Half-baked ramblings from a playwright and armchair thinker.
Tuesday, January 03, 2012
Here's to 2012!
Happy 2012, everybody! I hope everyone's holiday was joyous, restful and/or festive, and that your fledgling New Year is so far treating you okay.
And heck. We're not three days into this new year and already shit, as the kids say, is going down.
As you know, Molotov's Fat Men in Skirts opens in two days at UNDER St. Mark's Theatre. Since it's only running a scant three performances, you should buy your tickets now.
In other news, I've just purchased my ticket for Gideon Productions' ADVANCE MAN by Mr. Mac Rogers. In other other news, I have an erection.
Are these events connected? None of your God damned business, you invasive bastards.
Giving you the pieces but leaving it up to you to put them together,
James "Hand-Holding Boner-Wielding Benefactor" Comtois
Well, folks. Today is my last day of work for the year, so I am off into the wild gray yonder.
For reasons we've already gone into on this site, this has been an incredibly stressful year for me (and for other folks I know, for reasons we've not gone into on this site - and won't). This means that I'm very ready to check out of 2011 earlier than planned. So, I'll soon be going up to New Hampshire to both do a lot of personal writing and a lot of nothing.
Well, okay, not entirely nothing. I plan to watch a great deal of media and read a few books. But these activities will most likely be done while my feet are in a reclined position. And okay, okay, I'll also be going to a wedding. But I don't have to "do" anything there - except stay standing up.
At any rate, I hope everyone enjoys this holiday season and has a happy new year. I for one am curious - if not eager - to see what 2012 has in store for us.
And oh, yeah. I'll admit it. I'm very excited about seeing this. And being part of this. So right out of the gate, January 2012 has got some fun stuff in store for us. And by "us," I mean, "theatre folk in the greater-NYC area."
So again: Merry Christmas & Happy Chanukah, everyone! And here's to a better and brighter New Year!
Nosedive Productions Brings Molotov Theatre Group to New York for Fat Men in Skirts Run in January
“Surprisingly Sweet Show about Rape and Cannibalism” Is the First Traveling Show from Washington DC’s Notorious Grand Guignol Horror Theatre Company
Washington, DC (December 8, 2011) — Nosedive Productions, New York City’s “Theatre for Sick Little Monkeys,” will host DC-based Molotov Theatre Group, America’s second-oldest Grand Guignol theatre of horror, for a three-show run of Molotov’s critically acclaimed Fat Men in Skirts, January 5, 6 and 7, 2012.
Molotov’s Fat Men in Skirts will be performed at 8 PM each day, at the UNDER St. Marks Theatre, 94 Saint Marks Place, in New York’s East Village. Tickets are $15, and can be purchased in advance online here.
Advance purchase for this extremely limited run is strongly recommended, although tickets may also be purchased at the door on a space-available basis.
The run time of Molotov’s Fat Men in Skirts is approximately 95 minutes with no intermission. Please pee before entering.
Nosedive Productions Co-Founding Co-Artistic Director James Comtois said, "The folks at Molotov make exactly the type of theatre that excites us here at Nosedive Central: sweet, funny and horrifying all at once. So we're thrilled to be bringing their delightfully effed up play up to New York from DC."
“We’re grateful to the kindred spirits at Nosedive Productions for helping us put this show on its feet in New York,” said Molotov Artistic Director Kevin Finkelstein. “UNDER St. Marks is the perfect venue for us – shadowy, quirky and right in the middle of all the action. That’s the perfect recipe for Molotov’s special brand of nonsense.”
Written by Nicky Silver, Fat Men in Skirts was Molotov Theatre Group’s fifth Capital Fringe Festival production, and the first ever Capital Fringe show to be “Helen Hayes Awards Recommended.” The Helen Hayes Awards are Washington DC’s most prestigious theatre community honors – what the heck is Molotov doing getting this kind of recognition?
Critics reviewing the Capital Fringe production of Fat Men in Skirts heaped awkward praise on Molotov’s staging of the bizarre dark comedy:
"...a wonderful piece of theater art that inspires laughter, tears and three hot showers after viewing..." Maryland Theatre Guide (5 star review)
“…Surprisingly sweet for a play about rape and cannibalism…”: The Washington Post
“…Just the right tone for a Fringe play — it’s edgy, raw and a little nonsensical…”: DCist.com
“…I enjoyed [it] as much as one can enjoy a play that involves mental illness, rape, murder, and incest…”: dctheatrescene.com
“…Rethink your own revulsion when it comes to eating dead babies”: Washington City Paper
Fat Men in Skirts features DC area actors Katie Culligan, Dave Gamble, K. Clare Johnson and Matthew Marcus. The play follows the Phyllis Hogan and her son, Bishop, stranded on a desert island in an increasingly “interesting” relationship. Rescued five years later, they discover the family’s philandering patriarch involved with a young porn star. Chaos, insanity, violence, cannibalism, and sidesplitting hilarity ensue.
NOT RECOMMENDED FOR THE EMOTIONALLY OR PSYCHOLOGICALLY IMPRESSIONABLE OR FOR PEOPLE WITH CARDIAC OR NERVOUS CONDITIONS.
STRONGLY RECOMMENDED FOR COUNTER-CULTURAL, UNDERGROUND AND CULT FANS WITH PROPERLY WORKING HEART AND CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEMS.
FOR THE SAFETY OF THE ACTORS AND THE SEATED AUDIENCE, PEOPLE LEAVING THE THEATRE WHILE THE SHOW IS IN PROGRESS WILL NOT BE READMITTED.
About Molotov Theatre Group
Founded in 2007, Molotov Theatre Group is dedicated to preserving and exploring the aesthetic of the Grand Guignol, or French Theater of Horror. The company will strive to accomplish this in two ways:
• Through its ongoing project, “Grand Guignol DC,” to produce English translations of original Grand Guignol scripts to preserve and draw attention to this important, and essentially forgotten genre; and
• To apply ideals from the Grand Guignol to contemporary and classic works.
Molotov Theater Group will pursue these goals following the Grand Guignol model of employing a resident company of artists and working towards building a true rotating repertoire of plays. To our knowledge, no other company in the world is working to maintain this genre in such a traditional way. For more information, visit Molotov Theatre Group's site. Molotov Theatre Group is a not-for-profit professional theatre under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code — really!
Part One of Monkeys features Joe Mathers and Shashanah Dattilo. They're awesome. And awesome in this.
The excerpt will be part of Purple Rep's Dark Night Serials, which will take place for the next few Mondays (possibly longer) during the run of their latest show, The Myths We Need - or - How To Begin.
In addition to Yours Truly's show, tonight's Dark Night Serials feature excerpts from the work of Johnna Adams, Brendan Burke and August Schulenberg.
Next Monday features the work of Kristen Palmer, Adam Szymkowicz, Charlotte Miller and Larry Kunofsky.
And did I mention it's free?
The Monkey Theatre is on the 12th floor of 37 West 26th Street. A bunch of serialized plays by talented people are playing there tonight for free. So go there. And enjoy yourself. And be somebody.
"Talking to Mac Rogers is at times like talking to an over-caffeinated Jimmy Stewart clone that's wondering if he left the oven on while simultaneously realizing he's late for a train. To describe Mac's conversational style as "distracted" is putting it mildly. To say he's a fast talker is an understatement...[keep reading]"
Well, friends, family and well-wishers*, before we settle all our affairs with our 11th season and send it off into that Great Season in the Sky, we here at Nosedive Central wanted to wish all of you a happy Thanksgiving.
After doing three shows in three months — Captain Moonbeam & Lynchpin in June, The Blood Brothers present ... FREAKS FROM THE MORGUE in June & July and Infectious Opportunity in August — amidst personal health crises, we're both extremely proud of our 2011 season and quite relieved that we literally survived it. We are now ready and eager to move forward with our upcoming 12th season!
Since we could not have possibly done this massively ambitious endeavor without your continued generosity and support, we cannot thank you enough.
I can already feel it: 2012 is going to be a great year for Nosedive Productions. I'm currently writing — and almost finished — a number of plays at the moment, the details of which I shall offer very, very soon. But suffice it to say this will lead to the staging of a new original full-length show — possibly even more — as well as a new anthology of horror plays in October, we'll be embarking on a first-time endeavor for Nosedive in the beginning of the year: that of co-sponsoring a production from a visiting company.
Again, more details on that — beyond saying that we're incredibly excited about this — very, very soon.
As it stands now, Nosedive needs at least $5,000 to both settle our affairs with our 2011 season and get started on our goals for our 2012 season.
If you could donate any amount to Nosedive Productions, which is now no longer under the umbrella of Fractured Atlas but now its own fully independent, not-for-profit company, you can now do so through the Network For Good site.
The new donation button can also be found on our website.
As always, your tax-deductible donation of any size helps, from $10 to cover the cost of printing the programs to $100 for a week's worth of rehearsal space.
Also, I wanted to thank you all again for your support during this particularly strenuous — but ultimately exciting and rewarding — year.
Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!
Regrettably looking and sounding Absolutely nothing like Beyoncé,
James "Survivor" Comtois
*Well-wishers in that, like Moe Szyslak, you don't wish us any specific harm.
As always, there's some stuff in here that could be construed as spoiler-y. Happy Snowy Halloween, folks!
Just like the Steven Spielberg-directed films Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (which was released a week after this film), the Steven Spielberg-produced supernatural horror film Poltergeist takes its audience to American suburbia. However, whereas those first two films are (in their own way) celebrations of suburban life, Poltergeist is a condemnation. In fact, Poltergeist reveals that suburbia's underbelly is quite literally teeming with rotting corpses.
Poltergeist is a haunted house film where the house in question is far too new to have ghosts. In fact, the house is being haunted precisely because it is new and its very presence offends the spirits.
I put the asterisk next to Tobe Hooper's name above—perhaps unfairly—to indicate the mini-controversy/debate surrounding who really directed Poltergeist. Although Hooper is credited as being the film's director, numerous accounts (as well as simple observable details) suggest that Spielberg (on top of being the credited writer and producer) was the true director of the film.
Though Spielberg has since insisted that Hooper was (is) the true director of Poltergeist, comparing the film with The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Hooper's prior directorial effort) then with Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, or Close Encounters (Spielberg's) suggests otherwise. Poltergeist unmistakably looks like a Spielberg film, from its shot compositions to its score (where Jerry Goldsmith is doing his best John Williams impersonation).
Again, this could be incredibly unfair (I obviously wasn't there on the set and have spoken to absolutely no one involved in the making of the film), and I don't mean to disrespect Hooper (who did direct my favorite horror film of all time, after all) but I'd assert that Poltergeist ultimately represents Spielberg's, not Hooper's, vision. And ultimately, that's where I'm coming from with this entry.
Just as Gremlins would later be the dark and twisted version of E.T., Poltergeist is the evil twin of Spielberg's 1977 film Close Encounters. In fact, if watch the scene in the former where Carol Anne (Heather O'Rourke) and Robbie (Oliver Robins) Freeling are attacked and abducted, followed by the scene in the latter where little Barry is taken from his mother, you could be forgiven for thinking they're from the same movie.
Whereas E.T. and Close Encounters ultimately evoke wonder while offering a touch of dread, Poltergeist reverses that balance—it evokes dread while offering a touch of wonder. And make no mistake: early in the film, when Diane (JoBeth Williams) notices the chairs in the kitchen slide across the room, the paranormal activity taking place in the Freeling family's house does inspire wonder. Then later that night, when the giant misshapen tree in the yard reaches into the kids' room and tries to eat Robbie and Carol Anne is sucked in through the closet wall to some sort of alternate dimension, the sense of wonder ends and the enervating horror begins.
(In fact, the movie does a really good job of conveying how draining the haunting is for the Freelings. After Carol Anne disappears, look at Craig T. Nelson's face in the following scenes. Through the bulk of the second act he looks as though he literally hasn't slept in days.)
Here's one example of how the spirits within the house torment and terrorize its inhabitants. I suppose I'd label it NSFW. I mean, if your boss walks by and sees you watching it, it may lead to some awkward conversations:
(I'd also like to point out that, like Jaws, this film was rated PG when it was originally released.)
In Poltergeist, the suburbs are not romanticized—they are a literal source of evil. When the opening credits roll, we see row upon row of sprawling identical houses, spanning out indefinitely. "I can't tell one house from the other," says one prospective homebuyer when Steven (Nelson), a real estate broker, shows off a house in Cuesta Verde, a suburb that, in Steven's words, his "company built."
In another early scene, Steven's wife Diane discovers that their daughter Carol Anne's pet bird has died. So, she and Carol Anne give it a funeral by putting it in a cigar box with a napkin for a blanket, a rose, some food, and other items, then burying it in the yard. We'll see later that all this care and respect will be for nothing, as a bulldozer will unceremoniously dig it back up and spill it back out onto the ground.
I realize I'm describing it to seem like a heavy-handed and clumsy bit of foreshadowing, but in execution it's actually quite deft and subtle—primarily because we're not let onto why all this aggressive paranormal activity is taking place in the Freeling family home.
And just why is all hell breaking loose in the house? This could be a clue as to why.
Thaaaat's right. The company that built the town unceremoniously mowed over a cemetery and desecrated the graves of countless souls. Oops.
Sure enough, the Freeling family gets the hell out of there before the house literally implodes and Steven's boss (who apparently gave the go-ahead to move the headstones but leave the bodies behind) inexplicably gets no comeuppance. Cue the subsequent following of two horrible yet inevitable sequels.
And because no write-up on Poltergeist would be complete with a reference to the traumatizing evil clown doll in the kids' room, here you go. You're welcome.
(Seriously, what little kid has that fucking thing as a toy? I suppose the same little kid who has a poster for Ridley Scott's Alien on his wall.)
With Poltergeist, which had another director credited, Spielberg was able to explore the dark side of his more wondrous, child-friendly creations yet keep himself at a safe, arm's length distance. Yes, Spielberg gave the world E.T. But the week before, he also gave the world that goddamn clown doll.
Nosedive Central's good pal Bryan Enk, producer-director of The Big Bad, made this short film, Hazardous Cargo, last year for Nosedive's 10th Anniversary Gala. It's now up and available online. It makes me smile. Featuring Becky Byers.
