by Karen Tortora-Lee on March 2, 2011
The Mysterious Mystery of Mystery Street
Go into The Mysterious Mystery of Mystery Street at the Kraine Theatre expecting a hard boiled detective story full of tersely delivered dialogue, dames and dicks and that’s what you’ll get, in a manner of speaking. It’s your typical setup: two hard talking detectives (Sergio Lodolce and Adam Brome) are behind a desk in some seedy joint down town when a hapless dame (Maggie McGuire) walks in. She’s leggy, lovely and looking for her brother; a few tears, a little exposition, some wisecracks and the dicks are soon hoofing it all over town on a random chase that leads them down the path of innuendo, wisecracks, double entendres and mistaken meaning, all culminating with a big shootout in a warehouse. Sounds like all the elements are there for the perfect noir send-up, yes? Well, yes. And . . . no.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on March 1, 2011
F*#king Girls featuring Ben Thompson & Carolyn Gilliam (Photo by Andrew Bisdale)
The Bromance has come into its own and is now permeating black box theatre – behold F*#cking Girls the new Bromantic Comedy brought to you by Ben Thompson and Bro. I mean, and Co. Well, both really. Written by Thompson and directed by Paul Leopold this short, sweet, easy-to-digest play doesn’t cover new ground, but it sure does repave the familiar road admirably.
Set up like every typical comedy of its type F*#cking Girls is comprised of one good guy and one bad guy – or rather one faithful (borderline emotionally pathetic) guy and one cool (that would mean promiscuous) dude. James (Jon Bass) hails from Column A; as the lights come up we find James drowning his sorrows over the demise of his long-term relationship. Quick to step in is his best Bro Mike (Brendan McCarthy) who offers up a simple plan full of the hi-jinks that make for a laugh-packed short play: James needs to sleep his way through all the ex girlfriends who didn’t give it up to him the first time around.
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by Geoffrey Paddy Johnson on February 28, 2011
Joe the Perfect Man featuring Rachelle Elie (Photo credit: Sandy Nicholson)
Why are so many people repulsed by (and fearful of) clowns? Could it be because the barbaric humor they deploy is played, in part, to mock the audience? Who, after all, but fools would be entertained by such crude gestures and antics? Or is it because those white, white faces, with broadly drawn features, are just plain scary? Rachelle Elie, in her one-woman show, Joe: The Perfect Man, at least spares us the white clown make-up, but everything else about her character’s grotesquely padded physique and appearance is from the classic costume rack: a hopelessly unconvincing grey, curly wig; wide-lens glasses; penciled-on goatee; black taped tooth gaps. Did I mention the loud plaid jacket and wide-striped pants? Yes, settle back folks, because this brand of entertainment will be, well, broad.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on February 26, 2011
We Might Be Experimenting On You featuring Kym Bernazky and Melanie Jones
I could say SO MUCH about We Might Be Experimenting On You - but I’ve been sworn to secrecy. Seriously. I have been. Doctors (and writers) Kym Bernazky and Melanie Jones are very clear about this. But I can tell you this much – We Might Be Experimenting On You was a delightful surprise and I’ll try to explain why while still being as cryptic as possible.
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by Geoffrey Paddy Johnson on February 26, 2011
Denmo Ibrahim as Mohamed Hosni (Photo by Wesley Cabral)
Titling a show FUNNY A Trunk Show is perhaps somewhat daring, if not theatrical wishful thinking. Some people’s funny is other people’s camp. So it’s a good thing that Denmo Ibrahim’s one-woman show, just opened in the FRIGID New York Festival, knows what it is about, and blithely transcends its title.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on February 26, 2011
Flora (Tali Custer) is so sweet when she shows up at the door of Willard (Jeffrey Coyne) selling White Sexy Face Toothpaste that it’s easy to see why he can’t resist her. Just look at her. So peppy. So bright. So nubile. Why, she’s the exact kind of 14 year old a man could find planted smack in the middle of a Dateline sting operation. But Willard didn’t even have to fall for that. No – Flora came to his door. With mmmmm – toothpaste. Bitchin’ Blueberry. A whole suitcase full. No cameras. No reporters. Just a gal with a desire to sell him the best gosh darn toothpaste there is, so that she can win the contest and go to the Virgin Islands. And of course Willard will help her. He is, after all, A Kind Kind Man.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on February 25, 2011
Welcome back to another installment of FRIGID New York Festival 2011 Q&A! We’ll be running these throughout February, 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 Jayson McDonald, Writer/Performer of Boat Load.
Gary is a brilliant actor who needs a thousand dollars to participate in a high-profile performer showcase. Also, his cat needs a thousand dollar operation, but that’s too much money to spend on a cat.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on February 25, 2011
Welcome back to another installment of FRIGID New York Festival 2011 Q&A! We’ll be running these throughout February, 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 The Bitter Poet himself who is the poet and performer of The Bitter Poet: Looking For Love In All The Wrong Black Box Performance Spaces
New York City’s comic performance artist, The Bitter Poet, performs his guitar-driven poems in this darkly humorous and satirical one-man show about searching for True Love and the contortionists you meet along the way… A high-energy, irreverent celebration of the crazy things we do for love.
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by Stephen Tortora-Lee on February 25, 2011
Frigid Festival: Paradise Lost, Insight Found
There are times in our lives when it feels like we are trapped in a place where we can’t seem to get a handle on anything, and we just wish we could go back to simpler times when choices were clearer and there weren’t so many things to distract us from just being happy. Why can’t everything just be Perfect?
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on February 24, 2011
Welcome back to another installment of FRIGID New York Festival 2011 Q&A! We’ll be running these throughout February, 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 John Patrick Bray, Playwright of Goodnight Lovin’ Trail.
Goodnight Lovin’ Trail is a subtle and touching drama that takes place at a truck stop diner in West Texas, where two desperate and lonely strangers find redemption in each other’s eyes while discussing a stolen guitar. The play explores raw human emotions and consequences while these two desperate characters navigate and come to terms with the choices they’ve made on the road of life.
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