by Karen Tortora-Lee on February 3, 2011
Welcome back to another installment of FRIGID New York Festival 2011 Q&A! We’ll be running these throughout February until the Festival starts, so be sure to check back to read all about the great shows that will be taking part in the festival. Also – don’t miss the winner-take-all game of Rock Paper Scissors! Today’s Q&A is with Jennifer Lieberman who is the Writer/Performer/Producer of Year of the Slut.
As a horny 18 year old virgin on a quest for romance, a naive Jewish Canadian girl moves to NYC and becomes entangled in seduction, heartbreak and adventure. Jennifer Lieberman weaves her provocative poetry across the stage while bringing nine vivid characters to life.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on February 3, 2011
As the recently appointed Vice-Chair of Maieutic Theatre Works-MTWorks I’m honored to be (just a small) part of the very talented team that brings The National NewBorn Festival to life.
Please join me tonight for the first in the series of free readings dealing with such hot topics as: immigration, sexuality, war and freedom.
Thursday, February 3rd at 6:00pm
The Aronow Theater (First Floor)
**Resident Reading**
THE REEDUCATION OF ARIZONA
by MTWorks Artistic Director David Stallings
directed by MTWorks Resident Director Cristina Alicea
A satirical comedy that dissects the trickled down effect of Gov. Jan Brewer’s immigration bill in Arizona.
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Thursday, February 3rd at 8:30pm
The Aronow Theater (First Floor)
SKIN AND BONE
by Jacqueline Goldfinger (Pennsylvania)
directed by Dev Bondarin
A cannibalistic dark comedy about aging, set in a cozy B&B in the South.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on February 2, 2011
You may remember Morningside Opera from the Opera Karaoke which I covered in December. They are a NYC-based opera collective, and they will present the world premiere of a new Handel opera entitled Atra, ossia, l’amore ricordato (Atra, or the remembered love) this Friday, February 4 and Saturday, February 5 at 8PM in the Ailey Citigroup Theater, New York City.
Friends of The Happiest Medium are welcome to use the discount code AMICI2011 when purchasing tickets via this link (click here) so be sure to take advantage of this offer!
Atra is a pasticcio comprising a selection of Handel’s best arias and music woven together by a modern plot that evokes themes from traditional opera seria. The multimedia production, designed and directed by Minou Arjomand, draws on projection, film, dance, music, and words to create a new opera, both in content and presentation, that explores connections between operatic conventions and social conventions in America today, in particular those surrounding the controversial topic of gay marriage.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on February 2, 2011
Welcome back to another installment of FRIGID New York Festival 2011 Q&A! We’ll be running these throughout February until the Festival starts, so be sure to check back to read all about the great shows that will be taking part in the festival. Also – don’t miss the winner-take-all game of Rock Paper Scissors! Today’s Q&A is with Christel Bartelse, performer, creator and co-writer of ONEymoon ( A Honeymoon for One)
A solo tour-de-force comedy about a woman who decides to marry herself. Humor, heart and tap-dancing too!
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on February 2, 2011
Can I tell you a secret? Okay, well – what if I can’t? It’s not that I don’t trust you. It’s just, well, what if I have a secret that’s so damaging I could lose your friendship? Or your respect? Or risk having you take matters into your own hands and tell my secret to the very person I’m keeping it from? You could change my life. You could change theirs. You could change everything. Now you know why I’m keeping it a secret. Even from you. Some things are just better left unsaid.
Better Left Unsaid (written and directed by Joey Brenneman) juggles not one, not two, but over half a dozen secrets ranging from “deep dark” to simply “uncomfortable”. The rule here is: if a character has a line of dialogue, they have a secret. Some are enormous, life changing and devastating, some are simple, quiet, and more of the yearning variety, but all of them are harmful in their own way and once they’re put into words it changes the course of each character’s life irrevocably. As the old saying goes: you can’t unring a bell.
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by Antonio Miniño on February 1, 2011
Tessa LaNeve
Tessa LaNeve is the Literary Manager and Director of The Primary Stages and Anne Einhorn School of Performing Arts. She was kind enough to answer some questions in the middle of auditions for their next semester and planning DETENTION, a new performance series she will speak more of.
What is ESPA? When was it formed and with what goal?
The Primary Stages Marvin and Anne Einhorn School of Performing Arts (ESPA) developed organically from a collection of in-house playwriting classes at Primary Stages to a formalized multidisciplinary institution with fully formed departments in acting, writing, and directing. Since its 2007 inception, the school has housed over 1100 students and boasted a faculty of award-winning professional artists. The school has refined actors who have been seen on and off-Broadway, developed writers whose work has won awards and received workshops and productions, and ultimately crafted emerging artists on their road to professional success. With the naming of the school in 2010, ESPA emerged as a leading educational institution, offering an extensive array of opportunities for students to collaborate and showcase themselves on the New York stage.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on February 1, 2011
Welcome to our first FRIGID New York Festival 2011 Q&A! We’ll be running these throughout February until the Festival starts, so be sure to check back to read all about the great shows that will be taking part in the festival. Also – don’t miss the winner-take-all game of Rock Paper Scissors!
Our first Q&A is with Terra Vetter, the producer of The Shorebound Swim With A One Click Kick: A Tragedy Of Reason
A genius removes himself from society and attempts to unlock the science behind the secrets of the human experience; a boy gets his first taste of love, lust and betrayal; and a desperate caretaker struggles to control her destiny in this gripping drama that connects the cerebral with matters of the heart.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on January 31, 2011
If this is the first time you’re hearing of FRIGID then you’re either new to THM, new to New York, new to off-off-Broadway theatre in general, or just not paying attention.
The Annual FRIGID New York Festival, presented by Horse Trade Theater Group, is now in its 5th year but I promise you this will be the most exciting one yet. Why? Because this year The Happiest Medium is proud to be partnering with the Festival bringing you in-depth (and very entertaining) Q&As with each of the participating shows, reviewing as many as our hardworking contributors can cover, and moderating a kick-ass Virtual Rock Paper Scissors Tournament. If you’ve never seen one of those in action, you’ll want to stay tuned. These guys are SERIOUS about what they throw.
So what exactly is FRIGID?
“FRIGID New York is an open and uncensored theatre festival that gives artists an opportunity to let their ingenuity thrive in a venue that values freedom of expression and artistic determination. In true support of theatre on the fringe of the mainstream, 100% of box office proceeds will go directly to the artists. Riding the fringe of winter FRIGID will kick off the annual North American Fringe Circuit with a bang!
FRIGID 2011 will run February 23-March 6 at The Kraine Theater & The Red Room (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Ave and Bowery) and UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place between 1st Ave and Ave A). Tickets ($10-$16) may be purchased online at www.FRIGIDnewyork.info or by calling Smarttix at 212-868-4444. All shows will run 60 minutes long or less.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself. And, since someone else said it already – I didn’t have to. So, keep watching this space – and let the FRIGID Festival excitement begin!
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on January 29, 2011
If you missed my interview with Cindy Murphy last week take a second to catch up – she is one talented lady with a great eye and an even greater sense of humor. Which is why it’s only fitting that for the first official instiallment of what will be a biweekly event we focus on the Funny Ladies in her series.
Of course it also doesn’t hurt that one of those diptychs is me (ahem). Like Cindy said in her interview, “What I look for is not a perfect match but rather some element that is strong enough to create the effect of “twinning”. Sometimes it’s hair, sometimes it’s a smile. Usually a combo though of two elements.” So for my match Cindy found Fran Drescher because of “same smile, same wicked twinkle in the eyes”. Not to mention the fact that both Fran and I spent a night dancing on the hallowed floor of 2001 Odyssey. I, on the other hand, managed to tame my Brooklynese accent long ago, unless I’m driving and then we’re pretty much idendical on all fronts.
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by Diánna Martin on January 28, 2011
The National Newborn Festival has become, over the last four years, one of the premiere playwriting festivals in the country for emerging playwrights. A flagship program created and produced by MTWorks, an ever-growing, non-profit theatre company, Newborn allows playwrights to have a work never produced in New York be read in a festival setting.
Free and open to the public, this year’s festival is being sponsored by The City College of New York’s Psychology Club & Department and begins Thursday, February 3rd, and runs through Sunday, February 6th. This year we are showcasing the works of Duncan Pflaster, Rich Rubin, Marilynn Barner Anselmi, Riti Sachdeva, and Jacqueline Goldfinger.
David Stallings
The festival will kick off the first night with the reading of The ReEducation of Arizona by MTWorks’ Artistic Director and resident playwright David Stallings, and end the final evening with the Audience Favorite Award ceremony and a raffle, as well as an extra reading of the winning play. For 2011, in addition to the Audience Favorite Award which is selected by those who attend the readings, the MTWorks Board of Directors is presenting the first annual Excellence in Playwriting Award, to be announced prior to the festival.
I have directed a reading in the last two Newborn Festivals, and will be acting in this year’s, so I’m very excited about this brainchild that MTWorks has created…one that encourages playwrights, directors, and actors to come together and celebrate the artistic process. I asked the playwrights to talk a little bit about their work and their thoughts on said process.
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