nytheatre Archive
FringeNYC 2003
SHOW REVIEWS ON THIS PAGE: Freedom of Speech, Principia, Citizen Walken, Tower of Babble, American Fabulous, Ponies, Kitchen Sink, Slavery, Exploring Dementia!, Poop - A True Story, American Mouth, Maiden America
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FREEDOM OF SPEECH: A ONE PERSON DOCUMENTARY by Pamela Butler |
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Eliza Jane Schneider may be the one person who wrote and performs this
documentary tour of America, but she is able to transform herself and
become no fewer than thirty-two real Americans from the real world out
there. She does this with an amazing ability to recreate voices and
mannerisms and to slip easily from one personality to the next, pointing
up sharp contrasts and similar desires of a diverse population. She is a
Navajo Elder, with wisdom, experience, and sadness; she's the polygamous
mayor of a small town in Arizona. She is a Lower East Side prostitute, a
farmer, a student, a turkey-shooting housewife. Having had her hand crushed in a scuffle with the Los Angeles police and winning a hefty award for proving they used unnecessary force, she's unable to write and so she falls in love with the tape recorder. That's how it all begins. Schneider says she is out to "listen to America," to hear the dialects, to find the "culture" that too many people have told her doesn't exist. What she thinks will be a month becomes a ten year sojourn. She is bold, confronting the dainty and the dangerous, the down-and-out and a few Republicans, including a radio DJ named Billy Bush, whom she befriends before she figures out who’s related to him. It's too late to hate him, he's become human and she likes him, even loves him. Using sound clips from her original interviews (these are also played as pre-show sound), a few well chosen props and numerous hair changes, Schneider is well-directed by Sal Romeo as she follows her stories: singing, fiddling, laughing and reflecting, and in her wanderlust, getting inside her subjects. Freedom of Speech makes its own powerful political points gracefully, without strident ranting or tiresome diatribes. Schneider is a very talented woman; engaging, multi-faceted, and a seasoned performer with a lot of chutzpah. She’s had brushes with rape and death, ugly ideas and beliefs, yet she’s come away with an overwhelming sense of love for the Americans she's encountered and recreated for us here. It's wonderful just to see her perform, it's also wonderful to witness our true American culture. Freedom of Speech is a production not to miss. |
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PRINCIPIA by Jeff Lewonczyk |
Be careful when making an offering to the Goddess
of Chaos, because she just might return the gift in kind. This is the
moral, both implicit and explicit, of Principia, a new musical by
Michael Maiello and Andrew Recinos. Rife with references to the Principia Discordia, the Illuminatus Trilogy, The Book of the SubGenius, and other holy writs of the sci-fi joke-conspiracy subculture, Principia follows the spiritual journey of Kerry (Brian Farley), a hapless young man who happens to find a golden apple in his lunch one day. Everyone wants the apple, including: the Illuminati; space aliens who are, perversely, the original Native Americans; Eris, the Goddess of Discord; and God Himself. Kerry must find his own path through all of these conflicting interests, figuring out for himself how best to manage the mind-blowing powers of the apple. Or at least that's how it's supposed to work. Unfortunately, what little book the musical possesses has been thoroughly manhandled by Eris, and it becomes very difficult to sort out who's doing what and why. The direction, despite some witty staging (such as an angry mob raging around a man obliviously chewing Twizzlers), doesn't help matters; when the characters can even be seen through the dimly unfocused lighting, their movements do little to illuminate the action. Add to this the fact that the actors seem to have been directed to upstage each other at every possible juncture and you see before you a living diagram of entropy at work. However, as the script (and chaos theory) hasten to declare, there is always order in chaos. In this case what discipline and restraint the show exhibits springs from two sources: the songs, and a few very entertaining performances. With songs like "The Opposable Monk," "Everything's Under Control," and a lovely fugue entitled "Fuck It," Principia manages to create some of the exciting moments that musical theatre was created for. And two performers in particular stand out: Cyrus Roxas as a shambling, filthy bum of a God, and Rob Maitner as the lovably wacky conspiracy theorist Bob Dobbs. In the end, despite its pervasive lack of focus, Principia is at least ambitious and energetic. I suspect that with a stronger book and a tighter production, Principia has the potential to transform itself into a more fruitful form of anarchy. |
| CITIZEN WALKEN by Debbie Hoodiman |
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Peter Loureiro, whose resemblance to the young Christopher Walken is
striking, has written and stars in Citizen Walken, a show which
purports to take the audience on a wild ride inside the mind of one of
the most talented character actors of the past few decades. Loureiro works on a stage with two chairs and a plate of brownies, where he invites several guests to join him, talk show style. The guests are all played by Christopher Wisner, who seems to be having a hell of a lot of fun suggesting (rather than impersonating) a host of famous people; it is a hell of a lot of fun to watch him play. I won’t give away his characters, but I will say that the highlight of Wisner’s performance is his James Lipton, which made me laugh out loud. As for Loureiro, well, his timing is often dead on, and it is clear that the asymmetrical comedy of the show is inspired by Walken’s roles in movies such as Annie Hall and Pulp Fiction. Loureiro’s strength as an actor is his confidence and ability to take his time and hold the audience even through the pauses. He moves very well as Walken, and Wisner and Loureiro work well off one another, with Loureiro seeming like the (albeit odd) straight man, allowing Wisner freedom to go all out. Although I did appreciate the quirkiness of the idea behind Citizen Walken, I had trouble figuring out what Loureiro is trying to say about Walken except that he thinks he’s weird. The many scenes, including interviews, stories, commercials (my favorite part), a song and dance, and a children’s story, are a lot of fun and often clever, but the character doesn’t change throughout the ordeal and doesn’t seem to have much at stake. In short, I would have liked to have seen Loureiro’s comedy touch on something truer or something with more depth, as that is the funniest kind of comedy. |
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TOWER OF BABBLE by David Johnston |
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Tower of Babble, writer-director-performer Jennifer
Ostrega’s one-woman FringeNYC offering, is a smart, likeable,
and poisonous little show. Ostrega offers a peek into the
workday lives of several employees at a corporate monolith with
an unnamed function, Tower of Babble. As a writer, Ostrega has a great ear for the casual cruelties and absurdities of corporate America, where employees are downsized, then sent off to a ten-minute counseling session with a yoga teacher. There’s something for everyone who’s ever raged at the machine here. Parts are wickedly inspired, and speak of a sharply observed personal experience. One employee deals with an irate person on the phone, who demands to speak to her supervisor. Ostrega dutifully puts the person on hold, stands up and bursts into an exuberant choreographed dance for several minutes, then sits back down and tells her caller that the supervisor isn’t available at this time. A human resources drone tells a new interviewee that she works so hard, she hasn’t had time to change her tampon five days after her period. A sunny West Virginia "branding" specialist cheerfully pink slips her employees in the midst of a presentation. As a performer, Ostrega’s characterizations lean towards the cartoonish, but like all good comedians she shows us the glimpses of pain and desperation underneath these people’s lives. She is also very, very good at the casual, throwaway line that speaks volumes. Jennifer Ostrega knows what FringeNYC is for. Tower of Babble could use some tightening and sharpening. She knows these characters but doesn’t always dig deep enough to satisfy her audience. There are the occasional awkward transitions, par for the course in one-performer shows. No matter. Ostrega is perceptive, generous, and funny. Hopefully, this run will help and encourage this talented young artist to put a few coats of polish on the work. It’s all it needs. |
| AMERICAN FABULOUS by John Jordan |
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Perched like a queen on his throne (i.e., a lawn chair on the performance
space at Herbie’s, a typical middle American gay dive), Jeffrey Strouth
is a real-life, melodramatic ne’er do well telling unrelated story after
unbelievable story in American Fabulous. Troy Carson stars in this one-man show, which he adapted from Reno Dakota’s 1991 independent film of the same name. In the film, Strouth plays himself, where his throne is the backseat of a ’57 Cadillac which roams the back roads of Ohio. Both the film and this stage adaptation are basically a narrative about his [highly exaggerated?] life experiences and oddball philosophies on life—anecdotes of his life as a gay man with white-trash roots. Carson’s portrayal of Jeffrey Strouth reminds me of a young, heavily-medicated Harvey Fierstein, though I wish he would have more fun with the role. I definitely felt as if he was fighting for lines—repeating, repeating, repeating full sentences until the next idea popped back into his head. To his credit, performing a one-man show is not easy and he does a decent job keeping the audience interested for one hour and forty-five minutes without intermission. Jonathan Warman’s direction is very simple and laid back, which works, but I definitely believe a quicker pace and stronger transitions between stories would make for a more polished production. The set (uncredited) was excellent—very simple and mood setting. The sound design (also uncredited) was mostly excellent (Dolly Parton, Elvis) and took me back to the ‘70s and early ‘80s, although one snippet of Madonna’s "Erotica" seemed completely out of place. NeoNeo Theatre Company’s American Fabulous is quietly entertaining. Fabulous? No. This may well have been opening night jitters, although the show was performed for over a month last year in a popular NYC cabaret, with the same actor and director. A cabaret definitely seems like a more appropriate setting for this production, with a two-drink minimum, of course. |
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PONIES by Anthony Pennino |
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Ponies by Mike Batistick is one of those shows that FringeNYC
does best: an intriguing drama brought to life by a team of strong
actors and held together by a capable director. On one level, Ponies is about the semi-seedy world of one of those Off Track Betting branches that dot the five boroughs. Three men—Drazen (Greg Keller), Ken (Babs O.), and Wallace (Wayne Kasserman)—squabble with one another and the cashier (Nicole Lewis) as they place bets and are thrown into heights of ecstasy or the depths of despair by their success or lack thereof. They tell stories and jokes, trade insults, and try to build themselves up in front of the others. Drazen and Ken are long-time friends, and their relationship undergoes a serious crisis as Ken slowly realizes what has happened to his cab (it seems to have been stolen) and who is responsible. Issues of loyalty and betrayal inform the emotional core of the story. On another level, though, Ponies is about the hopes and broken dreams of our large immigrant population. Drazen is from Croatia and is naturalized through marriage. Ken is from Nigeria and cannot return for fear of political persecution. And Wallace is here illegally from Venezuela. One of the most compelling and heartbreaking aspects of this play is how quickly the three turn on one another to protect their most valuable commodity: remaining on American soil. The acting by all four leads is exceptional. Lewis provides a good deal of humor as the feisty and commonsensical cashier, whose verbal duels with Keller are quite memorable. Kasserman imbues his streetwise character with quirkiness, insight, and generosity. Babs O. possesses poignancy, integrity, and strength as Ken. Keller has perhaps the hardest job of all. In the course of an hour, he makes his Drazen funny, pathetic, desperate, proud, and monstrous. He accomplishes each of these shadings masterfully. Director Brian Roff does an excellent job of keeping the action clear and making the world of the play accessible to the audience. Batistick, like David Mamet with Glengarry Glenn Ross, explores a small and insular sub-culture on stage. And again like Mamet, the playwright uses that sub-culture as the backdrop for a provocative modern morality play. |
| KITCHEN SINK by Soline McLain |
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Did you ever wonder what it would be like living with Mrs. Cleaver or
Donna Reed? Playwright Rachel Axler gives a hilarious glimpse into how
this "other half" lives in her surreal new comedy, Kitchen Sink
at the Cherry Lane Alternative. The play starts off as the typical sitcom family, Mr. and Mrs. and their son Billy and daughter Sarah, sit around the kitchen table eating the dinner that Mrs. has cooked. However, there seems to be something strangely different about this foursome… and this particular kitchen. Within the first five minutes of the play, the audience learns that not only does this family live in their kitchen (in a rather Sartrean No Exit manner) but that the kitchen is also built over a graveyard. Since both the children have been taken out of school (for their own "protection," Mrs. explains), Billy looks for friendship in his own backyard. When Mrs. discovers the corpse of Moses hidden in her kitchen cupboard, with a smile on her face she says that it is "better than any history lesson I could have planned." However, their "utopia" cannot last forever. As their world is invaded by the outside, in the form of a knock on their door, they undertake emergency procedures that lead to both tragedy and hilarity. Jess McLeod has done an excellent job directing this piece. She has chosen her "family" so well that this is one of the best ensemble performances that I have ever seen. As Mrs., Jill Van Note becomes Donna Reed on acid. She is absolutely hilarious as she gives her children life lessons and maxims to live by and continues to smile no matter what happens. Harrison Hogan provides the perfect balance as Mr., who wants to be head of the household yet does not seem to have what it takes to wear the pants in this family. Matt Mercer as Billy and Rachel Viola as Sarah have a terrific rapport with each other. The only problem that I had with Kitchen Sink was that it left me wanting more. (The ending does seem a bit abrupt). However, Kitchen Sink is everything but your ordinary "kitchen-sink" drama. |
| SLAVERY by Ivanna Cullinan |
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In the 1930s, the WPA recorded memories of former slaves across
the United States. One ex-slave quoted in the program said, "I
ain’t never been asked ‘bout myself in my whole life." Luckily, the WPA did ask, and equally luckily, Jonathan Payne, in Slavery, has taken some of these reminiscences, framed them with songs, and let loose the amazing voices of a great cast. Payne, who also performs, has created a piece that is fully responsive to the material and does not narrow its focus to propound any one "moral." This is not an agitprop piece hitting its audience over the head, nor is it without a strong sense of purpose. By truly honoring the lives and experiences recounted in its text, giving them full voice, the production took me in entirely. It allowed me to respond without ever telling me how to, but always made me want to. A truly ensemble cast contributes to all the scenarios. Sometimes it is one actor reliving the memory while the rest serve as a chorus of unnamed listeners, whose responses to the actor speaking further define who that character is. At other points, the ensemble creates the setting through background sounds and rhythms. The voices are so powerful in the intimate Bottle Factory space that at the top it was difficult to hear some of the text. The words got a bit lost amid the strength of the collective company voices. That was resolved quickly and not a problem throughout. The songs are fantastic and flesh out all the memories. A friend who saw the show with me felt that they should record the songs and make a CD available. I agree with her absolutely. All of the actors are wonderful. Géhane Strechler begins with a bold connection to the audience and her energy never fails. Jonathan Payne’s voice richly creates the old man, bringing us to different places throughout the narrative. Maxine Carter can smile on top of anything and each smile says something different. Mittie S. Armstrong, whether playing young or old, has a watchfulness that takes in all about her. Morris Shepherd has so strong a life inside his character, I wished the character had more words to talk about himself. Anthony Tomkins as Frank Bell about broke my heart with the maimed life of his character. Jasmine Jobity closes the show with a gorgeous rendition of "Amazing Grace" that gives grace to all. These are actors who will take you there and this is a show that is just going to keep growing. |
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EXPLORING DEMENTIA! by David Hilder |
| Exploring Dementia!, an evening
of sketch comedy, bills itself as "The show your mom was afraid of."
Claiming edge is not the same thing as having it, though; in fact, the
many over-40 members of the audience at the show’s opening seemed not
remotely offended, put off, or even mildly disquieted. The show is
completely mislabeled as a provocative examination of people on the
brink of lunacy. But it does have charms, as well as some definite
laughs. Will Matthews and Cassandra Smith, the writers and performers, have created eight comic scenes for themselves. They break no new ground—in fact, many of their targets (obsessive teens, malapropism-spouting office workers, and film noir detectives and dames among them) are so familiar as to be positively old-fashioned, not new-fangled. But they are charming actors, together and separately. Matthews is particularly strong as two very different teenage boys, while Smith scores best as a ferocious sports mom. And despite the lack of surprise or invention in their writing, their enthusiasm on stage is infectious. Paul Urcioli is to be credited for direction that enables Smith and Matthews to effect rapid transformations seamlessly. Exploring Dementia! doesn’t really explore dementia at all. It does not provide a harsh look at modern life. It does not inspire shivers or examine life’s dark side in any depth. Instead, it offers a light-hearted, cheerful look at some familiar characters, executed smartly by two engaging young actors. |
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POOP—A TRUE STORY by Brian Rogers |
| Poop is cursed with one of those
unfortunate Fringe titles which parades its own frivolity. However—as
was the case with Antonio Sacre's salaciously misleading My Penis
a few years ago—Poop turns out to have a few surprises hidden up
its malodorous sleeve. Purportedly the true story of an actress (played here by playwright Micheline Auger) and the misguided downtown performance artist who hires her to appear in a Manhattan gallery accompanied by her own "beautiful evacuation" (hence the title), Poop's early minutes pepper the requisite gutter humor with genuine moments of inspiration. Auger has something to say about art, and her observations—brought wittily to life by an enthusiastic cast of five—provide the makings of something far more substantial than her play’s title would suggest. Having raised our expectations, however, Auger and director David Storck proceed to bury their more satirical leanings beneath an avalanche of broad comedy and puerile jokiness of the sort better suited to a ten-minute sketch at the Upright Citizens Brigade. Auger conjures up a seemingly endless parade of colorful personalities, but her palette is too colorful and her brush stroke is too large. Poop is not a spot-on satire of the New York gallery scene, and it does not try to be. Auger's artists, patrons, and gallery owners are affable cartoons. Poop's length—90 minutes—well exceeds its wellspring of ideas. There is literally a point at which the "beautiful evacuation" of the title is given lines to speak. The resulting dialogue—vacuous and overlong—does considerable damage to Auger's worthy political observations. The cast—Auger, Myles Evans, Kai Schmoll, Lauren Seikaly, and Robert Valin—display considerable talent, and execute the numerous costume (and character) changes with an energy and zeal that (nearly) overcome the defects of the material. The capacity audience at the Kraine was more than happy to join in the spirit of good fun. It's merely a shame that its creators couldn't draw more leverage out of their shameless (and Fringeworthy) grab for attention. |
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AMERICAN MOUTH by Eric Winick |
| American Mouth, a new musical
play by Raymond Bokhour, vents some serious spleen. In it, a young
father, fed up with the state of the world, decides to detonate a
shopping mall with a pipe bomb, and chooses to announce his attentions
on a local radio show hosted by an obnoxious shock jock called "The
Mouth." Juxtaposed with the scenes between these two disaffected figures
are a series of songs spoofing the distinctly American predilection for
sex and violence, and reports from newscasters who couldn’t care less
about the death tolls they’re pronouncing or the weather they’re
forecasting. It’s a curious hybrid: pitch-black social commentary meets sketch comedy cabaret. The central premise is intriguing, if not entirely original (Eric Bogosian covered this ground with more success in Talk Radio), and by itself would make for a compelling drama about one man’s gaining of a conscience at the hands of a disgruntled terrorist. Sadly, any impact is blunted by the playwright’s decision to skewer not just one social ill, but several, from prescription drug commercials to political advertising to (most egregiously) women in the 70s who just wanna get "Knocked Up." While Bokhour would seem the primary culprit, director Davis McCallum’s decision to mix presentational styles doesn’t help matters, making for a wildly inconsistent evening. While the main action involving The Mouth (Julian Fleisher) takes place entirely at a console, the scenes involving the station’s other personalities are delivered directly to the audience, begging the question: to whom are these characters speaking? It’s wise to open things up, to play out instead of confining scenes to a single room (as in Talk Radio); unfortunately, the songs are so detached from the main action, the evening takes on the feel of two different shows unsuccessfully grafted onto one another. Still, there is talent on display here. McCallum elicits a convincing performance from Fleisher, and Kristen Lee Kelly as one of the show’s two singer/dancers throws herself into the fray with reckless abandon. Best of all may be the show’s omnipresent sound design, the effort of one Dave Bokhour, which fills the Kraine’s airspace with an array of promos, voiceovers, stings, and assorted radio-related bombast. It’s a shame, then, that Mouth is determined to take on so many issues at once. Had playwright Bokhour focused his efforts on a single subject, and a single relationship, he might have hit the jackpot. |
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MAIDEN AMERICA by Sheila Lewandowski |
| Barbara P. King’s dance-theatre
piece, Maiden America, which explores the very complicated theme
of how women try to identify themselves as individuals and as members of
society, succeeds sporadically. There are some wonderful gestural choices in the choreography. In the beginning of the piece the forward moonwalk is well-done and the posturing and hand gestures symbolize a physical language that women use without noticing themselves. When the six very hard-working dancers are completely in sync, the image of conformity without cliché is effective. Unfortunately, many of the gestures are overused, losing their effectiveness; and the dancing often goes on too long. One particularly energetic and pointed number that works well is the "cheerleader piece." It doesn’t fit into all of the conventions set up earlier or followed later, but I listened attentively to the smart language of the cheers and the performers seemed to be enjoying themselves. King’s choice to use an ethnically diverse cast of attractive but normal young women is a good one. The audience is able to relate to their struggle to "fit in" or to "escape" because we are able to see ourselves in them. Two things I particularly enjoyed were the original music, by James Call and Greg Travis, and the use of red high heels as a tool of conformity and beautification by the women. The music takes the audience from the songs of children, to the grind of factories, to the steady rhythm of pop culture. The red high heel shoes conjure up the great Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale of a similar name, as well as every woman’s struggle between feeling attractive and being an individual. Overall, Maiden America has merit, but would have been more successful if it were simplified (fewer props, shorter scenes) and shorter. |
