Review: ‘The Further Adventures Of…’ by TOSOS at the Fringe festival

I hope one day people will say: “I can’t imagine there were times when somebody had to hide their homosexuality in fear that they won’t be accepted”. I was thinking about it while watching my second show produced by TOSOS, the first professional theater company established in 1974 in New York to deal “openly and honestly” with the LGBT experience.

photo by Katrina Del Mar

Kathleen Warnock’s The Further Adventures Of… shows some anachronisms, just like the company’s signature play, Doric Wilson’s Street Theater. Like the fact that the heroine, Maggie, had to go to Vermont to marry her girlfriend. These traces of a certain time period make The Further Adventures Of… a testimony of an epoch, yet at the same time it’s a timeless story of love, superheroes and a writer. Part of the Fringe Festival this year, The Further Adventures Of… began it’s journey in 2007. Kathleen Warnock first wrote it for Wings Theater’s 24-hour play festival, since then the play has been produced 12 times (by Kathleen’s count). What began as a 10-minute play became a 75-minute show, every minute of which is brisk and engaging.  

Meet Maggie Day (Jamie Heinlein, who originated the role), the writer investigating the behind-the-scenes of the 50s sci-fi serial, Atlantis, 1 Million Years B.C. The TV show about Commander Zoron (Mark Finley) and Prince Kal (Tim Burke) holds a special place in her heart. Watching it and reenacting scenes with her friend made her realize two important things about herself: she is a lesbian and she wants to be a writer.

From her childhood memories brought to life by Tim Burke and Mark Finley, we fast-forward to Maggie’s meetings with the aged producer of Atlantis (Mark Finley), and equally aged Frank Gallagher, who played Prince Kal (Tim Burke). As Maggie is pulling other people’s secrets from the closet, she analyzes her own marriage, writer’s ethical boundaries, and her life principals.               

All three actors: Heinlein, Burke and Finley have played in this show during multiple runs, which might explain the great chemistry on stage. Direction by Eric Chase brings forward the smart, funny and touching writing of Warnock. The ascetic design is entirely just one chair on stage.

At times I wanted to close my eyes and enjoy The Further Adventures Of… as if it was an audio book. The text consisting of dialogue, followed by Maggie’s reflection on them delivered directly to the audience, sounded a lot like an investigating journalistic podcast. But I just couldn’t take my eyes of the stage where Burke and Finley. Both were dressed in crisp white shirts and portraying multiple people from Maggie’s memories and fantasies, sometimes in a hilarious campy manner and sometimes so touching and believable that it made me tear up.            

Tickets are $18.00 and are available at www.fringenyc.org. Performances take place at Venue #3, Teatro LATEA, 107 Suffolk Street (between Rivington & Delancey). Subway: F to Delancey, J/M/Z to Essex.

Remaining Show dates are:

Saturday, August 20 @ 7:15 pm

Wednesday, August 24 @ 5:00 pm

Saturday, August 27 @ 9:15 pm

For more information, visit www.tososnyc.org

Review: I survived ‘In The Event of My Death’

During the first act of In The Event of My Death, I had a feeling that I am reading somebody else’s Facebook feed and I am increasingly losing interest in it. Now the grown up high school friends and acquaintances are assembling for an informal mourning of their friend Freddy, who committed suicide. We newer see Freddy and never get a chance to sympathies with him - the situation is as awkward as being at the funeral of somebody you didn’t know.

Photo by Katy Atwell

Unfortunately none of the former schoolmates, written by Lindsay Joy, are particularly interesting. Peter (John Racioppo) lives in his parents’ house, works for his dad, and is considered a loser by his friends. Amber (Lisa Jill Anderson) is a chubby misfit seeking confidence in drugs. Becky (Samantha Strelitz) is a prom queen, who used to treat everybody badly and now is hated by the group, except for Peter because they are dating now. Trevor is a gay guy. Conner works in advertising in New York.

Direction of Padraic Lillis often gets trapped in stereotypes as well. Scenic design, by Irma Brainard, featured a boring living room with highly organized, and therefore artificial, looking mess in the beginning. The set had a nice addition, a porch, where the action took place sometimes. Movement in the living room was frozen for the duration of the porch scenes, which was an interesting director’s choice but didn’t quite land. With flat jokes, clichéd sentiments and endless gossip about two-dimensional people who you don’t care about, I barely made it through the first act.

The intermission was presented like a TV commercial with act one ending on a sudden appearance of two sisters and the girlfriend (Breanna Foister) of Freddy, interrupting the gang’s wild dancing. Act two picked up from the same moment and finally the show got some fresh air. As we learn more about Freddy’s older sister Meg (Lillith Fallon) and his twin sister Kate (Kara Young), the complicated family dynamics makes the show much more interesting.     

In The Event of My Death runs through August 21st at IRT Theater (154 Christopher Street, third floor) with performances Wednesday through Friday at 7pm, Saturday at 3pm & 7pm, Sunday at 3pm, and Monday at 7pm. Tickets ($18; $20 at the door) are available online at www.stablecablelabco.org or by calling Brown Paper Tickets 1-800-838-3006.

Review: ‘Newton’s Cradle’, a special musical about a special young man

New York Musical Festival is over but hopefully we will have a chance to see Newton’s Cradle again. The musical won 6 well-deserved awards, including NYMF Award for Best Musical Sponsored by Play-by-Play. Tony Award-winning actress, Victoria Clark (A Light in the Piazza, 2005–06), added an NYMF Outstanding Direction award to her regalia.  

 

photo by Michael Kushner

Newton’s Cradle tells the story of Evan (Heath Saunders), a young man diagnosed with autism, yet bright and highly functional. He brings his girlfriend, Charlie (Rachel Kara Perez, Outstanding Individual Performance), to his parent’s cabin in Alaska to propose, but things didn’t go as smoothly as planned. Charlie’s uncertainty about marriage makes Evan look back at his past and reevaluate his principals. 

Present and past overlap in Evan’s head, he confesses that this is how his mind works. Instead of a linear plot, we are presented with a tangle of memories, imaginary interactions and present day events. This structure, although confusing at times, is very engaging and allows for interesting overlap both in dialogue and staging.

As characters enter the house, (minimalistic scenic design by Luke Hegel Cantarella), they remove their shoes, lining them up without distinguishing between “shoes from the past” and “shoes from the present day”. Often scenes overlap, different dialogues get mixed up, lines increase their frequency and reach a state of turmoil where it is impossible to distinguish individual words. Sometimes this cacophony evolves to a beautiful harmony, which gives the audience a wonderful sensation of untangling a tight knot.

Although the structure of Newton’s Cradle is supposed to reflect how the brain of a special kid makes connections, the feeling of deep satisfaction when pieces of a puzzle fall into place is familiar to everybody. It is easy to relate to the struggle with labels which society and family put on you, trying to define your identity and determine your future. Maybe that’s why Newton’s Cradle feels so warm and personal.

May be the reason behind the incredible warm-heartedness of the piece is the fact that the music, lyrics and book were created by the mother-and-son duo of Kim and Heath Saunders (NYMF award for Outstanding Lyrics). Another member of the family, Trent Saunders, won in the category of Outstanding Performance for the Supporting Role for his portrayal of Michael, the non-autistic brother of Evan. His layered performance demonstrated the difficult position of a “healthy” sibling, caring and attentive at times, angry and violent at others.

   

Andrea Jones-Sojola singing the part of Audrey, mother of two boys, won in the category of Outstanding Performance for a Leading Role.  She perfectly captured the state of a frustrated and tired woman that is not giving up. Her pain and love for her kids is poured out in a beautiful and powerful number, “The Sun Will Newer Set”. The background screen brightens like a never fading Alaskan day, providing a simple backdrop for the beautiful performance of Jones-Sojola.