Crashbox Scores with its Intimate but Powerful Production of The Liddy Plays

The subjectivity of sanity and the endurance of memory, and the ways in which both shape selfhood, are examined in Brooke Berman's The Liddy Plays. Last night, I had the pleasure of watching Crashbox Theater Company's production of The Liddy Plays at Manhattan's Access Theater. The 90-minute production was well-paced, finely acted, and an overall totally enjoyable show.

The Liddy Plays is a collection of four plays about the often-tempestuous Liddy and her calmness-obsessed brother Em, as they deal with the ripple effects of their emotionally unstable Mother's suicide. Crashbox's production is a treat to watch, filled with perfectly sparse movement and song and raw performances from the cast. The show explores that often fine line in mental health between subtly giving in and loudly breaking down. The lead actress Keilly McQuaill especially shines in her fantastic portrayal of Liddy's attempt at balancing popular notions of sensibility with her desire to be true to her personal emotionality.

cast members Keilly McQuaill & Tom Muccioli

I highly recommend going to see The Liddy Plays this week. For tickets and more information, please go here.

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Shakespeare Forum's Hamlet

The Shakespeare Forum presents their inaugural production Hamlet at the Theater for the New City.

Lead by co-founders and directors Sybille Bruun and Tyler Moss, The Shakespeare Forum offers a weekly open workshop that allows New York artists to share pieces they're working on or just watch their peers. It is an ever-growing community of artists offering each other support and constructive criticism. Private classes are also available and the Forum is also developing an outreach program to public schools in need of theater arts education.

Hamlet marks The Forum's first ever production and having personally attended several of their Tuesday meetings, I am extremely excited to watch this fine ensemble (many Forum regulars) take on one of Shakespeare's finest plays. For whom better to perform Shakespeare than those regularly engaging with his work?


Hamlet
Directed by: Sybille Bruun
Starring: Dan De Jesus, Pat Dwyer, Adam Goodman, Dylan Kammerer, Erin Keskeny, Tyler Moss, James Patrick Nelson, Andrus Nichols, Tom O'Keefe, Chris Seiler, Brian Smolin, Claire Warden

Theater for the New City
155 First Avenue (between 9th & 10th St)

June 21-24, 26-30 at 7:30pm
June 23, 24, 30 & July 1 at 2pm

For more information and tickets, go here.

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Someone Who'll Watch Over Me @ Canal Park Playhouse

The TRUF and The Canal Park Playhouse present a new production of Frank McGuiness' Tony Award nominated play Someone Who'll Watch Over Me. The play involves three Westerners--an American, Irishman, and Englishman--imprisoned as hostages in Lebanon, whose constant seesaw between hope and fear are revealed in their conversations and storytelling.

Someone Who'll Watch Over Me captures the duality and reciprocity of both faith and communication; with each conversation had and story told, the characters grow to feel responsible for each other, while the audience is tied to them as the ultimate watchers of their tale. Directed by Justin Lauro, this intimate and well-paced production features Lauro, Timothy Riley, and Alex Teachey who all wonderfully capture the intensity of their characters' circumstances, while keeping the audience invested in their emotional turmoil and wondering about their futures.

Someone Who'll Watch Over Me is paired with the play Sarazad and The Monster-King, a retelling of the frame tale of Arabian Nights, which also deals with themes on the power of storytelling. Both can be seen at Canal Park Playhouse.




Someone Who'll Watch Over Me
Written by: Frank McGuinness
Directed by: Justin Lauro
Featuring: Justin Lauro, Timothy Riley, and Alex Teachey


Running now until July 20th
Wednesday-Saturday, 8PM

Canal Park Playhouse
508 Canal Street (between Greenwich and West St)

For tickets go here

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Pipeline's The Ash Girl: a fairly luminous fairy tale

The Pipeline Theatre Company has been an ATFG favorite for a couple of years now and I've always been impressed with their versatility. Thursday night, they proved their chameleon character to me again during a preview of their new show The Ash Girl.

Director Jessika Doyel's The Ash Girl is a stirring adaptation of Timberlake Wertenbaker's play, which itself is a beautiful take on the Cinderella story. The play adds layers and weight to the conventional Cinderella plot with its personification of the Seven Deadly Sins (including Sadness as a loner, who is reluctant to be a group member but is an equally dangerous eighth villain), funny and wise animals that do more than help with chores, a less than wicked and more pathetically covetous stepfamily, and a prideful and homesick foreign Prince. The Sins fuel the actions of others, stirring up inner demons that the characters must fight off or end up giving into. Ashgirl, played with wonderful intricacy by Meagan Kensil, is a melancholic Cinderella-like young woman who, with the help of The Fairy in the Mirror, uses inner-strength and hope to fight off the eight literal and figurative demons as she finds solace in the company of an equally tormented Prince.

Despite the fantastical and mythical aspects of the play, Pipeline's adaptation of The Ash Girl has a subtle quality, helped in part by its low-key set and lighting design. With their productions of Felix & the Diligence and The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Pipeline impressed by proving that they could utilize a large stage and orchestrate well with a large cast, but with The Ash Girl they decide to subdue the audience into awe. The audience is seated directly on the stage, in a three-fourths of an in-the-round setup with cast members entering and exiting from numerous doorways and ladders. And despite the relatively sizable cast, the show creates an intimate feel with its small stage, dark lighting, limited props, and mostly muted costumes. The eight villains slink in and out of the shadows setting a menacing and ominous tone for the audience. There is a chilling bareness at the beginning of the show that slowly creeps and crescendos into an overflowing turmoil of Ash Girl's inner-conflict as she longs for happiness but struggles to believe she can obtain it. The play eventually eases us into the inevitable warm, happy ending only after making us yearn for it and believe its possibility, just as Ashgirl resolves to believe for herself. Kensil's eyes vividly standout throughout the play as she portrays Ashgirl's sway between sorrow and hope. She captures a forlorn gaze and a look of longing with equal finesse. Teddy Rodger and Sam Chapin help cheer up Kensil's Ashgirl and do a lovely job of counterbalancing the show's haunting feel with their warm and funny performances as her animal friends Mouse and Otter, respectively.

Fueled by Wertenbaker's sophisticated text, the entire cast and crew do a wonderful job of creating an eerily ethereal yet engrossing show. The Ash Girl opens tonight and I urge you to go see it and get wrapped up in the dark but oddly tender fantasy.


THE ASH GIRL
Written by: Timberlake Wertenbaker
Directed by: Jessika Doyel
April 21–May 5, 2012
Wednesdays–Saturdays, 8PM
The Connelly Theater
220 E. 4th St. (between Avenues A & B)
Tickets: $18 for general admission, $13 for students (with a pay what you can show on Wednesday, April 25!)
For tickets and more information, go here.
Please also consider donating to their fundraising campaign here.

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Holiday Gift Guide: Music, Book & Theater Edition

It's the giving season again! And if you're a procrastinator like me, then you're still trying to get your holiday gift shopping list together. So let me help you expedite that process! Here are my top gift recommendations for the art lovers in your lives:

Music:

Florence + The Machine's Ceremonials

Florence Welch is a rock-pop machine and Ceremonials is one of my favorite albums of the year. While lacking the raw, punk-like energy of the bands first album, Lungs, the new album is a more polished and whole achievement. All the songs sound connected and they flow to form a broodingly beautiful album that still makes you want to dance and sing along with at the top of your lungs. It's my wonderfully odd dark, upbeat soundtrack to the upcoming winter season. I couldn't recommend it to you more--buy it as a gift for yourself and your moody loved ones!

Books:

The New York Times Magazine Photographs

Aperture and The New York Times Magazine present this awesome photo book that surveys the photography published by the magazine over the years. The New York Times Magazine Photographs is this holiday season's ultimate coffee table book.

The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides

From the Pulitzer Prize winning author who gave us Virgin Suicides and Middlesex comes a new novel about Madeleine--a 1980s college student deconstructing 19th Century English novels with marriages at the center of their plots. She finds herself examining not only fictional marriage plots but also modern love and relationships. As an English major, this is the book I bought as a holiday gift for myself to read over my winter break. But if it's anything like Eugenides' previous novels, I suspect that it'll be popular with a diverse range of readers.

Theater Tickets:

Tickets to live shows make for the best gifts; you're giving entertainment and helping to create singular memories. So this year, consider giving the gift of theater! Already seen Sleep No More (a few times)? Looking for another off-Broadway gem? Go see New York Theatre Workshop's production of Once, a musical based on the film of the same name. This insanely popular show has been recently extended to January 15th. Get your tickets before they sellout!

Once
Based on the Film Written & Directed by: John Carney
Directed by: John Tiffany
Book by: Enda Walsh
Lyrics by: Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová
Movement by: Steven Hoggett
Featuring: David Abeles, Claire Candela, Will Connolly, Elizabeth A. Davis, Steve Kazee, David Patrick Kelly, Cristin Milioti, Anne L. Nathan, Lucas Papaelias, Andy Taylor, Erikka Walsh, Paul Whitty, J. Michael Zygo

For tickets, performance schedule, and more info, go here.

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Exit Carolyn at The Drilling Company Theatre

Sans A Productions and the Drilling Company Theatre present Exit Carolyn, a new play about loss and grief.

Lorna and Julie, lifelong best friends and current roommates, are coping with the death of their mutual best friend Carolyn in extremely opposing ways. Lorna masks her sadness by overworking and obsessively multitasking, while Julie wallows in hers by wasting her time away getting high (and a little fat) on the couch. Lorna fools herself into believing she's ready to move on from Carolyn's death, as Julie feels she's too paralyzed to do anything because of it.

As the play's plot unfolds, we discover that Carolyn was the middle, conjoining member of their group, and that Lorna and Julie both individually loved and depended on her charisma and strength. Without her they must reexamine their lives and decide who they are outside of their broken threesome (and if they even want to stay friends with each other). They must decide if they want to merely fill her void or truly deal with their grief and learn to live with themselves in Carolyn's absence. In the midst of Lorna and Julie's grief and dilemma, we're introduced to Carolyn's brother Matthew who is dealing with the immensity of his sadness. Matthew brings up some insightful questions as to the authority of grief; he wonders if it's appropriate for a brother to be so sad at the loss of a sister or if only parents and female loved ones (like Lorna and Julie) have the right to be as upset as he is.

Exit Carolyn captures the strange and chaotic layers of grief, while still managing to be a comical and warm show. The one outsider character, Avery, played by the freshly expressive Lauren Blumenfeld, offers some quirky lightheartedness. Laura Ramadei wonderfully embodies Julie's simultaneously funny and tragic slobbish couch-ridden state. For a play dealing with such a heavy theme, Exit Carolyn does a solid job of striking a believable balance of drama and comedy.

Exit Carolyn
Written by: Jennie Berman Eng
Directed by: Adam Knight
Featuring: Lauren Blumenfeld, Jake Loewenthal, Anna O’Donoghue, and Laura Ramadei

The Drilling Company Theatre for New Plays
236 West 78th St. (between Broadway & Amsterdam)
New York, NY 10026

Performance Schedule:
December 8-11 at 8pm
December 15-17 at 8pm

For tickets, go here.
And for a limited time, catch Thursday performances for just $10 (enter discount code: Danish)!

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Lesser America's Too Much Too Soon

Presented by the young but already acclaimed theater company, Lesser America, and co-produced by Red Elevator Productions, Too Much Too Soon is a collection of short plays by a group of fresh, emerging playwrights.

A sequel to last years Too Little Too Late (which earned three New York Innovative Theater Award nominations), Too Much Too Soon promises to be an excitingly diverse event. Having loved the intense play Squealer, I'm eager to catch another Lesser America show. Too Much Too Soon opened last night and has a limited release at the Theater for the New City so make sure to catch it while you can!

Too Much Too Soon
Directed by: Stephen Brackett and Portia Krieger
Featuring work written by: Nikole Beckwith, Dean Imperial, Nick Jones, Melissa Ross, Emily Schwend, and Ken Urban
Staring: Daniel Abeles, Liesel Allen Yeager, Craig Jorczak, Nate Miller, Anna O'Donoghue, and Laura Ramadei

Performance Schedule:
October 2 at 3pm
October 6-8th at 8pm
October 9th at 3pm

Theater for the New City
155 1st Avenue (between 9th & 10th Streets)
New York, NY

$15 general, $10 students

For more information and tickets, go here.

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Pipeline's Maritime Merriment

Over the weekend, Pipeline Theatre Company premiered their new play Felix & the Diligence . It's an absurdly silly and fun show written by Colby Day and directed by Daniel Johnsen. Set on the Atlantic Ocean, against the backdrop of World War II, the play features a slew of ridiculous and comical characters thrown together under the guise of "high stakes cod fishing."

More about this seafaring show, after the jump!


I went into the play knowing very little about it and left pleased and smiling. I'll steer away from any detailed plot description, with the hope that you'll have a similar experience. Part Shakespeare, part Disney, all absurdly funny and crude, Felix & the Diligence takes the audience on a nautical adventure, narrated by an old blind sailor named Henley (a crew member on the Diligence). And of course, Henley is played by a young woman with perfect-vision. In addition to cross dressing and secret identities, the show includes singing, sword fighting, sea monsters, sailor mouthes, Nazis, and even Amelia freakin' Earhart, all on a perfectly constructed ship deck of a stage.



Set designer Andy Yanni does a great job creating a superb stage for the actors to use. Felix & the Diligence is definitely an ensemble piece, with every actor succeeding in bringing to life the detailed nuances and idiosyncrasies of writer Colby Day's crazy characters. While all the actors give solid performances in this tightly-acted and well-paced play, Nicole Spiezio was particularly hilarious as Henley. In a masochistic way, I totally loved her constant cursing at the audience! And kudos to Meagan Kensil for stepping in for Alastair Falk and being such a charming Captain Chapman (yeah, I fell for the understudy bit, and you will too despite this telling review).

Overall, Felix & the Diligence is just a fun, comically chaotic play on an awesomely designed stage. I've come to expect a good theater-going experience from the folks at Pipeline and I'm happy to say that they've delivered again. If you haven't seen one of their shows, Felix & the Diligence is a fine place to start.

Felix & The Diligence, Or A Play About Fisherman in the 1940's
Written by Colby Day
Directed by Daniel Johnsen
Produced by Burton T. Frey Jr.

Featuring: Willy Appelman, Samuel Chapin, Fernando Contreras, Glenn Apollo Hergenhahn, Nathaniel Katzman, Meagan Kensil, Katelyn Manfre, Brad Mielke, Benj Mirman, Edward Raube-Wilson, Arielle Siegel, Allison Smith, Nicole Spiezio, and Mike Steinmetz

Performance Schedule:
September 27, 28, 28, 30 at 8pm
September 25 at 3pm
October 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 at 8pm
October 1, 7, 8 at 10:30pm
 
Connelly Theater
220 E 4th Street (between Ave A & B)
New York, NY

$20 general, $15 for students (code STU15)
For tickets, please click here.

 

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cARTel's Everybody Nose Working Actors in NY

Fearful of clowns? Or just plain annoyed by them? Me too. But I think it's time we stopped being so prejudice against such a misunderstood group (because they're not all John Wayne Gacy, Jr.). That's why this Friday night I'm seeing Everybody Nose Working Actors in NY, a show about a group of clowns trying to make it big in New York City.

cARTel, a LA based theatre company, is premiering their clown troupe in New York this Friday and Saturday. The show is an extension of the troupe's clown workshop, where actors create and develop their own miming clown persona. Set against the backdrop of a Broadway audition, this weekend's show will feature some brand new New York clowns. So come join me as we work together to get over our unnecessary fear and annoyance, by seeing cARTel's Everybody Nose Working Actors in NY.

Everybody Nose Working Actors in NY
September 16th & 17th, 9 PM
Yoga Agora
33-02 Broadway
2nd Floor
Queens, NY 11106
$7 presale, $10 at the door
(very limited seating, buy your tickets in advance)

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Fringe Encore!

The New York City Fringe Festival's Encore Series starts today and runs through the 26th. During this time, you can catch a selection of some of the best shows from the Festival, including the winner of the FringeNYC Overall Excellence Award The More Loving One.

The More Loving One was one of the five ATFG recommended shows and we're thrilled that this amazing production received the Festival's top honor this year! A fantastically written and acted show, The More Loving One is a dark comedy about two relationships that are thrown off kilter after a scandalous sex trail. An honest, intimate, and moving portrayal of the difficulties of love and committed relationships, the play explores how just one argument can bring a slew of hidden thoughts and feelings to the surface.



Buy your tickets to this excellent show here.

What:
The More Loving One

When:
Sunday, September 11th @ 7:30pm
Wednesday, September 14th @ 9:00pm
Tuesday, September 20th @ 8:00pm
Thursday, September 22nd @ 9:30pm
Monday, September 26th @ 8:00pm

Where:
The SoHo Playhouse
15 Vandam Street
New York, NY 10013

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Sleep No More, Video Games, and the Potential of Interactive Storytelling.

 This will not be a review of Sleep No More, although it will be discussed. I'll warn you of spoilers.

On Thursday the 12th of August, I attended a performance of Sleep No More. Billed as 'indoor promenade performance', it entails being immersed in the world of the McKitterick Hotel (an impressively redecorated warehouse or three on west 27th, across the street from the back entrance of Scores) and treated to an adaptation, of a kind, of Shakespeare's famous play that shows us the nature of evil, Macbeth.  It was astounding.

Though it is not a word that can be found anywhere on the website (sleepnomorenyc.com), Sleep No More is a highly interactive experience- though one might suppose that physical interaction is a part of any immersive experience. Still, this is important to note for the upcoming discussion: The specific difference between immersive and interactive when one or the other is the goal of an experience. In the McKitterick Hotel, almost every door, drawer and closet is unlocked. You can read anything, pick up anyway, dig through people's luggage and letters. The entire environment is touchable, if not tractable- even the performers. Though it is against the rules of the game to touch the performers, the performers may very well decide to touch you. You may be pushed gently aside, or taken by the hand and led, or- as I experienced- have a madwoman cup your face and lament at the cruelty in your eyes. The world you enter is filled with eerily familiar but ultimately alien landscapes and enough details to drown in. You can watch or play, observe or participate, that much is (largely) your choice.

The performance is interactive, but it is not changeable. Those choices I just mentioned do not effect the characters' overall arcs, their intentions or their stories. Scenes play in a loop throughout the roughly three hour performance.  Short of doing something dangerously disruptive, the audience cannot effect the outcome of the story.

The goal of Sleep No More is an immersive theatrical experience. It is not a game. It sets no goals or objectives for the audience, other than to experience. It's brilliant and freeing.

And potentially frustrating, if you're of a gamer's mindset. Over at Wired, you can read an article by @jasonschreier about his experience of the theatrical piece, which he describes in the headline as "Like a game, but more confusing." Schreier primarily decries the fact that it is impossible for an audience member to see the entire show, and that this fact makes most of what one experiences difficult to decipher or put into context: The experience is difficult to understand.

He argues that video game experiences are more rewarding because you achieve things. The game tells you so. I think this is an ineffective comparison, but the opening of an interesting discussion.

Compare Sleep No More to an open-world game like Fallout: New Vegas. While Sleep No More drops you into the middle of a performance and expects you to figure out what’s happening, New Vegas sets up the story first, then lets you loose. More importantly, New Vegas makes you feel like the things you do matter. Whether you’re shooting down raiders or discovering a pile of bones in a child’s crib, you’re always an active participant, integral to the story. Not just an observer.

 This argument is flawed in a few ways:

You can, in fact, prepare for the sort-of-plot of Sleep No More by brushing up on your Shakespeare, but the story is present in an abstract, exploratory way. The scenes, when you do find them, are not exactly straightforward. Think lyrical and interpretive dance. The story, as such, is not the most important part of the show. More important is the audience's story: What they see and experience and what it does to them. Now, if what they see and experience frustrates and bores them, more the pity, but I have to say, I'd imagine it would take a respectable amount of willful disinterest to walk away from Sleep No More wholly unmoved.

The end result(s) of both Sleep No More and any video game are predetermined. Nothing you do as an audience member or player can actually change what happens outside of a couple permutations. Schreier is absolutely correct in that video games make you feel as though your choices have weight- and they do, but a very limited amount. I will defend the unique special snowflake status of my Commander Shepard TO THE DEATH but ultimately, I am not the only FemShep Paragon with Renegade Tendencies when Faced with Ultimatums who is Bedding Garrus Vakarian aka Dinosaur Batman: The Hero Omega Deserves. No, I am but one of many; because though the Mass Effect series provides the player with thousands of choices to make over the course of the franchise, they are still choices you are being offered and have to choose from. You can't just make up your own. The ending to any work of art or entertainment created by someone other than the participant/user has a finite amount of leeway.  Sleep No More is a single event comprised of smaller, looping events. It's meant to be an immersive experience that theater-goers can explore to whatever depth they choose. It is, in fact, quite possible to see all the primary, story-centric scenes of Shakespeare's Macbeth in one evening at Sleep No More. It's not really necessary, though, nor would it be easy.  

Sleep No More is not a game, it is not a puzzle. It's more like a haunting. It's like watching spectres enact their wicked follies again and again, helpless to stop themselves or break free. Sometimes the ghosts reach out for you, and you can rifle through the relics and detritus they've left behind, but the story cannot be changed.

Now let's pull a bit of a conversational one eighty. The Minnesota Fringe Festival is a breeding ground for fun, funny, original and rather ingenious theatrical experiences. One participating company, Walking Shadow, has mounted two interactive theatrical puzzle experiences. The first was entitled 1926 Pleasant, and ran in 2006. You can read a detailed account of the play/game here: it is, in fact, a walkthru, something all gamers are familiar with. Both a theatrical experience and actual game the audience had to play in order to advance the story, 1926 Pleasant (and their latest puzzle production, Saboteur, reviewed here) seems to accomplish what Schreier says Sleep No More failed to do, but the intent behind the two pieces are completely and utterly different, and so the comparison becomes useless.

Now, if the two pieces could be combined, you would have something that appeals to theater goers and gamers alike. Let's take a look at a video game property like Bioshock and think of how these two formats of theatrical experience could be applied to making Bioshock a live action interactive event. Why? Because I am goddamn obsessed with this whole freaking idea, that's why. If you're still reading this, I don't even know what to tell you. You're as sick a puppy as I am.

As a self contained environment, it could be constructed the same way as the fictional McKitterick Hotel: Six stories of immersive environments fashioned after Bioshock's more iconic levels, like Neptune's Bounty, Arcadia, Fort Frolic, the Farmer's Market, Hephaestus and Olympus Heights.

 Rapture is largely comprised of sweeping atriums and surprisingly open spaces for being an underwater city. However, as Sleep No More demonstrates nicely, constructing outdoor spaces indoors is entirely achievable on multiple floors. Also the ballroom on the lowest level sports two stories of balcony seats and vaulted ceilings. It is a huge room that could easily be transformed into any number of centerpieces from the game.

 Of course site-specific theater is just that. One could find a space more uniquely suited to Rapture's grand halls, but the space Punchdrunk created in the form of the McKitterick Hotel is smartly and very successfully constructed. With relatively few changes, Sleep No More as it stands could be turned into the site of a Rapture live action interactive gaming experience.

The next question, of course, is who would go? Who would shell out, say, $100 to be let loose in that kind of environment for three hours, not knowing before hand how it would go? You'll have adventurous types, you'll have gamers, you'll have theater goers, but the added responsibility that's placed on the audience member when they're expected to participate and actively move the game forwards as opposed to merely observing events as they unfold could potentially scare away much needed ticket sales, and come to that- how many tickets a round would have to be sold to make the endeavor even remotely feasible?  Those are the questions I don't want to think about because the other stuff is more fun, but it does make me think that the ideal place to try out an experience like this would be San Diego Comic-Con.

Your audience isn't just built in, it's swarming the grounds around where your theatrical gaming experience is held. San Diego boasts a throng of beautiful hotels, plenty of which are historic, as well as some industrial and warehouse sites that could be appropriated and converted. Passes could be given away at panels as well as purchased ahead of time to guarantee your spot.  It would be, for the logistics of running such an experience, the perfect litmus test. Branching out to other audiences, of course, would be a different ballgame, but if this sort of thing was going to be made a reality, I think SDCC is a prime opportunity to give it a test run. Not to mention, I'm sure it would be the talk of the con.

Bioshock, Dead Space, Walking Dead, Arkham Asylum, even Game of Thrones- all are properties that could utilize the concepts of mystery, clue finding, puzzle solving and even, eventually, combat to engage an audience and motivate a player, as well as blend seamless with theatrical style presentations and fully fleshed out but self contained environments. We're certainly seeing plenty of transmedia projects happening, and various properties bleeding into other mediums, so who knows- maybe this kind of thing isn't that far off. I hope it's not, because the only thing I want to do more badly than go back to Sleep No More is return to Rapture.

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May 21st - Judgement Day: An Original Play Premiering this September

Recently, I was able to score an interview with the young, but already well-experienced local playwright and director, Josh Young. His play May 21st - Judgement Day opens for a three-show run September 1st at the Kraine Theater in the East Village. As Young describes, the play is story of a girl named Valentine who lives in an underground bunker. Valentine has been trapped in the bunker for 13 years by the sexual abusive James, who keeps her hidden there under the pretense that the world ended on May 21st, 2011 and that he's protecting her from the Holy War raging above on Earth. But Valentine is not completely alone. She has created two conflicting, spiritual personalities that may either keep her trapped in desolation or guide her in breaking free of her solitude and imprisonment.



Read more about Josh Young and his post-apocalyptic, psychological thriller, after the jump!



Before producing his own works, Josh Young worked with numerous different companies and theaters. A graduate of NYU'S Tisch School of the Arts in Theater and Cinema Studies, Young began freelancing right after college, working as a lighting technician, designer, and technical director. He has worked for the Chen Dance Center, The Fringe Festival, and designed in theaters such as The Kraine and Red Room Theater, LaMaMA ETC, and The Cherry Lane. He was also a film technician at Technicolor Creative Services before he landed his current job position as the Theater Technician at the Guggenheim Museum. ATFG is delighted and so thankful that Young took the time to answer our questions, illuminating us on the process of creating and producing an original theatrical piece.


ATFG: What motivated you to write this play? What were your inspirations?

Young: I originally wrote this play in 2005 as a one-woman dance and movement piece for a friend. The plot was the same as now but without the May 21st caveat. Both in 2005 and then when I re-wrote it, this year, I was in the same place; depressed. I was depressed at what I saw in human interaction both in my own life and what I saw from the people in the world around me. This year, partially because May 21st is my birthday, I became fascinated by how abusive and dangerous American Christian Fundamentalism can be. So I wanted to write and revisit a story that illustrated how other philosophies, such as Samurai ethos from Japan and Zen Buddhism, have created ways for people to rise above internal and external strife and conflict. As for the play, it is about rising above the deadly mob mentality that we see in modern day Christian Fundamentalism along with illustrating that everyone has the strength to rise above their awful circumstances and emerge a stronger person because of it. Especially if those circumstances were child abuse, no matter the environment.

ATFG: How do you decide if a piece you've written is worthy of being produced? Are you your own worst critic?

Young: Goodness, yes, I am very critical of myself. Over the years I have worked in the film and theater worlds in New York and I see a lot of vanity shows, or shows that go up because people just have the time and resources. For me, I wrote this show in 2005 and sat on it because it never quite clicked. It was very close to my heart, but it wasn't something that was needing to be told. Then when the May 21st/Judgement Day stuff started happening, it just clicked. After re-writing it, I believed deeply it was a good piece, and others who read it re-enforced that thought. So I started putting the pieces together to put it up. But it was something that involved me feeling strongly about the premise and purpose while bringing enough people on board so that they take ownership of the show and make it their own.

ATFG: Do you prefer directing your own written work or having others direct your plays?

Young: For these kinds of shows I definitely do. But the writing and directing are interlinked. I don't even consider the two acts separate. The last show I did that was like this was The Wolf From Recovery, Ohio and that was in 2008. I have worked as a designer and technician over the years so when I conceive a piece it is usually written so that the design and direction are part of the writing from the inception. The thing I like to do is give ownership to the other people involved. The play necessitates a collaborative piece. The actors have strong voices in the aesthetics, and have dual roles such as the dramaturgist. Then someone like my Stage Manager is essentially an assistant director or co-director. I would feel bad if anything I ever wrote became a vanity piece, something just for myself, so I try hard to bring everyone together and have them own the piece, as much as me, during the process.

ATFG: What was the casting process like? And tell us a bit about your cast and crew.

Young: I got very lucky with casting. First, I got a stage manager on board, Alex Gerdtz, who is studying at NYU. I wanted to bring in someone who I didn't know as my right hand person so that I wouldn't surround myself with "yes" people. Honestly, she was great from the get-go because she clearly didn't want to approach the show as a paint by numbers stage manager and wanted to be a part of the creative process. Next, I brought on a friend, Patience Baach, from the Guggenheim, as a promotion and fundraising person (and to co-collaborate with Alex and I). She doesn't have a theater background so I enjoyed the fact that she could look at the show from an outsider's perspective. The casting just grew out of how chemistry and interactions looked. James Tison was cast first as the male in the play. He was the only person I knew ahead of time that was right for the role and who I asked directly to be involved. Then we cast the others: first was Elitza Daskalova, who just came in and read perfectly for Hastur; then came Adriana DeGirolami who I was delighted to see read for me. I was already friends with Adri but had never worked with her so when she came in and read the whole crew just kind of knew she was perfect for Mary Anne. We had trouble casting Valentine; many talented actresses read for her but none quite could transform between naive girl to empowered and imposing woman. At the time, our costume woman, Natalia, kind of offhandedly asked to read for Valentine and when she did it just clicked with what we were looking for and the group that was already cast. Each piece fell in line with the piece before it. So I have to be grateful for the gift of being surrounded by such passionate and interested folks coming forward at the right time.

ATFG: What has the production process been like for you so far?

Young: Intense. This is a show that is physically demanding, emotionally intense, and heavily designed. The production work started off very chaotic and nerve-racking but has simmered down a bit. All of my strengths are technical and aesthetic. I know how to draft a plot, edit a video, direct actors, but had virtually no idea how to promote and fundraise. My last show was something I was incredibly proud of and it had a fair turn out, but only because of word of mouth. So for the first month and a half of this show I tried to learn about, organize, and focus on promotion and fundraising as much as possible. I have already learned more than I could have hoped. As for the directing process, it is really rewarding and wonderful. Again, my strengths are in framing a piece, so I am really delighted with the work the actors and crew are doing to make the show be what it should be. But it is intense. The show has dance, martial arts, blood effects, and the list goes on...



ATFG: What's been the most difficult aspect of producing this show and what's been the most rewarding?

Young: The most difficult is promotion and fundraising. For all I know, we will have sold out houses or mild houses, but in my heart I know people should be hungry to see what we are creating. I am just flummoxed by the pathways I have to navigate to simultaneously get the word of this show out there but to do it in an encouraging way. At the end of the day, I won't care so long as people see it because it has some really wonderful things happening in it. The most rewarding is seeing those things happen. Two days ago, our actress Adri discovered a character revelation. It was a moment that brought a dynamic to her character and to the greater piece that was intoxicating. That is just one small part of the larger whole, so if that little sliver alone is so enticing, seeing the greater work come together is sublime. So the creative process of the show is the most rewarding by far.

ATFG: Is the stress level of this show any higher than past ones you've worked on, due to the heavy nature of the piece?

Young: No. I think the stress is high for me for pragmatic purposes, as in, just the assembly of the whole piece. Certainly I know the actors have had challenges because they were worried about the heavy nature, but I think we keep the show in the right place in our collective process. I have worked on some pretty high stress shows...I remember being stressed during Isabella Rossellini's Brand Upon The Brain at the Village East Theater, or more recently working on Watermill with Robert Wilson at the Guggenheim...but nothing will ever compete with something that you are invested in balls to bone; something that your voice is heard in from the inception.

ATFG: Are you excited or relieved when a show finally goes up or do you miss the production or rehearsal process? Is it a bittersweet transition?

Young: Not bittersweet, but I certainly miss it. One of my goals with this project is to gain enough momentum to continue working on things closer to my heart and work less as a technician or freelance designer. Just dealing with the quotidian architecture of life, I wasn't able to put a show up since 2008. I don't want to wait that long in the future. My dream is to let this show be the impulse to continually work on theater and film projects that I can be 100% invested in at a creative level.

ATFG: What's coming up next for you? Can you tell us about any future projects in the works?

Young: Hopefully, if everything works out with this show, I can keep the momentum going and move right into other projects. I am writing a few things, but I would love to do two big pieces I already have written. I have written a show I am tentatively calling "Straight Outta Wompton." It's a dark comedy based, again, on things I have experienced first hand but filtered through the lens of shows like The Maury Povich Show or that Jersey show people watch. The other project will be a short movie called "Vanilla" which would be my attempt at exploring the darker sides of the issue of polyamory.


Thanks again to Josh Young for being such an honest and insightful interviewee! Don't miss his fascinating play May 21st - Judgement Day.

May 21st - Judgement Day
The Kraine Theater (85 East 4th St.)
Thursday September 1st through Saturday September 3rd, 8pm
$15 in advance, $18 at the door

Buy your tickets in advance here

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The Fabulous Adventures of Alan Swift!

Dear LA Fangirls (and boys): New York is not the only place to see good theater at recession prices! The hilariously imaginative folks at cARTel currently have a new production up, at the Hayworth Theatre, entitled The Fabulous Adventures of Alan Swift (...Or Journey to the Center of Queer). The play travels through time, space, and queerness...and that should be more than enough of a description to sell you on it! The show only has one weekend left so go buy your tickets here now for just $10 (or $15 at the door). And make sure you get to the theater early to enjoy the pre-show reception that includes a visual art gallery and live music.







The Fabulous Adventures of Alan Swift (...Or Journey to the Center of Queer)



Who:

A cARTel: Collaborative Arts LA production (in collaboration with Bob Baker Marionette Theater)

Written by: Matt Chester

Directed by: Jack Nicolaus

Assistant Directed by: Miles Marsico

Featuring: Daniel Halden, Justin Baker, Katie Smith, Nichole Elise, Phil Daddario, J. Steadman, BJ Allman, Perry Young, Laryn Stout, Laura Cheek, Christan Copeland



Where:

Hayworth Theatre

Corner of Wilshire and Carondolet



When:

Friday, 8/19

Saturday, 8/20

Sunday, 8/21

all shows start @ 8pm (with a reception at 7:15pm)

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Fringe Festival Fun

New Yorkers! It's that time of year again--where you go watch cheap, independent theater (aka when your Facebook event page blows up with invites from your actor/director/writer friends' shows). It's time for The New York International Fringe Festival . There are so many shows happening in the course of the festival's two-week span and I'm here to help you sift through them with my recommendations. Based on plays that include talented artists (whom I've had the pleasure of watching in previous shows) and plays that just sound awesome, I've compiled a list of highly recommend shows for you to go watch. So go out and support these small theater companies!



ATFG First Ever Fringe Guide (after the jump):





No Fault: A Tale About the Big D in the Big Apple



Who:

A Carnival Girls production

Written by: Christie Perfetti

Directed by: Bryn Boice

Featuing: Charmaine Broad, Christopher Catalano, Stephanie Anne Ervin, Rich Fromm, Laura Killeen, Melanie Ryan, Galit Sperling, Matilda Szydagis



Where:

Kraine Theater

85 East 4th Street



When:

Saturday, 8/13 @ 3:30pm

Friday, 8/19 @ 7pm

Monday, 8/22 @ 7pm

Wednesday, 8/24 @ 7pm

Saturday, 8/27 @ 1:45pm





The More Loving One



Who:

Unincorporated Theater

Written by: Cory Conley

Directed by: Craig Baldwin

Featuring: David Beck, Jimmy Davis, Preston Martin, Adriana DeGirolami



Where:

The First Floor Theatre @ LA MAMA

74A East 4th St



When:

Wednesday, 8/17 @ 5:45pm

Saturday, 8/20 @ 7:30pm

Sunday, 8/21 @ 4:00pm

Monday, 8/22 @ 8:00pm

Sunday, 8/28 @ 12:00pm





This One Time In Last Chance!



Who:

Attic Theater Company

Directed by: Laura Braza

Written by: Sam Gooley

Featuring: Rob Bradford, Bill Griffin, Joshua Everett Johnson, Marcus Denard Johnson



Where:

Teatro LATEA at the CSV Cultural Center

107 Suffolk Street



When:

Saturday, 8/13 @ 7pm

Sunday, 8/14 @ 5:30pm

Sunday, 8/21 @ 12pm

Wednesday, 8/24 @ 6pm

Thursday, 8/25 @ 4:15pm





Hard Travelin' with Woody



Who:

Rooster Productions

Based on the Music and Lyrics of Woody Guthrie

Written and Performed by: Randy Noojin



Where:

The Flamboyan Theatre at the CSV Cultural Center

107 Suffolk Street



When:

Saturday, 8/13 @ 12pm

Wednesday, 8/17 @ 9:30pm

Saturday, 8/20 @ 5pm

Monday, 8/22 @ 3:45pm

Thursday, 8/25 @ 7pm





Romeo & Juliet: Choose Your Own Ending



Who:

Impressionable Players

Based on the play by Wililam Shakespeare

Directed by: Ann Fraistat

Written by: Ann Fraistat and Shawn Fraistat

Featuring: Kyra Corradin, James Waters, Katie Jeffries



Where:

Teatro SEA at the CSV Cultural and Educational Center

107 Suffolk Street



When:

Saturday, 8/13 @ 12pm

Thursday, 8/18 @ 7:30pm

Saturday, 8/20 @ 2:15pm

Sunday, 8/21 @ 2:30pm

Friday, 8/26 @ 4:15pm





Courtney and Kathleen: A Riot Act



Who:

In Extremis Theater Company

Written and Directed by: Liz Thaler



Where:

The First Floor Theatre @ La MaMa

74 A East 4th Street



When:

Saturday, 8/13 @ 10pm

Wednesday, 8/17 @ 2:00pm

Friday, 8/19 @ 6:15pm

Sunday, 8/21 @ 2:15pm

Monday, 8/22 @ 4:15pm

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Pipeline Triumphs With Their New Production of Brecht's The Caucasian Chalk Circle

Taking on The Caucasian Chalk Circle would be a challenge for any theater company, even a veteran one. So it is an awe-inspiring surprise to see the fairly young Pipeline Theatre Company tackle one of Brecht’s “epic theatre” pieces. With a refreshing boldness, under the direction of Anya Saffir, Pipeline masterfully rises to the challenge in their production of Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle.

The Caucasian Chalk Circle is a play within a play that connects two stories both dealing with the right of possession. The play opens with a frame story set in Post-World War II Russia where two agricultural communes are debating over land ownership. While accusations of thievery are thrown around, the communes come to the agreement that the land should go to the commune who will tend to and use it best. To commemorate the reached settlement, the commune that retains the land performs a musical (led by a famous, hired singer and his band) for the conceding commune. What unfolds then is a folkish musical lead by the omniscient narrator-like character, The Singer. The tale of the new play, set against the backdrop of civil war, revolves around Grusha, a maid trying to keep an aristocratic child she saved and raised after it was abandoned by his biological mother. When the mother comes back for her child, a ridiculous but poignant custody battle ensues in the courtroom of the crafty judge Azdak. At the end of the trial and the musical, the message that resonates is the same as the one in the original frame story: “what there is should go to those who are good for it.”



Intertwining drama and music, all on a bare but constantly alive and changing set, The Caucasian Chalk Circle triumphs in style and technique. Every actor plays numerous roles, rotating between the two plays as well as serving as musicians and singers. The entire cast and crew are fantastic as they work seamlessly to bring together this layered, complicated, ensemble-driven play. Cormac Bluestone’s original music manages to be both lush and delicate as it adds to the folklore nature of the play. The songs also help to break the fourth wall. They speak to the audience by renouncing and celebrating the emotional ups and downs of the plot and actions of the characters. But they also carry the plot and action by fluidly connecting scene to scene and the play within a play.

Beyond its aesthetic and entertaining qualities, The Caucasian Chalk Circle also provokes the audience to truly think about Brecht’s themes. The desire for justice and attempts at charity and goodness during the power struggles of war are all manifested through the actions of two of the main characters Grusha and Azdak. Both characters, driven by a strong sense of justice, help others despite knowing the threat of trouble their selflessness and helpfulness attracts. Maura Hooper shines as Grusha. She brings an amazing duality of sensitivity and strength to the character. Thanks to her performance, we admire Grusha; we sympathize with her but never pity her. Gil Zabarsky bolts onto the stage as Azdak, providing us with the play’s main bulk of humor. He brilliantly embodies the character’s cunning and verbose wit. He leads us through the second half of the show with his pitch-perfect comedic timing and commanding presence.

Like Grusha walking off with the baby into the mountains, I walked out of The Caucasian Chalk Circle feeling like I had stolen something from Pipeline...something very special that demands my admiration and respect. It is a show that not only possesses the power to alter the minds of the audience but has successfully transformed Pipeline itself into a theater company to be reckoned with. While discussing epic theatre, Brecht once wrote: “instead of sharing an experience the spectator must come to grips with things. At the same time it would be quiet wrong to try and deny emotion to this kind of theatre.” This seems to be the best way to describe my viewing experience of The Caucasian Chalk Circle. Watching it is an ideal but rare theater-going experience--you will be entertained, emotionally engaged, and you’ll find yourself challenged intellectually and philosophically. The performance will stay with you, urging you to revisit and contemplate its beauty and meaning. Do not miss out on this experience. Go watch The Caucasian Chalk Circle immediately. To not see it, would be a true injustice.


The Caucasian Chalk Circle
By: Bertolt Brecht
Directed by: Anya Saffir
Music by: Cormac Bluestone
Running now through March 19th at the Theater for the New City
For more information, please visit: http://www.pipelinetheatre.org/

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FAT KIDS ON FIRE

Last night I saw the Pipeline Theatre Company's Fat Kids On Fire, an original play written by Bekah Brunstetter and directed by Peter Frechette. It was a funny, well-acted show that excellently captured the social awkwardness of teenagers with low self-esteem due to body image issues.

Fat Kids On Fire is about Bess, an insecure teenager who gets the opportunity to lose weight and build up her self confidence by going to Fat Camp for the summer. As the skinniest girl there, Bess immediately becomes admired and popular. But all the attention replaces her endearing quirkiness with bitchy egotism. In the end, being the hot, popular girl at camp turns out to be more isolating than being the invisible, slightly chubby girl back home.

The humor and the solid performances help keep the play's familiar themes fresh. During certain scenes, I genuinely felt uneasy watching the characters' insecurities unfold. All the actors did a great job of showing the gawkiness of being uncomfortable in one's own skin. Concepts like eating one's emotions or bullying as a means of projecting one's own insecurities onto others were also well-conveyed. Sydney Matthews did an especially fantastic job portraying Bess' character arc.

I really recommend that you go catch Fat Kids On Fire in its final week at The Wings Theatre. It's playing September 29-October 2; all 8 pm showings. For tickets and more info, please visit www.pipelinetheatre.org.

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Geek Theater Of The Week

I don't often write about theater, as there aren't many geek centric productions out there, but because of the Fringe festival and LA just being weird, August brings many geek offerings for those of you who like some theater with your movies/video games/tv/comics, like I do. Please let me know if you see any of these and hopefully I'll catch some of the Fringe shows while I'm in town in a few weeks.


Note: The formatting in this post is beyond fucked and I have no idea why. Let's just pretend a 12 year old made it and we'll all feel better about each other.



Los Angeles:


USS Pinafore: Star Trek meets HMS Pinafore - currently has a deal on Goldstar and actually has gotten pretty good reviews, with a rating of 100% from the LA Theater equivalent to Rotten Tomatoes, Bitter Lemons. Official info below.

"USS PINAFORE"
an outer space musical
Adapted by Jon Mullich
from "HMS Pinafore" and other
Gilbert & Sullivan works
Musical Direction by William A. Reilly
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Presented by Crown City Theatre Company
"U.S.S. PINAFORE"
takes Gilbert and Sullivan farther
than they've ever gone before...
to outer space!
The nineteenth century ironsides of the title has been fitted with anti-gravitation gear and lasers set to kill!
It takes to the air in a brand-new version that is guaranteed to blast you out of earth's atmosphere and send you to a solar system filled with laughter and delight.
The trivial antics of G&S's veddy British lords and ladies
seem far less trivial when they're fighting for their lives
against alien lizard men!
(okay... possibly slightly more trivial, but twice the fun!) 

------------------------------ 

Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm
and Sundays at 3pm
Thru August 22nd, 2010
LOCATION: Crown City Theater in NOHO
11031 Camarillo Street, North Hollywood, CA 91602
PRICES: $25 General Admission
Students and Seniors $15
FOR MORE INFORMATION: www.crowncitytheatre.com
818-605-5685
FOR TICKETS CALL: 1-800-838-3006 or click here

4 more shows, in LA and NYC, after the jump!

Mary Lynn Spreads Her Legs - Tickets here - Runs through the end of October. Also has a deal on Goldstar!

Mary Lynn Rajskub, best known for her television work as fan favorite Chloe O' Brian on the Fox hit 24, is ready to take to the stage in her one woman comedy performance -  Mary Lynn Spreads Her Legs.

Mary Lynn's private life serves as the inspiration for her new show, which explores what happens when Mary Lynn discovers she is pregnant and subsequently becomes a mother. Written and Performed by Mary Lynn Rajskub, Directed and Developed by Amit Itelman. PERFORMANCES ARE EVERY FRIDAY AND SATURDAY AT 8PM! $20.

New York


Ghost of Dracula  - The bastard child of "Dracula" and "The Breakfast Club," with a lot more blood, and music. Runtime: 1 hour.

Buy your discounted tickets here for only $15: http://bit.ly/c1b1fk They will be $18 at the door, so get them now.

A play by Kenneth Molloy that's been called "A coke-fueled bloody stabfest," and "The Dark Knight of vampire plays." It's got blood that rains from the sky, wolves that howl in the night, and Powerpoint presentations that slightly malfunction. It's more kick ass than any other play inspired by The Breakfast Club.

There's sex, rocket propelled grenades, and piss made of holy water. There's also a ghost vampire, or vampire ghost. Interchangeable terms? I don't know.

Opens Friday the 13th at The Connelly Theater. Located at 220 E. 4th St. Buy your tickets in advance online and save some American dollars to spend on other fun things, like drinking with us after the show:http://bit.ly/c1b1fk

Friday August 13th @ 7:30PM

Saturday August 14th @ 5:15PM

Wednesday August 18th @ 10:45PM

Tuesday August 24th @ 8:30PM

Sunday August 29th @ 2:00PM 

Getting Even With Shakespeare - Yes,  Shakespeare mash-ups count as Geek Theater. Have you READ Kill Shakespeare? This is like that.

Jurassic Parq: The Musical is Jurassic Park told from the perspective of the dinosaurs. No, I'm not kidding. After reading the synopsis below, I'm even more confused. But whatever, I'll see it. Cocktail party!

Boldly re-imagined and retold from the perspective of the dinosaurs, Jurassic Parq is an unflinching meditation on gender, sexual, and racial identity in an evolving landscape destined to stun you with its importance. And you should probably see it drunk. 

If you buy a ticket for opening night, we will transport everyone in the audience, via time machine, to the Jurassic Era to have a cocktail party with the real dinosaurs on which the characters in the play are based.

THAT'S RIGHT! Destiny has gifted us this technology so that we may have the greatest opening night party. Ever.

So buy your tickets now at:  www.fringenyc.org

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