There will be Words

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The spoken word competition called “There Will be Words” at Urban Rethink got off to a late start. When I arrived, three authors were talking sports and politics in the lounge area. I listened in for a bit then wandered upstairs to start my sketch. Eight authors went head to head trying to win the votes of three audience members who were picked at random. The judges were picked when three wadded up balls of paper were tossed into the audience. Whoever picked up the paper became a judge. I sketched when Tod Caviness read. I figured I would get a chance to sketch him when he went onto the next round. Surprisingly, he lost in this first round. Eight competitors were reduced to four, then two who battled for the coveted bragging rights. The winner turned out to be Trevor Fraser the author seated in the blue chair. It was a fun night with some really quirky stories. I’m hooked.

Library Garden

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I heard there was to be a paper flower making workshop at the Peacock Room (1321 North Mills Avenue). I arrived right after work which is early by nightlife standards. One room was full of paintings by Cameron Moore. He is a Full Sail instructor. The work was representational with a touch of the surreal. Skeletal horses were juxtaposed against dense forest scenes. There were some futuristic cityscapes and human figures were covered in patterns reminiscent of New Zealand tattoos.

The other room was full of fluorescent flowers. It stopped me in my tracks. The female bartender asked if she could help me. She thought I was looking for someone. I was just looking for a sketch. Rob Leaman was the artist who created the huge flowers in what he called,  the library garden.  Rob arrived with fluorescent paper and some Elmer’s glue.A woman in a black and white dress stopped in. The white of her dress glowed light blue. He began demonstrating how he creates the smaller flowers by folding the paper.  Then five women showed up all at once and Rob showed them the intricacies in every fold. My digital tablet flashed a warning letting me know my battery was low. I looked around for an outlet but couldn’t find one. This is the advantage of a paper sketchbook it never complains. Moments later the screen flashed off. The sketch was done.

Emotions Dance

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Emotions Dance performed at the Fringe outdoor stage. I waited at The Daily City tent until they arrived. I finally saw a dancer stretching her legs using the temporary containment fencing as a ballet barre. Larissa Humiston, the dance companies founder gave the dancers a quick pep talk, and then it was time for the show. Larissa explained to the audience that the first dance piece was about a failed relationship. Amanda Miller and Courtney Coad were the dancers. As always the modern dance  was beautifully choreographed and full of emotion. I sketched Cortney when she turned her back to her partner and Amanda lay prostrate in desolation. I ended up sketching Amanda a second time as she stood gripping a curtain prior to another dance routine.

As I was finishing up my sketch, Amanda Miller and Jovan Davis asked to see what I was working on. Jovan seemed to be a real fan of my work. He bubbled with excitement. Terry joined in and said jokingly to the couple, “Back away from the artist.” She steered the conversation for a few minutes till I considered the sketch done. Amanda then explained to me that she became over heated during one of the dance routines. By now Larissa had joined the conversation and she said to Amanda, “Yea, I saw that look on your face.” Even with a few dry heaves, the show went on. No one in the audience, including myself, had any idea. The Emotions Dancers always perform “all out”.

Larissa has begun to organize dance workshops with world renowned dancers at Turning Point dance studios. This dance company continues to astound me.

Pepe

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Pepe made an appearance on the outdoor stage at Fringe. Pepe is flamboyant and colorful. His spiky red Mohawk could be spotted from across the lawn. He spoke with a thick rich Spanish accent calling everyone, mommies and poppies. Logan Donahoo joined Pepe to talk about the Fringe show he was directing called, Cannibal! The Musical. Pepe is always funny. He made fun of the fact that he had been reduced to performing on the outdoor stage.

Ruby Darling, dressed in a Star Trek uniform got on stage to promote Skill Focus Burlesque. She performed a sultry dance number and the uniform went flying. She then told Pepe she had a superpower. A male performer got on stage with her and she said in a commanding voice, “Take off your clothes.” He complied. Pepe perked up and shouted his glee. Women in the audience screamed and laughed. Skill Focus burlesque had been called to perform at the Fringe at the last minute when another show canceled. For this reason, they weren’t even in the printed program. They had to rely on word of mouth and a little skin to promote their show.

I went to a performance of Hysteria Repeats Itself! Mike Maples was in the cast and the executive producer, Kelly Rands introduced himself when Terry and I entered the Blue venue. I knew that Hysteria would be a series of fast paced skits, so for once, I left the sketchbook closed. This was the first night’s performance and unfortunately there were fewer than ten people in the audience. Much of the show was political satire. The performance was funny and intelligently written. Several Sondheim show tunes were given new lyrics that were fun and fast paced. Terry was laughing loudly. Later Mike commented that her loud laughter made up for the size of the audience. The next performance was sold out which made perfect sense.

On the Nose

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As people filed into the Fringe Green Venue at the Rep Theater, Mark Jaster and Sabrina Mandell began to set up a movie screen. Mark walked off stage through a doorway and Sabrina followed with the screen. The screen slammed into the door frame stopping her. Together they struggled to set up the screen which was missing parts and seemed to resist their every effort. The screen crashed closed so loudly that I jumped in my seat. Finally with it set up and the audience in their seats, the film rolled. It was projected about four feet too high. Only a sliver of the image was on the top of the screen, but it lined up perfectly with the fabric screen already hanging at the back of the stage. Embarrassed, they put the home movie screen away.

On the Nose was part physical comedy and part documentary. The production took assumptions about clowns and turned them on their heads. Directed by Elena Day, the show redefined what a clown means world wide. In America, a clown is quickly associated with birthday parties with screaming children and twisted balloon animals. In Europe however, clowns are considered artists and are a respected form of adult entertainment. This reminds me of how animation is considered as children’s fair in America, yet in Europe, it is a serious form of entertainment.

Interviews with female clowns were particularly insightful. It had been considered “unfeminine”  for women to be funny. When Mark and Sabrina did a pie routine, a young boy in the audience shouted out his pleasure since he wanted to see a pie in the face. Sabrina leaned forward and said to Mark, “Pie me.” The implied sexual connotations made it funny for adults, and the young boy was squirming and delirious with anticipation.

Sabrina put on an electronic helmet and was given a quiz to see if she could identify clowns. Ronald McDonald flashed on the screen. She guessed, “Clown” and she reacted to an electric shock given by Mark’s remote control. Stephen Colbert flashed and she guessed, “Not a clown” shock again. He is a clown. The red nose was considered, the smallest mask by many of the clowns interviewed. This show was lively and very enlightening. Send in the clowns.

I’m Saving It for Paul!

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Nicole Antonia Carson wrote and directed, I’m Saving it for Paul. I was surprised that the venue was in an outdoor tent behind the Shakes. In the opening scene, the make shift curtain opened and Martha (played by Robyn Scriver) was making out with her fiance Max (Anthony R. Smith). She wouldn’t “do it” because she was saving “it” for Paul, of the beetles. Earlier in the day I had seen Robyn in the Shakes lobby and thought, “OMG there is a movie star!” I had seen Robyn perform in the Banks Helfrich film, The AH of Life. I didn’t scream & shout. The play was promoted on the Lawn of Fabulousness when a pack of girls ran through the crowd screaming loudly. I half expected to see the Beetles running ahead of them.

Martha’s sole obsession is to meet Paul back stage. She is helped in this quest by Aunt Sadie (Tabitha Rox).  Sadie is responsible for the call girls who go back stage and she promised to bring along Martha. The call girl in black that I sketched was Loretta (Melissa Cooper). She was all legs and her ongoing gag was that she stuffed her bra. Martha’s every dream comes true when she meets Paul McCartney (John Reid Adams). The actor really was a dead ringer for Paul and he did an awesome job with the British accent.

This was an enjoyable light hearted comedy about the screaming fans and groupies of the Fab Four. Who could not like a play about a woman who just wants to get laid?

Connected: An Interactive Experience

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Connected: An Interactive Experience was sold out. Aradhana Tiwari directed the show, and Holly Harris was the choreographer. I had a ticket but unfortunately didn’t have one for Terry. Jimmy Moore decided I could start sketching the space early so long as I used my artists stool. I picked a seat in the second row and saved a seat for Terry. All the seats in the theater had been set up with audio ear buds. This was a huge undertaking to set up in the 15 minutes or so before the house opened. Wired had to be duck taped to the floor and each audio connection tested. Terry and I were going to share a set of ear buds. The cast circled up in the center of the black box theater. Cole NeSmith said, “We are asking the audience to take chances, and I hope we all step up to take those chances with them.” He climbed into a three foot square box and he shouted to me, “Don’t look Thomas!” The stage manager shouted, “One minute to house open!” People shouted back, “Thank you one!”

The audience rushed in, and sure enough every seat was taken.  An announcer or guide, addressed everyone asking them to raise their hands if they could hear him. Everyone raised their hands, but I was sketching, my hands were busy. The show began with an isolated spotlight on the box, center stage. A light emanated from a hole at the top of the box. Two dancers circled and interacted with the mysterious box and then Cole, as Jacob was pulled out. Jacob’s mouth was taped shut and he wore sunglasses and earphones. Jacob was shut himself off  emotionally from the world around him.
As he faced moments from his past that caused him to isolate
himself, he was awakened to deeper levels of intimacy in his current
reality. The Guide invited each audience member on a
unique, introspective journey into their own past. This illuminating process of discovery welcomed the
audience into introspective and interactive moments that were
risky, challenging, humorous and healing.

Jacob was in several scenes in which his hurtful past was dredged up. He was usually focused on some small undefined task as others argued and interacted around him. His mom berated him constantly. The small boy was meek and introspective but the elder Jacob shouted, “NO! Stop!” Everyone  in the audience had been given point lights. They were asked to illuminate the light if someone had said hurtful things that forever stayed with them. The room was aglow with point lights. Terry shifted and my ear bud fell out. As I fumbled it back in my ear, the guide said, “See you are not alone, we all face the same fears and challenges.” Dancers walked on diagonals occasionally freezing in their hectic life as Jacob studied them. Audience members were invited to pose on pedestals along with Jacob. Long colorful paper ribbons were handed out to the audience and they were unfurled from person to person. A black light illuminated the ribbons and they glowed brightly in the dark room as dancers pulled them back in. Like Jacob, I was focused on a task. Sketching in the darkened theater was a challenge. With my earpiece constantly popping out, I gave up on it and sketched furiously. Without the guide, I was observing but very much isolated from the emotional involvement of the show. The performance rushed by and I struggled in the dark to catch a moment.

Cannibal! The Musical

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Cannibal! The Musical was written for the stage by Trey Parker who is one of the South Park writers.  I know the director, Logan Donahoo. I’ve sketched him putting on make-up to become one of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. I’ve also seen him in several past Fringe productions. The volunteer at the door was convinced that the director of the play was a woman. Logan is a beautiful person, but the volunteer must be blind. Terry and I were smuggled into the theater via the stage door and we walked off stage to front row seats. Logan was so gracious. I’m getting used to some of the chaos of Fringe.

The play is about a group of pioneers dream of a better life out west. It took place across Utah, the Colorado Territory and at a Ute Indian Reservation in 1874.  The Indian chief, (Danny Garcia) did a hilarious imitation of Pepe who is a flamboyant local entertainer. As the title implies, they are challenged by the wilderness and a few survive as cannibals. We were seated right near the pianist. The production had so many silly embellishments. A sexy horse was played by a female with a string bikini top and loin cloths. When the owner pet her, she would wrap a leg around him in a sensual embrace. It was both funny and unsettling. I noticed she couldn’t see very well with the horses head on as she groped for the stage exit.

The fire was an inflatable pool toy. All the songs were tongue and cheek. A group of people in the front row obviously knew an actor since they squealed whenever he was on stage.  An older lady was obviously drinking since she talked loudly and reacted with childish loud enthusiasm at plot twists. I wondered if she was a planted cast member. You had to be a South Park fan to get some of the humor, so Terry was lost at times. I laughed loud and often.

There was some extraneous full frontal nudity and a sensual horse striptease with tassels. Who can not love a musical number entitled “Hang the Bastard!” The cast seemed immense for a Fringe production with towns people, Indians, trappers, squaws, a horse and a sexy sheep. The play ended with the spirited “Shpadoinkle” finale. When the cast took their final bow, I suddenly realized that the sensual horse was played by Sarah Lockhard who is an actress and dancer who seems to be everywhere at once at the Fringe. She was in the very next production I sketched called, Connected.

Paul Strickland: Jokes, Songs, a Hat, Etc!

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Beth Marshall was the producer of Paul Strickland‘s show at the Orlando Fringe Festival and she suggested I see and sketch the show.There was a line of people outside the Brown venue in the Shakespeare theater and I muscled into line. A volunteer scanned my ticked and then asked, “Do you have a button?” I said, “Of course.” and pointed down at my bag that was covered in buttons. Looking down, I realized my Fringe button had fallen off. Thankfully she didn’t notice.

I sat at the center of the top row of the bleacher seats. Jeremy Seghers and members of his cast from Mysterious Skin sat around me. The author of the play had been sent a link to the blog post and apparently he loved the sketch. I was flattered. A green light from the lighting tech booth illuminated my sketch as the room grew dark. Actress Sarah Villegas was visiting from out of town with her boyfriend. She had been in Fringe shows since she was 14 and this was the first time she came as a visitor. She said she missed Orlando and the Fringe in particular.

Paul’s show combined comedy and music in a perfect blend. Many jokes centered around his feeling old at 30 yet they resonate even more when you hit 50. The woman seated directly in front of me laughed so loud that she set off a chain reaction of laughter. I identified with that strange feeling he got when a child stared at him. For some reason, children always stare at me on airplanes or in supermarkets. It is unnerving. Anyway he decided to warm up to this particular child and he made cute faces and said “Where can I buy one of you?” That would be fine he realized, unless the child was black! He performed My Way which is a song any artist who forges their own path can identify with.

You have one more chance to catch his show today, Sunday May 27th at 12:30PM. Tickets are $11. This show can be an exclamation point to your Fringe experience.

Classically Demented

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Yow Dance brought Classically Demented: A Darkened Fable of Storybook Characters You Thought You Knew to the silver venue at the Orlando Fringe Festival. Several days before the Fringe opened, I went to the Rep Theater to watch the Tech rehearsal and several run-throughs of the show. Eric Yow was half way back in the theater seating counting out the beat as dancers went through the blocking. The dance company presented classic storybook characters, like Snow White, Cinderella, Bo Peep and many others in a darkened vision of the fairy-tales.

Mother goose was spry and graceful.  In one twisted dance number, a dancer cloaked in black entered holding an egg. The egg was split open over a bassinet dripping blood inside. At the foot of the stage there was a black board that was used to keep track of the casualties. Dancers collapsed  and were dragged off stage by their feet. The death tole rose. The costuming for all the dancers was elegant and beautiful. A dancer cut her toe on an exposed nail on stage. It was hammered down and taped over.

When it came time for the full run through, Eric shouted, “Have a great run dancers, Merde.” I had never heard that term before. Apparently back in the early days of ballet, the
companies used to use live animals in performances. Well, whenever one
of the animals would dump on stage, someone would yell “MERDE!” from
stage to let the dancers know to watch out so that they wouldn’t slip!
And I suppose that they said it so much that it just came to mean good
luck! Addicted to Love  played behind one of my favorite dance numbers. Who wouldn’t want to see zombie princesses devouring each other as they hunt for love? Eric himself performed as the evil queen. Michael Marinaccio, the Fringe producer stopped over to say hello before the second run through. He had his child with him and wanted to be sure the show was family friendly. I assured him there was nothing risque. As the dance began I began to wonder if a child would be upset by this darkened fable… Nah.

Show times:

Today, Saturday May 26th at 3:00PM

Sunday May 27th at 8:45PM

The show is in the Silver Venue at the Rep. Tickets are $10.