The Fab Marquee

The Fab Marquee review by Peyton Wise.

The marketing for Boxed In, a presentation of two one acts by Project Oriented Productions, describes it as ‘fighting against a stagnant country of 88 hour work weeks and $8 cups of coffee.’ That may have been the writers’ impetus, but the plays inspire questions more than they impose answers. In both plays, someone is crazy, but I honestly don’t know who, myself included.

Kellie Arens as Roberta & Melissa Derfler as Fawn

The first piece, Cornered, portrays a manic first-day orientation of an artist-turning-checkout-girl at Cornerworld, a superstore for Styrofoam packaging corners. (The description of how Cornerworld replaced dusty old mom and pop corner stores is one of the many surprise laughs scattered through the piece). The orientation is driven by Roberta (playwright Kellie Arens), an obsessive employee-handbook thumper who argues with stuffed animals as she charges through a litany that includes requiring the applicant to change her hair color and lose her pregnancy. We begin to wonder, however, at the sanity of Fawn (Melissa Derfler), the Goth artist for sticking around. When Roberta breaks her to the point of forcing her to scream “art is useless,” the audience, clearly comprised of artists, can’t help shifting in their seats.Cornered has many surprises, both in the staging and the writing. Both set the groundwork early for punches that come around at the end of the play. If the intention is to build to a frenzy, however, it is sabotaged by the middle section. After the situation and tone are established, both continue without escalation. During this time, one can’t help but wonder why Fawn stays, despite having her hand on the doorknob while being insulted and why the lights keep changing so abruptly. Despite these limitations, the play has some interesting thoughts and Arens and Derfler find some fun comedic moments. At the performance I saw, Arens created from a prop problem one of the funniest moments in the play.

The second piece, Transit, is quite simply a remarkable piece of theatre. Everything is so tightly honed it was like watching the Marx brothers via Meyerhold. The simple tools offered by lights, two actors, and some boxes onstage were used to create fractal worlds. The actors were so in tune and the mime so sharp- at one point an actor picked up a discarded ‘prop’ from the exact place the other had thrown it- that I began to believe I must be crazy to not see props and scenery that were so clearly there.

Jonathan Albert as Sam & Anthony Crep as Pat

The play begins with two men in coveralls, waiting for a train to come. They play games waiting for it to come and as they do, we begin to realize this may not be the limbo of a train platform, but of some form of incarceration. Sam (playwright Jonathan Albert) is a Gump-like younger brother, deeply affected by the moods of the moodier and more sinister Pat (Anthony Crep). As the games merge with murkier aspects of their pasts, the actors play hide and seek on a dizzying path of tonal switchbacks. Albert and Crep execute the turns in perfect unison, playing off each other and in a Beckettian pas-de-deux. Either performance is impressive; together they are stunning.

Director Cristina Alicea keeps a sharp control of the reins, shaping pace and focus by eliminating any extraneous movement or element. The set of white boxes is used to shape movement without marking place. The lights change subtly to bring us into each world without defining what we’re about to experience. At one point, the exit light is put to the best use I’ve ever seen. (The performance of No Exit with a clearly marked upstage fire exit must now take second place.) The entrance of sound is so unobtrusive that it’s only noticed when it changes for a powerful final reveal.

Absurdism, like many 20th century isms, has often been remembered only for its repudiation of conventional structure. Transit is so successful because the playwright and director create their own structure, rather than justify whimsy with ‘carte absurde’. Audiences may not know the play’s rules, but can feel that they and the actors are supported by it. The actors are not trying to justify outlandish choices with mania and the audience can trust that the end will not betray what’s gone before. In fact, this hidden structure is a theatrical metaphor for the bastard existentialism that prompted Absurdism. Pat and Sam follow a track laid out according to rules they don’t know, vacillating from rage to joy to fear, with a predetermined ending, while we struggle to connect any clues to a universal picture that includes us.

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Project Oriented Productions presents
Boxed In
May 1-18, 2008 (Thu-Sat @8pm; Sun@3pm & 7pm).
The Royal Theatre (The Producers Club).

Tickets: $18 available online at www.smarttix.com.

The Royal Theatre (The Producers Club) | 358 West 44th St. | Manhattan.

photo credit: Leslie Hassler

‘At school I was always trying to con my teachers into letting me act out book reports instead of writing them.’

Laura Linney.

* You can catch Laura Linney in Roundabout Theatre Company’s new production of Christopher Hampton’s Les Liaisons Dangereuses at The American Airlines Theatre, for more information visit www.dangerousonbroadway.com

The Fab Marquee review by Antonio Miniño.

I remember how I fought my way out of reading Cervantes’ Don Quixote back in the school days, a long long time ago. But then curiosity and the love for adventure and books made me creep into the pages of Don Quixote, and I soon found myself wanting to fight a windmill and be dubbed Don Antonio.

Robert Anthony Jones as Sancho & Jan-Peter Pedros as Don Quixote
photo credit: Jennifer Maufrais

The Gallery Players, an institution that has been pumping out work since 1967, earning their reputation as “New York’s best Kept Secret” brings us their production of Man of La Mancha, a musical with a book by Dale Wasserman, lyrics by Joe Darion and music by Mitch Leigh. It is adapted from Wasserman’s non-musical 1959 teleplay I, Don Quixote, which was inspired by Miguel de Cervantes’s seventeenth century masterpiece Don Quixote. It tells the story of the knight, Don Quixote, as a play within a play, performed by Cervantes and his fellow prisoners as he awaits a hearing with the Spanish Inquisition. The original 1965 Broadway production was a total hit! It ran for 2,329 performances and won five Tony Awards.

Gallery Players production of Man of La Mancha is one of the most spot on Off-Off Broadway revivals I have encountered. I’m sure to be contradicted by musical theatre fans that indulge on crisp voices, but I’ll exchange vocals for good acting any day. A magnificent ensemble of 22 performers grace the Spanish prison, as Cervantes (Jan Peter Pedross) performs his play that serves as his defense before a mock trial that the prisoners have started in order for him to keep his possessions. Once Cervantes takes out his make up kit and armor and transforms himself as Alonso Quijana, he is soon in need of the prisoners to join him as actors in the piece. Quijana seems to be under the impression that he is Don Quixote and fears that longtime enemy The Enchanter wants a piece of him, and his Manservant, or should I say “squire” Sancho Panza (Robert Anthony Jones). He fights a windmill thinking it’s a giant monster, and thinks he was defeated because he’s not an actual Knight. So he walks into an Inn that in his illustrious fantastical mind resembles a Castle, and needs the Innkeeper (Justin Herfel) to dub him as a Knight. Every Knight needs a lady, right? His eyes grow weary as he meets Aldonza (Jennifer McCabe), who for him is Dulcinea the Lady of his heart, when Aldonza is in fact the bedfellow of many. As the story unfolds, prisoners are being taken away, and the rest are in thirst of hearing how the story of Don Quixote concludes.

All is a bitter operatic end, as the fantasy of Don Quixote is killed and Quijana slowly wimples away, but Aldonza soon reminds him of “The Impossible Dream” and how he has transformed her into his Dulcinea.

Jan-Peter Pedross portrays a tender and dreamy-eyed Cervantes, his conviction and boldness towards the role embarks the audience on a powerful journey. The humorous Robert Anthony Jones enraptures the audience with great wit as Sancho Panza.

Jennifer McCabe as Aldonza & Cast
photo credit: Jennifer Maufrais

We are used to being swept away when Don Quixote sings “The Impossible Dream”, the song has been recorded over and over and over again. Well, in Gallery Players’ Man of La Mancha, when McCabe sings “Aldonza” the audience shivers, cries, kicks and screams with her all through the journey of the song. I’d like to say I saw some audience members teary eyed, but it might have just been me. The beautiful Jennifer McCabe enraptures the audience with her no nonsense take on Aldonza, she embodied the complexity of the character with subtlety and sad anger.

There is not a weak link in this cast; the entire ensemble brings a fresh take to the show. Director Tom Wotjunick keeps almost the entire ensemble on stage at all times. I appreciated how everyone knew how to listen, and created tasks for themselves without drawing attention away from what was going on.

Wotjunick clearly knows how to highlight the emotional arc of the characters, and the parallels that exist between them. He didn’t create a world of fantasy with big costumes and set changes, but trusted the actors and the audiences hunger to use their imagination, using things from Cervantes trunk, or around the prison. The staging was clean and balanced at all times. Kudos go to fight choreographer Ryan Kasprzak who deals with the fights in a beautiful way, without making them seem like modern dance or safety poses.

The set design by Martin Andrew utilizes the space in a smart way, creating levels and entryways, easily transformed into Quixote’s different landscapes with the use of furnishings and first rate lighting design by Tony Galaska, and sound design by Kristyn R. Smith. Costume Designer David Withrow never seizes to amaze me; the detailing that characterizes his work was of course present in all the garments.

You have one week left to “run where the brave dare not go”, and that is a great Off-Off Broadway production of Man of La Mancha, presented by Gallery Players.
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Gallery Players presents
Man of La Mancha
April 26-May 18, 2008 (Thu-Fri @8pm; Sat @2pm & 8pm; Sun @3pm)
Gallery Players

Tickets: $18.00 for adults, $14 for Senior Citizens and children 12 and under. Tickets can be purchased online at www.galleryplayers.com or by calling Theatermania at (212) 352-3101.

Gallery Players | 199 14th St (btwn 4th and 5th Aves) | Brooklyn.

The Fab Marquee interview by Antonio Miniño.

Paul Adams founded Emerging Artists in 1993 and has been Artistic Director for the life of the company these past 15 years. He previously was the Treasurer at the WPA for several years, along with Assistant Treasurer at the Orpheum Theatre. As Artistic Director, he reads all submissions, is responsible for overseeing all creative aspects of all productions and is also responsible for budgeting and day-to-day accounting of the company. He is also a playwright, director, and actor.

We caught Paul between shows at EAT’s SpringFest ’08 taking place right now at The Roy Arias Theatre Center through May 4, 2008.

How does it feel for EAT to be celebrating their “Quinceañera” (sweet 15) ?

• I am amazed that 15 years have gone by in such a short time. I am so happy that Emerging Artists has moved to an Off Broadway Contract and that we now have 125 company members. Our next big goal is to find a permanent home with a theatre, office and rehearsal space. Hopefully that will materialize in the next 3 years.

Pretty amazing that we always talk about “emerging artists”, yet you were smart enough to snatch the name for your theatre co.

• I felt that this company was always going to be dedicated to those “emerging artists”. I think that all artists keep emerging as they go through life and it is great to be able to provide an opportunity for the first time artists to see their work on a New York stage. But even more important is to be there as a home for artists who may have been working in their craft for years, but have never been given a chance to see their work developed and produced. I say every artist keeps emerging or I would hope they do as their life goes on.

Hunter Gilmore* & Jason Alan Griffin* in Break.
Photo credit: Erica Parise

You have a pretty action packed season, Spring EATfest going on right now at the Roy Arias Theatre Center, and the Developmental Series around the corner, what differentiates these?

• The Eatfest is a new one act festival. The Fall is for pieces up to 20 minutes and the Spring for pieces up to 50 minutes. The Developmental Series is a unique opportunity for a diverse array of artists in all different mediums. It is a chance for them to workshop their work before an audience and then sit with the audience afterwards and ask them questions and get feedback on what the audience just experienced. There are 5 components that each last a week - one woman shows, one man shows(new this year), clown work and puppetry, cabaret performers, and new ensemble musicals. The artists can bring and present their work in whatever stage they are at in their process. EAT provides the performance space, prints the flyers and programs and gives them rehearsal space. There is no cost to the artists involved and the admission fee for audience is a simple $10. EAT is unique in that no other theatre company offers this kind of platform in such a varied scheme of work for artists to present their creativity to the public.

So your going to Ireland with Tom Cruise, and who else…

• Well our Tom Cruise is a speaking dog that belongs to his gay owner. Yes EAT was very lucky and is headed to Ireland on May 10th to be part of the Dublin Gay Theatre Festival It will be the first international appearance for Emerging Artists. EAT will be performing 3 one act plays from last years Eatfests: Emily Breathes by Matt Casarino, Some Are People by Kathleen Warnock, and Tom Cruise Get Off the Couch by Kevin Brofsky. It will be a great experience to be one of 2 companies that will represent New York in the festival.

Your company members seem to be a very involved core with EAT, how do you keep the family lovingly together? A family of actors no less.

• Actually it is a family of playwrights, directors, actors, designers, and technicians. When Istarted this company, I had 2 main rules - that it had to be enjoyable to work on developing/producing new work because no one is paid what they are worth and so it better be fun even if you’re working on a drama and second was that no one would ever raise their voice to another individual - respect for each other as artists and a true shared belief in new work. I really feel that you can see when work is presented where the artists involved really care for the material and each other. EAT is a collaborative creative family where artists are encouraged to explore different sides of themselves and feel supported in those attempts. It is a family and as with all families there are unique dynamics to keeping the family happy. But EAT also has an open door policy for company members because life is always here and can take hold of you at times. So a member can be active or go inactive and come back when their life permits them to. But I must say that I am incredibly lucky to have each and every member bring their own unique creativity to the Emerging Artists family.

For more information on EAT’s Season, visit www.eatheatre.org

‘When I meet talented directors I get really giggly to the point of it being really ridiculous so that’s how I knew I respected them.’

-Gina Gershon

*Gina Gershon is currently starring as Gabriella in Broadway’s comedy BOEING BOEING. For ticket information visit: www.telecharge.com

The Fab Marquee review by David Stallings.

Classic comedies often lend themselves to musical adaptations. Kiss Me Kate is Taming of the Shrew, West Side Story is Romeo and Juliet, and there have been numerous interpretations of The Importance of Being Earnest. In 1997, Jeffrey Stock, Susan Birkenhead, and James Magruder undertook the classic Maurivaux farce, Triumph of Love, to lukewarm response at best. Now, more than ten years later, the Astoria Performing Arts Center has brought the musical back to New York for the first time since that short-lived production. Unfortunately, this production proves that even the best talent cannot save a misguided text and unmelodic score.

Abby Baum as Princess Leonide &
Tripp Pettigrew as Agis

Maurivaux’s play follows the young Princess Leonide (Abby Baum), who has fallen in love with a young man, Agis (Tripp Pettigrew). Agis is sequestered in a garden by his Aunt Hesione (Erika Amato) and Uncle Hermocrates (Richard Rice Alan) and forced to live without love. The two philosophers believe that a studious life led by the mind outweighs a life led by emotion. Thus, the weaker sex is banned from the garden so that Agis cannot fall prey to temptation. Princess Leonide disguises herself as a man and enters the garden to much mishap—seducing not only Agis but his aunt and uncle as well. The play is reminiscent of As You Like It and Leonide reminds audiences of Rosalind as she fights for love. In fact, this piece seems at times to be even more progressive as Leonide’s arguments overpower the aged Hermocrates.

The musical takes this clever and well-written classic and bares it down to a weak whimper. A musical at its best is a series of songs linked together by scenes. The scenes should be as well developed as any normal play. The only difference is that when the characters are filled with emotion, they can express themselves in no other way but song. Triumph of Love does not have scenes, but links tunes together with five to ten rushed lines that quickly further the plot. The tunes are not even real songs, but are recitatives. Recitatives are used in opera and are unmelodic sung phrases used to further plot rather than using spoken phrase. After over an hour of this odd music, the audience is finally granted one song, “Serenity”. The song comes too late and as beautiful as it is, cannot save the useless score. Equally as disconcerting is the thin book, which is filled with obnoxious quips and double entendres that have nothing to do with the wit of the original.

That being said, the ensemble collected by the Astoria Performing Arts Center is extremely talented. As Princess Leonide and her many disguises, Abby Baum is quite charming. Ms. Baum’s voice is impressive and well suited for contemporary musical theater. As the philosophical Hesione, Erika Amato steals the show. Originally a vehicle for Betty Buckley, Hesione is the most developed character in the adaptation. Amato steps up to the challenge well and sings “Serenity” so powerfully that you forget what show you are in for a moment. As the stoic Agis, Tripp Pettigrew, is endearing.

Erika Amato as Hesione.

Brian Swasey’s direction does little to salvage the wrecked text. Swasey has staged his actors to make the same crosses across the stage in almost every musical number. The same pattern was used so often that it seemed monotonous after a while. The set design by Michael P. Kramer was inventive and successfully took us to different parts of the sterile garden. Adam Coffia’s period costumes are delightfully colorful. Erik J. Michael’s light design was inconsistent. It was obvious that there was only one spot available. During duets, one actor was chosen to be highlighted while the other had to sing without light. The general wash was filled with so many gobos resembling foliage, that without the spot no one was truly lit.

It is rare that one sees a play and cannot find a weak link in the cast. The Astoria Arts Center should be commended for bringing such talent together. Certainly a good group, and hopefully the future will hold better material for them.
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Astoria Performing Arts Center presents
Triumph of Love
April 25-May 11, 2008 (Thu-Sat @8pm; Sun @6pm)
The Broccoli Theatre

Tickets $15 advance purchase, and $18 at the door. For ticket purchase visit www.apacny.org. TDF Vouchers accepted.

The Broccoli Theatre | Variety Boys & Girls Club of Queens, 21-12 30th Road, Astoria | Queens.

“I’d rather do theater and British films than move to LA in hopes of getting small roles in America.”

-Kate Winslet

The Fab Marquee review by Antonio Miniño.

First thing you think when you walk into the 3LD Art & Technology Center is, you are in for a hi-tech show, and then you notice you are in for a party. A party in a multimedia fire island, with two boardwalks, 4 ginormous screens, “all you can eat” hamburgers, hot dogs, and booze galore! You are surrounded by tempting buckets full of beer all over the “beach” floor, and there’s wine and soda if beer’s not your thing. Oh yeah, and a fantastic live cover band lead by Albert Kuvezi. You take a cushion, or a beach chair and pick a spot between the boardwalks and the screens, two hours later “the show begins” (doors open at 6pm so you can enjoy the bash).

Catherine Yeager, Gautham Prasad,
Allison Keating & David Tirosh

Charles Mee is best known for his plays of history and love, and I have to mention Big Love because you will be revisiting this masterpiece in Fire Island, just be sure to have a relaxed neck, you will be twisting left to right to figure out where the action is coming from. The actors are gliding through the crowd, they are part of the live band, they are… well, they are Fire Island. At first you are fully aware of what is going on, you are intrigued, engaged on the actions that happen on the screens, that are reenacted or completed by the actors around you. But the lack of narrative, of that ‘magic glue’ that puts all the pieces together in a play, was not there.

A cry to social love and understanding, a cry to things that must be left behind, or of moving on, but it might as well have been a night of monologues or scenes. I had a hard time trying to figure out if this was a play or not. Fire Island was missing Mee’s high stakes, battles of wit and bloody situations. Fire Island fell a little behind, but that didn’t stop it from being a memorable evening. This is a must for theatergoers that are more into the casual and free approach to the art form.

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3-Legged Dog Productions presents
Charles Mee’s
Fire Island
April 10 - May 3, 2008
3LD Art & Technology Center
Tickets are $30.00 and $15.00 for Students, visit www.3ldnyc.org.

3LD Art & Technology Center | 80 Greenwich Street | Manhattan.

photo credit: Eamonn McCabe

‘What people really want in the theater is fantasy involvement and not reality involvement.‘

-Edward Albee

The Fab Marquee review by A.K. Gobble

I Have Before Me A Remarkable Document Given To Me By A Young Lady From Rwanda is a new play by the award winning playwright, Sonja Linden, making its New York premiere presented by the Phoenix Theatre Ensemble. This play follows the story of a young refugee named Juliet (Susan Hayward) as she struggles with her new life in a foreign country while dealing with her tormented past.

After witnessing her entire family’s execution and losing everything she owned, Juliet, a young survivor of the 1994 Rwanda massacre arrives in England under a refugee status and attempts to build a future for herself. Juliet’s dream of becoming a writer brings her together with an older gentleman, a burned out poet named Simon, (Joseph J. Menino) who works at the refugee center. Together they form an unlikely friendship of two people sharing their love for words and the healing powers they posses.

Joe Menino as Simon & Susan Heyward as Juliet
photo credit: Monte Stilson

Simon encourages Juliet to be brave, tell the stories of her painful past and confront her overwhelming emotions by putting them on the page. As Juliet attempts to oblige, we discover the unthinkable reality this young lady once lived and the extreme cultural differences she is currently experiencing.

This play is written in a very personal way; using much needed humor at times to relieve us from the horrors we are told.

I find it to be very hard to write a review on a personal and truthful story such as this. No matter what you see on stage you really want to root for these people! I was extremely moved by this play and found myself wanting to explore more on the subject beyond the night’s performance.
Linden, who wrote this play, based it on her own experience working at a refugee center as a resident writer and was inspired by her own encounter with a young survivor and her story.
Linden’s challenge was to transform these painful stories into a piece of theater that would engage an audience. A challenge, that was successful mostly in credit to her talented and wonderful cast.

The play is written as a series of memories recalled by Juliet, the young survivor. And although her stories are captivating enough on their own, I find that when actors are on stage they need actions to make the story come alive, otherwise there is no difference between watching a play and reading a book. A play needs tension, a conflict, an emotional peak to keep an audience interested and I feel that in this case it fell a bit short, mainly in the relationship between Simon and Juliet. The relationship was unclear and I didn’t see their need for each other. At the beginning their relationship seemed to be taking on a romantic turn, leaving the audience in suspense and wonder but it was quickly dropped with no explanations. I would have liked to see it play on some more; maybe even cross a line in order to bring Simon’s character more meaning.

As wonderful as the actor was, I would have liked to see Simon’s character more extreme, more disheveled, bringing out more of his own demons. I felt he was somewhat unnecessary since this play would have easily functioned as a one-woman show with some subtle changes and would have been as equally interesting.

The story takes a twist when Juliet receives some exciting news from home regarding her youngest brother. This turn was also underplayed in my opinion and should have created more of an emotional peak; the big climax of the play was unfortunately not delivered. I believe it was outshined by the previously strong moments and the horrific descriptions of the killings; something I wish Elise Stone, the wonderfully sensitive director would have focused on. Her work on this piece was very creative and her use of the space was smart. With almost no set to back them up the transitions and locations were very clear.

With all that being said, I found myself to be very engaged and interested in this woman’s life. It has opened my eyes to a part of the world I rarely think about. I thought the actors were terrific and dedicated. It was hard not to fall in love with Hayward’s Juliet who captured both her sadness and her strength so perfectly and Menino’s Simon who was so warm and fatherly.

On a special not I would like to mention the lighting designer, Tony Mulanix whose work on this piece really contributed to my emotional involvement at times, especially the gorgeous setting of the church and candles.

Gadi at the Market by Jacqueline (age 8) 2000.
Through the Eyes of the Children: The Rwanda Project

This play is performed in conjunction with the award-winning exhibit “Through the Eyes of Children- the Rwanda Project”. These photos taken by the young survivors of the 1994 genocide make perfect setting to the show as you make your way to the theater and again once out.

If you get a chance, go see this play! I promise it will touch your heart.

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Sonja Linden’s
I Have Before Me a Remarkable Document
Given to Me by A Young Woman From Rwanda
April 12-May 4, 2008
Tuesdays & Saturdays @ 8pm
Sundays @ 1:30pm & 7:30pm
Theatre at Saint Peter’s

• Tickets: $20.00; 212-352-3101 or www.PhoenixTheatreEnsemble.org

Theatre at Saint Peter’s | 54th Street just East of Lexington Avenue