Late Spring/Early Summer Preview (of Shows Not By Yours Truly)

You'd think that having a bunch of shows going on would mean I'd have a ton of things to blog about. Well, oddly enough, not only have I been too busy to blog (with both the shows and the new day job, which has remarkably little-to-no downtime) but I don't have a lot to report, aside from the fact that Blood Brothers and Captain Moonbeam are in rehearsals and you should get your tickets for both.

In the meantime, I figured I'd take a break from plugging my own stuff to plug a few other shows of note from some buds and co-conspirators going on this summer. Believe me, I'm looking forward to making what little time I have to go see these.

Standards of Decency 3: 300 Vaginas Before Breakfast
Various writers and directors
The Blue Coyote Theater Company is doing a follow-up to their immensely popular—and potentially offensive—Standards of Decency series, where nine playwrights (including fellow homies Mac Rogers, Matthew Freeman and Adam Szymcowicz) create new short plays meditating on new media and pornography. (And if those Blue Coyote boys keep "meditating" like that they're going to go blind.)
Runs May 31 - June 18 at the Access Theater (380 Broadway). Click here for tickets.

Cut
by Crystal Skillman, directed by Meg Sturiano
And we here at Nosedive Central thought we were being prolific. In addition to her entry in the Blood Brothers show and her TWO entries in the Brick's Comic Book Theater Festival, The Management as residents of Horse Trade Theater Group just opened Crystal Crystal's latest play about three reality TV show writers—of course reality TV has writers—having to recut and essentially rewrite the season finale of their crap show. I'm seeing this on Friday. Join me?
Runs through June 4 at UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place). Click here for tickets.

Tulpa, or Anne & Me
by Shawn C. Harris, directed by Sarah Lyons.
A comic book author has the woman of her dreams, Oscar-nominated actress Anne Hathaway, climb into her apartment through her television set. If only Kate Winslet could do the same for me. But of course, there are some...problems...that develop along the way as their friendship develops. I saw a workshop production of this compelling show last year and am eager to see this again in a full production.
Runs June 2-19 at at the Robert Moss Theatre (440 Lafayette Street). Click here for tickets.

Ajax in War
by Ellen McLaughlin, directed by August Schulenburg
As a follow-up to their incredibly successful and brilliant Dog Act, Flux Theatre Ensemble continues their fourth season with a mash-up of Sophocles' Ajax and the modern war in Iraq. According to the promotional postcard I just received in the mail, the play follows the parallel narratives of the ancient Greek military hero Ajax and a female American soldier, both undone by the betrayal of a commanding officer. According to this company's past work, I'll sure as hell be there.
Runs June 3-25 at the Flamboyan Theater (107 Suffolk Street at Rivington). Click here for tickets.

Death Valley
by Adam Scott Mazer, directed by Dan Rogers
Wild West meets zombie apocalypse. Seriously. Oh hell's yes. I saw the serialzed version of this show when it went up at the Vampire Cowboys' last Saturday Night Saloon and enjoyed the hell out of each episode.
Runs June 23 - July 10 at the Bushwick Starr (207 Starr Street, Brooklyn). Click here for tickets.

Everything Else in The Brick's Comic Book Theater Festival and EndTimes' Vignettes for the Apocalypse V.
This isn't just a back-door plug (now there's an image) or a case of licking the hand that feeds you. There's a great deal of things in both festivals that I am quite pumped to see, from Derek Ahonen's The You Knows Know and Jerrod Bogard's The Madhouse in Vignettes to John Hoche's Galactic Girl In: ATTACK OF THE STARBARIANS! and Piper McKenzie's Bubble of Solace in the Comic Book Fest. I gotta say, I'm really pumped I get a discount to see these shows (right, respective festival curators?).
The Brick's Comic Book Theater Festival runs June 2 - July 1 at the Brick Theater (575 Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn). Click here for tickets.
Vignettes for the Apocalypse V runs June 9 - July 3 at the Kraine Theater (85 East 4th Street). Click here for tickets.

I'm sure I'm missing a bunch of other shows going up this summer, so screw it: let's open up the floodgates. If you have a show going up in the Greater NYC area this June and July, feel free to plug to your heart's content in the comments section!

No time for going to Splish-Splash this summer,

James "Bathing Suit Area" Comtois

Infectious Opportunity Nominated for an IT Award

Well, the announcement's been made public, so I can blather about it here. Infectious Opportunity has been nominated for a 2010 New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Full-Length Script.

The rest of the nominees, which include Crystal Skillman's Vigil, Heather Cohn for directing Flux's The Lesser Seductions of History, Piper McKenzie's Craven Monkey and the Mountain of Fury, Vampire Cowboys' Alice in Slasherland, Paco Tolson for his acting work in The Brokenhearteds, and most of the cast for MilkMilkLemonade, can all be found here.

Congratulations to all my fellow nominees!

Just happy to be nominated,

James "Nom Nom Nom" Comtois

Jacob's House

(Again, I'm good pals with most folks involved with this production, wrote a piece for their ForePlay series leading up to this show, and have worked with one of the actors—Zack Calhoon—in Nosedive a couple of times. So, grain of salt, all that. Plus, I paid a discounted price on my ticket.)

Flux Theatre Ensemble's latest production, Jacob's House, is an Americanized retelling of the Old Testament story of Jacob. It's at times fun, confusing, thought-provoking, frustrating, touching, muddled, and cathartic. Do you need to know the original story to follow and understand the play? No. Would it help to know it? I would imagine so. As I am unfamiliar with the original story, I did find myself getting lost on more than one occasion in the first act. But more on that later.

First, a little bit of background on this show for those of you who don't already know: Flux was originally set to mount a production of JB, Archibald MacLeish's modern retelling of the story of Job. However, the company was denied the rights at the 11th hour. Rather than cancel their spring production, Flux's artistic director August Schulenburg wrote a new script over the course of a weekend for the already-assembled cast based not on Job, but on Jacob wrestling the angel. (There is however a winking nod to JB, or at least the story of Job, in the script.)

To harp on some minor structural flaws in a script written under duress in mere days—a stunningly impressive feat—seems horrifically unfair and petty, especially considering how impressive the end result is. So, lest I seem like a crank, let me get all of my criticisms out of the way up front, since this is a show I ultimately liked and recommend.

The play centers around the offspring of Jacob, who recently died. They’ve just come from the funeral and are at his house, waiting to see who inherits it (and all its contents). Joe and Dinah believe they should get it, much to the dismay of Tamar, who became part of the family through marriage. Joe and Dinah—particularly Dinah—doesn’t believe Tamar should be entitled to anything of their father’s, but Tamar obviously disagrees, claiming she knew a side of dear old (and I do mean old) dad that Joe and Dinah never did.

So, through flashbacks and recreations, the siblings air out dirty laundry and revisit tales from their—and Jacob’s—past. And here’s where I can offer my two major criticisms and get on with the show.

The first act centers around stories that deal with Jacob’s childhood, his upbringing, how he became prosperous, how he met the love of his life, his wife, and how he became—depending on your viewpoint—blessed or cursed. The first act is very much all over the map, with sometimes achronological flashbacks that go off on tangents of their own.

For example, the scene where Jacob meets his true love’s father, although offering crucial information for the second act and is in and of itself fun, due in part to Bianca LaVerne Jones’s marvelous portrayal of the father, it derails the primary thrust of the flashback, which is the story of how Jacob fell in love with Rachel but married her sister instead.

All of this is a long roundabout way of stating that I often wondered where the show was going in act one, and sometimes had difficulty finding my bearings or locking onto the main narrative thread. I kept forgetting about Jacob’s exceedingly long life and couldn’t pinpoint when he got this gift or acknowledged it.

Also (and this is a minor thing that didn’t cause too much confusion), during the flashbacks, sometimes the actors playing Joe, Dinah and Tamar would step in and play younger versions of themselves, and sometimes other actors would step in to play them. Although it’s not too confusing, I’m not 100% sure why this inconsistent device was used.

Which isn't to say the first act isn't fun or interesting. There are many tales about the recently departed father that are compelling. It's just that in the first half of the show, I sometimes had trouble figuring out what these stories were all adding up to.

Aside from this, my confusion dissipated in the second act, where the narrative threads tighten and we’re presented with some very compelling stories that make up the Big Picture. (And really, if an audience member stops being confused before curtain call, the playwright’s done their job.) Specifically, there are two tales—where Dinah’s parents (unwittingly?) destroy her fiancé’s life (and in turn, Dinah’s chance of marrying the love of her life), and where Jacob bargains bits and pieces of himself with an angel for just a little more life during an extended chess game with Tamar—that are touching, heartbreaking and utterly absorbing. Thanks to the writing, directing and performances, theses scenes are almost worth the price of admission alone.

In the second act, we learn more about the "gifts" Jacob has been given by a nameless angel, and how said gifts have affected him, his offspring and really, everyone around him.

The actors are all great in this, particularly Matthew Archambault as Jacob and Isaiah Tanenbaum as the nameless angel who shows up from time to time to either bless or taunt Jacob. They inhabit their roles as if they were made to play them. Zack Calhoon, Jane Lincoln Taylor and Jessica Angleskahn are perfectly cast as the squabbling heirs, Tiffany Clementi and Kelli Holsopple play of each other well as the two sisters vying for Jacob’s love, and hell; they look like they could practically be sisters in real life. Johnna Adams, the aforementioned Jones, and Anthony Wills, Jr. deftly play multiple roles throughout (I particularly liked one bit where Johnna Adams, playing a young Tamar, tricks one of Jacob’s dim-witted sons to do her toilet-cleaning work for her).

And the previously-mentioned quibble aside, Kelly O'Donnell's direction is excellent. She seamlessly blends scenes from the past with those of the present in a way that's not cluttered or confusing.

Jason Paradine’s set is also astounding. Seriously, I didn’t think you could make the Access Gallery look like that. His set makes the space, which is really just one large dance studio look like the interior of an old cluttered with lifetimes of knickknacks and belongings.

Despite my reservations—and hey, maybe those more familiar with the original Biblical tale won’t be as sporadically lost as this ignoramus was—Jacob’s House makes for a night of compelling and fascinating theatre. It deals with a man blessed with fortune and long life, and shows the after-effects and consequences those gifts have on him and his family.

Wanting to learn to play chess,

James "Agnostic Moron" Comtois

Jacob’s House is running until May 22 at the Access Gallery on 380 Broadway. For tickets go here.

Readings & Events This Evening

Hey, gang. I hope everyone had a decent weekend (as I did). Because of the sudden shift in weather I've come down with a pretty nasty head cold and will try to brave the workday with the proverbial stiff upper-lip.

However, don't let my weakened constitution prevent you from seeing some pretty cool-looking events happening tonight in our fair city.

For example...

Tonight at the Cell Theatre on W. 23rd St. (between 8th and 9th avenues), Shawn Harris, writer and administrator of the Love's Labors Lost blog, is unveiling a reading of her new play, Anne&Me, at 7:30 p.m.

Here's what Shawn tells us about it:

Anne&Me tells the story of a Black woman whose world is turned upside down when she meets a celebrity in the most unlikely way. Combining pop culture with concepts from Tibetan mysticism, Anne&Me explores the impact of racism and sexism upon the psyche of Black women with unbridled honesty.

Featuring Toccara Castleman, Sarah Koestner, Verna Hampton and Ayo Cumming.

The reading—part of the Blackboard Reading Series—is free, although donations are of course, greatly appreciated. Reservations can be made at blackboardreadingseries@gmail.com.

In addition, over at her blog, she asks readers to participate in an informal survey to determine how to proceed with fundraising for her upcoming summer endeavor, Crossroads.

* * *

Also tonight is the final session for Flux Theatre Ensemble's ForePlay reading series, An Awesome God.

Tonight's entry features new short works by Erin Browne, Fengar Gael, Mac Rogers, & Crystal Skillman, all directed by Michael Davis, about either "The Creation Story" or "The Rebellion of Korah."

Featuring Will Ellis, Daryl Lathon, Nick Monroy, Ingrid Nordstrom, Chandra Thomas, & Cotton Wright.

It's at the Access Theater Gallery (380 Broadway, 4th Floor). The event, too, is free, with a suggested donation of $5.

This reading series is part-and-parcel with Flux's current mainstage show, Jacob's House, which I saw Friday night and about which I hope to write later this week.

* * *

So don't use the excuse that Yours Truly is down for the count: do yourself a favor by checking one of these events out.

Needing the NyQuil,

James "Stuffed Up" Comtois

For Your Listening Pleasure...

In the latest nytheatrecast, the delightful Matt Freeman (left) interviews the bodacious August Schulenberg about Gus' latest show, Jacob's House. It's well worth a listen.

Battling his inner angels,

James "Bad Conscience" Comtois

We Interrupt This Regularly Scheduled Radio Silence...

...to wish broken legs upon the folks at Management and Flux for their respective shows, Song For a Future Generation and Jacob's House opening tonight!

(So, okay, technically Jacob's House is previewing tonight and officially opening tomorrow, but screw it. The show's going up in front of real people tonight, so the well-wishing still applies.)

Have a great opening, guys. I'm looking forward to seeing them both.

Dealing with a full plate

with a dearth of marbles,

James "Metaphor Mixers Party" Comtois

Advertise, Advertise, Advertise...

I'm going to take a brief break from marketing my show to talk a little bit about marketing a show.

Don and Gus have recently written pretty spot-on entries about this here, here and here, which leads me to assume they've either been a.) sneaking into my brain when I'm not looking or b.) this shit is pretty much universal to indie theatre-makers. The jury is open on that one.

But while I continue to ask for more grant money to continue research on the latent psychic abilities of my fellow bloggers and theatre-makers, I'll point out that Don comes up with a pretty astute conclusion based on an informal survey, which is, Your Marketing Doesn't Matter. Over at Gus' entry wondering whether or not Facebook does any damn good, Don augments his conclusion in the comments section by pointing out that the goal is to let your audience base know about your upcoming show.

In other Don's words, "don't sell, inform. Don't peddle, make available."

My take on Facebook invites is pretty much this: it may not actually rope in any new folks to see your show, but hey, it's free and takes very little time to set up an invite page. And when you're trying to get the word out on your show, every little bit helps. So if it costs you nothing, and takes virtually no time, why not?

Okay, I just wrote "every little bit helps." I actually don't know if that's true. I should probably write, "as far as we know, it doesn't hurt."

(On Gus' blog, I commented on the old adage I've heard that I've often used when promoting a Nosedive show: "Look, we know that 75% of what we're doing is a waste of time. But we don't know which 75%, so we have to do it all.")

The entry on to print postcards or not to print is one that we here at Nosedive Central are currently debating right now, since, well, with a new show coming up, we need to figure out where we stand on the subject in a manner of weeks.

I mean, sure, I like the physical memento, and it's nice to be able to physically hand someone a card with all the relevant info if I'm chatting up a show to them in person, but I'm definitely with Don about acknowledging that no one has gone to see a Nosedive play based solely on finding a postcard left at a bar, and with Gus about how depressing it is to have a stack of unused postcards sitting in your apartment after your show closes.

(We're also in a debate about whether or not to print postcards or business cards, since business cards look neater, and are easier for someone to stash in their wallet. But the same question applies: is that business card going to sway anyone into seeing it?)

Personally, neither postcards nor Facebook invites inform my playgoing. Honest. It's through email invites (to get the dates and venue), from knowing the folks making the show (i.e., I've already locked Flux's upcoming Jacob's House on my internal radar, so a Facebook invite and postcard is redundant. I'll use the mailing list email to remind myself of which train I'll be taking before heading off to see it), and from word of mouth (i.e., someone who's opinion I trust tells me to go see a particular show).

But then again, that's just me. Some folks I know solely rely on Facebook to be informed about upcoming shows. As I told Gus, I once asked a friend if he got the email I sent him about one of my shows, and he stared at me blankly. He then asked if I sent out a Facebook invite about it. I had not, and he said: "That's why this show is news to me."

I think we'll ultimately print up a limited run of either business cards or postcards, since it goes back to Don's assertion of getting the word out there: some folks (who are planning to see your show regardless) prefer using Facebook invites to organize their social calendar. Some prefer emails. Others prefer something physical that they can stick on their fridge.

Hey, we just don't know which 75% is wasted.

Wasting his time and yours,

James "Hateful Huckster" Comtois

Tonight: Flux's ForePlay Begins! (Climax to Arrive Later This Spring.)

I was hoping to write up and post my thoughts on Vampire Cowboys' latest, Alice in Slasherland, today, but realize I first need to bring your attention an event that's taking place tonight.

To kick off Flux Theatre Ensemble's upcoming new show, Jacob's House, a modern retelling of Jacob wrestling the Angel, the company is presenting ForePlay: Divine Reckonings, a play reading series where 16 playwrights (Yours Truly included) re-imagine eight stories from the Old Testament.

Tonight's theme is Secrets & Lies, which features two short plays (by Johnna Adams and Kristen Palmer) focused on the story of Queen Esther and two (by Brian Pracht and Yours Truly) on the story of David & Bathsheba.

All four shorts will be directed by Jordana Williams. You may know her as the person who directed such pieces of awesomeness as Viral, Mother Sacramento and Hail Satan. I know her as the lovely lady that tolerates our inane shenanigans over at my sister & Marc's place during our Bad Movie Nights, mercifully chooses not to punch me when I stroke her pregnant tummy, and offers to bake us cookies when Nosedive co-pilot Pete Boisvert suffers weird, hospital stay-inducing seizures.

And also, of course, as the awesome director of awesome shows.

Secret's & Lies goes up tonight at 7:30 at Judson Memorial Church on 239 Thompson Street.

Below are the details of the entire reading series.

The ForePlay Schedule - Divine Reckonings

Monday, March 22nd at 7:30PM
Judson Memorial Church (239 Thompson St)
Secrets and Lies
focusing on the stories of Queen Esther and David & Bathsheba
Featuring works by
Johnna Adams, James Comtois,
Kristen Palmer & Brian Pracht
Directed by Jordana Williams

Monday, April 5th at 7:30 p.m.
Irondale Center (85 South Oxford St, Brooklyn)
Journeys
focusing on the stories of Abraham & Sarah and Ruth & Naomi
Featuring works by
Rob Ackerman, Jeremy Basescu,
Bekah Brunstetter & David Ian Lee
Directed by Angela Astle

Monday, April 19th at 7:30 p.m.
Irondale Center (85 South Oxford St, Brooklyn)
I and Thou
focusing on the stories of Moses and The Binding of Isaac
Featuring works by
Leila Buck, Christine Evans,
Michael John Garces & Bill George
Directed by Heather Cohn

Monday, May 10th at 7 p.m.
Access Theater Gallery (380 Broadway, 4th Floor)
An Awesome God
focusing on The Creation Story and The Rebellion of Korah
Featuring works by
Erin Browne, Fengar Gael,
Mac Rogers & Crystal Skillman
Directed by Michael Davis

So, I will be attending this tonight. Tomorrow, I will write about Alice in Slasherland.

Always accepting baked goods,

James "Biblical Scholar" Comtois

Interviewed by Flux

Gus Schulenburg from Flux Theatre Ensemble interviewed Pete, David Ian Lee, Kid Sister Comtois and Yours Truly as part of Flux's "Exploding Moments" series, where we break down the nuts and bolts of one scene from Infectious Opportunity from the writing, directing and performing angle. Check it out here.

And thanks again for asking us to participate in this, Gus! It was a lot of fun.

Okay. I now need to shower, eat, then head up to the Brick for our penultimate performance of said show. Hope to see some of you there, if not this afternoon, then on Tuesday.

Slapping his cast and crew around,

James "Cruel Mistress" Comtois

Fluxing Tonight

I'm going to Jimmy's #43 to see this tonight. Even Nosedive's own Pedro will be directing something. Join me?

See? Ya see? I can talk about stuff other than my own shit! I can, I tells you!

Still talking about his own shit,

James "Poop Scoop" Comtois

Pretty Mike & Pretty Matt Interviews Pretty Adam

I just know too damn many pretty people. But, hey. That's theatre for ya.

Anyway, Nosedive vet and all-around groovy guy Michael Criscuolo interviews too-cute-for-words playwright Adam Szymkowicz about Flux's upcoming production of his play, Pretty Theft, here.

And although this has been up for a little while, Mr. Matthew Freeman and Adam get into a very interesting podcast discussion on the upcoming play here.

I'm hoping to see this show myself very, very soon. I'm just trying to organize and coordinate my schedule.

Tarting himself up,

James "Cheap Fun" Comtois

Burlesque Benefit: "Mad as a Wet Hen"

Kate Marks, who did an absolutely splendid job directing my piece, "Joseph and Cotton," for Flux Theatre Ensemble's Poetic Larceny Series, brought this to my attention: "Mad as a Wet Hen," a burlesque benefit on May 2nd at the Triad (158 West 72nd Street) to raise funds for the KNF Co. and their production of Bird House, an upcoming multimedia theatre project by Ms. Marks.

Featuring cabaret star Teresa Fischer, hoop dancer Firefly, alt-rocker Pauline Pisano, burlesque sweetheart Reckless Abandon, Louie Pearlman and his Ukulele, Billy the Id and Cherry Pitz from the Hotsy Totsy Burlesque, magician Gene Silvers, clown John Leo, and (as the kids say) much, much more!

Miss Roxy Contin will emcee.

And from now until April 18th only, you can get discounted tickets ($15) by using the code 'getstheworm' here.

As wet as a hen,

James "Surprisingly Unperturbed" Comtois

Flux Theatre Ensemble's "Petty Larceny," Round Two

I'll be attending this this evening. Join me?

Ripping off better playwrights than I,

James "Righteous Robber Barron" Comtois