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

Curious Frog's Ropes of Sands Hits Home

By Georgina Young-Ellis

I first saw Ropes of Sands as a staged reading at Curious Frog Theatre Company’s gala fundraiser back in May, 2011. I was impressed overall at playwright Toni Seger’s ability to dabble in the surreal and the ironic, as in the three short-short one acts we saw that night, and the straight-forward realism of Ropes of Sands. Now featured in Planet Connections Theatre Festivity, the forty-five minute play shows us a slice of American family life in the weeks after a tragic death. We cringe at uncomfortable exchanges between repressed father and self-righteous son as they try to take the chill off of the night and the situation with small talk and copious amounts of brandy. When the free-spirited cousin drops by to try to gain some perspective on the tragedy, and to share with the others her particular method of dealing with it, the sparks really fly. I cannot say it is a happily spent forty-five minutes, but it’s a meaningful span of time in which the audience is forced to look at family dynamics, and the ways different people deal with grief. The actors are well cast in their various roles, and further interest is added by Curious Frog’s famous color-blind casting (though it certainly isn’t unrealistic to think that there can be white and black cousins in the same family). The father and son, played respectively by Barry Phillips and DeSean Strokes, portray their straight-laced characters to perfection, while Angela Sharp as flighty cousin Meredith provides a jarring contrast. Directed by the strong and sure hand of (Artistic Director) Renée Rodriguez, the play makes a strong impact and leaves us with much to think about. You can see Ropes of Sands in conjunction with dark comedy The Stranger to Kindness, June 14^th at 6:30 PM, June 15^th at 8:45 PM and June 18^th and 23^rd at 4:00 PM. Proceeds from the Theatre Festivity benefit various charities.

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!

"The Maids" Lives Up to Curious Frog's Usual Level of Excellence

By Georgina Young-Ellis
Photo by Sam Hough

As with many of Curious Frog Theater Company's productions, "The Maids," by Jean Genet, begins before it begins, with a character making herself at home in the space while the audience members wander in and take their seats. That space, designed by Laura Taber Bacon, a pink loft, rose bed in the center, fuschia Betsey Johnson garment bags plastering the walls, is as much a character as the actors. We, as spectators, are an afterthought, taking up only a quarter of the area while the actors roam the length and width of the room. There is no stage. Nothing divides us from the action. The lighting, designed by Michael Megliola, is incorporated into the set by use of lamps which only the actors control. To me, that level of realism in theater is exhilarating. It indicates that people are living in the space, rather than merely reacting to it.

The realism pretty much stops there. The play opens with a kind of dance, representing the characters' relationships to their "Madame" and to their surroundings. They then play out their own melodrama of servant and mistress. The beautiful language in Genet's piece (translated from the French) is poetry, and we must interpret as we follow the plot. We are not always sure what is real and what is in the characters' minds. This creates levels of surprise throughout the show: some of the playwright's making, some of the director's. They are surprises that make you gasp.

For the most part, the acting was strong. The ability of all the actors in regard to movement and how it was used to define character was fascinating, and executed to perfection. The director, Tracy Cameron Francis, obviously had a strong hand in choreographing where and how the actors would move, which left them free to explore the depths of emotion that their parts called for. Iracel Rivero, as Claire, was by turns regal, haughty, subservient, groveling, and pathetic. Bushra Laskar portrayed her sister Solange as a frighteningly deceptive minion - able to transform from submissive to dominatrix in a flash. Alex Runnels, as Madame, was a wonder. The character seemed the personification of aloof upper class, so caught up in her world that she could not conceive of her servants as human. All three actors more than accomplished, in my opinion, what the playwright intended, and that is no easy task given the language. I was a little distracted by one sister having a British accent and the other American, though their difference in race was of no consequence.

Curious Frog's productions always surprise, delight and challenge convention. "The Maids" fulfills the theater-goer in all those ways. It runs April 30th, May 1st, 2nd, 7th and 8th, shows starting at 7:30. Go to Curiousfrog.org to purchase tickets. Be advised that they tend to sell out fast because the seating is quite limited, so reserve your tickets now if you're up for a gorgeous, unusual and unsettling theatrical experience.

Romeo & Juliet and Greek Comedy - Great Theater in the Park By Georgina Young-Ellis, Photo by B. Josh Young

What could be more appropriate entertainment for Astoria than a really good Greek comedy? How about a really great Italian tragedy? This summer we get both for free, outdoors, courtesy of Curious Frog Theater Company’s Summerfest. The Greek offering is Plutus, by Aristophanes, and the tragedy is Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, famously set in the town of Verona, Italy.

Plutus, directed by Whitney Aronson, is a wonderful one hour romp that I saw performed at the Astoria Park Water Walk on August 9th, its opening day. Actors in togas and sneakers, banging rough hand instruments and strumming blues guitar, opened the show before a backdrop of cardboard columns. A Greek chorus in drag then greeted us with a Beyonce tune, after which the story began. It is about how Plutus, the God of Money, regains his sight and endows a Grecian city with all the riches of their dreams, though the Goddess of Poverty warns that they’ll regret the God’s favors, and how her prophecy ultimately comes true. The tale is punctuated with Music Director Alvin Chan’s inspired use of modern musical references including a sing-a-long to the tune of American Pie. There are also countless bawdy jokes, endless gags about breaking wind, well-executed pole-fighting (courtesy of choreographer Rocio Mendez), crude but engaging puppetry, and a visit to a wellness spa.

Using broad gestures, loud voices and uproarious slapstick, the actors had everyone from toddlers to hipsters in the palms of their hands. Allen Hope Sermonia stood out with his borscht-belt-comedian style Plutus, as did Larissa Dzegar’s ferocious Poverty. Jodie Pfau, as the slave Cario, was adept with physical comedy, using dance and yoga to great effect, and Sergio Castillo, Lauren Ashley Smith and Derby Thomas rounded out the cast in various roles, all demonstrating amazing skill with song, dance, and comic timing.

Beware: though young and old alike will love it, anyone over the age of 10 will probably understand all too well the steamy sexual references. All in all, however, it is great fun and I encourage you to check it out on Sept. 19th at Queensbridge Park, 4:00p.m. It will be in the other boroughs until then, and you can find out where at www.curiousfrog.org.

A week later, on August 16th, I was on Astoria Park’s great lawn near the train bridge, cooled by a breeze off the river and shaded by giant trees, amongst which was nestled the staging area for Romeo and Juliet. I call it a “staging area,” rather than a set, because the only set was a string of lanterns and a rustic chaise lounge. The only other stage dressings were the trees, and the only backdrop the rushing river.

After a masked dance illustrates the prologue, young men clad in jeans and t-shirts hurry onto the scene. They have ipods and cellphones in hand – they might be any guys out roaming the streets of Astoria, but their restless energy tell us that they are looking for action: a fight, a girl, a good time. Juliet and her nurse/pal skip in soon after with laptop in tow and join a Facebook group for an upcoming party, while updating their “status.” It is the only moment, really, when director Reneé Rodriguez takes liberties with Shakespeare’s language, other than cutting away large swaths of the work, in order to trim it down to the sleek ninety minutes that the show runs.

We are then plunged into the familiar story: the Montagues and Capulets are enemies, but the young lovers from the two different families oppose all odds, and marry. The mortal battle of their friends and family members result in Romeo’s banishment, and a series of miscommunications take their toll. Juliet takes a potion that makes her appear dead so she won’t have to marry her mother’s choice for her, a man named Paris. Romeo rushes back to town thinking Juliet is indeed deceased, and finding her in the tomb, kills himself with poison. Juliet comes to, sees her love lying dead and uses his knife to end her own life. The family comes on the bloody scene and they learn the ultimate lesson: parents can’t choose who their kids will love, but should trust the choices they make and not pass on their own prejudices.

The miracle of this production is that six actors play all the roles. Leo Giannopoulos as Romeo, and Elizabeth Spano as Juliet, are the only two who play no other parts. Giannopoulos is a sexy, vital Romeo and the adorable Spano displays a slightly goofy charm in an untraditional type of Juliet. She’s grossed out by the thought of marrying some guy her mother has set up for her, and embarrassed by her first kiss with Romeo. Both of them exude the epitome of adolescence on the brink of the discovery of love. Reneé Rodriguez does triple duty as director, Mercutio, and Lady Capulet, and she works magic in all three roles. As Romeo’s friend Mercutio, she’s a randy punk, a tough girl in every sense. As Juliet’s mother, she’s a shrill, drunken housewife, abusive to her child. Though I wasn’t completely convinced by Shannon Pritchard’s Nurse, her dual role as Juliet’s cousin, Tybalt, was electrifying. When she and Rodriguez get into it with knives drawn, it is a cat fight like you’ve never seen. They spare each other nothing, rolling in the dirt, jabbing and sparring, leaping and darting with unbelievable agility, owed to their own physical prowess and the masterful fight direction of Jacob Grigolia-Rosenbaum. When Rodriguez’s Mercutio is finally slain, her death is one of the best I’ve ever seen portrayed on stage. Similarly when Romeo and Paris (played by Nick Maccarone) duel with rapiers, it is a riveting and dangerous dance infused with martial arts. Maccarone, who also plays the level-headed Benvolio, has a natural quality with the language that connects us with his characters and Allen Hope Sermonia as Escalus and Friar Laurence brought me to tears at the end with his final observations on the tragic events.

I’ve seen and read this play many times and didn’t think it was possible to be moved so deeply by a story I know so well, but Curious Frog’s interpretation made it new for me. All of the clever touches, Romeo delivering his “But soft, what light through yonder window breaks…” speech from in the midst of the audience, Juliet languishing behind a tree instead of on a balcony, actors handing out fliers and posting them around the park to advertise the Capulet party, are representative of the theater company’s creativity and originality – something evident in every production of theirs I’ve seen. You can catch Romeo and Juliet again in Astoria Park on September 20th, at 4:00, and it is playing on several other dates around the city. Go see it, and fall in love with Shakespeare all over again, or perhaps even, for the very first time.

Curious Frog's Theater Co's True West - a Thrilling Experience

by Georgina Young-Ellis

Last summer I made the wondrous discovery of Curious Frog Theater Company when I stumbled upon their production of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing in Astoria Park. As summer 2009 approaches and I eagerly await this season’s outdoor Romeo and Juliet, I made a point to catch their current offering, True West. Staged in an East Village apartment, the audience is as immersed in the play as the actors. The theater-goers are seated within the set of this Sam Shepard classic, some less than two feet from the rambunctious unfolding of the plot. It is not a complicated one: Two brothers confront each other in their mother’s California suburban home. Austin, played by Alvin Chan, appears to be the level-headed screenwriter. Lee, portrayed by Edward Chin-Lyn, is his twisted, petty-criminal brother. Austin is trying to finish a script for which he has almost secured a deal. Lee barges into his solitude, demanding to borrow Austin’s car so he can go thieving around their mother’s neighborhood while she’s out-of-town. He’s come from spending months in the desert and the first thing on his mind is getting his brother’s car keys while disrupting his peace and concentration in the process. Lee meets Austin’s producer, Saul Kimmer, played by John Gardner, and convinces the man to fund Lee’s own half-baked idea for a Western movie rather than invest in Austin’s project. This infuriates Austin, who considers his brother an idiot, and his frustration drives him to drink. Slowly the tables turn as Austin feels the urge to flee civilization and run away to the desert himself, while Lee, who’s barely literate, much less able to operate a typewriter, struggles to bring his idea to fruition. The situation has devolved into a bread-flinging, typewriter destroying, knock-down, drag-out fight nearly to the death, when Mom walks in, a fragile flower steeped in denial, played by Mami Kimura. She resigns herself to the destruction of her home and leaves her sons to settle their issues. We are left not knowing how it will turn out, only that the two brothers have somehow started to inhabit each other’s insanity.

I had forgotten how funny Sam Shepard could be – this play is possibly one of his most humorous - made even more-so by the brilliance of Chan and Chin-Lyn and their remarkable fraternal chemistry. Though we are laughing, we are terrified by Chin-Lyn’s Lee from the moment he walks in (the entrances were made from the front door of the apartment). His quirky vocal cadence and his continual physical tics fascinate like a train wreck. Chan’s Austin draws us in at the outset with his calm ability to listen and respond to the barbs and ravings from his brother with cool detachment. We admire his patience as he attempts to stay focused on his work – the big brother putting up with the younger, the one that has fallen far short of ever becoming a productive member of society. Yet this younger brother is a physical menace, and our nerves are set on edge as we wonder when he’ll snap. Therefore, it’s even more surprising when it is Austin who snaps first, Chan having so thoroughly established his character as the stable one.

The acting throughout is what we always hope for when we venture out to see theater in New York. We want the best and that’s what we get here. John Gardener’s portrayal of Saul Kimmer is delightfully smarmy. Kimura’s “Mom” floats surreally above the chaos. Because of her bizarrely detached perception of what has happened, we’re almost able to understand why her sons have turned out as they did.

The wonderfully detailed set was designed by David Ogle, with props by Chelsea Chorpenning. Nothing is present on the stage that wouldn’t have existed before 1981 when the action takes place, and the actors make use of it all. The subtle and cleverly placed lighting, designed by Ross Graham, is mostly what would already be inherent in the average home. Sometimes, it’s only candlelight. Every aspect of the production lends itself to the intense realism that is, in essence, Sam Shepard.
The decision of Artistic Director Reneé Rodriguez and Director Isaac Byrne to cast the main characters as Asian was an interesting one, reflecting a racial reality as basically American as the iconic playwright himself. The choice was in keeping with Curious Frog’s mission: “… to present new, modern and classical works with the goal of showing a new, multicultural perspective through non-traditional casting…” In this case, it added another fascinating layer to the timeless script and the actors’ craft.

True West can be seen at 181 Avenue B until May 31st. Tickets are $25.00, Thursday, through Sunday. Wednesdays’ admission is $10.00 cash and a regular-sized loaf of bread. You can make reservations at www.curiousfrog.org. Though its headquarters are in Astoria, with strong ties to the community, Curious Frog seems prepared to go anywhere to bring an excellent caliber of uniquely-envisioned theater to New York City. I urge you to go and have the experience.