FringeNYC 2013: The Hungry Ghost
What happens when you get all the success you ever dreamed of and it melts away? Join Evan Brenner on a quest for redemption through humiliating temp jobs, toothbrushes, his mafia landlord, and a most unexpected destination.
Official production websiteShow details/ticketing at FringeNYC
Review by David Koteles · August 14, 2013
The Hungry Ghost, a new play by Evan Brenner, is the backstory behind the development of Brenner’s 2009 performance piece The Buddha Play. According to this play, that play was a big success. While I am unfamiliar with his first show, that didn’t deter his new piece from being an interesting evening of theatre.
Brenner explains that Joseph Campbell believed our attraction to hero stories is because they are actually about us. Clearly Brenner took this quote to heart, and he finds numerous parallels with himself and the Buddha. Even his idea to write The Buddha Play seems to mirror the Buddha’s own awakening. This play documents Brenner’s path of discovery, both spiritually as well as artistically. He was a successful filmmaker coming from a tony upper west side family, found himself broke and directionless, then from the haze of an identity crisis he found faith as well as an idea to turn the Buddha’s life into a one-person show. I would be hard pressed to call it divine inspiration, but that didn’t keep me from finding Brenner an interesting storyteller.
I suppose it could be argued that any autobiographical one-person show involves a fair amount of navel gazing, and that is certainly the case here. Brenner comes across as a cocky egotist, with self-confidence to spare. However, Brenner is also a natural performer who has tremendous ease when talking about himself, and he certainly has a compelling presence on stage. Director Snehal Desai understands that the greatest strength to this piece is Brenner himself, and lets him wander on a naked stage talking directly to the audience as if it were a sermon. Desai is familiar with solo shows, having written and starred in Finding Ways to Prove You’re Not an Al-Qaeda Terrorist When You’re Brown himself, and he does a good job at keeping up the pace.
While you don’t need to have seen Brenner’s The Buddha Play to understand and enjoy this new play, you do perhaps need some basic understanding of the Buddha’s philosophy and theology. For example, the title The Hungry Ghost is never explained here beyond the mention that it’s from one of the sutras, which I believe means books but I’m still not sure what the difference is and why one doesn’t just say “books.” Is it like a scripture or gospel? Perhaps. It would be good to know. The piece is just shy of an hour, so Brenner definitely has the time to expand the piece and hopefully explain some of the details audience members may be unfamiliar with. Overall, I appreciated Brenner’s work, and his devilish swagger, I just wanted a bit more of it all to feel nourished.
Preview: Interviews with Artists from The Hungry Ghost
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:
Journey to FringeNYC · Evan (Writer)
- Where were you born? Where were you raised? Where did you go to school?
I was born and raised on New York's Upper West Side. I went to Vassar College and Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles for Dramatic writing. - What are some of your previous theater credits? (Be specific! Name shows, etc.)
"The Buddha Play" - Why did you want to be part of FringeNYC?
The timing of the festival and the supportive environment seemed perfect for the show. - What was the most memorable/funny/unusual thing that has happened during the development and rehearsal process for this show?
9/11, the first black president was elected, my hair went grey, and I got married! The show culls stories from my life over the past 20 years, so there were lots of crazy events! - Be honest: how many drafts have you written of this play so far? Are you still re-writing? What’s the process been like?
I've written about 20 drafts and this will be the premiere, so I'm still writing and we are just a week away!
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