"boom" explodes with laughter

by Frank Furnari, New Rep Reviewer

Your years of researching the sleeping habits of fish leads you to believe that the world will encounter a cataclysmic event, a boom if you will, and after you fortify your underground lab, one of the last things you do before the big boom is place a Craigslist ad for a hookup. This is exactly what Jules does in boom the new production in the Downstage @ New Rep Black Box Theater. Jo is the unsuspecting undergrad who answers his ad and she comes on strong looking for a night of fun; however, things don’t go as planned. She (and the rest of the scientific community) don’t believe Jules’ data and analysis. Jo wonders if he is a psychopath (I believe this play was written before we had to worry about Craigslist killers). The audience soon realizes we are actually visitors to a sort of evolution museum, watching a recreation of events with a museum employee, Barbara, pulling the levers and occasionally offering her commentary.

boom offers some interesting (though not new) ideas on evolution and science. It brings to mind recent debates over evolution and the controversies surrounding them. The play offers many laughs throughout with many witty exchanges. It also includes a fair share of foul language, but not more than you’d find in, perhaps your typical Mamet play.

Bridget Kathleen O’Leary assembles and directs a strong cast. Scott Sweatt is great as Jules with the right nerdy scientist quality; you can sense he’s not good around people. Karen MacDonald steals the show with her portrayal of Barbara, the eccentric museum employee that really cares about the exhibit and has added many of her own embellishments. She’s fun to watch and you find yourself glancing over at her many times just to see what her reaction is to the action taking place on the other half of the set. Overall, boom is a solid production and a fun 90 minutes - make sure you see the final Downstage @ New Rep show of the season.

boom First Rehearsal

Today is the first day of rehearsal's for the the New England Premiere of boom! We just got back from the meet and greet and I wanted to share some of the highlights with you!

First, a little background: boom is by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb, and it is a comedy about the end of the world. Peter went to Brown University and concentrated in theater and biology. He describes boom as "my way of figuring out why I majored in both." Read more about Peter and boom in the Brown Alumni Magazine.

boom will be performing in the Black Box Theater, and as you know it can be a little tricky to figure out how to make you world come to life in this small and intimate space. Here is Jarrod Bray (set designer) talking about his design concept for the show. (also in photo Zofia Gozynska, who play Jo)


Here is a closer look at the world Jarrod is creating:



And here is director Bridget Kathleen O'Leary talking to the cast and crew of boom about her vision (and excitement!) for this show.


Would you like to hear what Bridget has to say about boom? Listen to our New Rep Chats with Bridget and Artistic Director Kate Warner!

2.5 Minute Ride (Well, really, 70 Minute Ride)

by Frank Furnari, New Rep Reviewer

Downstage @ New Rep begins its season with the roller coaster that is Lisa Kron’s 2.5 Minute Ride. Some may remember Lisa Kron from her 2007 Boston appearance starring in her other major autobiographical play, Well. 2.5 Minute Ride opens with a slide show about Lisa's family, but from the beginning, we know something isn’t quite right, we don't actually see images on the slides, only colors. Something is a little off - as Lisa says, “My family is all either dead or crippled.”

Lisa takes us on a whirlwind journey - abruptly changing time, place, and topic. We jump from family vacations where the “cripples” go on roller coaster rides, to visiting Auschwitz with her father, to a family wedding – just be sure you hold on as the quick transitions can be jarring. The piece alternates from funny moments discussing Peg’s (Lisa’s partner) reaction to Lisa’s family and analysis of the situation through her ‘therapist mind’ to the realities of horrors of Auschwitz. The jumps are occasionally confusing, but it makes you feel as if you're hearing an unscripted talk rather than a play.

Adrianne Krastansky masterfully performs the character of Lisa – one feels that she is channeling Lisa Kron. Occasionally, Adrianne falters when portraying some of the other characters - sometimes one isn’t sure who is supposed to be speaking, but when she is Lisa, she is spot on and a remarkable sight! One of the best moments of the piece is also its darkest - while visiting Auschwitz, Adrianne gets the audience to feel the dread, the sorrow, and her reluctance to even attempt to explain the experience. This play isn’t going to offer you new insight or break new ground, but it is interesting, touching, funny, and only 70 minutes long – hard to pass up, especially when you get to see such a talented actress giving a great performance.

Fight Directing "Fool for Love"

Hello all,

This is Meron Langsner again. This time I’d like to give a quick overview of the fight directing process for Fool for Love.

Like any other design discipline, fight directing begins with the text. After giving the play an initial read, I go through it once more notating any violence or potential violence and where it fits into the script and plot structure. Those notes get sent to the Director, Bridget Kathleen O'Leary, and she and I have a conversation about what she wants out of each moment of violence so that I can go into the choreography with the entire concept of the production in mind.

Something that came up right away was the use of a lasso in this play. Lassoing is not a commonly practiced movement discipline around here and was not a part of my own training, so this was wisdom I had to seek elsewhere. An old friend of mine from martial arts circles, Dr. Peter Ward, an anatomy professor at West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine as well as the head instructor of Greenbrier Traditional Martial Arts Society, happened to have this skill (he is from Wyoming). He came to our aid with a short instructional video he created and sent our way via the internet. This was useful not only in helping Tim Smith obtain that skill, but also in deciding on how certain set pieces would be placed in order to serve both the safety of everyone involved and that specific series of dramatic moments.

Before rehearsals started I attended a production meeting where I was able to assess how I would work within the parameters of the set and costume design, and equally important, get a feel for how the concept was coming together so that everything I composed would fit in with the whole. Ideally, it should be unclear to the audience where my work begins and ends in relation to the director’s. Knowing what the designs look like is an important aspect in making this happen. Questions I ask set designers include whether or not certain set pieces can take weight and/or impact, as well as whether small set pieces can be moved around and used in the fights. When looking at costume designs I need to know how much freedom of movement the performers will have as well as what kind of shoes they might be wearing during the fights.

The main part of my job, the work with the actors themselves, can often be very brief. In this case the entire composition of the fights took something like two ninety minute rehearsals early in the process, followed by a return trip to watch a dress rehearsal and give notes.

As my actors in this piece are very physically adept, I was able to give them some fairly difficult moves with confidence that they would assimilate them into their work safely and effectively. For some sequences they were given very precise movements meant to create very specific illusions. These were drilled in the moments they needed to happen, and then set. For some of those moments the actors and I showed Bridget some options and then we decided which one was most effective choice for that point in the characters’ journey. For other sequences, I gave the actors a framework in which to safely improvise the violence during the rehearsal process before setting it. In those sequences I used a “contemporary violence” technique developed by a woman named Ricki Ravitts, who is an esteemed fight director based out of New York City and one of my first instructors in the discipline. In this method the actors can create some fairly intense movement while staying both physically and emotionally safe. Many of the scenes between Tim and Stacy were developed with Ricki’s methods. The scene between Tim and Andrew was mostly “by the book” as it were, since the moment called for in the script is so specific.

Towards the end of the rehearsal process I attended a dress rehearsal and gave notes. The adjustments I had to make in this case were few and minor. An angle on one illusion had to be reset to sell well for the entire audience, and other than that all that was really necessary was to check in with the actors to make sure they still felt safe and comfortable with the choreography.

The violence in Fool for Love is an integral part of the storytelling. Though there are relatively few moments of actual assault on stage, each one is crafted into the play to move the plot forward.

An Update

March 9th

Well as the weather wracks outside my window with wind, rain, snow and then whatever else has been picked up and blown across to rattle along our street. As this is all going on and the cats lie at my feet, I thought I better keep my word and jot a few more notes down for your enjoyment.

But firstly, I would like to thank the audiences. Yes, I would like to thank the public that have graced us with their company. For after all without our nightly paying guests, our performance, our 'art' would be nothing. So many thanks to you all, a very key ingredient to our production. I'd also if I may, take the opportunity to thank the House Managers and ushers, who keep the peace, tidy the theatre, become the welcoming faces at the start of the night and especially to the House Managers and Todd and Rachael in the box office who look after the theatre as we thrash about on stage. Oh and a big thanks to anyone who has kept up with my waffle, poor spelling and lapses in grammar. Oh and before I forget a big thank you to Jon and his willingness to talk about his experiences at The Market Theatre in Soweto in the 70's and 80's.

So if you had read my last blog, I described how I tried to avoid direct emotional experience to enhance the performance. Unfortunately, I didn't say it was unavoidable, did I? Also while working so closely with Will for so long, there are now those moments on stage where I don't know if it's 'in the moment' or the fact that as I've shared the company so long with this incarnation of Andre, that I really do get very choked with emotion at the end, and as a by product I can't help reflecting on my friends and loved ones that I have lost in my life.

As for talking about losing my Dad, I thought about that for a snap second on Saturday, and I nearly lost the plot, so I will stick to thinking of my character's father in future, and after all isn't that what having the God given gift of imagination is all about. That after all is what part of the challenge of acting is - the use of imagination.

One thing that I should report, last night as Andre was saying 'To be or not to be', I lapsed into dwelling on one friend I lost recently. Guardsman Darryl Hickey KIA in Helmand, Afghanistan 2007. So I suppose Daz, that one was for you. I also want to add that once again this has been one of my most treasured Theatrical experiences and I will always be in debt to Mr. Lyman. After all 'Everybody loves Will'. (If you have been to the talkbacks you'd really know what I'm talking about, although yes there is a little bit of inspiration to Raymond.)

Well must go.

Yours Aye,
Ross

1-15-2009 OPENING NIGHT!

We are open! Many final things were ironed out in tech and previews (during which I was too busy working on the show to blog much) and now the final product is up and running.

Rick got a standing ovation for his curtain speech, which was another touching Boston theatre moment.

I had a great time with this cast and production team and look forward to working with everyone again in future productions. My next two New Rep projects are a staged reading of my play, The Devil’s Own Game next month as part of New Voices @ New Rep, and composing the violence for Fool for Love, directed by Bridget Kathleen O’Leary which will go up at Downstage @ New Rep in March.

12-30-08 – Staging Nazi Scenes

One of the things we worked on today was the song “I Don’t Care Much,” in which the Emcee will appear bruised and with his arm in a sling and there will be Nazi guards in the club. This is also the scene that will include the biggest fight in the show, which I’ll choreograph later in the process.

One thing we’re working on in this scene is the placement of the guards. We tried a few variants. The first was Nazi guard would stand at attention on either side of the Emcee scanning the club. The sense of threat this created was interesting, but the option we decided on (which you’ll see in the production itself) is that the guards are off duty, sitting at tables in the club, drinking with everyone else, and being rowdy. And that their rowdiness would be an obvious problem that no one else in the club would do anything about. This was a very different sort of threat and made more sense for what we were doing with the rest of the scene.

Something that really struck me about the character work in this play is the way Paul Giragos is approaching the character of Ernst. Cabaret is popular enough musical that I don’t think I’m spoiling it for anybody reading this if I reveal that Ernst turns out to be a rather highly placed Nazi. And yet, this is one of the funniest and most charming characters throughout most of the play. I think that that is one of the things that makes the threat most real, and most powerful. The people who became Nazis did not start their lives as monsters, things happened that led them to go down that road. That said, Paul is playing him as an affable playboy who really believes in his cause. We really want to like Ernst, so the moment that we find out he’s a Nazi it really feels like a betrayal. I always felt that this sort of thing is one of the strongest humanist aspects of stage work. Putting a live face and a realistic and likable character on someone involved in what I can only describe as criminal politics has the potential to create a powerful impact on the audience. It’s a common strategy to dehumanize one’s opponents in war and politics. How much more would we learn as a society if we made it a more common practice to humanize those holding opposing viewpoints instead?

First Rehersal

Wow! After the first day of rehearsal for SANTALAND, I’m very excited, a little exhausted, and more than a little terrified. A one man show is a huge lift and just learning the lines is a full time job. The good news is that it’s such a funny script and Chris Webb (the director) and Sara Johnson (the stage manager) and I are already having a blast. None of us have been involved in New Rep’s past successful productions of SANTALAND, so we’re discovering it for the first time and making it up as we go. In any case, I feel confident that we're going to have a terrific show, and I'm really happy to be working for the first time at New Rep. I’d write more, but my script is staring at me and shrieking, “LEARN ME!!!!!!!” More soon!

Kraig

Pieces

The news from home is terrible. The death count is awful.

Stacy and I stopped each other in the hall in between costume fittings the other day and hugged. We felt speechless.

In the midst of rehearsal madness and trying to work on my lines, Suzana and I asked ourselves if telling this particular story is the right thing to do now, with all the chaos happening in Israel and Palestine. For a moment, we didn't know if we're supposed to respond to what's happening or to the story we're trying to tell. A story that took place fourteen years ago in a very different Middle East.

We searched for advice. We called a lot of people. We thought for a long time.

Then, we remembered a speech by a character in a play of mine called This Bloody Mess, a play that Suzana and I worked on last summer:


Emma: How to stay engaged with the world after you’ve given up on it:
You work with what you got. Even if it looks like nothing. Even if it evaporates just when you get there. You work with what you got. Even if it explodes in your face every time. If you look closely, there is always bit of a thing there, inside the nothing, I mean. And inside the blood and the rocks and the ashes and the grief and the stupidity of it all and the waste, the terrible waste and the mistakes and the tears, all the tears. Inside that there is a bit of a some-thing.
(Pause)
The Buddhists believe everything is nothing, everything is a big void and in that, there is everything. Complicated. But in the huge nothingness, there is a bit of a thing, of a some-thing, and you hold on to that as well you can and then you run with it. Because that’s all you have and the rest is really nothing: stasis, paralysis, that’s truly frightening.
(Pause)
And sometimes, when needed, you hold on as if you’re holding on to your life, to other people’s lives, to what you believe inside is real and true and how it should be. You hold on to what you know, because that’s a bit of a thing right there – what you know. You take a long and deep breath and you hold on to this planet. You hold on and you never let go.

Now go.

We decided to tell our story as best we can.

Peace,

Zohar.

Pieces

Tuesday was the first day of rehearsals. In the afternoon, after our meet and greet, the cast and crew for both plays settled in for a joint rehearsal. Stacy read My Name is Rachel Corrie and I read Pieces. Hearing the two plays back to back with all of us in the room was astounding and intense. I felt myself want to sink into a deep despair. The Middle East and despair are not foreign concepts to me, not on a personal level nor on a political one. Sitting there, however, listening to the riveting Stacy Fischer read Rachel's words, it occurred to me there is real value in all of this. I'm not trying to fool myself into thinking that the theatre can single handedly fix the Israeli/ Palestinian conflict, but I was able to appreciate the fact that through telling these two very different stories, we're raising the questions and we're willing to sit with "the beast."

The Middle East is a many many things. It's filled with people and life and joy and pain. It is also scary and big and the situation is currently dire. This is why even in our little theatre, something happened, because, on Tuesday, together, we were willing to listen.

Peace,

Zohar.

Pieces

The following are excerpts from what I call "Picking up Pieces." Pieces was first written and performed in NYC on 2000. These excepts attempt to document the process of re-engaging with the play for the upcoming production at New Rep (in conjunction with "My Name is Rachel Corrie"), and as a result, re-engaging with a very different Middle East.

Director Suzana Berger, and I in the midst of our last New York workshop before we go up to New Rep on Monday. Over the last months we've had a long process of working on the play both in New York and in San Francisco. It has been fascinating process. At first, the thought of delving into a play I wrote eight years ago was utterly intimidating, not to mention performing in it. I was wracking my brain trying to figure out what to say, and how to take a story about 94' and make it meaningful today, after all that has happened in Israel/Palestine since.

We're finding our way, some things are not resolved yet, and other parts we feel confident about. We're hoping everything will come into a sharper focus once we're in our official rehearsals at New Rep.

Pieces

The following are excerpts from what I call: Picking Up Pieces. Pieces was first written and performed in NYC in 2000. These excerpts attempt to document the process of re-engaging with the play for the upcoming production at New Rep (in conjunction with My Name is Rachel Corrie), and as a result, re-engaging with a very different Middle East.

Director Suzana Berger and I are in the midst of our last New York workshop before we go up to New Rep on Monday. Over the last months we've had a long process of working on the play both in New York and in San Francisco. It's been fascinating. At first, the thought of delving into a play I wrote eight years ago was utterly intimidating, not to mention performing in it. I wracked my brain trying to figure out what to say, and how to take a story about 1994 and make it meaningful today, after all that has happened in Israel/Palestine since.

The more we work, the less scared I feel. We're finding our way, a couple parts are not resolved yet, while we feel more confident about others. We're hoping everything will come into a sharper focus once we're officially rehearsing at New Rep.

More on all of that soon. I'm looking forward to the drive up and to meeting everyone at the theatre. My wish is that we will all create a true theatrical exchange together. A dialogue.

Peace,

Zohar.

The Santaland Diaries makes New Rep history!

For the first time in New Rep history, a show sold out before opening night! In fact, The Santaland Diaries has been so popular that we've extended the run until January 1st and added several late-night shows. The tickets for these new shows are going fast, so don't miss your chance.

Above: Guy Olivieri is Crumpet, the wickedly funny Macy's elf.

First Rehearsal: White People

February 27, 2007

First Rehearsal: No matter how many times I do this, it always feels like the first day of school. We followed the usual procedures: Contract Signing, Election of Union Deputy, Design Presentations, Director’s Introduction, and Read Through. Adding to the butterflies was the fact that, as a director, I’d never worked with anybody in the room before. The actor’s have given beautiful auditions, but don’t know them as people. Are they nice? Are they easy to work with? Are they open to direction?

Despite the fact that this was the first company meeting, so much work has already been done. J. Michael Griggs (Set Designer) and I have already completed the “Design Development” phase of the production. A picture of the set is available here:

http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/%7Ejmgriggs/portfoliopages/wp.html.

It has already been modified from this model, but the link gives a good idea of the environment we’ve created for the piece.

Scott Nason (Sound Designer), David Kahn (Lighting Design), and I have also had design meetings, and many of the decisions that affect the look and feel of the production have already been made. Those choices have been immensely helpful to me. With this short rehearsal process, I’ve been obligated to block the whole play in my head (and on paper) before we start. This “traffic pattern” evolved slowly over the past couple of weeks, as the result of reading and re-reading the text while staring at photographs of the model. It might change once we get into the rehearsal hall, but having a plan from which to depart saves time over discovering the blocking organically in rehearsal. It’s a first mark on the canvas.

Read-Through was a powerful experience. Hearing the piece aloud for the first time is always a revelation. It’s the actors’ first mark on the canvas, and helps me identify how to work with them to help them and their characters through the journey they take through the play.

As an actor myself, I’m always fascinated by the prospect of helping another performer around and through the “actor traps” in a play. When you are performing you have to sacrifice perspective in order to live in the immediate present of your character. As a director, I can see and diagnose things in a performance that I would never be able to spot in my own work as an actor. Going back and forth between the two disciplines, I believe, has helped me become better at both. They inform one another.

With the remaining time I held forth for about 20 minutes about how I like to work, and then we plunged into the text. We didn’t get very far before we had to stop, but in that time I could tell that the actors are lovely, generous people (they almost always are), open to input, and willing to work outside their comfort zone in the exploration of this play; a promising first day of school.

- Diego Arciniegas