by The Happiest Medium on January 16, 2012
Libby Skala in A Time to Dance photo by Damon Calderwood
A Time to Dance
written and performed by Libby Skala
The story of a pioneering Austrian who transcends poverty, artistic repression and the rise of Hitler through the magic of dance.
Show Times:
- Tuesday, 1/17 @ 6pm
- Friday, 1/20 @ 9pm
- Sunday, 1/22 @ 3pm
Answers by Libby Skala (Playwright, Director, Producer, Performer)
Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
This is an international festival. What part of the world are you coming from … and will your show tantalize the NYC audience with a taste of your nation’s culture?
Libby Skala: I’m first generation American, but my great aunt, in whose voice the play is written, came from Vienna, Austria. Through the narration of her life, the audience travels a fanciful journey through Vienna’s artistic, socio-economic and political environment during the early part of the 20th century, and then onto America where she built a new life.
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by The Happiest Medium on January 16, 2012
SEASONS
Writer: Katie Hammond and Elaine Pechacek
Director: Danny Williams
Spanning the course of one year, SEASONS is a story about love. This original musical delves into the lives of two couples. Poignant and touching, this story explores the characters with humor and realism, and will leave the audience wanting more.
Take a listen here: SEASONS “Don’t Take For Granted”
Show Times:
- Monday, January 16, 2012 at 9:30pm
- Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 8:00pm – SOLD OUT
- Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 5:30pm – SOLD OUT
- Sunday, January 22, 2012 at 8:00pm
Answers by Katie Hammond (lyricist), and Elaine Pechacek (composer) /Producers
Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
This is an international festival. What part of the world are you coming from … and will your show tantalize the NYC audience with a taste of your nation’s culture?
Katie Hammond: Elaine and I, Two Classy Broads, LCC – split our time between New York City and Orlando, FL. I moved up to New York from Orlando about 18 months ago, and Elaine and I have continued our partnership long distance – we’re racking up a lot of frequent flyer miles! SEASONS will tantalize its audience. It’s a story about love, and one that everyone can relate to, regardless of their age, or sex or background. The 4 characters in our story experience every capacities for love – be that for a lover, a friend, a parent or child or a spouse.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on January 16, 2012
There’s a great independent festival kicking off tonight – right in the heart of the theatre district at the Roy Arias Studios & Theaters. What makes The Times Square International Theater Festival special is two things – one, it’s an international festival which means there will be a great range of talents from all over reflecting cultures from around the world. The second thing is that The Happiest Medium is the proud sponsor of this festival! In the coming week we’ll bring you Q&As with each of the production teams to get you excited about the shows, and we’ll review as many as we can get to! In the mean time, check out the full schedule here:
SEASONS
Two Classy Broads
Writer: Katie Hammond and Elaine Pechacek | Director: Danny Williams
Spanning the course of one year, SEASONS is a story about love. This original musical delves into the lives of two couples Poignant and touching, this story explores the characters with humor and realism, and will leave the audience wanting more.
This will be the first time the full musical has been staged.
Run time: 90 min | Country: USA | Genre: Musical
Website: www.pechacekhammond.com
Venue: Stage IV, Roy Arias Studios and Theaters
Time: Mon 16@9:30pm Thurs 19th@8:00pm Sat 21st@5:30pm
CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS
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by Geoffrey Paddy Johnson on January 12, 2012
In a late hour email before I attended the first night performance of The Mad Ones‘ Samuel & Alasdair: A Personal History of the Robot War at the New Ohio Theatre, I was notified that Con Edison were currently addressing a problem with the theatre’s heating system and I should consider dressing in a thick sweater. I grumbled a bit putting on my thick sweater as I headed out, but was actually entirely comfortable in my seat for the duration of the performance. Thinking about it now, it is not inconceivable that this alert may have been part of the very clever, meticulously thoughtful and imaginative production team’s idea at generating a theatrical reality for their play. How very 1950s to deploy a thick sweater while attending a theatre in wintertime, be it in the U.S.S.R. or the U.S.A. The production might have been dressing the audience for their performance.
The reason I am left with this speculation is because it seems there is nothing, quite simply nothing, that this production has not given some sharp thought to in their dramatization; sharp thought and imaginative response to. The thoroughness with which the team at The Mad Ones have undertaken this self-authored work is as impressive as it is deeply satisfying. Originally premiered at Brooklyn’s The Brick in 2010 – a production that garnered them a deal of notice and a clutch of NY Innovative Theatre awards and nominations – the play, allegedly, has undergone some minor tinkering and some extra polish since then. The result is a real gift for theatre lovers.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on January 9, 2012
“History is written by the victors” said Winston Churchill and while that may be true, history is certainly interpreted by the artists. History of The World, written by Judith Malina currently being performed at The Living Theatre not only illustrates this, but exemplifies it. Filled with dramatic scenes of artists, philosophers, thinkers, and game-changers this interactive staging takes the audience through a journey where the goal is not so much to witness history as to experience it, explore it vicerally, and (ultimately) to know it in a way that the history books could never emulate.
The Living Theatre, founded by Malina (and Julian Beck) in 1947, is the oldest experimental NYC theatre still in existence. This latest conceptual play is the perfect cocktail of experimental theatre with long roots: it simultaneously reflects the freshness of understanding the subtle nuances of contemporary themes, original ideas and developing concepts; while still being richly imbued with many years of development in the experimental milieu. The result is an evening of everything New York underground experimental theatre should be – stirring, moving, a little unpredictable — at times a little uncomfortable. If you give yourself over to the process, History of the World will allow you to experience moments of true fear, actual deeply moving pain, and (ultimately) invite you to raise yourself to a higher emotional plane – all in 90 minutes.
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by Michelle Augello-Page on January 3, 2012
If you haven’t heard Eden and John’s East River String Band yet, then you are in for a treat! Based in the East Village in NYC, Eden Brower and John Heneghan have been entertaining audiences in America, Canada, and Europe for the past several years with their versions of 1920s pre-war blues, jazz, pop, and country songs, recreating and reviving a new world of “Old Time” music.
Their unique sound and authentic vibe are a fresh breath of air in contemporary music. By bringing to light this world of old music, they bring us back to a time where the love of playing is as important as technical skill, as they share a catalog of old time songs infused with feeling, emotion, and energy.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on December 22, 2011
Of all the things to be tempted with this holiday season, nothing is so tantalizing as Company XIV’s production of Snow White which lures audiences to 303 Bond Street with all the seduction of an evil queen extending a shiny, beautiful, apple in order to cast a magical spell. One thing is certain – there is definitely something bewitching the spectators who walk in innocently and emerge 90 minutes later – filled to overflowing with images of exquisiteness and spectacle. If that’s not magic, I don’t know what is.
The lights are hung, // The wires strung, // The sets are all painted and built
The make-up’s applied // And I’ll say it outright: // The gold you will see is just gilt.
The kingdom and forest is plastic and steel // But the dancing feet are real.
And so begins the narrator’s speech as Jeff Takacs (who, as with all of the Company XIV productions, is responsible for the adaptation of the work, and has written the script) welcomes the audience to Snow White, conceived, choreographed and directed by Austin McCormick. It’s the perfect way to begin a fairytale: with the truth — that all the dazzling bells and whistles which make this show shine are remarkable, but take it all away and you’d still have the amazing dancers, executing the superb steps created by McCormick. However, between the whirling and the witchery is where the wonder lives.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on December 20, 2011
Nothing says “Happy Holidays” like naked people running around. (At least not where I come from. Your experience may vary.) If you like naked people (and who doesn’t?) and you like jokes about Santa, Hanukkah, Rudolph, Elves, and wrestlers (not necessarily in that order) then End Time Productions Naked Holidays is the show for you. Not only will you get skits, musical production numbers, wry commentary on the holidays and parodies of old favorites but you’ll get full frontal nudity that is both essential to the plot as well as completely gratuitous. It’s enough to jingle anyone’s bells, and then some.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on December 16, 2011
If Christmas in New York could be found on the map I think most people would agree that its address would be Rockefeller Center, filled as it is with the tree and the giant decorations, and the fabled City of Radio … where Rockettes dress up as reindeer and dance their little hearts out, doling out Christmas Miracles to the tourists one high kick at a time.
I’d seen the Radio City Christmas Spectacular a number of times as a child but it was never a family tradition, so therefore it wasn’t something that got scheduled into the season as much as, say, hanging the stocking by the chimney with care or riding in a one-horse open sleigh (oh what fun!). So it wasn’t till around 25 years later, when some out-of-town visitors were staying in NYC for the first 2 weeks of December (“Nothing like shopping on 5th Avenue for Christmas presents!” they cried, credit cards extended), that my family decided it was about time to get ourselves back to the show. After all, it can’t all be Coach wallets and Tiffany trinkets … you’ve gotta have a LITTLE good ole fashioned NYC theater in there somewhere. And, say what you want, WICKED is a fine, fine show, but nothing says Christmas like the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. (It’s in the ACTUAL NAME). Since that day around 5 years ago, I actually found myself back in that audience a number of times, always finding some reason to be there. It adds a little touch of holiday magic to the otherwise pushy, shove-y, where-the-heck-did-I-drop-my-glove-y midtown area.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on December 14, 2011
Three heavy hitters have teamed up on Broadway to give audiences an evening of kinship wrapped in contention with Relatively Speaking: three one-act comedies which cover various forms of familial remedy, rivalry and racket. Four-time Oscar winner Ethan Coen, two-time Oscar nominee Elaine May and multiple award winner Woody Allen each offer up their views on the subject, resulting in short plays which each bear the distinct mark of their unique brand of writing; all delivered under the deft direction of John Turturro.
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