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Archive: September, 2012
Every year, there's hundreds and hundreds of performances at the Philly Fringe and Live Arts Festival, and unless it's one of the big shows, it's sometimes hard to tell what you're going to get. Here at Critical Mass we're sending writers to as many shows as we possibly can for 75 pocket-sized reviews over the course of the fest. Check back in with us at On The Fringe every day for real talk on what these things actually are!
SHOW: Chomsky vs. Buckley
GROUP: Bruce Walsh
GENRE: Theater
ATTENDED: Fri., Sept. 7, 9 p.m.
CLOSES: Sat. Sept, 8
BRIEF SELF-DESCRIPTION: The playwright of past Live Arts Festival shows The Guided Tour and Northern Liberty, invites you into his home for an experiment in language and morality. He has convinced his roommates to memorize the 1969 Noam Chomsky vs. William F. Buckley debate, and perform it as they prepare and serve hors d’oeuvres.
WE THINK: You’re milling around the living room of playwright Bruce Walsh’s home, nibbling on hors d'oeuvres and chatting with guests, when two voices get louder than all the rest. Everyone quiets down as these two casually recite a Noam Chomsky vs. William F. Buckley 1969 debate. Only here, Buckley’s a woman and Chomsky’s a No Libs hipster. Betwixt vigorous intellectual sparring, an unlikely relationship develops, capped off by a sweet dance to Booker T. & the M.G.’s Green Onions. Tres charming, sometimes humorous, and all the more fascinating, when you realize the content of the debate — about war and terrorism — remains all too relevant today. Quintessential Fringe; but sorry folks, the living room is sold out.
—Deni Kasrel
Every year, there's hundreds and hundreds of performances at the Philly Fringe and Live Arts Festival, and unless it's one of the big shows, it's sometimes hard to tell what you're going to get. Here at Critical Mass we're sending writers to as many shows as we possibly can for 75 pocket-sized reviews over the course of the fest. Check back in with us at On The Fringe every day for real talk on what these things actually are!
SHOW: Pro-Mania 2K12: WitOut Wrestling
GROUP: Philly Improv Theater (PHIT)
GENRE: Improv Comedy
ATTENDED: Fri., Sept. 14, 11:30 p.m.
CLOSES: Sat., Sept. 22
BRIEF SELF-DESCRIPTION: 2011’s hit show returns! A sport-stravagant celebration of the larger-than-life spectacle that is professional wrestling (with only some of the wrestling). Philly’s top comedic performers pay homage to the flashy trash talking promos, slick video packages, and bitter rivalries of the squared circle.
WE THINK: ProMania 2K12 follows up last year’s off-the-ropes hilarious act with yet another show filled with smack downs, suplexes, and pins. Complete with pre-recorded and “backstage” promo tapes that introduce the evening combatants (which includes such spandex super heroes as the Vegan Volcano, Pot Bot, and the Necrosexual), Philadelphia Improv Theater’s finest took shots at not only one another, but also at Comcast, hipsters, Christian fundies, and South Philly Guidettes. Featuring commentary from the tag-team broadcast tandem of Vinny Paycheck and Bill Buckley, PHIT successfully created an experience that was half Jerry Springer, half WWE, and totally hilarious. So while most Philly sports teams only make it to the playoffs and the choke, Philly Improv Theater and Pro-Mania 2K12 wins the improve comedy championship by a landslide… even it if was all scripted from the get-go.
—Max Pulcini
Every year, there's hundreds and hundreds of performances at the Philly Fringe and Live Arts Festival, and unless it's one of the big shows, it's sometimes hard to tell what you're going to get. Here at Critical Mass we're sending writers to as many shows as we possibly can for 75 pocket-sized reviews over the course of the fest. Check back in with us at On The Fringe every day for real talk on what these things actually are!
SHOW: Angry People Building Things
GROUP: Angry People Building Things
GENRE: Improv
ATTENDED: Fri., Sept. 7, 10 p.m.
CLOSES: Sat., Sept. 22, 7 p.m.
BRIEF SELF-DESCRIPTION: The Angry People find out what makes you angry and channel your rage and theirs into hilarious improv. They attack the stage with a ferocious energy unmatched in the entire history of the known universe. Enraged? Furious? Depressed? Euphoric? Asthmatic? Regardless, Angry People is a must see!
WE THINK: In a flash of fury, the Angry People took stage with a stomping and two wooden chairs, demanding the audience provide a subject to rage over. Despite their intimidating name, the anger subsided within minutes, transforming into an absurdly frightening comedy of depraved suburban domesticity. Whether burning down the family house or masking the son’s murder via sticking his member into an outlet, players kept the laughs coming. At a digestible forty-five minutes, one might not go wrong beginning or ending a night of Fringe spectacle with the simplistic yet nonsensical hijinks of the Angry People.
Every year, there's hundreds and hundreds of performances at the Philly Fringe and Live Arts Festival, and unless it's one of the big shows, it's sometimes hard to tell what you're going to get. Here at Critical Mass we're sending writers to as many shows as we possibly can for 75 pocket-sized reviews over the course of the fest. Check back in with us at On The Fringe every day for real talk on what these things actually are!
SHOW: Kabbalah Salon
GROUP: Rabbi Rayzel Raphael
GENRE: Happening
ATTENDED: Fri., Sept. 7, 7:30 p.m.
CLOSES: Fri., Sept. 14
BRIEF SELF-DESCRIPTION: Enter the world of Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical tradition. Explore the legends of the Feminine Divine with a Shechinah Oracle. Rabbi Rayzel Raphael guides through interactive story and song to receive messages for the new year. Welcome seekers and non-seekers, of all faith traditions.
WE THINK: Drawing, in varying degrees, from Shabbat services, ’70s-style consciousness-raising groups, tarot and the Zohar, Kabbalah Salon isn’t for those seeking belly laughs or dark art — Rabbi Geela Rayzel Raphael’s love for rainbows is much too genuine for that. But judging from the mostly middle-aged women (and a handful of husbands) seated in a Melrose Park mansion just more than a week before Rosh Hashanah, those who are drawn to Raphael’s entreaties for peace, joy and justice will be moved by something they didn’t even necessarily know they needed. And what the rabbi and her five-woman chorus of priestesses and performers lacked in polish, they made up for with sincerity and warmth.
—M.J. Fine
Every year, there's hundreds and hundreds of performances at the Philly Fringe and Live Arts Festival, and unless it's one of the big shows, it's sometimes hard to tell what you're going to get. Here at Critical Mass we're sending writers to as many shows as we possibly can for 75 pocket-sized reviews over the course of the fest. Check back in with us at On The Fringe every day for real talk on what these things actually are!
SHOW: Myths & Monsters
GROUP: Philly Improv Theater
GENRE: Theater
ATTENDED: Fri., Sept. 7, 7:30 p.m.
CLOSES: Sun., Sept. 9
BRIEF SELF-DESCRIPTION: An hour long improvised hero’s adventure following a basic structure parsed by Joseph Campbell. A team of actors moving and breathing in tandem will depict monstrous beasts and terrifying deities encountered during a spontaneously created theatrical tale of trials and transformation of a lone hero.
WE THINK: Sustaining a five minute improv sketch is difficult. Constructing an unscripted hour long narrative is herculean. So Philly Improv Theater looked to myth-master Joseph Campbell for guidance. Campbell’s conception of the hero’s adventure provides the blueprint for PHIT’s Myths and Monsters, but absurd characters and dialogue give these legendary tales some levity. Friday’s show told the story of a village idiot turned centaur savior. He experiences love, loss, pain, and redemption in his journey to save his family and friends. George Lucas also adhered to this formula for his own films, but theater-goers should know that Myths and Monsters is more Spaceballs than Star Wars.
Every year, there's hundreds and hundreds of performances at the Philly Fringe and Live Arts Festival, and unless it's one of the big shows, it's sometimes hard to tell what you're going to get. Here at Critical Mass we're sending writers to as many shows as we possibly can for 75 pocket-sized reviews over the course of the fest. Check back in with us at On The Fringe every day for real talk on what these things actually are!
SHOW: The Maids
GROUP: Kicking Mule Theatre Company
GENRE: Theater
ATTENDED: Fri., Sept. 7, 8 p.m.
CLOSES: Sun., Sept. 9
BRIEF SELF-DESCRIPTION: In this fascinating dark ceremony by Jean Genet, every night two sisters, Solange and Claire, "play" at destroying Madame, their employer. Genet explores the eternal archetype of female and male nature in these unusual and infinite mirrors of good and evil.
WE THINK: Put simply, the act of murder is some cold, calculating shit. In other mediums, there's rarely a glimpse into the build-up behind the act. It's only ever the interrogation, and an explanation as to why it happened. However, this endeavor is that look into what happens when anger, dissatisfaction, and resentment boil over. Sisters Claire (Danny Kevin Ryan) and Solange (James Ludlum) attend to the Madame's (Francine Rousell) every waking need, and they fucking hate her for it. While she's out galavanting, they plot. They want to ruin her.
The opening is confounding and jarring, but ties together when the vaunted Madame finally enters. If she were simply a nasty wench then it'd be understandable why they want to strike her down, but Roussel walks a delightfully fine line between warm and cold, and it only pushes the sisters further to the edge. The freak-out scenes that take place while she's away drive the production. Ultimately, the pacing and plotting here produce a captivating murder ballad.
Every year, there's hundreds and hundreds of performances at the Philly Fringe and Live Arts Festival, and unless it's one of the big shows, it's sometimes hard to tell what you're going to get. Here at Critical Mass we're sending writers to as many shows as we possibly can for 75 pocket-sized reviews over the course of the fest. Check back in with us at On The Fringe every day for real talk on what these things actually are!
SHOW: This Town Is A Mystery
GROUP: Headlong Dance Theater
GENRE: Dance/Theater/Experience
ATTENDED: Fri., Sept. 7, 7 p.m.
CLOSES: Sept. 22
BRIEF SELF-DESCRIPTION: Every home is a universe. This Town Is a Mystery combines local performance and dinner in four Philadelphia homes. Created over the course of several months by Headlong and each home’s residents, the dance works are performed by the residents in their own living rooms — transformed into a fully teched stage — with no professional performers.
WE THINK: In some ways, this is territory as unfamiliar even for seasoned experimental dance/theater audiences as it is for the brave, enthusiastic families — in my case South Philly's Aryadereis (Teheran-born father, Roxborough-bred mom and three delightful, utterly rambunctious kids) — who serve as both hospitable hosts and slightly tentative but wholly captivating amateur performers. But it's also such a human and heartwarming thing, to be welcomed into this home, to get to know these fascinating folks and hear their astonishingly powerful stories, that to evaluate it in terms of art feels nearly beside the point. It's clear, however, that the lively post-performance potluck is as crucial a part of the experience as the "show" itself, and possibly the more memorable part.
—K. Ross Hoffman
While I work on the next round of Fringe reviews, enjoy this blast from the past with my pals The Bigger Lovers. Tonight they celebrate the 10th anniversary of their album Honey in the Hive at Johnny Brenda's.
Every year, there's hundreds and hundreds of performances at the Philly Fringe and Live Arts Festival, and unless it's one of the big shows, it's sometimes hard to tell what you're going to get. Here at Critical Mass we're sending writers to as many shows as we possibly can for 75 pocket-sized reviews over the course of the fest. Check back in with us at On The Fringe every day for real talk on what these things actually are!
SHOW: Electric Jungle
GROUP: Found Theater Company
GENRE: Theater
ATTENDED: Thu., Sept. 6, 9 p.m.
CLOSES: Mon., Sept. 24
BRIEF SELF-DESCRIPTION: Set sail on a musical odyssey through the sound barrier and beyond! Delve into a cavernous landscape exploring the nature of sound through a maze of microphone vines and pulsing radio waves. Join our ensemble on another visceral adventure, fusing physical theater with text, imagery, and song.
WE THINK: If you were attempting to create the archetypal Fringe show, you'd want to include: some nonsensical soundscapes; fragments of acted scenes that, as soon as they coalesce, begin to dissolve; a cast of talented young performers (including one, inexplicably, in an alligator mask); and, if at all possible, a brief radio drama narrated with the use of a theremin. You'd be close to approximating the experience of Electric Jungle, from local collective Found Theater Company, founded in '09 by a group of Temple students. The opening vignette — a caveman in the foreground, elaborate shadow puppetry behind — sets the tone: a vague sense of being shipwrecked inside someone else's dream. A few folk-rock ballads, a children’s TV show gone direly wrong, the obligatory rhythm-section-on-a-bucket-and-some-old-pans and a few funny/awkward moments as characters struggle to find harmony round out exactly what that archetypal Fringe production ought to be: a good (but weird and slightly disorienting) time for all.
Every year, there's hundreds and hundreds of performances at the Philly Fringe and Live Arts Festival, and unless it's one of the big shows, it's sometimes hard to tell what you're going to get. Here at Critical Mass we're sending writers to as many shows as we possibly can for 75 pocket-sized reviews over the course of the fest. Check back in with us at On The Fringe every day for real talk on what these things actually are!
SHOW: The Walls
GROUP: Ira Brind School
GENRE: Theater
ATTENDED: Thu., Sept. 6, 8 p.m.
CLOSES: Sun., Sept. 9
BRIEF SELF-DESCRIPTION: A scholarly young woman must confront the issue of her mother's untimely death and the possible consequences of her own complicated inheritance in this time-bending play about the elusive nature of madness. The Philadelphia premiere of a provocative drama from a prize-winning Chicago playwright.
WE THINK: UArts' undergrad ensemble exceeds expectations with Lisa Dillman's well-crafted drama about women coping with diagnoses of madness. Meaghan O'Hare fascinates as Carrie, a writer investigating historical atrocities represented by 1880s Jane (Mary Beth Shrader) and 1920s Alice (Tess Kunik), unfairly institutionalized by controlling men. She also copes with her mother's (faculty actress D'Arcy Webb) mental illness, befriends unstable Lucy (Merri Rashoyan) and fears her own instability. Amy Feinberg's has put together a smart, beautiful, involving production; Sarah Ganek's terrific multilevel set is expertly lit by Rachel Sampley; and students give mature performances playing extremes that would challenge any professional actor.
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