Brett Epstein, Brittany Taylor Visser, and Sean Kleier of “Based On Your True Story”

Posted on May 15, 2012 by robby

What do you get when you put a playwright/director, an actress/singer, a comedian/actor, and a podcaster around a chess table in Washington Square Park late on a Sunday night?

This episode of Go See a Show!, obviously.

Listen in as I speak with Brett Epstein, Brittany Taylor Visser, and Sean Kleier about Brett’s new show, inspired by 30 interviews with friends, acquaintances, and random strangers. It’s called Based On Your True Story, it’ll premiere this week at The Tank, and you can get a sneak peek here on the podcast: tales of klonopin, awkward interviews, arrests in 3D, $7 sandwiches, interrupted interviews, and Sean not playing Hawkeye await.

“Hulk smash.”

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Based On Your True Story
Six short plays PLUS a documentary short film
The Tank
151 W. 46th Street, 8th Floor
New York, NY
Wednesday, 05/16/2012 – 7:00pm
Saturday, 05/19/2012 – 9:30pm
Tickets: $7, available via Brown Paper Tickets

Rachel Dart, director, & David L. Williams, playwright, of aMios’s “In the Meantime”

Posted on May 3, 2012 by robby

What if the moment you’re in is the only one that matters? Could it be that, as one of the characters posits, you’ve never done anything — so you’ve never done anything wrong?

That’s the central question of aMios’s production of In the Meantime by David L. Williams, directed by Rachel Dart. I had the pleasure of taking in an invited dress, and I can vouch for it — this is a fun play with well-placed laughs, but which will have your head awhirl when it ends.

Still, as you’ll hear in the podcast, at it’s heart, “it’s about three people in a bar, and the trouble that can bring.”

Listen in as Rachel, David & I discuss this play about the present, the possibility of an “anti-Boal” that dedicates theatre to being as selfish as possible, writing in bars, having work in your back pocket ready to go, and that ever-annoying question to any theatre artist: “what’s your play about?”

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aMios presents
In The Meantime
by David L. Williams

directed by Rachel Dart

Featuring:
Lauren Berst*
Eddie Boroevich*
Jillian LaVinka*
*Actors appearing courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association

Under St Marks
94 St Marks Pl. (1st Ave/Ave A)

Thursdays — Saturdays @ 8 PM
May 3rd, 4th, 5th
May 10th, 11th, 12th
May 17th, 18th, 19th
Tickets available via SmartTix
**use the code “Shotz” for $3 off tickets!**

Dan Bianchi, of RadioTheatre’s “H. P. Lovecraft Festival”

Posted on May 2, 2012 by robby

Horror in the theater has always been a tough thing to pull off. The Grand Guignol did it, and by many accounts spectacularly so for the time — but what about now, when Hostel & the Saw franchise has altered our perceptions to the point where we’re expecting more realistic depictions of violence, and the most outrageous interstellar creatures can be conjured up with the right software?

Well, as the master put it…

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” — H. P. Lovecraft

RadioTheatre Artistic Director Dan Bianchi knows this, and as a Lovecraft fan, he’s using it to great effect as he goes through and dramatizes — live, onstage — the Lovecraft cannon with RadioTheatre’s H. P. Lovecraft Festival at The Kraine Theatre.

Listen in as Dan and I discuss horror without a $200 million budget, why he does radio drama live, radio-erotica (seriously!), and the importance of good sound design.

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RadioTheatre & HorseTrade present
The H. P. Lovecraft Festival
The Kraine Theater
84 E. 4th Street, Manhattan

Srarring FRANK ZILINYI, R.PATRICK ALBERTY, KEVIN GILLIGAN
Directed By Frank Zilinyi
Script and Sound Design By Dan Bianchi
Sound Engineer: Wes Shippee

Program A – THE SHADOW OVER INNSMOUTH, THE MOON BOG
~~April 19, 21, 22, 27,~~ MAY 3, 5, 13
(Thur-Sat 8pm, Sun 3pm)

Program B – THE LURKING FEAR, THE STATEMENT OF RANDOLPH CARTER , THE HORROR AT MARTINS BEACH, THE EVIL CLERGYMAN
~~April 20, 26, 28, 29,~~ MAY 4, 6, 20
(Thur-Sat 8pm, Sun 3pm)

Geoffrey Decas O’Donnell, playwright & actor, from “The Deepest Play Ever: The Catharsis of Pathos”

Posted on March 22, 2012 by robby

Go See a Show! was back at The New Ohio last weekend for some deep, epic thoughts, provided by The Deepest Play Ever: The Catharsis of Pathos.

Playwright & actor Geoffrey Decas O’Donnell joined me for an interview on his dinner break between shows — that’s him in the first photo below, red-eyed & blue-mouthed, with his arm outstretched next to the puppet & puppeteer of Mephistopheles.

Listen in as Geo discusses acting in a show he’s still revising, loving & lampooning Brecht, and what’s next for the company he co-founded & leads, Collaboration Town — and I curse Jad Abumrad (not seriously, of course).

Obligatory Shakespeare reference this time? The Winter’s Tale. It never fails to come back to the Bard!

(…sorry for the background noise — it seems Collaboration Town has a big population!…)

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The Deepest Play Ever: The Catharsis of Pathos
by Geoffrey Decas O’Donnell
music by Michael Wells
lyrics by Geoffrey Decas O’Donnell, Jordan Seavey and Michael Wells
directed by Lee Sunday Evans and Jordan Seavey

The New Ohio Theatre
154 Christopher Street, 1E
Tickets available via SmartTix

Wednesday, March 14th @ 7:30 – Opening Night!
Thursday, March 15th @ 7:30
Friday, March 16th @ 7:30
Saturday, March 17th @ 5:00
Saturday, March 17th @ 9:00 (WEAR GREEN AND PAY WHAT YOU CAN!)
Sunday, March 18th @ 7:30
Monday, March 19th @ 7:30
Wednesday, March 21st @ 7:30
Thursday, March 22nd @ 7:30
Friday, March 23rd @ 7:30
Saturday, March 24th @ 5:00 & 9:00

photos by Colin D. Young

Cailin Heffernan, Tim Errickson, & Sue Abbott of Boomerang Theatre Company’s “The Real Thing”

Posted on March 21, 2012 by robby

Has Go See a Show! ever been outside of Manhattan? I can’t remember even seeing a show in my home borough of Brooklyn that I’ve covered for the podcast…kind of crazy that it’s taken 24 episodes to get out of Mannahatta…

…but here we are, at Long Island City’s The Secret Theatre, for Boomerang Theatre Company’s production of The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard. Director Cailin Heffernan, Boomerang Artistic Director Tim Errickson, and Managing Director Sue Abbott joined me for a podcast interview after I saw a performance of the show last week, to talk about running a lesser-produced Stoppard in rep with a Shakespeare comedy and a contemporary comedy, making one set work between three different shows, rock & roll in Stoppard’s work…and more.

Remember: always sit in the front row.

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Boomerang Theatre Company presents
The Real Thing
by Tom Stoppard
The Secret Theatre
4402 23rd Street
Long Island City, NY 11101
Saturday March 3rd @ 8pm
Sunday March 4th @ 3pm
Monday March 12th @ 8pm
Wednesday March 14th @ 8pm
Saturday March 17th @ 8pm
Sunday March 18th @ 3pm
Thursday March 22nd @ 8pm
Friday March 23rd @ 8pm
Saturday March 24th @ 3pm

Matilda Szydagis, director of “Look for the Woman”

Posted on March 10, 2012 by robby

The podcast is starting to reflect back on itself again — in this interview, Go See a Show! gets to a play that we discussed with the playwright, Christie Perfetti, when it was still in development, in the second episode of the podcast. And in that podcast, Christie gives a shout-out to the director interviewed in this episode, who just so happened to be the lead in the play covered in ep. 2.

So, welcome to the podcast to actress & director Matilda Szydagis!

Matilda has directed Ms. Perfetti’s latest play, Look for the Woman, which is currently being presented by Write Act Rep at the Richmond Shepard Theater. After their second performance earlier this week, Matilda talked with GSAS! about working with the playwright, directing for a 160 degree audience, and what it’s like to work on a show where the characters look a lot like the people you grew up seeing in your hometown…

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Look for the Woman
by Christie Perfetti
directed by Matilda Szydagis
Richmond Shepard Theater (309 E. 26th Street at 2nd Ave.)
Sunday March 11th, 2012 @ 3:00 PM
Monday March 12th, 2012 @ 8:00 PM
Tuesday March 13th, 2012 @ 8:00 PM
Thursday March 22nd, 2012 @ 8:00 PM
Friday March 23rd, 2012 @ 8:00 PM
Saturday March 24th, 2012 @ 8:00 PM
Sunday March 25th, 2012 @ 3:00 PM
Tickets

Casey Cleverly, director of “Twelfth Night: Wall Street”

Posted on March 7, 2012 by robby

Go See a Show! returns to Shakespeare (as it seems to do…) with Co-Op Theatre East‘s production of Twelfth Night: Wall Street, directed by COTE Literary Director Casey Cleverly.

COTE is in residence at Looking Glass Theatre, where we’ve built a huge wall onstage (courtesy of our incredible set designer Michael Simmons) as the setting for Viola, posing as Cesario, to attempt to woo the business of Olivia’s Fashion House on behalf of the firm Orsino & Partners, while 99%’ers Sir Tobey, Sir Andrew, Fabian, and Maria drink themselves into a stupor and mess with everyone’s favorite cross-garterer, Malvolio.

…before you say, “what?,” take a listen to the podcast.

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…by the way, that’s Tyrus Holden (Sir Andrew) and Sam Williams (Feste) opening the podcast…

Twelfth Night: Wall Street
by William Shakespeare
directed by Casey Cleverly
Co-Op Theatre East & Looking Glass Theatre
422 W. 57th Street
Mannahatta
Wednesday–Saturday, March 7-10, 7:30PM
Tickets available at OvationTix

photos by Michael Simmons; 1) Dana Hunter as Viola, Amanda Renee Baker as Orsino, Sam Williams as Feste; 2) Haleigh Ciel as Olivia, Dana Hunter; 3) Tyrus Holden as Sir Andrew, Michael Rehse as Sir Tobey, and Kerrie Bond as Fabian; 4) Haleigh Ciel

Tomi Tsunoda, director of “Erosion: A Fable”

Posted on February 23, 2012 by robby

For Go See a Show!‘s first episode featuring a show at the marvelous La MaMa (a place dear to my heart), we’ve got an interview with director Tomi Tsunoda, director of Loom Ensemble’s Erosion: A Fable, which is being presented in The Club as part of La MaMa’s 50th Anniversary Season.

Listen in as Tomi tells us about developing the piece with the ensemble, equates love with dirt from a homeless woman on the street, and describes how to play pvc pipe with flip-flops.

Sounds like a cool show, no?

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Loom Ensemble’s
Erosion: A Fable
directed by Tomi Tsunoda
thru February 26th, 2012
Friday at 10pm
Saturday at 5:30pm and 10pm
Sunday at 5:30pm
Tickets: $15, $10 for students/seniors
available from La MaMa online, in person at the box office, or by calling 212-475-7710

photos by Nimi Kadar

Catherine Mueller of “Mary Poppins: A Show About Mary Poppins”

Posted on February 21, 2012 by robby

Last weekend, I interviewed my friend Catherine Mueller over afternoon tea (how adroit) as we discussed her new show Mary Poppins: A Show About Mary Poppins (yes, that’s the full title).

Listen in as Cat explains how her work in clowning influenced the creation of her one-woman show (featuring two people), and I learn that I’ve been pronouncing my friend’s name incorrectly for the past year.

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Mary Poppins: A Show About Mary Poppins
Performed by Catherine Mueller & Ben Vigus

Created by Catherine Mueller, in collaboration with Ben Vigus
with special assistance from Mikhaela Mahony & Alex Correia

Thursday, February 23, 2012
7:30 PM
Dixon Place
131A Chrystie Street
approx. 70 minutes

Tickets $10 students, $12 advance/$15 at the door
Available at OvationTix

For more information on this show, head over to the show’s website: ashowaboutmarypoppins.tumblr.com/

Martin Dockery & Vanessa Quesnelle of “Oh, That Wily Snake!”

Posted on February 8, 2012 by robby

On this episode of Go See a Show!, we’ve got our first returning guest: actor & playwright Martin Dockery, who is joined onstage by actress Vanessa Quesnelle for his show Oh, That Wily Snake! (it’s nice to see another title with an “!” in it).

Oh, That Wily Snake! is, on its face, an often surreal one-act play about a man trying to convince a woman to take a trip with him on his flying bed to Aruba (and, to get her to eat brussel sprouts). But there’s a lot more going on, too — listen in as Martin and Vanessa discuss this “allegory of an allegory.”

And sorry for the clanging.

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Oh, That Wily Snake!
thru February 10th
Under St. Mark’s (St. Mark’s & 1st Ave.)
Thurs, Fri, and Sat. 8pm
$18/$15 Student and Senior

Go See a Show!

The off-off-Broadway podcast

Category Archives: Performance

Brett Epstein, Brittany Taylor Visser, and Sean Kleier of “Based On Your True Story”

Rachel Dart, director, & David L. Williams, playwright, of aMios’s “In the Meantime”

Dan Bianchi, of RadioTheatre’s “H. P. Lovecraft Festival”

Geoffrey Decas O’Donnell, playwright & actor, from “The Deepest Play Ever: The Catharsis of Pathos”

Cailin Heffernan, Tim Errickson, & Sue Abbott of Boomerang Theatre Company’s “The Real Thing”

Matilda Szydagis, director of “Look for the Woman”

Casey Cleverly, director of “Twelfth Night: Wall Street”

Tomi Tsunoda, director of “Erosion: A Fable”

Catherine Mueller of “Mary Poppins: A Show About Mary Poppins”

Martin Dockery & Vanessa Quesnelle of “Oh, That Wily Snake!”