Kara Ayn Napolitano & Joy Donze of “In Search of Elaina”

Drift In Act Out in association with Platt Productions presents IN SEARCH OF ELAINA, written by Kara Ayn Napolitano, directed by Joy Donze, at The Players TheatreListen in as In Search of Elaina playwright Kara Ayn Napolitano, along with director Joy Donze, discuss the vibes between them, making things happen, facing the difficult parts of yourself, strong female friendships, finding the right people for your ensemble, strong audience reactions, and why you should write what you know.

“…you said it at opening…this is a play about a lot of peoples’ people. I think that, when you bring your truth to the stage, as a collective humanity, we find that a lot of us can relate to that truth…”

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Tara Gadomski, playwright, Illana Stein, director, and Robert A. K. Gonyo, actor, of “The Offering”

Tara Gadomski, Illana Stein, and Robert A. K. Gonyo of The Offering

I make this podcast because I love sound, and I love theatre; Go See a Show! is a great way to unite the two.

And I’m an amateur sound-designer, and make radio dramas, for much the same reason.

For this episode of the podcast, those two worlds—sound about theatre, and sound in the theatre—collide. My guests are playwright Tara Gadomski and director Illana Stein, with whom I have a conversation about our production of The Offering.

For a bit of context: the play was originally written & recorded for Radio COTE, the radio-play festival I produce with my company Co-Op Theatre East—you can check out the original performance on iTunes. We all loved the play so much that Tara adapted it into a stage version, which is currently running in The Network One-Act Festival (with your humble GSAS! narrator doing live foley onstage). And in this shameless-self-promotion episode, we talk about this great little one-act, which to me is about the power of art, that we’d all love for you to come see.

Listen in as Tara, Illana, and I discuss making a radio play into a stage play, the beauty of language, “the question,” and getting (and keeping) power.

“…you just got compared to Shakespeare…”
“…let’s not go so far…”

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Frank Cwiklik, director of DMTheatrics’ “FINAL CURTAIN: The Last of Ed Wood”

Final Curtain: The Last of Ed WoodI’m sure we’ve all noticed the trend in theatre to take material from the film world and put it upon the stage — look at the Broadway listings, and you’re sure to see what I mean. Director Frank Cwiklik of DMTheatrics is also in the business of bringing the big screen to the live stage, but right now he’s not working with “successful” films — he’s working with material from Ed Wood, the much-maligned/cultishly-adored1950s sci-fi/noir/horror/strange film writer/director/producer/actor. And for FINAL CURTAIN: The Last of Ed Wood, he’s got 5 (five!) Wood pieces running in rep at The Red Room.

After opening night of Bride of the Monster paired with The Sinister Urge!, Frank took a break from the madness to discuss the origins of his putting Ed Wood onstage, technical difficulties as aesthetic choices, playwrighting by necessity, and giving the man some have called “the worst director in history” a little respect.

DMTheatrics presents

FINAL CURTAIN: The Last of Ed Wood

directed by Frank Cwiklik

Remaining performances:
TUE JUNE 26 8 PM The Ed Wood Memorial Burlesque Blowout
WED JUNE 27 8 PM The Violent Years!, 9:30 PM Hot Ice
THURS JUNE 28 8 PM Night of the Ghouls, 9:30 PM The Violent Years!
FRI JUNE 29 7:30 PM The Sinister Urge PLUS a retrospective of past DMT B-movie shows
SAT JUNE 30 8 PM Hot Ice, 9:30 PM Bride of the Monster
SUN JULY 1 1 PM Matinee Double Feature: Night of the Ghouls/The Violent Years!
8 PM Hot Ice, 9:30 PM The Sinister Urge!

FINAL CURTAIN: The Last of Ed Wood, "Bride of the Monster"FINAL CURTAIN: The Last of Ed Wood, "The Sinister Urge!"FINAL CURTAIN: The Last of Ed Wood, "The Sinister Urge!"

“Cowboy Mouth” director Leah Benavides, and actors Diana Beshara, Geoffrey Pomeroy, and Matthew Mark Stannah

Cowboy Mouth

Cowboy Mouth was written by Sam Shepard & Patti Smith in 1971, a fantastical meditation on the tempestuous relationship between these two American art/punk icons. 41 years later, One Old Crow Productions has revived this volatile one-act in a Lower East Side apartment.

Listen in as GSAS! talks with director Leah Benavides & cast members Diana Beshara, Geoffrey Pomeroy, and Matthew Mark Stannah about why this play is relevant today, creating the set and sound design together, and how you take a Lobster Man from page to stage.

…and as promised, here’s the blog Diana mentions in the interview, where you can check out some photo stills and thoughts from the cast & director.

This one’s a lot of fun, and in addition to a free glass of wine with ticket purchase, you also get a free snack when you arrive. Without that snack, you can’t see the show. I will say no more; you should head down to Lucky Cheng’s to check it out.

Cowboy Mouth
by Sam Shepard & Patti Smith
June 7 & 8, 11-14, & 20 & 21 at 8pm
Friday, June 15 & 22 at 8pm and 10pm
Sunday, June 10 & 17 at 5pm
Meet at Lucky Cheng’s, 24 1st Avenue, New York, NY
Tickets: $15, via Brown Paper Tickets (includes a free glass of wine)

Cowboy Mouth featuring Diana Beshara & Geoffrey Pomeroy Photo credit Leah BenavidesCowboy Mouth featuring Geoffrey Pomeroy as Slim & Diana Beshara as Cavale Photo credit Leah Benavides

Matilda Szydagis, director of “Look for the Woman”

Look for the WomanThe 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

Christie Perfetti's "Look for the Woman"

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

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”

Loom Ensemble's "Erosion: A Fable"

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

Loom Ensemble's "Erosion: A Fable"

Alex Mallory & Jeffrey Karafin, Artistic Directors of Poetic Theater Productions and the festival “Poetic License”

Poetic Theater Productions presents "Poetic License"This weekend, The Wild Project is home to a quick but mighty little festival from Poetic Theater ProductionsPoetic License.

On a freezing night after tech earlier this week, Go See a Show! interviewed the company’s Artistic Directors, Alex Mallory and Jeremy Karafin, about creative communities, working with talented youth, and just what “poetic theater” means. And we get interrupted by an old friend of mine, showcasing the wonderfully random connections we make in this little off-off-Broadway world of ours.


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Poetic Theater Productions presents "Goliath"

…on a side note, this is Episode 17 of Go See a Show! That’s not a particularly important milestone or anything…but wow. 17? We’re on a roll here, folks, and the podcast ain’t giving up anytime soon.

Spread the word — introduce your friends to the podcast!

“Into the Woods,” a fundraiser for The Sylvia Center

Into the WoodsThis episode of Go See a Show! may not be about a technically “off-off-Broadway” show, but the impulse behind this production is very much in the vein of my favorite kinds of OOB shows — a bunch of people getting together, on their own terms, for the sake of making something beautiful.

And it’s for a good cause, which makes this all the more awesome.

Director Kevin Horne and actor Joshua David Bishop (“Jack”) are two of the folks behind a special charity performance of Sondheim’s Into the Woods. Along with their fellow employees at catering company Great Performances, Kevin and Joshua are putting on this classic musical for two performances as a fundraiser for The Sylvia Center, a not-for-profit that teaches young people about food and nutrition from the farm to the kitchen. Good stuff.

Take a listen to the interview, then go help these cats out with a buck or twenty at their Kickstarter page; and follow their progress on Facebook.


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Into the Woods actors

Martin Dockery, and his new show “The Holy Land Experience”

Martin Dockery's "The Holy Land Experience"Playwright & performer Martin Dockery is one of those guys who seems, to me, to have the most interesting life — his stories are always full of wild adventures and profoundly meaningful interactions with fascinating people, all true, all from his life.

I interviewed Dockery after a performance of his new show The Holy Land Experience at The Kraine Theater, and he answers the question of “just why is your life so awesome and mine so mundane?” beautifully. That, and more, in this episode of Go See a Show!


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There’s sadly just one more chance to see this run of The Holy Land Experience — Monday, December 19, 8PM at The Kraine. Check it out if you can; watch one of his appearances at The Moth to get a sense for the kind of storytelling you’re in for, like this one below: