PlayFest at the Orlando Shakes

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I went to the opening day of rehearsals for PlayFest at the Orlando Shakespeare Center (812 E Rollins St, Orlando, FL 32803). PlayFest presented by Harriett’s Charitable Trust is a two-week
annual festival that provides a place for writers, theatre
professionals, and audiences to connect and share ideas that promote
thought-provoking stories. Audiences experience staged readings of seven
new works over two weekends and participate in the development of new
plays, conversing with playwrights, directors, and actors while
absorbing groundbreaking new works. Over the years, the festival has introduced over 163 new works to regional and nationwide audiences.

The first rehearsal I sketched was 72 Miles to Go… written by Hilary Bettis and directed by Paul Castañede. Hilary and Paul sat side by side at the far end of the table. When a mother is deported to Mexico for the second time, the family
struggles to reunite with so much red tape in their way. Set against the
volatile backdrop of immigration in the United States during the Obama
administration, 72 miles to go… gives us a glimpse at one family’s journey over eight years.

There were many heart warming moments as this initial reading allowed me to meet this family for the first time. The father, who was a Unitarian Pastor, had a sharp wit and tried to lighten any family argument with a joke. His wife had been sent back to Mexico when she was stopped for having a tail light out. His phone conversation with her was heart breaking since their love and respect was crystal clear, despite being forced to live apart. The title of the play comes from the distance between Tuscon, Arizona and Nogales, Mexico—and
the distance between deported immigrant Anita (Leesa Castañeda) and her American-born
husband, Billy (Joe Llorens) and her children.

When the younger sister Eva (Ana Martinez Medina) has a minor accident, the police escort her home. Being born in America she is a citizen, but her older brother, Christian (Diego Zozaya) faces the possibility of deportation every day. His younger brother Aaron (Rico Lastrapes) helped him

hide in a panic when the red and blue lights flashed outside their home. The play follows all the kids as they grow up in America, The sister becomes a valedictorian graduate from high school and in her speech to classmates she spoke of her mom’s deportation for the first time. The youngest brother joins the military and the older brother raises his own family. Though growing up under very uncertain

conditions, each kid turned out fine and contributes to making America great.

The play is particularly relevant today as President Trump is spouting xenophobic rhetoric and hate against immigrants. He even claims he will overturn the 14th amendment, which states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to
the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the
state wherein they reside.” and he wants to deport any children born in America who came from illegal immigrants. In this time of deviciveness, it was so nice to fall in love with what is truly important, which is family, and everyday dreams and aspirations.

PlayFest runs from November 2 – 4 and 10 – 11, 2018. 7 original plays are on the banquet.

If you want to catch every performance you can purchase PlayFest passes.

Taurus Faeces at Fringe

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In Taurus Faeces, Deanna Braunstein shared the gift of her mothers many stories in this solo show. These were tales of Life,  Love, truth and some crap. One daughter became a playwright and the other an actress proving that their mom passed along her love of theater and story telling. The title comes from the fact that mom didn’t like her kids to ever curse. Instead she insisted that they learn to curse in Latin and Bull Sh*t translates into Taurus Faeces.

The Red venue was crowded to overflowing so I  used my art stool and sat on the sidelines. Press has shown up in droves indication that there is a high interest in this years Fringe Festival. Reviews, commentary and an excited buzz have begun.

The most visual story involved mom learning that a child will create with poop if given the chance. She entered a room with poop speared walls, floors and even ceiling. Apparently there is a trick in tying a diaper which makes access to the creative substance impossible. She had to clean her child multiple times to erase the memory. However she didn’t learn her lesson because the incident was repeated. The compelling stories were related with emotional theatricality. Her mom’s every nuance was brought to life.

Deanna ended the show saying that everyone has a story to tell, and if you ever plan to have children you should talk to your elder relatives and learn their stories. Those stories will want to be heard someday by the generations to come. Listen, live, love and share.

Tickets to Taurus Faeces are $12. The show runs 60 minutes and is in the Red Venue on the second floor of the Orlando Shakes, 812 E Rollins St, Orlando, FL 32803. For ages 13 and up with some mild language.

Remaining show dates are:

Monday May 21, 2018 at 7:30pm

Thursday May 24, 2018 at 6:00pm

Saturday May 26, 2018 at 3:00pm

Sunday May 27, 2018 at 8:00pm

Native Gardens at the Shakes.

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Native Gardens written by Karen Zacarias is being performed at the Orlando Shakespeare Center (812 E Rollins St, Orlando, FL 32803) .  A young couple, Tania (Alea Figueroa) and Pablo (Fredy Ruiz) move into a quiet Washington D.C. suburban home.  The place is a bit run down, but Tania has big dreams for the back yard, with it’s big old oak tree, planning to turn it into a Native Garden with all native plants.  Pablo is working at a law firm putting in long hours.  Their neighbors, Virginia (Kate Ingram) and Frank Butley (Michael Edwards) are an older couple on the verge of retirement.  Frank shares Tania’s love of gardening.  Each year he plants a gorgeous perennial flower bed with hopes of winning the neighborhood’s best garden award.  

An old chain link fence separated the back yards of the two properties.  The butlers welcomed the young couple bringing them wine and chocolates.  Tania is allergic to chocolates but liked the gesture.  The four of them chatted amicably and agreed that a nice wooden fence would be nice to replace the old chain link fence now overgrown with ivy.  Pablo in a move to impress his boss, decided to host an office BBQ in his backyard.  With the yard a mess, the couple had to rush to get ready for the party.  As the couple made plans to install the fence, they discovered that their property actually extended two feet beyond the fence, essentially the full width of their neighbors flower bed. 

When they informed their neighbors that they planned to place the fence right on their property line tempers began to flair.   Being a lawyer, Pablo stated the case with blunt force and with no notion of compromise.  Frank is crushed since the flower bed was his labor of love.  First the men bickered and then the woman bickered and postured.  What had been a friendly welcome shifted into a brawl.  To top it all off the older couple were Republicans and they suspected their neighbors were Democrats.  The escalating tension was treated with hilarious results.  Both side felt they were the victims and polite manners melted away into crude name calling.  

Native Gardens is a fun and highly entertaining show.  The show runs through February 4th.  Start your year off with a good laugh.  Go and see native Gardens. 

You Should Do…

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One year ago today, Brian Feldman hosted a series of five minute, in-person, one-on-one meetings in a small elevator inside the Orlando Shakespeare Center. He maneuvered two full length mirrors into the elevator creating a visual infinite loop. I sat in on a series of these short meetings with the egg timer reminding me of the swift passage of time. For the first time in his career, Brian will genuinely consider all pitched project ideas to him during this one-time-only event, without his standard “You should do it” response. Interested participants registered for one of the 36 available meeting times on May 6, 2016.

Over the course of his 13 year career as a performance artist, people would regularly approach him with ideas of their own for projects that he should do. His response has always remained steadfast: “You should do it.” … Until now. He genuinely considered all pitched project ideas during this
one-time-only event, without his standard “You should do it” response.

At the time of this performance, Brian was recovering from a horrible mugging in Washington DC which resulted in multiple broken bones.  Among
the many things he struggled with at the time was an inability to devise any new project ideas. While friends and family members assured him that these ideas will return to him in due time, he was impatient for the muse to strike.

By
participating in “You Should Do,” participants acknowledged that Brian Feldman
only agreed to genuinely listen to and consider the proposed project
idea. It did not imply an agreement that any project would actually be
produced. Note that any projects sent through Twitter are public
and may be produced by anyone, at any time, worldwide and without your
permission.

I didn’t have any inspired ideas other that having an artist document each performance. The space got cramped once three people sat in the tiny elevator meeting room. Seth Kubersky had some wonderful ideas that would tie in with a certain local themes park’s anniversary. His suggestions seemed to hold the most weight. As of today, one year later, none of the projects have been produced but there is always a chance that they will surface and bloom, even years later. Case in point, this sketch sat tucked way in a sketchbook until today.

Phantasmagoria brings horrific tales to the Orlando Fringe.

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Phantasmagoria: Wicked Little Tales fills the Fringe Orange venue at the John and Rita Lowndes Shakespeare Center, (812 E Rollins St, Orlando, FL) with horrific whimsical tales of horror, Phantastical dance, music, stage combat, large scale puppetry and storytelling. Before a complete run through of the show, actors practiced a sword fight that they had just learned the day before. The swords were real, so there was a true there a of danger as they parried.  Other actors on the stage had to be warned to stand clear. Though rehearsed at quarter speed, the adrenaline still pumps an they had to b coached to slow down.

The show commence with a grand flair. The whole acting troop crouched around the ring master as he enticed the audience to listen in with a grand flourish. Once a story begins it must be told until it is finished. The tales come to life and the horrors pose a real threat to the tellers. The first tale was one of my favorites, The Tell Tale Heart, by Edgar Allen Poe. To recreate the hideous beating heart, the entire (2 beat their palms on the stage floor creating a deafening thump.

Another memory tale was of the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow. Two dancers acted as the horse with grace and style. Actors and actresses would more into the audience during the telling of a tale, and you never knew if a sinister laugh might ring behind you, sending chills down your spine.

Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein brought to life a giant skeletal figure that threatened it’s creator. The creature demanded a bride and when that hope was gone the monster turned on his creator and master. Love lost is the most horrific motivator for murder.

It was good to see this at in troupe in such a large venue. With so many act of and actresses, they easily utilize every inch of the deep space. If you have a taste for the macabre then Phantasmagoria is the show for you.

Phantasmagoria shows are on May 21, 22, 28 and 29.

Tickets are $11.

The Orlando Shakespeare Theater presents “To Kill a Mockingbird”.

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I went to the dress rehearsal for “To Kill a Mockingbird” at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater. I was surprised to find an audience waiting to get into the theater.  I decided to slip into the theater and start the sketch before the house was open. I paused for a long time, because the balconies had their metal railings removed. I realized they were now part of the stage set. Directed by Thomas Ouellette, Christopher Sergel‘s adaptation of Harper Lee‘s Pulitzer Prize winning novel came to life on the Margeson Theater stage.  The movie based adaptation is a classic and one of my favorite films, so this show had some big shoes to fill.

The audience was full of students from Columbia College and many were African American which made this particular performance quite compelling. I knew about the students and faculty because one man introduced himself to me saying we had met at an event a while back.  For some reason he thanked me and explained that many of the people from his campus would have never been to a play. I realized after he walked away that he must have mistook my for someone else. I guess when you are busy sketching, you look like you are in charge. Whoever invited the Columbia College group, you should know that they are thankful.

The story is told through the eyes of six year old Scout (Kennedy Joy Foristall ). As a tense tug of war
between justice and racism heats up, Scout and her family must learn to
temper violence and hatred with courage and compassion. Based on the
Pulitzer Prize winning novel, To Kill a Mockingbird continues to inspire
hope in the face of inequality. The moral of the story as told by Atticus Finch (Warren Kelley) is “You
never really understand a person until you consider things from
his point of view . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around
in it.” Scout held her own as a tom boy who always gets into fights and has no filter when speaking her mind.

The set, designed by Bert Scott gave a strong backdrop of the depression Era south. This really is an important show to see since there are always injustices that some accept. Sometimes a person is called on to shake off the dust of these backwards beliefs. The shows title relates to the idea that “Mockingbirds don’t
do one thing but make music for us to enjoy . . . but sing their
hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” Toward the end of the production, Sheriff Heck Tate (John Ahlin) explained to Atticus, “To my way of thinking, taking the one man who’s done you and this town a
big service and dragging him with his shy ways into the limelight – to
me that’s a sin.” Sometimes a community isn’t best served by following the letter of the law but rather the spirit of the law. “Let the dead berry the dead.”

“To Kill a Mockingbird”

• What: A drama written by Harper Lee and adapted for the stage by Christopher Sergel

• Where: Orlando Shakespeare Theater,  Margeson Theater 812 East Rollins Street, Orlando FL

• When: Opens Friday, Jan. 21; 7:30 p.m. through March 8.

• Cost: $10 to $45

• Call: (407) 447-1700

• Online: www.orlandoshakes.org

Les Miserables is a stellar production.

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The Orlando Shakespeare Theater hit a home run by bringing Les Miserables to Orlando. Based on a book by Alain Boublil with Music by Claude-Michael Schönberg and Lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer. It is adapted from the novel by Victor Hugo. It was masterfully directed by DJ Salisbury with musical direction by Ken Clifton. It was raining like a typhoon on the evening I went to see the show. I must have seen a dozen ambulances on the dive to the theater and traffic was backed up on every major artery. That however didn’t keep people from coming to the show. It was a sold out house. The woman seated next to me in t in the Loge told me that this was her second time seeing the show. She wanted to share it with her husband who was with her for this performance.

Set in the early 19th-century, a French peasant named
Jean Valjean (Michael Hunsaker) is on a quest for redemption after serving nineteen years
in jail for for stealing a loaf of bread. When a compassionate bishop inspires him
with a tremendous act of mercy, Valjean decides to start his life anew,
but is relentlessly tracked down by Police Inspector Javert (Davis Gaines). Along the
way, Valjean and a slew of characters are swept into France’s
revolution, where a group of young visionaries make their last stand at a
street barricade.

Several times during the performance I was lifted and move close to tears by the power of the show music and performances. Despite being set in the crucible of a revolution, it is the stories of love that set the show ablaze. As Fantine‘s (Lianne Marie Dobbs) life spirals out of control, she sang of the love she knew for one glorious summer. It is one of the most beautiful and sad songs to ever hit the stage. Davis gains brought the role of inspector Javert to life with his incredible voice. Éponine (Caitlyn Caughell) sang a beautiful song of unrequited love for Marius’. She does everything he asks, even arranging for him to meet Cosette whom he loved at first sight. She ends up getting shot as she struggles to bring the couple together and she finally discovers what it is like to be held in his arms as she dies having been shot in the revolution while trying to get to him.


This show packs an incredible emotional punch. Michael Hunsaker’s performance had me fully emotionally invested in every scene. The show succeeded on every imaginable level. The thunderous applause should never stop. As the new Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center nears completion, this production proved that Broadway quality productions are already being produced in town. Show continue through October 11th. Many shows are already sold out and for good reason. Don’t miss Les Mis!

Waiting in the Fringe Line

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The John and Rita Lowndes Shakespeare Center has an odd tower that is two stories high and the room is about eight foot square. A compass is incorporated into the floor tiles and a large banner is usually suspended from the ceiling.

Between shows during the Fringe festival there was an art installation consisting of hula hoops and cardboard tubes covered in strips of fabric. Everything was suspended on strings to create a mobile. I made my way inside so that I could sketch a Fringe line as it formed. The line was for, Bless Me Father For I Have Danced and it snaked from the theater entrance out the door with half the people having to wait outside. It is fun to see friends as they meet and hug. Half the fun of the Fringe is meeting people in line and comparing notes about what amazing shows HAVE to be seen. I decided what shows I should sketch based on tips from strangers I met in line. All the reviews in town couldn’t beat good word of mouth.

This is a rare case of a sketch I didn’t have time to finish. My wife Terry texted from another line suggesting I join her to see the show she was waiting for. Often we saw shows together but sometimes we went our own ways. I could only go to the Fringe every other day because of work commitments and on those days Terry was on her own and she would let me know what she had seen that I had to sketch. It was like having a field corespondent scouting out the talent. I don’t know who created this kinetic art, and once the Fringe was over, it was replaced by a table and chairs.

Taking Out the White Trash

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The Fringe show, Taking Out the White Trash  presented by Peemypants Productions featured Sherri D. Sutton, as she spilled the south’s dark secrets in the intimate brown venue. This was a hilarious show that had me laughing the whole time. When asked to describe a Waffle House, Sherri said, “Imagine a truck stop restroom, but with waffles.” Now, anytime I drive by a Waffle House, I laugh. She said being accepted as a lesbian comic has been hard since there is a stereotype that lesbians are always angry. She then performed a joke as an angry lesbian with expletives to hilarious effect. She said, “The thing about stereotypes is that they are often true.”

Much of the show then was built around the southern stereotype. From Walmart, the KKK, to convalescent care, no topic was sacred. Having been raised in the south, much of her material came from first hand experience. Growing up lesbian in a conservative southern town can’t be easy. She joked about southern names and that certain names guaranteed an infants trials or success in life. This show was a pleasant surprise and it was good to see lesbian couples cuddling in the audience. It made me hopeful that love can be cherished in all it’s forms someday.

Flight: A Crane’s Story

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Ibex Puppetry, founded by Heather Henson, presented Flight: A Crane’s Story at this year’s Fringe in the orange venue which is the largest in the John and Rita Lowndes Shakespeare Center. The show Explored nature’s deepest mysteries and the spiritual essence of life on Earth through the story a crane names Awaken. After human interference affected their environment, Awaken’s family left on migration without her. The young crane friend had to learn to fly and navigate to find her family and her destiny.

I had quite a challenge sketching the show since the house lights went dark for most of the show so I couldn’t see the page. Also there was nonstop action with kites constantly on the move. I focused my attention on the young crane most of the time ignoring the immense kites. Awaken was first shown as an egg just beginning to hatch. The indigenous North America music was performed live at house left. The woman sang beautifully while the other performer beat the drum. Awaken grew up through a series of puppets. By the end of the show there was a huge crane that would be worthy of being featured in the Macy’s Day parade. I kind of wish I had waited to catch that huge apparition, but I was already committed to the sketch I was working on.

The kites were amazing, swooping down to within inches of the audience before sweeping back up into flight. Costuming was also amazing with some performers wearing costumes that made their arms like huge wings. Movies were projected on the circular screen at the back of the stage offering views of sunsets and the intricate courting dance of the cranes. I would love to see the show again, so that I could focus on some of the truly stellar moments that slipped past me as I rushed to complete the sketch. I envied the others in the audience who could simply relax and enjoy the moment without the obsessive need to capture the moment on a page. This was an amazing show and Orlando is fortunate to have Heather Henson as a unique local artist and entertainer.

The International Crane Foundation is committed to a future where all crane species are secure; a future where people cooperate to protect and restore wild populations and their ecosystems.