WE WERE NOTHING - AN "APARTMENT THEATER" PRODUCTION

WE WERE NOTHING!

A Site-Specific Theater Event

About Long-Distance Friendship

Performed Up Close

January 17 - February 9, 2014

Written by Will Arbery

In Collaboration With

Shelley Fort, Elly Smokler, Emilie Soffe, 

& Lisa Szolovits

Directed by Lisa Szolovits

Emilie Soffe and Elly Smokler 

Photo credit Crystal Arnette

Following our notes is a description of the play as seen by the creators, with credits for the writer and director (lightly edited and in dark blue italics). 

The story, as I see it, is about a relationship between people who want to be friends and want to communicate, but have few common interests and nothing much to communicate, except to try to understand their "friendship" (which is more about conflict than resolution). 

It’s not so much a “failure to communicate” as a failure to have anything that can be successfully communicated. We learn a lot about their communications with each other, but little about the characters themselves, or, for that matter, exactly why they were ever friends (or BFF's for that matter). They mostly communicate about communicating.

The best and most striking feature of the production is the high energy and great spirit the two actresses put into the performance.

For the first part of the play, the characters are separated and tele-communicating remotely by phone and Internet; the actors, however, are next to each other and interacting. Their physical life was interesting to me because although I could not discern any literal interpretation of what they were doing, (especially when the actors were physically interacting), yet it seemed appropriate to the play, to their words, and to their characters. That ability (to make something which is literally incomprehensible seem nevertheless appropriate) is one of the mysterious facilities of a good director paired with fine actors.

The play is performed in a private apartment. For the first part of the play, the essence of the apartment is screened off; for the second part the screen is removed and the action is played in a little bit of the apartment. The audience is on folding chairs (and a few lounge chairs). It is a friendly and comfortable space, in close proximity (at least in the first few rows) to the actors and the action.

As it says in the title of the show above, this play is about “a distant relationship performed up close”. The performance is not, however, really “site-specific,” since there is literally nothing specific about the way the site is used. (Indeed, some very interesting furnishings are completely ignored.)

This kind of presentation is more accurately called "Apartment Theater" (a term I thought I just made up, but a Google search reveals there's already an Amazon Kindle book on the subject – see the link below). For a long time now (millennia, actually) people have had musical concerts in their homes – “House Concerts”. “Apartment Theater” is essentially the same, using a private space to stage a play.

The restaging of COWBOY MOUTH not too long ago, was also better described as Apartment Theater than as “site specific” or “immersive theater,” because (as in this play) – the audience sat on folding chairs and lounging chairs, close to the action, but the space itself was not really used at all, and the set decoration could just as well have been on a stage.

The term, “site specific theater” should really refer to a production which either uses an existing space in an essential way because the production fits in perfectly, or one where the space is constructed to be used in its entirety in an essential way by the production.

For example, the Gotham Opera performed an opera that takes place on the moon and staged it at the Hayden Planetarium; one that takes place outdoors at the Botanical Gardens; an erotic opera at The Box; and other operas in -- well -- sites that were specific to each production. Examples of the other kind of site specific theater, where the entire space is constructed to be immersive and specific to the production include, from a long time ago, TONY ‘N’ TINA’S WEDDING -- staged as if it were really happening, with the audience as guests; TAMARA, a mystery which takes place all over a house; and currently the epic production of SLEEP NO MORE, in a large space in which each room is intricately and meticulously and very specifically designed and decorated, and the action takes place all over the space, with each room used in its own specific way.


Here's the description of WE WERE NOTHING from the play's creators: 

People used to send telegrams. They'd end every sentence in "STOP.” Drawing from actual emails, chat transcripts, and text messages, WE WERE NOTHING is an intimate site-specific theater experience about two childhood friends staying connected and losing touch. 

The piece was written by playwright Will Arbery in collaboration with Shelley Fort, Elly Smokler, Emilie Soffe, and Lisa Szolovits. The production, directed by Lisa Szolovits, stars Elly Smokler (STOP THE VIRGENS at St. Ann’s Warehouse; member of The Bats) and Emilie Soffe (IN THE BLOOD at the Kennedy Center). 

The creative team includes Lighting Design by Isabella Byrd (Assoc. on 13P/Sarah Ruhl's MELANCHOLY PLAY) and Costume Design by Clara Fath. 

WILL ARBERY

(Playwright) 

WILL ARBERY (Playwright) is a writer, filmmaker, and theater artist who is working towards an MFA in Writing for the Stage and Screen at Northwestern University. 

He lived for two years in New York, and his plays there included: THE CONFESSION (reading at The Creek and Cave/Platform Group, semi-finalist for Princess Grace Award, O’Neill Playwrights Conference), YOU’RE SADDER THAN YOU REALIZE (Dixon Place, dir. Lisa Szolovits), YIELD, BITCH! (Communal Spaces, dir. Stella Powell-Jones), THE DUST VEIL OF 536 A.D. (#serials@theflea, dir. Nathan Shreeve), BLEAK (Tiny Rhino, dir. Jess Chayes), PAULA & STROM (co-written with Elena Belyea, NextFest in Alberta, Canada), HOW KIM SA-RANG GOT HER NAME (Hearth Gods, dir. Knud Adams), a site-specific performance of WE WERE NOTHING! (dir. Lisa Szolovits), and Six Windows Presents A HERO OF OUR TIME with Calliope Theatre Company (dir. Will Dagger). 

He's performed at the Kennedy Center, Invisible Dog, Jimmy’s No. 43, Nylon Fusion, and Dixon Place, and for the Institute for Psychogeographic Adventure and Good Cop/Great Cop. 

 His writing has been published by Better: Culture and Lit, decomP, Thickjam, Every Day a Century, Snow Monkey, Chronogram, The Awl, The New Professional, Red Branch, Hypervocal, Defenestration, and D Magazine. Two of his short pieces, HOW TO BE A MAN and THE LOGIC, were recently part of Teatro Vista's Late Night series. 

He grew up in Dallas, Texas, the only boy with seven sisters. 

LISA SZOLOVITS

(Director) 

LISA SZOLOVITS (Director) is a Brooklyn-based director and developer of new plays. She has worked on the East Coast with the Playwrights Horizons Resident Workshop, Ars Nova, Dixon Place, Columbia University, NYU, The Assembly, UglyRhino, Tugboat Collective, Lost Theater, Manhattan Shakespeare Project, and Williamstown Theatre Festival, as well as with Theatre of NOTE and Circle X Theatre Co. in Los Angeles. In New York, Lisa has assisted Leigh Silverman, Trip Cullman, and Emily Mann as a directing resident at Playwrights Horizons, as well as Thomas Kail (Lincoln Center: American Songbook), Jean-Michele Gregory and Michael Sexton (The Public). 

In addition to WE WERE NOTHING! and YOU'RE SADDER THAN YOU REALIZE, about Justin Bieber and an 18th century French cannibal, with Will Arbery, Lisa is currently developing THE EXQUISITE CORPSE PROJECT, a transnational collaborative theater piece performed in Google Hangout, with Amy Clare Tasker and Wolfgang Wachalovsky, Dido & Venus, an adaptation of Virgil’s AENEID and Shakespeare’s VENUS AND ADONIS poem devised with Aubrey Saverino, and a social psychology experiment employing laser tag technology in a performance about the power of the Gaze with NYU's Social Perception, Action, & Motivation Lab. 


WE WERE NOTHING! plays a three-week engagement January 17 - February 9, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 5pm. The show is performed inside a private residence near Union Square. Exact address and directions will be released only to ticket holders. Tickets ($20) are available online at

www.artful.ly/store/events/2099

"APARTMENT THEATER" ON AMAZON 

QPORIT/BOBOOBLOG ON “COWBOY MOUTH”
http://bobooblog.blogspot.com/2012/06/cowboy-mouth.html 

QPORIT ON “SLEEP NO MORE”
http://qporit.blogspot.com/2012/05/sleep-no-more-review-guide.html

CHECK OUT OUR PHOTO GALLERY
http://qporit-index.blogspot.com

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THE WILD PROJECT – Preview: Clubbed Thumb's SUMMERWORKS 2013

THE WILD PROJECT

Clubbed Thumb's

SUMMERWORKS 2013 

Friday, May 24 - Sunday, June 29 

The OBIE Award-winning Clubbed Thumb's annual summer festival of new plays features three fully mounted new plays that each run for a total of nine performances.

Produced by Clubbed Thumb.

Tickets are $18; Students $15 Flex passes available: Any 3 shows for $39


The SUMMERWORKS 2013 shows are:

Friday, May 24 - Sunday, June 2

BABY SCREAMS MIRACLE

by Clare Barron, directed by Portia Krieger

With Susannah Flood, Ismenia Mendes, Caitlin O’Connell, Danielle Skraastad and Danny Wolohan 

A freak storm knocks down all the trees in town and a prodigal daughter is taught a new way to pray. But the weird weather's not over yet. 

All performances at 8 PM
No performance on Tuesday, May 28

Friday, June 7 - Sunday, June 16

PHOEBE IN WINTER

by Jen Silverman, directed by Mike Donahue

With Gerry Bamman, Christopher Ryan Grant, Bobby Moreno, Chris Meyers, Chinasa Ogbuagu and Jeanine Serralles.

The Creedy brothers trickle home from the war but knock knock! There's someone at the door looking for payback and your place at the table. 

All performances at 8 PM
No performance on Tuesday, June 11.

Friday, June 20 - Sunday June 29

LA BREA

by Gregory S. Moss, directed by Adam Greenfield

With Bill Buell, Crystal Finn, Rebecca Henderson, and Gabriel King

Two 'Masshole' siblings, amid a Hollywood vortex of strip malls and scientologists, square off over how to live like a grown-up. 

All shows at 8 PM
No performance on Monday, June 24


All performances are at The Wild Project (195 E. 3rd Street, between Avenues A & B).

Tickets can be purchased from

OvationTix on 212.352.3101 or
online at www.thewildproject.com

The Box Office opens one hour prior to curtain.

The Wild Project is a production company and venue (Note: available for rental and some co-productions) for contemporary theater, film, and visual art.

"The Wild Project creates community by inspiring and entertaining art from emerging artists, exploring green technologies, and finding innovative ways to help our world and each other."

THE WILD PROJECT
www.thewildproject.com

CLUBBED THUMB
http://www.clubbedthumb.org/

ISAAC'S EYE AT EST

Ensemble Studio Theatre & The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Present the World Premiere of

ISAAC'S EYE

By Lucas Hnath

Directed by Linsay Firman

Kristen Bush as Catherine and Haskell King as Isaac Newton ISAAC'S EYE Photo by Jerry Goodstin  

The acting is excellent. The show is funny and well written. I enjoyed the show.

I enjoyed the show, but I did not like the play.  The story is fundamentally dishonest, and not in a good way.

In Isaac’s Eye, a young Isaac Newton (portrayed as a young, shallow, hyper, vain, lying blackmailer with really stupid ideas about scientific experimentation), is close friends with an older, attractive and friendly woman. Through her connections he meets the established scientist, Robert Hooke, (portrayed as a shallow, sex-obsessed, dog killing, vain blackmailer) for the purpose of obtaining membership in the Royal Society and a fellowship at Trinity College, Cambridge, UK.  That this meeting never happened (and the play is upfront about the fact that this never happened) is not the problem. (Note…Copenhagen, about Heisenberg & Bohr, is a dramatic, invented description of encounters between two physicists and it is terrific.)

The problem is that all the true facts about Newton are trivial and incidental to the dramatic action of the play, and the rest is not just fictional, but seems to represent Newton in a fundamentally false way. It seems to be inaccurate in its details and completely wrong in its spirit.

The “Newton” of the play is a fool and a bully and a liar, all of whose early ideas were discovered earlier by others, who believes his ideas are true because they come from God, and who resorts to blackmail to try to become famous. And the one idea in physics pursued in the play is an idea which is not true and which Newton finally investigates with a preposterous (fictional) “experiment”. 

The play does not “suspend disbelief” it generates disbelief.

There is no interpretation, and apparently no understanding, in the play of how genius works when it is solving real mathematical and scientific problems. The play presents a libelous fiction… as if that contributes to understanding the nature of mathematical and scientific and intellectual research.

Note: The play more or less completely ignores all the brilliant and profound work that we identify with Newton, including the most important principle that Newton articulated: namely that a body in uniform motion remains in uniform motion unless acted on by a force.  Aristotelian physics, previously, had always insisted that a body always tends to come to its “natural” state: rest.  That forces are responsible -- and necessary -- for the changes in motion of an object is the fundamental discovery that provides the portal from ancient science to modern science. (To be fair, this discovery comes after the period depicted in the play. However, it is difficult to see any way that the character of Newton in this play could become the genius whose scientific work provided the foundation for virtually all the scientific developments that followed. And, without connecting the character in the play with the fundamental work of the real Newton, the real Newton is unrecognizable in the “Newton” of the play.)

This kind of misrepresentation of history, science, research, mathematics, genius and inspiration is not a valuable contribution to literature. Nor is there any recognition of the fundamental values of science: honesty, and a sincere, honest search for an understanding of nature.

The “Newton” of the play looks a bit like Steve Jobs and talks a bit like Jesse Eisenberg playing Mark Zuckerberg.  (The characterization is probably intended to suggest that Newton had Asperger’s syndrome or something like that – which may be true – and to suggest Newton’s genius by evoking these familiar figures – but the real Newton was a great genius of a completely different order.) 

The play is very simply staged, aggressively modern and American in style and language, and it makes no effort to find anything of the late 1600’s British spirit in the characters, nor does it find something in the American, modern spirit to replace it.

To better understand the action of the play, we’ll use made-up names in a summary of the plot:

WARNING – THIS PLOT SUMMARY CONTAINS SPOILERS

 Isaac’s Eye is a play about two men, one of whom (“Izzy”) is a liar, and the other (“Hank”) a womanizer who seduced his niece – a treachery that would kill the girl’s father if he found out.

• The first man, Izzy (we’ll call him “Izzy” in this plot summary… and we’ll call his woman friend “Cathy”) asks the other (we’ll call him “Hank”) to get for him a prestigious scientific position.
• Hank, afraid Izzy will upstage him scientifically, (and with some real doubts about his work) refuses. 
• Discovering Hank’s sexual adventures, Izzy blackmails Hank to obtain a promise of the position.
• Then Hank, on discovering that Izzy has broken up with Cathy, flirts with her, and Hank and Cathy swing from mutual hatred to a marriage proposal in one short scene.
• Cathy tells Hank about material he can use to counter-blackmail Izzy.
• Then, Cathy discovers Izzy stuck in a chair with a needle in his eye from which he has been unable to move, eat or drink for several weeks (sic).
• Izzy, thinking he is ruined anyway, renounces science and proposes to Cathy offering to be a farmer. 
• She accepts, and agrees to burn the information she had provided Hank for counter-blackmailing Izzy.
• But when Izzy makes some remarks suggesting less than an ironclad conviction to become a farmer, she leaves him once and for all, and leaves the other guy too.

This is complete fiction, nonsense, and a ridiculous and shabby plot; ascribing it to real people just makes it worse, but calling them Newton and Hooke is an outrage.

Calling the characters “Newton” and “Hooke” does not make this a play about those scientists.  (As Lincoln is said to have said, “If you call a pig’s tail a leg, how many legs does a pig have? Answer, it has four: Calling a pig’s tail a leg does not make it one.”)

Anyone who thought this play was about two important scientists has been, I’m afraid, hoodwinked...

Giving these despicable characters heft by calling them by the names of famous scientists is a literary/dramatic version of identity theft.
 

Notes and links...

ISAACS EYE

Featuring Jeff Biehl+, Kristen Bush*+, Haskell King*+ & Michael Louis Serafin-Wells*+

*denotes EST Member
+denotes Equity Member.
All actors appear courtesy of Actors' Equity Association.

 FROM EST: "As an experiment, young Isaac Newton inserted a long needle "between my eye and the bone, as near to the backside of my eye as I could." Why take such a risk? A comic exploration of how a rural farm boy in contentious, plague-ridden England willed himself to become one of the greatest thinkers in modern science."


Tickets: $30 | Student/Senior: $20
Runs: Wednesdays - Sundays @ 7pm
Pick Your Price Matinees: Saturdays & Sundays @ 2pm  

ENSEMBLE STUDIO THEATER (EST) HOME PAGE
http://www.ensemblestudiotheatre.org  

EST FIRST LIGHT FESTIVAL OF NEW PLAYS RELATED TO SCIENCE http://www.ensemblestudiotheatre.org/first-light-2013 

THE EST PASS
http://ensemblestudiotheatre.org/est-pass  

THE EST CHANNEL ON YOUTUBE
http://www.youtube.com/ensemblestudiotheatr/  

EST ON FACEBOOK
https://www.facebook.com/ensemblestudiotheatre  

 EST ON TWITTER
@ESTnyc

ISAAC NEWTON ON WIKIPEDIA

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton

 

THE 2012 TRU LOVE BENEFIT: MAKING THE IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE!

THE 2012 TRU LOVE BENEFIT

MAKING THE IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE!

Sunday, November 11, 2012 at 12 noon

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) organizes events to help producers, writers and other develop their careers.  It presents events that are valuable for beginners and sophisticates, and for OOB to Broadway. TRU complements the Commercial Theater Institute (which has an extraordinarily important program of courses and events that are almost a prerequisite for becoming a Broadway Producer). 

I’ve attended TRU events and they were excellent!

TRU is expanding its work and holding a benefit on Sunday, Nov 11.  The cause is good, and the event is very interesting!

Here’s some of what’s happening:

Cocktails at noon.

Luncheon at one

Performances and Awards at two.

It all takes place at the wild and notorious Lucky Cheng’s, which only just recently opened its new branch at 240 W. 52^nd Street in New York’s theater district.

Now in its 21st year as a not-for-profit service organization, TRU is proud to recognize one of their own by presenting the 2012 TRU Spirit of Theater Award to Van Dean in recognition of his rise from first-time producer in the TRU Voices reading series in 2005 (Saint Heaven) to a current Tony Award winner (Porgy & Bess) and prolific Broadway producer and creator of The Broadway Consortium, a new investment model that helped bring Bonnie & Clyde, Ching•lish, revivals of Evita and The Best Man and more to the Broadway stage.  

TRU will present the annual TRU Humanitarian Award to Broadway director-choreographer Jerry Mitchell (Hairspray, Catch Me If You Can, Legally Blonde and the upcoming Cyndi Lauper musical Kinky Boots) for his selfless work and passionate, generous spirit as the creator of Broadway Bares, raising over 9.9 million dollars for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.  

This year’s TRU Entrepreneur Award will be given to Edith O’Hara in celebration of the 40^th anniversary of the 13^th Street Repertory Company, which for four decades has provided a valuable first home for so many artists who move to New York to pursue theater.

Stark Sands, star of TV (Six Feet Under), movies (Pack of Dogs, Shall We Dance) and stage (American Idiot, Tony nominee for the Broadway revival of Journey’s End) will be offering up a preview of the new incoming musical Kinky Boots by Cyndi Lauper and Harvey Fierstein.

Andrea McArdle (Annie, Les Miserables, Beauty and the Beast, State Fair), as well as an array of talent that has appeared – or is appearing - in Dean and Mitchell productions will perform.

Laura Osnes will sing a song from Dean-produced Bonnie & Clyde as well as the upcoming first ever Broadway production of Rodger and Hammerstein’s classic Cinderella;

Kerry Butler (Xanadu, The Best Man) will be featured in her star turn solo from Catch Me If You Can, which Dean produced and Mitchell choreographed;

Celina Carvajal (Disney’s Tarzan) will  be singing a song with composer Paul Scott Goodman from his musical Rooms: A Rock Romance, Dean’s first off-Broadway venture before forming The Broadway Consortium;

Tanesha Ross (Hair) and Darren Ritchie (Wonderland) will sing a duet from Saint Heaven, Dean’s very first musical production which he found through the TRU Voices New Musicals Reading Series;

Lauren Zakrin (Legally Blonde, Wicked) and D.B. Bonds (Legally Blonde, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Last Five Years, associate director of incoming Kinky Boots) will be recreating their roles of Elle and Emmett in Legally Blonde, which Mitchell directed and choreographed;

and young Isabela Moner (Evita) will be singing a song from Dean-produced Evita.

The event promises a few more firsts, with a kick: Lucky Cheng’s and sponsor Absolut Vodka have created special cocktails named for the honorees. Attendees will be the first to sample the Vandini, the Cherry Mitchell and Mama Hare’s Tea.

The event will include a Silent Auction whose more than 60 items include

• A weekend stay at the Trump International Hotel in New York;
• VIP tickets to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade;
• Tickets to Kinky Boots, Evita, War Horse, The Anarchist, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Peter & the Starcatcher and much more;
• Plus over 50 gift items and services.

Bidding will start Friday 11/9 online, and continue at the event itself; items that do not reach their guarantee bid will continue bidding online during the following week. 

For information about being a bidder, email TRUAuction@gmail.com.

 The proceeds from this event directly benefit the programs of Theater Resources Unlimited, a not-for-profit service organization that educates people in the business of the arts, with a focus on producers, emerging theater companies and self-producing artists.

Programs include

• monthly panels, 
• workshops, 
• a Producer Development and Mentorship Program, 
• a new plays and new musicals reading series 
• and a community e-newsletter of jobs, services, resources and theater events. 

Tickets for the event are

• $175 Premium Patron Level reserved seating on the first tier near the stage and 
• $150 for Patron Level reserved seating on the first tier sides and second tier. 
• Non-reserved General Admission tickets may be purchased for $100. 

Details are available at www.truonline.org/TRULove12.htm,
and tickets are available through the TRU Store at www.truonline.org/store-new.html.

For inquiries about the event, email TRUnltd@aol.com or call 212-714-7628.

Programs of Theater Resources Unlimited are supported in part by public funds awarded through the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), as well as generous support from the Friar’s National Foundation Association and the Montage Foundation. Additional sponsorship for TRU Love is provided by Peroni Beer, The Players Theatre and Pure Audio Systems, with open captioning for people with hearing loss provided by Lauren Schecter and C2 Caption Coalition.

 For more information about TRU membership and programs, visit www.truonline.org or call (212) 714-7628.

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

BETWEEN THE SEAS - 2012

 

BETWEEN THE SEAS FESTIVAL 

OF MEDITERRANEAN

PERFORMING ARTS

Aug 20-26, 2012 

 

Aktina Stathaki, creator and artistic director of the BETWEEN THE SEAS FESTIVAL of Mediterranean performing arts has put together a terrific program for 2012, the second year of this new, annual project.

For a view of Aktina in 3D (or 2D) talking about putting the festival together, see:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inD2bcusJ3c&feature=plcp

 

For complete information, see: 

http://betweentheseas.org/home/

 

Here is this year's program:

PROGRAM

Dance

Rachel Erdos / Ido Tadmor: And Mr (the choreographer's cut) (Israel)

The international premiere of the work And Mr (the choreographer's cut) is an extended version of the solo 'and Mr' commissioned and performed by Israeli dancer and choreographer Ido Tadmor which was originally premiered in August 2011. Since then the piece has been performed in New York, Israel, Korea and Cyprus with upcoming performances in Brazil, Budapest and Hong Kong. This extended version had its Israeli premiere as part of Intima Dance Festival and Summer Dance Festival, Tel Aviv. www.rachelerdos.com.
Presented with the generous support of the Office of Cultural Affairs, Consulate of Israel in NYC. Additional support by Between the Seas Festival
(Monday August 20th at 7pm ; Tuesday August 21st at 6.30pm - USA premiere)

Vanessa Tamburi / Flusso Dance: Lost Rights (Italy/USA)

Lost Rights was created by FLUSSO dance project in collaboration with Visa2dance Festival and premiered at the Visa2dance Festival, Dar es Salaam in October 2010. The piece is specifically designed for four young dancers as a combination of movements taking roots in different cultures. The choreography articulates nine vignettes of the life of children in Africa: stories of lost rights and dignity. The piece is inspired by The sky of the last ones, a book that collects articles written by Maria G. Cutuli, an Italian reporter killed in Afghanistan in 2001. Her reporting brought her to Africa, the continent that she loved the most, then to Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Middle East. Her articles cover stories of life, and interviews with witnesses. Tales of women, children and war: "those that we forget because we do not belong to it. www.flussodanceproject.com
(Monday August 20th at 7pm ; Tuesday August 21st at 6.30pm - USA premiere)

Celli Contemporary Ballet: Irritante (Vexatious) (Italy)

What is vexatious? Sometimes the ignorance is vexatious, the stupidity is vexatious, the arrogance is vexatious. The soul is vexed when is tied to routine. The soul is vexed when is destroyed, when it is abandoned. The man is vexed when he doesn’t know how to express himself, when he’s repressed. Vexatious is the repressed necessity to make art, the only way for hope in a better society. Vexatious deals with the story of an Italian artist who crossed the ocean in search of fame and fortune. The new world gave him a warm welcome and everything he wanted. But soon the success he gained became greed and he forgot what counts most in a man’s life: the capacity to love. After losing everything he had, even his talent, he learned that only love can make you build a bridge across the ocean. www.cellicontemporaryballet.com
(Thursday August 23rd at 7pm ; Friday August 24th at 7pm )

Noa Dar: Arnica (Israel)

Arnica is an observation of the fluctuating connection between the world of the mind and the reality outside of it in what becomes an intensely personal and intimate work. In its original form Arnica is a collage of 17 solos, each between one and five minutes long performed by three women. For its international premiere at Between the Seas Noa Dar will perform 4 solos set to music by Tom Waits. “In Arnica Dar turns inwards to create a retrospective of ten years worth of choreography, in which she is the centerpiece...The physicality of her movement vocabulary, combined with an incredible sense of composition and balance, marked her as an important force in the dance community.” (Ori J. Lenkinski , The Jerusalem Post). www.noadar.com
Presented with the generous support of the Office of Cultural Affairs, Consulate of Israel in NYC.
(Thursday August 23rd at 7pm ; Friday August 24th at 7pm - USA premiere)

Sublime Dance Company: [+=1] (Albania/USA)

A new dance work that revolves around a broad investigation of Life's richness and abundance with respect to Relationships. Relationships here understood and investigated within an abstract level of consciousness. The work tries to explore its multifaceted realm and possibilities of consciousness by multiplication of perspectives.Finding 'Life' in the beginnings of relationships by exploring our drives, needs and capacities to maintain ourselves and survive within the constant fight for establishing a connection with the 'Other'. Finding 'Life' in the endless transitional moments wherein two persons start to recognize each other and decide to share grounds. Finding 'Life' at the end of a relationship's journey where emotions, passions, drives, and thoughts manifest themselves differently , and the need for a higher, richer, and more a meaningful experience is at the heart of Life. www.sublimedancecompany.com
(Thursday August 23rd at 9pm ; Friday August 24th at 9pm -  USA premiere)

Mancopy Dance Company: EVERY last BREATH (Denmark/Egypt/Lebanon/Palestine)

Four dancers from the Arab world seek out freedom and identity whenever possible. Through their stirred up history, constantly shaken by social and political instabilities, each one of them reveals a personal physical and artistic reality. EVERY last BREATH is a reflection on living in a place where every breath risks to be the last. “The piece [...] combines contemporary European choreography with the aspirations of those emerging from unending revolutions, wars and crises” (Sawsan Al Abtah - The Middle East Newspaper). Created in 2005 by Danish choreographer Jens Bjerregaard and open to cross-cultural research and collaboration, Mancopy's repertoire is built on Bjerregaard's choreography as well as that of acclaimed choreographers from around the world, including choreographers from Singapore, France, Hungary, and Italy and presenting both stage and site-specific productions. www.mancopy.dk
(Thursday August 23rd at 9pm ; Friday August 24th at 9pm - USA premiere)

Korhan Basaran and Artists: RAu (Turkey/USA)

RAu: a work created to open a new door to the unknown and undefined. In this experimental work, acclaimed Turkish choreographer and dancer Korhan Basaran focuses on challenging and questioning the aesthetic idea of the day and uses revision to explore and invent a new vocabulary in a new language which is aimed to be accessible to all.
(Sunday August 26th at 8.30pm )

Rebeca Tomás / A Palo Seco: Tradiciones Nuevas (USA/Spain)

The phrase a palo seco refers to the "a cappella" style of flamenco music, typically consisting of singing or percussion alone. That stripped-down aesthetic characterizes some of the company's biggest departures from tradition, featured in this production of Tradiciones Nuevas. While implementing typical Flamenco props, such as the bata de cola (long-train dress) and abanico (Spanish fan), the repertoire in this production will feature the company’s penchant for unconventional fare with an innovative and edgy New York feel. www.rebecaflamenca.com
(Saturday August 25th at 7pm )

Theater

Olga Pozeli / Noiti Grammi: When the red Toyota went off the road and sank in black water (Greece)

A prominent politician meets, at a party, a young woman who works for his party’s campaign. After several drinks and a solitary walk on the beach, the politician expresses his interest in the woman. Towards the end of the evening they leave the party together. While driving his car, the politician loses control and the car falls into a dark swamp and immediately sinks into black water. He manages to escape the sinking vehicle, leaving the woman to drown. We follow the story through her eyes -an impressionistic jumble of memories and voices from the past intersected by images from the day of her death. These images, stretched in time and constantly repeated, try to give an explanation for the tragic accident that leads to her slow and agonizing death. A performance on the corruption of power, as well as on our attitude towards the absurdity of a violent and unjust death. Olga Pozeli is the founder of critically acclaimed Noiti Grammi theater company in Athens, Greece, and has directed original devised works as well as plays by Berkoff, Bennett, Mamet, Ives and more. This show is supported by the Greek Ministry of Culture. www.noitigrammi.gr
(Tuesday August 21st at 9pm , and Wednesday August 22nd at 9pm - USA premiere)

Lina Abiad / Amahl Kouri: I.D. (Lebanon)

4 transgender people from around the Mediterranean set sail and dock in their own new bodies. I.D. is their voyage. With this new work that is having its USA premiere at Between the Seas Festival, director Lina Abiad and performer Amahl Kouri continue their mission of expanding the boundaries of Lebanese theater, bringing new works to communities outside of the mainstream. Presented with the generous support of the Lebanese American University.
(Saturday August 25th at 9pm ; Sunday August 26th at 2pm - USA premiere)

Sabine Choucair / Chantal Mailhac: Whispered Tales, from door to door (Lebanon)

A road trip from village to village, looking for Lebanese tales, ordinary people's extraordinary stories. Stories of love, hatred, neighborhood, life and death. Although they capture details of people's survival during tough times of the wars in Lebanon, the stories also reflect on the humane and humorous aspects of life. Whispered Tales is a 40min performance, with traditional music and songs, some thyme and oil and Lebanese coffee...
(Saturday August 25th at 9pm ; Sunday August 26th at 2pm -  USA premiere)

Special Events

Screening: The Glass Wall

Between the Seas will host a free screening of The Glass Wall, a documentary by Iranian-American filmmaker, theatre artist, educator, and scholar, Mahmood Karimi-Hakak. In 2009 Mr. Hakak spent a year in Israel and Palestine, on a mission to create a theatrical collaboration with participants on both sides of the decades-old conflict in that region. What he discovered was a 760 km (472 mi) concrete Wall that currently makes any such artistic collaboration meaningless, if not impossible. Karimi-Hakak had theatre artists from each side, Palestine and Israel, express their thoughts and feelings towards The Wall, its effect on their creative work and their day-to-day life. They are also asked to imagine The Wall as transparent, hence The Glass Wall, and comment on what they see on the other side. With candid interviews of theatre artists,enhanced by footage of their theatre productions, this film takes us to the heart of one of the most impassioned cultural divides in our time. theglasswallfilm.weebly.com
(Wednesday August 22nd at 6.30pm )

Family: A Visit from Victoria

The Lower East Side Tenement Museum presents: A Visit from Victoria Based on the Life of Victoria (Confino) Cohen who grew up at 97 Orchard Street, currently home to the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. Meet Victoria Confino, a 14 year old Greek Sephardic immigrant who will take you through her immigration story and life on the Lower East Side in 1916. Written by Elly Berke.
(Saturday August 25th at 11)

Staged readings

Benedictus

An ambitious international collaboration, Benedictus, brings together acclaimed artists from Iran, Israel and the United States: Motti Lerner, one of Israel's most provocative contemporary playwrights, Torange Yeghiazarian, Artistic Director of Golden Thread, Iranian-American director Mahmood Karimi-Hakak of Siena College and American designer Daniel Michaelson of Bennington College, and dramaturg Roberta Levitow, founder of Theatre Without Borders.
(Sunday August 26th at 12 pm)

This Time

This Time is a new play written by Sevan Kaloustian Greene and directed by Kareem Fahmy. It was developed through a series of exploratory workshops beginning in the fall of 2011 as part of director Kareem Fahmy’s “Emerging Artist of Color Fellowship” at New York Theatre Workshop. The key source material was the memoir Not So Long Ago, by Zeinab Allam which tells the story of Zeinab’s departure from Egypt in the 1960s because of an affair she was having with an American professor.
(Sunday August 26th at 4pm)

PULP SHAKESPEARE

If you like Quentin Tarantino's films... And, perhaps, memorized Pulp Fiction... And

Like hearing iambic pentameter
Elizabethan, or just written now

Then you should enjoy Pulp Shakespeare, currently at FringeNYC, after a successful run last year at the Hollywood Fringe Fest.

Remaining performances: Sun., Aug. 19, 5:30 p.m.; Thu., Aug. 23, 9:15 p.m.; Fri., Aug. 24, 2 p.m. (866) 468-7619 or www.fringenyc.org.


Directed by Jordan Monsell, founder and Artistic Director of Her Majesty's Secret Players. The play is based on an adaptation by Ben Tallen, Aaron Greer, Brian Watson-Jones, and Jordan Monsell.

Cast:  Cast: Hannah Beck, Curtis D. Davis, Liza de Weerd, Nathaniel Freeman, John Klopping, David Lautman, Christian Levatino, Aaron Lyons, Juan Perez, BrIan Weiss, Dan White, Justine Woodford and Jordan Monsell.



LINKS

Official Site:
www.pulpshakespeare.com

FringeNYC :
 www.fringenyc.org


Review:
http://www.backstage.com/bso/reviews-ny-theatre-off-off-broadway/ny-review-pulp-shakespeare-1007825752.story

BETWEEN THE SEAS FESTIVAL - SEEKING PRODUCTION TEAM MEMBER

BETWEEN THE SEAS

THEATER FESTIVAL

August 20-26th 2012

At the Wild Project

New York City

Between the Seas is a unique cultural initiative in the city, being the very first and only festival promoting contemporary culture from the Mediterranean. This year's program includes artists from NYC, Greece, Israel, Denmark, Lebanon, Italy and more.

"Between the Seas Festival of Mediterranean Performing Arts is seeking an enthusiastic and motivated student or young professional specializing in technical theater, to join our team. The intern will have the opportunity to assist with the organization of the festival and get a hands on experience in providing production support in a festival setting.

Responsibilities include: overseeing the smooth and timely run of rehearsals for the participating artists; assist with artists' technical needs as they may arise; communicate effectively with the Technical Director, Production Director and theater manager to ensure that the everything is in order for the smooth running of performances. The incumbent will work with an enthusiastic and experienced team of organizers, will have the opportunity to meet and work with artists from NYC and abroad, get free access to all of the festival's shows and receive a small stipend.

This is a one-week commitment (August 20th to the 26th) and most of the work will be during daytime (9-5pm) although some evening work may be required.

"It is a fast growing organization and we like to meet students and young professionals with whom we can establish long standing collaborations."

For more information visit

http://www.betweentheseas.org/

COWBOY MOUTH

ONE OLD CROW PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS 

COWBOY MOUTH 

BY SAM SHEPARD & PATTI SMITH 

A SITE SPECIFIC PLAY WITH MUSIC

JUNE 7-22 

THE SALON APARTMENT ABOVE LUCKY CHENG’S 

IN THE HEART OF THE LOWER EAST SIDE

COWBOY MOUTH
Diana Beshara As Cavale... With her pet dead-crow
Photo by Leah Benavides  COWBOY MOUTH is an early play by Sam Shepard and Patti Smith, that developed from the real life affair of Shepard -- who had recently left his wife and child -- and Smith.

The structure of the play seems to be a series of small mini set pieces of passionate love/anger with overtones of absurdity and suicidal despair between Slim and Cavale, which escalate rather abruptly into powerful monologues with metaphorical overtones based on the need to be free.

The play is presented in a grungy apartment in a grungy neighborhood. The audience sits on chairs in the apartment, which gives the play something of the flavor of immersive, site-specific theater. However, the audience does not participate in the play (except for unscripted interruptions by errant theater-goers). This setting has been compared to Sleep No More, but an apt comparison between the two is:  Watching a stick-ball game in the street compared to attending the first game of the World Series and possibly catching a home-run ball: Watching stick-ball can be fun, but the nature of the audience participation is really part of the game at the World Series -- and the scale of the event and the skill level of the participants are vastly (almost incomparably) different. (Note: In Sleep No More, the audience participation is an integral part of the experience, and the expertise and skill level of every aspect of the show is breathtaking.)

One important facet of a director's job is to make every moment of a play clear in its context. I had trouble with that at this production: The characters did not seem to me to be clear about what they were really fighting about, or how much they really cared about -- or hated -- each other. In a play with more subtext than text, clarity of intention is essential.

I also found myself distracted in many other ways -- the accents were inconsistent: sometimes the actors seemed to be trying to talk like cowboys, but mostly not; the characters kept changing clothes for no explicable reason; the bizarre costuming of the Lobster Man did not seem to fit with what was suggested about him; and the dead-crow pet never gained a life of its own. I also had a bit of a problem with watching lovers on a bed who are over-dressed for making love on a bed.

The drums were the best, but overall the music was not impressive.

Aside from the set, the strongest aspect of the production was the final set-pieces by each of the characters. Had they been well set up by a strong lead-in they would have rounded out a powerful play.

All in all, while this is not a definitive production of Cowboy Mouth, it had no major faults, just possibilities not fully realized. The production is still a revealing and interesting presentation of an early Sam Shepard play that is not too frequently performed. Plus... there is free cheap wine, and a chance to hang out in Cavale's grungy apartment and watch her and Slim love, fight, and deal with Lobster Man.

(Note: The play takes place in an apartment above Lucky Cheng's, (LC), but the entrance is separate, around the corner from the entrance to LC. The night I was there, the Lobster Man was on the corner with fortune cookies with directions to the apartment. -- LC, that night, by the way, was hosting an LGBT/Drag  Karaoke.)

(Note: Come early to find a good comfortable seat with clear sight-lines. But a Cautionary Note: Front row seats might get splashed!)

Below is some information about the production from the producers and some links to more information:

"One Old Crow Productions presents a site-specific production of COWBOY MOUTH, the play born out of the actual relationship between America’s most celebrated dramatist, Sam Shepard and the godmother of Punk, Patti Smith. 

This play with original music composed in collaboration with the cast and director takes place in a grungy space above the bar, Lucky Cheng's, in the Lower East Side and will incorporate elements from the streets of New York.

One Old Crow invites the audience into Cavale's apt, where she has been holed up with Slim. 

The production is directed by Leah Benavides (The 4th Graders Present an Unnamed Love-Suicide at The Tank; Member of the 2011 Lincoln Center Director Lab) and will feature Diana Beshara (The Love Letter You’ve Been Meaning to Write New York at 3LD) as Cavale, Geoffrey Pomeroy (Two Days ‘til Dawn at the 2011 Planet Connections Festivity) as Slim,and Matthew Mark Stannah (2011 AADM graduate) as Lobster Man. 

The cast, in collaboration with the director, created the set, artwork, and original music. Slim, a musician, is in the apartment of the young Cavale, who dreams of making him the next rock n’ roll savior. What follows is a hypnotic meditation on art, desire, music, the state of the world, the place of dreams, and “two big dreamers who came together but were destined to come to a sad end.” (Patti Smith, 1974). 

The production, presented by One Old Crow Productions plays a three-week engagement in an apartment above Lucky Cheng’s (24 1st Avenue at 2nd Street) June 7-22; 

June 7 & 8, 11-14, & 20 & 21 at 8pm, 

Friday, June 15 & 22 at 8pm and 10pm, and 

Sunday, June 10 & 17 at 5pm. 

TICKETS($15) may be purchased 

online at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/246617 

or by calling 1-800-838-3006. 

ONE OLD CROW PRODUCTIONS is a new company dedicated to producing works across multiple mediums that highlight and celebrate an experimental nature and an explorative use of space and place. We are not interested so much in Naturalism as REALISM; in exploring the reality and truth in situations that exist outside of daily life yet illuminate our existence. "

LINKS: 

Note: There is a band called COWBOY MOUTH which is not related to this production or this play. 

ONE OLD CROW PRODUCTIONS -- THE OFFICIAL SITE FOR THIS PLAY www.oneoldcrowproductions.com
http://www.oneoldcrowproductions.com/up-next.html

COWBOY MOUTH - WIKIPEDIA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowboy_Mouth_(play)

SAM SHEPARD - WIKIPEDIA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Shepard

PATTI SMITH - WIKIPEDIA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patti_Smith

SLEEP NO MORE - QPORIT
http://qporit.blogspot.com/2012/05/sleep-no-more-review-guide.html

LUCKY CHENG's
http://luckychengsnyc.com/

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW

Theatre for a New Audience Presents...

Andy Grotelueschen and Maggie Siff 

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW

Photo by Henry Grossman

The Taming of the Shrew

By William Shakespeare

The Duke on 42nd Street

Maggie Siff is a shrew! In all too many productions of THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, the "shrew" is not a shrew, but just a bit cross with her language, and the play makes no sense: there is no shrew to tame. In this production, Maggie bursts onto the stage in an obnoxious roar. Katharina is a shrew. It justifies, explains, and humanizes the whole play.

Andy Grotelueschen appears on stage announcing he's there to find a woman. When he hears that Katharina is available, has a rich dad and a fine dowry, he's pleased; and when he hears she's feisty and more, and worse, (and more worser! still), he's delighted. It's a challenge, a game he's happy to play. And he spells out his method, so there's no question he's about to play a game he's going to enjoy... and is playing to win.

This production of Shakespeare's The Taming of The Shrew, with Maggie Siff as Katharina and Andy Grotelueschen as Petruchio, directed by Arin Arbus at Theater For A New Audience (TFANA) is enjoyable, understandable, entertaining and generally excellent.

Andy Grotelueschen and Maggie Siff THE TAMING OF THE SHREWPhoto by Gerry Goodstein

The Taming of The Shrew (TTOTS) is one of Shakespeare's early plays, based on several sources from which different plot elements of the play are taken (including a whole tradition of plays about "taming" women). It was published long after it was written, and there is only one version of the play. (This, of course, leaves open the possibility that the play we have is not exactly what Shakespeare wrote -- that it might contain parts he did not write, and that parts he did write might be missing.)

Another play, published anonymously (close to the time when TTOTS was first written), called THE TAMING OF A SHREW (TTOAS), contains both similarities and differences to Shakespeare's play.

Structurally, both plays begin with a section, called the "Induction," in which a passed-out drunk is discovered by a rich man, who decides to play a prank: he dresses the drunk, Sly, as a rich man and instructs his attendants to convince Sly when he awakes that Sly has just awoken from a years-long drunken madness, and that he is really a rich man. Then the rich man arranges to have a play, namely "The Taming of The Shrew" performed for Sly. So TTOTS is actually the play within the play, introduced by the "Induction".

The Taming of the Shrew, The Merchant of Venice, and Othello, are all politically incorrect plays. Shrew is about misogyny, Merchant is about a merciless money-lending Jew, and Othello is about a black man drawn to jealous murder of his innocent white wife.

Modern stage directors typically deal with these unPC themes in some combination of three ways:

-- most often, they emphasize the humanity that Shakespeare gives his character ("Hath not a Jew eyes?");

-- least often, they embrace the slur ("And if you wrong us, do we not revenge?" ... "Even now, now, very now, an old black ram / Is tupping your white ewe.");

-- and sometimes, they deny the obvious political incorrectness and try to create an interpretation of the play that enables a politically correct production.

-- less typically, they find a way to finesse the incorrectness of the story.

Arin Arbus uses a combination of all these techniques.

Most obvious, in this production, is denial: the play in this production is not misogynist: Petruchio does not "tame" Kate, but rather allows her to find herself. Petruchio is playing a game; Katharina is an obnoxious shrew only out of frustration with her inability to communicate with her family and her dislike for any apparently available suitors; and when she warms up to his game and realizes she is in tune with Petruchio (impressed, though skeptical, that he says everything he is doing is for her benefit), Katharina and Petruchio truly fall in love and Katharina can dispense with the bad behavior and become herself. She is not changed, not tamed, but allowed to self-realize her true nature.

As for the other techniques, the production embraces Katharina's early shrewishness, and the production gives all the characters their full measure of humanity and realistic behavior.

Moreover, this production includes the "Induction," the first scene of the play (often omitted from a staging) which establishes "The Taming of the Shrew" as a play with a play, finessing its unPC theme by giving it an extra measure of distancing, or plausible deniability as to its intrinsic misogyny.

The production does have some problems: while the lead characters are terrific, and speak clearly and understandably; and most all the acting is excellent, some of the speeches of some of the characters are at times completely incomprehensible.

Also, Bianca, (played nicely by the pretty -- tho' improbably tall for her character -- Kathryn Saffell, in her OB debut), and the Widow (Owen Fouere) rather suddenly and without dramatic justification turn from ostensible models of "good" behavior at the beginning, to models of truculence against whom Katharina can then rail at the end.

As mentioned before, in the script of The Taming of The Shrew that has come down to us from some years after Shakespeare's time, there is an "Induction," an opening scene which sets up the play, "The Taming of The Shrew" as a play within a play, performed to a drunk who has been dressed up by a rich prankster.

The "Induction" is the only scene in which the framing characters appear. In this production, the characters from the framing -- which is placed inexplicably in the Wild West -- sit in the audience throughout the evening to watch the performance of TTOTS , and even have a few words borrowed from the other play ("The Taming of A Shrew"), in which there is also a framing device.

But then there is nothing more. It would have been more satisfying at the end of the play, even if the framing characters had no more words, to -- at least -- give them a bit of business (perhaps a spotlight on the character, Sly, at the end as he applauds the play he's seen, or show him walking away from the scene thoroughly confused, or still drunk and fast asleep), to complete the framing.

A talk-back after the show (there's another after the Saturday April 14 matinee) made some interesting points. Julie Crawford, from Columbia University stressed the idea that the play as written by Shakespeare embraces simultaneous and conflicting interpretations, while Robert Michels, a Professor of Psychiatry at Cornell was interested in the interpretation of this production which centered -- as described above -- on the way that Katharina and Petruchio find love with each other.

The prominence of discussions of the terms of marriage contracts between men and women in this play was also emphasized.

There was also considerable discussion at the talk-back of the framing device of the Induction which, in addition to serving to distance the play from its presumptive misogyny, also casts a spotlight on the fact that in the original productions of this and Shakespeare's other plays, the roles of women were played by boys and men; and that the role one plays in society can seem to change so easily, here just by dressing up in better clothes.

For more information and tickets:

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW

http://www.tfana.org/season/taming-shrew/overview

SOME INTERESTING LINKS:

THEATRE FOR A NEW AUDIENCE (TFANA) is one of New York's most important theaters for the consistently excellent production of Shakespearean plays.

www.tfana.org

TFANA has put together a detailed analysis of the play and this production:

http://www.tfana.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/The-Taming-of-the-Shrew-360-A-Viewfinder-2012.pdf
 

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW - WIKIPEDIA

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Taming_of_the_Shrew 
 

The Taming of A Shrew (Anonymous), similar in some ways to The Taming of The Shrew (TTOTS), is often taken to be a garbled version of  (a possibly early draft of) TTOTS,  with elements, perhaps, of other plays as well:

http://public.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/shakespeare/taming.html

MAGGIE SIFF (Katharina) ON WIKIPEDIA

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maggie_Siff

MAGGIE SIFF ON IMDB

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1745019/
 

ANDY GROTELUESCHEN (Petruchio)

http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Trinity/actor-andygrotelueschen/

KATHRYN SAFFELL (Bianca)

http://kathrynsaffell.com/

HERE ARE SOME LINKS TO    
SCRIPTS AND VIDEOS

TAMING OF THE SHREW 

ALL VARIATIONS:

(Note: Please check that you are getting the format and version you want; 

the same play comes in many variations!)