Review: “Wood Calls out to Wood”

Wood Calls Out to Wood, by Corinne Donly, acknowledges Bosch's “Garden of Earthly Delights” not only as an image but also as an object. It starts in the theater lobby, where Prima Materia (Lucy Kaminsky) shares with us her journey as a tree, which became the wooden panes of "The Garden of Earthly Delights". She leads the crowd through the backstage corridor decorated with tangled plastic sheets reminiscent of brushstrokes. After traveling through the “birth canal” of creation, we appear on stage, inside the painting. Soon we are offered to take a more familiar point of view from the audience seats. Towards the end as the “panels” close, we all immerse in the dark and are left alone with bodiless voices and swirling words, witnessing the Earth during creation (fourth image on the outer wings of the Bosch's triptych).    

Connor James Sheridan and Tanyamaria McFarlane in Wood Calls Out to Wood. Photo by Sasha Arutyunova.

This interpretation of the 15th-century triptych is playful, endearing and deeply philosophical at the same time. Donly’s poetic language becomes the brushstrokes that create the phantasmagoric landscape and its inhabitants. Each syllable sounds anew coming from the mouths of the two central characters, Grapehead (Connor James Sheridan) and A Lover (Tanyamaria McFarlane). Instead of kissing, they say “kiss”, nearing each other but never touching. This innocently looking love scene generates a powerful erotic charge. Both Sheridan and McFarlane seem to be at home in a world, where the words are not merely means of communication, but powerful tools that help sculpt themselves and their surroundings. It is a world where words are tactile. Paradise lost.         

Words also contribute to the soundscape (designed by John Gasper), padded with pleasant ambient music and birds chirping. The gibberish that Horse (Will Dagger) and Other Horse (Lanxing Fu) use to talk to each other infects with excitement. I felt the tragedy very deeply after darkness devoured the stage and the audience for several minutes, and the Horses lost the ease of their purely emotional exchange and started talking in full sentences.

“In the beginning was the word”, states one of the keystone texts of the logocentric Western civilization. This opening line from the Gospel of John keeps rolling around in my head as A Lover “reads” what she sees, Bosch’s painting, to Grapehead. The curiosity and joy, followed by confusion about what those images really mean, is close to my perception of "The Garden of Earthly Delights". Wood Calls Out to Wood is a beautiful word-scape, both descriptive and atmospheric.

The sets and costume designer Ásta Bennie Hostetter did her best to accommodate this elaborately structured play and pay homage to Hieronymus Bosch on what appears to be a shoestring budget. Two shiny blue fringe curtains are used for waterfalls and a giant green bean bag for the lawn both provide just enough color and texture to hint of Bosch. The fabric stretched across the chairs looked quite spectacular as the audience came in. The headpieces worn by Grapehead and A Lover were a miss and unfortunately before us almost constantly. But I can live with a dangling red pumpkin and a bright-blue chef hat/shower cap, as long as they are on good actors. Thankfully, they are.

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Wood Calls Out to Wood plays at The Tank, 312 West 36th Street, through November 12, 2017. The running time is 50 minutes, no intermission. Performances are Thursdays through Saturdays at 8; and Sundays at 7. Tickets are $15 – $25 and are available at thetanknyc.org.)

Wood Calls Out to Wood is by Corinne Donly. Directed by Sarah Hughes. Set and Costume Design is by Ásta Bennie Hostetter. Associate Set and Costume Designer is Annie Hoeg. Sound Designer is John Gasper. Lighting Designer is Alejandro Fajardo. Producer is Bailey Williams. 

The cast is Will Dagger, Claire Fort, Lanxing Fu, Lucy Kaminsky, Tanyamaria McFarlane, and Connor James Sheridan.

Review: “Whiskey Pants: The Mayor of Williamsburg”

A new musical by Christian De Gré is a vibrant, sweet celebration and a bitter truth, all in one shot. 

The citizens of post apocalyptic Williamsburg, led by Charles aka the Mayor Whiskey Pants (Tony Mowatt), don’t let their copper mugs go dry. From dusk to dawn they drink whiskey. The biggest worry they know is a hangover. At Whiskey Pants: The Mayor of Williamsburg, the audience members are welcomed to have a taste of this life (literarily) as shots of whiskey are handed out along with the programs. As we take our seats in a 360-degree theater, the “tipsy” chorus members mingle with their guests, struggling to remain standing. Later during the show they periodically pass out on the chairs amongst the crowd, creating a beautiful “surround sound” effect while filling the cozy theater with choral arrangements.  

Cast of Whiskey Pants: The Mayor of Williamsburg. Photo by Ze Castle Photography 

The slick scenic design by Brian Freeland consists of backlit wood panels covering the walls and a wooden platform serving as a stage. The room that looks like a liqueur case lovingly embraces you and truly comes alive with spectacular lighting by Christina Watanabe. Bold and colorful, Watanabe’s work is nothing short of a painterly masterpiece. Very appropriate for a musical, the heroine of which, the mayor’s daughter (Michelle Ireton), is an aspiring artist.         

Despite the celebratory atmosphere, the endless bender on the government’s penny is not a joyous affair. We learn from scratched sepia propaganda film that some horrible Event preceded the founding of the Whiskey Still settlement. Since then, the founding mayor Whiskey Pants strives to keep the entire town drunk so nobody remembers a thing. Or wants anything, or dreams for that matter.

Somnambular citizens shuffle around with futuristic makeup by Kate Marley, dressed in inventive costumes by Ashley Soliman. The attention to detail across all of the design departments is phenomenal. Each character, including the chorus members, are dressed and groomed in a uniquely creepy and beautiful way, reminiscent of Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd on steroids. It’s also hard to ignore the resemblance between Helena Bonham Carter and one of the stars of Whiskey Pants, Chloe Fox, playing Sybil, the right hand of the mayor. The strong but shattered woman Fox portrays is uncannily realistic, even wrapped in a whimsical dress and with thick bloody eyeshadow.          

Tony Mowatt, starring as the mayor Charles, is surprising with the range of his voice, switching depending on the matter of the conversation. Juggling timbres allows Mowatt to conveying a vast emotional pallet. And he indeed has a lot on his plate. Around the corner is the annual drinking competition for the title of mayor. A shady newcomer is in town. And, the most bother off all, is his daughter. Unlike your average teenager, Abigail is hesitant to join the drinking population on the verge of her sixteenth birthday. She wants to leave Williamsburg and become a painter. Will she dare to dream or will she stay with her father whom, despite his undeniable alcoholism, she really loves?

At first I couldn’t become at ease with the phantasmagoric setting and the odd plot. Less time could be spent on singing about whiskey in the beginning. The obvious flaws of “alcogolistocracy” as a political system and some biological inconsistencies regarding drinking (namely in the scene of the drinking completion) kept me suspicions. Then it hit me, Whiskey Pants is a fiery tale and should be viewed as such. The engulfing, fast-moving music by Christian De Gré and spectacular visual designs might make you think for a second that it is all sheer entertainment. Then you realize that you are witnessing a coming of age story of a talented girl in an alcoholic family. Only instead of nasty bum who beats her, there is a loving father and she is truly torn apart. She has blue hair, lilac tutu and funny shoes. But she might as well walk the streets of Williamsburg, Brooklyn right now.             

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Whiskey Pants: The Mayor of Williamsburg plays at HERE, 145 6th Ave, through October 28, 2017. The running time is 1 hour 30 minutes with no intermission. Performances are Wednesday through Saturday at 8:30, Saturday and Sunday at 4:00.Tickets are $30 and  $50 and are available at here.org or by calling 212-352-3101.

Whiskey Pants: The Mayor of Williamsburg is composed and directed by Christian De Gré. Book is by Serrana Gay. Lyrics are by Joseph Reese Anderson. Music Director is Trevor Pierce. Movement Director is Allan K. Washington. Costume Design is by Ashley Soliman. Make-Up Design is by Kate Marley. Scenic Design is by Brian Freeland. Lighting Design is by Christina Watanabe. Sound Design is by Wes Shippee. Video Design is by R. Patrick Alberty.

     

The cast is Michelle Ireton, Tony Mowatt, Charlie Tingen, Caitlin Mesiano, Claudillea Holloway, Nick Connoly, Stefanie Londino and Bernard Holcomb.

Review: “Café Play”

A new immersive show by This Is Not A Theatre Company eavesdrops on the conversations at a New York café.

This Is Not A Theatre Company has had their audiences soak their feet in a pool, ride the 7 train, and take the Staten Island ferry. The site of their new immersive show is somewhat more conventional—the Cornelia Street Café in the heart of Greenwich Village. Conceived and directed by Erin B. Mee, Café Playfeatures the company’s signature eclectic writing, with scenes by Jenny Lyn Bader, Jessie Bear, Mee, and Colin Waitt. Add to the mix choreography by Jonathan Matthews, a dash of live singing, and sprinkle it all generously with the absurd, and you will get a recipe for a lovely theater outing.

Jonathan Matthews in Cafe Play. Photo by Maria Baranova-Suzuki.

Café Play has breakfast, afternoon tea, and late night performances; all come with a drink and a small snack. The grapefruit sorbet at the 3pm performance was divine, as was the crème brulee my friend ordered. Seated at the communal table for six, we chatted with other audience members about everybody’s experience waiting tables. It’s funny how the trivial can become common ground for strangers.

Looking at ordinary things from unexpected angles is what Café Play does best. In a series of vignettes we witness conversations among café patrons and staff: an awkward reunion of two exes, a scandal caused by social media obsession, and waiters who bond over their shared misery and fantasize about a zombie apocalypse. In other words, just a regular day in a New York café, albeit one where you can openly listen to the peculiar conversations at the next table and even hear what a cup and a cockroach have to say to the world.    

Realistic scenes are followed by absurd monologues and rolling on the floor. Laughs alternate with poetic revelations. Serious issues like racism, ecology, and feminism are tackled along the way. The actors transform with swift costume changes in a fast-moving carousel of characters. Among my favorites: the Lonely Patron (Jonathan Matthews) and his “empowered woman eats alone” monologue is accompanied by dancing at, around, and on the table; the beautiful a capella song of waitress Laura (Jessica-Brittany Smith), who dreams about the Broadway stage; and the duo of Mary (Caiti Lattimer) and Ann (Amanda Thickpenny) obsessing over their bodies like broken records.

At times I found my thoughts drifting and my hand doodling with a crayon on the paper covering the linen. I also noticed my friend sketching, and my neighbor enthusiastically enjoying her desert. There is a rare beauty and lightness in the way that Café Play does not demand much of its audience. Yet at the same time, it’s rich in flavor, with a variety of textures. Like a box of chocolates, Café Play is sure to have at least one of your favorites.         

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Café Play runs at Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia Street, through November 15, 2017. The running time is 1 hour 30 minutes with no intermission. Performances are 10/11 at 12:30 and 3; 10/13 at 10:30am; 10/17 at 10:30; 10/18 at 12:30 and 3; 10/24 at 10:30; 10/25 at 12:30 and 3; 11/1 at 12:30 and 3; 11/7 at 10:30; and 11/15 at 12:30 and 3. Tickets are $35 and $40 (including snacks and drinks) and are available at thisisnotatheatrecompany.com.

Café Play is conceived and directed by Erin B. Mee with scenes by Jenny Lyn Bader, Jessie Bear, Erin B. Mee, and Colin Waitt. Choreography by Jonathan Matthews. Produced by This Is Not A Theatre Company. 

The cast is Trinity Bobo, Caiti Lattimer, Jonathan Matthews, Jimmy Schatz, Jessica-Brittany Smith, and Amanda Thickpenny. And the cockroach.

[This review was published on theasy.com on 10.05.17]