FringeNYC 2013: Judgment Day
Broadway actor Donald Corren (Souvenir) gives a tour-de-force performance as seven wildly different characters navigating the final hours of what may be the Last Day on Earth.
Official production websiteShow details/ticketing at FringeNYC
Review by Amber Gallery · August 13, 2013
As a reviewer nothing brings quite as much joy as to witness a team of artists that integrate so wonderfully together to create a fantastic evening of theatre. With Judgment Day, having its premiere at the Players Theater, the combination of playwright Maria S. Schlatter, director Michael Schwartz, performer Donald Corren, with design team, is a perfect concoction.
The premise is a simple one—it is the end of the world, and we get to peek into the last hours of many different characters, all performed by Corren. Some characters are partying, some are all alone, one is seen by millions on the air. Some characters are more consistent, some we see only once, and one experiences a stunning growth by the end. Some are there purely for the rolling-in-the-aisle laughs, which Schlatter’s fantastically witty and sharp dialogue achieves tenfold.
While Schlatter’s 85-minute piece did not feel long at all, due to the hilarious dialogue and fantastic team involved, there is room for edits. Each character was a total gem, fantastically crafted by Schlatter, but the cohesiveness of the overall play felt flimsy. Because not every character has an arc, seeing them once would have been sufficient for the purposes of steamlining the piece. That said, characters like the worst-grandma-ever, and the anally-obsessed-professional-psychotherapy-patient could easily carry their own plays.
Broadway veteran Corren is in total command of his craft here, moving seamlessly between characters. He is a complete professional—a powerful, funny, versatile, and at times brilliant performer. He is the kind of actor we’re immediately drawn to and charmed by, one the audience is completely with after just a few lines. This is a crucial quality in the one-person play. Judging by the enthusiastic applause, not only at the end but in between characters—and the even louder applause after a small mishap was handled beautifully by Corren—it was clear we were all hooked.
Director Michael Schwartz does excellent work, navigating Corren from one chair to the next, keeping transitions seamless and relying on the most subtle positioning of the actor around the set pieces to indicate a changed location. Set designer Richard W. Prouse has made Schlatter’s world just a little off kilter and his set is both functional and stylish. Jacob Subotnik’s sound design is, as in previous shows I’ve reviewed, a cut above.
Judgment Day is an enjoyable evening of laughter and drama. Anyone who goes will have a wonderful time seeing great artists do what they do best.
Preview: Interviews with Artists from Judgment Day
We're asking artists from each show to answer questions about themselves and their work to help our readers get a detailed advance picture of the festival:
All About My Show · Donald Corren (Actor)
- Complete this sentence: My show is the only one in FringeNYC that...?
Has me in it! - Tell us about the character or characters that you portray in this show.
The Rapture has been predicted, and midnight of the day in question is fast approaching. I play 8 different characters navigating what might be their last 90 minutes on earth: A therapy addict in a last minute session, a would-be novelist at his regular Starbucks table; a Connecticut matron alone with her pet bird; a level-headed Russian cab driver; an excitable pageant dad; an extra-heterosexual cult leader; a news anchor with a secret; and a party guest recounting the details of her recent vaginal reconstruction. - What moment or section in this show do you really love to perform? Without giving away surprises, what happens in that moment and why do you love it?
That's hard for me to say - it's like choosing your favorite child. Phoebe's description of her surgery is perhaps the most fun, while the news anchor's gradual decent into hell is the most harrowing. - Which school or system of acting has been most useful to you in your career, and why (examples: The Method, Uta Hagen, Viewpoints, etc.)?
No one discipline has been "the one" for me. I read the books, take the classes, and find they all strive for the same thing - to behave truthfully in imaginary circumstances. And the more you make those circumstances real for yourself (through sensory recall, emotional triggering, personalizing, etc)., the more truthful your on-stage behavior becomes instinctually. That's when it gets fun, when you can improvise and react as your character, without thinking. - What's your favorite pastime when you’re not working on a play?
Working on the house I've had with my husband for 25 years.
Gianfranco Lentini reviews Waiting For Waiting For Godot
“There’s nothing [everything] to be done” about Waiting for Waiting for Godot at the 2013 New York International Fringe Festival. Written by Dave Hanson and directed by...
Julie Congress reviews The Magic Mirror
The Magic Mirror, an opera with 14 singers and a live orchestra of seven (plus a conductor!), has a sound of a magnitude unlike any other FringeNYC show. Yet while an auditory...
Andrew Rothkin reviews The Young Olympians and The Most Amazingly Awesome Adventure Ever
What do you get when you combine ancient Greek mythology with puppetry, pop
culture, a wacky quest, and some fun and catchy new tunes? If you’re the
talented cast and crew of The Maryland...
Jason S. Grossman reviews The Famous Play
Two actors appear on stage and post an enormous sign with the playwright's contact information. A narrator enters and identifies himself as the playwright and describes what the audience is...
Kimberly Wadsworth reviews unbidden
Geneticist Julia Lamb, the woman at the center of Joanne Hudson’s Unbidden, is something of a mess. While researching a study into the human genome, Julia (Chelsea Leigh Barrett)...
David Koteles reviews Marshall's Law
A man and a woman are locked in a basement. A basement where dark secrets seem to be kept, waiting to be revealed. We learn the man and woman used to be best friends, until he “stole”...
Fred Backus reviews Mercedes Benz Awkwardly
Arriving from Australia to help close out the 2013 New YorkInternational Fringe Festival in its final week is Mercedes Benz Awkwardly, a raucous one-woman comedy about a first time...
Bob Stewart reviews The TomKat Project
The TomKat Project by writer Brandon Ogborn is a great example, (by this reviewer) of a perfect FringeNYC Show. It has 7 players, (including the playwright as narrator) 7 chairs, a few...
Pamela Butler reviews The Unfortunates
The late 19th century in London’s East End was not a safe place for young women plying the trade of prostitution. Women who for one reason or another fell into desperate situations, were...
Robert Weinstein reviews Quake: A Love Story
Ain’t Real Theatre Company’s Quake: A Love Story begins in the basement of a sparring couple as they go through their collective possessions after a bitter separation....
Gianfranco Lentini reviews William
1592. The end of the Renaissance is rapidly approaching, and the Baroque period is about to take the stage. Henry VI (Parts I-III) has been publicly performed, and the audience cries for...
Mitchell Conway reviews And It Spins Twice
For those interested in contemplating the implications of string theory, And It Spins Twice is a good introduction to some of the concepts that are radically altering our understanding...
