Reviewer Writing Samples
Allison reviews New York Indie Theater with the New York Theater Review
Dzieci’s "Ragnarok" as presented in the Brooklyn BEAT Festival
Dzeici, (Polish for “children”) had its inception in 1997 and dedicates itself “to search for the ‘sacred’ through the medium of theatre.” In this exploration, Artistic Director Matt Mitler integrates the practices and techniques of Jerry Grotowski and Peter Brook to create a paratheatrical experience. From nuns in abbeys to the sick in hospitals to beach goers at Coney Island, Dzeici appeals to variety of audiences, and works as a true ensemble to bring light to the human experience. In treating theatre as ritual, Dzeici weaves vocal music, picturesque movement and site-specific work “equally engaged with personal transformation as it is with public presentation.” ...
Dzeici, (Polish for “children”) had its inception in 1997 and dedicates itself “to search for the ‘sacred’ through the medium of theatre.” In this exploration, Artistic Director Matt Mitler integrates the practices and techniques of Jerry Grotowski and Peter Brook to create a paratheatrical experience. From nuns in abbeys to the sick in hospitals to beach goers at Coney Island, Dzeici appeals to variety of audiences, and works as a true ensemble to bring light to the human experience. In treating theatre as ritual, Dzeici weaves vocal music, picturesque movement and site-specific work “equally engaged with personal transformation as it is with public presentation.” ...
Flying Snakes in 3D!!
By Teddy Nicholas and Leah Nanako Winkler
The Ice Factory Festival
Only Everywhere Theatre Group can successfully juxtapose the struggling artist message with a science fiction narrative about snakes: “the scariest animal in the world”. Flying Snakes in 3D!! (an expert marketing title) is more than attack snakes in the air. It bravely opens a dialogue about theater’s best kept secret that everyone seems to talk about: Even though theatre is still dominated by straight white men (sound familiar?), why are we still making it? ...
By Teddy Nicholas and Leah Nanako Winkler
The Ice Factory Festival
Only Everywhere Theatre Group can successfully juxtapose the struggling artist message with a science fiction narrative about snakes: “the scariest animal in the world”. Flying Snakes in 3D!! (an expert marketing title) is more than attack snakes in the air. It bravely opens a dialogue about theater’s best kept secret that everyone seems to talk about: Even though theatre is still dominated by straight white men (sound familiar?), why are we still making it? ...
The Complete and Condensed Stage Directions of Eugene O’Neill: Vol One, Early Plays/Lost Plays
The Complete and Condensed Stage Directions of Eugene O’Neill: Vol One, Early Plays/Lost Plays is a riot. Being a big O’Neill fan myself, I loved his explicit and controlling stage directions. My favorite is in Long Days Journey Into Nightwhere the character Mary “wipes her brow as if to clear the cobwebs in her mind”. Pure poetry. Director Christopher Loar seizes the idea on almost anyone’s mind that has done an O’Neill play: What would it be like to just perform O’Neill’s quirky stage directions, sans dialogue? And hence, The Complete and Condensed… is born...
The Complete and Condensed Stage Directions of Eugene O’Neill: Vol One, Early Plays/Lost Plays is a riot. Being a big O’Neill fan myself, I loved his explicit and controlling stage directions. My favorite is in Long Days Journey Into Nightwhere the character Mary “wipes her brow as if to clear the cobwebs in her mind”. Pure poetry. Director Christopher Loar seizes the idea on almost anyone’s mind that has done an O’Neill play: What would it be like to just perform O’Neill’s quirky stage directions, sans dialogue? And hence, The Complete and Condensed… is born...
FringeNYC Recomendations: Buried Words
Buried Words is about an alcoholic family that does their best to deal with tough circumstances. It opens on two sisters (Jennifer Conely Darling and Eve Danzeisen) trapped in their salty bickering as they prepare for their mother’s funeral. They open a packed box that reveals memories and nostalgia, and we find ourselves journeying to what had been...
Buried Words is about an alcoholic family that does their best to deal with tough circumstances. It opens on two sisters (Jennifer Conely Darling and Eve Danzeisen) trapped in their salty bickering as they prepare for their mother’s funeral. They open a packed box that reveals memories and nostalgia, and we find ourselves journeying to what had been...
Everywhere Theater Group's Dead People
With a name like "Everywhere Theater Group", one would expect site-specific gritty New York theatre in bar toilets or subway platforms. In this case, perhaps the "Everywhere" means the ubiquitousness of the "Interweb". ETG's newest venture, Dead People, focuses on our relationship with the Internet and how it influences relationships with each other. Someone once said everyone's basic human need is to connect. Most likely our efforts to connect finds us moonlighting on Facebook, OK Cupid, YouTube or Gchat...
With a name like "Everywhere Theater Group", one would expect site-specific gritty New York theatre in bar toilets or subway platforms. In this case, perhaps the "Everywhere" means the ubiquitousness of the "Interweb". ETG's newest venture, Dead People, focuses on our relationship with the Internet and how it influences relationships with each other. Someone once said everyone's basic human need is to connect. Most likely our efforts to connect finds us moonlighting on Facebook, OK Cupid, YouTube or Gchat...
What Happened in Ohio
If it weren't for the liner notes, I'm not sure if I would know What Happened in Ohio. This play with music, or performance art, or dance theatre piece, is still searching for it's ground. It opens up on four characters parading a beautiful old time (original) song to in front of a patchwork quilt and edison lights. Three women and one man present their small town community, and question in fragmented dialogue their need for connection…
WOMEN CENTER STAGE: The 6 Project by Chelsea Gregory
In The 6 Project, Chelsea Gregory presents a stirring account of her life experience tied in the events of The Jena Six: Six black teenagers were arrested and charged with attempted second degree murder. These six were charged because of a school fight. Tensions within the student body arose when a black teenager sat under the "white tree". The next morning nooses were tied to the tree branch as a prank. A few months later, a white teenager was attacked, treated in a hospital, and released three hours later. As Chelsea quotes in the piece, "It wasn't the kids that where the problem. It wasn't race that was the problem. It was the tree that was the problem."...
In The 6 Project, Chelsea Gregory presents a stirring account of her life experience tied in the events of The Jena Six: Six black teenagers were arrested and charged with attempted second degree murder. These six were charged because of a school fight. Tensions within the student body arose when a black teenager sat under the "white tree". The next morning nooses were tied to the tree branch as a prank. A few months later, a white teenager was attacked, treated in a hospital, and released three hours later. As Chelsea quotes in the piece, "It wasn't the kids that where the problem. It wasn't race that was the problem. It was the tree that was the problem."...
WOMEN CENTER STAGE: In the Crossing by Leila Buck
Leila Buck has set up a thought provoking structure: a play within a conference, within a play. The audience has the opportunity to interact with Leila, her husband Adam (played by Adam Green) Adam's aunt Joan, (played by the marvelous Kathryn Kates) who is president of the board of ISIDE, and Leila's Lebanese cousin Noura, (played by Maya Serhan) who happens to surprise them by arriving (on stage!) at the conference…
Leila Buck has set up a thought provoking structure: a play within a conference, within a play. The audience has the opportunity to interact with Leila, her husband Adam (played by Adam Green) Adam's aunt Joan, (played by the marvelous Kathryn Kates) who is president of the board of ISIDE, and Leila's Lebanese cousin Noura, (played by Maya Serhan) who happens to surprise them by arriving (on stage!) at the conference…
