This show has a lot of great characters that make you feel like you are in a video game. Dungeons and Dragons is not a video game, but role playing games really influenced video games. Lilith (Erika Lebby) was the demon daughter of the devil and she was the girlfriend of Tillius (Tilly's character) in the game. Tilly has made her this sexy demon queen with not a lot of clothing on. And what clothing she has is mostly leather and fishnet. She had the best opening line I've ever heard which is, "Violence makes me hot." It is very common in video games to show as much cleavage and have the least sensible outfit to kill someone in as possible. Those characters are usually created by men. But in this case it is a young woman who has created it. It is weirdly empowering because women don't usually get to choose how their gender is sexualized. Tilly is doing it for her own pleasure, but it is still different because it is still breaking a gender and sexuality barrier. Kaliope (Ari Kraiman) is an elf and she is pretty badass. She doesn't feel emotions in the same way as humans do. A lot of the humor that comes from her character is watching her cluelessness about how human emotions and language work. Like when they give Agnes her D&D name, Agnes the Ass-hatted, Kaliope doesn't seem to notice the hilarity of the name because she just sits there straight-faced. I think it is a really cool contrast how clueless she is but how badass she is because she can literally whip out a bow and arrow and kill ten people but she can't understand why ass-hat is such a funny word. Orcus (Zach Tabor) was the Overlord of the Underworld who kind of didn't want to go on the adventure in the first place, but was forced to go along. He also had an obsession with TV shows, like Friends and Quantum Leap, which he is mad about missing. I think he is hilarious because he is overly specific about the reasons why Quantum Leap is so good. I loved the specificity of these characters. Even though at first they seem like stereotypical fantasy characters, they actually have a lot of fun quirks and recognizable problems.
This show had so many hilarious moments. One of the most surprising and funny characters in the entire show was Farrah (Elisabeth Del Toro), a tiny, cruel, badass fairy. When the group of adventurers wanted to pass through her territory, she was not too keen on that and she basically goes maniac on them and tries to slice them up with two swords. It is funny because it is very surprising to see this sweet little fairy go berserker and spout obscenities at them. Evil Gabbi (Liz Lengyel) and Evil Tina (Keyanna Khatiblou) were the homophobic mean girls at Tilly's school, but also demons in her D&D world. Basically they just manipulated and yelled at the adventurers, but they would occasionally use the Force too. They have this dance battle instead of actually fighting. And, surprisingly, the adventurers had already choreographed a dance and Agnes could suddenly do backflips. Gabbi and Tina did a dance that was mainly strutting and you could see that they could kind of tell they were losing at moments, which produced some of the best facial expressions. Steve (Michael Saubert Jr.) is a random guy who keeps showing up and getting defeated in the most pathetic ways possible by monsters even though he enters with as much gusto as a drag performer called Miss Gusto Wind. Each time he walked in, you knew something terrible was going to happen to him, and it was hilarious every time because each way he got killed was so original and sad.
I think this show has a really powerful message as well. It is all about mourning and figuring out how to deal with your decisions and regrets. Agnes gets to meet the versions of Tilly's characters as Tilly's actual friends and enemies in real life. And it is really interesting and sad because you see the people mourning Tilly, but you have just seen her alive in the game. It is really heartbreaking. You see how Agnes' obsession with the game is damaging parts of her real-life relationships, like with her boyfriend Miles (Graham Carlson) and her friend Vera (Lakecia Harris). But it also brings her closer to those people once they understand what she is actually doing. Grief is something that can separate people but also bring them closer together. And I think this play really shows that relationship well.
People who would like this show are people who like swearing fairies, nerding out, and unexpected backflips. I think this is a really moving, nerdy, and very funny show. I think that it has so many talented performers who worked well with the beautiful but ridiculous script.
Photos: Candice Lee Conner
I thought the family relationships were really complex but based in affection. All they want is the best for each other, but they are not all good at accepting help when they need it. The heads of the family are the fathers, Henry (Watson Swift) and Arthur (Christopher McMorris). Henry has cancer, and Arthur wants to get married now that it is legal. But Henry isn't so keen on that. Alexander (Michael Mejia-Beal) is Arthur's biological son, but was raised by both his fathers. He dated Malik (Byron Coolie) since college, but then they broke up because Malik was afraid he'd lose his position on his NFL team if he came out. Phaedra (Regina Whitehead "RjW" Mays) was Alexander's cousin and they were very close and they helped each other out a lot. She is in a relationship with a woman whose husband is in jail. And she has been to jail herself and her daughter doesn't want her around her granddaughter because she doesn't trust her. Something that is really sad about this play is watching how these characters who love each other shut each other out. Like how Henry and Arthur don't agree on if they should get married or not and when Alexander starts drinking Phaedra is trying to help him but he refuses to take any help. They have some very emotional scenes together where it is clear that Phaedra is really concerned for Alexander's well-being, but he just won't listen and doesn't seem to care. These are some of the saddest scenes in the play. There are glimpses of things that might change, but a lot of times they are foiled.
Something I found very interesting was how all the family had names of kings or queens who had stories told about them that were larger than life. And Malik's name literally means king. I think it is using the power of naming hopefully, as if it were magic. It is looking at a child and saying, if I name him Alexander, maybe he'll be Great. But then you see all these people with namesakes who were powerful but they are powerless over many of the events in their lives. Henry has no power over cancer. Alexander seems to feel powerless over alcohol. Phaedra can't change her past. Malik can't change the way he feels. You compare all these people in your head to mythologized Kings and Queens and it makes you think about the differences between fairy tales and reality. They live so close to this world full of magic, but their proximity to Disney isn't going to save them from their real life. But even though their lives aren't perfect, it doesn't mean they can't have their happy ending.
Some houses have pictures of Jesus everywhere, but their house has shrines for Mickey Mouse everywhere you turn. It is a religious experience for them it seems, and Disney World is like their paradise. Henry and Arthur like how at Disney World the characters and employees treat everyone like worthwhile human beings and with respect. They feel happy there and can enjoy themselves without the pain of the real world. So even if the proximity doesn't change their lives, being there makes their lives more livable. Phaedra also has a religious Disney experience by talking to Mufasa from the Lion King while she is high. She just started talking to him about how great her weed was, like they were old friends. And she also realizes that she can take more control of her own life. So even though Disney is this magical unrealistic thing, it actually does help her get her act together.
I have a paragraph where I talk about my favorite scene between Malik and Alexander, but it is a little spoiler-y so you can check it out here.
People who would like this show are people who like complex family relationships, the contrast between fairy tales and reality, and talking to Mufasa about weed. I think that people should definitely go see this show. It is a beautiful story with compelling characters. You feel like you are in every scene with them and like you are part of their family.
Photos: Devon Green
Once upon a time I went to a show and it was called Hot Pink, or Ready to Blow. It was by Johnny Drago and it was directed by Derek Van Barham. It was about a group of friends: Cadence (Charlie Irving), Brichelle (Janyce Caraballo), and Tatanya (Brittney Brown). They lived in New Pompeii and it was about that time of year that the virgin sacrifice would be chosen. And it turns out that their virgin sacrifice wasn't such a virgin. So the friends are trying to find a way that they won't be next in line to be sacrificed. I think this is a parody done right. It uses over-the-top comedy to further the story instead of just being exaggerated for the sake of it. It makes valid points about double standards, high-school relationships, and the pressures of the patriarchy and tradition on young people. I think this is a surprising and hilarious show with larger-than-life characters dealing with elevated versions of real problems.
One of the early scenes was also one of my favorite scenes. The three girls were getting up in the morning and talking to their families. They had very different family lives. Tatanya lived with her mother (Anthony Whitaker), who was drunk always and was still mad that she was denied the honor of being the virgin sacrifice when she was a teenager because she was pregnant with Tatanya. They are very different sorts of people. And they have very interesting conversations that may not be completely appropriate. It is not really a parenting situation because Tatanya is more reasonable that her own mother. I thought the timing and delivery in this scene were so perfect and hilarious. Brichelle didn't have parents that were at home. From the clues I got, I think they joined a cult. She was now living with Lenny (Tommy Bullington) her unmotivated, always-eating-cereal brother. He seemed to be like the classic 80s brother who is just there to give you a noogie from time to time. But they actually have kind of a sweet relationship, and he actually loves her and wants to protect her. It is the most sincere male-female relationship in the whole play. (Which isn't saying a lot, but there it is.) Cadence has a seemingly healthy relationship with her father, the Mayor (Josh Kemper), but as the show goes on, you see he is the patriarchal patriarchy man. His priorities are basically money and tradition over everything else. I think tradition can be a good thing, but not when every year you have to kill an 18 year old for it. These scenes let you get a glimpse into the lives of these three girls. I think it is really cool that this show that is basically a spoof gives you actual feelings about the character, even if it is just in very brief scenes.
In the world of New Pompeii women are considered pure if they are virgins, and "huge sluts" if they are not. There is no in-between for them. But you kind of have to be a "huge slut" to save your life. So the options are basically die or get laid once and be called a "huge slut." I feel like men's sexuality is a lot more normalized than women's in the world because having heterosexual sex is basically a rite of passage for men but makes women dishonorable. People don't seem to understand that it doesn't make any sense to shame a woman for doing the same thing as men get praise for. But the play shows you that there is also a lot of pressure on men to conform to these ideas. Chadwick (Kemper) is pretty much a overly sexual jock and obsessed with getting laid by any girl he lays eyes on. He tries to convince them in the dumbest ways possible. He basically harasses them until a teacher comes by to save the day. But the pressure is also on guys because society has told them they have to be overly sexual about everything to prove that they are a man. He is one of the villains of the story, but he also has social pressures to be the man that society thinks he should be.
I think that all the performers were really committed to their characters, no matter how ridiculous they were. This is a very important thing in parody and satire. It takes you out of the comedy and the context if somebody is making fun of their own performance, but that did not happen here. Some of my favorite characters that were not the three lead girls were Bangs (Caitlin Jackson), Bruce (Will Kazda), and the News Reporter (Elise Marie Davis). The reporter at the beginning of the show I thought was hilarious because she took everything she said so seriously and philosophically, like Neil DeGrasse Tyson narrating Cosmos. She would go into this classic newscaster thing, being really chipper and kind of fake, and then go back into philosophical Neil DeGrasse Tyson mode. Bruce was Cadence's boyfriend who didn't actually seem all that romantically interested in her. He was more interested in Chadwick. His sexuality was stereotypical enough to be pretty obvious to everyone who was not his girlfriend. He was dropping hints for Cadence the whole show: talking about his admiration for Chadwick and sashaying every time he left the room. It was fun at the end of the show to see his fabulous fouettés. They seem to be good together as friends, she just doesn't understand how in the friend zone she really is. Bangs I think is the most badass character in this show. She is not shy about anything. Cadence, Tatanya, and Brichelle hate her at first, but then they learn to love her because of the knowledge that she gives them about sexuality. She offers a new perspective about women and sexuality. She is like a sex-positive angel in disguise. The night I saw it, there was a woman in the front row of the audience who seemed to be intoxicated in some way and was talking to people on stage and making extraneous noise. She did this during one of Bangs' scenes, and Jackson handled it as badassedly as Bangs would. So I wanted to give her props for that.
People who would like this show are people who like committed performances, criticizing double standards, and sex-positive angels in disguise. I think people should go see this show. It is really funny and strangely thought-provoking, and I really had a lot of fun watching it.
Photos: Austin D. Oie
Mr. Blankenship (Cruz) and Mr. Ramondi (Mondragon) were two of the most memorable characters in the show. They are neighbors and they had been friends with Annie's grandparents Gisella (Mondragon) and Lawrence (Cruz) and are talking with her about them. Mr. Ramondi is very welcoming, shiny, and loud and just seems like a very fun person to hang out with. His neighbor across the way, Mr. Blankenship, is just about the opposite of that. He is begrudging, grumpy, and obsessed with Jeopardy! But you love him anyway. Mr. Ramondi embraces the past and the new times, and celebrates how much things have improved. Mr. Blankenship gets angry at people who want to know about the old times because they have it so much better now. It is hard for him to go through again because he has lost a lot of people that were close to him during that time. Cruz and Mondragon also both had really lovely portrayals of Annie's grandparents. They had a very sweet scene at the end of the play, which I won't give away, but it was really meaningful and bittersweet. I have a theory that maybe all of the scenes with the grandparents, and when Annie and Curtis were interviewing the older people, that might have been part of their podcast's monthly reenactment. So, Rene and Claudia were actually playing the roles of the grandparents and Mr. Blankenship and Mr. Ramondi. I think that would be really cool if that idea was planted purposefully in the show.
There were a lot of funny moments in this show. Claudia had a very welcoming personality and is friends with everyone. As Curtis said, she is a "celesbian," which I think is the best phrase ever. It comes up multiple times, and I think it is hilarious that everyone's heard this term that Annie has not. Curtis also had this wall of his house that he put all his theories about Annie's grandmother's secret life. It was insanely intricate and covered up the entire wall. It looked like a murder board on a crime show. He compared himself to Olivia Pope, and people keep shutting him down on that comparison. Rene even compares him to a totally obsessed serial killer--except that he forgot the yarn that would complete the look. I thought both those comparison were hilarious. Whenever Annie would not get a pop culture reference, Curtis would say that she would be terrible at Celebrity Jeopardy!. And she would say something along the lines of, "I don't think that's how that works." But people just kept bringing it up as if Celebrity Jeopardy! was trivia about celebrities instead of celebrities on Jeopardy! Even Mr. Blankenship makes this mistake even though his obsession is Jeopardy! I thought that was really funny.
I think the relationship between Annie and Curtis started out as a really beautiful, happy, and healthy friendship. But once they discovered the diary, they get drawn further apart because Curtis wants to find out more about Annie's grandmother, but Annie doesn't want him to because she feels like it isn't his story. But Curtis feels like it should be a story for the entire LGBTQ+ community. So he starts investigating without her consent, which I think is a very tough topic because I feel like consent is key even in friendships and you need to make sure you both are happy and getting what you need. But I also think that Annie's grandmother's story should be out there for people who are struggling to be themselves. It is hard because Annie doesn't feel like Curtis has the right to investigate the story, so it is not consent. But I'm not sure that Annie has the right approach to this topic or the ownership of the story. I feel like the playwright was trying to make you see the threat to their friendship but want to figure out a way that the story can get told where Annie doesn't feel betrayed. The play becomes mostly about how Curtis is trying to find a way to tell the story and get consent so he can save his friendship.
People who would like this show are people who like Jeopardy! obsessions, murder boards, and celesbians. I think that people should definitely go see this show. I thought the story was really intriguing and all the performances were great!
Photos: Michael Brosilow
I loved everyone's energy in the opening. All the Fly Girls seemed to be having a great time. That is what you want to see in a show with kids, that everybody is enjoying themselves. They had these light up shoes and glow-in-the-dark bracelets, and they had a dance routine in the dark that made use of those elements. They shared these poetic speeches about the situation Bessie Mae was in, anxious about the Fourth of July fireworks and actual gunshots in her grandmother's neighborhood. They are introducing you to the ideas and the characters in the show, but they are not just exposition. You get to see their personalities and their bond with each other.
The relationship between the grandma and Bessie Mae felt very real. They seem to be sort of estranged at the beginning, but you see Bessie Mae being won over by her grandma's ideas about how everyone should know about these women who were underappreciated because of their race and sex. The grandma also wants her granddaughter to hang out with other girls rather than just moping around. I think that, after her grandmother convinces her, they have a more functional relationship, and I would have liked to have seen more of it. The grandma believes in participating in her community and Bessie Mae learns that it can actually be rewarding. There is a scene where the grandma is showing Bessie Mae the Fly Girls' show. They have all these picture frames with pictures of their idols who defied the laws of gravity and defied the laws of the patriarchy. And they give you a little of a backstory on them, which I think was really interesting. It made it so you could have the knowledge that the grandma wanted the world to have. It made you feel like you were participating in the Fly Girls' community.
I saw this show at the Logan Center with several school groups. The school groups really seemed to enjoy it, and so did I. It was a one-day run. They have done it at a festival, so hopefully you will get another chance to see it. I think it could be expanded and have a full run and go far. I think a lot of people would want to come see it. I had some ideas for expanding it. I would have liked to see actors playing the Fly Girls' idols. It would have been cool to see someone like Bessie Coleman talking to Bessie Mae during her dream. It would be good to have more than the dates and facts, although those were useful. I wanted to meet her and see her as an actual character. I think it would have been interesting to have all the characters of the historical women have dialogue and scenes. It would make them even more memorable.
People who would like this show are people who like learning about underappreciated heroines, organizing to kick the patriarchy's butt, and awesome light-up shoes. I think people should definitely go see this show if they get a chance. It has an important and powerful message about black female empowerment, which could make the world a better place.
Photos: Jean Lachat
I really liked the concept of the show. I think it is a really cool melding of poetry and realism. When you walk in, there are symbols all over the wall (scenic design by Eleanor Kahn), different levels, a doorway, and they put up sails halfway through the show. And the light (design by Rachel Levy) was blue and everything seemed fluid. So you have a feeling that the show will be a hero's journey at sea, and at first it is really stylized. There is a lot of movement (choreographed by Breon Arzell) and it is really beautiful. But then it is not a ship in the middle of nowhere or a island or any of the things you think the story you are expecting would entail. It is somebody waking up from a dream and recording their thoughts on a tape recorder, then his sister coming in and telling him to come down for breakfast. It is just a very normal thing. There is also a lot of poetry and realism in the romantic relationship between Dontrell and Erika. They have this poetic relationship where they immediately trust each other and say a lot of really big things in the first day, but they also seem like real people falling in love. They are feeling things that make sense for people falling in love, but it seems to be sped up. I think the writer is using poetry to show real things, real problems, and real stages in life. Instead of searching for his ancestry online or with a DNA test, Dontrell has to actually get a girlfriend, get a boat, and go on a journey to find where he comes from.
There is a scene where Dontrell's Mom (Shariba Rivers) is trying to throw a fake party for Dontrell so he will come home and she can confront him about the scuba gear that she found. Then everything gets out of hand, but in the midst of the craziness, you get to learn a lot about the characters. A lot of really true things are said. Dontrell's mom yells at him because she is scared he is going to get hurt if he goes scuba diving, but more she is afraid that he will not be able to fulfill his potential. For the party Danielle (Destinty Strothers), Dontrell's sister, has made a mermaid cake. And I was trying to think about what that meant. I think that it might be that Dontrell can't just be where he is at the moment. He is half going to college and half going to sea. He is half and half, like a mermaid. Everyone wants a piece of the cake, even before Dontrell arrives. The Dad (Brian Nelson, Jr.) just walks in and despite Danielle's best efforts, takes a piece of cake. It shows that he is in his own little world a lot of the time. He doesn't seem to always pay attention to the things around him. He doesn't seem to look people in the eye; he even argues with his wife from the other room instead of talking to her face to face. The only time he really seems to engage with someone is when he talks to Dontrell about how they call women "bitches," but they are just strong women and men are too scared to admit it. I think that was a really true speech and it was really cool to see how the Dad altered between when he really didn't care about something to when he was talking about something he believed in.
I loved the humor in this play. I loved the moment when Dontrell goes to visit his cousin Shea (Brianna Buckley) where she works at the aquarium and he has this little monologue to the clown fish and calls him Nemo and talks about how cool Nemo's dad is and about how he is going to be found real soon because there are a lot of people out there looking for them. It is really sweet, but sort of weirds out his cousin when she sees him talking to a fish. She had the best facial expressions. I also really loved the handshake between Dontrell and his friend Robby (Jerome Beck). It was long, complicated, and ridiculous, and they seemed to be having a great time together. The audience literally applauded when it was finished. It shows you how long they've known each other, how close they are, and how much time they've spent together. There is also a really sweet but humorous moment where Erika and Dontrell's mother are praying together and Erika doesn't really know what to do. She doesn't know if she is supposed to pray out loud, so it takes her a long time to get started. And then the mother says that she herself is already praying silently, and it is so awkward that it is funny, but they end up having a really great connection.
People who would like this show are people who like poetic solutions to real problems, mermaid cake, and awkward prayers. I think that people should definitely, definitely go see this show. It is a really fascinating and beautiful story. I loved it.
Photos: Evan Hanover
The set, by Andromache Chalfant, looked a lot like a prison. It looked like stone panels held together with metal bolts. The panels would move back and forth for scene changes. I talked to my friend Courtney afterwards, and she said that the set reminded her of the work of the architect Louis Kahn. I looked him up, and the pictures of the Salk Institute look a lot like the set. It has the stone walls and a strip of water down the middle. It is very simple, but simply beautiful. The set could also be interpreted as a castle, since Mary Stuart is imprisoned in a castle. And the set also functions as the inside of Elizabeth's castle, which can be a metaphor for having responsibility for the entire country on your shoulders being a kind of prison. It's really interesting how much meaning you can get from a set that seems so simple. The lighting (by Greg Hofmann and Philip Rosenberg) at the end of the play worked with the set and it made me really emotional when the light shone through a cross made by the set. It made me think about how at the end, Mary was even more free than she had been before she was imprisoned because she doesn't have to deal with the troubles of being a queen. It reminded you that Elizabeth and Mary's religious beliefs weren't so different because they are both on stage with that cross made by light shining through the castle/prison. I think it was a really breathtaking visual metaphor.
The performances of both Mary and Elizabeth were phenomenal. They had this chemistry on stage, not a romantic chemistry but a hatred chemistry, that was so realistic and perfect. You could see that both characters had sympathy for each other, but not much; you would see these little glimmers of understanding. There was a speech that Mary Stewart had in a patch of water that she directed at Elizabeth and she was just going off on her and she just had all this passion in every word that she would say. Elizabeth just stood there, as if she were not fazed at all; she was so cold. And Mary realized she needed to make herself more of a physical threat and she just let out all of the anger she had built up when she was imprisoned. She starts splashing around and yelling; she is showing her emotions that are internal externally to intimidate Elizabeth. It is heroic in a way because she is fighting for her freedom and the freedom of her closest companions Melvil (Patrick Clear) and Hanna (Barbara Robertson). Elizabeth had some very great deceptive scenes. She is deceiving the people around her, but when they leave the room, you see her alone for just a moment with what she has done. You get to see the subtle moment of her pushing away the thought that what she has done isn't right. You have some sympathy with her, even though she does some terrible things and makes some bad mistakes, because you see that moment.
People who would like this show are people who like loyalty triangles, glowing crosses, and splashing and yelling to get your point across. I think that people should definitely go see this show. It is very politically intriguing and shows you a lot of different perspectives. I really liked it.
Photos: Michael Brosilow
