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The Daughter-in-Law (Mint Theater)

The Daughter-in-Law

For nearly three decades the Mint Theater has been reviving forgotten plays.  With one exception I have seen every production since 2007.  This troupe can be counted on for exquisitely detailed presentations of thought provoking concerns from yesteryear.  D.H. Lawrence’s The Daughter-in-Law is the first one to be revived a second time; the first was a success in 2003.

The English setting is a coal miner’s district in 1912.  Rising dissatisfaction has led to a national strike vote.  The walkout is to begin in six days.  Mr. Lawrence takes the action inside a family home.  Much of the storytelling takes place around the dining room table in the days before televisions and technology.  The glimpse is into a bygone era yet the issues are timeless.

Luther and Joe are the sons of Mrs. Gascoyne.  They are miners with soot and a broken arm worn as badges of honor.  A neighbor stops over with some distressing news.  Her daughter is pregnant.  Newly married Luther had dalliances with her a few months prior.  What to do?

The scheming, domineering mother has some ideas despite her contemptuous relationship with her daughter-in-law.  Plots are hatched.  Layers are peeled away from the outer shells of these characters.  Internal uncertainties bubble to the surface and an intriguing drama unfolds.

The Daughter-in-Law is written in an East Midlands dialect known as Ilson, a combination of Old English with lingering Norse influences from centuries of Viking rule.  The barely literate men contrast starkly with the better educated daughter of the title.  Some fellow theatergoers seemed to struggle with understanding the accents.  A helpful program glossary illuminates the period terminology.  I had no problem following along and felt immersed in this family’s tribulations.

Why did this woman marry him?  On one level this play is about women and choices in an era where they suffocate in domesticity.  The beauty of this piece is the frankness of how this material is discussed.  Mr. Lawrence saw life as it was and did not censor reality.  Famous for his controversial style in novels such as Lady Chatterley’s Lover, he pushed boundaries.

This particular work was never produced in his lifetime.  He wrote eight plays and only two were mounted in very small scale productions.  In the 1960’s, four decades after he died, the Royal Court presented three of them.  They were finally hailed as realistic masterpieces of English working-class life.

A 2022 staging is interesting timing.  The author was quieted due to his frank discussion of truthful realities that large segments of society wanted buried.  America’s current climate is awfully similar.  The contrast of considering century old dynamics against the world today is definitely part of the Mint DNA.  You appreciate the play and the production but also the historical relevance which is shockingly not so dated.

High quality is synonymous with the Mint Theater.  The Daughter-in-Law is no exception.  Everything is fine from the acting and direction to the sets, costumes and lighting which are perfectly proportioned in the intimate City Center Stage II space.  A dusty old relic sparkles back to life once again.

The Daughter-in-Law is running through March 20, 2022.

www.mintheater.org

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Jane Anger

Jane Anger

If you, like me, find the full title of this play absurdly compelling, a pleasurable treat awaits!  The Lamentable Comedie of JANE ANGER, that Cunning Woman, and also of Willy Shakefpeare and his Peasant Companion, Francis, Yes and Also of Anne Hathaway (also a Woman) Who Tried Very Hard.

The year is 1606.  The plague is raging and people are “freaking out”.  Social distancing is de rigueur.  A pony length is the safe distance for this era.  Of course that requires the play’s characters to do “the pony” now and again.  Silliness rules and laughs are abundant.

Jane arrives wearing a 17th century medical beak.  Her audience learns that this is a great time to be a cunning woman.  She used to be a whore but is “now more ambitious”.  Jane will eventually make her way to visit William Shakespeare in London.  He is currently isolated amidst the death carts picking up bodies in the street.  The two share a past which inspired some of the Bard’s love sonnets.

Apparently the plague is causing Willy distress resulting in writer’s block.  This “voice of all people” is a raging egomaniac telling us that he is “famous and timeless” and has “universal appeal”.  Going into quarantine “I’m expected to be more prolific and timely than the last time”.  His contemporaries like Thomas Middleton are ridiculed:  “they think it is provocative to break genre”.

The Francis of the title is an aspiring actor who pretends to be sixteen and strongly desires a role as an ingenue in one of Willy’s works.  An Abbott and Costello “Who’s on First?” interchange using the word Sir is hilarious.  A renamed Frankie has a pamphlet of a play called King Leir.  A bit of thievery might be the cure for writer’s block.  King Lear effusively flows from the pen.

The plot exists as a mechanism to deliver a multitude of verbal and physical hijinks.  Chamber pots and sexual organs.  The sporting of a very cool earring and rapier wit.  A very sticky pudding.  Jane Anger revels in sophomoric cleverness and the actors chew the scenery.  One of them quite literally.

Jane arrives to help Willy get his proverbial shit together.  They negotiate a deal.  Jane Anger is a writer from history who was the first women to publish a full length defense of her sex in English.  This play is a farcical jumble bashing male superiority through the wide eyed lens of a feminist rant.

Willy’s wife Anne Hathaway emerges from her historical obscurity to join the merriment.  Willy describes her as sickening but she is immune from the plague.  She caught and survived it when caring for their now dead son Hamnet.  The ridiculous amusements are non-stop.

Michael Urie is a smashingly unhinged Shakespeare enveloped in a cloak of mancave realness.  Amelia Workman is a strong and confident Jane but do not mess with her.  The same can be said for Anne Hathaway (playwright Talene Monahon).  This Anne knows she is insufferable and everyone hates her (like another similarly named woman from a more modern era).

Last, and most certainly not least, is the magnificent clown Ryan Spahn who portrays Francis.  If Mr. Urie is unhinged then Mr. Spahn must be classified as deranged.  All four performers are excellent and this show is gleeful fun.  The ending was a trifle anticlimactic after all the proceeding lunacy but that’s a quibble.

If you want to go to the theater and have a great time, make haste to see Jane Anger.  Ms. Monahon’s wildly enjoyable comedy revises the notion that revenge is a dish best served cold.  This one brings the heat and mercilessly wounds its intended victims, also know as men.

Jane Anger is playing at the New Ohio Theatre in Greenwich Village through March 26, 2022.

www.janeangerplay.com

www.newohiotheatre.org

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This Bitter Earth (TheaterWorks Hartford)

This Bitter Earth

Jesse tells us right from the start that “sometimes I can feel the earth move”.  Divisive issues of race, class and sexuality certainly can do that.  This Bitter Earth discusses all of them.  As you might expect, the taste can be off-putting depending on one’s views.  Playwright Harrison David Rivers serves up a slice of America within the confines of a single relationship.

Jesse meets Neil at a bar one night.  Both are very drunk and flirting gaily.  This cornerstone moment of two distinct worlds colliding will loom throughout the play.  Jesse is black and Neil is white.  That difference is obvious.  A peek under the covers shines a light on two individuals who approach their lives within our society differently.

Jesse is an aspiring writer.  He is extremely introspective.  In moments of pain, he thinks about an Essex Hempbill poem which advises taking care of your blessings and nurturing them.  That affirming positiveness is a structural backbone for this story.  We are all different in what we are good at, how we think and our approach to living life.

Neil is a happy liberal white man who has emerged from some semblance of privilege.  He is an avowed Black Lives Matter activist.  Jesse’s political apathy is a sour note to their live together harmony.  Predictable relationship tensions and recent histories will test their resolve.

There’s a good deal of simplistic hand wringing early on.  “I can’t believe you’re not bothered by what’s going on” and “helping people is not bullshit”.  The characters will reveal themselves more deeply through agreement and disagreement.  The plot is believable and deceptively straightforward.

A sharp contemplative tone emerges beginning with a monologue which recounts a New York Magazine interview Frank Rich did with Chris Rock.  A white man asking a black man about the first black President.  The moment brilliantly encapsulates the complex nature of understanding varying perspectives.

Black Lives Matter stirs up emotions in many people.  Some put signs up on their lawns.  Others post Blue Lives Matter on Facebook and Twitter.  Still others, like Jesse, proclaim that All Lives Matter.  Neil hilariously equates ALM to running through a cancer fundraiser yelling “THERE’S OTHER DISEASES TOO”.  Sharp quips like that keep this play entertaining as the layers are building.

Damian Jermaine Thompson (Jesse) and Tom Holcomb (Neil) instantaneously establish their character’s intense chemistry with each other.  The beautifully played opening scene – a happy-go-lucky courting ritual – turns haunting as the knotty problems of evolving relationships and life’s injustices come to bear.

The play’s structure is non-linear and bounces back and forth regularly and effectively.  Director David Mendizábal steers the many transitions confidently.  The ending felt abrupt and slightly confusing.  However, the river rapids and meandering creeks within this particular tale encourage confrontation with our troubled world.  This story may exist simply as a vehicle for understanding ourselves and our reactions to what is happening on stage and in our country.

Mr. Rivers challenges his audience through these two imperfect yet realistic people.  Our societal history is being written every day.  How can we see the world more similarly?  Is that a goal?  What will the future look like?  On this bitter earth “sometimes our souls need a release”.  Here is a play which seriously looks at our humanity through its current cracked mirror format.  We can see parts that work very well and so many that will require repair ahead.

Performances for This Bitter Earth continue in Hartford, CT through March 20, 2022.  Streaming begins March 7th and the quality is very good.

www.twhartford.org

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FRIGID: Are You Loving It? & My Grandmother’s Eye Patch (FRIGID Festival Part 9)

FRIGID Festival 2022 (Part 9)

The 16th Annual FRIGID Festival is in its final week 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.

Are You Lovin’ It?

Trippy cartoon or subversive critique?  This pedal to the metal freak show swings broadly at its huge targets.  Loud, bizarre, idiotic and colorful are just some of the many adjectives that describe Are You Lovin’ It?  The well known commercial tag line for McDonald’s asks the titular question.  Theatre Group GUMBO offers an answer in this eye popping spectacle of oddness and invention.

Red and orange are the appropriate colors.  “Welcome to WacDonald’s” begins this performance.  Sarcasm is flung immediately.  “Super healthy!”  WacDonald’s is “no fear, no anxiety, no borders”.  The two clownish dancers twirl up a frothy shake of corporate plastic smiles and moron speech.

A Japanese businessman then arrives in a suit and tie.  He is laughing excessively and aggressively.  He’s so excited because this is “my first vacation ever”.  We learn that he lost his family.  That’s ok since “I’m a Japanese businessman”.  His phone rings.  It’s the boss.  A hilarious tribute to Yes Men everywhere is punctuated with frantic bowing and “I’m sorry”.

The skewering of Japanese and American cultures continues.  The businessman’s intestines come out of his body and become props for the clowns to play with.  A lady with a baby stroller appears wearing an outfit with pink ruffles.  “Something stinks,” she exclaims.  “Let’s find out where this smell is coming from” precedes a poo poo dance.

There is more than a subtle connection to the heinous quality of food offered by WacDonald’s.  The Japanese business man picks up the baby to help stop it from crying.  “She bites my nipple” so maybe she is hungry.  In dances our two clowns and the “Super Happy Meal”.  We learn that “there is no one who doesn’t like this food”.

“Pink slime patty” aside, the show thrashes incomprehensibly through Donald Trump, cleansing American dirty blood, a rap and glow in the dark light rod dances.  A sign is held for an audience member who is a “Romeo type”.  “America, America, where art thou?”

From this point, things proceed to escalate into even wilder weirdness and overt condemnation of greed, power and white supremacy.  The looniness of the piece keeps the insane edge happily baring its giddy teeth through the baby thrown out with the bathwater.  Well, not exactly.  The WacDonald’s way is more disturbing and jaw dropping.

Are You Lovin’ It? is unique and hilarious but also smart and self-aware.  The show is crazy just like the world it wishes to eviscerate.  This production will not be for everyone’s taste just like the food purveyor it ridicules so mercilessly.

My Grandmother’s Eye Patch

“Thank you all so much for being here tonight to celebrate” Grandma Mamie.  Julia VanderVeen’s eulogy is titled My Grandmother’s Eye Patch.  This eccentric comedy is a hot mess.  You might cover your eyes too but you’ll agree with the author at the end when she declares “this is so stupid”.

Grandma’s sense of humor inspires this maniacal cavalcade of lunacy.  A waiter is asked “how do you prepare the chicken?”  The answer is “nothing special, we just tell them they’re going to die”.  Macbeth is then referenced to bring one of this show’s main themes of nihilism to center stage.  “It is a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”.

A reasonable interpretation of the idiot in question is the granddaughter herself.  Magic tricks are next along with some audience banter.  She boasts if you give her a word, she’ll write a poem about it.  Someone offers “subterfuge” which was very funny but passed on.  Using “southern inspired poetry” while wearing a baseball cap and holding a metal bowl spittoon, fear was the word chosen.

Another section instructs “how to bring someone back from the dead in five easy steps”.  Ms. VanderVeen conjures up a successful seance.  “Let’s go back to when I was young, bitch”.  By the time this show gets to synovial fluid most of you will join me and confidently pronounce this eulogist off her proverbial rocker.

There is a briefly serious turn toward the end of this piece which helps explain the point of this journey.  A mishap during the singing of “Wind Beneath My Wings” pulls the narrative back into unhinged territory.  The show may be designed as an intentional pig’s breakfast.  A cool image projected at the end suggests that this show was a heartfelt tribute to an importantly personal relationship.

Performances at the Frigid Festival are running through March 6, 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

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FRIGID: The Lonely Road, Love & Sex on the Spectrum and StarSweeper (FRIGID Festival Part 8)

FRIGID Festival 2022 (Part 8)

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 Lonely Road

At the age of 23, Will Clegg sarcastically finds himself living “everyone’s dream” when he returns to his parent’s house in North Carolina.  A combination of events trigger this change notably a girlfriend who ended their relationship.  “Instead of being depressed” he plans a road trip.  The Lonely Road is his commentary on a impassionate journey.

Photography centers the man and his story.  Mr. Clegg is drawn to the images created by Gary Winogrand in 1964.  In order to understand why he is so drawn to these photos, he decides to grab fifty rolls of film, borrow a car and pursue his passion.  He too will travel the United States and capture America along the way.

Before embarking on that trip he begins to dive further into his now broken relationship with Alison.  They met in college when he directed her in a play.  Head over heels in love, those first few months were “intoxicating”.  A trip to Rome, another actress in another cast and you can guess the rest.  Crying, he confesses his transgression.  Sparring ensues; half truths are revealed.

On June 26, 2003, the road trip commences.  He travels to New Orleans, through Texas and into California.  The stories in each section are filled with interesting and often witty details.  A friend’s band named Mexico 1910 is “instrumental only”.  He eats barbeque with Republicans noting “they’re sweet though”.

In West Texas he begins to listen to a CD by The Postal Service, the last thing Allison gave him before breaking up.  A “sad hipster whining” about his ex-girlfriend was his first reaction but this listen speaks to him differently.  He comes to realize that now he is the sad hipster whining.  A portion of The Lonely Road comes across as that.

Photos he took along the way are projected on the screen and he begins to see a recurring theme.  Sharing this perspective accompanied by the visuals is the alluring part of this self-analysis.  By the time he gets to Los Angeles, the self-doubts overwhelm and insecurities take command.

He took a picture at a protest of a sign which said “TELL THE TRUTH!”  Mr. Clegg proceeds to do just that to himself and then to Allison.  By the play’s end there is no resolution.  Like life, the present is just another stop along the way to the future.  This rendition veers dangerously close to self-pity at times but certainly reflects the emotional woes of an openly heartbroken guy.

Love & Sex on the Spectrum

At 28 years old George Steeves loses his virginity.  He has Asperger’s and ADHD which has resulted in his being a late bloomer sexually.  Love & Sex on the Spectrum opens with a short reenactment of a painful recollection.  “Porn Hub made this all look so simple,” he quips.

Anal penetration is compared to a nasal COVID test as one is not sure how deep it would go in the first time it happens.  The material is blunt and told in a lighthearted and jokey manner.  This play is described as “an atypical romantic comedy”.  That is true.

The tale concerns one man’s sexual awakening from his first orgasm in twelve years to becoming a dating app addict.  Amusingly these hookups are given names of boy band singers.  His “higher than average intellectual ability coupled with impaired social skills” inform his dating tendencies which cover men of many ages and decades.

After a series of casual sex stories (“swipe left, next date”), the monologue turns to his search for identity.  He grew up in a stereotypical WASP family with no talking about sex or emotions.  At school they called him gay.  “He’s more Golden Girls… I’m Designing Women“.  There is an abundance of energy and enthusiasm in the performance which does help elevate the telling from just being a raunchy yet well-intended coming out narrative.

“I kissed over two hundred guys.  I was hoping that one of them would be my Prince Charming”.  Mr. Steeves’s chronicle turns introspective once the wild oats are sowed.  He does get serious before inserting another punchline such as “you’ve never lived until you’ve been to a gay pool party”.  Love & Sex on the Spectrum is straightforward and direct, rambling and unfocused, more than a trifle silly and a niche entertainment.  The messaging about loving yourself, on the other hand, is universal.

StarSweeper

Sergeant Riley is 532 million kilometers from Earth.  A lost crew of humans is missing somewhere and she petitioned to navigate a second search team.  Presented by Team Theatre, StarSweeper is a peek into her five year solo mission also known as a “half decade of utter and complete solitude to look forward to”.

The year is 2448.  The USS Copperfield is broadcasting on all frequencies searching for a distressed vessel.  Our plucky heroine is making the best of the situation.  She tries exercise.  Bourbon “looks a lot like sweet tea”.  She is holding on against hope in the void of space.  But it can be dullsville at times.  “The thing about astrofood is that it gets pretty boring after a few years”.

Some jokes tickle the funny bone.  Riley has an onboard computer friend like Hal from 2001:  A Space Odyssey.  Time passes and there are problems to deal with of varying importance.  A dental issue results in a tooth extraction.  Danger lights will blink red.  The worries intensify “until the oxygen runs out and the temperature regulators turn off”.  Abject fear about floating around for all eternity results in a declaration:  “I just want a hug”.

Humanity is considered within the storytelling of StarSweeper.  An archeological observation about the discovery of a mended broken bone on a skeleton points the way.  There is thoughtfulness in the writing and a winning guide who does not shy away from looking goofy.

Mikeala Duffy has created a interesting scenario which is especially suitable for a small theater environment.  Recording entries into a mission log is the primary plot device.  There could be even more memorable events scattered into this galactic tale to accompany the general narration provided by this do-gooder.  “I’ll just be happy to go home with or without a book deal,” Riley admits when the chips are temporarily down.

Performances at the Frigid Festival are running through March 6, 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

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FRIGID: Bathroom of a Bar on Bleeker & A Public Private Prayer (FRIGID Festival Part 7)

FRIGID Festival 2022 (Part 7)

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.

Bathroom of a Bar on Bleeker

If you enjoy theater that is challenging, esoteric, bizarre, incoherent, aggressively non-linear, possible insane and likely brilliant, then take a seat at the Bathroom of a Bar on Bleeker.  Mike Lemme’s script walks a high wire.  Scary but you cannot look away.

Ominous thriller is the opening vibe.  Jack is screaming out like a madman.  “You better hope they kill me because if they don’t I’m putting a bullet in all your fucking heads”.  He has a script in his hand.  Today he is recording his farewell podcast episode.  Granny Annie’s Happy Pills is a sponsor.

Returning to serious, Jack’s wife and kids were kidnapped six days ago and are being held in Montreal.  According to President Chickenshit, his family will be released when Jack meets all of the Canadian Prime Minister’s demands.  Jack is feeding his followers with rants seemingly both real and imagined.  His flock  is called the turdalurds.

From here the play careens around the corner to meta.  An excellent Emil Frezola goes off script yelling “anybody know what page we’re on”?  (That’s not off script by the way.)  The plot meanders about a toilet in a bathroom where a very successful podcast has been recorded for some time.  None of this would have ever happened if it wasn’t for Joe Rogan who “has provided more opportunities for pathetic white men to succeed than slavery”.

Bolts of abuse fly as do sarcastic zingers.  A family story is told which helps us understand how this particular toilet came to be chosen fifteen years prior.  Jack tells about a family visit to Rockefeller Center with his son Joey.  He notes “for all you Australians out there, I’m not talking about a kangaroo”.  Consuming a buffet of writing styles is at least half the fun here.

Mr. Lemme also includes a few teaching moments.  Jack advises his turdalurds to “stop marrying your cousins”.  The direct jabs at the stupid and the conspiracy theory mouthpieces they rabidly adore are obvious and humorous.  They provide structure and societal commentary.  The more serious self-analysis, however, supplies the super juice:  a window into mental health. The colors are dark and vivid.

Lauren Arneson’s lighting design nicely showcases the varying moods and claustrophobia of this psychotic episode.  Shows such as Bathroom of a Bar on Bleeker are the reason to try something unique at a theater festival such as this one.  A fart machine is used which sets the place.  The words keep you guessing.  Watch and listen closely.  A rawness underneath emerges.  Is this a confession, a parable or a just a tirade?  Not being sure is exactly what makes this idiosyncratic drama a satisfying treat.

A Public Private Prayer

Another strong festival performance by Grant Bowen graces the heartfelt meditation that is A Public Private Prayer.  Do you believe in god?  Has that answer changed over time?  Will the question ever be truly resolved?  And when?

A great story opens this play.  A baby bird meets an unfortunate death.  Mr. Bowen is a young boy at the time and asks if he “can pray for it?”  The innocence of youth is brilliantly illuminated when he says “please help this little bird finds it way into heaven”.  Praying made the kids feel better.  The experience informs his belief in the power of prayer.

The author and performer is an actor by training.  He grew up outside Birmingham, Alabama where his church was a “massive community center”.  Both parents are lyrically described as “unavoidably, undeniably human”.  They believed “Jesus was the answer”.   The thrust of his story is a dissolution of his belief in god over time.  As an actor, “talking to imaginary scene partners is the only thing I’m qualified to do”.

What about hell?  He learns that he will not go there since he is Christian.  The material may be familiar to anyone who has wrestled with wide eyed openness to challenge the questionable dogma of their own religious upbringing.  A pensive tone envelopes this quest with warmth and honesty.

There are many paths and detours Mr. Bowen guides through as he recounts his spiritual journey.  Details add color to his personality.  There is a satisfying feeling of completeness as he expresses a continual evolution.  The gorgeous ending of this play is a revelatory beam of sunshine.

How can one religion be so certain it is the right one?  That’s a question I have asked myself too.  The themes addressed in A Public Private Prayer are particularly interesting to me.  The overall presentation is so well done that I experienced a profoundly different yet similar journey in a fresh and rewarding way.

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

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FRIGID: Pueblo Revolt and Eleanor Conway: Vaxxed & Waxxed (FRIGID Festival Part 6)

FRIGID Festival 2022 (Part 6)

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.

Pueblo Revolt

The year is 1680.  Two brothers are living in what is now New Mexico on the cusp of what is to become the Pueblo Revolt.  The indigenous Pueblo people were successful in driving the Spanish colonizers out of their region.  This story considers the impact of such a historical event on individual lives.

“You may now put on your blindfolds” is the instruction as the show commences.  The company No Peeking Theatre produces experimental theater that is sensory, experiential and blind.  Audience members place blindfolds over their eyes.  Streaming viewers convert to an image with the words “no peeking” on their screen.

The sound of birds chirping is heard.  Sound effects throughout the show are additive to the listening experience.  I cannot say the blind viewing seemed anything other than gimmicky.  During the pandemic, I listened to quite a few audio plays.  This experience is sort of similar.

One of the brothers is attacked on his way home with groceries.  “I didn’t think to ask my attackers why they are attacking me”.  Are you “victim blaming?”  This play is written in a modern vernacular which can occasionally pull the listener out of the period which I assume is intentional.

A plan is discussed to go to all the pueblos so the people can rise up and conquer their oppressors.  They want to drive out “ALL OF THEM”.  The baker’s family, however, just got there.  One brother has a crush on the baker’s son.  The other points out that with religion and the Spanish rule, “you hide your gayness”.  If the revolt is successful, “you can live the way our ancestor’s wished”.  The plot touches on this two-spirit concept used by some modern LGBT native peoples but it is a sidebar to the recounting of this history.

Turning back to the revolt, they discuss spreading the word to “our banjo playing spam eating cousins”.  Wearing a Christian cross is a “get out of jail card”.  The cutesy dialogue competes uncomfortably with the more serious exposition.  A tendency to create speeches containing lists (names, weapons) is repetitive.

Pueblo Revolt takes aim at illuminating a rare event in American history; a winning defense against colonization, if briefly.  The hodgepodge of ideas confuse the listener.  When the play ends and blindfolds are removed, you realize that a peek into this important moment in history, while ambitious, was not focused enough.

Eleanor Conway: Vaxxed & Waxxed

This comedienne from the UK is unquestionably a force of nature.  She is also a self-proclaimed “London cunt”.  Your ability to enjoy Eleanor Conway: Vaxxed and Waxxed will be relational to your feelings about that word specifically and vaginas more generally.  One audience member exclaimed “oh my god” out loud.  “Who said that?” she asks.  “you don’t like that word but I do”.

Her first trip to New York provides an opportunity for some observations and goals.  She wants to see the Statue of Liberty, Central Park and “to fuck a Republican” also known as “hot hate sex”.  She asks us to imagine a world where Donald Trump is “your best lay; poked in the back with a button mushroom”.  Ms. Conway can be crudely funny.

Much of her performance concerns itself with her analysis of and advice for achieving her best orgasms.  Hook up apps and stinky penises are featured prominently.  Teaching skills are in full view.  I even learned what a “period dance” is.  The material is silly and bawdy with an intention to shock and awe.

There are some great moments amidst the avalanche of pussy talk.  The title of this piece includes the word vaxxed.  She laments the stupid anti-vaxxers.  “You and your husband have a high school diploma”.  They will not take the vaccine but in their youth would “eat drugs that you found on a dance floor”.  Hilarious stuff.

The pinnacle of this show for me was undoubtedly her manic rant about women doing all the work for her man and her children.  No spoilers here; it’s simply uproarious.

This show is not for the prudish or, perhaps, even Republicans as a whole.  Here’s an entrance test.  Ms. Conway confesses “I’m not really a dominatrix.  I just want my pussy licked”.  If you think to yourself, “I’d like to get to know her better” then this show may be for you.  It’s wildly uneven, however, just like her sexual experiences.

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

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FRIGID: Driver’s Seat, Human Flailings & Portly Lutheran Know-It-All (FRIGID Festival Part 5)

FRIGID Festival 2022 (Part 5)

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.

Driver’s Seat

“How would I end my life?  There are so many options.”  Ellie Brelis begins her intimate play Driver’s Seat with an openness that never subsides.  Riveting throughout, her story comes across as an important one that could truly be inspirational and educational.

Obsessive compulsive disorder, she informs, is a monster in your mind.  It lies to you every day.  Manifestations can be quirky like having to say things such as “I love you” an even number of times (2,4,6,8…).  She’s always been terrified to drive a car due to her OCD.  This play was written after a breakup with a significant boyfriend.  A rage playlist is created to get her through that tribulation.

Amazingly this tale is filled with humor.  Mugs and puzzles are punished to teach him a lesson “so clearly I can be a little petty”.  Having OCD is “like having acne and freckles; you can’t really see it”.  Ms. Brelis admits to becoming “generally scared of myself” and her Dad drove her to a mental health hospital.  She recounts her experiences, her growth and her stumbles.  The performance is a fascinating and memorable combination of very positive energy from a big personality counterbalanced against a life story infused with darkness.

In addition to detailing her mental health challenges and treatments there is a coming out story.  Once that happens “it feels like I can breathe”.  A month later she cuts her hair in order to “be a little gayer”.  She makes us laugh again.  “I was hurting so bad I actually got bangs”.

Exposure therapy is sadistic in her analysis.  You “trigger yourself” then “sit with discomfort and anxiety.  A later journey finds her calling Dad again since she does not want to be alone with herself.  “Treatment is not a scar” instead it is an “open wound of gratitude”.  There is so much effective poetry and imagery in this play.

At first I was overwhelmed by the speed of dialogue to be honest.  I thought she might be racing through this overwhelmingly personal story.  I was wrong.  When she eventually slows the pace down, the effect is dramatic and potent.

Anyone confronting their own mental health issues could benefit from the refreshing honesty and depth of this memoir.  Skye Murie’s direction supplements this material with detailed touches which are brilliantly simple and thoughtful.  The ending is hopeful yet realistic.  A triumphant entry into this festival.

Human Flailings

Jude-Treder Wolff is a creative arts therapist whose life story overflows with Human Flailings.  Her professional expertise is evident in her performance.  She easily combines wit with candor.  Although this tale derails somewhat due to its massive scope, there are many enjoyments to be had along the way.

A workshop entitled Manifesting Your Feelings is where her story begins.  She attends these to better understand why people love self-help books so much.  Conference attendees include white haired “women who run with wolves and live on the Upper East Side”.  The concept in question:  “if you think it, it will happen”.

She meets Lacey and the two hit it off immediately.  A visit to her new pal’s Brooklyn apartment enables Ms. Wolff to shine.  Her description of entering the living room paints an indelible picture.  That skill is again utilized at a business planning meeting in a corporate park in Summit, New Jersey.  She and Lacey are presenting a segment on creativity in a “people of Earth” conference room with a “breakfast banquet against the wall”.  The attendees are uninterested; “it’s a cold war”.

The show covers her work terrain including an ex-partner Diane and her new partner Lacey.  Issues are discussed but intriguing similarities about falling out of touch in both relationships could be explored even further.  The show veers off into her domineering father and her “big act of rebellion”.  She learns to play her father’s guitar and a song is sung.

The music subtheme, however, is nicely combined with an absorbing and quite moving section about a bereavement camp for kids.  As the show covers so much ground (including the game rock, paper, scissors), Human Flailings is an appropriate title.  Like all promising creative endeavors, this one is sure “to be continued”.

Portly Lutheran Know-It-All

Clutching a Bible, Matt Storrs tells his coming of age story as a Portly Lutheran Know-It-All.  “I was fat” he declares.  Weight issues seem to heavily influence his sense of self but this tale is far more concerned with religion and schooling.  For those who want a glimpse into the teaching of evolution at the Missouri Synod Lutheran School, here is an opportunity.

From the first grade Mr. Storrs seems to be at odds with his Biblical upbringing.  He wanted to be a purple witch for Halloween.  His parents would have preferred warlock and the kids called him gay.  From his hilariously titled “Extreme Teen Bible” he recites passages and tells personal anecdotes.  Evolutionists “want god but they also want to be smart”.  When the barbs land they are funny.

His school did not believe in evolution as the Earth’s fossil record contains no “in between” animals.  There is no half-cow or half-whale to explain how these creatures are related.  To prove the point, his teacher took two separate stuffed animals, split them in half and resewed them back together.  The front half was a cow; the back half a whale.  “You don’t see any of these guys in the fossil record now do you?”  Mr. Storrs raises his hand and says “looks like a manatee”.  A suspension from science class follows.

Revelations such as these are tasty indeed.  His renditions of school presentations featuring the Song of Solomon and a mock trial where he defends Judas are high points.

For some reason the storytelling turns to more mundane pagan matters.  A new girl comes to school and invites him to a party where spin the bottle is played.  A new friend Terry enables personal growth.  That is part of his story for sure but the know-it-all vibe promised in the title is very unique as is his slightly off-putting presentation style.  Some of this material is heavenly sent loony tunes.  Other sections are stuck in purgatory.

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

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FRIGID: As You Will, And Toto Too & That sh$t don’t work! Does it? (FRIGID Festival Part 4)

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

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FRIGID: The Last to Know & A Play for Voices (FRIGID Festival Part 3)

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