Review: ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’: a hipster romance in the parking lot.

You probably know the story of Shakespearian A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Hermia is in love with Lysander but her farther insists that she marry Demetrius. Helena, Hermia’s friend and partner in crime, adores Demetrius who can’t stand her. Then there is a troupe of amateur actors preparing a play for the wedding of Duke Theseus and Hippolyta. There is the king of fairies Oberon, his queen Titania, and fairies. Everybody’s paths cross in the woods where fairies mess with humans.

Shakespeare in the Parking Lot, presented by The Drilling CompaNY, sets the story in modern day New York City, which seems very appropriate when taking into the account the specifics of the venue. Loyal to the tradition started in 1995, the production takes place in a literal parking lot which is provided by The Clemente Soto Velez Cultural and Educational Center on lower East Side.    

Photo by Jonathan Slaff

As always, all the seats are free, there is no lottery, no line. The set consists of two small stages atop plastic buckets. Plastic chairs for the audience are arranged in a U shape. Lighting design features the same bare functionality: a few strings of bulbs above the action and two halogen work lights upfront illuminate the action as it gets darker outside. But don’t be fooled by the guerrilla style of the production.  A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the Parking Lot offers some top-notch talent directed by inventive Kathy Curtiss. 

The magical Shakespearian forest is transformed into the city jungle of East Village. Lysander (Eddie Shields) and Hermia (Mary Linehan) are two hipsters, Demetrius (Bradford Frost) and Helena (Kathleen Simmonds) represent a wealthier youth. The royals Theseus (Zander Meisner) and Hippolyta (Zoe Anastassiou) are transformed into rock-musicians. The troupe of actors hold day jobs at Google. And the fairies are still fairies because there is always a place for magic in the city.

Although the reinvented social roles don’t quite fit into a believable and organic symbiosis of the urban habitat, this rendition of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is still very enjoyable. The inclusion of modern slang and New York locations into Shakespearian text takes you by surprise every time and actually helps keep focus on the ornate Jacobean poetry. This adaptation of the text adds more spice to this comedy and presents a great example of the easiness and playfulness with which classics can be presented.

This “easiness” is not easy to achieve, the challenge for the director is to keep viewers engaged and hopefully laughing yet not pandering to the broad audience. Kathy Curtiss is doing a great job creating an atmosphere of “magical urbanism”, where the scent of purple love flowers is mixed with the smell of fresh asphalt, and inhabiting it with timely and funny characters.

But sometimes she misses the mark by highlighting characters that don’t bring much to the table. By giving each fairy a name and a distinct personality, the director honors their acting talent but steals the attention from more important issues. While the side stories can be funny showstoppers, there is a risk of overpowering the main action, much in the spirit of Nick Bottom who wants to play all of the roles in the story of Pyramus and Thisbe in Space, and presents each of them with great passion. The performances of secondary characters needed to be fine-tuned and the background chatter lowered a bit, but strong professional actors in the leading roles saved the day.

 

Photo by Remy

The ensemble of young lovers, Lysander (Eddie Shields), Hermia (Mary Linehan), Demetrius (Bradford Frost) and Helena (Kathleen Simmonds) won my heart with Simmonds being my favorite star of the evening. These four nailed the “love quadrangle” sequences playfully. It seems like the passions burning inside made them sweat, not the heat of a midsummer’s New York night. The choreography of their movement conveyed as much information as words, making their dialogs look­­­ like a dance.

Enjoy the last two performances of A Midsummer Night’s Dream produced by Shakespeare in the Parking Lot on Friday, July 22nd and Saturday, July 23st, both at 8pm. Parking Lot is located behind The Clemente, 114 Norfolk Street (E. side of Norfolk St. between Delancey and Rivington) All admission is free. Seats are available on a first come first served basis.

Don’t worry if you missed Midsummer Night’s Dream, the second production of the season, The Merchant of Venice, will be running from July 28th to August 13th. For more information and schedule visit www.shakespeareintheparkinglot.com and www.drillingcompany.org 

Review: ‘Good’ is just okay.

A good man, a literature professor in Franklin University, John Halder, makes all the right decisions in his life: he looks after his aging mother, who is suffering from dementia, he puts up with his mess of a wife, and he joins the Nazis. Two hours we spent in his head watching him rationalizing atrocious orders of the party. The fact that burning books, and later Jews, is logically justified by this intelligent mind, makes the play by Cecil Philip Taylor, written and first produced in 1982, desperately painful.

photo by Stan Barouh

Celebrating its 30^th season, Potomac Theatre Project (PTP/NYC) puts on a revival of Good, under direction of Jim Petosa, following the company’s stride in creating socially and politically charged theater.  Good refers to the 1930s in Germany and takes place in John Halder’s head (Michael Kaye). Interactions with different people and different scenes are connected seamlessly. He sometimes directly addresses the audience, which serves as Halder’s conscience and judge.

Minimalistic scenic design by Mark Evancho, although lacking clarity, conveys an ambiguous space: three cubes in the middle of the stage work as various furniture in different scenes, four benches mark the edge of the stage and provide seating for actors not involved in the dialog. Their presence seems appropriate, as these people always inhabit Halder’s head, even outside of the direct communication. The piano in the middle is rarely used as a musical instrument but more often as a podium or storage.

Music plays a big part in Good as we hear songs and instrumental pieces playing in the professor’s head, accompanying significant moments in his life. It is odd to see a silent piano; note sheets spread on the floor in one corner and records in another but hear music coming from nowhere. This detachment of the sound from the source causes on an uncanny feeling of detachment from reality, a suspension in somebody else’s fantasy.

At times we hear “real” people coming through, like Halder’s Jewish friend Maurice (Tim Spears). With his raising concerns for the lives of his family and himself, this joyful man becomes more and more desperate. The comedic relief, which Tim Spears hits strongly in the beginning by crawling and hiding behind the furniture as soon as he sees a Nazi officer, disperses quickly when the menace becomes more real. Halder pushes his friend away and occupies his family mansion where he brings his young lover, Anne (Caitlin Rose Duffy).

By choosing the immature student, Anne, over his struggling with neuroses wife, Helen (Valerie Leonard), not only does he follow his passion but also his desire to hide himself in a comfortable life. A life where his favorite music is humming his conscience to sleep and his beautiful young lover tells him that they are good people as long as they are good to each other. Halder’s attachment to material pleasures, no matter where they come from, the willingness to alter his principles to the point where they are turned upside down, and indifference to “the others” makes him a very real and timeless character with which we don’t sympathize but hopefully are able to identify ourselves.      

Performances of Good are Tuesdays - Sundays at 7pm, and Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays at 2pm. The schedule varies - for exact days and times visit http://PTPNYC.org. Tickets are $35, $20 for students and seniors, and can be purchased online at http://PTPNYC.org or by calling 1-866-811-4111. For info visit http://PTPNYC.org, follow on Twitter at @ptpnyc, and Like them on Facebook at https://www.Facebook.com/pages/Potomac-Theatre-Project-PTP/32709392256.

Review: ‘The Golden Bride’ a pure joy of Yiddish operetta

With the decline of the Yiddish speaking population around the world there are only five professional theater companies that are consistently producing Yiddish plays or plays translated to Yiddish; the Folksbiene is one of them. Founded in 1915 it is considered the oldest theater company in New York, Yiddish and English. For the sound of Yiddish language alone this musical would be worth seeing and hearing as it is, unfortunately, a rare cultural experience. The show is accompanied by English and Russian supertitles so no need to worry about catching up with the plot. Especially since it is so charmingly naïve and straight forward.

photo by JustinScholar

Goldele (Rachel Policar), a girl abandoned in childhood, living in a Shtetl (a Jewish settlement) in Russia receives the news about inheriting a fortune from her father. Her American uncle Benjamin (Bob Adler) comes to the village to accompany his nice to the New World. Every young men in town is exited and wants to marry “the golden bride”, and every girl is ecstatic with joy for her lucky friend. The story is a pure joyful immigrant fantasy featuring the loving community of the Shtetl and exuberant life in America.  

The cast of 20 with their strong voices and orchestra of 14, conducted by Zulmen Mlotek, bring up a hurricane of sounds so sweet and rich it grabs you immediately. The lightness of the music and the subject matter is combined with opera arias, which gives a genre of operetta its distinct style and fills the audience of different tastes and backgrounds with warmth and satisfaction. The duet of Rachel Policar (simpleminded and sweet Goldele) and Cameron Johnson (Disney-prince-like Misha) was especially strong.

The Golden Bride (Yiddish: Die Goldene Kale) is a 1923 operetta with music by Joseph Rumshinsky, lyrics by Louis Gilrod and a book by Frieda Freiman. It was last produced in 1948 and than forgotten until the Folksbiene, the National Yiddish Theatre in New York revived it in December 2015. The show was nominated for two Drama Desk Awards and now is enjoying its second run at the Museum of Jewish heritage.    

The Golden Bride runs through August 28, 2016 on the following schedule: Mondays at 7:30pm; Wednesdays at 2pm & 7:30pm; Thursdays at 2pm; and Sundays at 2pm & 6pm. There are also additional performances July 14 at 7:30pm, July 15 at 1pm, August 9 at 2pm, August 11 at 7:30pm. The Museum of Jewish Heritage is located at 36 Battery Place at First Place -- accessible from the 4/5 trains at Bowling or the 1/R at Rector Street. Tickets are $40 at (866) 811-4111 or nytf.org.