White Rabbit, Red Rabbit

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The Ensemble Company in residence at Penguin Point Productions (1700 Oviedo Mall Boulevard, Oviedo, FL, 32765) presented White Rabbit, Red Rabbit written by Nassim Soleimanpour.The set was just a small card table with two glasses of water, some chairs, and a step stool. The empty bookcase had a tiny penguin on the top shelf. The internationally acclaimed play is an audacious experience and a potent reminder of the transitive and transformative power of theater. Beyond that, I can not say any more.

The premise is simple…

No set.

No director.

A sealed script on stage.

A different performer each night.

The Orlando performers were, David Lee, John DiDonna, Beth Marshall, and Roberta Emerson. I experienced the incomparable performance by Beth Marshall. As a reviewer, I have been sworn to secrecy. The plush white rabbit on the show poster might be deceiving. This was definitely a play themed for adults.

I can say that there were 50 people in the audience and I was audience member number 20. Beth pulled a POTUS saying she wanted to count for herself, since she needed to know that she had more audience members that the two previous shows by David and John. I wrote that number on the sketch in case it was important. After the show, I was told by people who had seen multiple interpretations, that Beth managed to linger and stretch the play a half hour longer than the two previous performances. She had a knack for letting the words sink in.

I can say that after the play I had an amazing in-depth conversation with Ed Anthony. Both of us recounted memories of people in our lives whom we wish we had helped more. This heated personal exchange was clearly fueled by the thoughts triggered by the theatrical experience we had just been through. We were left with a desire to step up and help others in this trying experience called life.

A panel discussion helped students learn about Theater.

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John DiDonna, who is the Program Chair/Artistic Director of the Theater Department at Valencia College‘s East Campus, organized a panel discussion with some of Orlando’s biggest talents. The event was held in the community area right next to the campus Black Box Theater in front of the gallery which had a show of black and white photos documenting racism in Central Florida.

Beth Marshal started off the discussion, Mike Deaven and Anastasia Stacy are integral to her production company, Beth Marshall Presents. Beth basically stressed that students should have realistic expectations if they want to get into the theater business. When I sketch at Beth’s auditions, Mike is always there to play opposite someone in scenes. He is Beth’s assistant. Anastasia is Beth’s son’s girlfriend and she has become indispensable as Beth’s Stage manager. Students who go into theater tend to think they will start making over $30,000 a year, but realistically most actors, directors and stage hands all need to have a day job to pay the bills. The only way to work your way into theater is through patience, perseverance and endless determination.

Alana McMillan Friskes is the Executive Director of the Garden Theatre. I love that historic Theater with its star studded indoor ceiling. Built in 1935, it was the first movie theater built for “talkies.” The theater underwent several renovations before closing in 1963. It was then converted into a farm supply store. The Winter Garden Heritage Foundation, restored the Garden Theatre which  reopened
in February of 2008. With over 200 events per season, has quickly
become a shining star on Plant Street. Alana has been integral in bringing live theater to the stage in Winter Garden.

James Brendlinger, who is the Chairman of the Department of Arts & Communications at Lake Howell High, School, is also the founder of Penguin Point Productions. James helped build and organize a huge expanded Costume Room which is an incredible resource for the theater community. I know that he collaborated with Beth Marshall Productions on Hoodies which was a powerful production at this year’s Orlando International Fringe Festival. The Central Florida Theater community is small and very interconnected. A strong reputation takes time to build, but a bad reputation is quickly discovered by everyone in this tight knit community.

Aradhana Tiwari spoke about how she admired the work of a director at Mad Cow Theatre. She had never done this before, but she asked to shadow the director to find out how he worked. He then left the theatre and Aradhana was promoted to the position of being Mad Cow’s resident director. John DiDonna shouted out “She is essentially the Artistic Director.” This is a fine parable about how curiosity and drive can lead to unexpected breaks in this business. I learned things about the Central Florida Theater Community, and I’ve been sketching from the sidelines for years. This must have been an eye opening experience for students just starting out in theater.

Hoodies opens a much needed discussion about racism in America.

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Penguin Point Productions and Beth Marshall Presented the World Premiere of

Hoodies written
by Paris Crayton III and directed by Beth Marshall at this year’s Orlando Fringe. It is the third in a series of productions addressing racism following the Trayvon Martin shooting. Beth was driving home from a 17 hour long Fringe day setting up for the Hoodies premiere., As she said, “I get pulled over by
O-Town’s finest. Apparently, I was going 7 miles over the speed limit at
one point and swerved a little. (NOTE- I have not had one drink in god
knows how long) When the cop is shining his flashlight in the car, he
sees the Hoodies posters and asks about the show. I proceeded to tell
him about the year-long Trayvon Martin Project and that Hoodies is part 3
and do my pitch. He says” So you want people to come
to a show about “cops doing their jobs” (a line that is said a LOT in
the play by our cop) for the betterment of the community.” To which I
reply, the death of black teens is never to the betterment of our
community, sir. He went off to run my information and then 2 other cop
cars pull up to check on him and come over and to see the Hoodies
flyers. As they take them, I say- I have another show at Fringe that you
might like better- ha! (meaning Cosmolyrical) and handed these two cops
the flyers. Then they all come back over and the cop gives me a warning
for my “speeding and swerving” and makes a joke saying “here’s a
warning for doing a show about bad cops”… I was not amused. Then one
of the others said, begins talking about how he once did South Pacific
in some community theatre in one of the Carolina’s. Again, I was not
amused…. Then they said they were “gonna try to make it to them”. I
asked if I could take a photo of them with the flyers and they said no.
HAPPY FRINGE!”

Hoodies presents the story of  “Hooper” Williams, (Stelson Telfort) a seventeen year old black teen who is energetic, smart, and full of life. He is exceptional at
basketball and a popular student at his high school. The genius of this play is that you learn to love Hooper through a series of scenes with his family and friends. Much of the cast consists of theater students from Lake Howell High School.  This makes perfect sense since the story is about the senseless shooting of a fellow student.

 The scenes don’ t happen in chronological. In one of the funniest scenes, Hooper confides in his mom, Alice (Shonda L Thurman) that he is nervous about asking a girl to the prom. Mom suggests he ask her as if she were the girl in question. Then she starts asking questions about the girl so she can “get in character”. As she explains, she is a method actor. When he confides that the girl is white, she says, “You’re making this difficult on me.” She does play the part however, as a stereo typical Valley girl to hilarious effect. When he finally does ask her out, she replies simply, “No, I have plans.” “Mom!” he shouts, and then she explains what he did wrong.

Students discussed the insane action their school took to ban hoodies. A young black student had been shot by a police man while wearing a hoodie and this was the schools knee jerk reaction to protect the student population. Jenny (Momo Earle) a soft spoken Caucasian girl lamented that changing what students wear isn’t a solution. Only an open discussion and real change could stop the killing. She had been close to the boy shot and was still devastated by his senseless death. In another scene, Hooper and Jenny meet in the school hallway and they struggle to talk in an awkward exchange. Hooper finally builds up the courage to ask Jenny out and her simply “Yes” eases the tension. They both gleefully shake in delight when they walk away. From that moment on however, the audience knows that Hooper will be shot.

“The Talk” parents have with black teen boys is different than the talk Caucasian parents have with their boys. Rather than “the birds and bees” Hooper’s parents explain how he must act when being confronted by a police man. They tell him that he must keep his hands visible at all times and never raise his voice. He should never give the policeman any reason to escalate the situation. “But what if I didn’t do anything wrong!” he shouts. “It doesn’t matter.” he is told that just the color of his skin makes him a suspect in racial profiling..


Frank Stevens (Stephen Lima) is a Caucasian male who is new to the police force. In a conversation with his wife, Katie (Chelsey Panisch) he finds out that she is unhappy with the
way that their marriage is going and can’t handle the new pressure of being so closely
involved with the death of a young teen. “You think I’m guilty” he tells her. “It didn’t have to end the way it did” she replies. “I was doing my job!” he shouts. As an audience member, you can’t help but recall how many Germans after World War II also confided that they “were just following orders”.

Hooper was shot the night before prom and Jenny came on stage in a beautiful purple prom dress to explain that she would never go to prom. Hooper’s mom was so overcome with grief that she couldn’t stop crying. Her husband, Jonathon (Barry White) confided that he couldn’t stand to see her in so much pain. He felt helpless in the wake of so much pain.

What makes this play so powerful is that you see every characters strengths and flaws in each scene. I recently traveled to Turkey and some people felt I should have bean scared. Ironically a Turkish taxi driver confided that America is a far more scary place. No where else in the world are so many unarmed youths killed. Police in America kill citizens at over 70 times the rate of other first world nations. Hoodies addresses this problem in a very human way. It is theater at it’s best because it forces us to took at ourselves and realize that chance will only happen if enough people raise their voice. The cast and crew of Hoodies did an amazing job and I hope the show will find a larger audience. After the show, the theater lobby was crowded full of students holding signs of protest. Don’t miss Hoodies!

Where: Silver Venue (Orlando REP, Bush Theatre) 1001 East Princeton Street (Loch Haven Park) Orlando FL

Tickets: $11 + service charge.

Remaining Shows:
Saturday, 5/23- 8:30pm
Sunday, 5/24- 12:30pm

Auditions

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Beth Marshall Presents held auditions for the 2013-2014 season at the Garden Theater in Winter Garden on Saturday June 22nd. Productions she was holding audition for included…

The 2013 Play-in-a-Day 2013 Season kickoff in partnership with Lake Howell High School and Penguin Point Productions September 7th.

Alice Lost in Wonderland (a world premiere) written by Rob Winn Anderson and Beth Marshall, October 18-November 3 at the Garden Theater.

Beatnik, a multi-media art evening of poetry music and dance in collaboration with VarieTEASE. December 3rd at the Venue.

33 Variations by Moises Kaufman, directed by Aradhana Tiwari, March 13-30 at the Garden Theater.

Touring shows include,

Commencement written by Clay McCleod Chapman, directed by Brenna Nicely, Starring Beth Marshall at Fringe, or  The Venue.

The Books, written by Michael Edison Haydon, directed by Beth Marshall for Fringe or The Venue.

Actors gathered in the lobby of the theater and they entered the theater in groups of four or five. Actors read monologues and occasionally sang. I sketched actress Becky Lane since I knew her from some incredible performances in the past. Some actors read beat poetry but it just didn’t have the swaggering flow of 50’s beat angst.

That changed when writer, Tod Caviness and his new bride, dancer, Christin Caviness took to the stage. He recited a poem completely off book with the furious confidence of a generation reaching for a new understanding of what it is to live. Christin danced with sweaty abandon rising and receding with the tide of the poem. Garments were tossed aside as needless encumbrances to the need to move. I was swept along enthralled. I stood and applauded. This could be the corner stone for an amazing evening of Beat madness. What an incredible collaboration, a true marriage of two art forms.

A thunderstorm sent loud rain hammering down on the theater’s metal
roof. Beth considered it good since it would force actors to project. As
one actor was on stage giving a monologue, the lights of the theater
went black. The huge empty theater went silent. In the darkness he muttered, “Well I guess that’s a sign
that I didn’t get the part.”

The House of Yes

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At Fringe, I was handed a “House of Yes” button on the green lawn at Lock Haven Park. It was red white and blue so I assumed the show might be a political comedy. The Penguin Point Productions play and its polished production values took me by surprise. It was about a brother, Marty (Justin M.G. Hughes), who returned home with his naive fiance, Lesly (Monica Joyce), from the city. I quickly became obvious that his twin sister, Jacqueline (Adele Papoosha), had suffered a nervous breakdown. She was ecstatic about his return. She fancied herself to be like Jackie Onassis. It became clear that Marty and his Mom (Marcie Schwalm), didn’t get along. Mrs. Pascal’s sarcasm,wit and cold high brow detachment added much needed humor to every scene. The whole family put on airs. I knew nothing about the play or the later film staring Parker Posey. I grew more uncomfortable as the play progressed.

When Jackie-O finds out her brother is engaged her mood sours and it is clear to all that she is off her medications. Late that night she convinces her brother to play a childhood game. They reenact the Kennedy Assassination and she nurses him and her gentle kisses turn to passionate love. Lesly discovers them and slips away disgusted by the incest. Meanwhile the younger brother, Anthony (Max Herskovitz), became obsessed with Lesly and he seduces her with a story of a brain tumor and his virginity. The mom discovers these two and in a comic moment just shakes her head and walks off stage as if nothing would surprise her.

The next morning Mom tries to convince Leslie to leave, blackmailing her with what she had seen the night before. Leslie has much more backbone than anyone in the family gave her credit for and she refuses to leave without Marty. She wants to save him from this strange incestuous family. To keep him home, Jackie-O flushes Marty’s car keys. She convinces Marty to play the KFK Assassination game one last time saying he could leave afterwords. Crying she pulls the trigger. This time the gun was real. Jacky-O held the president’s blood stained head in her lap. I left feeling unnerved and shocked.