by Antonio Miniño on January 28, 2010
The final bow for The 2010 National NewBorn Festival was Sunday, and it was anything but uneventful. After reservations soared, the last two days of the festival were hosted in a different venue, giving the staff including myself extra work to schlep everything from one place to the other. The recipient of The Audience Favorite Award that received a second reading on Sunday was Carol Carpenter’s Good Lonely People. For those of you that don’t know about “NewBorn” it is the flagship program of the Off-Off Broadway theatre company MTWorks, showcasing new plays taking place and/or inspired by other regions of the US. I was honored to perform and be under the direction of The Happiest Medium collaborator Diánna Martin in A Home Across the Ocean, by Louisiana playwright Cody Daigle.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on January 28, 2010
RUMSPRINGA! (OR - Jocelyn Kuritsky and Amy Landon telling "The Secrets of an Amish Ghost"; photo credit: Aaron Epstein)
Up front – full disclosure. For the first few minutes of The Luck of the Ibis I was a little confused by what was going on and therefore not fully checked into the play yet. I was waiting for something to click (something always does) and then the girl in the corner (Amy Landon) said Rumspringa. And boy oh boy, THAT made me perk up. I am an absolute FOOL for anything to do with Rumspringa, and I love any plot that can incorporate it, even vaguely. Even just in passing. Which … (more full disclosure) was about as much as it was mentioned here. (Oh, Rumspringa, we hardly knew ye). But the point is, it got my attention, and from that moment I was invested.
I tell this to you for a reason. Because The Luck of The Ibis (Written by Jonathan A. Goldberg and directed by Tom Ridgely) is filled with a whole lotta crazy and the only way to enjoy it (and you WILL enjoy it … I promise) is to find something to latch on to quickly and then just go with the crazy till it runs out.
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by Antonio Miniño on January 28, 2010
I have to admit, it has been hard for me to wrap around the idea of posting The Wo(Man) In The Window after the earthquake that hit Haiti. I was thinking of using the column to inform on ways on how to donate and help – but you can check out the extremely helpful Washington Post article. A lot of Arts organizations around NYC are also donating part of their proceeds to help the Haiti relief. Right here on The Happiest Medium there is information on The Improvolution’s LoveFest, donating their proceeds.
Acrylic on Masonite by Bernard Sejourne
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by Antonio Miniño on January 27, 2010
That’s right it is festival season. And today I bring you the news of a short festival… short plays that is, The 35th Annual Samuel French Inc. Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival. Submissions are now being accepted! Playwrights should visit www.samuelfrench.com/oobfestival for application and submission details. Applications must be postmarked on or before March 12, 2010 to be considered for this year’s festival.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on January 27, 2010
UP LATE WITH SKIP CARTER!
In the middle of these recent late night wars our country is once again divided. There’s Team Leno, Team Conan, and then there’s the small little group of insurgent insomniacs who stay up waaaay past all that to tune in for “Up Late with Skip Carter” (Local Channel 27′s second highest rated non-animal variety slash talk show). Every night at 2:30 his is the little talk show that could … but then couldn’t — as “tonight” happens to be the last episode (for a while at least) of this home grown chat-fest. Luckily, we’re there to see it play out. While the only people watching maybe be you, me, and the cameraman, Skip Carter (Nick Lehane), his twin sister Lacy (Lauren Glover) and his one-man-band Carl (Gabriel Millman) are, to borrow a phrase, dancing as fast as they can. And, viewing audience or not, this swan song is almost as “awwwwwww” inspiring as Bette Midler crooning to Johnny all those years ago.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on January 26, 2010
If you haven’t already had a chance to check out Groundling alum Holly Mandel’s IMPROVOLUTION! now’s a great time to 1) give yourself a great night of improv 2) support people who really need it during a time of need. Because This Friday, Jan 29 @ 8pm Improvolution will be holding their next Improv Lovefest which will not only be a night of long form improv but also be a FUNDRAISER FOR HAITI where 100% of the money collected will be donated to the American Red Cross to help their efforts there … a TRUE Lovefest!
For more information, check out http://www.improvolution.org
~~~
Groundling alum Holly Mandel’s
IMPROVOLUTION!
It’s Your Show. We Just Perform It.
This Friday, Jan 29 @ 8pm
Producer’s Club, 358 W44th @9th Ave
Tickets are $7
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on January 22, 2010
Henrik Ibsen would be proud – Hip Obscurity’s somewhat modern adaptation of the classic A Doll’s House (which runs till the 24th at the American Theatre of Actors) belongs entirely to its women.
Taking on a classic is always an interesting choice – one can play it safe and give the audience the same story it’s known for years, running the risk of an entirely boring production, or one can try and find all the hidden metaphors with the result being something far from what the author intended but a new experience for the audience. So I can imagine there were a lot of creative and directorial choices director Anthony Castellano had to make when going through this text in the hopes of bringing something fresh and new to it.
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by Diánna Martin on January 15, 2010
Tea, Anyone? (Photo courtesy of Screenrant.com)
I’m very excited about Tim Burton’s new take on Alice In Wonderland. I honestly can’t think of anyone else who could bring the tale to the screen and give it that surreal (read: trippy) quality that it properly deserves. The cast is amazing and includes Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Mia Wasikowska, Stephen Fry, Crispin Glover, Anne Hathaway, Christopher Lee, Matt Lucas, Alan Rickman, and Michael Sheen. I’m about as excited to see Rickman as the Caterpillar as I am Depp as The Mad Hatter! (“Whoooo Are Yooooou?” lol)
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by Antonio Miniño on January 13, 2010
Developed 3 years ago, The National NewBorn Festival is the flagship program of a non-profit theater company very dear to me, Maieutic Theatre Works; or as we like to call it MTWorks – that way we don’t have to get into the whole “Maieutic is pronounced /meɪˈjuːtɪks/”.
New plays that have yet to receive a New York production are read in a festival setting and free to the general public from Thursday, January 21st through Sunday, January 24th. This year we are showcasing new plays by Barrie Kreinik, Jacqueline Goldfinger, Carol Carpenter, Gwydion Suilebhan and Cody Daigle.
The audience also gets to pick and vote for the recipient of the Audience Favorite Award. The winner receives a second reading on Sunday night after the resident reading of A Song for St. Michael’s by one of the NewBorn creators and Artistic Director of MTWorks, David Stallings.
What I appreciate about festivals is the networking opportunities it creates for dramatists, actors, directors and companies. This week I asked all 6 dramatists some questions about their work and inspirations.
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by David Stallings on December 27, 2009
A Film Review by Guest Blogger David Stallings
The question is not is Nine worthy, but can a modern audience sit through 8 ½?
Buzz surrounding Rob Marshall’s film adaptation of a stage musical adaptation of a 1963 film classic, 8 ½ , has been flitting around the industry for many months. From the drama of losing Javier Bardem and gaining Daniel Day Lewis to casting a bevy of Hollywood Divas in ensemble roles, this picture has certainly had the build-up of a blockbuster hit. Unfortunately for this film, it has neither the current American cinematic structure nor the traditional character development to meet the primary requirement of a Blockbuster: the movie does not speak to everyone. That being said, the film Nine will have those who love it and hate it arguing about its validity for years to come. In short, Nine has thus succeeded as a work of art.
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