Sci-fi Theater: Flying Snakes in 3D

Flying Snakes in 3D

Everywhere Theater Group

The Ice Factory 2012 at the New Ohio Theater

written & directed by Leah Nanako Winkler & Teddy Nicholas

Thursday, July 5

The gentrification of New York's theater scene gets confronted, tackled, and beaten in this rough comedy of politics and passion. Everywhere Theater Group opens Snakes with a set of monologues by the creators, direct-address style, explaining that their company are survivors of bad neighborhoods and worse parents. Without connections or pedigrees, these young artists aren't just struggling to make art, they're actually and literally struggling to survive in Bloomberg's New York. Through their show, they aim to express the righteous fury that novaed too briefly in last fall's Occupy movement. Thus galvanizing opening, a political manifesto laced with friendly humor, admits what most Off-Off-Broadway theater tries to hide: its poverty is more a result of disenfranchisement than thwarted ambition or absence of talent. It sets the audience up for a punk-like show that won't aspire to look like the Establishment work uptown.

Once the play itself starts, however, it fails on this count. As a broad burlesque of summer blockbusters, Snakes hints that the creators want to stage an impossible piece of theater. But most of the action―like those soaring snakes of the title―is actually on video, not live. Ironically, the filmed, edited, and CGI-ed projections (courtesy Chase Voorhees) are the strongest facet of the whole show. The script, on the other hand, over-exposits its B-movie conventions. All along, it recognizes how mainstream theater exploits music, realism, and a desire for money and sex, all to manipulate the audience's sentiments. But recognition and subversion aren't the same thing; too often, and especially at its heartfelt action climax/curtain number, Snakes buys into the same conventions. ETG intends to be great on its own terms, but it needs to tighten its act and get truly subversive to undermine the system.

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Flying Snakes in 3D, part of the 2012 Ice Factory at the New Ohio Theater.

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Theater: New Shows (July 3-9)

Despite the national holiday, more shows make their debut this cycle than did in June's final week. The show to see is probably DruidMurphy, which rides into town on a wave of anticipation. But I'm a sucker, so I can't wait to see Alan Cumming's one-man Macbeth. It sounds silly, and likely will be, but it's also singular and potentially revelatory.

DruidMurphy

where: Lynch Theater at Lincoln Center

first night: Thursday, July 5

A nine-hour epic trilogy of violent, ugly Irish theater. Notes about the playwright, Tom Murphy, possess the sort of blushing enthusiasm that imply he'd been forgotten for a few decades; he definitely isn't well-known on this side of the Atlantic. But LC Festival-goers enjoy a long, hard sit since it's almost invariably rewarded with a phenomenal experience.

Nymph Errant

where: Theater Row

first night: Saturday, July 7

Cole Porter's the main draw to this musical production, which revises and adapts the non-Porter book. A sophisticated English gal tromps around the world, trying her damnedest to lose her virginity.

Macbeth

where: Rose Theater at Lincoln Center

first night: Thursday, July 5

Alan Cumming plays the thane, his wife, and every other role in this one-man version of Shakespeare's tightest tragedy. I've never seen him perform Shakespeare (live, anyway―he was fine in Taymor's Titus), but I hesitate to call this show a gimmick. He's definitely got enough vitality to hypnotize an audience into buying it.

Serious Money / Monster

where: Atlantic Stage 2

first night: Tuesday, July 3

As usual, the annual summer double-bill from the Potomac Theater Project shows a great program but likely will disappoint with stagey productions. Still, I'll risk it to see Serious Money, a vicious look at insider trading from radical leftie/genius playwright Caryl Churchill. And who wouldn't feel tempted by Neal Bell's essential adaptation of Frankenstein?

Last chance!

Anything Goes

where: Sondheim Theater

The Columnist

where: Friedman Theater

The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess

where: Rodgers Theater

Recall

where: The Wild Project

A Thick Description of Harry Smith (Volume I)

where: The Culture Project at 45 Bleecker

Sci-fi Theater: Space//Space

Space//Space is the ultimate trip,
if your drug of choice is Lexapro
(photo credit: Ryan Jensen)

Space//Space

Banana Bag & Bodice at Collapsable Hole

written by Jason Craig

directed by Mallory Catlett

June 15, 2012

Before Space//Space begins, the plexiglass pod onstage and electronic soundscape evoke a low-budget, deep-space atmosphere. But it's the show's prologue that sets the tone. A mad scientist twitches through a logorrheic lecture describing what we'll see as a failed scientific experiment. Is this modernist drama itself a failed experiment as well? It's definitely a journey to the outer orbit of theatrical expression. Launched on a one-way mission into the void, brothers Jason Craig and Jessica Jelliffe are lab rats (they wear hamster outfits instead of jump-suits) who kill time by spinning LPs, rationing “emergency sandwiches”, and, in his case, reciting baldly sexist stand-up material. In a bit of quantum flux, Jelliffe's cosmonaut spontaneously turns into a woman. Despite odd outbursts of space madness and witty observations on boredom, after sixty minutes of ironic anti-performance Space//Space feels like the failed experiment it claimed to be.

But Craig, Jelliffe, and director/dramaturg Mallory Catlett have death on their minds as well as gender. Just as Space//Space starts to coast on its inertia, it turns into a cosmic pocket-epic with mythic resonances, a 2001 filtered through the knowing ironies of the 21C avant-garde. Mortal fears creep into Craig's voice, for even in the future the only thing more fearful than eternal boredom is oblivion. Jelliffe, however, strips to reveal a belly swollen by pregnancy that somehow doesn't clash with her bearded face. A holy androgyne, she morphs into some sort of Space Goddess, some future-myth's equivalent of an Earth Mother. Her previously hyper-casual style of performance takes on warm undertones, and she becomes a psychopomp who will guide the dying astronaut through a space odyssey of death and rebirth. In its final scenes, Space//Space goes further out than any show you'll see, skirting failure to reveal something rich and strange.

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Space//Space plays at Collapsable Hole, closing on July 1. Tickets?

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Theater: New Shows (June 25-July 1)

The two strongest festivals in town make their entrances this week, just what you need in the swelter of a New York summer. My picks are below. But somehow, the most “fest-like” of the summer's shows stands apart from the circuses: A Thick Description of Harry Smith (Volume I). It reworks old-timey folk songs to reveal the strange, secret face of America! 

Dogfight

where: Second Stage

first night: Wednesday, June 27

Portentously set on 11/21/63 (spoiler: JFK gets assassinated), it follows a sweet little romance between a Vietnam-bound Marine and a plain-looking coffeeshop waitress. Joe Mantello directs & he's usually worth your while. Alternatively, it's worth digging up the 1991 indie film that this musical is based on. 

Ice Factory 2012

where: The New Ohio Theater

first night: Wednesday, June 27

Hands down, Gotham's best festival―guaranteed to blow your mind. Personally, I want to see Flying Snakes in 3D, an attempt to create an experimental play out of material more suitable for a summer multiplex. But maybe an adaptation of a 1911 novel/spaghetti western is more your thing. Or a Southern Gothic by Bekah Brunstetter.

A Thick Description of Harry Smith (Volume I)

where: The Culture Project

first night: Thursday, June 28

A sort of psychedelic radio-play biodrama about Harry Smith, a mid-20th-century free thinker (a beatnik, in the period idiom). He edited the seminal Anthology of American Folk Music, which is almost a mystical portal into our musical inheritence. This a developmental workshop, so watch with an eye towards what the show might become, not what it is.

Undergroundzero Fest

where: Lower East Side

first night: Friday, June 29

A madcap series of hit-and-run works, this midsummer festival is what the Fringe wishes it were. The Living Theater, keeping the countercultural spirit alive, makes a strong showing with work about the Weather Underground and another about the suffragette movement. But if political theater makes you squeemish, try a Gospel of St. Matthew or a folk-opera about the Titanic.

Last chance!

4000 Miles

where: Lincoln Center's Newhouse Theater

As You Like It

where: The Public's Delacorte Theater

I Am a Tree

where: Theater at St. Clement's

Democracy

where: The Brick Theater

Jesus Christ Superstar

where: Neil Simon Theater

Man and Superman

where: Irish Repertory Theater

More of Our Parts

where: Theater Row

Murder in the First

where: 59E59

Sovereign

where: The Secret Theater

Space//Space

where: Collapsable Hole

Storefront Church

where: Atlantic Theater

The Hunchback Variations

where: 59E59

The Lathe of Heaven

where: 3LD Arts & Technology

The Lyons

where: Cort Theater

These Seven Sicknesses

where: The Flea Theater

This Is Fiction

where: Cherry Lane Theater

Tiny Dynamite

where: 59E59

Theater: New Shows (June 12-18)

Two shows have my ticket this week. One's Sovereign, the third part of a sci-fi trilogy. The first two parts were choice dramas that managed to be both B-movie fun and sharply intelligent theater. The other is The Bad and the Better. Despite the spaghetti western title, it's actually a modern noir. A teaser clip suggests a French New Wave vibe.

7th Monarch

where: Theater Row

first night: Tuesday, June 12

The parents of a onetime math prodigy are missing, which leads a social worker to uncover the truth behind the wunderkind's teenaged crack-up. Despite the tease of higher math, Monarch sounds like one soppy drama.

The Bad and the Better

where: Playwrights Horizons

first night: Thursday, June 14

TB&TB sees the Amoralists, a mangy bunch of downtowners, ditch the corny domestic melodrama that they've made their reps on. Instead, a monster-sized cast evoke a film-noir cityscape of corrupt pols, anarchist cells, heavy-truncheoned police, and surly bartenders: just the setting for a pair of brothers to stage their showdown.

The Honeycomb Trilogy: Sovereign

where: The Secret Theater

first night: Thursday, June 14

The final part of a crackerjack sci-fi trilogy, a sort of War of the Worlds by way of Ibsen―and even more fun than it sounds! High points of the first two parts have included a homosexual, interspecies romance and a nine-foot fiberglass bee's leg. Part 3 has the rebellion's leader, once a surly teen, try her brother as a collaborator. I'm probably more excited for this show than any other play this summer.

This Is Fiction

where: Cherry Lane Studio

first night: Tuesday, June 12

A young writer, about to publish her first novel, returns to warn her family it's based on them. That scenario sounds over-familiar, which doesn't inspire confidence.

Last chance!

The Bad Boys

where: Second Stage Uptown

The Caretaker

where: BAM Harvey Theater

Don't Dress for Dinner

where: American Airlines Theater

February House

where: The Public Theater

The Golden Veil

where: The Kitchen

Luther

where: HERE Arts Center

Rangoon

where: Theater Row

Title and Deed

where: Signature Theater

Venus in Fur

where: Lyceum Theater

Theater: New Shows (June 5-11)

No longer writing this column for a website, I don't have to recommend just one play. And frankly, I'm looking forward to half of this week's debuts! Two classics get remounted: a traditional (probably) As You Like It in Central Park and an Uncle Vanya in modern vernacular. These Seven Sicknesses is a myth cycle worth the 5+-hours time; I saw it in January, & I'll see it again. To balance these, I'll catch the forward-looking Space//Space, an avant-garde comedy set in deep space! And if I have any evenings left over, I'll visit 3C, by one of my favorite young playwrights, David Adjmi.

As You Like It

where:  Delacorte Theater

first night:  Tuesday, June 5

Celebrate this NYC institution's 50th anniversary by heading to the Forest of Arden. As Rosalind, Lily Rabe continues to stake her claim as a great Shakespearean, after her subtle turn as Portia in summer 2010. Oliver Platt plays the Fool, Stephen Spinella gets the “All the world's a stage” speech, and Daniel Sullivan directs, presumably in his typical low-key manner.

3C

where:  Rattlestick Playwrights Theater

first night:  Wednesday, June 6

A pastiche of Three's Company―seriously. But David Adjmi also wrote Elective Affinities, a stunning and dense monologue about art, existence, and (obliquely) the War on Terror that may've been the best play of the '11-'12 season. So expect less farce and more absurdism. Plus, the cast looks great, with the intriguing Hannah Cabell in the, uh, “Janet” role.

These Seven Sicknesses

where:  The Flea Theater

first night:  Wednesday, June 6

The Flea remounts an astonishing evening of theater. This five-hour work adapts the complete works of Sophocles, transforming them into a cunning, often hilarious cycle on Oedipus and Troy. Dinner's included with the ticket, served at the first intermish. I recommend TSS unreservedly.

Tiny Dynamite

where:  59E59

first night:  Thursday, June 7

A small British play that made a big noise in its original production a decade ago. It's a three-hander, a bittersweet love triangle, about how lives can be altered by a small, random event.

Uncle Vanya

where:  Soho Rep

first night:  Thursday, June 7

One of the most anticipated shows of the summer, this take on Chekhov has been couched in a contemporary idiom. The heat comes partly from collaborators Annie Baker (adaptor) and Sam Gold (director), whose Circle Mirror Transformation and The Aliens were two of the most memorable shows in the last few years. But it's also because of a stupendous cast that includes Maria Dizzia (In the Next Room), one of the most gutsy actresses around.

Recall

where:  The Wild Project

first night:  Friday, June 8

A version of the Bad Seed trope, as a child does some very naughty things. Playwright Eliza Clark makes her rent by writing for The Killing, a smart TV show about murder, so she should know from evil. She also describes her script as a “sci-fi play” set in an “alternate present.”

Space//Space

where:  Collapsable Hole

first night:  Friday, June 8

Subversive science-fiction from Banana Bag & Bodice, a Brooklyn troupe that pushes the adjective “experimental” in bold directions. In this oddity, two brothers get launched into deep space; one swaps genders, the other gets existential. A claustrophobic absurdity with futuristic SFX and mod projections. I can't wait!

The 66th Annual Tony Awards

where:  The Beacon Theater, CBS, and online

first night:  Sunday, June 10

Neil Patrick Harris returns to MC; that may be enough for you to enjoy Broadway's night of plaudits. I'm bored by awards ceremonies, however, so I'll sit this one out.

Shakespeare notebook: As You Like It

Elisabeth Ahrens, center, lets her hair down as Rosalind
in the all-female Queen's Company's As You Like It

As You Like It

The Queen's Company at Walkerspace

written by William Shakespeare

directed by Rebecca Patterson

A pair of stumps and a tree in silhouette could set the stage for half a dozen of Shakespeare's plays. So it's the action—and not an elaborate, conceptual design—that defines Rebecca Patterson's all-female production of As You Like It. Each time someone leaves the dark, paranoid court for the Forest of Arden, their violent impulses dissolve. The constant stream of converts lends a harmonious atmosphere to the sylvan utopia of bumpkins and exiles. Folks have time to kill in this forest, and they spend it debating the nature of the world while noting the process of time. Patterson has edited the script, minimizing its raucous clowning and cutting a difficult, equivocal hunting scene. Her stripped approach suits AYLI well, bringing out its philosophical spirit as well as a communal theme.

Patterson balances her abstract design with a realistic style of performance. Her actors speak the verse as dialogue, not poetry, which stifles any impulse to overact. As Rosalind, Elisabeth Ahrens delights in the ardor of her partner Orlando but can't help teasing him for his exuberance. Opposite her, Virginia Baeta is so passionate about love that it's no surprise he doesn't see his paramour is right there disguised as a boy. Unfortunately, the duo don't have enough chemistry to kindle their love-play into flames. As for the cast as a whole, they play off each other comfortably, and their enthusiasm for playing Shakespeare—and not just the female roles—makes up for any rough skill. Rather than overplaying their parts, they let the dialogue enhance their simple characterizations. Just as the set could serve for Shakespearean dramas, the company could easily mount a full repertory of classic English comedies.

No surprise, then, that the one major flaw in AYLI involves specificity. Patterson and designer Anna Licavita costume the court as if it were the corrupt government in a Reagan-era banana dictatorship. Like most attempts to reset Shakespeare's plays in another time and place, '80s Latin America fits uncomfortably around this play. The Miami Vice outfits, floofy cupcake nighties, and aviator sunglasses are funny but add nothing that the actors and script haven't already shown us.

Much better are beats in the second half when the action pauses for characters to rock out to '80s pop music. The Queen's Company loves using this entertaining, idiosyncratic device to express passionate, inexpressible moments like “love at first sight.” The quirky joy of these moments epitomizes the company's approach to their mission. The company casts only actresses in classic plays, but a political agenda is subtextual and secondary. Their motivation, rather, seems to be more artistic: why shouldn't women play these great roles? The programming sticks to comedies, by Shakespeare and others, plays which rarely depict sexual activity except in the most abstract way. That fact, plus the tropes of disguise and rebellion against parents, the exceptional fake beards, and the earnest cheese of those musical interludes all give their work the undertone of a romantic fantasy enacted by girls at a pajama party.