Transhumance & The Real Black Swan

2023 Queerly Festival (Part 2)

Founded in 2014, Queerly is FRIGID New York’s annual celebration of LGBTQA+ artists. Queerly strives for diversity on and off stage, seeking out queer teams and artists of all kinds as well as a wide range of shows and performances. In light of the barrage of anti-trans legislation across the country, they are prioritizing work by or featuring trans artists as well as work that speaks to queer resilience past, present, and future.

Transhumance

A straphanger is riding the subway. When this clown arrives at their destination a sign promises INFORMATION. The suitcase is so very heavy. A mishap occurs. Pantomime is employed to entertaining effect in Transhumance. Ania Upstill is this particular clown and gender confusion is on the menu.

The information sheet shows a stick figure representation of a woman. The triangle dress. The long hair. The breasts. Our clown opens the suitcase and removes a dress. Figuring out what to do with the dress and the shoes inspires silliness and giggles. What are heels for anyway? A handbag? Hammering nails? Answering the “ring ring” of a phone?

This wordless performance continues in a lighthearted manner. After our clown gets into the lady uniform, a confidence builds. Walking becomes strutting. Then the voiceover jumps in. “Legs together,” she implores. More advice is proffered with a hopeful “let’s turn that frown upside down”. The subtext is clear.

One more subway stop leads to another visit to the information desk. This time the sheet contains a stick figure of a male. A pair of pants is all this clown needs to exude manly confidence. “Hah,” “Yah,” and “Fwah” are the sounds of this specimen. A masculine voiceover demands “go big or go home” and “let me see that swagger”.

A final subway stop will involve the peeling, eating and sharing of a tangerine plus neckerchief realness. The vibe is a delightfully breezy riff on gender norms and how binary thinking submerges individuality and creativity. The laughs are earned and the voiceover lines are consistently on point. Listen hard and you will be rewarded with “only men open jars”. A witty approach to a topical issue makes Transhumance a ride worth taking.

The Real Black Swan

Les Kurkendaal Barrett knows that numbing oneself is a way to survive in an America where George Floyd’s murder can happen. He mimics Glinda and envelops his being in a big pink bubble of protection. Drinking makes the bubble indestructible.

Today’s world is contrasted with the true story of William Dorsey Swann. A slave from birth, he was freed after the Civil War and eventually landed in Washington, D.C. In the late nineteenth century Swann organized a series of drag balls for men to gather. This self-proclaimed Queen is the first queer activist on record. That fact alone makes this tale a fascinating peek into a different time where crossdressing had to be hidden in private residences.

That did not stop the police from interfering as you would expect. These plights from yesteryear are contrasted with the realities faced by black men today. Personal experiences of police interactions are vividly told. No use challenging a falsely written ticket in court since no one would believe him. A sad but understandable conclusion.

The storyline alternates between these two elements to highlight what has changed. Frequently switching perspectives occasionally creates abrupt transitions. Clear messaging, however, makes sure the listener is wide awake to what is happening in our country with the drag bans. “We all need to get in there and fight before it’s too late while we still can”.

There is power in this performance with notably good vocalizations when multiple characters are being portrayed. Adding in the scant details of the Queen provides a truly interesting backbone which makes this piece unique. Grab your umbrella. It’s time for a cakewalk. Let your body go with the flow. You know you can do it.

The 9th Annual Queerly Festival is running downtown at the Kraine Theater from June 15 though July 3, 2023. Many shows are also available for streaming. Transhumance will be performed again on June 22nd. The Real Black Swan has another show scheduled on June 24th.

www.frigid.nyc/festivals/queerly

About This Reviewer - June 19, 2023

BECOMING AUSTIN NATION & The Drag Album

2023 Queerly Festival (Part 1)

BECOMING AUSTIN NATION: From Crack to PhD – One Drag Queen’s Story

How did I become a drug addict? That question is posed at the start of this detailed autobiographical monologue. The answer is not a simple one. Austin Nation tells his story as a mature sixty year old who has been clean and sober for twenty years. That perspective provides historical context, clear-headed analysis and, ultimately, a refreshing spritz of self-positivity.

His youth includes a dysfunctional family dynamic amidst being the “only black family in a middle class neighborhood”. This was the era where bussing began and cruelty was always lurking around the bend. The experimentation with drugs was a reach for happiness. His early forays into mom’s alcohol stash are colorfully rendered.

Major Don West from the television show Lost in Space was an early crush. His sexuality was developing as the family moved around a few times. He finally arrives in West Hollywood and felt like he “died and went to heaven”. Then the AIDS epidemic sweeps into the community and, tragically, his immediate circle. Those with vague knowledge regarding the uncertainly, confusion and frightfulness of that era can experience an intimate glimpse of that very scary time here.

Austin Nation became a Nurse and much later gets a PhD. His thirties, however, were a “blur”. Like many kindred souls, he found himself helped by complete strangers. He realizes “chosen families are there when you need them the most” unlike biological relatives. The honesty is unflinching throughout the entire performance.

There’s a lovely In Memoriam section of this show followed by deserved accusations against those who were indifferent to the plight of all the men dying. The memoir then touches on the fun he has had developing his drag persona. A heartwarming lip synch sprinkles reaffirming energy into the atmosphere.

Prior to that ending, he highlights a superb Nina Simone quote. “I’m learning to get up from tables where love is no longer being served”. That is one hell of a piece of advice.

The Drag Album

The emcee of the evening, Sam Bam Thankyoumaam, announces that this cabaret show is a “celebration of doing drag and writing original music”. Six acts present their unique artistry in various forms. Some head scratching should be anticipated.

Senerio kicked things off with rap numbers and a kinetic energy which utilized the whole stage. He admits “I got a lot on my brain”. One nugget: “like America not taking care of Puerto Rico”. The repeated verse “give me that cliché rap” was memorable.

Daddy Dallon lipped synched original tunes with an old-timey sound. Make up and clothing changes also occurred. The high point for me was the effervescent lyric “you make the butterflies in my stomach lift me high in the clouds”.

The hilariously named Lena Horné created her show “out of a whim and some whimsy”. The Bodyguard movie medley challenged Ms. Horné to vocalize Whitney Houston. That’s a challenge few dare to take for good reason. A foray into a disco tune seemed an easier choice to execute.

Drag King and host Sam Bam sang “Caesar” and we hear “who’s taking Rome all the way to the top?” Then followed a deeply intense and very personal song about wanting top surgery at a young age. Again, perspective from the passage of time provides clarity and healing.

Samara Slaughter performed music with sound distortions and thunderstorms. I am not sure I can describe what I saw. I was like a dog whose head tilts sideways. A little confused but watching.

The last act was a band. The Space Station’s singer Aladdin Firm belted out “Dancing on My Grave,” a vampire pop ditty. Romance was hinted at with “the night we first kissed behind mausoleum doors”. More typical was “press the dagger into my skin” and “sink your teeth into my flesh”. A rap song followed about, amongst other things, our “racist bullshit nation”.

The Drag Album was a collection of free form expressionism. Festivals like this are supposed to enable risk-taking content. I found this show to be a mixed bag and, admittedly, geared toward a younger listener.

The 9th Annual Queerly Festival is running downtown at the Kraine Theater from June 15 though July 3, 2023. Many shows are also available for streaming. BECOMING AUSTIN NATION is being performed again on June 19th and July 3rd.

www.frigid.nyc/festivals/queerly

About This Reviewer - March 13, 2023

Tennessee Rising: The Dawn of Tennessee Williams

The Glass Menagerie. A Streetcar Named Desire. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Just three in an awesome string of remarkable and still performed plays from indisputably one of the top American playwrights in the twentieth century. Tennessee Rising: The Dawn of Tennessee Williams dives into the period leading up to the triumphal success of Menagerie on Broadway.

Much is known about this man. This solo show opens with Tom (his given name) grabbing a bottle of liquor saying “look what I found”. Events, people and mental health are explored in a serious yet conversational way. Tennessee Rising links his formative experiences with the prodigious creative output which followed.

Writer Jacob Storms narrates this memory play as if audience members are invited guests to his parlor. Travels are recounted with witty asides. New Orleans is a “languorous Gomorrah”. Los Angeles features a “grotesque neon waterfall with plastic flowers poking out”. Regarding his upbringing: “a Saint Louis burial would be a fate worse than death”. The “kindness of strangers” is referred to multiple times.

Descriptive language is often interesting during this exploration of literary genius. Mr. Storms also introduces many relationships which later emerge as classic characters in his plays. Stanley Kowalski was a coworker at a shoe factory. A society dame from a party he attended was nicknamed Maggie the Cat. His sister’s fragility and mental illness informed Laura Wingfield and her menagerie.

The source references become a little overstuffed. On a beach Tennessee sees an iguana, presumably the visual which years and years later inspired Night of the Iguana. Much stronger than the one off notations, however, are the deeper dives into key early romantic relationships.

Events leading up to America’s participation in World War II are touched upon. While some of that material is familiar, there is a stinging accusation to American capitalists of industry who enabled Hitler. I recalled an Oscar nominated documentary called A Night at the Garden. This seven minute found footage was from a packed 1939 Nazi rally in Madison Square Garden. Americans eagerly signing up for authoritarianism. This sidebar felt a little off topic but nevertheless colors the period of Tennessee’s formative years.

Fans of juicy gossip will find mentions of Lana Turner, Joan Crawford and Tallulah Bankhead. Less familiar names such as the poet Hart Crane sent me googling to learn about his influences. There is a ton of material here – perhaps too much – so depth is sacrificed for inclusion.

Alan Cumming directed Mr. Storms. At first I was enjoying the suggestive lighting. The sunlight on the beach in Malibu. Darker hues at a mental institution. The effects became piled on too frequently and distracted such as multiple lightning effects. Visiting a table toward the back of the stage forced the performance away from the listener.

At its core, Tennessee Rising is a thought provoking study into the developing mind of a literary heavyweight. Listening to phrases like “familial treason” and “maternal jailer” succinctly capture the spirits which haunt Mr. Williams’ finest work. Fans of this playwright and those seeking a demonstrable connection between personal experience and its influence on the creative process will find much to consider here.

Tennessee Rising: The Dawn of Tennessee Williams is being performed on Sundays through April 2, 2023 in the very impressive newly restored AMT Theater.

www.amttheater.org

About This Reviewer - February 27, 2023

Thank u, ex & The GynoKid

FRIGID Fringe Festival 2023 (Part 7)

The 17th Annual FRIGID Fringe Festival is underway in New York City. This three week event is an open and uncensored downtown theater festival that gives artists an opportunity to let their ingenuity thrive in a venue that values freedom of expression and artistic determination. Many of this year’s performances are livestreamed so there are ample opportunities to see some Indie theater works and support the artists who develop and perform them.

Thank u, ex

“Society tells little girls if a boy is mean to you he likes you”. In Kelly Taylor and Melly Magrath’s acutely conceived show, relationship histories will be explored. Advice will be proffered. Wrapping it all into a 90’s confection allows Thank u, ex the opportunity to present familiar material in a creative and engaging way.

A video accompanies this show and lessons will be taught including the five rules to get over a breakup. (Ice cream night is number two.) The real fun happens onstage. Beginning with a third grade crush, the various chapters of a young girl’s love life are examined and commented on for comedic effect. While the primary purpose might be entertainment there is clear conveyance of sisterly counseling. People say “follow your heart” which is “terrible advice”.

As a youngster the dream is Prince Charming. A magazine ad for engagement rings prompts the confession “I stare at it for four hours”. The show will get more adult but not before early crushes are analyzed. “He had a limited edition Pikachu!” One day he asks to borrow her lip balm and eats it. This event becomes the catalyst for a lifetime of trust issues.

Thank u, ex covers the newly moved in boy next door, kissing practice with a pillow up through intimacy experiences. The lighthearted touch is always in evidence despite the angst (and whiskey) swilling around her developing persona. Excelling at video games was one tactic to impress. “I was throwing those shells and banana peels like the only one I was interested in was Yoshi”.

Another boy stuck his tongue in her mouth. That was “before consent culture”. Zingers appear frequently and could benefit with longer pauses to allow for appreciative laughter (“Nightmare on Teen Street”). That said, there are many quotable lines to savor in this show.

An important North Star provides guidance and light. “The only toxic thing we should have in our lives” is the Britney Spears hit single Toxic. Indeed sound advice lovingly encased in a bubbly rant which should have extra appeal to those with similar coming of age misadventures.

The GynoKid

Have you ever told a story about your childhood to your friends?” asks Claire Ayoub. You thought it funny; the friends did not. Her therapist points out that not everyone had your weird upbringing. The GynoKid is the confidently performed memoir of growing up the daughter of a gynecologist and a nurse midwife in a small town.

Would she naturally become a “child prodigy in the gynecological arts?” “Vaginas paid my way to a historic women’s college”. Work talk at the dinner table was atypical. Instead of “oh the fax machine was broken” she heard “oh another outbreak of gonorrhea”. These impressionable memories are delightful.

Ms. Ayoub’s mom had a stint teaching health in middle school. Her brother is told “your mom’s the period lady”. At a Catholic Church a woman exclaims “Doctor Ayoub it’s so nice to see you with my clothes on”. What might be mortifying to a child is assuredly recounted with loving fondness, winning humor, polished staging and effortless clarity.

Personal revelations are shared which should remain a surprise. I cannot help fixating on the fact that she and her siblings each watched a live birth as children. That visual should be shown to all teens so “they’ll never have sex”. Experiencing the GynoKid’s amusing examination can definitely be recommended despite the “mild discomfort and slight pressure” so familiar to many.

Performances at the Frigid Fringe Festival are running through March 5, 2023. Two dozen shows are performed multiple times at either the Kraine Theater or UNDER St Mark’s. Tickets can also be purchased for many shows via livestreaming as well.

www.frigid.nyc

About This Reviewer - February 26, 2023

Cold Feet: A Comedy Extravaganza & Running Scared

FRIGID Fringe Festival 2023 (Part 6)

Cold Feet: A Comedy Extravaganza

Pop culture references can be effective for finding humor easily shareable with an audience. Cold Feet: A Comedy Extravaganza employs this methodology right from the start. In the first sketch, a character named John states “through the miracles of cloning technology” they have “isolated the cold feet gene”. The “fine people” of the audience are here to “witness the secrets of our research”.

The skit ends rather quickly and then a song is sung. Consulting the script I learn that John’s full name is John Hammond. All three performers play multiple versions of him. Google aids in my understanding. John Hammond is a character in the Jurassic Park franchise. Ah, now I get the DNA mention.

Why do all three face away from the audience and pantomime masturbation? Ah, a related reference to a comment Richard Attenborough as Mr. Hammond makes in the movie. I had no idea what was going on so it was a confused rather than comedic opening for me. Not every joke is made for every person however.

Cold Feet is a series of short sketches interspersed with guitar songs. Shelley the orangutan is a character which links some of the stories. Orangutans have a “vigorous and passionate fuck style”. This material is firmly in randy young men territory but there is some promise in that simian concept.

A spelling bee contains the word anticipation leading to a surprising and amusing use in a requested sentence. “Stereotypes” attempts parody. Italian Andy wears a green cap (Luigi reference!) and declares “les get out of here and go get a big pizza pie with the gabagool and fresh mozarell”.

Cottonwood gets laughs in a stand up section. He receives a bank alert for suspicious activity. He paid a bill on time. Definitely chuckle worthy. There are funny bits on being bisexual and non-binary. Being non-binary causes him to “get mad at myself for leaving the seat up”.

This extravaganza has many moments which feel like inside baseball. References which are near and dear to the performer’s hearts – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – seem underdeveloped for wider consumption. The camaraderie is evident on stage. Some additional tweaking may help warm those cold feet.

Running Scared

“What am I missing?” Bryan Berlin asks this question in his conversational chronicle about running. How do people “experience the void?” If you are a runner, know one, considering becoming one or just perplexed as to its appeal then Running Scared is likely to satisfy your curiosity.

Mr. Berlin performs a thoughtful meditation on this widely popular sport. He begins in school wanting to join the soccer team with friends. A bout with a warm up mile during tryouts results in “never going back”. He does realize joining a less intense co-ed rec league in town was fun. Something is kindled but lying dormant.

Sitcom writer was the desired job after college. He recounts a “job adjacent” on a reality television series for the Travel Channel. An associate producer role requires him to do every task that no one else wants. Unfortunately, or fortunately, he is recruited to do a little running while filming one episode. The retelling is sharply rendered and highly entertaining. His soon to be raging passion is stoked.

Running becomes more than physical exercise. The activity enables friendships to form while living in New Hampshire and the Reach the Beach tag team fundraiser. Later in Brooklyn he seriously trains for half marathons. A girlfriend jumps in to run together as “it is an important part of your life”.

From school years to the advent of Covid, Mr. Berlin gently weaves his tale of embracing his unabated love for running with the common trials and tribulations of everyday life. The performance ends at this point in his life. The story is unfinished. His devotion is resolute and he comes to realize how much this activity means to him personally. Be warned. You will want to eat a donut after absorbing the beautifully paced Running Scared. Blueberry cake was an excellent choice.

www.frigid.nyc

About This Reviewer - February 23, 2023

TEST, Death of a Salesman: A New Play & Swinging on the Seine

FRIGID Fringe Festival 2023 (Part 5)

TEST

Imagine going to a job interview at a prestigious corporation and you are asked about your sexual orientation. Whether or not you have friends. If you a prone to sweating. Elin Rahnev’s play TEST presents such a future state.

You might view this entire scenario as a far-fetched science fiction nightmare. You might presume it’s inevitable based on current trends. Either interpretation (or both) works in support of a well developed creepy tale of Big Brother at its slimiest.

This company prefers unmarried workers. If one’s wife complains about a broken refrigerator, the employee cannot focus on their work. Those predisposed to obesity could undermine the company’s prestige. Don’t like the questions in this interview? “You can simply get out of the chair and let someone else who is waiting eagerly outside to sit in it.” This new reality is vividly painted in sarcasm. “Do you know how many years it takes to sit in this divinely blessed chair?”

TEST is certainly cynical, perhaps a bit angry, wittily critical and astutely topical. Color coding the questions into segments did not seem additive but the kooky tone remained consistent. The accomplished performances delivered by Maria N. Angelova and Vitan Pravtchev were tightly constructed within the loosely staged framework. The production, directed by the author Mr. Rahnev, nicely showcased the absurdity while allowing the underlying horror to manifest itself.

All interviews come to an end and it was not clear whether this one would fizzle out despite its clever conceit. That did not happen. TEST ratcheted up the insanity with memorable plot twists and a welcome hint towards a larger story. Maybe that’s what the future holds.

Death of a Salesman: A New Play

Absurdist sarcasm does not begin to describe this bizarrely conceived and improbably winning riff on chasing the American dream. Referencing the masterwork by Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman: A New Play updates the quaint door to door salesman from the middle of last century to the entrepreneurial culture of the present.

This version ridicules the high wired youthful get-rich-quick schemers of today in combination with the green movement. A Kickstarter campaign for Eco-ennis Tennis Balls raised one hundred thousand dollars. One year later the founder and his head of sales are still maniacally obsessed with driving their business model. Money has run out, however, and they are eating poorly, to say the least.

The hilariously delusional are the main targets here. Wacky entrepreneurial pitches can sound like brilliant notions when hyped properly. These caricatures know they are onto something big. When a player hits a tennis ball outside the fence there are ramifications. A raccoon might eat it and die. Players routinely hit a few outside each time they go on court. Eco-ennis tennis balls to the rescue!

Money is running out so a pivot is required. Nothing screams entrepreneurial genius like a well-timed pivot as the market responds negatively. Instead of saving animals, let’s message the best bouncing ball ever. Success is just around the corner! “Do you think we’ll miss the hustle when we’re rich?” is the suppositious question posed by these impoverished yet imagined captains of industry.

Playwright Austen Halpern-Graser adds a hallucination or two which abruptly turns this play from silly satire into macabre goofiness. Is the founder experiencing lunatic visions or a real life terrifying inspiration for the next pivot? No matter. It’s just business after all, where people “eat each other’s faces”. Important takeaway: “whoever swallows first, wins”.

Swinging on the Seine

D’yan Forest is 88. She puts that fact “out there right away in case I don’t make it through the show”. She has a certificate from Guinness World Records as the Oldest Working Female Comedian. Her coming of age is the framework. Her vagina and, more specifically, her clitoris is the focus.

“Tonight I’m going to talk and not do swinging,” she tells her amused audience, “unless that’s what you’re into”. Another punchline follows. “Bet you regret sitting in the front row.” This cabaret cum comedic sex drenched travelogue is good natured naughtiness. The audience laughed merrily with her.

The definition of swinging from the title is very clear from the outset. After divorcing a husband, Ms. Forest went to Paris. The journey is recalled as a “bumpy ride” quickly followed with “I did a lot of riding”. The show comes across as a confessional salon in your sprightly grandmother’s parlor starring the horniest version of Betty White imaginable.

Pearls of wisdom from someone who recruited Parisian men to give her ecstasies galore are shared. “Unlike conservative America the French didn’t need to fuck themselves” as “they were fucking each other”. Poetic turns include “He was male / He was French / He knew what to do on a riverside bench”.

In between lovers, instruments are played and songs are sung. Some rewrites are inevitable. The French classic Frere Jacques becomes “I’m a cougar”. Ms. Forest is certainly up-to-date sexually if you were wondering. “When in Paris” she lists “do unto him, do unto her, do unto they for all that matters”. This show is high energy, surreal, sweetly raunchy and likely extremely dangerous to the well-being of conservative prudes everywhere.

www.frigid.nyc

About This Reviewer - February 21, 2023

As I Eat the World & How to Be an Ethical Slut

FRIGID Fringe Festival 2023 (Part 4)

As I Eat the World

“Everything makes me angry” admits Luis Roberto Herrera. As I Eat the World is his highly charged story about eating disorders and mental health issues he has and is confronting. On the stage is a cake shaped like Earth. “I’m here to eat the world” like “a big ‘ol tasty ass cake”. And he takes a bite noting “some good ass icing”.

The moments of levity don’t hang around too long as Mr. Herrera gets to the proverbial meat of the matter. He was “a chubby little Hispanic boy”. Soda was water. When he was in sixth grade, he wore “whatever my french fry body was comfortable with”. The recollections are gritty and candid.

Latinx culture is identified as a major cause for his condition. Food is an absolute necessity at family parties. His discomfort with himself was fueled by uncles who took one look and laughed at him “like a pack of hyenas”. The uber masculine culture resulted in his changing clothing to become basic and not stand out.

More insightfulness is garnered by observing the type of boys who girls talked with. These compounding inputs resulted in decision to “starve myself”. By the time he is a senior in college (2013) he has been starving himself on and off since the seventh grade. The material is rough and relentless.

During a period living in Florida “all I want to do is bang my head against a wall till I paint it red”. The questions he asks aloud following that outburst is the highlight of this piece. We are allowed inside a myriad of Why Why Why self-lacerations. That someone can be that angry yet channel it into a autobiographical one person show is commendable.

A few more anecdotes would be welcome as his personal observations are poignant. The recited food list was one example of a lull in the storytelling. At the end of the play Mr. Herrera doesn’t evoke a rainbow. He exhales. He has shared his cake with us and perhaps that, in and of itself, is enough.

How to Be an Ethical Slut

Brooke McCarthy inhabits the cabaret entertainer Blake Valentini and her unabated promiscuity in the bluntly and aptly titled How to Be an Ethical Slut. She opens with “Hey New York, are you ready to get slutty?” Then she sings a song about loving her ass.

Trollop could have replaced the word slut to perhaps add a level of dignity to this sex mentoring sideshow. But subtlety is not on the song list. The show is broken down into parts, all of which involve bragging about various partners. One part reflects on how to be a dumb slut. Another focuses on how to be a slut in love. This structure works for the material and the quantity of sexual escapades recounted.

As would be expected there is humor in this tale of growing up to be a “smarter slut”. The typical bases are covered including STDs, threelationships, swinger’s clubs and married men. These individual stories are punctuated by (occasionally reworded) song breaks which sometimes feel forced into the act and come across a little shrill and bombastic.

If you are debating whether to take these particular lessons, you should know that “once you become an ethical slut there’s no going back”. The whimsy is certainly fun but the show needs more of it between the sheets. Our chanteuse concludes “I’m really proud to be an ethical slut” before belting out the La Cage aux Folles anthem “I Am What I Am”. After watching this aggressively in your face sexmusical, you might walk away thinking “sometimes the aces, sometimes the deuces”. In this case, however, you need to at least consider working “thruple” into that lyric.

www.frigid.nyc

About This Reviewer - February 20, 2023February 21, 2023

Kingfish, A Scar is Born & Syncope

FRIGID Fringe Festival 2023 (Part 3)

Kingfish

Off the side of a simple yet effective boat set a man is peeing the “last couple drops”. An aggressively nasty tone begins the adventure called Kingfish. Two men are seemingly strangers on this fishing boat. Despite the unfamiliarity trash talking is abundant. One man is “talking smack” about another man’s wife. Where is this boat headed?

J.J. Williams is the “best bass fisherman the game has ever seen”. He enters a mixed tournament where anyone might be assigned as your partner. J.J. has the unfortunate luck to have Scratch on board. His character is best described as an obnoxious overweight insulting pig of a manchild. Even more concerning is that Scratch is Satan.

Satan collects souls in Mason jars and has every intention of adding to his cache today. Arguments ensue. J.J. realizes “it’s tough to be a good boy when it’s just you and the devil”. The premise is fun, the horns are funny and the tale nicely transitions into a fishing contest for one’s soul. “When I win maybe I won’t flay you right off the bat” hints at the occasional amusing tone.

The trip stretches over a period of time leading J.J. to wonder if hell simply is a never ending fishing trip with the devil. Even more danger lurks in the water. The storyline enters an unruly whirlpool of sorts and the plotline becomes a bit muddy. Winning random references like “Fuck Charlie Daniels” keep the mood light but a consistently darker tone might make this a creepy scary parable. After all, Satan remarks, Jesus told us to “go forth and be a fisher of men”.

A Scar is Born

Lorelei Zarifian is admittedly “intoxicated by the sound of words”. Her “stand up tragedy” A Scar is Born places this “word addict” at an audition for a theatrical film in Orlando. How big a word freak you ask? “I snort thousands and thousands of words”. The show begins in an intriguingly quirky manner.

Through a series of songs and sketches Ms. Zarifian will review her life experiences to this unseen casting director. Some of the wordplay is very entertaining. “Suddenly I saw the silhouette of my fiancé/ Had no time to finish my crème brûlée”. She wears a sign “Stop Bad Bread” pronouncing the American equivalent “a bad joke”. In France, bread is four simple ingredients. Here the package lists twenty one including enriched flour. “Enriched with what?” is the amusing aside.

The audition takes us on her personal journey from Marseilles to Paris to New York and ultimately to Florida where the homeowner’s association creates a never ending series of new restrictions. The moral of the Manhattan segment is “it costs an arm and a leg to be a foreigner”. The revelations are a mixed bag. There are many songs sung throughout. While nicely rendered, they tend to illuminate the fragmentary structure of this show rather than help it coalesce.

At the end of the audition she receives a priceless call back from Netflix. They love the idea but just want to “make slight changes”. Those are funny. None more so than asking her to change her role from poet to prostitute. A Scar is Born might have a few boo-boos but there is definitely wit and heart within its storyteller’s continual reaching for that elusive dream.

Syncope

“Join celebrated storyteller Will Clegg on his lifelong journey with marijuana and panic disorder! Hijinks ensue!” That is the description and punctuation found online for Syncope. While factually accurate, it does not begin to hint at the engrossing seriousness of this exceptionally well told memoir.

The show begins with a fairly typical scenario. The father of a teenage boy finds a bag which is “either spices for spaghetti sauce or weed”. Apparently Mr. Clegg was not quite the goody two shoes imagined. He grows to love smoking pot. “Everything I was worrying about melted away”. This evolution gets him through middle school and eventually studying filmmaking at Columbia University.

There are attempts to cut back. Never smoke before class is a mantra. Then the punchline arrives. “But I can skip class.” There is an effortless conversational ease in Mr. Clegg’s presentation but there is no shortage of vivid imagery or details. Living in a shoebox in the East Village he warns “whatever you’re imagining, it’s smaller than that”.

A few events give pause. One time waking up in the bathtub with no idea how long he had been there. The year 2003 with its pile of upsetting news. Real concerns about life, career, relationships and substance excesses. Anxiety issues. Paranoia. Am I having a heart attack? Mr. Clegg candidly and expertly dives deeper and deeper into how he discovered the real antidote to anxiety.

This cathartic trail of foibles, both humorous and also a tad frightening, contains a bit of scientific information as well. I now know the terms micturition and gelastic syncope which relate to temporary losses of consciousness due to a fall in blood pressure.

There is much to admire in Syncope as a piece of theater. Perhaps more valuable, however, is hearing about a well traveled road to gaining confidence. We can all use a dose of self-actualization now and then. “I was able to be present and just enjoy it all” concludes Mr. Clegg. From my seat I was happily present for Syncope and just enjoyed it all immensely.

www.frigid.nyc

About This Reviewer - February 19, 2023

I AM MY OWN MILF & Emil Amok: Lost NPR Host Found Under St. Mark’s, and other stories

FRIGID Fringe Festival 2023 (Part 2)

I AM MY OWN MILF

“How’s it going Upper East Side?” asks our middle aged hostess diva. The ladies are getting together for lunch which will hilariously feature yuzu chiffon birthday cake. I AM MY OWN MILF is at its enjoyably zaniest and most clever in the details and asides.

Sending up the rich and privileged is certainly nothing new especially in the campy world of drag. Matthew Antoci’s version is supremely confident giving out a “shout out to everyone with social anxiety; I kinda feel sorry for you”. This show is described as a “mixed-media drag+dance spectaculare” and also “part TV segment, part nature blog”. Let’s settle on manic variety show where the guardrails are down, the brakes are faulty and speeding is the only option.

They have privilege take down as the main course in this uneven buffet. “What does it feel like to be an elitist New York piece of shit?” From that our diva will discover that she’s broke. “No more gems, jets, sillouettes”. Listen carefully and you will often be rewarded with delicious amuse-bouches. The struggle is definitely real: “none of my friends will see me, not even Susan Sarandon”.

There is some linking to the Shakespeare play Timon of Athens with its feasts followed by poverty. Here, critically, important questions are asked such as “what do poor people wear?” Swipes at JK Rowling, Lynn Nottage, Kim Kardashian and the Roundabout Theatre Company’s Board of Directors pepper the rants. Truthful confessions emerge. “What a lot of people don’t know is how draining Athens is”.

Sidekicks Lizz Mangan and Meaghan Robichaud jump in as backup dancers and inhabit various roles including the 70 Minutes interviewer Debra Messing. The show has energy to spare with some really funny lines sharing the stage with some clunkers. You cannot say, however, the I AM MY OWN MILF failed to go big.

A song choice at the end included the lyrics “I’ve stayed too long at the fair/ I couldn’t find anybody who cared”. That summed up this experience. It’s impossible not to find fun things at the fair even if there are more scintillating versions in existence.

Emil Amok: Lost NPR Host Found Under St. Mark’s, and other stories

The title gives a preview of the expansive journey to be found in this storytelling memoir monologue. Emil Amok: Lost NPR Host Found Under St. Mark’s, and other stories is one man’s tale growing up as a Filipino American. Emil Guillermo admittedly has a chip on his shoulder. That energy adds a fascinating storm cloud hovering over his personal experience of racism.

Mr. Guillermo is a second generation American. His father arrived here in 1928 and became a citizen although “some think I should have had my head examined for that”. Son Emil seems to be achieving the proverbial American dream including attending Harvard and becoming the first Asian American male to be a national news host on NPR.

The crux of his anger is being treated like a first generation foreigner. He comments that “white voice privilege” is not the same as white privilege. Emil is in the one percent but the wrong one. His tribe is part of a very small racial minority in the United States.

There are some jokes sprinkled throughout. “Black Hair Matters” is one example which came across to me as a little flat and off-putting rather than funny. His school friends debating whether he was “Winnie the Pooh color” or “Golden Bear brown” was a vivid memory. The storytelling eventually devolves into a discussion of “that’s a gay job” followed by an overlong diatribe about his colonoscopy. (Spoiler alert: the prep is the worst!)

The bitterness generated from Mr. Guillermo’s life experience is the heart and soul of Emil Amok. At the end of the show Emil informs that he’s “gonna get out of the past and into the present”. Whether this show accomplishes that is debatable. There is no doubt, however, that he sharply feels the anguish of being part of a small minority in a land of majority rule.

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About This Reviewer - February 17, 2023

Sadec 1965: A Love Story & The Parentheses

FRIGID Fringe Festival 2023 (Part 1)

Sadec 1965: A Love Story

Sa Dec is described online as a small, sleepy, charming town featuring architecture from the colonial period. In Sadec 1965: A Love Story, Flora Le narrates a 2013 motorcycle journey through her father’s homeland in Vietnam. The tale is intensely personal and effusively honest.

At 31 years old, Ms. Le finds herself exhausted. Her ten year career, constant moving, negative relationships, substance abuse excesses, compulsive shopping and no family contact have left an “empty hole inside”. A “decade in therapy” did not seem to do the trick nor “more Buddhist meditation retreats than I can count”. Could this solo trip be the answer needed?

A best friend asks, “Do you think this has anything to do with your father?” I saw this show the day after viewing Ana de Armas’ Oscar nominated turn as Marilyn Monroe in Blonde. Father issues are a central element to both. Sadec 1965 comes across as a far more constructive exercise in soul searching contemplation of childhood trauma and its aftermath.

Her father left Vietnam in August of 1967 to go to college in Montreal. He meets a Canadian woman and Ms. Le is born. By the time she was five years old her father had left. Weekend visitation memories are still wounds. “I learned at a really young age we just don’t talk about things”. This upbringing provides the contextual backdrop for this philosophical attempt to connect a myriad of distressing pathways taken and, seemingly, survived.

The storytelling jumps back and forth from the past to the present. This memoir is both about a journey to her father’s homeland and an opportunity for thought. That time spent results a promise to “remain single until I find a way to heal my wounds”. Presumably this show is a testament to that hard work.

Sadec 1965 is stuffed with big revelations which, when compounded with the shifting time perspective, becomes a lot to digest in one hour. There is no doubt, however, that Ms. Le has effectively contemplated and confronted “all the shadows I’ve been carrying”. At the show’s end there definitely seems to be more sunlight in her world.

The Parenthesis

“Sometimes we’re looking for an explanation, tacking on afterthought, enriching what is already complete with a pair of rounded brackets”. That quote is from the program of The Parentheses. What comes between those brackets is often illuminating nuance. This play delves into a single relationship by exploring the delicate subtleties encased within a common framework.

Talia (Claire McClain) and Natasha (playwright Marissa Fleming) were a couple living in New York City. Talia now lives in Berlin but has a layover and meets up with her ex on short notice. The banter between the two is easy and safe at the start. “Berlin doesn’t feel like it cares if you miss out on something”. The mindset seems to suit Talia. You know there is more history here since Natasha lets her know that her mom says hi.

While Talia has used her wings to fly away to a better place, Natasha also is evolving. She turns down an educational opportunity which upset her parents. Talia is happily supportive. “You can’t spend your life chasing someone else’s dream Natasha”, she tells her. Both know each other well yet the evidence of maturation is apparent from this passage of time.

Their meeting at a café eventually turns into a walk and then a stop to Natasha’s apartment. They reconnect. A shared kiss. Their natural chemistry is tentative but present. And then the parentheses emerge providing transparency to what went wrong. The colors darken and the canvas of this relationship reflects pain.

The response to “you completely ghosted me after you left” is met with a pointed barb of leaving “Planet Natasha”. Further peeling back the onion leads to more (archetypal but serious-minded) revelations of how these two were in or not in sync during their clearly complicated relationship. Ms. Fleming’s nicely realistic play ends without definitive resolution (hopeful, perhaps messy, unknowable, like life itself).