Reviews of “The Enchanted Realm of René Magritte”

I created shadow puppetry, masks, and a giant fish head for this surreal production on Governors Island this summer with Exquisite Corpse Company.

Here are two reviews of the production that commented on the work of the various  artists involved in the production.

“The art direction deserves a standing ovation for the ingenious design of the house’s eight rooms. Those visuals guide the audience just as much as the dialogue. Magritte’s iconography threads vividly through every room, floating umbrellas and green apples and masked bodies, even the giant mouth of a trout in a room in which every inch of the walls is covered in seashells.”   –   Brooklyn Based, Regina Mogilevskaya

Photos: Al Rodriguez Photography

“As you follow the actors into various rooms in this house which is for sale, you understand that the house is a larger metaphor for Magritte’s history and consciousness. The rooms symbolize or evoke the disparate intellectual, physical, intimate soulish aspects of Magritte’s identity.” – Blog Critics: The Critical Lens on Todays Culture and Entertainment, Carole Di Tosti 

The production also received a shout out in Extended Play, the  weekly roundup of theater from around the world that falls under the realm of investigative, immersive or interactive theater.

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Performances of The Enchanted Realm of René Magritte will run every Saturday and Sunday at 1pm and 4pm through Sept. 25. Tickets are $15 and sell out quickly.  Check it out!

 

 

 

 

 

“Is This Seat Taken?” Available with Big Dog Plays!

Check out this fun collection of monologue for young performers, “Is This Seat Taken,” available with Big Dog Plays!

All seats will be taken for this side-splitting monologue Is This Seat Taken?  This collection is this seat taken?features a marvelous myriad of socially awkward characters and situations. There’s the new kid who has a tendency to talk too much, a teen who thinks her messy bedroom is actually an efficient organizational system, a bookish student who wants the theme for the spring dance to be “Dancing Under the Amoebas,” an insecure girl who can’t figure out what to wear to a sleepover, and an art student who turns in a blank piece of paper as her self-portrait. Wildly funny and easy to perform, all ten monologues can be performed on a bare stage with minimal props.

“My Fair Dragon” now at Big Dog Plays!

My new play, “My Fair Dragon,” is now available with Big Dog Plays!

King Cuthbert and Queen Priscilla have to break the bad My fair to Princess My fair dragonPoppy: She can’t keep her pet dragon Dimpleton in the castle anymore. The monster just isn’t fit for palace life. He knocks everything over with his giant tail, he belches fire at the dinner table, and he accidentally burned down the royal apple orchard. To help Dimpleton adjust to palace life, Princess Poppy asks Prince Charming to give Dimpleton a crash course on castle charm and etiquette. Prince Charming tries to show Dimpleton how to introduce himself without roaring, how to dance in the ballroom without looking like he is circling prey, and how to smile without bearing his teeth menacingly or burping fire at the dinner table. Dimpleton tries his best to be the perfect palace pet, but he is a dragon after all!

“Happily Ever After’s Dating Show” with Big Dog Plays!

Happily Ever After Dating ShowA new fairy tale comedy, “Happily Ever After’s Dating Show,” is now available with Big Dog Plays!

Welcome to the dating show where contestants find the prince or princess of their dreams and live happily ever after…um, well, maybe? Little Red Riding Hood gets to select from an Happily Ever After Dating Show“impressive” group of bachelors including a hyperactive gingerbread man, a shepherd boy who is a pathological liar, and a ravenous wolf who likes wearing sheep’s clothing. Then there’s Prince Charming, an inspirational speaker and author of several best-selling self-help books who must choose between Cinderella, a holistic health nut, or her spoiled, whiny stepsisters who have stinky feet and like to shop and party. Snow White’s bachelors include Rumpelstiltskin, a frog who advocates for wetland preservation, and her own stepmother, who has disguised herself as a bachelor so she can trick Snow White into eating a poisoned apple. Rip-roaring, riotous fun!

“Fairy Fort” with Big Dog Plays!

511Check out one of my new play, “Fairy Fort,” just released with Big Dog Plays!

In this fairytale spoof of the reality TV show “Shark Tank,” fairytale characters present business proposals to judges with the hope of achieving happily ever after. Contestants include an evil witch who pitches a new, improved sleeping potion for those suffering from putrid princess infestations. A wolf shows off his portable wind turbine machine powerful enough to blow down brick houses. Rumpelstitskin offers up a spinning wheel that spins straw into gold. Two childless Bakers request an enchanted oven that can turn gingerbread cookies into children. For use in the pest control industry, the Pied Piper promotes an enchanted pipe that lures away all types of vermin. And self-described footwear-o-phile elves request backing for cobbling their own line of fashionably chic shoes. Judges include a dragon, a fairy godmother, an enchantress, a witch with a skincare line for removing warts, and even the bestselling self-help author Prince Charming!

Photos from Moonlit Wings Productions rehearsals for Fairy Fort.

“The Black Triangle,” Now on Indie Theatre Now

Check out one of my favorite plays, The Black Triangle, now on Indie Theatre Now.

A young lawyer seeking self-definition, as well as ghosts, in today’s fragmented, digital culture, finds challenges and direction in the 100-year-old history of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.

The Black Triangle was originally produced with Truant Arts as part of “Chaos Under Construction,” at Access Theatre, in NYC, in October 2013.

Photos by Kristen Felicetti

 

 

“The Twine” available on Indie Theatre Now

Check out my one act play, The Twine, now available on Indie Theatre Now!

The play explores the nature of memory, the subconscious mind, loss, and how we perceive and experience love. A young woman is stumbling through a labyrinth in an attempt to kill the Minotaur. She encounters various creatures from Greek mythology. Her only companion is a mute, stoic woman carrying a ball of twine.

Poster Design by Cecilia Roberts

Photographs from the production at The Secret Theatre, part of the Unfringed Festival, August 2013.

 

24 Hour Writing Challenge with The Bechdel Group

I will be a playwright for the upcoming 24 Hour Writing Challenge with The Bechdel Group.

The Bechdel Group shares work that challenges the portrayal of women in film and on stage.

This bi-annual 24 Hour Writing Challenge will take place Monday, July 25th at the Back Room at Jimmy’s No. 43 (43 East 7th Street in the East Village). From 6:00 -9:00 pm, actors will cold read the ten minute plays.  Come check out our work!

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Installations, Masks, and Puppetry for “The Enchanted Realm of Rene Magritte”

I will be creating masks, puppetry, and an installation on Governors Island as part of the Exquisite Corpse Company‘s production, “The Enchanted Realm of Rene Magritte.”

Inspired by the work of surrealist painter, Rene Magritte, “The Enchanted Realm of Rene Magritte” will feature performance and installation set in an 8 room mansion on Governors Island. Eight playwrights have come together to create a beautifully surreal story of love and memory; one that will weave audiences in and out of these spectacular rooms. Magritte’s three panel mural The Enchanted Realm serves as our source material. Join us, on the island, for a journey inside the mind of this surreal man.

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“Fairy Fort” with Moonlit Wings Productions

My hilarious fairy tale spoof of the TV show “Shark Tank,” titled, “Fairy Fort,” was selected by Moonlit Wings Productions for their East Coast summer arts camp.

Break a leg!

“Fairy Fort,” is available exclusively through Big Dog Plays.

Friday, July 22, 2016
Falls Church, VA:
Providence Recreation Center

Friday, August 5, 2016
McLean, VA:
Churchill Elementary

Friday, August 19, 2016
Springfield, VA:
Sangster Elementary

Cast of “Fairy Fort,” at the Providence Recreation Center.