Archive for the 'Theatre' Category

The NY Internatonal Fringe Festival is upon us again! Ever August, earnest playwrites get the opportunity to have their works produces and performed all over New York (mostly in The Village) in the hopes that they’ll be seen, enjoyed, and maybe, picked up and launched into an Off-Broadway, or maybe even Broadway run! (Ever heard of Avenue Q? A Fringe Festival Success Story!)

So, as a recovered Boy Scout, I was excited to see a silly looking comedy called Scout’s Honor put on by Cardium Mechanicum and written by Ed Valentine, who according to the press pack has bit of experience and success in his dramatists’ endeavors.

Not that this play was any indication of his previously praised talent or success. The Fringe Festival this year is producing 187 plays. Of these, maybe 5-10 gain a high level of buzz and excitement. That leaves room for quite a few bombs. Scout’s Honor was a two-part production. Part one was about Boy Scouts, called “Snipe Hunt” which was about the common camp-out stunt of sending younger scouts out into the woods to hunt for an elusive creatuer called a “snipe” which doesn’t actually exist. The cast consisted of a nerdy Eagle scout-master, two mock-machismo Boy Scouts (named “Mike” and “other Mike”) A rich, daddy’s-boy cub scout, and a troubled, knife-wielding boy scout, an a sensitive younger scout who saves the day in the end. Most of the desperate humor in this skit derived of gay-jokes and mocking New Jersey.

The second, longer half was the girl scout story called “Becky’s Beaver” about a girl scout troop going Beaver hunting in the New Jersey woods. It starts funny, lying hevily on alliterative phrases (Well Barbara and Betty bopped the biggest and best beaver, Becky!) the obvious “beaver” entendre, being the joke that the company hoped to stretch out for a skit that was ill-advised to be stretched into a full-length play. When things get desperate, they add jokes about girls’ insecurities and social hierarchies, more gay jokes, more Jersey jokes, cripple jokes and magic mushrooms.

The acting was amateur, even if they were relying on a play that seemed like it was written up by pair of a high-school students getting high for the first time, and would have worked a lot better as a five-minute skit at a Boy or Girl scouts’ talent night, not a 75 minute offering at the New York Fringe Festival.

I fear this may be a forboding to the quality of theater we may expect this year. Choose your Fringe Shows wisely, folks.

Only at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre can you start a show 30 minutes late & nobody gives a damn! My only guess is that everybody knows they’re about to see a raunchy, hilarious show- and this was no exception.

UPLATE! with Lord Voldemort was a Harry Potter spoof in the form of a late night talk show to celebrate the long awaited release of the final Harry Potter book. This “live taping” was complete with Lord Voldemort as the host with his trusty sidekick Wormtail at his side and (of course) the obvious late night talk show band.

The costumes & makeup were horrible & atrocious in the BEST possible way- smiles were beaming at the campy & half-assed quality of it all.

So, Voldie was convinced that the Harry Potter series was his own biography (not a story about our beloved HP) & he hasn’t even read the books! He must be the only one in the entire world (including Muggles & Wizarding folks). He & Ms. Rowling had a little disagreement over who’d been through the darkest times.

According to He Who Must Not Be Named, the studio set was actually IN Hogwarts, but “it was enchanted to look like a comedy theatre set in a grocery store basement”. The audience was seated in the four houses of Hogwarts. (I was in Slytherin- gulp!) The show’s producer kept having to interrupt the Dark Lord to remind him that the word Mudblood was not politically correct and, of course, to keep giving airtime to the important corporate sponsors of the wizarding community.

Special guest stars included J. K. Rowling, The Boy Who Lived (aka Harry Potter), Ron & Hermione, the Weasley Twins & Professor Snape. Oh & guess what?!- Sirius Black had a makeover into a dancin’ pimp daddy & was working for the show as a bodyguard.

A few crowd favorite moments were:
1) The sorting hat, which was rigged on a simple rope & pulley system & just ALMOST worked. A few lucky audience members were selected to be sorted into the appropriate Hogwarts houses.

2) Erotic Reading by Professor Snape, which believe it or were dirty stories taken from real internet postings of X-rated adventures betwixt our Hero Harry & the despised Draco Malfoy. It’s kinda funny to see what people write about on the internet, a bit disturbing, but quite funny nonetheless- crowd was groaning, grimacing and smiling all the way through.

3) Those jokester Weasley twins were at it again with their own rendition of Who’s On First, but of course the sport in question was Quidditch. What’s on the Quaffle?! And, Who’s the Seeker anyway?!

And I can’t forget…

4) The Video Tribute to Albus Dumbeldore set to Boyz II Men’s “It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye to Yesterday”, detailing his life through the familiar JK Rowling inspired events & then some epic events that I didn’t remember him attending, but I’m sure were completely accurate (MLK speech, Tenement Square, Abu Ghraib & so on)

Overall, OMG, seriously- why was it one night only? It was so funny I would see it again. Do it again! Do it again! Do it again!

Jacey Power’s new play. “Picking Up” begins where a lot of stories end: at the break up. Micheal and Elle are a poorly matched couple who have spent four years together. Elle is a free-wheeling, creative, independent spirit and Micheal is a traditionalist who wants to get married and has trouble accepting Elle’s lifestyle. In the first scene we witness their intense break up, climmaxing in his proposal and her refusal.

This is the last time we see Elle and Micheal together in real time. For the rest of the play, Elle navigates her new life as Micheal follows her around in it as a ghost and a memory. She relives pieces of their relationship and listens to the phantom Micheal’s comments on her new life. This is done most effectively in a scene where Elle is having sex with a new date and Micheal stands over her. The two of them get into a fight with each other while the date humps away, oblivious. These moments are Powers’ way of dissecting the afermath of a break up. Getting over someone is a long process, and Micheal’s constant presense in Elle’s life after their break up in an excellent sign of this.

Powers’ play is funny, charming, and accurate. She takes on a familiar topic and captures the pain and struggle with magnificent accuracy. Mos outstanding is her realistic, crisp dialogue. The characters always sound natural, and the humor resonates in every scene. It is a pleasure to listen this smooth dialogue, and it pushes the play along gracefully. Powers’ more or less makes her memory convention works. Where she struggles is in her choice of which scenes to portray. Although the scenes are snappy and funny and often meaningful and neccessary, Powers chooses to skip over some of the more climactic moments. Instead of showing us the drama in scene, she simply explains it in the aftermath. Not long after the break up Micheal meets someone else… Elle’s good friend. The audience never gets to see the scene where Elle finds out this information. Instead we simply hear about it on an answering machine message when no one is on stage, and then later see the aftermath. Several moments like this are missed, and it is an odd choice, as if Powers is afraid to tackle the real drama and takes the easy way out.

The cast is solid and comically gifted. Elle, played by Jacey Powers herself, is bouncy and likeable. She carries the play with simple choices and a fun spirit. Micheal, played by Steven Todd Smith, makes the audience sympathize the would-be “villain” in the play. Smith’s version of Micheal is complex and smart, and Smith’s choices are strong and purposeful. His presence is calm and powerful, and he stands out as a unique leading man. The other stand out actor is Christopher Norwood, who does an excellent job with some of the funniest material in the show. Norwood is confidant and unbelievably funny as he tackles an unsavory new prospective man for Elle. He seems to steal every scene he is in.

Director emma poltrak has done a fine job with this piece. Her staging is lovely and the piece is strong and complete. The only downside was the pace, which could have moved along more rapidly at some moments.

“Picking Up” is a wonderful new effort, and Powers, as well as her cast and crew, shows a lot of promise. The play is moving and thr audience was behind it one hundred percent. There is a lot to love in this show that finds its own unique voice in a crowded subject matter. Buy your tickets today!

There are few playwrights I love as much as I adore Neil LaBute (Best known for his movie “In The Company of Men”) His plays are insightful, modern, simple, honest and funny. He takes ordinary people with ordinary flaws and ordinary lives and finds a story. His characters are perfectly three dimensional, and they do what we do, say what we say, and fail miserably as we fail miserably.

LaBute’s newest play, “In A Dark Dark House” is a story of two brothers. One of the brothers (Drew, played by Ron Livingston of “Office Space” fame!) is in a mental hospital dealing with substance abuse and possibly an earlier childhood trauma. His brother (Terry, played by Fredrick Weller) visits him in the hospital, and then visits the man who supposedly sexually abused Drew. Instead of meeting the abuser, he meets his young daughter Jennifer (Louise Krause) and enters into an inappropriate flirtation with her. Drew and Terry have to confront their pasts and their current mistakes, and find a way to accept their shared history and present relationship.

Although they play is entertaining, and balances expertly between comedy and drama, it is not LaBute’s best. While the story is interesting, and the characters complicated and believable, I wanted more to happen in the ninety minutes on stage. More problematic by far, however, was the questionable casting. Krause, playing sixteen year old Jennifer reads as a jaded twenty-something, not a naive, trouble teen. Until she pronounces her age I assumed she was a college grad. This alone drastically effects the stakes and energy in her scene with Terry. Terry (Weller) also seems out of place next to Livingston. Livingston is subtle and easy to watch, he seems to mesh well with LaBute’s casual dialogue. Next to him, Weller’s acting is too large and they seem to be in two separate shows.

In spite of the inexplicable casting and inconsistent acting, “In A Dark Dark House” is still proof of LaBute’s talent. It is not his best work, but it is a solid piece that is relateable and thoughtful. Director Carolyn Cantor does a fine job directing, the actors seem comfortable and at home on stage, their relationships are clear and the staging is expert, never awkward. Most impressive is the beautiful set design, by Beowulf Britt. the play is set outdoors in all three long scenes, and Britt’s set is sunny and dramatic, mutable and truly gorgeous. If nothing else, Britt’s set makes “In a Dark Dark House” exciting to watch, somehow managing to create a world that is both larger than life and decidedly natural. An impressive accomplishment and a good, if not fantastic, play.

In A Dark, Dark House plays at the MCC Theatre on Tues & Wed @ 7pm, Thur - Sat @ 8pm, Saturday @ 2pm, Sunday @ 3pm. It closes July 7.
Tickets available online.

Seriously- why do guys cheat?

I don’t know, but while you’re still trying to figure out the answer to that one, go see the clever & quirky new play The Chronological Secrets of Tim produced by the Impetuous Theatre Group.

If you take my advice here are some of the things you’ll encounter: an X with an addiction to Mexican food, a straight man with a fetish for Madonna music, painful truths, comforting lies, sordid affairs, a broken hearted man that may or may not try to throw himself from a window in an “overdramatic suicide attempt”, lesbians (of course), drunken roommates & a soundtrack straight from your college days.

Best thing about this play is the kickass writing by playwright Janet Zarecor. Great lines like: A toast “To two women stuck in one man’s life.” and “Is that Malibu rum?” asked by an X-girlfriend while our sweet, disfunctional hero is hanging out the window. But, my favorite exchange:

MANDA: If they are still standing around when I’m finished rambling it’s a key indicator that they can make it to the next step.

TIM: Next step?

MANDA: Yeah, marriage.

TIM: What?!

MANDA: Did I say marriage? I meant coffee.

The whole cast was great. Notable performance by Kira Blaskovich, playing Alexandra- she had a great look, a nifty stage presence and I really felt that her lines were her own words spilling from her mouth. You go girl!

The theatre was a cool space if you don’t mind a 4th floor walk-up & broiling in a room with 63 other theatre-goers… ahhhhhh, welcome to NY Off Broadway Theatre in the summertime. They do sell bottled water, so just dress in a swimsuit & you’ll be okay. (I’m kidding- so please don’t wear a swimsuit unless you just look ravishingly smashing in it.)

Back to the play: If you’re 30 you’ll totally GET it & totally LOVE it!! I’m not sure it is that relevant to other age groups, though, hmmmm…. have to think on that one… but hey, the mature chicks (aka old ladies) in the audience were giggling, so maybe I’m wrong. Anyways- the entire audience was cracking up laughing, so check it out, it’s fun.

Two things I learned from this play: 1) Be careful what you write down in your diary or journal- it just might come back to bite you AND 2) Flashback sex… sounds fabulous- I’m going to have to try that!

The Chronological Secrets of Tim runs through June 3rd, Thursday through Sunday, 8 PM (& 1 Monday, May 28th 8 PM performance) at The Gallery Theatre at Access Theatre. Buy tickets online or just show up & buy them at the door.

Mixed Tape by Another Urban Riff is a playwriting version of an exquisite corpse.

Exquisite Corpse is a type of poem where each poet writes one line and a word. The first poet then folds the paper down so that only the one word at the end is visible. The next poet sees only the one word of the line that the new poet is supposed to begin with. This usually goes around for as many lines as there are poets in the circle and then: share.

Are you with me? Good. Mixed Tape has four playwrights and four directors, the second playwright reads only the first work. The third does so for the second and the fourth for the third. . . interesting.

Although my friend Julia whom I came to see (aka Burlesque-dancer Roja Rouge) told me they cheated a little. And I guess that’s where the flaws in this project began. .

To AUR’s credit, (or maybe the discredit of the lighting-person) the stage lights were fucked and they had to do the play with the house-lights on which severely threw off the entire sense of theater. With the prying eyes of the audience boring into all the actors, it felt more like we were sitting in on a dress rehersal.

The 1st “track” (as each chapter was called) was a manic mish-mash of stressed out roommates, bed-bug jokes, short attention spans, screaming frenemies, and some too-cool-for-school booty-call who ditches the sexually desperate and confused protagonist who just wants to some attention. . . I guess. . . Oh, and all the roommates are all actors. . . I think. . .

The 2nd track was about two depressed and stressed-out roommates alongside a sexually unfulfilled woman with her loser TV-addict boyfriend. There’s an awkward, desperate and awkward one night stand between one of the roommates and the boyfriend, and everyone’s frustrated reaction.

By the time the 3rd track begins with a neurotic young man cleaning an apartment while masturbating in various strange auto-erotic positions and screaming SHUT THE FUCK UP!! while slamming his head against the wall. . . Well, between the flourescent lights and uncomfortable folding chairs, I was just desperate to get out of this confused, nearly plotless cluster-fuck of a theater project.

Which was unfortunate, because this was where it started to get good.

The 3rd track incorporated a character from the second, which then made it confusing to the audience which of the reoccurring actors were the same character as before. Apparently each play has one “carry-over” actor from the previous play, or maybe more than one, the audeince wasn’t sure and I’m not sure the playwrights were either.

The 3rd track continued on the theme of shitty living situations in the city, bi-polar outbursts and massively desperate sexual confusion which after being beaten over the head with it already for 45 minutes was starting to get painful.

By the time we were into the fourth trach, I was just hoping it’d be over soon.

Which is a shame. Because the 4th track very smartly and depthfully explored the world of Sexual Addicts, sexual repression, sexual expression and dudes with popped collars (A very clever performance by Nick Paglino, with some great slapstick turns).

Track 4 was written by Marge Lewitt, who also directed Track 3, and for her quality work, I applaud her. The others. . . Well, I think I’d need to see more of their work to give a “fair” assessment. Same goes for the actors.

And so, I’d say the idea of Mixed Tape is good and should be taken back to the drawing board, but if I could make one suggestion to AUR:

Be it the playwrights, the directors, the actors or some combination therein, someone needs to put down the methamphetamines.

With his hair helmet shining, noted mentalist and super cool guy, Sam Eaton took the stage and announced: “TONIGHT THERE WILL BE NO SECRETS!” I winced as I couldn’t help but wonder if he was going to tell the audience that I wasn’t toilet trained till first grade (he didn’t).

In truth I had no clear idea as to what a mentalist was or what they did and I was a little apprehensive. I needn’t have worried. Sam Eaton was more than a mentalist; this man was a master performer.

EVERY feat of mystery he performed he used a volunteer from the Petri dish that was the audience. The night I went the soup included: smarmy suburban 10-year-old boys, the Scottish, guys in ties, blue hairs and me!

And all of us fell in love with the man as over the course of 90 painfully short minutes he won our hearts. He commanded all of our attention, weaving a rich tapestry of bad jokes and mysterious feats of mental agility.

He had the kind of charisma that people said David Koresh or Hitler used to possess, only you know in a non-genocidal Christ complex having kind of way.

Now, I’m not saying I have a “mancrush” on the dude, but, well, my girlfriend said it best when she told me she found him, “kinda dreamy in a Gabe Kaplan/ Egon Spangler kind of way.”(I love my girlfriend.)

I won’t tell you exactly what his act consisted of, first off because it would rob you of the wonderment of the experience. But also because I don’t think I’m a good enough writer to capture the uniqueness of the evening.

I will however tell you that he completely blew my fragile lil’ mind by just knowing things that he couldn’t possibly know. In closing: this was one of the few experiences in my life that I was glad I was sober for. See it, trust me.

DIG IT!

• The Jewel Box Theater is on the 10th floor of a building whose ONLY elevator fits 7 people at a time: arrive early
• For future show times and general informational type shit click here!
• Sam produces a show called, “Paul Carpenter’s: The Psychic”
• Paul is a super cool guy who holds a world record for the fastest escape from a straight jacket

• The Jewel Box Theater is also the home of the Guilty Pleasures Burlesque and Vaudeville Show.

“If pain is comedy than high school was hilarious”- So states the tagline for this improvised homage to everything for which John Hughes stood.  Teen Movie High is an hour long improvised tour de force of ridiculousness.  And for anyone who considers Sixteen Candles and Weird Science timeless classics- this show will blow your fragile little mind!

The evening started out with director, Karen Herr, greeting the audience.  Then the cast brought out the Wheel of Sub Genres.  They picked an audience member to come up and spin the wheel to determine what sub genre the evening’s performance would be based on. 

Bonus:  they actually picked my girlfriend to spin the wheel!  As a special treat they gave her a six pack of Budweiser tall boys to enjoy during the show. It was like Christmas and my birthday all rolled up in one beery package! 

The sub genre we were treated to was, ”A day in the Life.”  Think:  Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Can’t Hardly Wait, etc…  The show started out as the valedictorian, who for 4 years had been crushing on the hot, Big Man On Campus, declares that at tonight’s graduation party she’ll finally get her man! 

From there it was a carousel of clichés reinvented on the spot to side splitting effect:  There was an “accidental” lesbian moment; stoners getting’ lit up and crying as they watch The Land Before Time; a streaking scene that ended badly in a corn field; much beer drinking and light vomiting. 

Each of the six performers were obviously skilled improvisers.  Even though they occasionally cracked each other up, none of them ever broke character. 

They kept the action moving forward even while incorporating the unexpected, like working performer, Mark Lampert’s, constant stream of sweat into a makeout scene.  Trust me it was gross, but it totally worked. 

Period perfect music cues, like “Don’t You Forget About Me” and “Afternoon Delight” added an extra layer to the surreal hilarity of the performance.   

In the end the girl got the boy, the boy grew as a person and I got to drink free beers.  It was a happy ending for all. 

For $10 (3$ for students) you can’t go wrong.  It shows every Friday at Gotham City Improv,on 21st street, at 8:30pm.  It’s perfectly timed between happy hour and a late night supper.  AND… they’ve just been extended through June!  So go check ‘em out. 

For tickets call- 646.258.6727 or click here. 

Every so often the Zipper Theatre, arguably one of the coolest theatre spaces in the city, hosts an event called “Above the Belt” which is a showcase of NYC based aerial performers– an oppurtunity for trapeze artists and the like to show off their skills. Somehow the folks at the Zipper have transformed their comfortable, unique space into a underground circuis scene. There is a hint of the European, and for two magnificent hours you completely forget you are in Manhattan. “Above the Belt” truly brings the audience to a different time, a different location, a different world.

This is the single greatest physical performance I have ever seen. Forget Stomp or Blue Man Group, or event the great shows PS 122 has to offer. “Above the Belt” is stunning, terrifying, magical and sensual experience. The performers use aparatuses I have never even seen– silk ropes hanging from the ceiling, twsited around the body expertly so that the performers hang and twist and twirl in the sky with unbelievable grace and fearlessness. There is a huge silver hoop used as a kind of trapeze, and a set of two looped ropes that a male-female duet hang and dangle with.

“Above the Belt” is difficult to talk about. It is so unusual, so beautiful that I say for two hours with my mouth, quite literally, wide open, hand over mouth, eyes wide. There is no safety net in the Zipper Theatre, and the sense of urgency and danger is pervasive. The performers do not stumble for a moment, however, and they execute seemingly impossible movements with strength and agility. They are dancers in the sky… some of the best dancers I have ever seen.

This event is trying to become a monthly performance, and we should only be so lucky to have this kind of experience available every month. “Above the Belt” is modern and old fashioned, in the same moment, unfamiliarity in the middle of Times Square. It is a gift to the city.

Stand out performers include Jordann Baker, Michelle Dortignac, Joshua Dean and Kristin Olness.

Information available at the Zipper Theatre’s website.