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Labels: activism, middle east, protest
I was interviewed on Liz Funk's blog called "Coming of Age in a Crap Economy". Check it out here:
http://www.comingofageinacrapeconomy.com/1/post/2011/01/20something-spotlight-ashley-marinaccio.html
Beyond Therapy at Porch Light Productions got rave reviews! Check it out here:
Never Before Was 'Therapy' Such Fun
Porch Light Production's frenetic new production of 'Beyond Therapy' is cheaper than analysis and way more entertaining.
By Joseph M. Gerace
Porch Light Production's frenetic new production of 'Beyond Therapy' is cheaper than analysis and way more entertaining.
By Joseph M. Gerace
An audience walking into Porch Light Production’s latest black box show “Beyond Therapy” would be wise to repress their judgments of this play’s peculiar characters until the curtain falls.
Each of the performance's big personalities comes fully loaded with issues that invoke wild unpredictability, and the audience witnesses each character unspooling before the easy-to-miss breakthrough finally occurs in this uproarious play directed by Ryan Pifher.
The 1981 comedy by Christopher Durang looks at the skewed dating lives of two slightly fractured singles trying to find true love and the therapists who, despite being in desperate need of therapy themselves, treat them.
Absurd and calamitous, the delightful plot spins out of control from the opening tics of Bruce and Prudence’s first date.
Bruce, an overly emotional bisexual bran flakes aficionado, and Prudence, a stoic and tightly strung magazine writer, at first glance are polar opposites. And well, their date ends poorly.
Tensions strain and snap, love triangles are revealed, and the car crash rendezvous concludes with two tossed servings of room temperature water. Actors Phyto Stratis and Rachael Lee are hilarious bouncing expectations and neuroses off one another. On the night I attended, the audience —literally howling and bent forward in fits of mirth—couldn’t have appeared more pleased.
The couples then retreat to their respective therapists, Prudence to Dr. Stuart Framingham and Bruce to Dr. Charlotte Wallace.
Ridgewood resident Bill Porterfield plays Stuart with misplaced machismo oozing out of his high collared shirt. The libidinous doctor isn’t there so much to help Prudence as to take her to bed.
No better, Bruce’s therapist Charlotte isn’t a sexual deviant but certainly has her own problems.
Ashley Marinaccio plays Charlotte like a primal scream: Her puerile affection for her Snoopy doll, Freudian-slip diction and the thing with the pickles are uninhibited and frantic.
These hysterically raucous therapy session roll along at high speeds on the diverse talents of a comically gifted cast.
And just when you think things can’t get funnier, we meet Bruce's lover Bob.
Omar Robinson sulks onto the suddenly diminished stage. He appears impossibly tall as the nagging, fussy, effeminate Bob. Robinson is a born scene stealer. He struts with an attention-hungry sashay and delivers his lines with a curt, almost-slapstick urgency.
Pifher, meanwhile, weaves Durang's characters together in the final rollicking scenes and the cast somehow maintains their through the roof energy.
In a sober moment as the play nears an end Bruce lays out a credo of sorts to Prudence.
"We’re all alone," Bruce says. "Everyone is crazy and you have no choice but to be alone or to be with someone in what will be a highly imperfect and probably eventually unsatisfactory relationship."
And at that moment we discover that all those judgments levied at uptight Prudence or Bruce, who plays loose with the rules, were premature.
We need them just the way they are, with all their hysterics, just as much as they need each other.
STARRING: Phyto Stratis (Bruce), Rachael Lee (Prudence), Omar Robinson (Bob), Ashley Marinaccio (Charlotte), Bill Porterfield (Stuart) and Jon E. Sims (Andrew).
Tickets for "Beyond Therapy" are $25 for adults and $22 for students and seniors. Call 201-857-3520 or visit Porch Light Productions for tickets.
Link (with photos): http://glenrock.patch.com/articles/never-before-was-therapy-this-much-fun
Labels:
acting,
Beyond Therapy,
Performances,
reviews
Porch Light Production's Beyond Therapy opens this week! It's going to be super fun, zany and a (very short) break from the super heavy material I usually work on. I would love to see you there! I'm playing Charlotte Wallace, psychoanalyst extraordinaire. Need therapy? Charlotte's your girl! Need good therapy? Charlotte may not be your girl... In any case, she will warm your heart and make you smile.
2011 is off to a busy start. Next week I'll be filming the first episode of a paranormal television pilot called Beyond Haunted, which is being pitched to several cable networks. I'll be one of the paranormal investigators (think Ghost Hunters). It's a dream gig, as deep down ya'all know I've always wanted to be Fox Mulder (from the X-Files)... j/k. Also, last week I was interviewed on author Liz Funk's blog for her new project "Coming of Age in a Crap Economy". It's short and fun. Would love for you to check it out.
Finally, I'll be back to political theatre at the end of the month. Co-Op Theatre East is producing Trojan Women Redux, opening January 28th at the Looking Glass Theater in midtown. COTE's Literary Director, Casey Cleverly has adapted and directed this unbelievable piece which raises consciousness on the current sex and human trafficking crisis happening throughout the globe. We are collaborating with several non-profits working on this issue to encourage audiences to take a stand and become active in ending sexual violence and human trafficking.
I have also just started rehearsals for several upcoming projects that I'm directing with my youth performance company, Project Girl Performance Collective. Our 2011 season includes performances at the United Nations, NJ State Theater, Richmond Virginia Holocaust Museum and various schools, Universities throughout the tri-state area, plus the development of a new piece with young men and women called "10 Years Later: Voices from the Post 9/11 Generation Speak" in which we're exploring the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks and this idea of a "post 9/11 generation". I can't begin to express my excitement over this project. We have kids coming from as far as West Virginia and Maryland each week to be part of this and it's going to be something really special.
Both Project Girl Performance Collective and Co-Op Theatre East have completely taken off in 2010 and it's because of the support from audiences and YOU! Right now the sky's the limit for both of these companies and we're ecstatic about our 2011 season and looking ahead!
***
Beyond Therapy
Written by Christopher Durang
Directed by Ryan Pifher
Porch Light Productions
555 Broad Street
Glen Rock, NJ
Jan 14 - Jan 30, 2011
Fridays & Saturday @ 8PM, Sundays @ 2PM Adult: $25.00
Student/Senior: $22.00
Please call (201) 857-3520 for tickets or visit:
www.porchlightproductions.org
Written by Christopher Durang
Directed by Ryan Pifher
Porch Light Productions
555 Broad Street
Glen Rock, NJ
Jan 14 - Jan 30, 2011
Fridays & Saturday @ 8PM, Sundays @ 2PM Adult: $25.00
Student/Senior: $22.00
Please call (201) 857-3520 for tickets or visit:
www.porchlightproductions.org
STARRING:
Phyto Stratis (Bruce), Rachael Lee (Prudence), Omar Robinson (Bob), Ashley Marinaccio (Charlotte), Bill Porterfield (Stuart) & Jon E. Sims (Andrew).
Phyto Stratis (Bruce), Rachael Lee (Prudence), Omar Robinson (Bob), Ashley Marinaccio (Charlotte), Bill Porterfield (Stuart) & Jon E. Sims (Andrew).
Bruce and Prudence are deeply into therapy. Prudence's macho therapist (Stuart) is urging her to be more assertive while Bruce's wacky female therapist (Charlotte) wants him to meet women by placing a personal ad. She does not fully comprehend that Bruce has a male lover (Bob) who is not pleased by Bruce's desire to date a woman: Prudence. Bruce doesn't know how to handle poor nervous Prudence and Prudence doesn't know what to make of her unpredictable new boyfriend. They do learn to live "beyond therapy" in this delightful Off Broadway hit that moved successfully to Broadway. Labels: acting, Performances, theatre
I was researching at the library today for the TV pilot I'm starting to film next week and came across this question in one of the books. It's one of the most provocative questions I've thought about in awhile and I have a few thoughts but first I want to hear what other people's answers are. Here we go:
Imagine that before you entered this life you went through training with a teacher who was the best of the best of the best at a particular focus, and who lived you like a son or daughter. This teacher taught you everything about this focus, reminding you, "you won't remember a thing consciously, but it will all be there in your subconscious, waiting to be reawakened, once you get to Earth and your nature is stimulated to grow." What did this teacher train you to cultivate and grow? Do you remember the part of the training that reiterated: Try and fail a hundred times, rather than playing to small, repeating what you have already perfectly mastered?
So, I'm curious. What was your training?
One of my favorite things about my birthday in the cyber age...
10:48 AM
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Posted by
Ashley
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is all of the facebook wall well wishes.
Dick Clark makes me sad. Kathy Griffin makes me sad. New Year's Eve makes me sad, especially from around 11:30 to 11:59pm. I get nostalgic when thinking about all of the things that happened over the year, the relationships I've made (and lost) and how we will never get that time back, ever again. I'm one of those people who has a hard time saying goodbye, letting go, accepting change. But once 12am rolls around, I'm happy. I enjoy what feels like a clean slate.
I spent NYE by myself this year (much to the humor of family and close friends, ALL of whom laughed in my face when I announced my plans). There were plenty of other options but at the last moment I opted out and chose the path of Chinese take out (spare ribs and lo mein), my paints, canvases and collages that I've been trying to finish. I need the time to myself. I like spending NYE reflecting on the past and looking to the future. It's something I hope to do more of this year.
2010 was good to me. One of the best yet, in fact.
Here's to making 2011 even better!
We only move forward.
Happy New Year, Comrades!
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