Michael Dale’s Theatre Crawl – Women In Wartime Evolving From Victims To Activists
Company of (beyond) Doomsday Scrolling (Photo: Jarrett Robertson)
by Michael Dale
This week…
(beyond) Doomsday Scrolling at HERE. Closed.
I Am My Own MILF, Harmony Hall and How To Be An Ethical Slut as part of the FRIGID New York Fringe Festival. Festival runs through March 5 at The Kraine Theater and Under St. Marks. Tickets $15/$20.
tick, tick… BOOM! at The New Ohio Theatre. Closed.
Although I only understand one of the dozen languages used in AnomalousCo’s ambitious political theatre/cabaret piece (beyond) Doomsday Scrolling…
…the acting company of twelve women and one man (joined by an ensemble of musicians led by Lesya Verba) assembled by what is self-described as a predominantly queer-woman led, feminist, transdisciplinary performance collective, are visibly committed to communicating its themes involving women’s experiences during various wartimes.
Performed without projected translations, I’m guessing it was the intent of Kathryn Mederos Syssoyeva, who directed with Jeremy Goren and Diana Zhdanova, to have their audience’s non-polyglots focus more on the emotions and the unity of its international cast members and the characters they portray than the details of their stories.
The concept is that refugee women spanning various times from 1940s Germany to contemporary Ukraine have all found their way to a ramshackle theatre being used as a shelter. Separated by language, but united by abusive experiences, their individual stories, involving genocide, rape, child abuse and other repulsive acts, are told through a text combining numerous published sources, regional songs and United Nations Security Counsel debates, which are played for absurdist satire.
As the show progresses, we see the characters evolving from victims to activists, proudly displaying banners commemorating the conflicts they’ve survived. That pride visibly spilled over into the curtain call after the nearly two-hour long intermissionless first performance at HERE.
While (beyond) Doomsday Scrolling certainly doesn’t have “commercial hit” or “tourist attraction” written all over it, it’s the type of theatre that this city, the most international spot on the planet, should whole-heartedly support, even in this early developmental stage.
As I entered the Kraine Theater to see Matthew Antoci’s rollicking hour of satirical fluff, I Am My Own MILF…
…I was handed a nametag to wear, which was already filled out, identifying me as Lynn Nottage. Fearful of being cancelled for a blatant act of white male appropriation, I took to Facebook to document the event, assuring readers that I was simply cooperating with bit of audience participation assigned to me by a member of a marginalized group.
Matthew Antoci in I Am My Own MILF (Photo: Andrew Mullins)
This particular entry of the annual FRIGID New York Fringe Festival (final performance March 4th at 6:40pm) is a high-spirited romp reimagining Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens – the story of a wealthy Greek who generously spreads his financial good fortune too thin and finds that poverty diminishes popularity – as a contemporary saga involving “an Upper East Side lady & the gayz that inhabit her.” Backed by a pair of talented multi-character playing interns named Happy and Ness (Lizz Mangan and Meaghan Robichaud) Antoci is in full diva mode in a production directed by Andrew Mullins that rapidly spins out pop culture references and lip-synced celebrity sound bites.
This theatre-centric bubble-inhabitant appreciated the gags involving Into The Woods and Roundabout Theatre Company’s Board of Directors, and even though I didn’t understand at least half of the show, the bulk of the audience was laughing riotously. On the post-show cab ride to Sardi’s my friend explained the Wendy Williams reference and I explained why Antoci was offering me, as Lynn Nottage, a free trip to Oslo.
The prolific Duncan Pflaster, author of more award-winning plays than I have digits to count on…
…is a clever and entertaining fellow I often run into holding court at Marie’s Crisis and at parties hosted by mutual friends. The night before I took in his latest, Harmony Hall, also part of the FRIGID Festival (final performance March 4 at 2pm), he gave an appreciative chuckle when I quipped at a Fat Tuesday gathering that an intimacy director could make a career out of his oeuvre.
Like many of his works, Harmony Hall is an engaging combination of homoerotic staging (in this case, by the playwright) and literary subtext. The Tennessee Williams influence on this one is palpable in its theme of seduction versus devotion.
Clinton Powell and Wyn Delano in Harmony Hall (Photo: Duncan Pflaster)
The play is set in 1968, in a near-empty monastery on an island off the coast of Italy where Brother Linus (Clinton Powell), an American, has been spending the last two decades without human contact as he performs his daily menial task and reads his Bible repeatedly.
A clap of thunder announces the arrival of a sexy young American named Christian (Wyn Delano), soaking wet, suffering from amnesia and about to collapse. As the days pass and the two get more acquainted, Christian appears to be a representation of the free love and do-your-own-thing attitudes celebrated by the hippie generation.
With poetic language and sensitive portrayals, what I got out of Harmony Hall was an enjoyable debate over the value of selfless devotion against devotion to oneself.
“And so what, if I love quadruples and triangles” …
…sings Brooke McCarthy in the lyric-tweaked rendition of Jerry Herman’s “I Am What I Am” that concludes her sex-positive solo piece, How To Be An Ethical Slut.
With a title that recalls Dossie Easton and Janet Hardy’s 1997 book “The Ethical Slut: A Guide to Infinite Sexual Possibilities”, McCarthy, in the guise of cabaret performer Blake Valentini, tells the story of how she went from having mediocre sex with her college boyfriend to dating, and eventually being in a loving non-monogamous relationship with, an older man who introduces her to polyamory, where she finds much more satisfaction.
Brooke McCarthy in How To Be An Ethical Slut (Photo: Michael Rosas)
Perhaps the concept of being in a relationship, but still having consensual sex with whoever you want, just as long as you’re honest with your partners about it (especially when it comes to possible exposure to STDs) was more controversial a quarter of a century ago (I hang out with theatre people, so the attitudes of the public at large tend to be foreign to me.), but I enjoyed McCarthy’s show as a fun self-discovery story, told with a few well-placed standard songs and, as directed by Robyn Accetta, peppily narrated by a convivial host.
How To Be An Ethical Slut concludes its FRIGID Festival run on March 5 at 7pm, and McCarthy has been touring the country with it, so check the show’s website for Blake Valentini’s future gigs.
“I will see anything this director does,” …
…is what I told the woman who appeared to be the house manager, as I was leaving The New Ohio Theatre, buzzed with excitement after taking in Forager Theatre Company’s jubilant and inventively staged production of Jonathan Larson’s tick, tick… BOOM!
“I’m the director,” she replied.
In the great tradition of Off-Off Broadway, Jennie Hughes was wearing more than one hat for the show’s all-too-brief run.
I wasn’t there on a press comp. I bought a ticket specifically to see the wonderfully talented William Bailey as Michael. A while back I wrote in this column about the terrific Tuesday night shows Bailey hosts in the drag persona Jada Valenciaga at Monster. Here he was joined by Alex Parrish as Jonathan (also music director and sound designer) and Iris Rodrigo as Susan in a dynamically sung and acted mounting of Larson’s autobiographical tale of questioning whether or not 30 is too old to keep on being a struggling young artist.
But what made this production extra special was the immersive concept devised by director/choreographer Hughes and realized with set designer/prop master Tina Mamkegh. Entering the lobby, the décor gave me flashbacks to being a teenager in the 1970s, hanging out in the basement of my parents’ Long Island home, especially when I spotted a small portable record player spinning a “More Of The Monkees” LP.
Once inside, it didn’t take long for me to realize that the production was paying tribute to Jonathan Larson's Peasants' Feasts by having the audience surrounding the action (front rows in couches) with the actors performing for them as if it were a gathering of friends. It was as though we were in the 1990s watching them trying out a new musical, utilizing the entire space like a living room. Frankly, it was exhilarating. Somebody’s got to sign a big check to give this production a lengthier run.
Curtain Line…
I regard the list of songs written for Stephen Sondheim’s seventh Broadway musical as Follies’ Tally.