5 Reasons to see "Ampersand: A Romeo and Juliet Story" at Fringe this year!

3:59 PM / Posted by Ashley / comments (0)

Time to celebrate some of the amazing young artists in NYC (and there are many of them). Two in particular that are on my mind this week, Mariah MacCarthy, author of Ampersand: A Romeo and Juliet Story in the NY International Fringe Festival and Robert A. K. Gonyo, Artistic Director of Co-Op Theatre East and creator of Go See a Show, a new Off-Off Broadway podcast.


Top Five Reasons to see "Ampersand: A Romeo and Juliet Story" at the NY International Fringe Festival:

1. Strong female characters. With Mariah behind the script, it's expected and delivered. Playwrights and producers take note, this is a woman that needs to have work produced more often. She is writing strong, challenging roles for women in their 20s that are far more interesting than some of the more traditional parts that have been out there in the past.

2. Writing that is questioning traditional stereotypes and gender roles but isn't didactic.

3. Fantastic music and musicians (Emily Rupp from Project Girl Performance Collective is a stand out. Her short vocal performance is hauntingly beautiful.)

4. A talented young cast of "non union" actors. Eventually many of the cast members will be union and working nonstop in theatre, film and television, but until then, let's take a moment to acknowledge the new and/or underused talent thriving in this city. Fringe is traditionally the place to see "up and coming" performers. This ensemble is strong with many stand outs.

5. Lauren Hennessy. Her performance as Romeo is stunning. Since we're being honest here, I'd like to come out as an official (and once closeted) Lauren Hennessy fan. She was a standout in the Ampersand workshop in addition to Purple Rep's All American Genderfuck Cabaret. I look forward to seeing what's next for Lauren.

I've been following Ampersand since it's workshop days at Looking Glass Theatre, and it's come quite far. Part of the fun has been watching the actors (many who were part of the workshop cast at Looking Glass) grow with the script and completely embody their roles. I am looking forward to seeing where Ampersand will go next. I expect big things for this piece.

Info on how to see "Ampersand: A Romeo and Juliet Story":

Ampersand: A Romeo & Juliet Story
By Mariah MacCarthy
Music by Brian Kirchner
Directed by Amanda Thompson

With:
Brigitte Choura, Julie Ek, Nic Grelli, Craig Hanson, Lauren Hennessy, Jeremy Michael Lagunas, Diana Oh, Anna Savant, Jordan Tierney, Lauren Weinberg, and Matthew Welsh, and Emily Rupp on guitar.

Elizabeth Weitzen - Costume Designer
Liz Elliot - Lighting Designer
Christopher Shepard - Choregrapher
Teddy Lytle - Fight Director
LeeAnn DiCicco - Graphic Design
Kacey Stamats - Photography
Eva Schelbaum - Assistant Director
Tom Meredith - Technical Director
Christopher Diercksen - Assistant Producer
Marina Steinberg - Stage Manager

Executive Producers:
Larry Kunofsky, Mariah MacCarthy, and Leta Tremblay

FOR TICKETS and FringeNYC listing: http://www.fringenyc.org/b​asic_page.php?ltr=A#Ampers

The Story:
A prissy Beauty Queen falls in love/hate with a guitar-wielding firebrand. Is there room for this bad romance in Verona, Iowa? Or will Juliet stay in her walk-in closet? An award-winning pop-folk musical, with drag queens.

Performance Dates:
Friday, August 12 @ 5pm
Sunday, August 14 @ 8:15pm
Thursday, August 18 @ 2pm
Saturday, August 20 @ NOON
Saturday, August 27 @ 7:45pm

Finally, check out Robby's new podcast, a much needed asset to the off off Broadway community, "Go See A Show". His first interview is with Mariah. Info below:

About “Go See a Show!”

http://goseeashowpodcast.com/

The “Go See a Show!” podcast is (as far as I can tell) the only podcast dedicated to the off-off-Broadway scene in New York City. Every week, I interview an artist making theatre in New York City, discussing the ideas and process behind their work.

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Review of Beyond Therapy

8:44 PM / Posted by Ashley / comments (0)


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


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.


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Decadent Acts Review

2:54 PM / Posted by Ashley / comments (0)

Decadent Acts received a nice review from Erik Haagensen of Backstage magazine (http://www.backstage.com/bso/reviews-ny-theatre-off-off-broadway/decadent-acts-1004099237.story). Overall, it's very fair and I'm very appreciative for both the criticism and positive feedback. It's a great place to start (and end, this round). Haagensen has provided me with a valuable set of critiques which I can't wait to hopefully work on and change for not only the next phase of Decadent Acts but future plays.

I'm thankful Backstage had the chance to check it out and hope that they will come back to see GirlPower: Survival of the Fittest in the NY International Fringe Festival this summer. I would LOVE to receive such thoughtful criticism and feedback such as this for PGPC because it's a wonderful way to think about how to frame work int he future (especially with a project like GirlPower that's ongoing). So, thank you Erik/Backstage and I hope to see you again in August back at the Robert Moss Theatre (dates TBA!)

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One More GirlPower Review...

12:06 AM / Posted by Ashley / comments (0)

One (probably) last review of GirlPower: Voices of a Generation from the Fringe Festival. Gearing up for the new GirlPower class, beginning in a few weeks! This is from a blog called the New Theater Corps. Definitely check them out:

http://newtheatercorps.blogspot.com/2009/09/fringegirl-power-voices-of-generation.html

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More Great Reviews...

11:48 PM / Posted by Ashley / comments (0)

Another round of reviews from GirlPower at the Fringe Festival:

and
http://www.nytheatre.com/nytheatre/review_fest.php?p=100191

GirlPower: Voices of a Generation
New York International Fringe Festival
reviewed by Nancy Kim
Aug 20, 2009
Dubbed the "MySpace Generation," young people in their teens and early 20s are identified by the way the internet is at the center of their lives, where they communicate, interact, and establish their friendships, relationships, and identities all online. Therefore, it's daring to see the GirlPower Ensemble take center stage in revealing what is on the minds of young women of their generation.
A group of 19 girls and young women—ranging from 13 through college-aged—make up the ensemble and most of them perform their own words in a collection of almost 40 monologues, poems, and short scenes. Topics include familiar struggles and obstacles, such as body issues and Barbie, sexual pressures, and family relationships. But these are also young women who embrace being weird, different, and flawed. Ashley Marinaccio and Elizabeth Koke helped to edit and direct, giving each ensemble member a couple of opportunities to take the spotlight while the rest of the company remains on stage to listen before they take their turn. This simple staging reminds us the power of listening and sharing as a community.
I think the deeply personal stories and monologues that resonated with me are the ones that I viewed through the lens of my own experience and history, so I was struck by Kezia Tyson's "Graffiti" when she asks people to see the beauty and art in grafitti and wonders if people will also give her a chance. Or in Michelle Lee's monologue, "Feeling Different," in which she doesn't understand why people have to be defined by how they look, what they watch, or what they wear. And in both "A Talk with My Guidance Counselor" and "Tribute to Ms. Whiting," I was reminded how profound the influence of a teacher or the safe ear of a grown-up could be. Writer/performer Lyric Anderson unleashes her pent-up fears of sexual pressure to her guidance counselor, while Lauren Curet performs a monologue by Nora Kennedy about a U.S. Honors teacher who opens her eyes and helps her to question the portrayals of women in media. I also admired Dominique Fishback's spoken-word poem, "He Once Had A Dream," about our responsibility to Martin Luther King, Jr.'s legacy.
Near the end, each girl contributes a couple of lines to the "The Theatre and I," giving their reasons why theatre is important to them. It's nice to hear Amber Rhabb state simply, "I think the theatre and I will be together forever." If that proves to be true, then we're lucky that theatre is going to be left in their generation's capable hands.
Some production photos by Christine Weems:




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Reviews and Website...

12:05 PM / Posted by Ashley / comments (0)

I finally launched my website: www.ashley-marinaccio.com . I hope that you will check it out!

Also, be sure to check out some reviews from GirlPower: Voices of a Generation. We have 2 more shows!

From TimeOutNY:
http://newyork.timeout.com/events/fringe-festival/298096/girlpower

From TDF:
http://pxpplog.blogspot.com/2009/08/girlpower-voices-of-generation.html

Yay!

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