Infectious Opportunity

Nosedive Productions
in association with The Brick Theater
presents

Infectious Opportunity

A new play by James Comtois
directed by Pete Boisvert

Wes Farley, a screenwriter known for having HIV, is enjoying national attention with his latest film.

There’s only one problem: he's faked his illness for the past 10 years to boost his career, and is now slowly comprehending the drawbacks of his plan.

With the help of his friend Josie, Wes revisits his past and sees how an ill-advised white lie early in life ensnared him in his current situation.

featuring
Rebecca Comtois ~ DR Hanson ~ Daryl Lathon* ~ David Ian Lee*
Ronica Reddick* ~ Andrea Marie Smith ~ Matthew Trumbull*

Sunday, June 7th at 5pm
Tuesday, June 9th at 8pm
Saturday, July 1st at 9pm
Friday, July 3rd at 7pm

Part of The Antidepressant Festival

Tickets on sale soon!

Soul Samurai Wrapup

Last night was the final performance of The Vampire Cowboys and Ma-Yi's production of Soul Samurai. Working on this show has been an absoulute blast. I always say the thing I love about the Cowboys is that they never make bad shows. They truly stepped up their game this time though, delivering one of the msot amazing nights of theatre I've ever seen (much less had the chance to work on). Thank you to Qui, Robert, Abby and everyone else at VC and Ma-Yi for the chance to work on such a great show.

Over the last week I worked with Stage Manager Kat West to mix up some images for a production CD as a a cast gift. Below are a few of the design pieces.

Nosedive's Disturbing Burlesque

Nosedive's Disturbing Burlesque

Lovely Ladies. Bastard Host. Disturbing Company.

featuring unwholesome performances by
Dirty Diva ~ Madame Rosebud
Nasty Canasta ~ Sapphire Jones

hosted by
Bastard Keith

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009
Doors open at 9pm ~ Show at 10pm
$20 Admission

Under St Marks Theatre
94 St. Marks Place, between 1st & Ave A

All Proceeds From This One-Night-Only
Fundraising Event Go To Nosedive's Spring Play,
Infectious Opportunity

Speed Demons - Rust In Peace

Last Saturday the Vampire Cowboy's held their final installment of this season's Grand Saloon, including Nosedive's episodic Faustian Road Trip serial, Speed Demons. As always, we had a blast working with the Cowboys on this project. I wanted to take a moment to thank the cast and crew of Speed Demons for making this such an exciting project to work on. Our fantastic cast of actors included Christopher Yustin, Daryl Lathon, Leah Carrell, James Comtois, Jon Hoche, Nick Micozzi, Scott Williams, Christian Toth, Stephanie Cox-Williams and Qui Nguyen.

Additionally, Speed Demons was an interesting new experiment for me as a director. Because of conflicts with Master of Horror, I only directly the first and final episodes of the series. The three episodes in between were directing by Matt Johnston, Abe Goldfarb and Patrick Shearer, each of whom brought their own unique style to the series. It was fantastic to see what each of them made of their episode, and a really unique challenge to try to bring all of the elements they established together for the final episode.

I also wanted to single out several Nosedivians who really went to bat for us on this project. Speed Demons relied heavily on music and sound effects throughout it's run, and Patrick Shearer provided an amazing sound design for each episode (as he always does). Marc Landers, Ben VandenBoom and Qui Nguyen made sure we got a video record of each performance, which we were able to post on our website in more or less real time, so that audience members could catch up on any episodes they had missed. Stephanie Cox-Williams performed triple duty as an actor, stage manager/showrunner and prop and car designer.

And most of all, I want to thank Abby Marcus, Qui Nguyen, Robert Ross-Parker and the rest of the Vampire Cowboys for including Nosedive in this exciting project. We look forward to working with them again in the near future! In the mean time, go check out the Cowboys new full length play, Soul Samurai, which is opening February 14th.

(I've included videos of the Speed Demons episodes below, for your viewing pleasure...)

Speed Demons — Episode 1

Video by Ben VandenBoom

Speed Demons — Episode 2

Video by Marc Landers

Speed Demons — Episode 3

Video by Qui Nguyen

Speed Demons — Episode 4

Video by Marc Landers

Speed Demons — Episode 5

Video by Marc Landers

Review: Chair

It should be no surprise that Chair, the new Edward Bond play freshly opened at the Duke on 42nd Street, is no cheery romp through the Garden of Earthly Pleasures. Bond has a well-earned notoriety for writing brutal, terrifying plays and Chair certainly lives up to that reputation. Bond's theme here is the dehumanization of the individual by the state, and he pursues this theme with a steadfast resolve.

Director and longtime Bond collaborator Robert Woodruff keeps the tone of the play cool and distant throughout. Featuring a brutally minimalist set designed by David Zinn, the stage is stripped down to appear almost naked. Mark Barton's light design complements this bleakness with a cold, crisp palette. Long, blank white walls are broken up by child-like crayon drawings, scribbled on large pieces of paper. A small table and a few chairs give something of an anchor to the set, but the sparse expanse seems to engulf the actors throughout the show.

The horror of Chair doesn't come in spurts of blood or passionate emotion. Rather, the dread imbued in the audience is a barren and empty one. In a play where kindness is a capital offense, our connection to humanity is the first casualty.

(continues here)

Master of Horror Portfolio

Spent the last week or so putting together a final portfolio of scripts, reviews and photos from The Master of Horror to submit to King's people. I have the graphic design pieces posted up on The Master of Horror page on the Nosedive site now.

Next up: Adding show pages for the remaining missing shows (Hellcat, Allston, Ruins, etc) and starting work on the graphic novel projects.