Drew Pisara’s Price in Purgatory Takes Us on a Witty Existential Journey

Up next, a “Laughter Life” for a Film Legend.

Presented (and recorded) by All Out Arts in the form of a live radio play, Price in Purgatory sees the titular icon of both the camp and the macabre, Vincent Price (Mike Pinney), in the infamous limbo world. Finding himself standing at a podium, he meets God themselves (Sai Cameron Gatrall, in his New York theater debut). Price is said to have entered Hell upon his departure from our world, but the Mormon community has arranged to have his case re-opened solely due to his performance as Mormonism founder Joseph Smith in the biopic, Brigham Young.

The “re-trial” explores Price’s life via a trip through the seven deadly sins, all of which he is clearly guilty of, with no remorse on display. Price, an inspired choice of subject, is arrogant and flamboyant as he defends (or rather, celebrates) his own existence with delightfully smirky self-satisfaction. He is presented here as a man so hilariously vain that he probably thinks the song is about him, but it’s done so in a tongue-in-cheek, reverent manner that shows true affection for the hero of horror.

Price is soon joined by his spirit guide, a youthful version of himself (Jmar Reid). After Price “Envies” his younger form, the two switch bodies/actors (“a painful process that culminates in the ripping off a moustache” explains a disembodied voice). They argue, banter, and in a brilliant and hilarious sequence, become ever more exasperated as they repeatedly say the exact same words in unison.  “It’s weird to hear yourself think in stereo!” the Prices observe.

With sinful “Pride”, Price continuously namedrops his films and sidesteps into anecdotes about his career triumphs, including his narration on Michael Jackson’s Thriller. “It allowed a whole new generation to fall in love—with ME!” Price/Reid boasts hilariously. He later begins to perform the song but is forced to stop for legal reasons. “Copyright laws don’t stop in the afterlife!” explains the Spirit Guide.

Casting a child actor as God is a stroke of genius, and Gatrall gives a winning performance as the sardonic, sharp-tongued deity who’s literally seen it all (including Price’s films). “I am many things…smug included!” he proclaims in a moment of ultimate self-awareness.

Pinney and Reid are charming, engaging, and killingly funny as the dueling Vincents. The play is both hysterically funny and intensely thought-provoking as it debates what makes a person either worthy of heaven, better off in hell, and the purpose of existence on both sides of the veil.

“Everyone needs a little Nietzsche,” says a philosophical Price. “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.’ I’m still trying to figure out how to apply that one, despite being dead.” Price in Purgatory is written by Drew Pisarra and directed by Douglas Wagner (who also provides an appropriately spooky audio score). Costumes are by Adanne Spencer-Johnson. It is produced as part of the RadioPLAY Series as part of the Fresh Fruit Festiva

The Beholden is the second production of the Trapezoid Theatre Company and provides a punch-in-the-air moment for feminist action and the power of sisterhood as it delivers a punch in a mouth to the patriarchy.

Sally (Shelby Sweet), a driven college senior, prepares her magnum opus for production at her university, a modern spin on the Salem Witch Trials. Her writing comes deep from her own experience and also shines a harsh light on centuries of patriarchal repression and misogynistic abuse. In Sally’s story, these dark forces get their comeuppance from the sisterhood of “witches,” rising up at last after an eternity of dismissal and destruction. But as she readies her personal statement for the stage, those same power-abusers and misogynists threaten to silence her voice and score another point for male dominance.

Britt presents the tale in a clever, riveting play-within-a-play format. Sally and her “sisters” both on and offstage —Samantha (Lucy Buchanan), Abbie, and Liz—rehearse scenes from the play, deal with backstage drama and note nitpicking, and vent their frustrations over bottles of wine. They also do battle with the slimy, sabotaging University liaison Dr. Samael (David Cagan) and Samantha’s violent-tempered boyfriend John (Henry Sirota). Jim Grant delivers consistent laughs as Adam, playing Sally’s “monster” in her production. Sam B. Wylde provides a calming presence as Professor Bast, countering the toxicity and gaslighting of John and Dr. Samael.

The direction and production design by Lauren McAuliffe deftly delivers the material in a powerful manner, aided by perfect lighting effects by Conor McAuliffe. The cast goes through an incredible amount of costume changes as they go from rehearsals, to girls’ nights, to a Halloween Party that changes everything, and finally to a climactic opening night. (The excellent multi-costume design is by Cynthia Johnson.)

Best friends Sally and Samantha are nearly pulled apart by the very forces they are trying to combat with their combined creativity. John keeps Samantha under his thumb as Sally desperately fights to pull that thumb away and free her (leading to a clever moment of irony later in the play). It is revealed just how personal Sally’s writing is, as what’s happening to Samantha happened to her as well.  

Sweet delivers many powerful moving moments as she fights fiercely to protect her voice and her relationships.

“I didn’t fight back,” says Sally to Samantha. “I never fought back. And now you and everyone else makes fun of me for writing plays about women who do.”

Abbie witnesses a terrible incident of relationship violence, and finds her own eye-witness account dismissed by not only the person meant to help, but by the wronged person themselves. It’s a harrowing moment that hits home and is (rightfully) not easily forgotten. Events draw to a suspenseful, intense conclusion as Sally’s play opens, and we are on the edge of our seats waiting to see if her creative voice will be snuffed out or rise triumphant.

Britt’s script is a knock out of the park, delivered passionately by the entire cast, and each character is presented with remarkable consistency and depth. The Beholden is a compelling production, with a message that needs to be heard more than ever in a time when those who seek to silence and oppress are rallying for another try.

The Beholden is produced by Nicholas Kennedy and Gillian Britt.

Hi, My Name is…

Limited Run:
WEDNESDAY, November 8 @ 4:00 PM
FRIDAY, November 10 @ 6:30 PM
SUNDAY, November 12 @ 1:00 PM

Teatro LATEA, 107 Suffolk Street, New York City

Ticket available HERE

“Who am I anyway … am I my resume … That is a picture of a person I don’t know.” This lyric was first uttered nearly a half century ago in A Chorus Line and – since then – the exploitation of one’s inner self or even one’s “other” self has been fodder for numerous plays and films. Katherine White takes this to a new and innovative level in her one-woman exploration: “Hi My Name Is…” a featured event at the New York Theatre Festival at Teatro LATEA, 107 Suffolk Street,New York City in November. Ticket available HERE

Written and starring Kay White, “Hi, My Name Is….” features Ms. White engaged in a spirited “self-talk” – the kind we all have – elaborating on what it means to be truly ourselves – especially when we may not know who we really are! This schizophrenic story-telling journey allows us to meet Katherine – and Katy – who take the audience on a deeply moving ride culminating with her/them inviting the audience to VOTE on who will be in charge. As each tries to sway the audience, they unwittingly reveal themess inside us all.

While this may seem shocking, this engrossing play shows us – on stage – what we do every day – in life.

This production is directed by Alicia Lion Januzzi

“Hi, My Name Is….” toured the country garnering accolades and awards and now comes to New York where it in development for the UnitedSolo Festival on stage as well as a possible cinematic bow.

In a Time of Horror, Heroes and Hope Arise

Vilna: a Resistance Story Tells a True Tale of Jewish Freedom Fighters through Song

By Jim Catapano

The Green Room 42 at Yotel in Hell’s Kitchen gave a home to a concert reading of a true—but largely unexplored—story of hope and freedom; one whose time has finally come to be heard.

Vilna: a Resistance Story is a musical depicting the efforts of Jewish resistance fighters against the Nazis in Vilna, Lithuania during WWII. The Germans created “ghettos” in Vilna to confine the Jewish people in the summer of 1941, where they were forced to work and later massacred in mass murder operations. It was in the Vilna ghettos where the seeds of rebellion among the young bohemian crowd of the city were planted.

The score, with music and lyrics by Kevin Cloud, is based in modern pop and rock, with nods to the traditional sounds of Klezmer.

The real-life hero at the center of Vilna is Vitka Kempner. Only 19, she had sought refuge from the Nazis in Vilna in September 1939 when it was still a free city. She befriended local artists like the poet Abba Kovner (whom she later married), Hirsh Glick, and Abraham Sutskever.

The opening song, “Vilna My Vilna,” is a rousing tribute to their home as the bohemians show  Vitka the still-vibrant town. “It’s a bright shining star turning darkness into light,” they sing.

Vitka, having seen and fled the horror of the Nazis in her own hometown, encourages the group to join the fight in the song “What do You Have to Lose”?  When Vilna became occupied two years later, and 80,000 Jewish people were sent to the ghettos, Vitka and her new friends formed the United Partisan Organization. They faced not only the creeping devastation of the Third Reich, but also disapproval from their own elders and peers, who felt that their efforts would only put more of their people in danger. Most famously, local business owner Jakub Gens was appointed by the Nazis to be commander of the ghetto police, and his policy of “give the Nazis what they want, we have no choice” puts him in direct opposition to the resistance (“It’s what me must do to save our people!” he sings. “We will find another way,” the group counters.

The bohemians persevere, bonding and pushing forward with their collective voice and undeterred creativity as motivating factors, despite many setbacks and tragedies. They struggle with cramped living situations, lack of food and supplies, constant fear, and broken dreams. “The line between life and death is thin/it could be the end,” they sing as they desperately and dangerously smuggle supplies into the ghetto.

“I never thought I’d be the star of a tragedy,” laments aspiring songstress/actress Lyube Levitski.

The bohemians are portrayed by Tatiana Wechsler (as Vitka), Ben Fankhauser, Talia Suskauer, Samantha Massell (as the heroic and tragic Lyube),  Oliver Prose, Dani Apple, and Eli Mayer.

The songs that bring their story to life are melodic and memorable, ranging from elegiac and melancholy to stirring and triumphant. “We will not go like sheep to the slaughter, they will not take our sons and our daughters,” they vow. “We are ready to die for our honor; we will stand and fight until our last breath.” The group keeps on going in the face of utter horror to ensure that their people and its culture will survive.

The book of Vilna is by Lisa Kenner Grissom, with additional story by Allison Cloud and additional music and lyrics by Greg LaFollette. The casting director is Andrea Grody.

Vilna: a Resistance Story will be back in NYC for an industry reading in Spring 2024.

John Krupa Interview by Jen Bush

Westchester, get ready to rock!  Choices: A Rock Opera is bringing the 80’s back in full force to The Emelin Theater.  Choices is about Ace, the lead singer of a rock band called Choices.  His intense drive and focus have brought the band great success but has left Ace emotionally underdeveloped and lacking any life experience beyond the stage.  Enter a mysterious and intriguing woman leaving Ace to make some difficult “choices”.

It was totally rad that we got to speak with John Krupa who is the Writer, Director, Executive Producer and Manager of Choices.  While most four-year-olds are tapping out tunes on xylophones and badly I might add, John was learning piano and music theory.  John is an award-winning actor who has performed in theatrical productions from the tender age of nine.  He traded theaters for arenas and toured with several notable Rock and Roll acts.  He also performed as a session musician while continuing to write and perform his original material.  Currently John owns his own company in the music industry and performs with several local cover bands.  Choices: A Rock Opera is not his first rock opera, and it certainly won’t be his last.

John Krupa drew inspiration for this piece from his own life.  “Choices: A Rock Opera is based on my own life experiences.  It’s a universal story of the choices we all have to make about our direction in life and the consequences (whether expected or unexpected) that come with those choices.  Life is linear, whether we want it to be or not.  We keep moving forward.  No matter what, we must live with the consequences of the choices we make, and if those choices don’t work out the way we had hoped, we must adapt and not regret.”

I think the lyrics, “We are strong, no one can tell us we’re wrong” pertain to how John feels about the 80’s.  “That period represents my childhood and represents the purity and invincibility of youth to me.”  

John thinks there is something for everyone in this show and he’s hoping it resonates with the audience.  “I hope that every person in the audience will find something to attach to, whether the storyline, the songs, the performances, the sound, the lighting, the choreography – there’s something here for everyone.”

John learned the value of collaboration while working on this production.  “I’ve learned about the camaraderie and teamwork that goes into putting on a production like this from scratch.  Though it’s a very hard process, the fun is in the team approach, and I am honored to be part of this great team.”

John has high hopes for this gem of a musical.  If they were smart, people who can propel this production forward “might as well jump” at the opportunity!  “This is only the beginning for Choices – there’s much more to come!”

Choose wisely and get your tickets to Choices: A Rock Opera

CHOICES, A Rock Opera

THREE PERFORMANCES

Friday, November 24, 2023 @ 8^pm
Saturday, November 25, 2023 @ 8^pm
Sunday, November 26, 2023 @ 2^pm

https://choicesarockopera.com/

^{Emelin Theatre}

^{153 Library Lane}

^{Mamaroneck, NY 10543}

Roberto Ragone brings a fascinating historical tale to the Sargent Theater

“Silence all your devices, someone’s immortal soul hangs in the balance!” requests a disembodied voice as the lights go down at the Sargent Theater.

Mid-20^th Century NY Congressman Vito Marcantonio can put in a claim to be the original maverick on the hill, and Roberto Ragone makes his case in the powerful one man show, The Purgatory Trial of Vito Marcantonio. Solely written and performed by Mr. Ragone, the play imagines Marcantonio in Limbo, defending his life and career and calling for his freedom in the beyond.

It’s the Off-Broadway debut for Mr. Ragone, who previously wrote and performed in Bromance-A-Roni (winner, Best Production, Midtown International Theatre Festival) and Five Consecutive Zeros (semi-finalist at the Strawberry Festival). He brings Congressman Marcantonio to vivid (after)life, telling the story of his seven terms serving East Harlem as one of the most left-wing members of The House of Representatives at the time, as part of the American Labor Party. The play imagines Marcantonio trapped in Purgatory after being “the only Catholic politician in history to be denied a Catholic burial.” Marcantonio, a former lawyer who grew up in the community he would come to represent, presents his case to be free from limbo in the form of alphabetically labeled exhibits, with the audience “serving” as jury.

Mr. Ragone commands the stage in a circa 1940s brown derby, grey suit and purple tie, as the spirit of Vito visiting his old East Harlem community. He prefaces the story of his life by first noting his tragic death at 51 from a heart attack in a pouring rain after climbing the subway stairs, fittingly right in front of City Hall. “I guess I wasn’t going to stage my political comeback after all,” he quips sadly. (The lack of a Catholic burial was politically motivated during the time of the McCarthy witch-hunts).

Mr. Ragone not only plays Marcantonio, but he also effortlessly switches to the portraying other key figures throughout his life, including FDR, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, and his grandmother. He deftly changes his voice, posture, and stage position to reflect the different people in conversation with our protagonist.

Through Mr. Ragone we learn of Marcantonio’s championing of the Puerto Rican and Italian communities in his district, very much the victims of intense prejudice in the era. He was also a firm advocate for the civil rights of African-Americans long before it was a movement. He sponsored a bill to make lynching a federal crime, and fought to prohibit the poll tax instituted to block impoverished voters. He discusses the case of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo, falsely accused of murder in 1927 and executed by “a corrupt Kangaroo court, completely corrupt, dismissive, and disdainful of due process….an injustice that impacted the very fiber of my being.”

It’s noted that Italian Americans went on to fight in World War 2 “in higher proportions than any other ethnic group.”

 “Despite the way they are stereotypically portrayed as ‘bums, bigots, and buffoons’, Italian Americans are a people whose lesson in community taught me to extend those ties to people of other races, creeds, and national origin.” (As well as a being a true hero of the disenfranchised, Marcantonio is humorously portrayed several times in the show as a big fan of alliteration).

Mr. Ragone’s performance as he discusses the injustices and prejudices of the time is one of such intensity and passion, that one feels they are hearing these words directly from Congressman Marcantonio.

“If you’re some kind of an idealist, out there proclaiming a vision, but you are bored, or indifferent to the everyday needs of people…then you are stuck in a cloud, an armchair, a limousine,” he proclaims. “If you offer services for a vote without a vision, then you’re just another Tammany Hall hack.”

My vote is to let his powerful spirit be free, and to be fondly remembered.

The Purgatory Trial of Vito Marcantonio is directed by Art Bernal, with original music by Horace Scott.

Here Lies Love

A political musical set in a faraway land becomes a cautionary tale for us here in the USA with the long-delayed Broadway transfer of Here Lies Love.

This Evita-like musical retelling of the life of Filipino First Lady (and eventual co-dictator) Imelda Marcos benefits from dazzlingly imaginative staging by Alex Timbers in a drastically reconfigured Broadway Theatre.

To tell the story of Imelda’s rise and fall Timbers called for the removal of all seats from what used to be the orchestra section. The stage itself has been removed, so the audience (mostly standing, not sitting) can turn to view the action on multiple performing spaces that sometimes whirl and reconfigure to capture the pageantry, the ugly glamor and the eventual horror of the Marcos regime.

The unusual setting is appropriate to the political whirlwind of Imelda’s career, starting as a simple country girl who uses her beauty, style, intelligence and political acumen to work her way up the power structure in her nation starting in the 1960s.

Also fueling her ascent is a streak of revenge from a woman scorned. Arielle Jacobs grows fiercer and fiercer as Imelda, whose first love, Ninoy Aquino (the dashing Conrad Ricamora), who breaks her heart, but then builds a career as the democracy-loving primary antagonist to Imelda’s autocratic husband, Ferdinand Marcos (the commanding Jose Llana). The former sweethearts become bitter enemies, leading both of them to very different kinds of destruction.

As the title indicates, many kinds of love die in this show, which has music by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, and lyrics by Byrne. It’s a pity, then, that the creators decided to cut the title song—incidentally the best song in the score—from a triumphant sing-along in the original productions, to a just a few bars early in the action.

The fast-moving events of Here Lies Love are wonderfully expressed by the masterful lighting design and projections by Peter Nigrini. One of the many literal highlights was the helicopter effect, as Imelda is swept up into her gilded-cage exile in Hawaii. Here, Nigrini is helped by M.L. Dogg’s and Cody Spencer’s sound design. However, elsewhere they seem to have had trouble making the lyrics understandable as the actors gyrate.

Here Lies Love had its New York premiere in 2006 as a concert version at Carnegie Hall, and got its first full-staged production at the Public Theatre in 2013. Though a decade has passed since then, the musical has only gained significance with recent events in the world and especially here in the USA as the country narrowly missed a coup d’etat on January 6, 2021.

And, as it turned out, the story of the Marcoses did not end with Imelda’s flight from her homeland. Who is the president of The Philippines today? Marcos’ son, Ferdinand R. “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

It’s a sobering reminder that the events of Here Lies Love could indeed yet happen here.