An Archive Apprentice directs you to a door. A special knock and Pizza Rat appears. As you descend the stairs, a scientist is listening to the wall through a metal can. We will find out about that later. A few instructions are provided (please add one about the uneven floor). The small group enters a 360° immersive environment. The UP CLOSE Festival encourages interaction and participation for its target audience, namely five year old children and up.
The start of this entertainment is slow and people mill about noticeably confused as to where to go and what to do. There are cast members who communicate ideas such as separating sound bottles into categories which are good and bad. There is a chessboard on the floor. Bodega Cat is teaching the game of dominoes. In the performance I attended, the adult to children ratio was not ideal so the awkwardness loomed large.
After an excessive amount of time, Pizza Rat (Marisol Rosa-Shapiro, delightful) introduces herself and welcomes everyone to the Ark. The New Ohio Theatre is housed in a building which had previously been an archive. “Memories of old New York live in here.” Those thoughts, she informs, live in artifacts, walls and the magic that each of us brings.
In its second year, the idea for the festival is to bring the spirit of famed Greenwich Village activist Jane Jacobs to the theater. (She led the fight to save Washington Square Park amidst a proposed superhighway development. Her history should have been further explained if she is the inspirational centerpiece of this exercise.) The structure of this production is designed to present short form, immersive works which honor the neighborhood’s past. The results are decidedly mixed.
Sanctuary/Garden begins as a sit down circle reminiscent of a kindergarten classroom. The storytelling begins with tales of the Lenape natives who populated this area. Three volunteers will stand and pretend to be corn, squash and beans. A tree “sees” the changes in the city over the years. This massive development is shown via a paper puppet projection. All of a sudden it’s 1987, people are getting sick and we don’t know why.
This section has a feeling reminiscent of the old television series, The Magic Garden. Concepts are very basic and quickly presented. The ideal target age seems less than five. Then the AIDS crisis is referenced which surely is part of the neighborhood’s history. With no context or elaboration, that tidbit likely flies over the children’s heads and the next short vignette begins. Why was it mentioned?
219 Thompson Street is based on a locally famous chess war. Two owners had competing stores across the street from the other. One was a former protege. Then, all of a sudden, Sylvia Rivera, the founding member of the Gay Liberation Front is referenced in passing. Why? Volunteers in hats demonstrate chess moves. The performers in this section were fun and over-the-top in their boisterousness. Their efforts did not hide, however, that it was hard to discern the story being told and, more importantly, why it was told.
The most successful short work is the final piece, The Society of Historic Sonic Happenings written and directed by Adrienne Kapstein. Until 1966, the experimental wing of Bell Labs was generating ideas in a building nearby. Five scientists dedicated to lost, hidden and forgotten sounds take us through a journey to “hear” the neighborhood’s past. This section is a nicely orchestrated combination of whimsical and focused.
Five performers introduce the sound capturing concepts and the immersive (and enjoyable) game we are about to play. Each of them created individual characters and personalities. I was happily assigned to Theo’s group. Akash Seeramreddi gleefully portrayed the over-excited intern type and was quite fun with his unbridled enthusiasm. Many adults do not participate as small groups play the game. I understand this show is designed for kids but some interaction with that large, discarded group seems necessary.
Finally, Pizza Rat gets everyone back together again. We are asked to name our favorite pizza. A woman near me yelled, “Hawaiian.” A cast member remarked, “that’s the one with pineapple,” and noted, “that’s a bit controversial.” I laughed. The UP CLOSE Festival could use more moments like that little surprise to be engaging.
The idea to celebrate a neighborhood’s fascinating and colorful past is a great one. Oral traditions and interactive storytelling can be informative and instructive. At one point a scientist tells us that the Bell Labs team invented transistors. No explanation is provided. In a show designed for children, too many historical factoids zing past. In its execution, the thematic purpose of this show is too muddled to be recommended.
The UP CLOSE Festival will be performed at the New Ohio Theater through January 4, 2019.