Talk Radio

Posted on by Thor

Theater on the Edge (5542 Hansel Avenue Orlando, FL 32809) is presenting Talk Radio by Eric Bogosian and Tad Savinar. The set by Samantha DiGeorge is amazing in all it’s nostalgic splendor and detail. The space is divided into two rooms with a glass divider so that the soundboard guy can see the talent. The date is May 8, 1987 at WTLK in Cleveland Ohio. Spike (Christopher Ivers) who was in charge of running the ads was leaning back in his chair reading his Playboy. One radio show was winding to a close with a financial expert giving lofty and hard to follow financial advice to a confused listener. I started my sketch by getting him in place with his glasses and mustache. I wasn’t aware that he was about to be replaced by the star of the next hour of talk radio Barry Champlain (Marco DiGeorge). Champlain’s sound man was Stu Noonan (Alex Jackson). The two had worked together for years as Barry’s career skyrocketed. On this night the manager Dan Woodreuff (Christian Wienker) informed Barry that his show was about to go national and that the new sponsors would be listening in.

I grew up listening to talk radio in high school, So I was familiar with the insipid callers who would say, “Long time listener, first time caller.” It seems many would call in just to hear their own voice. Marco DiGeorge gives an amazing performance as the hardened talk show host who puts some callers down just to stay sane. Each character in turn had a blue illuminated cameo in which they relate their experiences with the radio talk show host. We learn about him from those who have to deal with him daily.

The soundboard used on stage must have been live because the calls came in quick succession. One caller claimed to have been partying for two days and his girlfriend was unconscious. There was some panic in the studio by Barry saw it as a prank call. On a second call in the high strung caller admitted he was making it all up. He then insisted on stopping by the studio to meet his talk show idol. Kent (Adam Minossora) had spiked up hair and his panicked manic performance caused me to stop sketching and just enjoy the performance. Kent was hilarious with his high wire antics and I thought for sure the executives would want him to have his own talk show. He rushed at the talk show host as if intent on murder but quickly shot a photo. Barry was actually a bit of a scholar before becoming a talk show host and Kent represented the lowest common denominator that Barry now had to accommodate.

Linda McArthur (Elaitheia Quinn) with a clipboard in hand produced the show. She wore a vibrant colorful jacket with neon colors. A raw and intimate moment came as she related how she felt about the talk show host. She decided to call in and she asked the host advice about how she should deal with her boyfriend. As they looked at each other through the glass window he told her she should move on and she stormed out of the studio visibly upset.

The entire show was an amazing roller coaster of emotions as the talk show host handled racists, bigots, and quiet fans who worshiped him yet really had no idea who he was. It all pushed him to the brink of giving up on humanity. Before social media and 140 character tweets, talk radio was where you got to experience trolls and desperate lonely people looking for attention.

I stood quickly for a standing ovation. Many of the cast were the callers who nettled the talk show host all night. The show was an existential rush felling claustrophobic with so many people calling with so many needs. This was a stellar show and should not be missed. The small theater had you right on top of the action. It felt like the host might fall into the abyss at any time and yet it was just one night that looked at a thin slice of crazy disturbing humanity.

Tickets for Talk radio usually run from $22 to $26. Every seat in the house is amazing. The show runs through December 8, 2019.

The Goat or Who is Sylvia?

Posted on by Thor

Edward Albee‘s The Goat or, Who is Sylvia? is an absurdest play with subtle references to ancient Greek tragedy. It poked fun at modern liberal ideals, and taboos. It is not an easy play to digest. In the first scene Martin (Allan Whitehead) has turned 50. He seems to have it all a very successful career as an architect and a loving wife, Stevie (Merritt Anne Cooke-Greene). They joke with each other clearly loving each others company. Martin’s friend, Ross (Mark Anthony Kelly) is a reporter and he sets up his video camera to record an interview with his longtime friend. Though Martin is at the pinnacle of his career it became clear that he was not happy about turning 50.

I had sketched a reading of Edward Albee’s play back in 2010, so I knew what was to come in the second scene. Thought Martin had been faithful for his whole marriage, he had recently met Sylvia and fell  deeply in love. Perhaps it was the country air but he was different around her. He confessed this affair to Ross who immediately wrote a letter to Martin’s wife to warn her. What followed was a long confession my Martin to his wife while she broke just about every delicate item in the living room. I have to confess that there was so much yelling that I began to tone it out. The entire scene seemed hell bent on a single note of frantic yelling and emotional destruction. Martin’s Son, Billy (Adam Minossora) was home through the confession and he didn’t take the news well. Though Martin was out doing unimaginable things in the name of love he was not accepting of his son’s homosexuality. This was strange double standard for this father son relationship.

I will say it again, this is a hard show to watch. It is unnerving. It was a daring choice for Director Marco DeGeorge to bring it to Theater on the Edge (5542 Hansel Avenue Orlando FL). The first evening’s performance was sold out. Perhaps Orlando is ready for some really unsettling and cutting edge theater.

CREATIVE TEAM:
(Producer / Set Designer)
Elaitheia Quinn (Asst. Director / Creative Asst.)
Riley Walden (Directing Asst.)
Chris Ivers (Builder)
Megan Raitano (Associate Producer / Stage Manager)
Derek Alan Rowe (Graphic Designer)
DeeDee Strauss (Box Office).

The Goat, or, Who is Sylvia? is running April 2, 2019 to May 5, 2019. Tickets are $23 to $35.

Boom at Theater on the Edge

Posted on by Thor

 In the Boom pre show, video monitors announced the upcoming performance as if we were in line for a theme park attraction like Carousel of Progress at Disney World. Barbara, (Elaitheia Quinn) is the audience’s guide in her orchestrated show about the end of civilization thousands of years earlier. She begins oddly enough by banging on a timpani drum. She then twists dials and pulls leavers bringing the action to life.

Jules, (Adam Minossora) a grad student in marine biology, and Jo, (Megan Raitano) a journalism student, meet on Saturday night in Jules’s small underground laboratory on a university campus, after Jo answers Jules’s online personal ad offering an encounter that promises “sex to change the course of the world.” Corrugated cardboard was duck taped to the ceiling and an obsessive chart tied together many fragments of research all leading to one ominous vortex. It is the type of chart you might expect from a mad man.

As Jo aggressively invited Jules’ advances, while he tried to quickly fill the awkwardness with fast paced conversation. Both characters were manic and and full of energy. Jo kept flopping down on the mattress on the floor. She spoke with a thick Flushing accent. When the two of them finally kissed it was awkward. It may have been the worst kiss Jo had ever experienced.

There was a small fish tank at the back o the stage. Jules began to explain that his research on a deserted tropical island, uncovered patterns of behavior among the fish that seemed to indicate that they feared extinction. He began his research which verified that the earth would experience a devastating impact from an asteroid similar to the extinction event that wiped dinosaurs off the face of the earth.  So he turned his tiny lab and apartment into a place to wait out the disaster and begin remaking humanity. It turns out that Jules was a virgin and he thought he might be gay. When his research prediction proved to be true, it turned out he must live out his days with a woman who hates him.

Jules and Jo’s dreams and aspirations for freedom seem to mirror Barbara’s feeling of confinement in her dead end job running the museum attraction. When she ignored her duties running the attraction things went haywire. The play seemed to indicate that our differences are minor. We are a mere speck in the universe, yet life finds a way.

Boom at Theater on the Edge (5542 Hansel Ave, Orlando, FL 32809) began November 2, 2018 and runs through December 9, 2018. Tickets are $20 to $32. This is another cutting edge performance that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Gideon’s Knot hits hard at Theater on the Edge

Posted on by Thor

The set was a hyper real children’s 5th grade classroom in the Lake Forest suburb of Chicago. Bright colors filled the room. A poster shouted, “Feel the Learn!” The house lights faded and a single spot light illuminated a poster in the center of the wall about the Gordian Knot. In this legend it was announced that anyone who could undo a particularly intricate knot would rule Asia. Alexander the Great stepped up and cut the knot with his sword.

Johanna Adams play, Gideon’s Knot is about a simple parent teacher meeting. The teacher, Heather, (Krystal Glover) was sobbing alone at her desk when the lights came up.She is startled by a knock on the classroom door and she dyed her eyes to see who was there. Corryn, a mom (Natalie Bulajic) was at the door seeking assistance since she had showed up for a parent teacher conference. Heather sent her to the front desk but Corryn returned since the meeting was with heather.

In the awkward exchange that followed it became clear that this was the mom of a child who had just committed suicide. Both actresses were visibly upset for the duration of the play, each harboring their own inner guilt and uncertainty. The play tackled a wide variety of themes straight on like freedom of expression, the purpose of art, innocence, responsibility, cowardice, rage, bullying and love.

Corryn’s son Gideon had been expelled from school for writing a school paper that incorporated grizzly detailed descriptions of teachers being dismembered and raped by students. The mom insisted that the teacher read her excerpts from the story. Rather than being repulsed, she recognized themes of Greek battle literature that she herself taught masters degree students. She loved what she heard, and she hated the teacher for censoring her child. More important she blamed Heather for her child’s death.

However it later surfaced that her son was attracted to other boys and may have been bullied because of that attraction. She realized that he had kept the paper from her and more importantly he couldn’t come out to her. She sobbed realizing she wasn’t a good enough mother to earn his trust. Although never discussed, Gideon had easy access to a gun which is a theme so relevant today after Pulse and Parkland took so many lives here in Florida.

Suicide is the second leading cause of death for youths from ages 10 to 24. LGBT youth are almost five times more likely to attempt suicide compare to heterosexual youth. This play will leave you thinking long after you leave the theater. Once again Theater on the Edge has delivered a stunning relevant production.

Gideon’s Knot remaining show times…

Theater on the Edge 5542 Hansel Ave, Orlando, FL 32809

Tickets are $18 to $22

8 p.m. Friday June 22, 2018

3 p.m. Saturday June 23, 2018

8 p.m. Saturday June 23, 2018

2 p.m. Sunday June 24, 2018

8 p.m. Wednesday June 27, 2018

8 p.m. Friday June 29, 2018

2 p.m. Saturday June 30, 2018

8 p.m. Saturday June 30, 2018

2 p.m. Sunday July 1, 2018

8 p.m. Friday July 6, 2018

2 p.m. Saturday July 7, 2018

8 p.m. Saturday July 7, 2018

2 p.m. Sunday July 8, 2018 (Closing Show)

Orphans at Theater on the Edge.

Posted on by Thor

Orphans written by Lyle Kessler is being presented by the artistic production team at Theater on the Edge (5542 Hansel Ave, Orlando, FL 32809). I am a huge fan of their hyper realistic set designs by the amazing Samantha DiGeorge. The attention to period detail allows me to get lost in that particular place and time. The plays presented in this intimate space highlight an American aesthetic of brutality and unfulfilled dreams. Orphans is set in 1989  in  a two story rundown Philadelphia row house. During the pre show, Philip (Adam Minossa) was mashing cereal in his breakfast bowl and then sat to watch a TV game show. He lived his innocent preoccupied life in the home as the audience filled in. He settled in on the couch to watch TV while hugging a red woman’s high heal shoe. When he sees his brother Trent (Zack Roundy) approaching, through the window, he rushed to clean up  the place and then hid in the closet.

Trent is a terror. He has returned to show off his earnings form the mornings robberies. He likes to taunt his simple brother and a game of tag became a power struggle between the siblings. The red high heal shoe becomes another point of contention and Trent throws it out the window on the front lawn. A painful head lock is the only sign of affection between the two.

On another occasion, Trent returns to the house with a drunk business man. When the man passes out on  the floor, Trent takes his brief case and forces it open on the kitchen table with his knife. Inside are piles of stocks and bonds. Kidnapping this man would clearly be extremely profitable. While out looking to cash the stocks and calling people for the ransom, he leaves his brother to watch the now tied up business man. The ropes are sloppily tied and loose so, Harold, the business man (Allan Whitehead) gets free. He doesn’t try to escape however and goes up stairs to clean up.

Trent isn’t pleased when he returns and there is a power struggle between Trent and Harold. Harold doesn’t play the part of a victim but instead says he likes Trent’s anger and could use hims as a body guard.  Harold grew up as an orphan and he sees a bit of himself in Trent’s deviant behavior. He becomes a father figure to both the boys offering support and affection the boys clearly lacked probably after their parents deaths. He builds Philip’s confidence to the point where the boy is able to venture out into the world alone.

The end of the second act ended with gut wrenching results. When the house lights came back up, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Someone said, there should be a warning before the show begins. All three actors did an amazing job exploring their characters and their underlying motives. The intricate relationships left me wishing there was more time to see what happened next. On the car ride home with Pam Schwartz, I was full of questions. I had a an affection for the characters and couldn’t let go. Perhaps that is a sign of great theater. This show got under my skin exposing regrets and the need for acceptance that seems never realized. I highly recommend this production.

Orphans

Theater on the Edge 5542 Hansel Ave, Orlando, FL 32809

Tickets: $22 to $26

Remaining Show Dates:

Saturday November 11, 2017      8 PM

Sunday November 12, 2017        2 PM

Wednesday November 15, 2017  8 PM

Saturday November 18, 2017      8 PM

Sunday November 19, 2017        2 PM

Friday November 24, 2017          8 PM

Saturday November 25, 2017      2 PM

Saturday November 25, 2017      8 PM

Sunday November 26, 2017        2 PM

Superior Donuts at Theater On The Edge

Posted on by Thor

I attended a dress rehearsal for Superior Donuts written by Tony
Award and Pulitzer Prize–winning author Tracy Letts at Theater on the Edge, (5542 Hansel Avenue, Orlando, Florida 32809). The theater is small but I am always excited to see how the stage has been transformed. The small space places the audience right in the midst of the action on stage.

The play opened with the house lights going black and then several people dressed in black vandalized the shop writing “pussy” in the wall and shattering glass and throwing donuts everywhere. It was rather uncomfortable to watch, I wanted to get up and intervene. The theater lights came up to show the carnage. Arthur
Przybyszewski who owns the decrepit donut shop in the Uptown neighborhood of
Chicago, entered and started cleaning up. Police showed up and tried to determine who might want to do so much damage. A Russian neighbor entered the shop blaming blacks despite the fact that one of the officers was black himself.

Franco Wicks, a black teenager enters and starts telling Arthur how he should fix the place up. The whole time Franco is cleaning up and helping out. It is a rather direct and inverted job interview and he becomes Arthur’s only employee. The first act has several monologues in which Arthur reminiscences about his past. His fathers disappointment in him, and his own disappointment at the loss of his marriage and daughter, hint at why he takes the young Franco under his wing. Franco is young and sure of himself, having written what he feels may well be the great American novel. Arthur has sort of settled into the routine of his donut shop and has few ambitions. He lazily smokes weed blowing away his ambitions.

Arthur reads Franco’s his novel which is hand written out on many note pads. He is amazed to discover that he absolutely loves the story. When he tells the aspiring author they both get swept up in the dreams of aspirations that might become true. Arthur then snaps back to reality and yells at his employee that dreams never come true.It takes hope to raise a child, and all of Arthur’s hopes were dashed when his wife left him, forever separating him form his daughter Jamie.

It turns out that Franco has a huge gambling debt. He started working at Superior Donuts to escape his past but it catches up with him. A horrific act of violence dashed his dreams as he is physically mutilated and his book is destroyed. Arthur can’t stand to see his young friends dreams destroyed so he personally pays the debt. A huge fight was treated like a school yard brawl but the stakes were very high.

This comedy-drama explores the
challenges of embracing the past and the redemptive power of friendship. I had a blast and was often laughing out loud and then choked up as I saw dreams fade from youthful and middle aged eyes. The cast of nine hit so many strong emotional notes right on the money. I left feeling hope can always survive as long as you have friends.

The show runs from Sunday June 8th to Sunday July 2nd. Tickets are $19, $22 and $24.