Archive - 2010
August 23rd
Provincetown Peer
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 08/23/2010 - 09:48After watching nearly twenty shows during The first week of FringeNYC, just about everything looks like a play. Our trip to Provincetown yesterday was no exception. It had the characteristic of a play by a younger playwright. The characters and setting were well developed but the plot seemed to meander without direction.
The first scene was in a small shack on the peer where a young carver plied his wares. Geoff Semonian, the son of a machinist who had rented this space from the town as the they sought to bring the arts. The rent was low but the applications were juried. The town wanted artists with enough inventory to make it through the summer and a willingness to be open seven days a week on top of a fine artistic sensibility.
The town made a wise choise in selecting Geoff with one exception. His sales were stronger than he annticipated and his carvings did not last the season. During the final days of the season he is only selling as quickly as he can carve, and he's built up a good list of orders for the fall.
We had a great discusion about his work as he painted a few new pieces. Working in wood with a tolerance of a sixteenth of an inch is relaxation compared to trying to get stainless steel to a thousandth of an inch.
The underlying theme was creativity. To often, people do not think about the creativity inherent in trades other than their own, and Geoff serves as a reminder to all of us about the value of creativity in all walks of life.
The second act began in line for the whale watch. Fiona struck up a discussion with Christina, a middle school teacher from Long Island and her husband, a New York City fire fighter. It was her first whale watch and she was concerned about seasickness as well as how many whales they would see.
The weather was predicted to be rough but it turned out to not be as rough as expected and we saw plenty of whales.
After viewing the Provincetown Peer we headed back to the camp where Fiona did her radio show; reviewing the events of the day. Then we settled down to a wonderful meal of home made clam chowder.
Provincetown Peer is a production well worth seeing, especiall if it can be topped off by some great clam chowder.
August 22nd
#fringenyc - Two Girls
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 08/22/2010 - 10:23Thursday evening, Two Girls by Gabrielle Maisels replaced Richard 3 as my favorite FringeNYC production. Richard 3 was a wonderful post-apocolyptic production that closed Friday night at La MaMa. Two Girls openned on Thursday to a full house at the Connelly Theater and has a few performances remaining.
The Connelly Theater is the eastern most venue in the festival between Avenue A and Avenue B. It is well worth the trip.
The play starts off with Gabrielle Maisels playing Corinne, a privileged young white South African girl as well as Lindiwe, the daughter the family's housekeeper. Between the accents and the frequent changes of character, I found the beginning of the play disorienting. However, once my ear acclimated to the dialect and my mind to the shifts of character and settings, I was mesmerised.
The play moved past the beating of Lindiwe's friend by the police through the release of Nelson Mandela and to the United States during the campaign and election of Barack Obama.
Maisels masterfully illustrates the parallels between South Africa and the United States with both a wonderful script and amazing acting.
Adding to all of this is a fascinating back story. Gabrielle Maisels is the granddaughter of Israel Aaron Maisels who led the defense team that secured the acquittal of Nelson Mandela and nineteen others accused of treason by the apartheid government in the "Treason Trial" of 1956-61.
Ms. Maisels studied political theory at Harvard and Columbia as well acting and playwriting. She combines all of this into the must see production of FringeNYC 2010.
August 21st
#FringeNYC The Maid of Orleans
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 08/21/2010 - 09:24When is the last time you got a chance to see a production of one of Friedrich Schiller's plays? It has been a long time for me, so I was glad to get an opportunity to see the Demimonde Theatre & Opera Company's production of this masterpiece.
The new translation was very accessible and the acting was okay. However, the real shining moments came during musical pieces sung by Gudren Buhler as Johanna d'Arc Calncia, Valencia Pleasant as the Senator of Orleans, and Dylan Bandy as Lionel. The scenes between Buhler and Bandy were especially powerful.
This show is well worth the trip if you are looking for a clean traditional production of a great play or some wonderful singing.
Yet as I watched the play, I could not help but wonder what someone like emerging director and adapter James Presson, who put together the post apocalypse, Richard 3, could do with this show. I would love to see the classic Schiller play, recast from the Battle of Orleans to the Battle of Seattle during the 1999 WTO protests, with Johanna cast as a unknown punk rocker from Seattle's grunge scene. Another interesting mashup might be the Hurricane Katrina Comedy Festival, perhaps with a little of Presson's influence, doing The Maid of New Orleans.
Well, Richard 3 closed last night, but Maid of Orleans has two more shows, one next Tuesday and one next Friday. Hopefully, some of James and his friends will make this show. Hopefully other fringe attendees will catch this show and brush up on their Schiller, and hopefully there will be more productions like this at FringeNYC XV.
August 20th
#fringeNYC - Saving Throw Versus Love
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 08/20/2010 - 16:34As a person who spent a lot of time playing role playing games years ago, the show Saving Throw Versus Love sounded very interesting to me.
It started off with an improbable premise. Sam and Carol are announcing their engagement and Carol thinks that Sam's Thursday evening out with the boys is about playing poker and not role playing games. I'm not sure that I've ever heard of a gamer dude getting engaged without his fiancee at least knowing about and being interested in gaming, if not being a gamer herself.
However, gamers are especially versed in the willing suspension of disbelief and are likely to forgive the diifficulties of the initial idea as well as the important device at the end of the play where the judge cannot make it to the wedding.
Instead gamers will appreciate Carol's beginners luck in the game as well as the struggles not to take a game too seriously. Yet how would non-gamers appreciate the show? One older man I spoke with after the show said he was so thoroughly involved with the show that he didn't notice these difficulties.
Saving Throw Versus Love is a light but completely enjoyable show with an amusing script and good acting. I highly recommend it to balance out seeing too many serious shows.
#fringenyc Thursday Journey
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 08/20/2010 - 10:22It started off pretty much like the other days heading into New York. I was fairly well rested. I sat on the train full of well being. I would be seeing four plays with two of my daughters.
Then, the phone rang. It was my eldest daughter. One of her co-workers had an emergency and my daughter needed to work a double shift. She would miss the first couple of plays but hoped to join me in the evening.
At Bridgeport, the was a delay. I wasn't concerned. I had extra time built in to my schedule. They delay lengthened. Then, it was announced that there wires down. We had to change to shuttle buses.
I was glad that this didn't happen on Wednesday with Fiona and I looked around the crowded train. It was full of families heading in to the Yankees game. I felt csorry for the kids waiting for the train or at leat updates from their father's cellphone about the score.
I arrived in New York too late for the final performance of Butterfly, Butterfly, Kill Killl Kill. I stopped at Fringe Central briefly before heading east to the Connelly Theatre for The Maid of Orleans, Two Girls and As You like it. Each show was good and Two Girls was amazing. It has taken over the role as my top mustsee show.
It made for along late night. I am now back on the train heading in for what I expect to be the final day of FringeNYC for me. I am heading off to Cape Cod for a week. I hope to get up reviews of these plays before I leave, but I am very tired and need to rest.
