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Review: Last Life

The self-proclaimed "fightsical" Last Life (which premieres as part of the Brick Theater's current Fight Fest series) is a violent, post-apocalyptic tale of the quest for revenge following a cataclysmic loss. Co-created by director Timothy Haskell and playwright Eric Sanders, this collaborative effort plays intriguingly with form and structure and offers numerous visceral thrills, but often fails to connect together in a coherent way.

The intentionally fractured and disjointed narrative recounts the sadistic death throes of a small group of survivors who battle each other for control and dominance following an unnamed Armageddon. The play begins with Vadir (Taimak Guarriello, who rabid fight fans will recognize from Berry Gordy's cult classic kung-fu flick The Last Dragon) dramatically vowing to seek vengeance on his enemies. Vadir is being held captive by a rogue's gallery of hostile characters—including the frenzied leader Fenrir (Jo-anne Lee), her drug-addled sister Urir (Soomi Kim), the brutal torture expert Alcindor (Alyxx Wilson), and a cannibalistic psychopath with extensive facial skin grafts aptly known as SkinFace (Aaron Haskell).

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now that the blood has dried...

Well, another Blood Brothers has come and gone. Thanks to everyone who came out and supported us again this year. Patrick and I (and the entire Nosedive crew) had a blast putting The New Guignol together.

I have a couple of things lined up for the next few months. In mid-December I'll be directing the fourth episode of Entrenched, Nosedive's entry in the Vampire Cowboy's Grand Saloon. I've been incredibly impressed with the work Patrick, Adam Swiderski and Matt Gray have done with the previous episodes in the series... I'll definitely have to bring my A-game.

I'm also planning on finally finishing the revamped Nosedive site. When I relaunched it a year ago last August, only the last half dozen shows had individual pages. I've expanded it to include many of the earlier shows over the past year, but there are still 5 early Nosedive shows that don't have pages up. Additionally, in anticipation of the Nosedive 10 year anniversary coming up in early 2010, I have a number of graphic design projects kicking around in the works.

And sleep. Boy, am I catching up on a lot of sleep these days. Running back to back from Infectious to Brokenhearteds to Blood Bros was amazing, but it wore me the hell out. Wouldn't trade it though... Immensely proud of all three shows.

In the meantime, check out some of the excellent production photos from the New Guignol (taken by our fantastic designers, Daniel Winters and Sarah Riffle). Enjoy!

One Week Until The Blood Flows...

The Blood Brothers present...

The New Guignol

The Brick Theatre

575 Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn, NY

Wednesday, October 28th - Saturday, October 31st, 8pm

new plays by

Danny Bowes - James Comtois - Mac Rogers

featuring

Ryan Andes* - Becky Byers - Rebecca Comtois

Jessi Gotta* - Stephen Heskett - Robert Leeds*

Marsha Martinez - Ben VandenBoom - Cotton Wright*

*appears courtesy Actor's Equity Association

directed by

Pete Boisvert - Rebecca Comtois

Stephanie Cox-Williams - Abe Goldfarb

Matt Johnston - Patrick Shearer

The New Guignol

We've had the basic details up on the Nosedive site for about a week now, but I thought I would add an update here as well. Patrick and I have been madly combing through news articles the last 6 months, searching for the perfect source material. Scripts are coming in from the writers now, and what we've seen so far has been incredibly exciting. I've got high hopes for this fourth installment of the Blood Brothers series.

The Blood Brothers present...

The New Guignol

Featuring new plays by Danny Bowes, James Comtois and Mac Rogers

directed by Pete Boisvert and Patrick Shearer

The Brick Theatre

575 Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn, NY

Tuesday, October 27th - Saturday, October 31st, 8pm

More details coming soon...

Brokenhearteds in Rehearsal

We're four days in to rehearsals for The Brokenhearteds, and things have been clicking along nicely. This show is a very different experience for me... For the first time in about seven years I'm not producing myself, so I'm able to keep my focus solely on the direction. The cast is excellent... I've watched most of these guys in various Vampire Cowboys shows for years now, and it's great to get a chance to work with them first hand.

Here's the postcard for the show. Not my work... our lighting designer Daniel Winters did the photography and graphic design for the card. I love how it came out.