Born Again Bohemian at Open Fist Theatre
by Tony Bartolone~
Born Again Bohemian is an honest series of stories of a girl raised by her Christian mother with the absence of her hippie father weighing heavy on her developing identity. Besides being a bit drab, the one-woman show has quit a bit of potential.
The biggest problem in this piece is it doesn’t move. Because it was slow, the parts that worked the best were the more philosophical elements. Too much of the show seemed expository, which some times overshadowed the conflict. Alternately intriguing and flat, the ending didn’t feel like a good enough pay off. The ending is not necessarily the problem, but the audience must some how be more invested in the narrative. Also, the characters can use a little more definition. Vocally, the characters pretty much sounded the same. At times the stories, especially the ones of adolescence, seemed inconsequential.
The strength in the play lies in the struggle between two belief systems and sides of the family. The main source of tension is the internal struggle our protagonist goes through feeling she has to choose a life style. And the writer must find a way to externalize that conflict to draw in the audience.
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Cowboy Mouth at the Theatre Asylum
by Freddy Puza ~
In their first work as a company, the Hungry River Theatre Company presented Sam Shepard’s one-act, Cowboy Mouth, written in 1971. The one-act follows the story of Cavale who has kidnapped Slim in hopes of making him into some kind of rock-n-roll savior that modern people can relate to. But for whatever reasons, Slim is never able to make this leap of faith, ends up suffering with Cavale, and ultimately is replaced by the Lobster Man.
A small black box theater was the perfect venue to execute this brutal tale of infidelity, the struggle for identity and the true meaning of art in America. The props included a beat-up bed off stage-left, an electric guitar that sat on top of a ladder and a bunch of stacked books that surrounded the guitar altar. The actors were able to move, re-stack, and rebuild the props reflecting the ever-changing emotional landscape of the characters. However, at times the actors seemed to get lost in the staging and focused more on the props than on processing the inner turmoil of the situation.
Overall, the play ran at a high level of mania and violence. In the more tender, relaxed moments of the one-act the acting by Justin O’Neill (Slim) and Calire Kaplan (Cavale) were superb and authentic. O’Neil and Kaplan were quite skilled at capturing and expressing the tension, lust and frustration in their bodies, but it was delivered almost as if watching an acting exercise rather than a performance. Spencer Howard as the Lobster Man added an intensity that not only was eerie and chilling but addictive.
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Acts of Possession at Elephant Theatre
by Felicity Doyle~
Would you smear your best painting with your own excrement in order to sell it for $50,000? Would you sacrifice your integrity and bend to the will of commercialism for popularity? These are the questions playwright-director Paul Hoan Zeidler poses. Acts of Possession is a rarely dramatized glimpse into the pageantry of the visual art world, and one married couple’s struggle to succeed within it.
Ryan hasn’t sold a new painting in some time. His somewhat plain wife (and nude model) Angela begs local hot-shot gallery owner Reginald Thanatos to review Ryan’s new work that afternoon. We meet Thanatos and his girlfriend Wyfe, who literally dance in front of us with all their ridiculous, sexy, and exotic charms. We witness Ryan’s exciting and promising Opening, and then his swift dismissal when the secret of whose excrement is on the paintings is revealed.
The set is beautiful and Dali-esque, the ceiling-high wood bookshelves and hanging white cloth perfctly evoking the barren atmosphere of an art studio. The actors are down to earth and genuine, allowing the wit and questions of the piece to be heard. The most enthralling moment was at the top of Scene Two as we watch Thanatos present Ryan’s show “Owning the Moment,” recalling taking a dump in a hotel bathroom as a holy experience, and we see through the oral art of bullshit how even excrement can be spun into something profound.
Acts of Possession played at Elephant Theatre during the Fringe.
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4 Clowns: Romeo and Juliet at Artworks Theatr
by Felicity Doyle~
This show is a pure delight! It’s no wonder this quartet lead by Director Jeremy Aluma swept the 2011 Hollywood Fringe Awards. The group’s take on the classic tragedy makes for a non-stop night of laughter. Ridiculous, raunchy, and not skimping on the pathos, 4 Clowns brings to light the Bard’s sense of humor that is so often overlooked. The audience is their 5th clown, each latecomer made an example of, every laugh exponentially increasing their energy and desire to engage.
Alexis, Raymond, Kevin and Zach are truly gifted movers, light on their feet and transforming effortlessly from scene to scene. They make pure caricatures of the Montagues and Capulets, imbuing them with not only the tragic truths but the bawdy and immature impulses we feel as adults but do not show. Short bursts of gags and movement pieces interspersed between the serious scenes remind us we are only in a theatre, and the Old Apothecary crosses off his plot checklist as the night progresses.
The production is bare bones: a red curtain, trunk, two ladders and a pianist. This raw retelling evokes an old spirit of street theatre, with all its boldness and charm.
This summer 4 Clowns takes Romeo and Juliet on a national tour, returning to CA in September for the San Francisco Fringe.
