TAROT for how YOU TICK: Intuitive Tarot with Susan Merson

Too many months with too little inspiration? Mystery of the next step keeping you up at night? Try throwing a few TAROT cards to figure out what’s going on and where you next move should be. Not worrying about the literal meaning of the cards is the first step. Trusting that your intuitive nose will recognize the cues being thrown at you is the freedom and fun that will lead you to creative and inspiring choices in your personal growth.

Join actress, writer, teacher and tarot counselor Susan Merson (www.susanmerson.com) for a 6 week course exploring

TAROT for how YOU TICK.

WHAT: Using an intuitive approach, you will learn how to read the cards from their essential visual and visceral elements. We will use visualization and intuitive writing to introduce the cards and to begin to read the cards for ourselves and others and begin to translate those skills to the development of character, landscape and story.

WHEN: March 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 April 5

WHERE: ZOOM

HOW MUCH: $150 VIA ZELLE OR PAYPAL

WHO: Susan Merson began her career as an actress on and off Broadway, in television and film. She has been working with Tarot since her early years at the Theosophical Society in NYC. Since then she has taken workshops with Rachel Pollack, Mary Greer, Ellen Goldberg and many others. She has an active tarot counseling practice and teaches TAROT FOR WRITERS on a regular basis. Please visit her website at www.susanmerson.com, or her blog at www.susanmersonauthor.net.

WATCH TAROT with SUSAN ON YOU TUBE :

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT SUSAN at tarotforwriters2021@gmail.com

Susan started her study of tarot in the 1970’s at the Theosophical Society in New York City. Since those workshops with the tweedy mystics of the Upper East Side, she has continued her work with workshops with Rachel Pollack, Mary Greer and Ellen Goldberg among many others.She has been a guest reader at the MAGICAL WOMENS CONFERENCE in London and for the FICTION CENTER in NYC among other spots. Recently she has developed two classes: TAROT FOR HOW YOU TICK and TAROT FOR WRITERS.She also has 5 TAROT FOR WRITERS You Tube episodes to introduce writing and plotting tips to be found by using the Tarot cards. She has an active tarot counseling practice  tarotforwriters2021@gmail.com
 

Nursery Rhymes-Review by Jen Bush

In Nursery Rhymes, Jill wants to go up the hill with Jack and do a lot more than fetch a pail of water. Mary wants to have a little lamb with Jack Sprat who eats no fat and is fitness obsessed. Irene and Chip are a couple in their mid to late thirties. Irene is a successful V.P. in advertising and Chip is a freelance writer working from home. Irene’s biological clock and libido are out of control. She starts dropping some not so subtle hints around the house to encourage Chip toward parenthood. Chip is resistant. He’s very happy to jog and do push-ups without a child underfoot and wonders why Irene wants a baby as opposed to an Equinox body. Unbeknownst to Chip, Irene invites a couple in their 50’s over for coffee and conversation. This was no social call. Marge and Frank were tasked with railroading Chip into fatherhood. After arguing about babies, birth control, money and the missionary position, the doorbell rings.

Marge and Frank are a couple in their 50’s with a 12 year old at home. They enter Chip and Irene’s home bickering about leaving little Mikey alone. Marge appears disoriented and doesn’t seem to know where she is. We find out that she’s been hit hard by menopause. Chip is initially rude but the characters eventually find a way to discuss the very personal topic of parenthood.

Jan Ewing wrote, directed, and co- produced along with Jay Michaels a compelling and resonating piece that is accessible to all humans regardless of race, gender or sexual orientation. Unless the decision is made at the beginning of the union, all couples wrestle with when, how and where to bring an offspring into the world. Amid a lot of bickering and arguing among all 4 characters, there were some very funny and some very poignant moments.

This was a play presented on Zoom with spot on narration provided by Jan Ewing. It was executed so well that the viewer was able to concentrate on the content and forget they were seeing a play on Zoom. All the actors were well suited to their parts. Colleen White did a wonderful job bringing the baby obsessed sex crazed Irene to life. She showed a wide range of emotion and did well with delivering humorous lines. Patrick Hamilton had good chemistry with Colleen White and gave the character of Chip some acerbic wit as well as effective humor. It is evident that he is a confident and experienced actor. Kristyn Koczur gave an outstanding performance as Marge who was struggling with menopause. Her character may have been forgetful, but her performance is hard to forget. She was funny one moment and the next she was breaking your heart. J Michael Baran did a fine job as Marge’s mercurial yet introspective husband Frank. He gave a very focused and even-keeled performance. His character was also the unassuming voice of reason in the show. If you are wondering if Chip and Irene decide to rock-a-bye baby, you’ll have to see the show to find out.

“Nursery Rhymes” can be seen on JMC: Channel i (visit jaymichaelsarts.com for the link)

No One 

A film by Ren Gyo Soh
Performed & Choreographed by Yokko
12-24 January 2021
www.filmmaudit.org

Review: By Brendan McCall

Since its origins last century in Japan, butoh has occupied a unique territory of performance frequently overlapping with the immediate and the cosmic. Perhaps due to the slow time-signatures frequently permeating this form, butoh alters the consciousness of the audience, allowing each viewer the opportunity for greater attention to detail, from the delicate movements of the body to the archetypal power of the images themselves. And while butoh performances have been extensively documented in photography for decades, there is something particularly poignant about viewing Ren Gyo Soh´s No One during our ongoing global pandemic. Covid-19 has torn through the fabric of many communities–economically, politically, physically–and this 20-minute butoh film latches its fingers into this breach, powerfully expressing what many of us feel and long for.

No One opens with Yokko´s pale form crouched at the bottom of a dark, narrow shaft, whose floor is covered in long ropes. Sounds of a giant ticking clock and heavy synthesizers add to the ominous atmosphere, through the unsettling score by César Dávila-Irizarry. The first quarter of the piece focuses on Yokko´s attempt to rise up, to be free of this bondage, before suddenly moving spastically and quickly, collapsing back to the floor in failure. The choice to have the perspective looking down on Yokko in this narrow shaft emphasizes helplessness, isolation, no escape. Dávila-Irizarry´s sound and Krzy Sien´s cinematography bring us intimately in contact with Yokko, through the screen.

As No One progresses, Yokko´s body doubles, thanks to the inventive editing of Yoshiko Sienkiewicz. Sometimes another version hovers outside her body like a spirit, or a ghost. Later, we see giant eyes, calmly radiating serenity in stark contrast to Yokko´s struggles at the bottom of this cell-like shaft. Perhaps we are meant to question what we perceive.

Towards the middle of the piece, the images superimpose again, but this time with Yokko playing in a beautiful open field, running in giant circles, and hopping in playful imitation of a rabbit. Dávila-Irizarry´s haunting music becomes lighter, almost transcendent, and the images  could not be more contrasting. The green of the trees and the grass, the blue of the vast open sky, the freedom to move; the dark and narrow corridor, the ropes, the physical confinement. Is the vision of this freedom of the field a memory? A dream, an aspiration for the future? The piece concludes with the image completely shifting to the open field, with Yokko running further and further towards the horizon, disappearing from view, but presumably continuing to roam. The final image is of the edge of this park, overlooking a small bay.

Viewing No One provides not only a more intimate experience of viewing butoh, but also can prove cathartic. Ren Gyo Soh´s film is a beautiful moving portrait, often painted in anguish, about how we all long for life joyously outside.

***

Brendan McCall is a movement artist, teacher, and writer. Born in California, he has danced and choreographed throughout the United States, as well as in Europe, Africa, and Asia. He currently lives in Paris.

Review by Bob Greene

Chin-Wei Chang has the ability to – in a brief simple narrative – can break your heart.  

Two short works – “Corn,” and “Dolly” share the production scheme of showing us the dark and painful vision of the family as seen through the eyes of an innocent child. “Corn” brings us into the world of a waitress – a single mother with a baby – and her alliance with a teen boy who aspires to be her “husband.”

Kai Johnson infuses his role of an innocent boy’s first encounter dealing with his emotions and handling the complexity of relationships with a particular brand of naivety mixed with bravura creating a performance that is both engrossing and moving.  Nerida Bronwen’s waitress handed us a hardened edge that covered an inner life of pain. These two performers – under the deft hand of Chang – present a short film totally worth seeing. The ending twist twists a knife into your heart even deeper.  

A companion piece for this film was another short, named after the main character. “Dolly” walks us to a terrible Christmas holiday for Steven P. Nemphos as a fed-up father; Shannon Mitchell as a mother just wanting to survive; and Angelina Karo as the titular Dolly, a little girl trying to not to grow up too soon. Here, Chin-Wei Chang’s hand is even more obvious and poignant as camera angles, slips of dialogue, and masterful and subtle performances take us by the heart and keep us hoping for a happy ending.  Karo especially, and for one so young, displays an inner life narrative that both shows her vulnerability and immense talent.

As these two films are heavily based in reality, happily ever after is not an option.  

Thought-provoking and inspiring however, are.  

Chang, along with Lan-Chi Chien, provided the screenplays as well. One grows excited at the prospect of a major budget in the hands of this visionary director. That would make the Academy Awards interesting.  

The Lambs ® — America’s first professional theatrical club and oldest professional theatrical organization — celebrates its 146th founding anniversary this month with festive online gatherings replacing in-person social events at our clubhouse in Midtown Manhattan amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Lambs was founded in Christmas Week 1874 in New York City, taking its name from an earlier theatrical club in London, England, that honored the essayist Charles Lamb and his sister, Mary, who during the early 1800s hosted actors and literati at their famed salon. The Lambs has occupied 14 clubhouses in New York over the years, with the current clubhouse at 3 West 51st Street offering performance and rehearsal space, meeting rooms, recreational activities, and access to a private pub and restaurant. 

The Lambs Foundation, a related organization, is a 501(c)(3) charity that supports education in the arts and non-profit theater. Supported by bequests and donations, and manned by all volunteers, it has disbursed more than $500,000 in grants over the last nine years.

The Lambs Foundation also controls the Club’s valuable collection of theater memorabilia and artwork, including paintings and drawings by the likes of Lamb Howard Chandler Christy and Lamb James Montgomery Flagg, and a theater broadside from the Theatre Royal in London dating to 1773. Over the past year, the Foundation has embarked on a conservation program to restore these historic works to their former glory.

With the Club’s 146th anniversary fast approaching, and our 150th anniversary waiting in the wings, The Lambs has left an indelible mark in America’s theatrical history, arts, and entertainment. A cursory look at the Club’s history reveals:

— Lambs were among the founders of the Actors Fund of America (1882) and include J. Lester Wallack, A.M. Palmer, and Daniel Frohman. Of the charity’s first 12 chairmen, eight were Lambs. The Fund’s current president and chief executive, Joseph Benincasa, celebrates 30 years as a Lamb next year.
 [continued]

— Lambs were among the founders of Actors’ Equity Association (1913). Of the 23 founding Equity council members, 22 were Lambs, as were its top three officers. The union name was coined by William Courtleigh, who served as a Lambs’ Shepherd (president). During the Actors Strike of 1919, the Club became a hotbed of union activity and was known as “Local One.” Lamb Augustus Thomas, a popular Shepherd, was credited with bringing the warring sides together to end the strike.

 — The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) began with meetings at The Lambs (1914). Six of the nine founders were Lambs, including Irving Berlin, Victor Herbert, and Gustave Kerker. The ASCAP Foundation was founded in 1975 by a bequest from Lamb Jack Norworth.

 — Ten founders of the Screen Actors’ Guild (SAG, 1933) were Lambs. Of the original 21 directors and officers, 10 were Lambs. Five have served as its president – and of the first 75 members, 36 were Lambs.  The first president of the American Federation of Radio Artists (AFRA, 1937) was a Lamb, and five served as its president. When these unions merged into SAG-AFTRA (2012), three Lambs were board members and one served as national president. Two Lambs currently serve on the board.

— Paramount Pictures (1912) and United Artists (1919) were founded by Lambs.

 — In recent years, The Lambs has been recognized by actor Ken Howard while president of SAG-AFTRA and by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Congressman Jerold Nadler, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and even Pope John Paul II.

– – – – –
http://www.the-lambs.org
http://www.TheLambsFoundation.org


The Lambs ® is a registered trademark of The Lambs Inc., and not related to The Lambs Club Restaurant owned by Jeffrey Zakarian. The Lambs Foundation is not related to any religious organization or similar sounding charity.

Article by Jay Michaels

On Thursday July 9, in the early evening, Federica Borlenghi, an actress in several indie theatre companies, suffered severe head trauma during an accident in Mason, Ohio. She hit the top right portion of her head on a concrete bicycle path and was rushed by ambulance to the hospital. She was placed on sedatives and a ventilator to keep her airways clear and flown by helicopter to Cincinnati, Ohio to receive additional treatment. 
 

On the morning of July 10, she was taken off the ventilator and has been breathing well on her own since. For the majority of July 10 and July 11 Federica was mostly non-verbal and had difficulty following instructions from hospital staff. She was not eating or drinking until July 12th. 
 
In the hospital she has received a variety of tests including 3 CT-scans and has been monitored for seizures. As of today, July 13, Federica is still in the hospital. She has been issued speech and physical therapy exercises to help combat mental-fog and help her body strengthen. 
 
Her full recovery is of paramount concern; however, the cost of these life-saving services is staggering. As an Italian international on a student visa living within the United States, Federica is not covered by typical insurance plans and must pay for medical bills upfront. This is a daunting task for anyone – especially for a young 24-year-old graduate like Federica (for Italian and international donors: in the U.S. healthcare is mostly privatized and requires patients and families to adopt policies that would help pay for medical expenses. The U.S. does not have holistic public healthcare programs that would aid effected patients). 
 
Her friends – headed by the leaders of Here We Go, Dirty Laundry Theatre, and Rising Star Performance Company – created their own telethon to help their fellow artist pay for the live-saving procedures and other medical needs. The total is almost unimaginable – over $100,000. Absolving this monstrous bill will help Federica continue her dream of directing and producing theater within the United States and assure a bright future unencumbered by medical debt.  

When one imagines a fundraiser for such an amount one can hope that there are a few “wealthy” colleagues out there. Or maybe a connection to an affluent source. But these are three off-off Broadway companies – each suffering at this time with all theaters dark until the spring … or maybe fall of 2021. Regardless of their own station, these three intrepid companies banded together its members and created A CELEBRATION OF POSITIVITY- A Fundraiser for Federica Borlenghi’s Recovery.  

The vast array of performances ranged from new works, comedic pieces, Broadway musical numbers and so much more. One particular entry was of international performers Chrysi Sylaidi and Gwendolyn  Snow doing Randy Newman’s You Got a Friend in Me. Both in Greek and English, the two combined their lovely voices into a sweet uplifting piece. But the layers of this piece don’t stop with language. Edited together (undoubtedly with help from Sylaidi, now an experienced film director as well as performer) with a collage of short videos of children. As just a performance piece you might call it sweet but when you look at it a spart of this event at which all the artists have forgotten their troubles and gave selflessly their time and money and talent to their friend; when you consider the fact that so many of the children in the videos seem instinctually to know how to hug and kiss; considering the song – sweet normally but deeply moving under this situation; and you put together the lovely voices of the two artists – this is a moment to choke back tears and pull out your wallet.  

In the end, this cober6t of sorts is a powerful learning lesson. Love is what comes naturally as we see from the children and the artists. Anything else must be taught.  

Please donate to this cause and support these companies.  

https://www.gofundme.com/f/federica-borlenghi039s-recovery-fund

Review by Evan Meena

So imagine if the Three Stooges got really stoned with HP Lovecraft and Maurice Sendak and then asked Sam Raimi to film the whole thing?

Mystery Mansion, the brainchild of three stand-up comics (and horror film lovers), Mike Handelman, Isaiah Mueller, and Hunter West, is now alive and screaming online on YouTube and on the Phoenix FearCon Film Festival site.

The premise is simple and familiar, an ancient portal leading to an unimaginable underworld of chaos and darkness must be guarded. Of course, and by some logic that seems to be prevalent in so many comedic horror movies, this portal is placed in a haunted house and guarded by three idiots.

Before you switch channels exclaiming that you’ve seen it all before, Mystery Mansion distinctifies itself with clever writing, top-notch special effects depicting an ’80s feel, and, dare I say it, some very good acting.

Mike Handelman, the “Moe” of these stooges, affects an old Hollywood actor twang in his voice that’s a perfect counterpoint to his ever frustrated countenance. Handelman is like that pair of symbols in a marching band whose presence always comes with immense high energy and fun;

Hunter West, seemingly the “Curly” of the three, it’s surely the punching bag in this as the original Curly was. What makes us laugh (a lot) is that he’s the punching bag of every kind of demon that happens to mansion. It’s not easy being a straight man to a demonic feline, an ancient hell beast, and his own eye, but West does this beautifully.

The third character, Isaiah Mueller, while seemingly the “Larry”, becomes the Moe quite quickly. It is his performance — a fine mixture of slapstick comedy and old-fashioned horror movie acting — holds the three loonies — and the plot — together. He glides between straightman and comic with ease and gives us enough mugging to the camera to keep us part of the gag. He also peppers his performance with just enough maturity to give the 30+ minute sitcom a foundation stopping it from just being funny.

The 80s style special effects are also a cut-above. The Jim Henson-from-Hell puppetry provided by Rocco George were equal parts Saturday morning cartoon and Weird Science; and the high production values via special effects and well-made set pieces by Dylan Mars Greenberg gave us Land of the Lost marinated in Beetlejuice.

Lumped into brief blackout sketches, Mystery Mansion capitalized on the 21st century attention span by handing us a full episode before any of us even know it’s happening. Commercially speaking, it opens the door for them to be part of larger events, as well as being an excellent sitcom pilot when combining all the episodes into a little over 30 minute event.

If one has to be critical in any manner, director Joe Whelski would be well-advised to pick-up the pace of the show. Boasting stand-up comedy cred, the three stars played it like a stand-up routine: a little slower than normal, allowing for the audience to get the joke. Not necessary considering everything. If they can increase their speed by just a little bit then they would be perfectly timed in a perfectly funny send up of the genre.

Toward the end, their trip to the shadow realm, for instance, is worth the price of admission alone.

Kudos to the team of Handelman, Mueller, and West, and here’s hoping there are many more outings in which they must protect the Mystery Mansion from the forces of frightfully funny.

Episodes 1 & 2 are currently running on YouTube ands on the Phoenix FearCon Film Festival site.

https://www.mysterymansionshow.com/

https://phoenixfearcon.festivee.com/

https://www.youtube.com/mysterymansionshow