Phantasmagoria presents: A Christmas Carol & The Canterville Ghost

Posted on by Thor

If you are looking to kick off the Holiday season with a taste for the macabre, then join Phantasmagoria as they present  “Ghost Stories” this Christmas season. They will bring to life and the bitter sweet taste of death to not one but TWO whimsical classics. The well-loved A Christmas Carol, A Ghost Story of Christmas by Charles Dickens, followed by Oscar Wilde’s rollicking The Canterville Ghost.

I sat in on a dress rehearsal for the show at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. The set felt like an abandoned attic with carousel horses flanking the stage. Projections on a large screen behind the set changed the settings with ease. I fell in love with the faint flickering candle light that illuminated the various corners of the stage.  That meant I needed to keep the scene dark so the candles could shine.

A Christmas Carol is a well loved and very familiar classic. Phantasmagoria added its dark and vaudevillian steampunk styled flair to the story. John DiDonna as Scrooge lived in the old man’s skin. I have seen him perform this roll many times over the years. Daniel Cooksley as Marley, draped in chains did an amazing job filling the stage with his his twisted and agonized self. Of the three ghosts, the ghost of Christmas future was magnificently designed. Much larger that life, the dark draped figure gestured with gnarly black branches for hands.

The Canterville Ghost offered a much lighter tale full of light hearted dance. It was the yin to Dickens dark and foreboding Yang. There are two more performances December 3–4, 2022 at the Alexis & Jim Pugh Theater, in the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, 8 p.m. and 2 p.m. Tickets are about $35.

Flip at Fringe

Posted on by Thor

Local artist Adam McCabe wrote and directed Flip which is a bleak look at America’s future in which very citizen is given a bluetooth  switch at birth which can be flipped to bring about their death. The scene opened at the dinner table where the working mom, Jeanine (Janice Fisher) is trying to enjoy a glass of red wine after a hard day’s work.  Noah, (Daniel Cooksley) her second husband is jobless. Her children are Malory,
(Chelsea Talmadge), and Caleb, (Indigo Frost) a bullied middle-schooler.

No one is happy in this play. Hope is a long lost concept. This insular family is just a speck of dust in an unforgiving universe. We get to learn the most about Malory who is desperate and depressed. She clutches an urn full of her grandfathers ashes. He had flipped his own switch. Without a shred of hope it was hard to want to know the characters. They went through the motions in their senseless lives.

In a long monologue, it became clear that Malory had likely been raped. She had dropped out of college to try and recover, but the depression never left. Noah, her step dad wanted to comfort her but that desire was misguided and turned to lust. His desire to help was really a desire for a moment’s pleasure. In the fumbling and confusion it is possible he flipped his daughters switch. This point wasn’t clear. Perhaps she had flipped her own switch. The American anthem played to announce her departure and she crumpled to the floor.

Jeanine and he son Caleb returned and somehow the son knew of his dads guilt and be beat him with a bat. The son had the habit of smiling at the most inappropriate times making him a bit creepy. Once again, the switch was flipped and the American anthem played as Noah died. There wasn’t an uplifting moment in the entire show. I suppose that was the point.

Suicide in the United States has surged to the highest levels in nearly
30 years, a federal data analysis has found, with increases in every age
group. The rise was particularly steep for women.
It was also substantial among middle-aged Americans. There were over 44,000 deaths by suicide in 2016. The program listed a suicide prevention hotline…1-800-273-TALK. www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org

Red Black and Ignorant at Valencia College.

Posted on by Thor

Red Black and Ignorant written by Edward Bond is the first installment of a war trilogy. The play introduces Monster, (Daniel Cooksley) an inhuman being who presents the life that he did
not get to live because he was aborted and burnt to death in the nuclear global bombings. Killed within his mother’s womb, the play reveals the
world which would have awaited the unborn child: a post-apocalyptic
society of destruction and war.

The venue was a small circular area with cement benches. The cast uses the benches and the walkway leading to the site. The audience will be seated outside the circle. One cast member saw an animal move in the distance. She said it was the size of a raccoon but might be a possum. All the flashlights surveyed the edge of the woods. The wildlife watched the play unfold from a safe distance.

Daniel is the actor who played my part in O-Town: Voices from Orlando written and directed by David Lee. We hugged warmly as we waited for the rest of the cast to arrive. Jeremy Seghers is directing Red Black and Ignorant. He has a keen eye for staging plays in unexpected venues. He arrived carrying a pile of military clothing. He also had make up for Daniel. Daniel had to to wear colored contacts and black charred makeup. At the start of the play, the entire cast shined flashlights on Daniel while chanting an ominous hum. Daniel crawled up out of an imaginary pile or rubble. Jeremy explained that the set piece is almost done.

The mother of the monster (Blaise Terese Vance) delivered a moving monologue while her wispy frame was being lifted on the shoulders of the monster. She illuminated her own face from below with her flashlight. An imagined lover of the monster (Alyssa Zabel) spoke of what he might have become and seemed oblivious to his twisted self. The son of the Monster (Sean Kemp) found a woman (Anissa Hernandez) trapped under rubble. She screams for help but he realizes that her job would open up were she to perish. He feigns to help but leaves saying he would find help. His father comes across his son as he is debating the woman’s fate. The father takes control of the situation and saves her. While chastising his son. The best position the son manages to find is in the military. He embraces the role. His position gives him a place of power over the monster. This father son relationship was destined to be tragic.

This play explores issues of conformity, social morality, and ongoing
conflict between the individual and society, giving the story a terrifyingly
relevant and timeless tone.

Being an immersive, site-specific work, this is an outdoor show held in
a natural environment. I was advised to bring bug spray which was helpful.  The audience is advised to check in at the box office for a short,
escorted walk to the site. Walking shoes are advised.  Late seating cannot be accommodated.  It is advised to arrive 30 minutes prior to show time. This production will not have an intermission.

What:  Red Black and Ignorant.

Where:  Valencia East Campus
701 N Econlockhatchee Trail, Orlando, FL

 Show dates:

Thursday, November 9, 2017   7:30pm

to 8:45pm

Friday, November 10, 2017      7:30pm

to 8:45pm

Saturday, November 11, 2017  7:30pm

to 8:45pm

Sunday, November 12, 2017    7:30pm

to 8:45pm

Monday, November 13, 2017   7:30pm

to 8:45pm

Tickets: $12 General Ticketing; $10 Valencia students/staff/alumni and seniors.

Contact Name: Valencia College Box Office

Contact Email:  boxoffice@valenciacollege.edu/arts

Contact Phone: (407) 582-2900

The Flick presents hopes and aspirations in a tiny movie theater.

Posted on by Thor

Gen Y Productions presents The Flickwritten by Annie
Baker and was the winner of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and 2013 Obie Award for Play writing. The Flick Premiered
Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons in 2013 and will run at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts (445 S Magnolia Ave, Orlando, FL) starting today through July 12.

Bonnie Sprung designed the set for The Flick. She confided that the theater seats were rented from the recently closed Theater Downtown. The sconces on set are actually the bases to lava lamps. She was busy cutting and building the set right up until the rehearsal started. This was the first run through in the new space. Producer Aaron Safer arranged to get me in for the sketch.

The play is set in a single screen movie theater in Central Massachusetts that has the last remaining 35mm film projector. Sam (Daniel Cooksley) shows Avery (Marcellis Cutler) the ropes of the job on Avery’s first day at the job. The job simply involves cleaning up the wrappers and refuge people left behind after leaving the movie theater. Rose (Jessie Grossman) with her bright green hair is the projectionist and Sam feels he should have been promoted to that coveted position. He shouts up to her and she either can’t hear him or ignored him. “She hates me” Sam confides to Avery. When Rose came down from the booth, she asks Sam if he told Avery about the employee “dinner money” tradition. The “dinner money” was skimmed from ticket sales without the owners knowledge. Avery agonized in the front row with his head in his hands but ultimately gave in, not wanting to upset his co-workers.

Scene after scene plays out in the empty theater. Sam told a story about how a huge chunk of the ceiling once fell down landing just inches from an old lady. Sam and Avery play a game of six degrees of separation as they clean and it turns out that Avery in an encyclopedia of film knowledge. A love triangle develops as Rose comes on strong to Avery. The flirting escalates to an embarrassing moment when they watch a film together after hours. Each of the characters is a misfit. Avery once tried to kill himself, Rose is unable to have a relationship for more than four months, and Sam rides along as if the theater job was his only aspiration in life. Rose was appealing with her brash accent and bold entrances. She later turned on Avery and it became clear that every character was strictly looking after their own interests. Friendships aren’t as strong as the need for a minimum wage paycheck. One of my favorite scenes is when Avery recites Ezekiel 25:17 from Pulp Fiction. The drama among the employees turned out to be bigger than the dramas that played out on the big screen. I cared deeply for each character hoping they might find happiness but in this fast changing world, that hope seems mercurial. The digital age made the 35mm projector obsolete. Avery in particular yearned to keep the analog tradition of projected film alive. It turned out that if you don’t need a projector. You don’t need a projectionist. Everyone wants more for less and quality isn’t necessarily the ideal.

Kenny Howard directed the Orlando cast and I liked that there were long moments where characters had time to think and reflect. Action on a movie screen happens at a break neck pace with maybe 2 seconds before cutting to a new shot. But the action after the film ended felt more real, imperfect and more heart felt.  These characters weren’t playing their parts, they were simply living in the moment. At three hours, this is a long show. Turn off those cellphones and unwrap those wrappers and don’t leave a mess because someone has to clean up after you.

Show dates: June 17-July12, 2015

Show times vary

Tickets start at $35.00

Alexis and Jim Pugh Theater

Lobby Doors open 60 minutes prior to show time.

Theater Doors open 30 minutes prior to show time.