Every year the Frigid Festival gives us a hangover – of shows, that is!  A Frigid Hangover has nothing to do with alcohol but it has everything to do with shots!  As in — these shows get one more shot at entertaining audiences.

HORSE TRADE THEATER GROUP

PRESENTS THE

2012 FRIGID HANGOVERS

THE BEST & BRIGHTEST FROM

THIS YEARS FESTIVAL

Horse Trade Theater Group (Erez Ziv, Managing Director, Heidi Grumelot, Artistic Director) is proud to present the third annual FRIGID Hangovers, March 5-10 at The Kraine Theater (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Ave and Bowery). They’re bringing back the best and the brightest from this years festival, so don’t miss your second chance to catch standout performances of the shows below:

FRIGID Hangovers will run March 5-10 at The Kraine Theater. Tickets ($18-$20) may be purchased online at www.FRIGIDnewyork.info or by calling Smarttix at 212-868-4444.

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Stripper Lesbians

Hangover: Mon 3/5 @ 7pm

Evan, a woman’s studies major, is writing a killer senior thesis– by becoming a stripper at her favorite strip club. In between her current girlfriend, a stripper-lesbian, and her ex boyfriend, an unemployed Tisch graduate, Evan dances the line between love and betrayal. A comedy about what it really means to be ‘in love with a stripper’ and what it means to become one.

What we said: Sure, the show is sexy, shows a lot of skin, and has no problem exploring the more intimate moments of the relationship, but Rising Sun’s inherent intelligence as an ensemble ensures that your skin is served up with a side of thoughtful, though-provoking drama which explores the title rather than exploits it.

Fear Factor: Canine Edition

Hangover: Mon 3/5 @ 8:30pm

The peculiar and misguided true adventures of a man and his very trusting, very forgiving, therapy dog. An award-winning tale of true love and overcoming obstacles, while staring fear in the face.

What we said: In Fear Factor: Canine Edition Grady tells the hilarious and heartbreaking story of his life with Abby, and Abby’s last days before she had to be put down. Grady’s stories are beautiful and impassioned, but told simply, with ease and humor.

Little Lady

Hangover: Tue 3/6 @ 7pm

A physical theatre solo show that peers into the fantastical life of Little Lady.

What we said: Little Lady, is happy to hold you in a spell of fascination as she pricks away at your comfort levels, never allowing you to lapse into a passive, carefree enjoyment of her performance.

LOL: The End

Hangover: Tue 3/6 @ 8:30pm

Come to a place where tragedy meets comedy meets stupid. A funny and physical look at natural and human-made disasters through the eyes of three clowns.

What we said: By the end of the show the audience is shown a postapocalyptic world where humankind is reduced back to their primal state by a believable set of circumstances.

The Terrible Manpain of Umberto MacDougal

Hangover: Thu 3/8 @ 7pm

Umberto MacDougal allows you to look through the window of his tragic manpain. With a beard full of tears and a melancholy guitarist playing a sorrowful tune, Umberto reveals the pain that men feel.

What we said: Instead of Umberto simply being a character who is parading his troubles, he has trouble with that parade and it becomes overwhelming to him at times, adding a greater dimension to the work as a whole.

Daughters of Lot

Hangover: Thu 3/8 @ 10pm

The evening’s entertainment is a sexy and silly retelling of an ancient story, until the performers do a trick that requires more than flexibility. Arousing and agitating in Biblical proportions, this is not your daddy’s burlesque club.

What we said: Welcome to Daughters of Lot where the Bible Belt meets the Garter Belt, where Feminism has as many meanings as Eskimos have words for snow and where women run the gamut from young and innocent to young and jaded.

The Rope in Your Hands

Hangover: Fri 3/9 @ 7pm

A solo show based on the true stories of thirteen different survivors of Hurricane Katrina

What we said: O’Loughlin’s interviews span race, class, and age to bring a fully realized account of the storm and its aftermath. Morphing gracefully into each character, with specific physicality and well-practiced speech patterns, O’Loughlin is a joy to watch.

Missed Connections

Hangover: Fri 3/9 @ 8:30pm

Drawing from the sometimes touching, oftentimes torrid (and almost always grammatically incorrect) postings on craigslist’s most notorious section, Missed Connections is a collection of the best and brightest.

What we said: Whether you’re M4W, W4M, M4M, or W4W, there is something for everyone in Missed Connections: An Exploration Into The Online Postings Of Desperate Romantics.

Coosje

Hangover: Sat 3/10 @ 7pm

Coosje is the story of two artists, husband and wife, finding their playful aesthetic together and attempting to escape death. Meanwhile, the singing Pear embarks on a heroic quest to achieve immortality. Their journeys intertwine in this fantastical love story.

What we said: Coosje allows for intimate interaction with the elements of the creative process. This play highlights the notion that every piece of art is the completion of a journey for an object (real or imagined, sentient or inanimate) to get to the place where its inclusion in the art creates the context and meaning of the art itself.

Rabbit Island

Hangover: Sat 3/10 @ 8:30pm

Alex zigzags irregular relationships with an erratic therapist, his on-again off-again girlfriend, an untamed burlesque dancer and The Cleanse. But what more will it take for this verbose Canadian mime to become a Real New Yorker?

What we said: The cast of four is powerful; each embodying complex characters and finding the dualities so that the audience is able to both identify with them as well as inwardly breathe a sigh of relief at how different we are (one would hope).

Related Posts:

• Women’s History Month: Celebrating Women In The Arts – Spotlight On Heidi Grumelot
• Fear Factor: Canine Edition – Puppy Love (2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)
• Missed Connections: An Exploration Into The Online Postings Of Desperate Romantics (2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)
• LOL: The End. : 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)
• Fear Factor: Canine Edition – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)

Linda Evangelista is the source of the oft-quoted line “I won’t get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day.” I’ve often paraphrased and said that I won’t get out of bed before six a.m. unless a number like that is mentioned. Yeah, well … how about a number like over 5 million?

Let me explain …

Regular readers of The Happiest Medium know that UNDER St. Marks Theater is one of the theatres that I return to time and time again.  It’s where I first laid eyes on Killy Dwyer and Kill The Band, it’s where Alex Bond did her staged reading of Late Nights With The Boys, it’s where Penny Pollak holds Penny’s Open Mic and where Gigi LaFemme holds Revealed Burlesque. It’s where I saw Heidi Grumelot make a sock puppet into something much more in Donnie and the Monsters.  UNDER St. Marks is home to not only an army of downtown theatre artists but also to countless people who sit in the audience and shower them with love.  People like … me.

Well, this news had hardly hit the grapevine before all of downtown took it as a call to action — and very quickly Save UNDER St. Marks was formed.  Please join the group and throw your support behind this if you value all the precious gifts Horse Trade Theater Group has been able to funnel through this space.

So what does this have to do with getting up early?

Well, on Thursday, April 7 · 6:30am – 8:30am Save UNDER St. Marks is having a televised breakfast Event -

We want to invite you all to come out on Thursday morning at 6:45AM (yes AM) to join us in Showcasing the Horse Trade Talent at UNDER St Marks on NY1. Roger Clark will be there to interview us about UNDER St. Marks.

There will be two segments shot, one at 7am and the other around 8am, between the two segments we will run it open mic style with folks jumping up to do short 5 minute sets, the theme will be OWN IT.

We need a good turn out to show NYC that this is so important that even Artists are willing to get out of bed at 6AM and represent.

So if you can stay up all night and get there early — or if you can get out of bed, get yourself purty and look alive — please come join me at UNDER St. Marks on Thursday, April 7 · 6:30am – 8:30am.

Do it because there are moments when you need to join your voice with others in order to make a difference.  And this is one of those moments.

I’ll see you there.  Right?

~~~

More Info about UNDER St. Marks:

UNDER St. Marks is a downtown performance venue with a rich history. An experimental theatre space since the 1970’s, this 45-seat basement theater is now home to a wide variety of performance artists including The BTK Band, Penny’s Open Mic, Revealed Burlesque, Thank You Robot, Adam Wade, Tanya O’Debra, The Management, Little Lord, the Rising Sun Performance Company, No Tea Productions, Wide Eyed Productions, Animal Parts, Subjective Theatre Company, The Pumpkin Pie Show, and the FRIGID New York Festival.

Related Posts:

• Mike Milazzo — Open Mike
• Women’s History Month: Celebrating Women In The Arts – Spotlight On Heidi Grumelot
• Women’s History Month: Celebrating Women In The Arts – Spotlight On GiGi La Femme
• Women’s History Month: Celebrating Women In The Arts – Spotlight On Penny Pollak
• Following The Path Of Yoga

These women of the arts hail from different disciplines, but they all have an indomitable spirit and a luminescent spark that makes them amazing human beings who are out there every day, doing amazing work.

Today we continue our series with Heidi G. Grumelot.

Heidi Grumelot is the Artistic Director of Horse Trade Theater Group.  Horse Trade is comprised of three theatres that are like second homes to me: UNDER St. Marks, The Kraine and The Red Room.  I had the pleasure of getting to know her after we sat on a panel together during FRIGID NewYork 2011 discussing Self Producing Artists. Honestly, I”m surpirsed it took me this long to actually meet her considering what a fan I am of Horse Trade and how much of my time is spent there.

Heidi is also a talented director; she was responsible for the extremely enjoyable Donnie and the Monsters which was held over last year.  I’m happy to see someone so cool, so together and so strong being responsible for so much of the NYC downtown theatre scene.  I can’t wait to continue working with her in the years to come.  Now here’s Heidi’s story …

Talk to me about being a woman who does what you do- just overall.

I love what I do. Not only do I work with the nicest bunch of people around, I get to meet amazing artists each day and glean inspiration. I can’t imagine being a man doing this job…mainly because I’m not a man. Male or female, I do think being an ‘open’ person is a valuable quality in this business. I’m not sure if some of the bedlam we allow in our spaces would have found a home without a bit of openness – BTK Band I am talking about you.

Are there days it makes a difference – good or bad?

The combination of looking a bit younger than I am and being a woman often provokes surprise in those I meet. I generally try and take their surprise as a complement because forty is not thaaat far away… But, I’m not afraid to call people on it if they can’t do business with a woman.

Are there barriers you fought against in the past that are now becoming easier? Was it always easy? Is it still hard?

I think the biggest obstacle of being a woman in this job is facing the under-estimation of others. But any artist who takes chances faces this type of challenge….all the more reason to prove them wrong.

The men that you come across / work with / interact with – do they treat you as an equal?

I am treated very well by all the gents I work with right now. I really appreciate them because they totally have my back. They also work really hard, are generous, and just plain smart.

I have had situations in the past in other places where a man has tried to bully me on the job, so I suppose it has gotten better for me. Actually, I think it has gotten better because I am much better at standing up for myself now. Not to say I think bullying is gender specific, I have had similar situations with female bullies too.

Are there some resources you’d like to share that you find particularly helpful as a woman?

I think everyone should become friends with the Wreckio Ensemble - those ladies know what’s up. Oh, and take a trip to the Russian/Turkish bath house with the ladies on your staff after you finish the FRIGID Festival, I highly recommend that. Definitely take advantage of the happy hour offerings on your block with your favorite NJ playwright. Do whiskey shots with your crazy Israeli bookkeeper if you stay at work late. And do order stew fries with all the ladies in the office at lunch time….

You’re adorable, Heidi.  Plain and simple.  What’s up next for you?

I would love for more folks to meet The Drafts Ensemble at our Drafts Fest May 5th-15th. This year’s theme: ‘Accidental Discharge Impossible.’ We are very excited to be hosting a South African Theater Festival July 24th-August 2nd. And I am directing a play called Lines written by Terence Hughes in association with the UK Company Ice & Fire August 11th-27th. And before that we have so much more going on with our Horse Trade Residents – check out our website at  www.horsetrade.info. And apply for a Residency at Horse Trade, over ¾ of all the playwrights, directors, and producers we worked with this season were women!

Now that’s what I like to hear!  Thanks so much, Heidi, for sharing your stories with us … can’t wait to see you at the next show!

~~~

More about Heidi Grumelot

Heidi Grumelot is co-creator and producer of the monthly storytelling show TOLD. She is the founding director of The Drafts, an acting ensemble responsible for development of over forty original plays to date as part of a monthly reading series. She is the Resident Coordinator for Horse Trade’s six resident companies.

New York directing credits include punkrock/lovesong at The Brick Theater, Dido and Aeneas with The New York Collective of Performing Arts at The West End Theater and The Boston Early Music Festival, Donnie and the Monsters at UNDER St Marks Theater, and Accidents Do Happen, Tom’s Things, and Turning the Glass Around in The Red Room. New York staged reading credits include The Flower Thief in The Red Room , A River Pure for Healing, and An Absolutely Perfect Life at UNDER St Marks Theater. Assistant director credits include Antony and Cleopatra, Love’s Labour’s Lost, and A Christmas Carol for the American Shakespeare Center. She has directed productions in Michigan, Virginia, and Mexico.

Prior to working at Horse Trade, Heidi worked for Laura Stanzyck Casting and The Public Theater’s Casting Department. Casting Assistant credits include Impressionism on Broadway, The Cripple of Inishman at Atlantic Theater Company, The Shawshank Redemption at The Gaiety Theater in Dublin, Holiday Garland at The Westport Country Playhouse, and Hamlet and Hair at Shakespeare in the Park.

Related Posts:

• Early Risers / Night Owls … Come With Me – Help Save UNDER St. Marks
• FRIGID Hangovers – I’ll Have Another Round! (FRIGID New York 2011)
• Starting Tonight! Frigid Hangovers Begin At The Kraine Theater
• Yippie! – Revolution On Demand (FRIGID New York 2011)
• There is No Good News – Laughing Until Your Sides Hurt (FRIGID New York 2011)