Ingenius Series to Feature 16 plays (Manhattan Theatre Source)

The Fab Marquee News Desk.

New works by Joan Tewkesbury (Nashville, Thieves Like Us), David Caudle (Carbonell Nominee), Nat Cassidy (Kit and Little Boots), Montserrat Mendez (2008 FringeNYC Outstanding Playwrighting Award), and Richard Vetere (Machiavelli) headline the InGenius Series at Manhattan Theatre Source (177 MacDougal Street) January 6 through February 7, 2009.


The five-week series, the premiere production of the Source's resident playwright workshop The Writers' Forum, will feature three full-length plays, 13 one-act plays and staged readings of new works by Bill C. Davis (Mass Appeal), Joan Tewkesbury, Robin Maguire and Ellen Boscov. Tandy Cronyn (Cabaret, The Playboy of the Western World) and Sam Tsoutsouvas (Our Country's Good, By Jeeves, Edward II) will star in Joan Tewkesbury's Retrospective as famed artistic couple Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz. O'Keeffe has been invited to write an essay for her late husband's retrospective at the Met. As she struggles with what to say, Stieglitz appears, and they review the unfinished business of the past only to rediscover the fine line between love and hate. Sarah Baskin, Emilio Delgado and Michael Wolfe round out the cast. Tewkesbury will also direct. Performances are January 20, 21, 22, and 31 and February 1, 6, and 7 at 8:00 pm. There is a matinee Saturday, February 7 at 3:00 pm.

Any Day Now, written and directed by Nat Cassidy, opens the InGenius Series. The Colby family is facing its share of problems. Jackie is doing poorly at school, Josh drinks too much, Beverly is far too controlling and Pen is slipping into senility. But that's nothing compared to the difficulties to come. One of their own is found wandering in the backyard, days after he was buried. And, he's not the only one. The cast features Paige Allen, Arthur Aulisi, Waltrudis Buck, Elyse Mirto, Anna O'Donoghue and Anthony Spaldo. Performances of Any Day Now are January 6, 7, 8, 17, 19, 29 and 30 at 8:00 pm and January 18 at 7:00 pm.


The New York premiere of David Caudle's Carbonell-nominated play Likeness rounds out the full-length offerings. In Colonial Boston, an idealistic young painter scores a career-making gig: the portrait of a wealthy landowner's spoiled daughter. But, there is more to the assignment than meets the eye. Artistic integrity battles ambition, and subject defies artist, as the first rumblings of revolution rattle the studio walls. Jessica Ammirati directs. The cast includes Brad Fraizer, Laurel Lockhart, Ryan Metcalf, Danielle Quisenberry, Stu Richel, and Erin Wilhelmi. Performances are January 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, 23, and 24 at 8:00 pm and January 25 at 7:00 pm.

InGenius will also present three different programs of one-act plays. Program A; featuring works by Vetere, Mendez, L. Pontius (Umbrella), Vanda (Edward Albee Fellow) and Bill McMahon (A Winter Beauty); runs January 12 through 14 at 8:00 pm. Program B follows with plays by Vincent Marano (A Collapse), Laura Schlachtmeyer, Ed Malin and John Watts January 26 through 28, 2009 at 8:00 pm. The one-act series close with new works by Pamela Yaco, John McKinney, Paul Jordan and Jennifer Thatcher February 2 through 4 at 8:00 pm.

For a full calendar of events and advance tickets, visit www.theatresource.org. Tickets are $18 per show. Admission to the staged readings is free.

The Writers' Forum is a think tank for playwrights that meets weekly at Manhattan Theatre Source. It is committed to the development of engaging, new plays. Open since 2000, Manhattan Theatre Source (the Source) is an arts service and producing organization located in the heart of Greenwich Village. Recently named "one of the top five Off-Off Broadway theaters" by New York magazine, the Source launched Obie Award-winning Broadway musical [title of show] and was home to the world premieres of Coronado by Dennis Lehane (Mystic River) and Richard Vetere's Machiavelli. For more information, visit www.theatresource.org.

Review-Revealed (Horse Trade Theater Group)

The Fab Marquee review by Dianna Martin.

If you'd like to be a little more naughty than nice this year and still reap all the rewards; if you are intrigued by even the thought of the burlesque scene; and, if you are eager to catch some of the most entertaining performers who have no problem baring it all - then Revealed, presented by GiGi La Femme and Doc Wasabassco will be the best present you could give yourself this new year.

I have seen quite a bit of burlesque in New York City (having a burlesque performer as a roommate at one time will provide that lifestyle), and I have to say that this is some of the best around - and also indeed one of the most revealing. Most shows around town are quite enjoyable, and the audience cheers as the dancers remove articles of clothing to numbers leaving only pasties and a g-string.

Not Revealed. It takes it a step further...for the performers do as the title suggests; they get down to the buff! But it isn't even just dance - these are performance artists who take their craft seriously. It's hosted by the burlesque scene's darling Bastard Keith, who takes the stage and gets the audience warmed up well for the show as he charms, sings, jokes, and tells stories. He's a delight and a wonderful host with great charisma, and could be a whole show himself. But wait - there is oh-so-much more.

All of the acts are fantastic. From Pinkie Special's strip with a hula hoop going the whole time, to Mr. Exotic World winner Tigger! doing a great number to Bowie's Golden Years complete with being covered in gold paint; from the sci-fi sexploration of Kobayashi Maru's removal of her corset with Hal 9000 talking away in the background, to the glorious allure of Peekaboo Pointe; all of the evening's beautiful and fantastic performances by these and all the other burlesque artists make this show solid and enjoyable and certainly worth the money.

Performed at Under St. Marks in the heart of the East Village, Revealed is a class act in a delightfully fun theatre that will leave you wanting to get as close to the stage as possible. I suggest doing so - and strap yourself in for a great ride.

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Horse Trade Theater Group presents
A Gigi La Femme & Doc Wasabassco production
Revealed
Third Wednesday of every month at 10pm
Under St Marks

Admission is $20. Tickets are available online at www.horseTRADE.info or by calling 212-868-4444

Under St Marks | 94 St. Marks Place | Manhattan

Interview- Danny O'Connor (Zero)

The Fab Marquee interview by Dianna Martin.

I was so moved by Danny O'Connor's performance in Zero and so interested in the script, that I thought it would be a treat for all of us to find out what inspired this one-man show, which was co-written by his deceased brother Robert. Fortunately for us, Danny was happy to answer a few questions about his family, his work, and what Zero means to him.


Tell me a little bit about your theatrical background, particularly how you think living in Chicago and Dallas effected you. What was it like going from Boston to there, are you originally from Boston?

I'm actually originally from Dallas, but I knew Emerson was a fantastic acting school, so I was ecstatic to be allowed to study there. After Beantown I made my way to Chi-rock, where I acted for three years, but I would definitely say that seeing the Chicago scene greatly affected the creation of the show. I found myself slowly getting burned out, especially with some of the larger, more well known theatre companies out there. I won't say any names, but there was definitely some shady stuff going on. One couldn't get an audition unless you took their class, which cost a couple thousand dollars. Then, after taking the class, maybe they'd look at you. Us blue collar actors couldn't afford that, being waiters, temps, etc...therefore as usual, ya know, the rich get richer... so the trust fund kids could afford to pay for the auditions, while the rest of us were trapped. I would see the shows, and the guy with a million in the bank from daddy was up there, not doing a very tremendous job, while my friend with ten times his talent was barely paying his rent and not being allowed to even audition! I found it very disheartening, and it was then that I decided, 'screw these guys, I'm doing my own thing.' And here I am!

I know that Zero was written by both you and your brother Robert. How much did he have to do with the playwriting? Was a lot that involved his hand in it coming from overseas? When did you start writing and working on this?

My brother and I began work on this in the fall of 2005. He was already in the Army by then, and I was still living in Chicago. We had written a one man show before, while I was in college, and when I decided to have another go at it, I knew he was the man to call. Unfortunately, we only got to have one face to face conversation about it, during Christmas of '05. Everything else was written via emails while he was at Fort Drum in New York, or by good old hand written letters while he was overseas in Iraq. He was flattered that I wanted to involve him in the show, yet I was far more flattered he cared enough to write lines while sitting in a humvee in the middle of the desert. Then, by pure luck, he got a break at the exact same time that we opened for the first time in Dallas, TX, so he was able to see the show. He loved it; and looking back it makes me so happy knowing I didn't totally screw up all his hard work.

Was this originally intended to be a one-man show, or was Robert going to be in it? Was he also motivated to be a performer?

Oh, it was always going to be a one man. Robert was never the performance oriented type. He was always the poet, the literary giant. I knew I couldn't write this on my own. The comedy I could handle, but the moments of poetic vulnerability he had a much finer touch for. I guess all great poets have to meet a tragic end, right?

You both graduated the same year, were you two twins?

Actually, we were step brothers. We had a very Brady Bunch house, my Dad married his Mom, but my Mom and his Mom are good friends, and there's our sister who was born via my Dad and his Mom....it's all very confusing. We're a sitcom really. However, our parents got together when we were very young, so I don't have a memory where he wasn't my brother.

Are your characters based on real people?

Yes and No, really. I know, great answer right? The Alex character is the most definite, as he is based on my brother. But the other characters aren't completely based on specific individuals. They're mostly conglomerations of folks I've worked with, acted with, and gotten drunk with. Most people want to know which character I am. The best answer I can give: all of them, yet none of them, thank God!

Do you think that these characters bring about a sense of self exploration for the audience?

I certainly hope so! I've definitely met a lot of people who can relate to the idea that their dreams are slipping away from them, or the conundrum of whether or not to keep trying. Yet there are others who have told me they find comfort and solace in the fact that maybe it's okay to be happy with who they are, and not have to feel the pressure of 'making it big' in order to feel satisfied with who they are. I try not to spoon feed the audience about what answer is right. I find it much more interesting to present the question and let the audience member decide for themselves. But yes, there are definitely people who have told me the show hits close to home, for some a little too close.

What made you decide to go the route of creating a cast ensemble that are all in dialogue with one another at the same time?

Probably because I'm crazy. Ha! No, the first time I attempted a one man show in college days I took a previously written play and decided to try it myself. It was very artsy fartsy pompousness really. I mean, who the hell did I think I was?! But I realized in the process, that with a lot of hard work I could really convey multiple people talking at the same time and not lose the audience. It's unique theatre, and there's actually a lot one can do with this format that can't be done in a basic full cast show. Here I can decide which face the audience sees, much like a movie. The editor decides which character is seen grimacing or laughing. In a full cast show, the entire cast is visible so you have no control over that. But here, I can cut to one character, switch to another, and it's a totally different and unique experience! If this show were done by a full cast, though I still think it'd be great, the laughter would come at completely different moments. I think it's a fun twist on the one-man format, which is usually one character talking or a string of monologues. Of course, there are some people with no imagination who sit there befuddled and have no clue what the hell I'm doing, and think I'm totally batshit insane. And that's fair too.

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Octaviar Productions presents
Danny & Robert O'Connor's
ZERO
Nov 15-Dec 30, 2008 (Mon-Sat @8:15pm)
Roy Arias Theatre II

Tickets are $29, students/seniors are $24, active military are $19. For tickets please visit www.theatermania.com or call 866-811-4111. Tickets may also be purchased in person half-hour prior to the performance at Roy Arias Theatre II. For more information visit www.zerotheplay.com

Roy Arias Theatre II | 616 9th Avenue | Manhattan.

Review- ZERO (Octaviar Productions)

The Fab Marquee review by Dianna Martin.

Octaviar Productions' intense serio-comedy Zero, explores the lives of six different men, all of whom are in their early thirties but can't seem to get past their high school days. All are connected by their failures and successes, both real and perceived, and the women that they let slip through their fingers. The majority of them are continually trying to find out where they went wrong, through the bottom of a beer bottle or notches on their bedposts, as we follow them through their night-life soul-searching at the nearby pub. The main difference between this production and others out there that go over the familiar territory of what it means to become an "adult" and yet not be at a point in life we can be proud of, is that all the characters are played by one man, Danny O'Connor, and most are played all at the same time.

I'm delighted to say that he pulled it off - and then some. I saw six different people up there having conversations and performing monologues, and I bought it - hook, line, and sinker.

The art of doing a one-man/woman-show is a tricky one; the artist has to maintain control of the stage and make it his home. Bring the audience into his or her world and keep them interested in the tale without the addition of other actors. Doing a show with just one character going through a whirlwind of a life story is difficult enough; creating several people, four of whom are often on stage together at the same time in a crowded bar, is a different thing altogether. And O'Connor does it all simply through physicality. There aren't drastic costume changes or anything other than a minor change of a shirt sometimes (two characters off to the side who never come into contact with the others have their costume slightly altered as well) - it's just the actor becoming each of these very different people as they have a conversation. You know he's playing Alex, the Vet from Iraq, when he lifts his shoulders and squints his eyes. You know he's Sam when he gets a wide-eyed delirium, deepens his voice, and puffs out his chest. All of the characters have slightly different accents - so as he carries on conversations between the men, it's like watching a man possessed by different ghosts. You know immediately which one he is - and it's amazing to watch.

O'Connor starts the play off with the main character waking up hungover, in someone else's bed, vomiting after a night of margaritas and sex with the girl that "everyone wanted"...in high school. From the moment he picks up the cell phone to start talking to other characters, we realize that he's not imitating somebody in conversation; he's becoming the characters on the other end of the line. That was the only moment I was briefly - very briefly - confused. I thought he was simply talking to someone and making fun of them. Then I realized he was becoming the character on the other end of the line. Then I realized I was going to be in for an interesting ride.

Zero is a thought-provoking and moving production. Hilarious at many moments because of the sheer absurdity of grown men who live in a constant cycle of partying and trying to score with women (we all know so many of them); another humorous yet sad example is one character who was overweight all his life and is now a narcissist since he lost the weight and women suddenly desire him. It's tragic at other moments because the title, Zero is referring to these men who have allowed their lives to be centered around nothing but living in the past. So their life is really based around nothing...Zero. And as they look in the mirror, sometimes at a forty-five degree angle due to being too drunk to stand straight, they come to terms with their shortcomings and if they are going to change or continue on the same path.

One important aspect of this production is that it was co-written by Danny O'Connor's deceased brother, Robert O'Connor. Robert completed two tours in Iraq and passed away in 2006, but before and during that time created this piece with his brother. The character Alex, has a special significance in the show (inspired, no doubt by Robert's experiences); as the boys (for they are all boys even though they are of men's age) all sit around drinking shots, Alex talks about what it's like to kill someone over in Iraq; what a day in the life of an American soldier is like. As the lighting changes, (kudos to director Dujuan Pritchett's lighting choices and set design) highlighting what we see is an emotional recall for Alex as he tells his tale, the script goes from intense emotional moments like that to O'Connor's portrayal of Sam listening in drunken shock and hitting on a waitress. It's the O'Connor brothers' script and Danny's exceptional performance that allows this piece to be so much more than just a hard look at men who waste their lives while being truly hilarious at times; it's a play that takes the audience on a fantastic journey with twists and turns emotionally...all the while with Danny O'Connor at the wheel portraying six men who decide to either remain a Zero...or grow into something greater than themselves.

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Octaviar Productions presents
Danny & Robert O'Connor's
ZERO
Nov 15-Dec 30, 2008 (Mon-Sat @8:15pm)
Roy Arias Theatre II

Tickets are $29, students/seniors are $24, active military are $19. For tickets please visit www.theatermania.com or call 866-811-4111. Tickets may also be purchased in person half-hour prior to the performance at Roy Arias Theatre II. For more information visit www.zerotheplay.com

Roy Arias Theatre II | 616 9th Avenue | Manhattan.

Review- Amerissiah (The Amoralists)

The Fab Marquee review by Dianna Martin.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I was seated for The Amoralist's production of Amerissiah. A play about a degenerate family, a terminally ill cancer patient who thinks he is God, and over two hours of non-stop heightened dark comedy about the two combined? It exceeded my expectations - and demanded an open mind to allow it to absorb.

George Walsh (Johnny), Nancy Clarkson (Holly), William Apps (Ricky), Matthew Pilieci (Bernie),
James Kautz (Terry), Jennifer Fouche (Carrie), and Dierdre Brennan (Margi)
Photo Credit: James Kautz

The Ricewater clan is a family that is made up of people who inspire jokes about the need for birth control. The patriarch, John, (George Walsh) is a used car salesman who, with his "daddy's little girl" lisping daughter, Holly, (Nancy Clarkson) embezzled money from their employees' medical insurance funds, but are convinced that her ex-husband attorney Bernie, (Matt Pilieci) will keep them from jail. The youngest son, Ricky, (William Apps) is a currently clean drug addict with a history of abusing his girlfriends including current love interest and fellow addict Loni (Selene Beretta); Ricky insists this time he's changed...and we believe him. In the middle is Barry (Adam Fujita) who is dying of cancer and his older hippie wife Margi (Dierdre Brennan), who is on her third husband who has died of an illness because she convinced them to not seek treatment and let nature take it's course.

Barry thinks he is God, and as he smokes joints for his pain, he hobbles about the stage with a makeshift crutch made from a mop, expounding on what he will do for the world once he dies and goes back his heavenly realm - and some of his ideas are not so saintly, but perfect for THIS family. Everyone goes along with what they are convinced are delusions to keep him happy, until a psychic, Carrie, (Jennifer Fouche) walks in the door who claims that she is his disciple, followed by her wanna-be-rapper husband Terry (James Kautz). Suddenly, the idea that there may be something to Barry's messiah complex is on the table, as people begin to own up to their faults, admit they have problems that run deep, and take a little responsibility for their actions. The irony is that everyone seems to learn something except for Margi - who appears at first to be above it all at the top of the play, but we come to realize she is possibly the worst one of them all; for she hides behind a flower-child granola exterior and doesn't admit that she may have been wrong to convince Barry to not seek treatment (or her other husbands). She refuses to accept responsibility until the very end - which asks the audience to take a leap of faith of sorts and leaves us with many questions.

Matthew Pilieci (Bernie), Nancy Clarkson (Holly), and Adam Fujita (Barry)
Photo Credit: James Kautz

Amerissiah is not a play for everyone...but for those willing to go on the journey, it can be a treat. Writer/Director Derek Ahonen leaves no stone unturned and few issues untouched, and his writing is definitely meant to provoke the audience more than just entertain. The actors - and the script - make big choices, which are more interesting to see than a lot of theatre out there; the only problems with this play are that sometimes those choices are filled, and sometimes they're not. To everyone's credit, its VERY difficult to maintain that heightened reality for that long. I thought I was at a Sam Sheppard play for a minute; an almost A Lie of the Mind - like memory came to me (I was there for the original many times) as the fantastic yet realistic characters, the bizarre and high-level madness and fever that is the dysfunctional family unit; and, again, the fact the the audience is subjected to this for two and a half hours. However, not a person in the theatre was looking at their watch; they were watching the stage. And that is evidence that no matter if sometimes Barry's ravings get to be too much, or John's obvious oblivious nature seems almost unnatural and forced (by both the actor and the character) or the yelling that Holly does 3/4 of the play begins to get on your nerves (I was delighted at the scene with her and Bernie discussing their failed marriage; it brought a new dimension to her character)...it still makes you want to watch it until the end. And discuss it and think about it when you get home.

And that is what theatre is all about.

Selene Beretta (Loni), William Apps (Ricky), Adam Fujita (Barry),
Dierdre Brennan (Margi) and Nancy Clarkson (Holly)
Photo Credit: James Kautz

I must give kudos to the fantastic set and lighting designers, Alfred Schatz and Jeremy Page, respectively; they added elements to this play and allowed the actors to create an even more obscenely bizarre world set in an old Bronx apartment. Costume designer Ricky Lang really hit the nail on the head for every character - well done.

I just hope that perhaps with a little tightening of the script and the director making the actors fill the choices more if he was going to go over the top to that length and degree, this play becomes something that more people will see and will be shelved alongside other plays - like some of Sheppard's work - for although some people may walk out wanting more answers, sometimes the answers are not what we need.

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The Amoralists Theatre Company present
Amerissiah
Nov 13 – Dec 7, 2008 (Mon-Sat @ 8pm; Sundays @ 3pm)
Gene Frankel Theatre

This show is now closed. To learn more about The Amoralists Theatre Company and their upcoming productions, visit www.theamoralists.com