Friday, April 26, 2024
I did not know that I would love 90 minutes of traditional mime so much. But I did. Nine performers, in mime white make-up masks, performing a series of scenes and moments, managed to be both captivating and surprising, and I was amazed at how deeply I responded to this skilled and brilliantly executed performing art form. My vocabulary for mime is not very big. I immediately default to thinking about the man in the box, the rope puller, the mime mimic performing street theatre at a tourist intersection. SKIN takes that and tosses it out the moment the lights go
Month: January 2019
Colin Quinn Red State Blue State at Minetta Lane Theatre Unites a Nation Divided with Humor and Wisdom
Comedian Colin Quinn has been referred to as a “satirical sage from Brooklyn.” It’s an apt title for the performer who took the stage of the Minetta Lane Theatre to a packed house for his new solo show, Red State Blue State. With his scruffy facial hair -- not quite a beard but well past the hour of a 5 o’clock shadow, now with more salt than pepper -- the alumni of MTV, Comedy Central and SNL both looks and acts the part of a wise, witty and wistful observer reflecting on our drastically divided nation without malice, blame or
BroadwayCon Once Again Connects With The Fans
I first covered BroadwayCon for The New York Theatre Guide in 2016 when it arrived at the Jacob Javits Center. As I continue to live the life of someone who won't say no to anything, I found myself at The New York Hilton in Manhattan this past weekend January 11th to 13th, covering BroadwayCon once again this time for StageBiz.com. BroadwayCon is a convention in the vain of ComicCon except, well, Broadway. From seminars to classes, to a kitsch mall, to thousands of cosplayers. I saw more Mary Poppinses than you could wink a nose at. BroadwayCon is a place
4:48 PSYCHOSIS Explores the Sounds of Despair, Rage and Hopelessness at Prototype Festival
Great art is meant to bring the viewer into another universe, perhaps allowing them to -- if only fleetingly -- experience previously unimagined scenarios, feelings and worldviews. It has the power and potency to connect us to the broader spectrum of emotions that make up the human condition. But what happens when this art is a semi-autobiographical piece of essentially heightened, poeticized and dramatized non-fiction that could be and has been regarded as “a 75-minute suicide note” (Michael Billington, The Guardian), such as 4:48 Psychosis -- the stark, often brutal, occasionally darkly comedic and deeply unsettling post-mortem work of English
Yulia Yakushova: Theater Poster Design Competition Judge
Two Cents Agency recently announced it's theater poster design competition. It's open to all theater graphic designers, illustrators and theater creatives and welcomes international applications and carries a $250 cash prize for the winner. For more info on the submission process go to: https://www.twocentsagency.com/competition/ The three esteemed judges include theater sound composer and designer, Fitz Patton; actress, writer and director Jo Galloway; and designer/experiential - Yulia Yakushova. I chatted with Yulia about her design background and what she is looking for from an unforgettable theater poster design. How did you get into the design industry? I originally started as an editorial illustrator back in
Remote Theater Project debuts at LaMama with Amir Nizar Zuabi’s ‘Grey Rock’
The single set across LaMama's The Downstairs is the Wall. Not a mock-up of the geographically impossible one threatened for the U.S./Mexico borders, but the equally controversial Israel−Gaza security barrier. A lightning rod in U.S-Middle Eastern diplomacy, in Amir Nizar Zuabi's Grey Rock, it cannot block creativity or dignity. Zuabi, who also directed his play for the newly-formed Remote Theater, provides a blast-off point for The Occupation. Part of the wall opens revealing Yusuf (Khalifa Natou), a retired TV repairman and former political prisoner, studying blueprints in his shed. Without telling his daughter Lila (Fida Zaidan) or young friend Sheik (Motaz Malhis), Yusuf is
Mike Dillon, Gateway Comedy, And 17 Years Producing Comedy On Long Island
For several years now I have had the occasion to write about Long Island Comedy. Many of the most preeminent comedians around have come out of Long Island, Eddie Murphy, Lenny Bruce, Kevin James, Satan, all the greats. In all seriousness anyone who knows comedy knows that the Long Island comedy scene caters to shows all over the country and essentially has made the world laugh since the inception of the understanding of what is funny in America. I'd be willing to bet that even during the American Revolution Long Island was making strides in comedy. Am I still allowed