Retro Two Gents is Great Outdoor Fun

Krystine Summers as Launce
and Lola as Crab

By Georgina Young-Ellis


The music of Styx and some crazy 1980s fashions sent me sailing away into the past, as the sun set over the East River, Friday, August 12th, 2011. I was enjoying Curious Frog Theatre Company’s production of Two Gentlemen of Verona in Astoria Park. This quick, hour and a half version of Shakespeare’s light-hearted comedy of love letters and disguises grabs your attention from the first moment and never lets go. There is some wonderful new talent on the Curious Frog (CF) stage, and some company members that I was pleased to see there again. Many of the performers do double duty in their roles, as is director Renée Rodriguez’s way: make the most of what you’ve got and keep the cast small. One stand out is the irrepressible Krystine Summers who we enjoyed last summer as Puck in A Midsummer night’s dream, bringing her quirky physical comedy and wry interpretations to her roles as Launce and the Third Outlaw in this production. Let me just say this: if you can manage to be onstage with an adorable Chihuahua (the lovely Lola who played the part of the dog, Crab) as Ms. Summers is so much of the time, and not be upstaged, you’re doing your job as an actor. 

Angela Sharp as Julia
and Umi Shakti as Lucetta

Another returning member of the company, Bushra Laskar, plays Silvia, the irresistible love interest to Proteus and Valentine. While snooty and self-centered, parading around the grass in her "Candies," she manages to enchant the audience with her expressive eyes and ease with the language. The "gentleman" in Verona are all exceptional actors: Justin Maruri, riveting as Valentine, Emilio Aquino engaging and funny as Proteus, and Antonio/Duke played by James Ware, an exciting new presence at CF, whom, I learned, will be playing Caesar in that simultaneously running Curious Frog production. I loved seeing Robert Dyckman on the Astoria Park stage for the first time; an exceptionally versatile and energetic actor, he plays the roles of Speed, Eglamour and the Second Outlaw. Angela Sharp is a standard at CF, and though I have enjoyed her performances in the past, she tends to be a little shrill in her role as Julia as she works to project in the open air venue.

Justin Maruri as Valentine
and Krystine Summers as 3rd Outlaw

The production is non-stop action and laughs, the kind of spectacle that has children from around the park running to check out, and staying to watch (however, it's not specifically a production for kids as it contains some rather bawdy humor). The fight choreography is precise and original, something Ms. Rodriguez is particularly adept at, a hallmark of all CF's Shakespearean productions.  The color blind casting that is part of their overall mission as a theater company also makes for interesting visual dynamics. But though the '80s theme is a good gag, I wasn't sure it really added to the story in any necessary way. All in all, if you're a fan of cool, innovative Shakespeare with bare bones sets but complete attention to acting, language, physicality and spirit, you won't want to miss either of Curious Frog's productions this summer. You can catch them at these locations and dates:

Two Gentlemen of Verona: Fort Greene Park (8/22 7pm); Central Park/Cherry Hill (9/3 6pm); Inwood Hill Park (8/27 4pm); Waterside Plaza/Manhattan (8/30 7pm); Pelham Bay Park (9/4 4pm). 

Julius Caesar: Prospect Park (8/20 4pm); Fort Greene Park (8/23 7pm); Central Park/Cherry Hill (8/26 6pm); Inwood Hill Park (8/27 6pm); Battery Park/Castle Clinton (8/29 6pm; 9/1 6pm); Queensbridge Park (8/31 7pm); Pelham Bay Park (9/4 6pm); Waterside Plaza/Manhattan (9/10 4pm). 

www.curiousfrog.org

A Magical, Marvelous Midsummer Night’s Dream from Curious Frog

By Georgina Young-Ellis

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a Shakespeare favorite for many theater-goers and, when done right, is among the bard’s funniest and most charming stories. Fortunately, Curious Frog Theater Company’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream: The Scavengers gets it right and then some. July 31st in Astoria Park, under the trees, with no stage and almost no set, a sign announces a “Greek Scavenger Hunt” and actors come into the performance space wearing tee shirts that sport the names, in Greek, of a fraternity or sorority. We understand that they are college kids about to compete in a scavenger hunt, a brilliant premise on behalf of director Renée Rodriguez.

The frat boys and sorority sisters open the show shouting decidedly non-Shakespearean cheers to get themselves pumped for the competition. One of the girls, Hermia, is in love with frat boy Lysander, who adores her, though Hermia’s father forbids the union. He has chosen for her Demetrius, whom sorority sis’ Helena loves, though Demetrius only has eyes for Hermia. Hermia and Lysander run away into the woods, followed by Demetrius, followed by Helena. When fairies enchant both the men to fall in love with Helena, they become enemies, and the women, once fast friends, become rivals. There follows a knock-down, drag-out, wildly funny fight, the likes of which I’ve never seen in any production of Midsummer. All four of the lovers are fully committed physically and vocally to the high emotions they experience. Brandi Bravo as Helena is a real standout, teetering around the park on giant platform shoes in a mini-skirt and sunglasses – the ultimate girly-girl, her big eyes and expressive face drawing the audience’s attention like a magnet. Alex Gould as Demetrius is the perfect ditzy, dopey match for her.

Then there are the “Mechanicals,” a group of dimwits who are rehearsing for a play to put on for the marriage of the Duke and Duchess of Athens. Bottom, an egotistical idiot who wants to perform every part in the “play” that his group is preparing for the Duke, is portrayed by Brent Yoshikami as a smarmy jock in tiny yellow shorts and black knee socks, abusing an obnoxious whistle. He is pure magic on stage, an actor of incredible comic abilities. Tai Verley, playing Petra Quince, the much put upon director, never loses her commitment to playing straight woman to Bottom, her character every second invested in the seriousness of their endeavor. A brilliant choice for Snug is Sora Baek, whose character plays the “lion” in the play within a play. Snug is afraid to speak; therefore Ms. Baek’s heavily accented English lends the character an attribute of adorable, frightened innocence. Flute, played by Manuel de la Portilla, is forced to play a girl in the performance for the Duke. Flute is an hysterically bad actor who at the end of the Mechanicals’ little drama suddenly commits to his part in earnest, causing the lovers, looking on, to weep tears of sorrow, while we, the real audience, weep tears of laughter.

Krystine Summers, as the mischievous fairy Puck, is so quick and agile she convinces us that she could “put a girdle round about the earth in forty minutes,” as her character claims. She expresses herself with wry wit, her lines delivered with natural ease. Somewhat weaker verbally, though not physically, are Edie Monroy and Michael Kennen Miller who play the king and queen of the fairies, Titania and Oberon, respectively. Though both beautiful of face and body, I feel that, at times, they fail to do justice to the exquisite poetry that their parts require. During one of Titania’s principle speeches, truly some of the most beautiful verses that Shakespeare ever wrote, her physical gymnastics diminish the power of the words. The only other weak point in the play is Matt Casteel as Egeus, Hermia’s father, who opens the story with a monologue and, in this first performance, doesn’t seem to yet know his lines. But the play soars thereafter and keeps going at break-neck comic speed until the two hours seem to fly by.

All in all, there is magnificent attention to detail in A Midsummer Night’s Dream: The Scavengers, thanks again to Ms. Rodriquez and her vision. The show will be in Astoria again Sunday, August 8th at the Astoria Water Walk. It then runs in parks throughout the city until September 5th; the schedule can be found at CuriousFrog.org. Take the kids. They will love it; you will love it; it is simply not to be missed!

Two Coves Community Garden Benefits from Bike Tour Leftovers

By Georgina Young-Ellis

The booming voice of Master Composter Stephanos Koullias resounded throughout the parking lot of Astoria Park on Sunday, May 2nd, the morning of the TD Bank Five Boro Bike New York Tour: “Orange Peels, Banana Peels!” This odd cry was an attempt to encourage the bike riders to conscientiously contribute their fruit rinds to the composting efforts of the Two Coves Community Garden (TCCG), rather than allow them to go into the landfill. The mountains of peels piled up in the TCCG bins, but so did the mounds in the overflowing trash cans as the unaware deposited their fruit peels in the trash receptacles, along with food wrappers, napkins and other garbage. Mr. Koullias pointed out, however, that the Queen Botanical Garden was also hosting a composting station near the Con Ed plant on Vernon Blvd., and that last year, at the end of the 2009 Bike Tour, Bike New York volunteers, under the direction of Emily Crotty, sifted through the garbage there to reclaim six times as many fruit peels as they did at the TCCG station at Astoria Park. He hoped that similar efforts would be made this year.

The Two Coves booth was also bagging up as many water and juice bottles as they could get a hold of for recycling, but it was evident that a strong recycling effort was also being made by the Bike New York volunteers. Geoff Cohen, a Bike New York Transportation Captain, was confident that the huge pile of gallon-sized water jugs would be flattened and recycled, as would the stacks of cardboard boxes that the supplies were delivered in. He stressed that this year the emphasis was on having the riders use refillable bottles, rather than supplying them with individual water bottles or plastic cups.

As the riders began to filter out of the Astoria Park rest station, Bike New York volunteers scurried about, gathering up the fruit rinds that had been scattered on the ground, and delivering them to the TCCG bins. The community garden folks were careful to specify that no plastic bags or other non-organic waste be put into the bins, as compost, the breaking down of vegetable matter into fertilizer-rich soil, must not contain any meat, dairy, oils or household trash other than bio-degradable things like tea bags, coffee grounds and egg shells. It is generally accepted that all components of fruits and vegetables make good “green” compost, as long as they’re not cooked in oil or with meat, but in order to break down efficiently, must be layered with “brown” matter, generally dried leaves, dried lawn clippings or shredded newspaper.

Leaves for the brown layers were collected to the tune of around two thousand pounds by TCCG last fall, according to Master Composter Shirley Chai, who pointed out an enclosed area near the parking lot where the leaves are stored. With the assistance of Greenshores/Astoria Park Alliance, a total of four thousand pounds were ultimately collected from Astoria households and NYCHA's Astoria Houses in 2009.

The Western Queens Compost Initiative helps manage the composting effort at TCCG and is working on collecting green compost material from local Greenmarkets, CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) and the other annual bike events. They are also accepting donations towards purchasing a work trike, a human-powered vehicle capable of transporting one thousand pounds of compostable waste from these various sites to the compost bins at TCCG, and also to help collect fall leaves in the years to come. (See: http://cli.gs/wqnscompost-kickstarter)

Mr. Koullias was eager to point out that composting not only creates beautiful, organic gardens and delicious vegetables for individual gardeners, but keeps vegetable waste from entering the landfills – waste that contributes to greenhouse gases and polluting run-off that flows into water sources. As the Bike Tour riders continued on their route, fed and sustained by an army of Bike New York volunteers,
Mr. Koullias expressed his satisfaction that almost triple the amount of fruit peels had been collected that day than the previous year’s TD Five Boro Bike Tour, with the help of TCCG volunteers Eric Mathews, Kristen Magnini, Shirley Chai, Matt de la Houssaye, Leanne Spaulding, Brian Monteverd, Mark Messer and Jules Corkery. He hopes that as a result of all their efforts, future events, the Two Coves community and the earth will benefit.