Author Archive
Hip Shot: ‘Lipstick Handgun’
Lipstick Handgun
Redrum at Fort Fringe
Remaining Performances:
Friday, July 24 @
5:45 p.m.
Saturday, July 25 @ 11:45 p.m.
They say: “This is play is scar from my head through my heart to my crotch. It’s a Greek chorus wrapped inside a romantic tragedy. There is also some moments of comedy and a compulsion to move via dance yoga and/or tai chi contained within it. A tornado in the rodeo of love and obsession. With meditations on the power of positive thinking. A shogun mystery choreopoem. Unraveling samskaric imprints.” [Note: I typed exactly what was in the Fringe Guide. Exactly.]
Hilary’s take: “I don’t get it,” says K, as D and M (or maybe it was T?) pantomime their pants off, clawing at their waistlines and collars. “I don’t get it!”
That’s exactly how I felt the entire 45 minutes of Stephen Forrest Notes’ “tornado in the rodeo of love and obsession.” I weathered the storm but walked out of Fort Fringe unamazed and confused. I think the gist of the play is this: Boy meets local “it” girl and becomes obsessed with her powerful sexual energy. But this woman is not powerful at all; she is vulnerable, needy even. But she doesn’t need him. Each is searching for a fulfilment the other is painfully ill-equipped to provide.
Hip Shot: ‘Uncorseted’
Uncorseted
The Shop at Fort Fringe
Remaining Performances:
Saturday, July 25 @ 6:30 p.m.
They say: “Destinies of a European countess and a humble American chambermaid collide at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Swords of steel penetrate gender norms, true identities are freely explored, and one man discovers it is better to receive than to give.”
Hilary’s take: I’m not sure if the Shark Tank Players’ production is the worst play I’ve ever seen or the greatest gender-bending burlesque send-up I’ve ever seen. It’s likely both, and it’s undeniably good, dirty fun.
At the Chicago World’s Fair, BFF’s and fearless shemales Penelope (Lacey Carriage) and Felicity (Goober Cemetery) cross paths (and cross-dress) with Countess Cornelia (the sublime Monti Gilmore), a Dionysian figure the size of Saturn much beloved by her loyal lesbian sex vixens whose breasts she names for the planet’s moons. The Countess knows her way around a sword, and Felicity seeks her fencing expertise to seduce Douglas (Peanut Norway), Penelope’s brother.
But the way to her man’s heart is not so simple. Read the rest of this entry »
Hip Shot: ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Mountain at Mt. Vernon Place United Methodist Church
Remaining Performances:
Thursday, July 23 @ 8 p.m.
They say: “Four adventurers step through a wardrobe door and into Narnia, a frozen land enslaved by the White Witch. When almost all hope is lost, the return of the Great Lion, Aslan, signals a great change and sacrifice.”
Hilary’s take: I haven’t the patience for children’s productions.
Looking at the Fringe guide, I wondered how C.S. Lewis’ best known work could be condensed into 42 minutes. Well, the production was actually 30 minutes. And it felt long. But I’m about 15 years older than the target audience and I left my stunt children at home. With no ability to gauge the play’s success on my own, I inferred from the sporadic giggles behind me that the Adventure Theater production had achieved its goal: to entertain the kiddies.
Hip Shot: ‘Irish Authors Held Hostage’
Irish Authors Held Hostage
The Bodega at The Trading Post
Remaining Performances:
Saturday, July 25 @ 11 p.m.
Sunday, July 26 @ 2:15 p.m.
They say: “It’s back! The war on terror takes a hilarious turn as Irish authors from the ages are kidnapped by terrorists of every stripe. Expect no victims in this wicked romp that lampoons beloved writers and hated terrorists, or vice versa.”
Hilary’s take: Perhaps—given this show’s 2003 premiere at the Washington Theater Festival and its 2006 stint at the Warehouse Second Stage—it wouldn’t be fair to the newer, unvetted Fringe acts to hail J.T. Burian Theatricals’ IAHH as the most brilliant (in the ‘cross the pond exclamatory sense) production of 2009’s fest. But in an era held hostage by relics of Dubya’s terror-mongering, “fair” is so last century. Besides, Oscar Wilde (John Morogiello) had me at “I don’t care what you do to me so long as it’s BEAUUUUTIFUL!”
Hip Shot: ‘How to Eat an Elephant’
How to Eat an Elephant
Warehouse Next Door
Remaining Performances:
Wednesday, July 22 @ 10 p.m.
Saturday, July 25 @ 3 p.m.
They say: “Russell Crowe’s double-chin, Houdini Dog, and $12,279 teeth are just a few of the stories in this funny and touching (but not in an icky way) journey through the small moments in life that make up the big moments.”
Hilary’s take: “He’s been telling the same story for 30 years,” says first-time playwright and aspiring funny girl Cigdem (pronounced “Chee-dem”) Oktem of her engineer grandfather. “So, it’s sounding a little repetitve.”
His desire to retread Turkey’s entire economic development timeline with anyone who’ll stay awake aside, he’s pretty much the best grandpa ever. He not only inflated her (feigned) self-confidence to Fringe-a-rific proportions, but the Oktem family patriarch provided his granddaughter’s artistic debut with much of its best material: geriatric bloviations, a noble and inspiring career, and Cigdem’s anecdotal goldmines, aka nutso aunts and uncles.
Hip Shot: ‘It’s Not Easy Being Green’
It’s Not Easy Being Green
Redrum at Fort Fringe
Remaining Performances:
Saturday, July 11 at 2 p.m.
Saturday, July 18 at 10 pm.
Wednesday, July 22 at 7 p.m.
Friday, July 24 at 7:30 p.m.
They say: “Lock five playwrights in oversized compost bins, and demand plays about the expanding ‘green’ movement. What do you get? Mountains of compost, five smelly playwrights, and a Fringe Festival entry. Come explore the sad truth: It’s Not Easy Being Green.”
Hilary’s take: There are no oversized compost bins or playwrights onstage. In fact, “they say” nothing about the production’s actual content. Here’s what they should’ve said: “Lock a sold out audience in steamy Redrum to absorb one shaky modern dance and four didactic sketches by five (smelly?) playwrights. What do you get? Bludgeoned by morality and a surprise sales pitch in our attempt to expand the ‘green’ movement.”
Fringe-Blogger Profile: Crowe
Name: Hilary Crowe
Hometown: Tampa, Fla.
Years in D.C.: 3
First CapFringe? Yes
Shows I’m Seeing: So far, It’s Not Easy Being Green and How To Eat An Elephant. Hopefully, Irish Authors Held Hostage, Vincent, and Titus X.
Random Thing You Might Find Revealing About My Sensibilities: Until my internship with the Washington City Paper this year, my only experience with theater was attending West End plays and musicals while studying abroad in London last year. My favorite productions: The History Boys, The 39 Steps, and Cabaret.
