Chocolate Thunder White Lightning

Posted on by Thor

Some Fringe shows offer incredible drama, uncovering personal insights, while others are just plain silly. Chocolate Thunder and White Lightning fell under the second classification. It was a blaxploitation written by a white guy, Al Pergande. The play was performed in the Orange venue in the John and Rita Lowndes Shakespeare Center.

Valensky Sylvain starred as the flashy Chocolate Thunder. He wore a loud yellow feathery hat and a long pink boa. Jackie Pitts played his new partner in crime, White Lightning. She played her part with a British accent and innocent wit. The premise was that Chocolate Thunder was an old school cop whereas White Lightning was tech savvy. Eric Branch played an over the top villain always petting a stuffed penguin. I felt bad that his silly antics got no response from the audience.

The Expositionettes filled in the gaps between scenes with song. There were gaps everywhere. This production reminded me of plays I had seen at “Play in a Day” in which everything had to be thrown together in 24 hours. There were awkward moments where actors forgot their lines and everyone stood still, wondering what they should do next.

Granted the show was a hot mess, but I was still rooting for the local talent to push through and make the show work. If the show was just a touch worse, it could have classified as a campy cult classic, but, no it struggled short of that mark. There were a few loud laughs from the audience, but the long interludes of silence hinted that all too often the humor missed the mark.

Chocolate Thunder & White Lightning

Posted on by Thor

I went to the home of Al Pergande, the writer and producer of Chocolate Thunder and White Lightning which will be performed at this year’s Fringe Festival. As he explains, “It is a blaxploitation, written by a white guy. Al handed out the scripts to the cast that was assembled in his living room. Valensy Sylvain played Chocolate Thunder, the old school black cop, and Jackie Pitts played White Lightning, a hip, tech savy British female cop. The straight laced, by the books Chief will be performed by Eric Kuritzky.

The Expositionettes called Nutra Sweet sing introductions to each act, much like the female singers in Little Shop of Horrors. The music must not be ready yet, since Dayana Rincon who sat opposite me, sat silent for most of the read through. Eric Branch will be performing as the villainous Mr. Big and his Minion will be played by Miles Berman. Bill Warriner will get the fight scenes co-ordinated and Desmond Flynn will direct. Judging from the first reading, this could be a fun show.

There will be a mad dash to get the play up to speed for the preview on April 15th. There will be just four performances in the Orange venue at this years Fringe.

May 18th at 5:30PM

May 20th at 10:15PM

May 22nd at 8:15PM

May 25tn at 3:30PM

Stardust

Posted on by Thor

I had time to kill after work, so I decided to get an appetizer at Stardust Video and Coffee. Small paintings by artist Katherine Bennett were on display. They were quirky portraits where people held animals like a lamb, a duck and a mouse. Patrons worked diligently on their laptops. The group in the corner seemed to be studying medical research and they had suitcases and backpacks.

Outside vendors were setting up in the parking lot for the weekly Audubon Community Market that happens every Monday from 6-10PM.  I ordered humus which comes with pita and plenty of veggies. Carl F. Gauze, aka Al, stopped by my table to say hi. He has written a blaxploitation play for this year’s Fringe called “Chocolate Thunder and White Lightning.” He was just grabbing a bite before a reading of the play at his house. This was the first time the cast was assembled. I decided this was a better sketch opportunity than the event at the REP Theater that I had on my calendar. After I finished my sketch and my last carrot, I drove over to Al’s to see this work in progress.