FRIGID Festival 2022 (Part 4)

The 16th Annual FRIGID Festival is underway in New York City.  The FRIGID Festival is an open and uncensored theater festival that gives artists an opportunity to let their ingenuity thrive in a venue that values freedom of expression and artistic determination.  Since this year’s performances are both live and livestreamed, there are many chances to see some Indie theater works.  100 % of all ticket sales go to the artists.  There is a tip jar after each show for the festival.

As You Will

The tune “Greensleeves” plays to set the mood before four men burst onto the stage.  They welcome “friends, foes, fools” to the show.  As You Will is a Shakespearean improvisation troupe.  They perform the canon but with audience suggestions for title alterations.  At the show I saw “King Queer” was offered and accepted.

The performance very loosely reenacts the original.  In this telling the soldiers are “fearsome, huge, muscular, sweaty”.  The Tact Man arrives and asks “did someone call for something to be quelled?”  All of this silliness is spirited fun and the audience laughed easily.  The actors often use a rhyming convention with combinations such as “war” and “whore”.  Regarding a suggestion about the latter one remarks “it wouldn’t be tactful”.

In the next scene another is accused of crimes including “desecrating my mules” and “filling my house with butter”.  King Queer is good natured ribbing.  The accuser is asked to list six more and improvs the crime of having “shaved all my chest hair”.  A burly makeover then winds its way into the plot.  We learn the importance “to always work your behind and clench”.  After the burly transformation is completed more knowledge is shared:  “it’s really impressive what a keto diet can do”.

Footnotes are an integral part of Shakespeare reading for students and they are utilized here.  A “detailed and intricate fight” scene is presented in slow motion.  “S…A…Y…U…N…C…L…E” grabs some chuckles.  The plot advances and many lines amuse.  Secrets are shared as in you are “not truly burly… art thou?”  Also, “such a small knife for such a tall man”.

As You Will is simply fun.  Fans of improv with a pinch of Bard knowledge will be entertained.  If this were a maxi challenge on Ru Paul’s Drag Race, King Queer would definitely be significantly bawdier.  This show frolics comfortably in PG-13.  Huzzah!

And Toto Too

Music also precedes And Toto Too.  The tunes are instantly familiar.  “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” and “If I Only Had a Heart”, amongst others.  A lion roars and clips from the MGM classic film sets the stage for what is to follow.  Megan Quick enters as Toto to preside over “an evening of my stories”.  She asks “did you ever think you’d get so lucky?”

The delightfully effervescent star – Ms. Quick not Toto, to be clear – gives us this dog’s memoir in word, song and dance.  She made 16 films; “all speaking roles”.  Playfully teasing the audience throughout, someone whistled.  A fast ad lib was produced.  “Ooh, ruff!” she barked.  “I’ll see you in the dog park”.

“Would you hairless perverts like to hear about a dog’s sex life?”  Lassie was a major relationship and an early example of gender blind casting.  A major revelation is that Lassie is a “doggie style lover”.  Then the apology.  “Sorry, this (dog) bowl of gin is getting to me”.  The humor is adroitly delivered.  “I wanted him.  He wanted me.  We’re dogs”.

In all great autobiographies big names are dropped.  Shirley Temple is a “total bitch by the way”.  A picture of her on the screen smiling with dimples leads to the warning “don’t buy it”.  Terry Spitz (Toto’s real name) is a big fan of Judy Garland with her “milky white forearms”.  An on set accident brings dog and teen star even closer together.

Ms. Quick holds a stage firmly and commands her humans to pay heed.  At the end of the performance she croons that she is “a one girl puppy / looking for the girl that got away”.  A charming, funny, touching piece with a little societal criticism sprinkled in, And Toto Too is a winning conceit and, most importantly, a thoroughly enjoyable entertainment.  Laughing out loud is guaranteed.

That sh$t don’t work!  Does it?

Howie Jones is the writer, director and star of That sh$t don’t work! Does it?  The show is described as a journey down a rabbit hole of how we perceive language and suggestion.  With a combination of magic, analysis and hypnotism, his character Howie Hypnotize will “challenge the audience’s perception of beliefs and the capability of the human mind”.

A rope trick begins the performance.  Three unequal length ropes are made equal and then unequal again.  A nice trick but it takes long to tell and complete.  The pace of the entire show is more labored than perhaps ideal.  Pages in a notebook contain places he and his wife would like to visit in New York City.  (“Anybody hear of Bryant Park?)  After excessive page turning a volunteer comes on stage.  The trick is anticlimactic to the long buildup.

The perception section will be familiar to anyone who has seen the “what do you see” image of a young or older woman drawing.  This filler then leads to the big moment, a hypnotism.  He asks for volunteers but tells them to stay in their seats.  He leaves the stage with music playing and no ability for the paying streaming audience to see or hear what is happening.

Thankfully one man is finally (finally!) brought to the stage and it does appear that he is under the influence.  Everything, however, seems slow in development and cumbersome to view but that could be the effect of streaming this type of entertainment.  Furthermore, throughout the show Mr. Jones frequently uses the terms “perfect” and “that’s awesome”.  Neither term accurately reflects this entry into the festival.

Performances at the Frigid Festival are running through March 5, 2022.  All shows are performed multiple times at either the Kraine Theater or Under St Mark’s.  Tickets can also be purchased for the livestream which was effective and provides these artists more opportunities to be seen and supported.

www.frigid.nyc

FRIGID Festival 2022 (Part 3)

The 16th Annual FRIGID Festival is underway in New York City.  The FRIGID Festival is an open and uncensored theater festival that gives artists an opportunity to let their ingenuity thrive in a venue that values freedom of expression and artistic determination.  Since this year’s performances are both live and livestreamed, there are many chances to see some Indie theater works.  100 % of all ticket sales go to the artists.  There is a tip jar after each show for the festival.

The Last to Know

This is a story about “love and betrayal”.  A marriage containing years and years of deceit.  The title of Jean Ann Le Bec’s The Last to Know indicates precisely what travails her story will cover.  This territory has been covered before in many variations.  There are insights which delve into some real depth but more time is spent recounting a chronology of wife-been-wronged events.

Ms. Le Bec was a single mom working at an elementary school.  Julian was the handsome coworker whose classroom was across the hall.  She was attracted to “his joy, his energy”.  The courtship is the stuff of romance novels.  They both have dreams about each other the same night.  “Maybe it was the same dream”.

At that moment, Julian is living with Pam “like roommates”.  He writes florid love letters constantly using phrases like “we will ride moons everyday”.  The marriage happens in 1977.  A new family emerges and also another child.  What follows standard issue courtship is standard issue adultery.  The betrayal seems to be seen and unseen.

The descriptions of the events which occurred over a forty year span are told.  How Ms. Le Bec missed the warning signs or ignored them is a thought which will run through your head as you experience this show.  This is therapy as theater.  The tone is sometimes light and jokey:  “we had matching purple suitcases”.  Seriousness and real hurt does come through as well though.

Late in the performance a spark ignites when a childhood family dinner story is told.  A connection to why this woman may have turned a blind eye to the obvious philandering is partially revealed.  This far too short section comes across as supremely important, cathartic analysis.  That level of depth raises a very oft told story to something which hints at a more unique tale with a fascinating perspective.

The confrontation scene with Julian’s true soulmate does provide some squirmy laughs.  Ms. Le Bec aims at her ex-husband’s lady with a barbed arrow:  “I bet you think you have the magic pussy”.  The ending wraps up her mental state with a lobster story.  If the significance of this crustacean came up earlier in the show, there could be a thematic connection that would enhance this memoir.

A Play for Voices

When a show boldly experiments with theater in total darkness the words and sounds mean everything.  Clocking in at under thirty minutes, A Play for Voices is likely far too esoteric for most audiences.

One of the first things we hear is that the voice’s grandfather did not like the word “just” used as an adverb.  That is followed by “in the dark a match is struck”.  A candle flame blooms and “it’s like a dancer the way it moves”.  Then a musing about pas de deux considers whether that would be a good name for a cat walking business.

The show bounces around considerably from using special voices for doing magic to ghost lights in a theater.  There is silence and a new voice emerges.  The voices try to communicate but the new one says “they just told me to read stage directions, I don’t think I’m supposed to talk to you”.  To call this meta is an understatement.

There is a reference to hand sanitizer which places this dark hallucination somewhere in the future.  This experimental piece concludes with “language is gibberish until we give it meaning”.  Exactly.  So is that what A Play for Voices was shooting for in the dark?  I’m not sure I’m supposed to know.

Performances at the Frigid Festival are running through March 5, 2022.  All shows are performed multiple times at either the Kraine Theater or Under St Mark’s.  Tickets can also be purchased for the livestream which was effective and provides these artists more opportunities to be seen and supported.

www.frigid.nyc

FRIGID Festival 2022 (Part 2)

The 16th Annual FRIGID Festival is underway in New York City.  The FRIGID Festival is an open and uncensored theater festival that gives artists an opportunity to let their ingenuity thrive in a venue that values freedom of expression and artistic determination.  Since this year’s performances are both live and livestreamed, there are many chances to see some Indie theater works.  100 % of all ticket sales go to the artists.  There is a tip jar after each show for the festival.

Smile All the Time

Nat King Cole croons out warning prior to the beginning of Smile All the Time.  “Smile though your heart is aching”.  “Smile through the fear and sorrow”.  A mood is set.  There is a bed and a toilet on stage.  The song asks “what’s the use in crying”?

Amanda Erin Miller then appears and her “tragicomic romp” gets underway immediately.  “How much longer do I have to be in solitary?” she asks.  She desperately needs a person to talk to.  For a moment she breaks the fourth wall and addresses the audience.  We are the lucky recipients of her hilariously bizarre tale of the events that led sixteen year old Kevin to this moment.

Kevin’s parents are anti-vaxxers and would not let him participate in a free trial.  What does Kevin do?  He had to set a fire.  He also stole vaccines from “politicians” and injected himself.  The stunt got him sentenced to Camp Smilepower, a place where teenage anger is cured.  By this point, Ms. Miller’s performance and presentation of an assortment of characters is manic and where this play is headed is anyone’s guess.

Kevin’s adventure, however, has many more events before we are finished and the ride steps on the gas pedal without letting up.  A sausage stick figures prominently (and brilliantly) in a jail break out.  This is a show where details appear quickly so attention must be paid.  Where will Kevin go next?  He’ll listen to his inner Kevin and find some new friends.  Ajax joins the fun and tells us “sometimes my feelings are so big I just have to sing”.  How does one actress play these two road warriors?  Musical Ajax is a face drawn on a pillow.

Little asides are written to evoke laughter and succeed.  Descriptions erupt such as “like a newborn baby coated in womb goop”.  Capitalism, the root of all evil, is the main target here.  A plan to rob a bank is hatched.  Kevin wants to bust it open and pee all over the cash.  Ajax deadpans “I like where you’re headed but we need to go bigger”.  Smile All the Time is nothing if not big.

The shenanigans do not let up through the entire performance.  At some point it is impossible to resist this performance.  There are so many quotable lines.  One personal favorite:  “well if it isn’t the kid who thought he could destroy capitalism with poetry”.

Is this a show which takes place in a juvenile correctional facility?  That’s what it says.  I felt that this mind blowing exercise also could be a disobedient teen grounded in their room acting out.  Smile All the Time could slow the freight train down a little so the audience can digest the numerous exclamation points more easily.  But Kevin and Ms. Miller would likely disagree.  And they would be right.

Three Funerals and a Chimp

Reviewing a performance that concludes with “I make no excuses other than I suck” is difficult since the review is already given.  Brian Schiller’s comic monologue  has a rough time landing jokes.  He has some good ones in there for sure.  Rounding forty, Rogaine has failed to help him grow hair.  He doesn’t want to dump the contents in the sink so they grow more there.  Funny.

The only requirements to be a personal trainer?  A water bottle and a tight tee shirt.  He proudly boasts of living life in the lowest income tax bracket.  Mr. Schiller discusses a series of jobs including a return to comedy.  During the opening sections the jokes are not landing.  He can tell.  But there are some nuggets in there.  “I’ve already quit my next three jobs.  I call that ambition”.

Then his family enters the picture with a history of heart disease hence the funerals in the title.  He lets us know that he is the best looking of the bunch.  That viewpoint, he informs, is “kind of like being employee of the month at Waffle House”.  Funny quip but he does not pause to let the joke land.  This one is sadly painful to sit through.

Performances at the Frigid Festival are running through March 5, 2022.  All shows are performed multiple times at either the Kraine Theater or Under St Mark’s.  Tickets can also be purchased for the livestream which was effective and provides these artists more opportunities to be seen and supported.

www.frigid.nyc

FRIGID Festival 2022 (Part 1)

The 16th Annual FRIGID Festival is underway in New York City.  The FRIGID Festival is an open and uncensored theater festival that gives artists an opportunity to let their ingenuity thrive in a venue that values freedom of expression and artistic determination.  Since this year’s performances are both live and livestreamed, there are many chances to see some Indie theater works.

Blockbuster Guy

For those of a certain age, the tag line “Be Kind Rewind” will bring back memories of renting movies in an era of no internet, streaming and a lot less cable television.

The show is cute, corny, nerdy fun.  Mr. Levy loves all genres of movies but eschews IMAX theaters:  “the size gives me anxiety”.  During college, he worked at Blockbuster Video in a small town in Florida.  He fondly recalls the smell of “clean plastic goodness”.  The town is so small that people recognize him at WalMart and shout, “Hey Blockbuster Guy!”

Discussions of specific movies are most welcome.  His parents raised him on The Rocky Horror Picture Show.  His first horror movie was Scream which he recounts seeing alone.  A kiss came about as a result of viewing Pixar’s Cars.  Many tangents allow for related and unrelated storytelling including a rant about How I Met Your Mother.  The live audience seemed to eat this up like a large bucket of buttery popcorn.

Mr. Levy has had the good fortune to have parents who advised him to “do things that make you happy”.  This pursuit of happiness is the real crux of this play.  A love of movies shared with loved ones and now expressed to the world.  You want to yell out all your favorites to get a reaction and likely funny commentary.

The Pest starring John Leguizamo is not a film I know.  After being skewered here, it feels like a great bad movie night option.  He mentioned a documentary you can watch on Netflix called The Last Blockbuster which sounds like essential viewing.  I could have listened to more stories about more movies which makes him and this show a winner.

Tomatoes Tried to Kill Me, But Banjos Save My Life

“What’s the difference between a New York style pizza and a banjo player”?  Keith Alessi follows with a punchline.  “A New York style pizza can feed a family of four”.  As in Blockbuster Guy, the storyteller interlinks family into their autobiographical piece.  In Tomatoes Tried to Kill Me, But Banjos Saved My Life, however, the Italian family home is described as a “house of horrors”.

This memoir narrates how Mr. Alessi came to own 52 banjos in his closet.  The pathway he took through life is interesting and varied from successful accountant to unfulfilled CEO.  Jobs paid for college and he escaped his childhood home with his natural skill of compartmentalization.  “High emotional walls” were the key.  (For those who know me personally, certain parallels are uncanny.)

Later in life he is diagnosed with cancer and the journey for survival takes center stage.  He is a thoughtful individual and shares his feelings freely in a style that is relaxed and easy.  “You get to a point in life” he says, “if you’re gonna get to something you better get to it now”.  The clarity of vision is clear and the result is a banjo playing accountant now performing on a stage.

“Each of us has a choice of what to put in our closets”, Mr. Alessi informs early in the performance.  By the end, you appreciate how the banjo saved his life.  The rendition of the old time tune “Cumberland Gap” is delightful.  A meaningful hour of reminiscence, self-analysis and salvation.

The Story of Falling Don

Daniel Kinch’s first day at work in a brand new job was on 9/11/2001.  The downtown New York office faced the twin towers.  The Story of Falling Don is a play about his unintended front row seat during this “pretty big fucking deal”.

That quote happens as he is exiting the subway and sees a plane hit the first tower.  If Mr. Kinch showed any semblance of energy in the performance delivery, there might be a way to connect to this retelling.  As it is performed, this show is a random assemblage of unconnected thoughts.  The experience is like sitting through a semi-incoherent uncle babbling at a dinner table often losing his place in the process.  More than once he refers to things he told us that he has not.  I confirmed this with a companion viewer.

There is a bitter snarky tone that is not effectively delivered.  Wall Street “suits” are ridiculed but not well.  There’s a peace activist friend who has disabled a nuclear submarine.  That’s not in the actual script but I noted it.  She was also “beaten around in Yugoslavia”.  Huh?  Turns out that was a unscripted riff as well.  Then she comments that American bombs have been going off elsewhere for so long.  There is definitely room for a presentation of alternate perspectives on this topic but in a less disorganized and disinterested way.

There is also quite a bit of promising to tell about something later in the show that gets repetitive.  When Mr. Kinch finally gets to the titular story, he addresses the sad tower jumpers by dropping a Ken doll on his head.  There is a weird meanness in the telling that is off-putting or, to be fair, his sense of humor may just not be for my taste.  Regardless, The Story of Falling Don is too unfocused to be recommended to anyone.

Performances at the Frigid Festival are running through March 5, 2022.  All shows are performed multiple times at either the Kraine Theater or Under St Mark’s.  Tickets can also be purchased for the livestream which was effective and provides these artists more opportunities to be seen and supported.

www.frigid.nyc

Fast Enough

The New York Children’s Theater has a Creative Clubhouse as part of its online offerings.  This month there are four stories in a series for Black History Month.  Last week’s program included a reading of Fast Enough by Joel Christian Gill.

Miss Caitlyn hosts a zoom storytelling hour.  The target audience is quite young.  Introductions begin the show along with “our hello song”.  The kids are a combination of energetically engaged to shy.  Some parents are visible; others obviously working the controls behind the scenes.  After the opening, various activities kick off the get together.

Today’s vocabulary word is “discrimination”.  It’s a big word so Miss Caitlyn asks, “can you say it with me?”  She helps the kids understand the meaning.  The lesson clearly explains discrimination is when people are treated unfairly or differently because of who they are.  The concepts seemed perhaps a bit advanced for this age group.  That is particularly noticeable when references are made such as “non-binary”.  While the recommended age group is as broad as three to eight, this group appeared to be on the younger end of the scale.  Is that a concept they have been exposed to already?

When it is time for the story, Fast Enough is read page by page on zoom.  The subtitle of this book is Bessie Stringfield’s First Ride.  Bessie is famous for being the first black woman who rode a motorcycle across America.  The kid’s tale is about boys not wanting to ride with a girl who would not be “fast enough” for them.

After the inspirational story is told, there is some related discussion.  A fun fact about Bessie is that she would flip a coin to set her traveling agenda.  Here pictures come up and the children are shown that the one stop is the Grand Canyon.  It was hard to tell if the intended audience knew what that meant as no detail or context was offered.

After this section, there are games to be played like red light / green light.  The increase in positive energy from and connectivity to the participants was easy to witness.  Clocking in at under one hour, the class ends with a dance party.  The young people seemed to be having a good time.  Lessons were had but the focus was also on fun.

Next week’s book is The Roots of Rap.  Kids will learn what inspirations gave birth to the musical artists we know today in a hip hop heavy class.  Plenty of movement should be expected.

The New York Children’s Theater Creative Clubhouse series takes place via zoom on Wednesday afternoons at 4:00.

www.nycchildrenstheater.org