by Karen Tortora-Lee on April 15, 2009
It was shocking, that first time in high school English class when my very Catholic, very quick-to-giggle sophomore class was taken through a reading of William Butler Yeats’ Leda and the Swan: A sudden blow: the great wings beating still // Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed // By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill, // He holds her helpless breast upon his breast.
Greek myth or not, there was something very evocative and real about it all, the idea of Leda being seduced by Zeus in feathered drag … it was a little naughty … a little worldly. A little grown-up. I don’t think we ever understood why it was necessary for the all-powerful King of the Gods to take on the form of a bird in order to convince a woman to sleep with him, but regardless it left an impression on me, and apparently I wasn’t the only one; the myth obviously left an impression on Playwright Dorothy Fortenberry as well for when her writing teacher at the Yale School of Drama assigned her students to write a swan-themed play, Dorothy penned Caitlin and The Swan. The play that started its journey there now continues its voyage as it take wing at UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place between 1st and A) starting April 16th.
I got a chance to sit down with Dorothy, as well as with Director Joshua Conkel, to chat about how this production got started; what they both enjoy about collaborating on this girl-meets-bird story; and the skills needed to produce large-themed theatre in small spaces.
It all began on a Youngblood writing retreat in the Poconos, of all places, where Josh and Dorothy first met. Josh, who is also the co-artistic director of THE MANAGEMENT, asked Dorothy to submit her play to the group and everyone agreed that it was exactly they were looking to do …
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on April 8, 2009
I can not, as a proud adult woman, BEAR to pick up the phone and say to ANYONE “Hello, may I purchase 2 tickets to Kooza, please?” It’s just so … undignified.
But say Stephen got them for me, because he has no trouble saying any word in any language, be it real, made up, or an amalgam of the two (which Cirque would have us believe is how they get all their names of their shows). But then one night Sally calls and asks me if I’ve got any plans this week …
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on April 6, 2009
In the Fall you’ll be able to feast on all the goodness that is the Crown Point Festival: a three week multi-media arts event that incorporates Film, Theatre and Music happenings all over the Lower East Side. But for now, just like when you do a tasting for your wedding, The CPF is having a Spring Sampler that will feature a little bit of this, a little bit of that … just enough to whet your appetite and get you excited for the big event in the Fall.
I hope to do a more in-depth interview in the upcoming months with Festival director Jesse Soursourian to get a real feel for what the Fall Crown Point Festival has in store, but for now I’ll be making my way to the Lower East Side on Tuesday, April 7th to get a taste of some of our city’s young, emerging talent.
Think that YOU’VE got what it takes to be in the festival and want to submit? Then check out the FAQs and the Applications page for more information on that as well, and maybe the next great thing we’re checking out this Fall is YOU!
RSVP to get on the list for $20.00 tickets with jesse@crownpointfestival.org. Entry at the door without RSVP is $25.00. Must be 21 or older to enter.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on March 25, 2009
William Inge’s classic Bus Stop was written in the mid-fifties and at The Gallery Players’ production everything right down to set designer Edward Morris’ bread box and costume designer Meredith Neal’s use of horn-rimmed glasses reflect that awww-shucks time period. But even if director Heather Siobhan Curran had decided to take a little creative license and move the whole thing up to 2009, the plot wouldn’t allow it … for one very simple reason. In the middle of the night when a bus must pull into a roadside diner due to bad weather, instead of people sitting off to the side, watching Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog on hulu.com, checking their emailing from their Android, updating their FaceBook profiles, Twittering about how boring it is to be stuck in the middle of nowhere, or even just (yawn) listening to their iPod, they actually talk to each other. Sooooooo last century.
The last time I had all the time in the world to tell my life story in a no-distractions-allowed environment was when I was on a jury back in 1992; after 3 weeks I knew all about how Con Edison worked, the entire contents of a bachelor’s refrigerator, heard Vietnam War stories from a vet, and discussed the Torah with a rabbinical student. These were fascinating stories; but they came out slowly and over the course of weeks. The characters of Bus Stop just have the one night …
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on March 17, 2009
Fool For Love - photo by Christina Watanabe
There’s been a lot of talk lately about Rihanna and Chris Brown in the headlines, the tabloids, the blogs, the daytime talk shows, the elevator banks … how he allegedly beat her and how they’ve allegedly reconciled. Wherever you go you’ll hear the same thing: What the hell is she thinking? I can’t even begin to speculate on what happened, or what she’s thinking. What I can say is … if it’s anything like what I think it is, it’s nothing new. And it’s been fodder for plays like Sam Shepard’s Fool for Love for years.
Some couples find something when they meet that has nothing to do with love but everything to do with passion, so they think it’s grounds for a relationship and they go for it. But passion comes in many varieties and the variety that comes with bruises and abuse is not love. Still, there must be something addicting about it for both people involved or they wouldn’t keep going back. People who do, Sam Shepard would have us believe, are Fools. I would have to agree with him there.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on March 12, 2009
Cherubino: Kathryn Lawson / Susanna: Gillian Wiggin / Count Almaviva: Ralph Petrarca Photo courtesy Ryan Baxter
I’ve loved the opera since I was a little girl; my parents had a pair of season tickets to the Met since I was twelve and I’d go whenever the seats were offered to me. Aside from the time I was sixteen and my friend and I ditched La Boheme to go shoe shopping on 8th Street instead (hey, I was SIXTEEN!), I always looked forward to going to the Opera no matter what was playing. I’ve seen all the big ones several times over, and when I wasn’t at the actual opera with one of my parents I was watching it on PBS, or listening to records that popped and hissed with overuse (yes, that’s how it was back then). “How did that get in there?” I said, frozen in fear in the middle of Kings Plaza when the bag I was trying to pass off as crammed full of Donna Summer records was discovered to actually be filled with the likes of Renata Scotto Sings Verdi and Madama Butterfly highlights by my sixth grade “cool” friend. It was a Lisa Simpson moment before Lisa Simpson even existed.
When the movie Amadeus came out I was transfixed; it was the first movie I bought on VHS and I watched it so often that I can do entire scenes word for word. So it’s no wonder that The Marriage of Figaro is dear to my heart. I’ve seen both the traditional version as well as the Peter Sellars version (set in the Trump Tower). So when I heard that Figaro/Figaro was being done I was intrigued; Eric Overmyer’s Figaro/Figaro is an adaptation of Pierre Beaumarchais’ The Marriage of Figaro (the same play upon which the opera is based) and Odon von Horvath’s Figaro Gets a Divorce … or rather Figaro läßt sich scheiden; the original play was written in German. To me it sounded like it would all play out as a dark fairy tale; Cinderella when reality set in …
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on March 5, 2009
Ballet Verite
You know you’re standing next to a writer when: their stance is unassuming, their posture is hunched, and when they move it’s only after hours of being in one spot either typing furiously, day dreaming earnestly, or working out that writer’s block by playing yet another game of computer solitaire. (Hey … don’t put it on the computer it you don’t want me to play it!)
You know you’re standing next to a dancer when: their stance is elegant, their posture is perfect, and when they move it’s by way of a grand jeté, or pas de bourrée. Even when they’re waiting to move, they somehow seem to be shimmering.
Sigh. By definition if you’re reading this then I must be writing it … so I fall into the first category. I was born with a writer’s build: short and squat; good for hunkering down for hours (days if necessary) crammed into a small spot, moving as little as possible and living off my own God-given insulation … goodness knows I could hole myself away and write the great American novel and never starve, just give me some chilled beverages (caffeinated if possible, please) and I’m good to go. Maybe that’s why dancers fascinate me. To see what a body can be when it’s in its most perfect state, and then to further that … to see that perfect body used for artistic expression is to see glory magnified one hundred fold.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on February 25, 2009
Gosh, it’s cold outside. Like, tried-to-dial-my-cell-phone-so-took-off-my-glove-and-immediately-regretted-it-because-my-fingers-froze-into-a-claw type of cold. But does it have to be frigid inside too?
According to this festival … yes it does! With January ’09 having the sad distinction of being the month that saw the close of such long running hits as Hairspray, Spamalot and Spring Awakening, as well as other fine productions (such as All My Sons, Boeing-Boeing, Dividing The Estate, Grease, Gypsy, and Young Frankenstein), 2009 is already turning into a sorry year for Broadway. But don’t let it get you down! Go catch one or two or five of these great shows at any or all of these cozy theatres: The Kraine Theatre, The Red Room or Under St. Marks. (And yes, I used “cozy” euphemistically the way those people do when they’re trying to get you to rent their “cozy extra bedroom” … come on, folks it’s obviously a closet!).
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on February 23, 2009
When it comes to the theatre, Carl Andress was practically weaned First Row, Center; he’s been writing, acting, and directing for as long as he can remember, and it’s always been his passion. He got his start years ago when … well, I’ll let him tell you all about that. His latest directorial offering The Third Story stars Kathleen Turner and Charles Busch and is currently running through March 15th at the The Lucille Lortel Theatre. Carl took some time to chat with me about the play, what it’s been like collaborating with Charles Busch over the years, and how his career in theatre began.
KT: Hi Carl, thanks so much for taking some time to talk with me. I’m really excited to be able to chat with you about The Third Story … it sounds like a wild ride – “Gangster flicks, fairy tales, and B-movie sci-fi collide in this epic comic fable from the imagination of Charles Busch“. PLUS it also stars the amazing Kathleen Turner. How did it all happen?
CA: I guess it was around 2007 when Charles Busch was commissioned to write a play for the La Jolla Playhouse (LJP). He gave it to me to read first and I fell in love with it immediately. The La Jolla Playhouse is a very successfully non-profit theatre out in San Diego … a lot of great theatre has come out of there; it’s been in existence since the 50s. More recently, shows like Big River and the revival of How to Succeed in Business …, Tommy, and Jersey Boys started there. They do a lot of new work, new plays and big musicals. And they sometimes commission works, just like they commissioned Charles.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on February 16, 2009
I was afraid of The Wendigo before I even got into the theatre. But not for the reasons you might think. Not because I was about to see a tale of horror, or because I’d done some research on it and the Algernon Blackwood story (upon which it was based) left me spooked. Not because I was coming off a cold and had that terrible oh-damn-what-if-I-start-coughing-during-a-suspenseful-part dread (was some actor going to break character and chew my butt out Christian Bale style ?) No – I was afraid that my delightful chat with playwright Eric Sanders a few weeks ago would some how predispose me to liking this play and not judging it critically. Well, I didn’t have to worry because that didn’t happen.
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