Speed Demons at the Grand Saloon

This weekend , Vampire Cowboys brings back its extremely popular series, THE SATURDAY NIGHT SALOON, a monthly party at THE BATTLE RANCH featuring brand new genre-bending serialized plays by NYC's hottest indie theatre artists. The shows hit every first Saturday night of the month from September to January. It's always free, the all-you-can-drink beer (or until we run out) is always only a mere five dollars, and the shows are always inventive. So why go drink at a bar when you can party at the Saloon?

NEXT SALOON:

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6th, 2008 at 8pm
At THE BATTLE RANCH

405 Johnson Avenue (Williamsburg, Brooklyn)

(2.5 blocks from Morgon stop off L train)

For a map, CLICK HERE!

FREE ADMISSION!
THEATRE WITHOUT RERUNS!

Featuring six all-new exciting serialized plays by:

James Comtois

Co-Artistic Director of Nosedive Productions

Author of Pinkie*; Colorful World; The Adventures of Nervous Boy

Megan Mostyn-Brown

Member of LAByrinth Theater Company

Author of The Secret Lives of Losers; Girl; Going After Alice

A Rey Pamatmat

Member of the Ma-Yi Writers Lab

Author of Deviant; Beautiful Day; Thunder Above, Deeps Below

Robert Ross Parker

Co-Artistic Director of Vampire Cowboys Theatre Company

Author of Jimmy Starshooter Must Get Laid*

Mac Rogers

Member of Gideon Productions

Author of Universal Robots; Hail Satan; Fleet Week

Webb Wilcoxen

Member of LAByrinth Theater Company & Developing Artists Theatre Company

Author of Patsy Stufflebean Meets The Kentucky Demon*; The Fairy Tale Project; Billy Sleepyhead

MC'd by Jeff Lewonczyk & Hope Cartelli

Co-Artistic Directors of Piper McKenzie Productions & The Brick Theater

Saturday Night Saloon Schedule:

Saturday, September 6th, 2008

Saturday, October 4th, 2008

Saturday, November 1st, 2008

Saturday, December 6th, 2008

Saturday, January 3rd, 2009

New Show and New Site

Two really exciting pieces of news to announce. First off, we have the official green light for our Blood Brothers show. The show is called The Blood Brothers present... The Master of Horror, and it's going to be a real doozy... we've received the rights for our playwrights to adapt a series of Stephen King stories for the stage! We're all very, very excited about this opportunity, of course. Been negotiating for the rights for most of the summer, and we're psyched to finally go public with our plans.

If you want to find out more about The Master of Horror, you can keep an eye for more details... at the all new and improved Nosedive website! Yup, after 8 years we've finally dumped the frames and gone all javascripty on ya. The site has been relaunched as of last night, and I'm pretty tickled with the results. We'll be adding older productions in the coming months, as well as the latest info on The Master of Horror as it becomes available. For now feel free to take a look around, kick the tires and bask in the drop down goodness.

Patrick and I are going back for round two of auditions tonight... Hopefully we'll have the cast list and press release out in a couple of days. It's gonna be an exciting fall...

Review: 2 By Sinner

2 By Sinner
reviewed for nytheatre.com

Good surrealism is hard to pull off. It's all too easy for it to come across as too abstract, too self-conscious, or just plain too weird. It's exciting, then, to catch the polished and well-crafted 2 By Sinner, which achieves a near perfect balance, avoiding these pitfalls.

The title of the evening refers to John Sinner, a surrealist painter and theatre artist from Los Angeles. Sinner pulls triple duty in the evening, writing, directing, and sharing acting duties with Betsy Moore in two short plays.

If you're in the mood for tightly executed surrealism, it would be well worth your time to check out 2 By Sinner. It's certainly a strange evening of theatre, but Moore and Sinner carry the audience through with great skill.

(continues here)

Review: Too Much Memory

Too Much Memory
reviewed for nytheatre.com

An adaptation of an adaptation, Too Much Memory is a modern retelling of the tale of Antigone. Loosely based on Jean Anouilh's World War II-era take on the Greek myth, co-writers Keith Reddin and Meg Gibson firmly plant the conflict between Antigone and Creon in the present, with reflections on enemy combatants, suicide bombers, and the restriction of civil liberties in a time of war.

On balance, Reddin and Gibson's adaptation is an effective and engaging political thriller. The acting is of truly high caliber, especially the performances by Heisler, Moran, Cancelmi, and Ray Anthony Thomas as the soldier Jones. Gibson directs the play with energy and zeal. Although the play dances right up to the line of political polemic, it avoids triteness through it's emotionally honest portrayal of the characters' humanity. In his opening monologue Moran's Chorus describes an obligation to speak up in an oppressive political environment. Too Much Memory speaks loudly, and knows exactly what it wants to say.

(continues here)

As You Like It

Got to see Boomerang's production of As You Like It this past weekend. Directed by Matt Johnston, there are a ton of Nosedive folks involved. A really fun, lighthearted production... I enjoyed it a lot. Performance info below, or click here to check out some photos from Saturday's performance.

Boomerang Theatre Company presents

AS YOU LIKE IT
by William Shakespeare

Directed by Matt Johnston

Starring Rebecca Comtois, Michael Criscuolo, Jessi Gotta, John Greenleaf, Paul Hamilton, Brian Moore, Eli Schneider, Maria Silverman, Alisha Spielmann, Christian Toth, Matthew Trumbull, and Scott Williams

Performed FREE and outdoors in Central Park
(enter at West 69th Street and Central Park West)

Saturdays and Sundays at 2pm, July 19th - August 10th

http://www.boomerangtheatre.org/productions/08asyoulikeit.html

"Rosalind is banished and dressed as a boy. Orlando is on the run but smitten by a girl he saw fleetingly at court. Phebe is in love with Rosalind's male persona. Touchstone is in love with Audrey the milkmaid. Audrey...well, she's none too bright. But that's okay, because Celia is in love with bad boy Oliver. And among all this lovin', Jaques wants none of it. Shakespeare's beloved play about the power and verity of amour, presented free and out of doors in lovely Central Park!"

Review: Striptease Into the Trip to Bahia Blanca

Striptease Into the Trip to Bahia Blanca
reviewed by Pete Boisvert for nytheatre.com

As the audience gathers before the show, we are told that the performance of Striptease Into The Trip To Bahia Blanca begins immediately upon entrance to the theatre. Moving into the darkened space, a figure is vaguely discernible. A woman sits onstage wearing sunglasses and an exotic hat, holding a bouquet of flowers awkwardly to one side. Above her is a projected video image of an unblinking eye, staring out at the audience. An audio track plays a quiet cacophony of voices, guitar music, and various bits of sound collage.

The evening proper consists of two one-act plays by Argentine playwright Griselda Gambaro, both of which center around the character of an actress. We begin with The Trip to Bahia Blanca, where a diva basks in the glow of a successful performance.

(continues here)