Article contributed by Jay Michaels
Edited by Natasha Dawsen

Performing Arts organizations, whether they are for- or non-profit, take this time of year to add a larger helping of philanthropy to celebrate its audience. Free performances, events for children, not to mention fundraising & benevolent opportunities for those to whom engaging in the performing arts is rare.

There are those that do this all year long.

Planet Connections Theatre Festivity, for instance, has joined its productions within its festivals to more than 300 charities over the course of it’s just under 10 years. Founder Glory Kadigan has transformed the Theatre Festival concept into something educational and philanthropic. PCTF is New York’s premiere socially-conscious arts festival. It’s designed to invoke the power of art in motivating philanthropy, community outreach and social change. PCTF artists raise awareness for an organization/topic of their own selection and introduce audiences to these causes and charities. Planet Connections has more than 250 Full Theater Productions and nearly 100 Staged Readings. More than 300 charities have benefitted from Planet Connections Artists. Planet Connections also hosts Playwrights for a Cause connecting illustrious authors and much needed charities to audiences grateful for the entertainment … and enlightenment.

Genesis Repertory, and its educational institution, the M Center, both run by artistic director Mary Elizabeth Micari has, since the start of the twenty-first century, created opportunities for individuals to learn and perform in professional atmospheres. Its student body are promising individuals who – for myriad reasons – never got the chance to engage in their dream of working in the arts. The M Center gives these students the training they need mixed with opportunities to be on a professional stage. Dreams have come true for Genesis/M Center students at numerous NYC theatres including the Producers Club, 440 Studios, and the 13th Street Playhouse. Frank Calo’s Spotlight-On even hosted a special night in which four one-acts were written, produced, directed, and featured more than 50 students from Kingsborough Community College.

Ms. Kadigan and Ms.Micari Are Not Alone. The New York Independence Theater Skyline glitters with those dedicated souls who use their art with heart.

Step 1 Theatre Project. Recently, in response to the hurricane that hit Puerto Rico, Step 1 Theatre Project, and artistic directors Jazmyn Arroyo & Janelle Zapata, created Artists United for Puerto Rico, and produced a fundraiser for the people of the devastated island. In what seemed like an instant the two philanthropic artists gathered together the finest of their colleagues and presented a night of music, theatre, and art.
“Janelle and I knew we wanted to do something” said Ms Arroyo. “We started organizing the same day Maria hit Puerto Rico. We put out the call for performers, different art pieces, reached out to theaters for performance space, studios for rehearsal space, anything that would help create a platform. We did this before we knew what the event would be, before we had heard from our families on the island, before we really understood the magnitude of the situation. We felt a strong sense of urgency and needed to organize. We are so lucky to have encountered such amazing, talented, generous people to make this come to life. It started as a conversation between Janelle & I, and grew into a community effort and a movement that inspired audience and artists alike, myself included. I was moved and humbled by the love and talent that took place at Artists United for Puerto Rico and am so grateful to everyone who supported us. There is still much work to do, but we were more than happy to do our part” she concluded.

This event helped so many and changed the lives even of the artists:

“Since this catastrophic event happened in the island where I was born – I had been doing what I can with the very limited resources that I have. I feel like [the event] gave me a chance to do much more then I could ever give to my little island by myself – this sense of community near and far cannot be erased by any administration or institution. Puerto Rico will always live on.”  Maribel Martinez

A regular at FRIGID Fest, Step 1 will join with prolific playwright, Michael Hagins, for his play, The Vengeance Room. Hagins explored racial issues brilliantly with Michael Is Back earlier this year, in which the life of an African American was presented in a one-man show – played by a Caucasian actor. And where was it done … Planet Connections. Step 1 also has multiple initiatives to give back to the artistic community with their newest – Step It Up!, a workshop series, where they invite expert artists of different areas of independent theatre to host free panels and workshops for aspiring artists. Their most recent hit another hot-button topic: Creating Trans and Non-Binary Narratives, led by Trans Activist and Playwright Ashley Rogers.

Walking along Manhattan you need but look up to see other Independent Artists extending a hand in Friendship rescue and care. List of shows.

Since 2011, Playhouse Creatures Theatre Company has been one of the most community-oriented theatre companies in NYC. Besides the main stage productions (here and in Boston- viewed by over 15,000 patrons), PCTC has created and maintained its LCAO (Little Creatures Act Out) youth theatre program; these FREE theatre camps have given access to over 500 at-risk youths. This program has provided access to a group that has traditionally been overlooked and forgotten.

Then there’s Rising Sun Performance Company, an Award-Winning Ensemble Theatre Company committed to the principle of ensemble process and performance through the collaboration of a resident company of theatre artists, RSP’s mission is to advance the vitality and diversity of American theater. Child’s Play – dealing with childhood trauma – and Glory of Living – a powerful tome about spousal abuse – are recent entries in the canon of this company heading toward 20 years in NYC. Their [truly] fearless leader, Akia Squitieri, heads a team of vibrant young artists determined to shine a spotlight on daring issues.

Founder Jessie Fahay’s Ripple Effect Artists is committed to working with productions and touring companies that promoted a sense of change through dialogue, REA conducts regular productions and educational workshops to colleges and universities across the country, featuring distinguished experts in fields of Psychology and Social-Reform. They offer as a contribution, Drama-Education Workshops both abroad in Lima, Peru and in New York City to those in need. Through this, they are committed to empowering students to explore self-expression and to make a difference in their own community. REA addresses injustice and causes social impact through art – primarily by producing masterful plays – presenting them along with talk-back discussions in partnership with educators and advocacy groups. These events cultivate empathy, shift audiences from APATHY to ACTION, and create a RIPPLE EFFECT in the larger community.

Sometimes it takes just one artist. Doug Devita is rapidly becoming an indie theatre go-to playwright with a rapidly growing canon of works featuring the gay everyman. The Phillie Trilogy and The Fierce Urgency of Now have shown us life – from adolescence to employment – of the [gay] man in the street. Mr. Devita has been lucky enough to get Broadway personalities to tell his story over the years… with no end in sight.

Anthony J. Piccione can’t decide which cause is most important to him so he writes about them all. He saved the planet with a play about being green in An Energy Tale and will present What I Left Behind, a tome about teen suicide opening this January. Another play, Ebol-a-Rama, looks – with biting satire – at this quite deadly issue. A recent reading, A Therapy Session with Myself tells the story of a young college student and aspiring writer dealing with severe social anxiety, depression and Asperger’s syndrome. This piece is looking for a home for a first production.

With these and countless other venues dedicated to opening our minds at every opening night, Mr. Piccione should have no problem finding a home.

For more information on these and other philanthropic arts organizations and individuals, please contact JMAE.events@gmail.com 

On Film: THE WATCHTOWER

Allan Johnston, Guest Reviewer

Crime and criminals on television and film are always attractive, daring, even sexy. In other words … fictionalized. However, auteur Steve Silver has given us a riveting, unapologetic tome about what it really means to be a criminal.

The Watchtower, a new feature film, written, directed, and starring Mr. Silver (from his original play), is not a vanity piece as one might imagine since much of the spotlight is focused his way.

What we have a fascinating character study lensed in an old-fashioned style giving us a harder look. A brilliant touch when one meets the denizens of Hell’s Kitchen, in the 80s.

The premise is familiar. We are there at the end of an era. We see Irish and Italian mobsters trying to hold onto a piece of territory the only way they know how, through the eyes of one of their own – who’s not so sure he wants to be there.

And that is the unique part.

This film explores those who were involved in “that thing” … and why. You leave the theatre with a new understanding of what people needed to do to survive then … and even now.

It’s not surprising the level of power Silver himself brought to the role as one feels a sense of autobiography coming off his tense portrayal of of an Irish hood grieving over the effect this life has had on his family. It’s refreshing to see an ensemble share this level of power. Notables include D.J.Sharp, absolutely spot-on as a Russian immigrant who comes to America to be a success … and as a loan shark … he is; Thomas J. Kane as the Irish mob leader – possessing all the needed grit but with excellent acting chops; Ken Coughlin as a Mafia Don who understands what it means to be a Roman Emperor; Caroline Smith, understated as Tommy’s long-suffering wife; and Laurie Rae Waugh, engrossing as Tommy’s sister-in-law by day and a cold-blooded assassin by night.

Watchtower initiates a program under Silver’s command dedicated to putting powerful off-off Broadway plays on film.

If they’re all as good as this one, then we may see history being made.

Ms. Smith and Mr. Silver in the original stage production of The Watchtower.

After some necessary but confusing exposition (needed but…) the writing becomes concise and focused, and now, we know why we are here; we know what story Ms. Curran wishes to tell–she has aborted two pregnancies, and is having great difficulty living with the aftermath.

Ms. Curran is a first rate performer, an accomplished actress, and is able to call on all sorts of emotion that the play requires. There is a certain….polite confusion that hovers over the stage, and makes the character endearing. Most people are always heroes in their own stories, but not here. There is blame to go around for everyone, Ms Curran included. The play has a certain rhythm that is attractive and compelling; while one wishes that there was more humor on stage, Ms. Curran plays several different characters with expert ease, and makes a potentially difficult indecipherable journey  an easy one to follow one.

Ms Curran’s life story is a compelling one, with dramatic highs and lows, and this is wonderfully captured on stage. Ms. Curran has ‘closed’ sucessfully, and has made her mark on this United Solo Festival with flying colors.

THE TEMPEST – PRESENTED BY IDENTITY THEATER

REVIEWED BY ROBERT LIEBOWITZ

Once in a great while, an evening in the theater becomes more than going to see a play, and even more than a theatrical experience. It transcends any and all art, and makes a statement, directly, about life itself.  The last such event was in 2006, when the Classical Theater of Harlem produced Waiting for Godot, but set in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. Rather than the two hobos passing their time near a tree, Vladimir and Estagon were seen clinging to life on a rooftop of a flooded home, as the infamous tree passed them by in the muddy Mississippi…and, as in the original story, no help was to be found. Godot was not coming. What an immensely creative interpretation, that was wholly relevant and heartbreaking.

However, in this production, one must care. Several members of the cast have various and assorted disabilities, and the producers have masterfully woven them together seamlessly with other actors from the Shakespeare Forum; together they have provided this humble scribe with one of the most moving experiences in the theater, ever. It is must-see theater.

REMEMBRANCE DAY had all the ingredients to create a wonderful, tasty salad of theater.

Remembrance Day, a one-woman show written and performed by June Ballinger at the 13th St. Repertory Theater. Had a versatile performer, a decent script, and a compelling unique story; a firsthand narrative about a woman who in the bowels of Great Britain  secretly worked on Colossus, a gigantic computer whose sole mission was to break the Nazi code and save the world from speaking German during WW II.

Director Janice Goldberg, however used a risky stage device that doesn’t always work – Pantomime.

Every single reference in the text that could be accompanied by a physical invisible gesture WAS accompanied. The frequency of this technique wound up looking foolish more often than not. Truly a shame as the playwright/performer was superb and deserved so much more.

Photos by Jonathan M. Smith

Ernest Barzaga started a theatre company, rented a theatre, raised $25,000, and presented a seminal American classic in one of Indie Theater’s last bastions of cutting-edge theaters. And he hasn’t graduated college yet.

MILLER’S MASTERPIECE in NEW HANDS

‘Death of A Salesman’ by Arthur Miller is an unquestioned masterpiece of American Drama–it is, by far, Miller’s best play, and it belongs, with three others, on the Mount Rushmore of Great American Plays (the others being ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’, ‘Long Days Journey…’ and the combination of ‘Glass Menagerie and ‘Streetcar’)

A thousand before Ernest Barzaga and his company have analyzed the play to death since its premiere in 1949; it remains a towering piece of art, for so many reasons, because of its never ending timeliness, but in a larger sense its devotion to its mission–which is, destroying the lies that people live. The play, at its essence, is a journey, to reveal the lies for what they are–lies and myth-making, nothing more–and discard them. If a definition of art is to remind people how to live their lives, then this is the poster boy for such a proclamation.

Miller also created one of the most memorable characters in all dramatic history–the aptly named Willie Loman, a salesman/husband/father/Chaser of the Fake and False American Dream who has suffered one too many lashes at the mast, and has consistently bet on the wrong horse.

In this production, at the John Cullum Theater, Ian Cooper tries to tackle the role and does it justice. Yes, he’s young – the entire cast is younger than any of the roles in the production. Clearly, with this role at such a young age, he has jumped into the deep, deep end of the pool. But Mr Cooper’s performance is boulder-solid. He is compelling to look at and listen to. He knows how to stand on a stage, and give space to his fellow thespians when necessary. He belongs on a stage, any stage, doing any play. To quote Miller himself–‘Attention must be paid.’ Mr Cooper has accomplished something fairly remarkable–he has, though no choice of his own (the play demands it), taken this gigantic, man-mountain of a  play on his back, and has successfully, sometimes spectacularly, carried it across the finish line. This makes us forgive his inapprpriate hair style (one must wonder if he needs his hair long in life thus was reticent to cut it for such a short run).

After a rocky start and some volume issues, about the 15 minute mark, Mr. Cooper talks about the longing for his 1928 Chevy–and then it were over. Mr. Cooper had won over this humble scribe, from that very moment until the end of the play. Swimming against the current, against the dying of the light, Mr. Cooper forges on and on and on and on, and doesn’t stop, never stops. His almost insatiable desire to – what – succeed … sell stuff … teach his children about manhood before he croaks on the Interstate?–is fascinating and harrowing to watch, since we know from the outset that Mr, Loman is doomed in his quest. Why? He has a skewed vision of what constitutes manhood, and is listening to the one man–his brother (superbly played by Caycee Kolodney, who gives Mr. Cooper a real run for his money with his performance), a land baron of the 19th Century, of the Gilded Age almost, who has no problem robbing from everyone he encounters (‘You cannot deal fairly with strangers’, he proudly boasts), who will steer him down the wrong path.

Joining the triumvirate of superior performance was Anna Paone, playing the tortured, fierce, loyal, Linda Loman. From her opening moments, sleeping (again) by herself, to her final monologue at Willie’s graveside, Ms Paone demonstrated a world-weariness and an inner strength that was completely appropriate for the character and in line with what Mr. Miller wrote.

Gianni Damaia was masterful as Willie’s neighbor Charlie. Their scene alone–which both defines their relationship and also creates new question about it–was the high point of the play. The timing, the direction, the pace, the rhythm, the stakes involved, the passion–all first rate and compelling theater. It also raised a question which we don’t think had been explored before–did Charlie have a thing for Linda? Interesting insight.

The brothers were not quite as successful, but acquitted themselves as the play went on. David Levi as Happy has talent but was missing Happy’s shallow view of the world, and his need for shallow things–like chasing girls to the exclusion of everything else (wonderfully highlighted by the steak house scene in Act II).. His parents pay him little attention for a reason. There must be an understanding from the actor to the character, and give it basis.  He, like Mr. Cooper, needed more period-perfect make-up and costuming.

Aaron Ogle as Biff gave a good, earnest performance. Mr. Ogle, like Mr. Cooper, affected a tone in their voices that had a Lower East Side flavor. Maybe this was meant to show age or time-period but wasn’t needed. Biff has a powerful journey – as a man doomed to the abyss because he learned his father was a lying hypocrite, a devastating discovery for any child. Authentic tone optional. .

Alexander Gheesling as Howard was well-cast, his time on stage is in a vital scene on which the play pivots, so he could have done even more in his moments. David Melgar as Bernard played both his scenes well, and the latter one, with an ailing Willie, was touching. Now, about that hair… (these aforementioned problems (hairstyles for most characters were incorrect for 1949; costuming was inconsistent) were fixable and a lesson learned for next time).

A tip of the hat to the director, Mr. Ernest Barzaga. At its essence, a director’s job is to address the individual art of the actor, and to bring the assorted arts of the other actors and designers together in a cohesive product – and in this task, Mr. Barzaga succeeded. Matters of pacing and staging will only grow stronger and stronger, that is obvious.

The best of success to a fledgling theater company…and maybe next time, into the ocean, where there is no bottom, and no limits. This group has proven, with little hesitation, which it can tackle anything the Theater Gods present before them.

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SUMMER SOUL SOUNDS

There are some lovely words in the English Language. ‘Sound Bath’ would be one.

When this dazzling combo made its entrance about 10 minutes into the Healing Session/Performance, butts shifted in chairs, and attention was paid.

Mary Elizabeth Micari hosted this innovative, unusual, well-meaning experiment–both a ‘session’ and a ‘performance’–and on the whole, despite a few trappings of the modern world sneaking in, was a successful endeavor.

This is an evening of healing, as advertised, by trained sound healers (a wholly legitimate science and art, with schools and degrees dedicated to its teachings), and the healing will take place by any means necessary. It is also a performance of sorts–after all, you’re here, and the healers are ‘up there’. Because of that fact, because the ‘stage’ was dressed so elegantly and appropriate for the tranquil evening planned, a certain level of performance is expected.

Once in awhile the lines became too blurred–sometimes a ‘session’, sometimes a ‘performance’, and sometimes, unfortunately, an infomercial. We are here for meditation, for inner peace through music, that should be the entire agenda.

The evening started with a session by Daniel Lauter, a thoughtful, gentle soul who shared his talent in a caring, giving, touching way. One was free to join in, or not; the decision was entirely ours.  His assorted collection of “singing” bowls was beautiful and elegant and lovely to listen to. He was a man of few words, and had nothing to offer except himself, his energy, and his art. Unfortunately, the next performer was not as gracious a host. After an amusing story as a 5-year-old learning the sax, Erik Lawrence regaled us with one tale after another of who he played with, and where. Even if this wasn’t his intention, it seemed as if he was attempting to find new clients in the audience.

Fortunately, Act I was saved by George Brandon–a man filled with spirit and soul, and the possessor of a wonderfully sonorous voice, a voice so powerful we could listen to him recite the Yellow Pages without getting fidgety. A commanding presence on the stage, properly dressed for the occasion, you had no choice but to listen, and enter his world. His musical piece–in which all performers joined, including the hostess–was required listening. His mantra–“Don’t Waste Your Life” was short, sweet, and to the point. If only the rest of the world was listening, we’d all be better off.

Act II brought another infomercial. Malia Culp might be successful amongst those she knows well, but on a stage, performing for a group of strangers, she seemed pretentious. Her talents may or may not resonate with her clients, but it’s hard to believe spending half her evening sounding like a bumble bee would work. She acknowledged her ‘…beautiful Erik’ and then began her own commercial much like he did. Sadly, she, too, decided to talk of her talent was better than to show it making her contribution to the evening amount to nothing.

That left the ‘finale’ to Ms. Micari. She saved the day. There is a reason she hosted the event, and a reason she went last–she has the talent the others have, but also a personality that is second to none. She sang beautiful odes of healing brought down to her from her ancestors, and they did not disappoint–from the Gaelic Hills, to the lovely land of Calabria, her voice lifted the evening all by itself…then, it a fitting conclusion, led the audience members out of their seats and into the lobby of the theater, for a wholly satisfying conclusion.

As Hostess, Ms. Micari must be a little mindful of the ramblings of her company but otherwise, a splendid time was had by all, and a big fat tip-of-the-hat to her for organizing such an innovative evening of healing and performance.

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