Archive for the ‘Guest Blogger’ Category
Hip Shot: ‘FlagBoy’
FlagBoy
Warehouse – Next Door
Remaining performances:
Sunday, July 26 at 5 pm
They say: FlagBoy, a true and authentic coming-of-age story about family, friends, and HIV. Cornelius Jones Jr., a young southern black boy, explores his sexual identity as he navigates from the urban worlds of Virginia and D.C. to NYC.
Aaron’s take: It takes a good deal of courage to open up one’s life to an audience of strangers. And in some ways, Cornelius Jones’ life is a profile in courage. But I doubt he would describe it that way. More than anything else, FlagBoy is about coming to terms with who you are—and what’s impressive is Jones’ ability to transform that self-awareness into a frank, funny, and revealing one-man show.
Hip Shot: The Attack of the Big Angry Booty
The Attack of the Big Angry Booty
The Bedroom
Remaining Performance: Sunday, July 26 at 7:00 pm.
They say: Dieting sucks! Whether it’s 1 pound or 100 pounds losing weight is never easy. Come experience the roller coaster ride on the one hellish trip that we all will eventually have to take, getting in shape.
Ann’s take: Have you ever gone out for happy hour with your coworkers, and there’s that one colleague who won’t stop with his stories about the various and ridiculous customer interactions he had that day… and you laugh politely but you’re really thinking, ‘it is not a unique experience to have to deal with difficult people and these stories really aren’t that funny’… and he’s not letting anyone else have the floor during his little stand-up routine… so you just sit there, for an hour, silently sipping your half-priced vodka and soda until you can finally blurt out that you have to leave immediately to pick up your dry cleaning before it closes? Les Kurkendaal is that coworker, and The Attack of the Big Angry Booty is that happy hour, minus the cheap drinks.
Hip-Shot: ‘Sezze Sun’
Sezze Sun
@ The Bodega
Remaining performances:
7/24 @ 6:30pm; 7/25 @ 9pm; 7/26 @ 4:30pm
They say: A struggling actor invites friends and family to his parents’ Italian villa for great food, drink and festivities. But he has ulterior motives. Secrets are revealed and covertly filmed in this multi-media exploration of the digitalization and destruction of relationships.
Sheffy says: MTV is filming its 23rd season of The Real World right here in Washington, in Dupont Circle. What’s most surprising is not that the Fringer to your left might soon be a cable TV mini-celebrity, but that this show is still on the air. Who would’ve thought that broadcasting the “unscripted” lives of seven co-habitating strangers would spark a new genre called “Reality TV?” And after Big Brother, Survivor, Jon & Kate, doesn’t the concept ever get stale?
Well how about this play’s angle: You lock a motley crew of characters in an Italian villa and videotape the unfolding drama without their knowledge. You can probably already guess some of the skeletons that come out when illuminated by the Sezze sun. The conniving mastermind behind the plot is the petulant Ben (Matthew Charles), a British actor-director whose egomania becomes clear in his ranting asides directly into the videocamera.
Hip Shot: ‘Dorks on the Loose: Facey Facey Face Face’
Dorks on the Loose: Facey Facey Face Face
The Baldacchino Gypsy Tent Bar – at Fort Fringe
Remaining Performances:
Friday, July 24th @ 7 pm
Saturday, July 25th @ 3:15 pm
Sunday, July 26th @ 7 pm
They say: Phaea and Becca don’t just have a face. They have two. And after last year’s Fringe success they are returning to celebrate with a new comedy show, Dorks on the Loose: Facey Facey Face Face. C’mon, you need a lift. 50 minutes
Chris says: Laurel and Hardy. Nichols and May. Lemmon and Mathau. Cheech and Chong. Phaea and Becca.
It’s not simple matter to explain what makes a comedy duo work: personality, chemistry, timing, and intellect are merely the more obvious variables. Loose dorks Phaea and Becca come off as an odd couple—one more conventionally tall and dorky, one at first glance too cute and cuddly for satire—but the chemistry is undeniable and the timing is spot on. Imagine your young teenage daughter and her best friend finishing each other’s sentences, then fast forward 15 years.
Hip Shot: ‘Home Free’
Home Free
Goethe Institut
Remaining Performances: Thursday, July 23 at 10:15 pm. Saturday, July 25 at 7:00 pm. Sunday, July 26 at 11:15 am.
They say: In a studio apartment, Lawrence and Joanna live in a world of their own making with Edna and Claypone. How long can they keep real world outside? What happens if reality comes through the door?
Ann’s take: Lanford Wilson’s Home Free gives its audience much to unravel as it follows the muddied logic of Lawrence and Joanna’s aberrant, make-believe world. Psychological disorder drives the piece, and we have much to sort through as we piece together the mystery of what’s so scary about the outside world. Social taboos abound in this one-act, but there is an eloquent innocence in Wilson’s deviant world, providing a nice tug-of-war on the audience’s sensibilities.
Hip Shot: ‘Lila: The Love Story of Radha and Krishna’
Lila: The Love Story of Radha and Krishna
The Apothecary
Remaining performances:
Jul 25th 4:15 pm
They say: Attraction, flirtation, jealousy, passion. Follow the human Radha and the god Krishna as they bask in the joy and burn in the heat of their love. The emotional quality of their story is captured beautifully through Odissi Indian classical dance.
Llewellyn’s take: It was pouring rain outside the Apothecary. People shuffled in, soaked from head to toe, sopping wet playbills in hand. A veritable waterfall cascaded from the ceiling in the back of the house. The stage manager quipped that they were just trying to set the ambiance by making it more monsoon-like. She may have been joking, but the drenched, humid conditions were perfect for what was a beautiful, intricate, and all-around amazing performance. I can’t imagine a better way to wait out a monsoon then to watch the graceful interplay of these gorgeous women; the slow, delicate contortions alternating with the staccato raga stepwork. Shalini Goel Agarwal’s flirtatious, mesmerizing gaze itself is reason enough to see this show. The captivating beauty in their dress and expressive personalities had me wishing for an even plusher production—what if there were more dancers, more tapestries, real waterfalls, and a live tabla-sitar orchestra?
Hip Shot: “South-Asian American Dance”
South-Asian American Dance
The Apothecary at the Trading Post
Remaining Performances
Friday, July 24th at 7:45 pm and Sunday, July 26th at 11:30 am
They say: “Presenting in its signature classical and contemporary style with original musical scores, TMDC’s dancing is precise, athletic and theatrical. The themes run the gamut of emotions. The message may be personal or political but it’s always relevant to the times.”
Caroline’s take: Who knew presidential politics could be interpreted through traditional Indian dances? I certainly didn’t before seeing this production of the Tehreema Mitha Dance Company, but the combination of traditional choreography with contemporary subject matter landed with surprising resonance.
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: ‘A.D.’
A. D.
The Bedroom at Fort Fringe
Remaining Performances:
Jul 24th 5 pm
Jul 25th 8:30 pm
Jul 26th 5 pm
They Say: A show that runs the gamut from A to D. Attention deficits, afternoon delights, American dreams, artistic differences, anxiety disorders, they’re all here. From the author of last year’s A Report of Gunfire, a comic look at the world today.
Llewellyn’s take: Of the “A.D.” items listed in the description, the emphasis should be placed on “attention deficit” and “anxiety disorders.” There are also American Dreams and artistic differences, though I didn’t see any afternoon delights. Instead, A.D. is a frenetic, one-woman dash through multiple personalities that weave in and out of neurotic introspections…all of it surrounding the fast-paced huck-a-buck world we live in today. Annie Huey keeps up the tempo throughout the show with a nervous grin no matter which character she assumes, from frantic stewardess to nervous art model.
Hip Shot: Diamond Dead (Continued…)
Diamond Dead (Continued…)The Baldacchino Gypsy Tent Bar
Remaining performances: July 25 7:30
They say: A new Maverick rises to do battle with the forces of evil in the continued adventures of the zombie rock band Diamond Dead.
Joan says: Spinal Tap meets Re-Animator in this irreverent rock opera.
Whenever you agree to see a play about a band, you wonder whether the actors can can really mount an effective band. Well no worries here—the Landless Theatre Company hits this one right out of the graveyard. I will be first in line the day the soundtrack becomes available. And talk about death metal—4 out of 5 of the band members are actually dead!
