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

The childhood game of Telephone is the inspiration for the theatrical performance film IN ONE EAR.  The set up is one line of poetry which was sent to the first artist who created a piece of work.  After two weeks, the draft was sent to another artist who had two weeks to complete their project.  Down the line in two week increments.  Four artists viewing a draft of a piece immediately in front of theirs.  The result, in this case, is dreamy.

Gwendolyn Bennett, a prominent but not widely known poet from the Harlem Renaissance, supplies the opening gambit.  In the 1920’s she wrote “For silence is a sounding thing / To one who listens hungrily.”

Christina Liang considered Ms. Bennett’ century old prose to create Hairy Black Hole.  She is both the writer and star of this work.  At the beginning the song lyrics are familiar:  “Going to the chapel and we’re gonna get married.”  This bride, all dressed in white, is not quite elated.  The silence is deafening.  She’s sporting the bling but her mind is screaming.  “Look at me.  I’ve trapped a man.”  The dagger line follows:  “I’m worthy.”

Getting married is very rough terrain for this young lady.  She visits the toilet and gets sick.  Is it wedding day jitters or something more?  She shrugs it off but remains embarrassed.  “I look like a giant puking cream puff.”  Ms. Liang is at the alter but unconvinced about her future.  Introspection is front and center as she considers “what if I am not good enough” for this “act of self sabotage.”

Multidisciplinary artist C. Bain took that inspiration and created All Men Are Clowns.  In this film, he is running.  The tux he is wearing is open and clearly a binding trap to be escaped from.  While Ms. Liang’s wedding vision examined (and was angered by) childhood princess dreams, Mr. Bain’s thoughts are more surreal.  Through the fantastic his mind will share his own struggles.  And dreams.  The newspaper and knots imagery becomes a metaphor for exposing one’s truth.

Ashley Grombol’s Ricki Martin came next.  This delightful stop motion short was my favorite of the four vivid pieces.  On the one hand, the two individuals here share a tight bond.  Their ability to celebrate joy together is evidenced by a collaborative relationship.  Ms. Grombol takes the Telephone journey into a lighter realm.  We see the clouds and know magisterial beauty is attainable.

What elevates – and complicates – this work is a deftly executed aside regarding our throw away culture.  Here is an artist emphasizing the use of everyday discarded items as treasures.  They provide joy to the two main characters in this story (cookies!) with whimsy and cuteness.  The dreams in this work are also fantastical.  They are hopeful as well and a nice contrast to the two previous artist’s torments.

Naeemah Maddox, a singer-songwriter, created the fourth and final piece.  I Had a Dream is a lament for escape.  She sings about getting into a ship and flying away.  “The weight is heavy on my mind,” she says, “when you feel you can’t move forward and you can’t rewind.”  The song and the performance bring a nice coda to this creative exercise.

At one point Ms. Maddox mentions that she was “born into a world of cosmic pearls.”  That little detail binds all of these artist’s worldviews.  The wannabe bride marrying her Prince Charming.  The suffocating groom.  And the non-descript yet joyful couple exalting at the glory of their beautiful wedding cake.  How we read the pearls is how we approach life.  For each of us, these messages go in one ear and out the other.  Inside our heads the imprints are distinct, vital and often haunting.  How great would it be to magically turn hard, unyielding truths into a delicious cookie?

IN ONE EAR was filmed at the West Side Theater.  These four short films are being streamed for free on the Hunger and Thirst Theater website through March 21, 2021.  Take the time afterword to listen to the artist’s mid-creation thoughts.

www.hungerandthirsttheatre.com

On a Monday night in the middle of last February, I traveled to the Chelsea Music Hall to see A Cocktail Party Social Experiment.  I did not know at the time that I had only about three weeks of theater left before the pandemic hit New York City hard.  I loved the show and the game that was (and is) its beating heart.  How exciting then to realize the party is still going.   A Social Alchemix (Live!) streams right into your home.

As the limited audience arrives there is some preshow chatting about where people are from and what they are drinking.  Brooklyn, Chicago and Portland, Oregon are present.  Montreal is drinking an Old Fashioned “with a glass of red wine as a backup.”  Some were drinking “bubbles” as they were in their self-controlled dry January.  Perhaps most intriguing was the person who typed, “a semi-flooded barrier island ninety miles south of New York.”

The show had not even started and the amusements were well underway.  Host and game creator Wil Petre joined with a Gin and Tonic.  Why are we gathered here this evening?  He offers a question.  “In this time of isolation and uncertainty, can we have meaningful conversations?”

The livestream process is similar to the in person game show.  Volunteers are randomly selected.  They pick two cards which determine the question they will answer.  The host and other guests are welcome to converse with the “Guest of Honor” as well.  First chosen was Siobhan who introduced me to the concept of vegan lipstick which was applied with a blue stain.

In this case, the matching of question and Guest of Honor was perfect.  Mr. Petre read, “What do you think your civic obligations are?”  Siobhan is a Democratic Socialist “super involved” in movements such as Occupy Wall Street and the Green Party.  She worked for both the Joe Biden and Jon Ossoff campaigns.  She “didn’t particularly like them” but her fifty volunteer team did 60,000 calls in support.  What else can our host say but “that question was perfect serendipity for you.”

Matt (Rye neat) was chosen next and was joined by his wife Jodi (Margarita).  They hail from Westchester County in New York and he identified himself as “far right” politically.  That was a delicious contrast with the opening guest.  During the conversation he noted Siobhan’s “extreme views” and commented “if you don’t engage you won’t connect to broaden their world view.”  Obviously from a much older generation, the host helpfully added “or see their point of view.”  This was a clear example of the divides we witness in our country every day.

Jessica followed from the very wet barrier island.  (Yay!  I needed that mystery solved.)  She was consuming “Lambrusco from the local liquor store.”  When was the last time you sobbed?  A story about her living with her parents and young son in a small house began.  She was feeling feeling very isolated and recovering from a very public breakup.  After a hot yoga class, the instructor hugged her and she began weeping.  It had been only her fifth hug since last March.

In Irvine, California, KJ was “hanging in there.”  He was in the emergency room the day before.  He was diligent about Covid protocols but may have caught the virus from his less serious roommates.  He is a relatively young man and summed it all up this way:  “I don’t wish this on my worst enemy.  It is that bad.”

The Covid theme continued with Jenn Tequila from Austin.  Her journey had her taking a job this year to help set up field hospitals for the poor near the Mexican border.  Her storytelling was vivid.  Everyday she was “deeply crying” but also “glad that I haven’t lost a part of myself.”  Char was the last guest who works as a counselor with students.

This experience was less “party like” than the in person version.  Toasts and frivolity were had for sure.  There was quite a bit of raw depth on display in these conversations which is certainly indicative of our times.  A pandemic and an insurrection can turn the lightest of souls searching for meaning.  The streaming version offers something the live show does not.  The audiences faces are all on view.  There is much more visual feedback for everyone to experience.

The show was a “wow” experience once again.  I highly recommend staying afterwards to chat with fellow attendees.  It was a cocktail party filled with interesting and thoughtful people.  I was awestruck by the positive energy from the younger (and larger) contingent.  I don’t recall philosophizing at this level at their age.  I left A Cocktail Party Social Experiment invigorated with some new outlooks on life.  Join up, find a stranger and listen.  As we rollout vaccinations, this is a wonderful entry ramp into reengaging with new human beings.

Social Alchemix (Live!) aka A Cocktail Party Social Experiment is running on January 22, 30 and February 5, 2021 with more dates to follow.  A number of people recommeded Everything Immersive for listings of other experiences such as this one.

www.acocktailpartygame.com

theaterreviewsfrommyseat/acocktailpartysocialexperimentFebruary2020

www.everythingimmersive.com

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Want to hear about an unlikely source for some children’s streaming theater?  French writer Xavier de Maistre wrote Voyage autour de ma chambre in 1794 while imprisoned for six weeks.  He wrote this parody in the style of a grand travel narrative, using the objects in his room as if they were scenes from a strange land.  Dianne Nora’s Journey Around My Bedroom is loosely based on this work and celebrates imagination.

Xavi is a young girl who has been cooped up at home since the pandemic began.  She is playing a video game and trying to reach the level where she gets to the moon.  Mom drops by and wants her to clean her room.  It is getting late and Xavi lays down in her bed and drifts off to dreamland.

The great explorer Xavier – with a French-inspired accent – lands in Xavi’s bedroom and immediately takes stock of his predicament.  He is “marooned in a strange, untidy land.”  The two begin their journey.  Xavi tells him that she wanted to reach the moon.  His reply?  “You must.  It’s lovely this time of year.”

Journey Around My Bedroom is a streaming show presented by New Ohio Theatre for Young Minds.  After a brief introduction and a few participant instructions, this little grand adventure begins.  The show is definitely geared to elementary school age children and even younger.  All of the clever asides such as “patent pending” are extra bonus laughs for the adults watching.

Directed by Jaclyn Biskup, three performers remotely perform a combination of a Victorian era toy theater with some contemporary puppetry.  The transitions between the different zoom screens are clever and fun.  While the show’s spirit is light and whimsical, the themes of imagination, exploration and creativity are loud and clear.

Xavi is living life like the rest of us during this pandemic.  She “doesn’t get to go out much these days.”  When she tells Xavier that this place is her room, he exclaims, “It’s magnificent.  You must show me the terrain.”  It’s hard not to love his quirky little piece of inventiveness.  As a plus, the audience is occasionally invited to jump into the show and participate.

After the performance, the three performers (Laura Kay, Starr Kirkland, and Ashley Kristeen Vega) held a Q&A discussion.  They told the youngsters that inside the program there are puppets which can be cut out and made.  You can bring Xavier on your own journey!  One young lady who was holding her “goat teddy” seemed to take the whole message to heart.  She wanted to make her own puppet show and film it.

Her father was watching with her and participated as well.  He summed up the experience as well as anyone could.  He told the creative team, “This was really delightful.”  If parents are looking for a nice, comfortable and sneakily funny way to have an adventure with the kids at home, take a Journey Around My Bedroom.  No one really has to know the translation of Zut alors!  But it makes the experience even better if you do.

Journey Around My Bedroom is streaming live performances through January 10, 2020.  The show will then be available on demand through February 11th.

www.newohiotheatre.org

An audience of eight checks in outside The Duplex in Greenwich Village.  On a gorgeous Friday evening, there were people all around drinking outside bars at tables and dancing to disco tunes in Christopher Park.  Waiting for the show to begin, turn in any direction and there are visuals and sounds setting the mood.  Voyeur:  The Windows of Toulouse-Latrec conjures up Paris circa 1899 in the bohemian nightclub vista of Montmartre.

For those unfamiliar with the story of Toulouse-Latrec, there are four posters which provide a brief overview of his remarkable and difficult life.  He was born into an aristocratic family.  His parents were first cousins.  It is assumed that fact, and a family history of inbreeding, led to his congenital bone disorders and stunted growth.  Unable to play sports, he turned to art and made the debauched world of Moulin Rouge explode in his art and posters.

When the pandemic hit, the Bated Breath Theatre Company had just passed the one hundredth performance of its site specific hit, Unmaking Toulouse-Latrec.  I found that show diverting but I was mixed regarding its ability to sustain my attention for one hour.  With no theaters now open, Mara Lieberman conceived and directed Voyeur.  The artist and story is the same.  This experience is fantastically surreal and, at the same time, quietly reflective.

Above the bar Kettle of Fish (opened in 1950), three prostitutes begin their dance in the windows.  Windows and picture frames will recur as we voyeuristically peer into the past. The show is scored with a crank music box and a violin.  Eight of us are listening to the words being spoken but everyone on the street is watching the action.  One of the patrons that evening had previously seen the show taking place and decided to purchase a ticket.  Cell phones everywhere were capturing just another provocative night in bohemia.  While the technology suggested modern times, the environment brilliantly overwhelmed the senses and set the mood.

Henri is portrayed with a puppet memorably designed by James Ortiz (The Woodsman).  His size is diminutive and his pained face is haunting.  Both parents are played by actor/dancers.  You will see them playfully frolic during their youth and also experience the later darker days, including father Alphonse’s tormented anguish after Henri’s death.  All of this happens walking around the streets of the Village.

Occasionally the group stops to peer into a store front.  In one such instance, we watch Henri as the voyeur.  The scene displays a sensual provocation that perfectly illuminates this particular moment in time.  Another scene at the Ruth E. Wittenberg Triangle was a spectacle of light, movement and silent storytelling.  All with cars and people in motion, some stopping to watch as well.  What makes Voyeur so fascinating – and even a little uncomfortable – is the continually shifting perspectives of who is the voyeur and who is the “voyee.”

Known for his Moulin Rouge posters and paintings of dancers and prostitutes, one of his subjects comes to life during the performance.  The Can-Can is invoked.  The Moulin Rouge was created so the wealthy could slum it up in a fashionable district.  In another thematic twist, this audience does the same.  Theatergoers paying for a peek.  Amidst this hedonistic environment, an alcoholic cripple with syphilis found his people and became a legendary artist.

The ending of Voyeur:  The Windows of Toulouse-Latrec is as memorable as the beginning but in many different ways.  Walking to our restaurant reservation after the performance, two of us kept discussing our favorite segments.  That probably says it all.  This show is not only immersive, it is intoxicating.

Voyeur:  The Windows of Toulouse-Latrec is running on certain days through November 7th with multiple performances per evening.  The show is a pandemic friendly theatrical experience with masks and limited group sizes, including one visit indoors.

www.batedbreaththeatre.org

theaterreviewsfrommyseat/unmakingtoulouse-latrec

Reverend Rhonda Akanke McLean-Nur kicks off this second poetry jam entitled She Speaks, He Speaks, Generations Speak, Black Words Matter.  She notes this is a year containing COVID, more murdering of black people, incompetent leadership and the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment.  She praised the recently deceased John Lewis and Ruth Bader Ginsburg who “lived their lives to empower ours.”  The Reverend’s brief introduction was attention grabbing.

“In this consequential year, we pause to celebrate and reflect,” she concluded.  This is also the 50th season of the New Federal Theatre.  The one hour event began with an exciting outdoor tap dance called “Love, Power, Grace” by Cartier Williams.  With a title like the one for this poetry jam, you know serious is right around the corner.  And it is, powerfully so.

Margaret Walker wrote For My People in 1942.  This work won a Yale writing award making her the first black woman to receive a national writing prize.  A dozen readers shared sections of this great piece.  Lots of different voices underscored the universality of the message.  All of the work done by her people “never gaining, never reaping, never knowing and never understanding.”

Haki Madhubuti’s gorgeous Art shares his philosophy that art is “food for a people’s soul.”  He shared how art saved him with a personal reflection about his mother dying at the age of 34.  His message is hopeful and exquisitely written.  “Children of all cultures inherit their creative capacity to originate from the bone of their imagination the closest manifestation of purity, perfection and beauty.”

Jessica Care Moore followed with her Vertical Woman for Sonia Sanchez as a powerful homage to her 80th birthday.  Excitingly, Ms. Sanchez followed with a reading of her own Morning Song and Evening Walk For Martin Luther King, Jr.  Plainly and clearly she stated, “we have to hold up our freedom banners / we have to hold them up until we die.”

Rewarding words and storytelling followed about black fathers, their daughters, Malcolm X and other observations.  Yusef Komunyakaa concluded his Blue Dementia with this line:  “I know something about the toiling of ghosts.”  Reflecting the events of today, Mahogany L. Browne read Ain’t Got Much Place for Wallowing.  Her viewpoint has no time for “bipartisan cupcake promises” from a “government that pretends America is heaven.”

For me, the emotional core of this presentation was Shadenia Sivad’s rendering of Coffee.   This story was about the father of her children dating outside his race and his “obsession with competing with Master.”  Her delivery was intense and emotional on many levels.  “Only you and I know the effects of abandonment” as we “grew from the same damn tree.”

There were many ideas to ponder, injustices to consider and life-affirming glimpses to the future.  Reverend Rhonda summed it up by concluding that we need to be “using our own words wisely, creatively and constructively.”  This poetry jam succeeded in that mission.  Were that we could be a nation capable of listening with empathy, these words are an easy bridge to understanding the darkness lurking within.

Getting an “A” in history class growing up meant you could memorize dates and names of things.  We don’t teach children reality.  We cut funding for arts.  How can we keep moving forward?  How can we get more listeners?  I am hopeful when I watch the generation coming up expressing their discontent.

This one hour production, nicely directed by Petronia Paley, was a heady combination of depressing, joyful, angry and thought provoking.  I just watched the abominable Presidential debate this week.  I have to sum up that experience by quoting lyrics from Genovis Abright’s performance of his song “Mississippi Goddam.”  Watching the television, you have to agree that “this whole country is full of lies.”

The New Federal Theatre has a series of play readings in October as part of their NFT:  Retrospective Reading Series.

www.newfederaltheatre.com

the american vicarious in collaboration with The Invisible Dog Art Center are presenting a socially distanced performance installation in Brooklyn.  A quick subway ride – yes I’ve finally plunged back in big toe first – and you arrive at the hosting table.  In the middle of the block on an open lot is a forty foot shipping container with a door.  Static Apnea takes place one person at a time in there.

Static Apnea is a discipline in which a person holds their breath underwater for as long as possible.  After serious COVID preparations by the hosts, I entered into a world I was told would be dark.  I fumbled around.  I saw light and went toward it.  I was advised to get as close as possible and I did.  You know there is an actor in there and there was (safely).

In the performance I saw, Isabella Pinheiro is standing behind a microphone.  I learn that 9:02 seconds is the record set by a woman holding her breath.  A relatively obvious question is then asked.  What happens if you try to go longer and fail?  All of this time, lighting enhances the mood, enveloping the mystery.

For such a short performance, I do not want to say much more except that the dialogue is very meditative and thought provoking.  I stood in a claustrophobic box in the middle of a pandemic.  One which causes respiratory failure.  Breathing is the focus of the piece.  Your experience is to listen and absorb.  The rest is how your mind processes that brief period of time.

At the end, I was disoriented and it took me a bit to find my way.  The next visitor was ready to go.  After some air purging and sanitizing, she went in.  I walked down the block to the subway pondering the experience and admiring its uniqueness.  And also how it set me off kilter just enough.

Our current times are allowing artists to emerge, create and challenge us in new ways.  I just heard Claws is coming back in October.  That one took place on a telephone call.  Static Apnea is free.  Why not give it a try?  It is under ten minutes long, something new to experience in a live format and quite absorbing for this particular moment.

Static Apnea is scheduled to run until October 17, 2020. Tickets are free and reservations are recommended.

www.theinvisibledog.org

theaterreviewsfrommyseat/claws