Tag: Theatre

By Claire DeMarco, ‘Burgh Vivant

“Building the Wall” is based on a combination of factual events interspersed with hypothetical situations. It’s 2019, President Trump has been impeached, and Rick (Tom Kolos) is in prison.

How did this happen? In 2017, several blocks of Times Square are nearly destroyed from a terrorist attack in response to the effects of edicts from Homeland Security on immigration. From this attack, problems escalate over much of the year. Martial law is declared. It’s aimed at detaining anyone deemed a risk to national security. Containment centers overflowing with people ultimately spin into chaos and disaster. Rick was involved in one of these centers.

Gloria (Lauren A. Bethea), a history professor, meets Rick in prison. Rick has been charged with a series of crimes at a containment center. Gloria wants to engage Rick in an unfettered interview that would detail his point of view. Rick’s involvement in this tragedy began as a seed that grew from “If you don’t control your borders, you don’t have a country” to a participant in a series of evil happenings.

Even after his admissions are divulged (and they are horrific, reminiscent of the Nazi horrors during World War II), there is still a wall that divides Gloria’s world view from Rick’s. Although this wall is not a physical one built with brick and mortar, it is a microcosm of the division in the country.

The setting takes place in a prison room – one table, two chairs, two plastic cups on the table.

Kolos runs the gamut of many emotions – from a seemingly sensitive person recalling his wife and family to an argumentative, indifferent player in the tragic events. His body movements express many of these emotions – leaning forward and getting in Bethea’s face to make a point, slouching in his chair, pacing around his side of the table.

Bethea is believable as she cleverly seduces Rick with the right tone and words to bring out the truth. She transitions easily from a calm interviewer to a challenging and sometimes aggressive interrogator.

“Building the Wall” is a thought-provoking play written by Robert Schenkkan and brilliantly directed by Ricardo Vila-Roger.

CED

“Building the Wal” runs May 24-June 10. All shows at The Richard E. Rauh Studio Theatre at the University of Pittsburgh Cathedral of Learning, 4200 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213. For more information, click here. 

Lyle Kessler’s comic drama, ORPHANS comes to Lawrenceville’s Aftershock Theater, 115 57th Street, May 31 through June 23rd.

ORPHANS is a dark and devastating family comedy centered on two orphaned brothers and their life-changing encounter with a wealthy and mysterious businessman. 

The standalone production of 16 performances is directed by Ingrid Sonnichsen and produced by and starring Max Pavel, Dylan Marquis Meyers, and Ken Bolden.  Sonnichsen has taught acting at CMU for decades and has staged such acclaimed productions as THE PINK UNICORN and BYHALIA, MISSISSIPPI.  Pavel, Meyers and Bolden are familiar to local audiences from their extensive work at PICT Classic Theatre, Quantum Theatre, and Pittsburgh Public Theater. 

The production team includes Cotter Smith (Netflix’s MINDHUNTER and RULES OF SECONDS at barebones), who consults on the production around a new rehearsal technique based on Active Analysis.

Playwright and Philadelphia native Lyle Kessler saw ORPHANS first produced in 1983 at The Matrix Theater Company in Los Angeles. It has been produced at companies such as Stepphenwolf in Chicago with a production that moved to Off-Broadway. In 2013, ORPHANS played on Broadway, garnering a number of award nominations and an enthusiastic fan base. 

General seating tickets are $15, on sale at orphans.ticketleap.com/aftershock. 

ORPHANS will perform at the following dates and times, with doors opening one half hour before curtain:

Thurs.-Sat., May 31 – June 2 at 8:30 pm (note later curtain time on opening weekend)

Sun., June 3 at  2 pm

Thurs.-Sat., June 7 – 9 at  8 pm

Sunday, June 10 at 2 pm

Monday, June 11 at 8 pm

Thurs.-Sat., June 14 – 16 at 8 pm

Sunday, June 17 at 2 pm

Thurs.-Sat., June 21 – 23 at 8 pm

There will be no late seating. ORPHANS run time is two hours. 

By Claire DeMarco, ‘Burgh Vivant

It’s one thing to get up on the wrong side of the bed, but it’s especially troubling when there’s someone else in the bed who doesn’t belong there.

That’s the dilemma Bill (Michael Greer) faces on his wedding day. Problem is that the woman in the bed is not his bride-to-be.

Fibs, untruths, lies, misleading conversations, exaggerations, role playing, mistaken identities unfold as Bill and his unwilling friend, Tom (Tim McGeever) attempt to create a charade, keeping bride-to-be Rachel (Hope Anthony) from finding out about Bill’s errant behavior. Pulled into the ruse unwittingly or under duress is “bed partner”, Judy (Julia Geisler), Julie the maid, (Julianne Avolio) and Rachel’s mom, Daphne (Christine Laitta).

This frenetic comedy takes place in the honeymoon suite of a fancy hotel; with a sitting room on half the stage, and the bedroom on the other. The actors make the acrobatics look effortless. The slapstick comedy is flawless and is essential to the success of “Perfect Wedding.”

As the play progresses, each character’s anger level and comedic characterizations increases as the fibs are unraveling and new fibs are created in their place. The chaos and conniving finally comes to a surprising conclusion.

All the actors have great comedic skills and as an ensemble and they are uniformly talented, complementing one another. This is a comedy with complex scenarios that would not work without a coordinated group of actors.

McGeever is brilliant as Bill’s friend who gets pulled into the ruse. His melt down scene when he discovers that his girlfriend has been unfaithful is spot on.

Greer’s character initiates an entire scenario of events. He is a talented physical comic.

Anthony grows from an unaware bride-to-be to an effective, vocal, and determined bride-to-be.

Avolio’s delivery is excellent, her facial expressions are priceless. She is a natural comedienne.

In one of the only calm scenes, Geisler transitions from the agitated “bed partner” into a thoughtful, caring person.

Laitta is on mark as the overexuberant mother of the bride.

Michael Barakiva brilliantly directed Robin Hawdon’s script.

“Perfect Wedding” is an energetic romp designed to tickle your funny bone.

CED

“Perfect Wedding” runs through August 12 at Cabaret at Theater Square, 655 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. For more information, go here.

By Michael “Buzz” Buzzelli, ‘Burgh Vivant

A lyricist collapses from an arteriovenous malformation in his brain, and needs a craniotomy in William Finn’s semiautobiographical musical, “A New Brain.”

While trying to compose a song for a children’s show, Gordon Schwinn (John Wascavage) starts to unravel. He’s writing pabulum instead of producing great work and the frustration is wearing him down. At lunch with his agent, Rhoda (Meredith Kate Doyle), he gets dizzy and hallucinates. He pictures Mr. Bungee (Matthew J. Rush) the tyrannical puppet master and puppet from the kid’s show he works on. Before his entrée arrives, he slumps over. Soon, paramedics arrive and he’s off to the hospital. His mother, Mimi (Becki Toth) rushes to his side, trying to whole-heartedly convince herself that everything is going to be A-Okay in show-stopping number, “Mother’s Gonna Make Things Fine.”

Gordon is attended by two nurses – one mean nurse, Nancy D. (Lauren Maria Medina), and one nice nurse, Richard (Brady D. Patsy). Dr. Berensteiner (Pierre Mballa); and the Minister (David leong) also tend to his needs – medical and spiritual (though Gordon has little use for the padre).

Before going under the knife, our hero is awaiting the arrival of his boyfriend, Roger (Jeremy Spoljarick), who is off sailing. Roger docks before the operation. The boyfriend pleads for one last night together before the operation, but Gordon chooses to work on peppy kid’s tune, “Yes” for the TV show instead.

Snarky side note: They won’t be doing this one at the Palisade Playhouse.

As Gordon awaits his operation, the audience gets a glimpse into the lives of the people around him, Roger, Mimi and even the flamboyant, nice nurse, Richard. We also peer into the life of Lisa (Drew Leigh Williams), a homeless woman looking for change – monetary and…perhaps some physical, spiritual or mental change as well.

Additional snarky side note: Drew Leigh Williams is very attractive and the production team dressed her down in jeans and flannel to portray Lisa, but she still looked too lovely to be homeless. Her look is reminiscent of Lucille Ball, when Lucy Ricardo would dress up like a bum but still wear her famous matte red lipstick and Max Factor eye shadow.

There are a lot of peripheral characters in “A New Brain” and they all get some nice moments. A Waitress (Mei Lu Branum) sings about the specials of the day. Homeless Lisa gets a song (HomeLisa). Big Gay Richard gets a song. Everybody gets a song! It’s like an iPod set to random. It’s a bit disjointed. Luckily, they are all glorious little tunes, and they are all sung beautifully.

The cast is perfect. Every single one of them.

Wascavage is a delight as the neurotic composer.  Finn’s Schwinn is hard to like. There’s an edge to Gordon’s acerbic personality; Wascavage softens it, but never dulls it.

Toth is outstanding. She belts out every tune, and hits every note. She’s Pittsburgh’s very own Ethel Merman. Mimi is very much like every Merman character from Rose in “Gypsy” to Mrs. Marcus in “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad World!” She’s a joy to watch in every scene and every song.

Spoljarick does a fantastic job as well.

Rush is (literally and figuratively) armed with the world’s cutest despot, Mr. Bungee, the Anti-Kermit, who is more martinet than marionette. Rush is magnificent as the malevolent Muppet (say that three times fast).

Patsy gets some great moments to shine with “Poor, Unsuccessful and Fat” and “I’m Eating Myself Up Alive” are really fun songs delivered beautifully with his rich, deep voice.

Williams gets several bright moments as well. Her duet with Spoljarick, “A Really Lousy Day in the Universe” is stunning.

A live orchestra led by Deana Muro is seated somewhere below the stage, invisible but invincible.

There’s a wildly imaginative set by Frank Blackmore. Picture it, a piano with pages and pages of music sheets flying upward toward the ceiling in a tornado of potential melodies.

Director Connor McCanlus does a marvelous job directing. The pace is quick and the wit is served very dry. It’s a very brisk and kinetic.

Side note: There is no intermission: watch your fluid intake and plan accordingly.

While “A New Brain” is a heavy subject for a musical, and the characters and plot are scattered like the sheets of music on the set, but it’s still a wonderfully fun work of art.

“A New Brain” is at the New Hazlett Theater, 6 Allegheny Square East, Pittsburgh, PA 15212. For more information, click here.

By Michael “Buzz” Buzzelli, ‘Burgh Vivant

When a military man returns home after a three year absence, he learns that his family unit has undergone radical changes in Taylor Mac’s “Hir.”

Isaac (Tad Cooley) might not expect hero’s welcome home after being dishonorably discharged for a drug violation, but he does not expect his family home to be completely upended. When he arrives, the formerly pristine home is in chaos, piles of clothes on the floor, dishes in the sink, nothing in the cupboards. It’s a pigsty, squalid and disgusting. However, it’s nothing compared to the changes his mother, father and sister have made.

Isaac’s father Arnold (Douglas Rees) is a lumbering Frankenstein monster with make-up, a clown wig and a house dress; a stroke made the violent dad a docile creature. Now that she’s no longer under his thumb, Isaac’s mother Paige (Helena Ruoti) has freed herself from the shackles of her unhappy marriage and jumped into the driver’s seat. And, to top it all off, Isaac’s sister Maxine is now Max (Liam Ezra Dickinson), transitioning from female-to-male.

Paige explains the alphabet soup of the LGBTQQIAAP community to Isaac who is struggling to make sense of all the bizarre changes his family has undergone. The eponymous title comes from the Trans community vocabulary, a combination of his and her. There is another word, ‘Ze’ that is morphed version of he and she that is bandied about in the play.

Isaac’s head spins at the profound developments. Suddenly his crystal meth addiction seems tame in comparison to the new family dynamic.

Sympathies for the characters in “Hir” shift constantly like tectonic plates in the San Andreas Fault line. Sometime you’re fully on Paige’s side – until you’re not. Sometimes Isaac seems like the most reasonable normal one – until he isn’t. You can love and hate all four at the same time, but you will never feel indifference. Their passions consume them and it’s easy to get swept up in the pandemonium.

The play is about gender fluidity, toxic masculinity, physical abuse, drug abuse and more. It’s remarkably funny and tragic at the same time. There’s a lot to absorb. The first act is funny, but a little preachy. The second act hits you like a punch in the face. Like Hawaii’s Kilauea, “Hir” bubbles beneath the surface until it explodes, producing fissures in multiple directions.

The play is perfectly cast and the performances are brilliant.

Ruoti is a firecracker. She embraces Paige with gusto. Every line reading is special. At one point, she tells Isaac that his father – after working thirty three years for the same plumbing company – lost his job to a Chinese-American woman she announces, “It was fantastic!” She’s slap-happy with schadenfreude.

Rees lumbers and shambles around the room like the Addams’ Family’s stoic butler, Lurch, on Quaaludes. Deep down, however, Arnold is a swirling miasma of brutality. It’s incredibly nuanced performance from an actor with so few lines of dialogue.

Isaac’s reactions are comical at first, but the character gets progressively darker. Cooley handles the role with aplomb.

Dickinson is Trans playing Trans. Not to overstate it, but it feels like a defining moment in the Pittsburgh theater scene, considering that, in larger American cities, Cisgender performers were cast as Max. It’s not just stunt casting, Dickinson is marvelous in the role.

Kudos to director and barebones founder Patrick Jordan for producing a subversive and funny play.

Special shout out to fight director Randy Kovitz for realistic and unnerving scenes of brutality.

“Hir” is disturbing in all the ways theater should be. You may love it or you may hate it, but it will move you. The play stays with you long after you leave the theater. It’s a winning production.

-MB

“Hir” runs until May 26 at the barebones black box theater, 1211 Braddock Avenue, Braddock, PA 15104. For more information, click here.

By Michael “Buzz” Buzzelli, ‘Burgh Vivant

A hotshot marine regrets his participation in a misogynistic competition when he starts to fall for the allegedly unattractive woman he brings to an Ugly Date Contest in “Dogfight.”

In 1963, Birdlace (Adam Speers), Bolland (Ryan Hadbavny) and Bernstein (Michael Tarasovich), AKA the Three B’s, are given shore leave in San Francisco one night before they deploy to Vietnam. On their one free evening, they – along with a few other marines – decide to fuck with some ugly women by holding the aforementioned unseemly competition.

P.S. If you’re offended in the use of the F word in the review, the show is definitely not for you. The men curse more often than they break into song in this musical.

Birdlace meanders into a diner where he hits on the proprietor Mama (Stephanie Ottey) and then moves in on to the daughter, Rose (Kristin Welch). Rose is by no means unattractive.  She does have one unfortunate handicap. Rose was born without any fashion sense. She wears a big poufy dress with a bright yellow bow in her hair.

Birdlace lies to her, cajoles her and then invites her to the party. On the way to the main event, Birdlace begins to have doubts about inviting this shy, awkward girl to the heinous affair.

Rose reveals, in song, that it’s her first date. She’s excited to be on the muscly arm of the marine.

There’s one rule to this soiree: The men are not allowed to use prostitutes to participate. Bolland breaks the rule and invites Marcy (Ashley Harmon), a hooker with a set of false teeth, who spills the beans to Rose in the ladies’ room. Rose is crushed and runs out.

The Three B’s decide to continue their carousing, drinking and hiring prostitutes. When a weary hooker (Candice Fisher) wants to call it quits for the evening, the troupe…um…insists she assist Bernstein with his rite of passage to manhood, literally ‘twisting her arm’ into it. Birdlace realizes how awful his comrades are and rushes back to apologize to Rose and tries to win her back.

Way inside theater reference: “Dogfight” is like “Violet” told from Monty’s perspective.

Welch is the shining star here. She looks like Sally Field in “Gidget.” She’s cute, perky and lovable – even in the poufy dress. The girl can sing! She is a powerhouse, and the number one reason to see this show.

Tarasovich is also wonderful. He’s the most nuanced of the Three B’s. He makes Bernstein likable with a few deft gestures and a bright smile.

Fisher is hilarious in three different roles. The actor made each character unique and distinct. It’d be challenging to pick a favorite of her character roles, but the nearly silent and comical Ruth Two Bears is way up there.

Jeff Way is delightful as a snooty Maître D of a high-priced San Francisco restaurant.

“Dogfight” is tough to watch in our #metoo world. Women are treated extremely badly and the men brush it off in song (Hometown Hero’s Tickertape Parade), and excuse it away with, “Your dad did it. Your grandfather did it” as if reprehensible behavior should be considered a tradition. It’s important to shine a light on the subject, but it is tough to watch, especially in a musical.

When Birdlace returns from Vietnam, a hippie spits on him. You’re supposed to pity his sad welcome home, but he kinda deserves it.

Jeremy Eiben’s costumes and Cara Walkowiak’s hair and wigs will bring you back to the 60s.

There’s some fun music in “Dogfight.” Benj Pasek and Justin Paul have a few repetitious lyrics but they are catchy, and Cara Walkowiak does some brilliant work with the choreography. Director Rob James also does a remarkable job with a troupe of community theater actors.

It won’t be long before Welch levels up to Equity. You should see her just so you can say, “I knew her when…”

You can check out a preview of the musical here.

-MB

“Dogfight” runs through May 20 at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall, 300 Beechwood Avenue, Carnegie, PA 15106. For more information, click here.