Wednesday, December 18, 2024
SEVEN SINS is a delightful descent into our shadow selves and the mischievous curiosity that erupts from self exploration. This bawdy Baroque Burlesque entices us to contemplate our "fall from grace" at the hands of the sneaky serpent hellbent on making us eat the ruby rose red apple. It's another scandalous treat from Company XIV director/choreographer Austin McCormick who truly understands the art of the tease. Not only does he boldly re-imagine the biblical Adam and Eve soap opera but he also gives us permission to soak ourselves in the vibrancy of hedonism in a space created to enervate our senses. Back
Author: Jacquelyn Claire
Catalina Florina Florescu brings “Moss” to SEX!
Catalina Florina Florescu Catalina Florina Florescu is a Romanian born academic, playwright, teacher, curator, wordsmith, dreamer, seeker... She holds a PhD in Comparative Theater and Medical Humanities conferred by Purdue University. Currently, she teaches courses in theater, literature, cinema, and writing at Pace University in NYC. She is also the New Play Development Curator and Dramaturg at Jersey City Theater Center. A multi winning theatre practitioner, Florescu has published a number of books that has established her as a powerful voice in the community. Her short play, Moss was selected as one of the 15 new works chosen for The Players Theatre Short Play
BORDER PEOPLE at Gural Theatre at the A.R.T/New York Theaters
Border People is an exquisite ode to the determination of the human being to survive and thrive in spite of curve balls, challenges, deserts and high walls that block the "easy" road. It is crammed full of wonderful people whose life stories gently play your heart strings - all of them expertly introduced and embodied by Dan Hoyle. This writer, actor, journalist, conversationalist, joy wielder, wordsmith is a gifted theatrical magus - a wise man bringing the myrrh to the birth of new perspectives. Dan is like the theater version of X-Men's "Mystique" effortlessly transforming into a completely new person in
DOCTORS JANE AND ALEXANDER at HERE
DOCTORS JANE AND ALEXANDER is a deeply intimate journey through the deconstructed thoughts of the playwright, Edward Einhorn, as he wrestles with memory, nostalgia and doubt. UNTITLED THEATER COMPANY No. 61 presents this world premiere that interrogates Einhorn's lineage as the grandchild of the famous doctor, Alexander Wiener, who discovered the RH factor in blood. While this is the jumping off point, the piece is far more complex and layered as a mediation on the challenging bonds of one's blood family. Einhorn sets out to discover as much as he can about his enigmatic grandfather through interviews with family members in order to
NUTCRACKER ROUGE at Théâtre XIV
NUTCRACKER ROUGE is a scopophiliac's nirvana. The deep pleasure of "looking" is sated by being able to gaze unbidden into the erotic, sensual and sexy crack in the universe opened by this prurient production. We are not merely peeping through the keyhole into the secret wonders beyond, but are invited in to sit right up close to the cheeky exuberance. We are inside award-winning director/choreographer Austin McCormick's robust, decadent, gourmet, fantasy land of sexual awakening. He has reimagined The Nutcracker as a titillating, seductive burlesque that takes the character of young "Marie Stahlbaum" on an unforgettable self actualizing journey -
HOOKED ON HAPPINESS at Theater for the New City
HOOKED ON HAPPINESS is an original climate change musical tackling the crisis through the perspective of a high school drama class. Two students Kim and Eric are inspired to create their own production after a heated debate on the beach where they commiserate on the inability of their parents to snap out of misery and embrace positive action. They infect their class with their enthusiasm and soon they are co-opting their teacher to allow them to write their own response to the climate crisis instead of doing the old standards of OUR TOWN or HELLO DOLLY! for the yearly school
Virgo Star at La Mama’s Downstairs Lounge
VIRGO STAR heroically encapsulates the convergence of queer and cowboy in a homoerotic, fictionalized "Wild West". The Pioneers Go East Collective interrogates the notion of "masculinity" as personified by American Cowboy iconography, visuality and sound. But this is a new riff on the spaghetti western - as the characters come face to face with their fragility, sense of belonging and rigors of their own nature in this steamy wild, wild west conjured by director Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte. This is no unrequited Brokeback Mountain love story but rather a fragmented "son of a gun stew" filled with every ingredient imaginable. They
Kendall Cornell – Clowns Ex Machina (women in dangerously, dangerously bad moods)
Kendall Cornell is the creator and director of THE BAD’UNS: CLOWN ACTS OF CONTAGION currently running at La Mama downstairs Theater. She leads the all female clown troupe - Clowns Ex Machina in a piece that " takes a darkly comic look at transgression, the corruption of dreams, and women in dangerously, dangerously bad moods." I found it utterly transformative. You can read my review here I asked Kendall a few questions about her journey to becoming a clown, her inspiration for her work and other nonsense... Can you remember the moment when you knew you were destined to be a clown/performer/dancer? Vividly! I went to be
The Bad’uns: Clown Acts of Contagion at La MaMa’s Downstairs Theatre
On Saturday I found the wellspring of funny -Kendall Cornell's all-women clown troupe: Clowns Ex Machina. I am still suffering from acute bouts of sudden, uncontrollable laughing at the flashbacks from their show -The Bad’uns: Clown Acts of Contagion. It's 90-minutes of intense bliss. There is a palpable, vast intelligence that forms the canvas for every scene. The humor bounces off this backdrop imbuing each moment with the massive force of thinking, focused, funny women. The clever comedy comes at you faster than Venus Wiliams' 56.95 m/s tennis ball serve -you have to gird up your loins for the shock and the skill of
THE HOPE HYPOTHESIS at The Sheen Center for Thought and Culture
THE HOPE HYPOTHESIS is a super slick production - a place for everything and everything in it's place. It is a neat freaks nirvana. The whole show feels perfectly conceived and executed. We are looking straight into the face of the absurdity of the American immigration situation in this tight, fast-paced dark comedy. The audience were laughing on cue offering a constant laugh track to this sitcom styled theater piece. Yet, through the fog of witty repartee the cruel, cold, ruthless face of the fascist interrogator peeps out at you, making you squirm in your seat. Cat Miller is both the