FringeNYC - The Submarine Show

As part of the 2015 New York International Fringe Festival

 THE LYNN REDGRAVE THEATER presents

THE SUBMARINE SHOW

Created and Performed by

Cirque de Soleil's Jaron Hollander and Emmy Award winner Slater Penney

Sound Design:  Dan Moses 

The Lynn Redgrave Theater
at the Culture Project located at 45 Bleecker Street, New York City

Tickets available at www.FringeNYC.org and www.thesubmarineshow.com
August 23 - August 29

Jaron and Slater are acrobatic mimes depicting two explorers in a tiny submarine emitting extraordinary sounds that correlate with their surroundings beginning with the submarine. The physical entertainment is 80" nonstop and their adventure starts with a crash landing at the bottom of the ocean to somehow getting to land and discovering all kinds of animals and fowl, then becoming transformed into mythical creatures flying around the tops of trees, then back to their submarine. Can they repair the submarine and continue on their epic journey?  

It's really a fun show with interactive performance with the audience and lots of smiles and laughs.  I'd recommend this award-winning comedy that has been touring the world since 2009, winning "Best in Fest" at the San Francisco International Fringe Festival, “Best of Fringe” at the Kansas City Fringe Festival and “Hot Pick” by the Edinburgh Scotsman. And, who knows, The Submarine Show might win audience favorite at FringeNYC!

- Laura Thompson -

http://www.loralia.com   @LORALIA

 

 

Planet Connections Awards Ceremony 2015

THE PLANET AWARDS CEREMONY presented at CLASSIC STAGE COMPANY

Playwright Catherine Filloux received the Planet Activist Award

Planet Connections Theatre Festivity, New York's premiere socially conscious-eco-friendly theatre festival, which recently wrapped up its 7th season, presented its annual awards ceremony at Classic Stage Company, located at 136 East 13th Street, New York City on August 9, 2015.

The evening was emceed by Festivity participants David Stallings and Kara Young, directed by Lori Kee and produced by Brock Hill, who joined the Planet Connections team as Artistic Director this past season. Excerpts from some of the plays and musicals that were a part of this year's Festivity were presented, including playwright, Mario Fratti's The Colonel's Wife that opened up the ceremony on a very cheerful and fun musical note. Mario Fratti also received Outstanding Overall Production of a Revival Award for his play and a Congeniality Award. The focus of the evening was on playwright Catherine Filloux who has been an activist artist in the theater community and been writing about human rights and social justice for over twenty years.  She received the Festivity's Planet Activist Award in recognition of her long career. Please visit her website for more information: www.catherinefilloux.com

Overall, "This was a very good year for Planet Connections," Hill noted, "both in terms of the quality of the product we presented and in respect to ticket sales and press coverage. We can think of no better way to wrap up our current season and look forward to our next one by honoring the artistic and environmentally-friendly achievements of those who worked with us this year to make the Festivity a success on just about every level."

Named one of the Best Theatre Festivals in New York City by Time Out New York, Planet Connections Theatre Festivity works to help artists shine a light on the issues facing our society, and supports, via donations or a portion of the box office proceeds, those organizations working to make a difference. For more information and a complete list of award winners, please go to www.plannetconnections.org.

 

- Laura Thompson -

http://www.loralia.com   @LORALIA

 

 

 

the dreamer examines his pillow

THE ATTIC THEATER COMPANY presents at THE FLEA THEATER

the dreamer examines his pillow

by JOHN PATRICK SHANLEY

Directed by LAURA BRAZA

Executive Director TED CAINE

Cast

Donna...LAUREN NICOLE CIPOLETTI

Tommy...SHANE PATRICK KEARNS

Dad...DENNIS PARLATO 

Company Manager: Noelle France

Scenic Design:  Julia Noulin-Merat

Costume Design:  Lauren Gaston

Lighting Design:  Dave Upton
Sound Design:  Beth Lake

Production Stage Manager:  Amy Pen

Technical Director:  Joe Cooley

Casting:  Judy Bowman Casting, CSA

The Flea Theater
41 White Street in TriBeCa, 3 blocks below Canal Street between Broadway and Church Street

Call 212-352-3101 or visit http://www.theflea.org
July 26 - August 15

Written by Pulitzer Award and Tony Award-winning playwright, Academy Award-winning screenwriter, and theatre and film director John Patrick Shanley, "the dreamer examines his pillow" is not one of the more audience friendly works by Mr. Shanley who is more known for "Moonstruck" and "Doubt" which were audience pleasers.

The story is about three unhappy people torn apart by the assumptions and fears on loving someone too much or perhaps lust is the right term that makes people crazy. It starts off with Tommy (Shane Patrick Kearns) and Donna (Lauren Nicole Cipoletti), an on-and-off again couple who argue, then make up by having sex but Donna is worried she's falling for a guy who is just like her Dad (Dennis Parlato), who apparently had a similar relationship with her mother that traumatized her during her adolescence. Hence, she seeks out her Dad to rectify things with herself as well as Tommy.

 

This is ornery material to be performed by actors over 90 minutes. The first act started out explosively with Tommy and Donna, then slowed down to a father daughter conversation about the meaning of relationships, sex, and reconciliation in the second act, then with the third and final act that ended in an absurd way as though the writer ran out ideas and steam to keep pace with his intense beginning, although riddled with poetic language throughout the play.  Kudos to the actors and Director, Laura Braza, for reviving this Off-Broadway play that originally debuted in 1986.

- Laura Thompson -

http://www.loralia.com   @LORALIA

R/Evolution

THE ROBERT MOSS THEATER  presents

R/EVOLUTION

Book by WILLIAM MOULTON and M M De VOE

Music and Lyrics by WILLIAM MOULTON
Director:  RICHARD ST GEORGE
Choreography:  WILLIAM MOULTON
Projection Design:  DAVID BENGALI
Lighting Design:  AMITH CHANDRASHAKER
Set Design:  SCOTT DAHL
Sound Design:  EMERSON DALY
Costume Design:  ARI FULTON
Video Engineer:  JON BREMNER
Production Stage Manager: LINDSEY GRADWOHL

Cast:  MYKEL VAUGHN, DEBBIE WILLIAMS, ALISON ROSE MUNN, JAMES PARKS, CLARK WILLIAMS, ERIC PADILLA, JESSI ST GEORGE

Choreographic Ensemble:  GEORGINA BATES, MEGAN NORDLE, ALEXANDER BETKA, COLIN RANF, ARIEL THARPE, KEVIN PINERO

The Robert Moss Theater
440 Lafayette Street between Astor Place and East 4th Street, NYC

For more information, visit their website:   http://www.r-evolution-the-musical.com

May 30 - June14, 2015

R/Evolution is a new musical with dance and multi-media set 150 years into the future with a scientific bent centered around corporate domination versus our present system of countries with their respective governments ruling the world. The leaders in the corporate hierarchy have suppressed emotions caused by hormones and other factors and have created robotic-like humans in a very sterile environment. Psychothrobics was created through dance and movement to control emotions. However, through a successful clone from the DNA of a strand of hair from a woman 150 years before, emotions abound and a pair of scientists begin daring experiments that threaten their very existence as well as corporate domination. What will happen to the ruthless governing paradigm when freedom of expression is unleashed?

Overall, this story appeals to a general audience but also to research scientists who research the human genome which is the map of your DNA, the double helix that contains all your genes. Your genome is composed of 23 pairs of chromosomes and what the scientists in the play were experimenting with to create a human clone from the year 2015.

As a side note which is a tough comparison, I'm accustomed to watching dance choreography On Broadway and with the American Ballet so I think the choreography needs work but it could have been the stage was too small to accommodate all those dancers. If I were to imitate Neil Rosen's method of reviewing films, I'd give this Sci-Fi production two apples out of four.

- Laura Thompson -

http://www.loralia.com   @LORALIA