The Fab Marquee

The Fab Marquee review by David Stallings.

The one act is a very difficult medium of theater, much different from a full-length play.  A one act is generally half an hour to forty-five minutes.  The writer has to get in and out fast and must enter the piece knowing exactly what needs to be accomplished.  There is no room to fill with subplots—similar to a short story, the piece must be single minded.

This week, I attended Serenitas Media and Extrabold Productions presentation of two one acts: Crother Spyglass by Timothy Dowd and The Resistible Rise of Fatlinda Paloka by Marcy Wallabout.  In general, I prefer to go in order when describing productions and lead the reader on my journey from beginning to end.  In this case, I would prefer to talk about the second half of the evening first.

Erin Leigh Schmoyer as Fatlinda
photo credit: Juan Cardenas

Marcy Wallabout has something very special on her hands with The Resistible Rise of Fatlinda Paloka.  The piece is about seventy minutes and resembles a full-length one act more than a short one act.  Ms. Wallabout would greatly benefit from developing this play further.  The piece follows an Albanian woman—Fatlinda Paloka (Erin Leigh Schmoyer) as she encounters prejudice in her move to Georgia.  What at first seems to be an angry Greek chorus of stuck up Georgians is developed into a more realistic couple in the characters of Jolene Earp (Siobhan Doherty) and Jimmy Earp (Nick Palladino).  The twist is that Fatlinda has opened a pizza parlor in the small Georgian town and has addicted the citizens to her food.  She slowly brings in cousins from her homeland and only when she has established herself firmly, does she decide to leave for another US town to infiltrate their community with her pizza.  Of course she will leave the cousins behind with the pizza joint to forever plague the red neck town.  She can only hope that her cousins are not affected by the laziness of the American culture as has already begun.  The piece is told with fun and imagination in a Dr. Seuss style with rhyming couplets and fantastic imagery.

The first twenty-five minutes soar—pummeling the audience with high comedy that definitely garners a lot of laughter.  The struggle of Fatlinda with the Earp couple is fantastic.  The pizza DT’s, the county fair, the Hallmark scene, and the Jack Daniels porch scene between the Earps are all brilliant.  But after a while, Ms. Wallabout leaves the story and goes on a tangent that only focuses on Jimmy Earp in an Irish bar.  While Fatlinda’s endearing cousin Benny (Timothy McDonough) is present, the sidetrack into a possible Chinese prostitution rink at a laundromat and the effects of drought on Jack Daniels seem to be irrelevant to the marvelous bricks laid earlier.  In the end, Fatlinda mentions the effects of Georgian culture on her family, and the audience wishes that the heart of the play had been more focused on the struggle she alludes to rather than the strange tangent that robbed the audience of a much anticipated climax.  Truly, if Ms. Wallabout continues to work on the piece’s structure, presenting the story telling in a clearer “event-consequence” manner, she will have a gem on her hands.

Nick Palladino as Jimmy & Siobhan Doherty as Jolene
photo credit: Juan Cardenas

The acting is marvelous across the board in this play.  In the role of Fatlinda, Erin Leigh Schmoyer shines with flawless comic timing and a hysterical accent that definitely mark her as a talent.  But the true marvel is the connection between Siobhan Doherty and Nick Palladino as the Earps.  They somehow manage to create real emotions and forge the definitions of a true couple while speaking in Seussian rhyme.  They glowed together and seemed to truly bounce off each other in their scenes.  Timothy McDonough is charming as sweet cousin Benny.  And a head nod must be given to Nedra Gellegos as the cousin who is addicted to scratch off tickets.  It would have been more interesting to see her become addicted rather than start with it already in progress.  The same note goes for the town’s pizza addiction.  But the acting of the circumstance was pitch perfect.

The first play of the evening, Crother Spyglass by Timothy Dowd follows an Ad man as he manipulates young people with dreams of artistry into doing reception work at an Ad firm.  The man is Ray Crother (Brendan Wahlers), a Gulf War veteran who has been stuck in the same rat race for over ten years.  His first victim is Adam (Timothy McDonough) a sweet kid with dreams of being a photographer who is not completely willing to play the game.  Ray’s second victim is Christine (Erin Leigh Schmoyer), a brassy mailroom girl not willing to use her feminine charms as weapons.

Brendan Wahlers as Ray & Timothy McDonough as Adam
photo credit: Juan Cardenas

Dowd’s play, while somewhat reminiscent of Glengarry Glen Ross, does not seem fully developed.  There is no true arch although the male characters are well defined.  In the role of Ray Crother, Brendan Wahlers seems typecast.  He fits the role so well with natural characterization, yet seems not to have the stagecraft to carry a leading role.  Timothy McDonough is a breath of fresh air as the young Adam.  He is easy to watch and actively makes choices.  Erin Leigh Schmoyer who is so dazzling as Fatlinda seemed less comfortable in the role of Christine.  The female in the piece did seem more of a stock character and assuredly is difficult to make unique.

Director Leah Bonvissuto used crisp lines and imaginative lighting to tell both stories.  She is well aware of tone, comic timing, and other directing tricks to manipulate a moment or text.  Her directing seemed like that of someone used to working on already established plays and lending her own voice to them.  With new text however, she fell short in focusing her playwrights and making sure the stories were consistent and fluid.  In her defense, a dramaturge on both pieces would have helped greatly.

Cat Fishers costumes were lovely—especially her conceptualization of the Albanian tribe.  Elisa Giordano’s set must be given kudos for the photographed park from Crother Spyglass, which perfectly captured both the park and the passion for photography from the characters.

All in all, the evening was enjoyable as it was exciting to witness work with much possibility in its early stages.

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Serenitas Media & Extrabold Production’s
Crother Spyglass & The Resistible Rise of Fatlinda Paloka
June 11-15, 2008
Theater for the New City

Tickets are $18 and are now available online at www.smarttix.com or by calling (212) 868-4444

Theater for the New City | 155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Streets) | Manhattan.

The Fab Marquee interview by Antonio Miniño.

Paul Adams founded Emerging Artists in 1993 and has been Artistic Director for the life of the company these past 15 years. He previously was the Treasurer at the WPA for several years, along with Assistant Treasurer at the Orpheum Theatre. As Artistic Director, he reads all submissions, is responsible for overseeing all creative aspects of all productions and is also responsible for budgeting and day-to-day accounting of the company. He is also a playwright, director, and actor.

We caught Paul between shows at EAT’s SpringFest ’08 taking place right now at The Roy Arias Theatre Center through May 4, 2008.

How does it feel for EAT to be celebrating their “Quinceañera” (sweet 15) ?

• I am amazed that 15 years have gone by in such a short time. I am so happy that Emerging Artists has moved to an Off Broadway Contract and that we now have 125 company members. Our next big goal is to find a permanent home with a theatre, office and rehearsal space. Hopefully that will materialize in the next 3 years.

Pretty amazing that we always talk about “emerging artists”, yet you were smart enough to snatch the name for your theatre co.

• I felt that this company was always going to be dedicated to those “emerging artists”. I think that all artists keep emerging as they go through life and it is great to be able to provide an opportunity for the first time artists to see their work on a New York stage. But even more important is to be there as a home for artists who may have been working in their craft for years, but have never been given a chance to see their work developed and produced. I say every artist keeps emerging or I would hope they do as their life goes on.

Hunter Gilmore* & Jason Alan Griffin* in Break.
Photo credit: Erica Parise

You have a pretty action packed season, Spring EATfest going on right now at the Roy Arias Theatre Center, and the Developmental Series around the corner, what differentiates these?

• The Eatfest is a new one act festival. The Fall is for pieces up to 20 minutes and the Spring for pieces up to 50 minutes. The Developmental Series is a unique opportunity for a diverse array of artists in all different mediums. It is a chance for them to workshop their work before an audience and then sit with the audience afterwards and ask them questions and get feedback on what the audience just experienced. There are 5 components that each last a week - one woman shows, one man shows(new this year), clown work and puppetry, cabaret performers, and new ensemble musicals. The artists can bring and present their work in whatever stage they are at in their process. EAT provides the performance space, prints the flyers and programs and gives them rehearsal space. There is no cost to the artists involved and the admission fee for audience is a simple $10. EAT is unique in that no other theatre company offers this kind of platform in such a varied scheme of work for artists to present their creativity to the public.

So your going to Ireland with Tom Cruise, and who else…

• Well our Tom Cruise is a speaking dog that belongs to his gay owner. Yes EAT was very lucky and is headed to Ireland on May 10th to be part of the Dublin Gay Theatre Festival It will be the first international appearance for Emerging Artists. EAT will be performing 3 one act plays from last years Eatfests: Emily Breathes by Matt Casarino, Some Are People by Kathleen Warnock, and Tom Cruise Get Off the Couch by Kevin Brofsky. It will be a great experience to be one of 2 companies that will represent New York in the festival.

Your company members seem to be a very involved core with EAT, how do you keep the family lovingly together? A family of actors no less.

• Actually it is a family of playwrights, directors, actors, designers, and technicians. When Istarted this company, I had 2 main rules - that it had to be enjoyable to work on developing/producing new work because no one is paid what they are worth and so it better be fun even if you’re working on a drama and second was that no one would ever raise their voice to another individual - respect for each other as artists and a true shared belief in new work. I really feel that you can see when work is presented where the artists involved really care for the material and each other. EAT is a collaborative creative family where artists are encouraged to explore different sides of themselves and feel supported in those attempts. It is a family and as with all families there are unique dynamics to keeping the family happy. But EAT also has an open door policy for company members because life is always here and can take hold of you at times. So a member can be active or go inactive and come back when their life permits them to. But I must say that I am incredibly lucky to have each and every member bring their own unique creativity to the Emerging Artists family.

For more information on EAT’s Season, visit www.eatheatre.org