 8:00pm
- Sat 3/3 @ 11:00pm
- Sun 3/4 @ 6:00pm
Answers by Siobhan O’Loughlin
(Writer, Performer)
Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
That’s some title. How did you come up with it – and what does it mean?
Siobhan: The Rope in Your Hands is based on interviews I conducted with survivors of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. The title is an actual quote from a homeless man I interviewed in the French Quarter—he said to me, “You got a man drowning in a lake, huh? And you got a rope in ya hand? You don’t debate about whether or not you throw a man a rope!” For me, this embodies the show itself: if we have the ability to help each other, we should. The rope is in your hands as well as mine. It is in our hands.
Continue Reading…
Related Posts:
