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Showing posts from December, 2022

Review: "Chasing the Tides, or Exposure" Hits a High-Water Mark

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Chasing the Tides, or Exposure Written and performed by Matilda Woods Directed by Jessica Burr Presented by Blessed Unrest at Theaterlab 357 W 36 St., 3rd fl., Manhattan, NYC December 9-18, 2022 "Matilda Woods" in Chasing the Tides, or Exposure . Photo © Maria Baranova Photography Both halves of the title of Chasing the Tides, or Exposure , a new, devised show written and performed by the pseudonymous Matilda Woods, point to the multivalent themes and symbols of this exceptional production. Woods's character ranges enthrallingly through her personal history, from childhood shopping trips to relationships with lovers to a revealing dance experience, and the titular exposure is not only of this woman's memories and secrets to the audience but also a constitutive experience of female embodiment and its expectations surrounding bodily display. The tides themselves represent an oscillation between concealment and revelation, but the play's repetitions of high and low

News: Free Reading on 12/11 of the David A. Einhorn Playwriting Prize Winners

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On Sunday December 11 at 2pm, there will be a presentation of the winners of the first David A. Einhorn Playwriting Prize The event will be held at the Triad Theater, 158 W. 72nd Street. The event will run 90 minutes and include readings of the 1st and 2nd prize winners, some words about David Einhorn, and a talkback on the topics addressed by the plays. Admission is free, but there is a two-drink minimum for in person attendees. Reservations can be made at untitledtheater.com . Those attending via livestream can do so by visiting triadnyc.live at the time of the event. 1st Prize: Human Resources, by Matthew Minnicino. Directed by Edward Einhorn. Two mid-level employees in a dystopia discuss their day, politics, poetry, and the quality of the sandwiches from Sandwich Vending Kiosk 6B dash 2 (they're pretty good!). 2nd Prize: 等一下 děng yīxià (wait a little), by Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin. Directed by Chongren Fan. Oak and Marbles know how to make things grow, but somehow they keep forg

News: Staged Reading of One-Woman Dark Comedy "Brace for Impact!" 12/10

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  Always Wild Content  presents a staged reading of Maia Nikiphoroff’s new dark comedy, Brace for Impact!  on Saturday, December 10th, 7:00 PM at Culture Lab LIC. Brace for Impact! is a hilariously dark, one-woman show about a flight attendant named Shiva who’s being haunted by a disheveled clown and fights to stay focused on the job while her father’s body is being cremated. Playwright Maia Nikiphoroff is a Paraguayan writer and actor based in Brooklyn, NY, who, before diving into the creative world, was herself a flight attendant, for Emirates Airline, and earned her BA in Marketing. In the play, the flight attendant, Shiva with the help of a disheveled clown only she can see, navigates moments in her life in which she destroys that which she loves. Only after there’s nothing left to wreck will she find the power of forgiveness and regeneration. Grief is at the center of this dark comedy. Between questionable safety demonstrations and vodka-only drink service, Shiva purges all her r

Review: Growth Requires Transplanting in "A Tomato Can't Grow in the Bronx"

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A Tomato Can’t Grow in the Bronx Written by Gary Morgenstein Directed by Bernice Garfield-Szita Presented by Tomato Players, LLC at the Chain Theatre 312 W 36th St., 4th fl., Manhattan, NYC December 2-17, 2022 Holly O'Brien and Jackie Kusher. Photo by Mateo Del Campo The Bronx of the 1970s is popularly associated with images of poverty and burning buildings, and Gary Morgenstein's play A Tomato Can't Grow in the Bronx , winner of three 2022 Perry Awards from the New Jersey Association of Community Theaters (NJACT), focuses on one extended family of Bronxites on the cusp of this tumultuous decade, following them over several days in June of 1968 that represent a potential turning point for all involved. The characters in Tomato must reckon with their pasts as they attempt to chart their futures, and personal and familial change finds echoes in the social changes taking place around them. This ultimately warm, humorous family drama asks how far love involves letting go–of pl

Review: Grief is Hard to Juggle in "Dead + Alive"

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Dead + Alive Conceived by Richard Saudek Directed by Richard Saudek and Pher Presented by One Year Lease Theater Company (OYL) at the Connelly Theater 220 East 4th St., Manhattan November 29-December 10, 2022 Richard Saudek. Photo credit: Pher Gleason One might not think of juggling as providing an experience of mournful beauty, but Dead + Alive , which tackles loss by way of vaudeville, will change your mind. Dead + Alive , developed during a fellowship held by co-creator and co-director Richard Saudek at LABA: A Laboratory for Jewish Culture and making its world premiere at the Connelly Theater, focuses on two clowns, Dead (Richard Saudek) and Alive (Dana Dailey), who perform as a duo. While both begin the show alive and clowning, their character names give you a pretty good hint of where things are headed, leaving Alive in a position inspired by the Jewish burial custom of assigning a guardian " to watch the recently deceased to ensure that the soul doesn't escape and run