Poe follows the last days of the master of the macabre.

Posted on by Thor

This year’s Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival
has just begun. If you haven’t been before, you are missing thirteen days of non-stop theater at venues all around Lock Haven Park. Fringe plays are selected by lottery.Fringe is… 100% UNCENSORED, 100% UNJURIED, 100% ACCESSIBLE, 100% of $ from ticket sales go directly to the ARTISTS. Anyone can Fringe.

I went to a rehearsal for Poe presented by Theater Downtown in the Green Venue which is in the black box theater of the Rep. It seemed fitting that Poe, Written by Stephen Most and directed by Frank Hilgenberg, should be staged in a black box. The play follows the final tormented days of the author of “The Raven” and “The Tell Tale Heart”. Chris Prueitt breathed life into the tortured poet.  Before the rehearsal started cast members joked and wrestled playfully. It is a shame some of that playfulness never seemed to play a part of Poe’s life. His pompous airs didn’t impress towns folk and as he recites one of his poems he is beaten and robbed. His father considered him a lazy vagrant. Their contentious relationship comes to a head as Edgar imagines himself murdering his dad and hiding the corpse below the floor boards.

Biographical fact mixed with fiction is retold through the authors own tales. Darci Ricciardi did the shows choreography. Before the rehearsal, she welcomed me dressed in a whispy white dress that made her look just like Marilyn Monroe, all that was missing was a subway grate. The dress made sense when she and three other dancers moved in mystical fluid motion around the fallen poet. Bawdy prostitutes and violent thugs haunted the poets life. Family life offered little solace.

Poe fell madly in love with a young cousin played by Jolie Hart. Their happiness was quickly cut short when illness struck and Jolie lay motionless on a platform like Sleeping Beauty. The poet couldn’t accept her death, believing she would return to him. Had she been buried alive? She ultimately did return in dreams wearing a white expressionless mask. Darci and the dancers also wore white masks and black gowns and danced in a scene that managed to make my skin crawl. The show has it’s horrors, it’s tortured misgivings. If darkness you seek, it might be quite thrilling.

Tickets $11 plus required Orlando Fringe button (available at Fringe box office).

Green Venue – The Orlando REP (Black Box theatre to the left of The Rep main stage)
1001 East Princeton Street, Orlando, FL.

Thursday 5/14     9:00pm
Saturday 5/16     10:30pm
Monday 5/18      9:00pm
Wednesday 5/20 5:30pm
Thursday 5/21     7:30pm
Saturday 5/23      8:45pm
Sunday 5/24        11:30am

iDentify

Posted on by Thor

John DiDonna Productions in collaboration with choreographers McClaine Timmerman and Jill Lockhart presents
“IDentify”
An original dance experience. I went to a rehearsal at The Venue, (511 Virginia Drive, Orlando, Florida). There were just two dancers there when I arrived, Darcy Ricciardi and Elise Frost. Brittany Wine entered and began organizing the chairs. It became obvious that this was the first time the show was being performed at The Venue. Blue Star, who owns The Venue, came in and welcomed everyone. I decided I wanted a high vantage point, so I asked Helen, The Venue’s stage manager, if I could climb up into the Tech booth. She was fine with that and even found me a stool.

The show fused elements of hip hop and modern dance, It presented a multimedia exploration of how we as individuals and as a society find, lose, transform, and express our identities as we progress through life. The performance, offered a synthesis of dance, videography, music, spoken word, and photography. It was both a lighthearted and somber commentary on the human experience. It delved deep into the question we all seek to answer:
“Who am I?”

Before the full run through of the show, McClain addressed the cast, “You should give everything you got tonight. I’ll be the only one in the audience and I am your biggest fan. I love you all and support your every effort.”  That love, support and camaraderie was felt as the cast stretched and interacted together, and it flowed through the whole show. One of the dancers, Kim Matovina, looked exactly like McClain. I kept looking back and forth doing double takes. It made me wonder, what makes McClain unique? How is it I could misidentify her?

The show began with three females in tight black dresses putting on red high heeled shoes. They read fashion magazines and a narrator explained to them how dress to catch a man. Caffeine was out and they should drink eight cups of water a day.  When they held the magazines up over their faces, it was like a mask showing the fashion model’s face replacing their own. That would be the image I’d want to catch for the show’s poster. Elise gave a hilarious hyper monologue talking to the audience at 90 miles an hour. She would try and calm herself down with quick bouts of yoga breathing. She was laugh out loud funny!

Video presented scenes of the dancer’s everyday lives, jobs, friends warmth and angst. In one clip, McClain danced freely on a foot bridge and her dog padded up to her with curiosity. Lovers lay side by side watching as the other slept. It became clear that the dancers were sharing everything, their doubts and convictions. It was heart warming to watch, even as I battled with line and color upstairs. They drew me in and warmed me.

WHEN: Only three performances remain…
Tonight, Friday April 26th- 7:30pm,
Saturday April 27th- 7:30pm,
and Sunday April 28th- 2:30pm

WHERE: The Venue, Orlando
511 Virginia Drive, Orlando, FL 32803
Ivanhoe Village
www.thevenueorlando.com

TICKETS: $15.00 general / $12.00 student and senior
For reservations please call (407) 721-3617 beginning March 2013 – cash only at door
For credit card pre-orders please use www.redchairproject.com beginning in April 2013

Dog Powered Robot Rehearsal

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Dog Powered Robot is gearing up for action at the Orlando Fringe Festival in May. Rehearsals are happening twice a week at the Jewish Community Center. When I arrived, the cast was standing in the center of the room in a circle. There were lots of new faces indicating that the show would be bigger than ever. An actor got in the center of the circle and started acting like an orangutang. Once people started to laugh, he walked back out and stood in the circle. The person who laughed first had to stand in the middle. He acted like a giraffe, regal and slow. He looked over at an actress and started to curl his long tongue the way giraffes do. She couldn’t help but laugh. So she was next. I laughed non-stop since I was safely outside the circle.

 This evening was to be devoted to choreographing several dance and fight scenes. Darci Ricciardi was in charge of the choreography. Katie Green, the DPR director asked all the froggers to rehearse their part right after the dance scene. The scene was run multiple times without the costumes. I drew all the actors in pencil and was about to ink them in, when everyone was told to “suit up”.  Lollibot, played by Serafina, wandered bewildered. She came upon this gang of deviant froggers lead by a  frog with a large fedora and a cigar. Grace “Scully” Nolan was high above everyone else on her stilts. The head frogger entered the scene between her stilts. Part of his his costume got caught on her stilt. They had to stop the scene and untangle him. “Good to know!” Katie shouted, “That’s why we rehearse.” “I was so excited when I saw his head made it between my legs!” Scully shouted back. Everyone started laughing till they were red faced.

Christie Miga sat beside the director working non stop on a moving set piece. Evan Miga entered the scene as Dog Powered Robot when needed but he didn’t suit up. New ideas playfully sparked up throughout the rehearsal. Fisher, the dog behind Dog Powered Robot, kept track of everyone. Some robots are still being constructed and refined at the Dog Powered Robot Labs.

One and Only Dream Scene

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The final scene that needed to be shot for Britt Daley’s “One and Only” music video was the dream sequence. Everyone was dressed in 1980’s fashion. This scene lap dissolved from the scene of Britt spinning on the audition stage with Andy Matchett. Britt and Andy are spinning in the dimly lit theater surrounded by characters frozen still. When they walk up to the bar, Kyle Raker and Jessica Mariko snapped to life. Kyle served martinis and Jessica began a sensual dance.

Center stage, Will “MainSwitch” Campbell and Darci Riccardi begin a break dance when approached. Britt and Andy laughed and danced as the dream snapped to life. Finally they approached Nicholas Corcoran, and skating Katie Peters who performed a blend between a “Saturday Night Fever” dance and a roller girl dance routine. They were a smooth and well oiled dancing machine. I was amazed at how this scene was rehearsed, then performed in a matter of hours.

The scene was shot multiple times. One master shot followed Britt and Andy the whole time, then cut away shots and close ups were done. Scott Wilkins, the director, explained that the scene would be cut together with multiple shots sliding into place much like the complex montage scenes from the 1966 film “Grand Prix.”

The Repertory Theater’s Backstage Dance Studio

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Shooting continued for Britt Daley’s music video, “One and Only.” A door at the back of the actors dressing rooms opened into a backstage dance studio. I never would have guessed that this room existed. Andy Matchett lounged in front of me along with Megan Hinkle and Kyle Raker. For much of the day, Britt had been worried that her break dancer hadn’t shown up. Scott Wilkins the writer for the music video shoot said that the one thing he needed more than anything else was a break dancer. The dream sequence was saved for last since everyone in the cast had to change into their flashiest 80’s outfits.

Will “MainSwitch” Campbell and Darci Ricciardi began working on their dance moves. “MainSwitch” brought Darci up to speed until they were a well oiled break dancing machine. Jessica Mariko had her own dance moves worked out. She wore a sleek red dress and her sensual moves could make any James Bond actress blush. Nicholas Corcoran was a bit nervous since he isn’t a dancer and he was being asked to light up the dance floor like John Travolta in “Saturday Night Fever.” The biggest surprise came when Katie Peters rolled onto the dance floor in a classic roller skating disco queen outfit. She had performed as a singer during the audition scenes of the video shoot. The actress who was going to skate didn’t show so Katie stepped in. Nicholas didn’t have to work on many dance moves, he just had to help guide skating Katie as she glided around him. Tape on the rehearsal floor was a bit of a stumbling block at first but soon Skating Katie and Nick had a smooth routine worked out. Everything was worked out for a stellar dream scene.