THE RED HANDED OTTER

Ethan Lipton's
Quirky New Comedy

Red-Handed Otter

Directed by Mike Donahue

THE RED HANDED OTTER

Rebecca Henderson, Gibson Frazier, Bobby Moreno,
Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Matthew Maher
Photo By Carol Rosegg 

CAST: 
Matt Maher (Soho Rep’s Uncle Vanya),
Rebecca Henderson (Playwrights Horizons' The Retributionists),
Bobby Moreno (Ensemble Studio Theatre’s Hand to God),
Gibson Frazier (13P’s Internationalist),
Quincy Tyler Bernstine (Manhattan Theatre Club’s Ruined).

DESIGNERS:
Andrew Boyce (scenery),
Moria Sine Clinton (costumes),
Lucrecia Briceño (lighting),\
Jill BC DuBoff (sound).

The Red Handed Otter is a "simple" play about people and pets.  Jessica, the center of Paul's life, died when she was 17.  Jessica was one of the five best cats, ever.

Paul, his ex-girlfriend Angela, her current boyfriend, Donald, together with Estelle and Randy are security guards. They watch security camera TVs. Paul has worked there watching security camera images for 15 years.

The show is a delight.  It is funny, witty, and very well acted.  The drab people are funny. The drab set is witty and funny. You come out of there, whether you are a pet or people lover, feeling good.

It is the sort of "simple" play, dealing with ordinary people talking mostly about their pets, that could spawn several PhD theses somewhere down the line, each with a completely different take on the metaphorical meaning of the play.  I just laughed.

The Red Handed Otter was developed by The Playwrights Realm.  It is playing in a small studio theater at the Cherry Lane, and only runs through October 6.

It is an impressive accomplishment to bring a new script to this level of sophistication in production, outside of the commercial theater, and then to get rave reviews from media as diverse as the Daily News and the New York Times.

When a play which has no big jokes gets laughs every few moments, and you identify with and recognize both the people and the pets, you have to credit the director with making a major contribution to the success of the play.  There's an "auteur" theory for film; I think the director may be even more of a critical factor in the success of theatrical productions. The director, Mike Donahue, with credits and training from Harvard to Yale and experience in opera, classics and new works, is a guy to watch.


Here's some more about the author, Ethan Lipton, from the production notes...

Red-Handed Otter  was developed by Ethan as a 2011 Playwrights Realm Writing Fellow. He won a 2012 OBIE for his music-theatre piece No Place To Go which premiered earlier this year at Joe's Pub.  Lipton’s play Luther was acclaimed this spring as part of the Clubbed Thumb Summerworks 2012 Festival at Here Arts Center. 

Mr. Lipton's plays have been seen and heard in New York, LA, Seattle, Edinburgh (Scotland) and Berne (Austria) at theaters including the Public, Lark, 3LD, HERE, the Ohio, New York Stage and Film, Dixon Place, WPA, Complex, and Powerhouse, with companies including Clubbed Thumb (of which he is a member of the Writers Group), Gotham Stage, Buffalo Nights, New Century, and Rude Mechanicals.  

Mr. Lipton is winner of a New York Foundation for the Arts grant and a Drama-Logue Award for playwriting. He has been a Kesselring nominee, an O’Neill Conference finalist, and a member of the Public Theater’s Emerging Writers Group. 

As a musician, he has sung backup for Laurie Anderson and as an actor he originated the role of Klipspringer in Elevator Repair Service's award-winning production Gatz.

In rehearsal for 

THE RED HANDED OTTER

Bobby Moreno, Matthew Maher, Rebecca Henderson

LINKS

RED HANDED OTTER
http://www.redhandedotter.com/

THE PLAYWRIGHTS' REALM
http://playwrightsrealm.org/


ETHAN LIPTON
http://www.facebook.com/ethan.lipton
@ethanlipton on twitter

MIKE DONAHUE
http://www.mikemdonahue.com/Portfolio.html



Review: DAILY NEWS
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/theater-review-red-handed-otter-article-1.1163819?localLinksEnabled=false

Review: BACKSTAGE
http://www.backstage.com/review/ny-theater/off-off-broadway/ethan-liptons-red-handed-otter-playwrights-realm/

Review: NY THEATER.COM
http://www.nytheatre.com/reviews

Review: THE NEW YORK TIMES
http://theater.nytimes.com/2012/09/21/theater/reviews/ethan-liptons-red-handed-otter-at-the-cherry-lane-theater.html?_r=0