FringeNYC 2013: unbidden

She thought she remembered saving the world... Self-exiled on a remote Icelandic island, geneticist Dr. Julia Lamb replays acts of ambition, betrayal and love inside her brilliant but crumbling mind and asks,What is truth if you can't remember it

Official production website
Show details/ticketing at FringeNYC

Venue: The Celebration of Whimsy a.k.a. The C.O.W., 21 Clinton St.

Review by Kimberly Wadsworth · August 21, 2013

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) first sells out her colleague and boyfriend Floyd (Thomas Burns Scully), by reporting his findings to their ambitious boss Jack Strauss (Jason Gray), who is notorious for stealing other researchers’ work.

“It’s protocol” to tell Strauss of their findings, she insists – but “protocol” doesn’t stop her from secretly using her own DNA as part of her samples, and it doesn’t stop her from convincing their lab assistant Finnur (Darius Copland) to hack into their project’s data banks when she learns her own DNA is strikingly similar to that of another anonymous donor’s. Jack seems to know all about it, but is also enamored of her and lets her get away with it – but not without taunting her that he knows. Julia is also being tormented by an Icelandic rock sprite named Sigga (Natalie Leonard) and by the discovery that she may have early-onset Alzheimer’s.

The Alzheimer’s informs Hudson’s structure for the play – it is meant to be a memory piece, Julia’s thinking things through after she has left the project to live in a self-adopted exile in Iceland. She often addresses the audience, speculating on science matters or on her own life. Snips of dialogue repeat themselves from one scene to another, or sometimes within the same scene. Sigga flits in and out of the action, cracking jokes or commenting on the action. There are even dance breaks – an argument between Julia and Strauss suddenly ends with Julia blowing soap bubbles as Strauss and Finnur march about the stage to the tune of a Prince song.

Unfortunately, it is not made clear that this is a memory play, so much of the repetitive dialogue and odd behavior comes across not as “a failing mind trying to process memory” but as simply “oddness for its own sake”. Or, some of the symbolism smacks of triteness – Julia showing us a tangled mass of twine while she discusses “string theory” – rather than a disordered mind’s attempt to make sense of things.

Still, there’s certainly some inventive bits in the script. And Natalie Leonard seems to have special fun as Sigga, and then later as Erna, the prickly Icelandic native Julia may be connected to. Some larger or earlier hints as to the show’s context, though, could certainly have spared no small bit of confusion.

Preview: Interviews with Artists from unbidden

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:

The Five W's · Thomas Burns Scully (Other)

Who is more important in the theater: the actor, the playwright, or the director?
Well, everyone's important. You can't do a show without a script and someone telling you where to stand. That said, when it comes down to performance day, all you see are the actors. On the day, they are the show. A lot rides on the actors. Good writing and talented directors mean nothing if you're actors are sub-par. For instance, if you have Sir Ian McKellen reading the phonebook, directed by Tommy Wiseau, that could still be an entertaining show. However, if you had Trevor Nunn directing Hamlet, but starring Tommy Wiseau, that would... actually that sounds like a riot. Someone do that.
What do you think this show is about? What will audiences take away with them after seeing it?
It's about a lot of things. Making decisions and living by them, scientific ethics and politics... I actually find it hard to think of a play's message overall. I tend to understand a play from my character's point of view. So, for me playing Floyd, it's about being a fool for love. He does something that he thinks will win a woman's heart and then gets royally screwed over by her. Love has that weird double-whammy of being the thing that makes us feel most noble about ourselves as human beings and also the thing that makes us do the stupidest things we've ever done in our lives. Love kind of sucks. That's what Floyd takes away from it, the audience will probably take away something completely different.
Where would be your ideal working environment: New York in 2013, Shakespeare’s Globe, the theater of Sophocles and Euripides, Stanislavski’s Moscow Art Theater?
I'm very tempted to say Shakespeare's Globe. From what I hear, the Globe was a complete grind. You were given your part on Monday and had to learn it by Wednesday because the show was on Thursday. Those people worked hard. They ate, slept and breathed theatre, and they never had time to rest on their laurels. It was always about the next play, because if you didn't have a next play then people lost interest and you were out of a job. Sounds like a great place to be an actor, to learn your craft and do it. I'd love to work in a company like that. That said, I've got to live my own time, and New York in 2013 isn't a bad place to be. The cool thing I've found here is that there are projects everywhere. If you live in New York you probably live down the street from a guy rehearsing a one man show, or a bunch of girls filming a web series, or an office space that doubles as a movie set on weekends. There are theatres hidden away in the weirdest places, there are people doing shows in bars... forget Broadway, you turn over a rock in this city and you'll find a production company under it. There's all kinds of projects everywhere, it's remarkable what you can get to be a part of.
When did you know you wanted to work in the theater, and why?
Very early on. I remember being at my primary school's annual talent show in first grade, watching all these acts go up and thinking "I should be up there. I should do something. I could make these people laugh. That would be fun." I just felt like it was something I could and should do. So I did. I went on stage and started making people laugh. Reasonably successfully, if I remember right. That thought has always stuck with me: "I need to make these people laugh." There's something nice about laughter, it's a gut reaction, it's very honest.
Why did you want to produce/act in/work on this show?
Because this is what I do. I'm an actor. Someone handed me a script and said "Do it." It just so happens that the particular script I was handed was Joanne Hudson's 'unbidden', a clever play about clever people doing stupid things. You should come see it, it's going to be great.

Read more The Five W's previews!

Journey to FringeNYC · Natalie Leonard (Actor)

Who do you play in this show, and what was your key to unlocking this character/these characters?
I play two roles. Sigga, an Icelandic fairy that lives in the rocks and Erna, an Icelandic woman who is unexpectedly tied to the protagonist.
What are some of your previous theater credits? (Be specific! Name shows, etc.)
My most recent work was as Lynette in Monk Parrots' production of HERE I GO at 59E59 and then again as part of the Spoleto Fringe in Spoleto, Italy.
Why did you want to be part of FringeNYC?
The Fringe is a great vehicle for bringing new work to the NYC theater scene and I feel strongly that Joanne Hudson's work should be seen in that scene. I am thrilled to be a part of this show.
What was the most memorable/funny/unusual thing that has happened during the development and rehearsal process for this show?
I would say rehearsing with string is the most unusual thing we have done so far. It is amazing how a group of 5 actors from different points in their lives and careers can so easily be reduced child's play while also finding a connection over a ball of string.
Now that you’ve played this role, which Shakespearean role are you ready for: Hamlet, Lady Macbeth, Juliet, or Puck?
Working on the Sigga character, who is a mischievous fairy/spirit, has been a fun discovery process. I imagine it would be a similar and exciting challenge to play Puck someday.

All About My Show · Joanne Hudson (Writer)

Complete this sentence: My show is the only one in FringeNYC that...?
has Vofa (Icelandic rock spirits) in a play about genetics! Trust me, it works and it makes the science stuff a whole lot more fun. We also have science pillow talk - steamy!
What do you think this show is about? What will audiences take away with them after seeing it?
We are discovering that our play is about figuring out what your life is about, why you are here and what impression or contribution you make to the world both bidden and unbidden. Originally, I thought the title was about the unbidden disease that overtakes Julia's mind (early onset Alzheimer's) but then our fabulous dramaturge, Heather Jeanne Denyer asked a great question in one rehearsal about the title of the play and each actor had a unique take on it that reflected their own character's 'unbidden' acts in their individual quests to find some kind of immortality. Maybe that's it, maybe it's about mortality and immortality and where those intersect.
Why did you want to write this show?
Way back when the genome was being decoded, I read an article in the NYTimes about DeCode genome and the Icelandic population (they were using the genes of Icelanders because they are a very homogenous population which worked for their purposes.) The article stated how strict the privacy laws were in Iceland and I immediately began to think of a character who would break these laws and why. Dr. Julia Lamb was born. I didn't like her at first, but I do now, even though she's done some bad things.
Who are some of the people who helped you create this show, and what were their important contributions to the finished product?
Well, the cast, of course. As a writer who directs her own work, I could not have wished for a more dedicated bunch to help me discover this play. This is the first time the play has been on its feet and they are each creating their roles and bringing these characters to life in front of my eyes. Then there is my amazing dramaturge, Heather Jeanne Denyer who is so much more than a dramaturge, she's my right arm. A couple of scientists have vetted the play and given great feedback, Mike Zucato is still helping with questions, and Lelah Quinn also read it and put Schrodinger's cat into my head. And of course, Iceland Fulbright, who brought me to their country to the Island of Heimaey and Kári Bjarnason of the Vestmannaeyjar Iceland library who welcomed me there, so I could live like my character, meet the Vofa and find out what this play is truly about. And of course my husband, Spencer Eldridge, who puts up with all this craziness and gave up our summer at the lake for it twice!
Which character from a Shakespeare play would like your show the best: King Lear, Puck, Rosalind, or Lady Macbeth -- and why?
Definitely King Lear, he even gets a shout out in the play. Julia is a modern day Lear though self-exiled on the heath.

Read more All About My Show previews!

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