Project #4 Unconventional Theatre

1.PANGAEAN DREAMS: A Shamanic Journey

The Lincoln Center Serious Fun Festival

7/25/91 Rachel Rosenthal

Ms. Rosenthal performing her shamanic journey.

http://www.rachelrosenthal.org/stuff.html

Rachel Rosenthal does a lot of these "unconventional" performances. She is the only one on stage, and there isn't as much as a narrative as there is a 64 year old bald woman playing around in dirt and preaching about how humans should be treating nature.

2.The Bacchae

Screaming Weenie Productions

January 18-29, 2005

Directed by Ilena Lee Cramer

Poster for the "Electronic Opera" in Vancouver

http://www.vancouverplays.com/theatre/reviews_theatre/review_bacchae_2005.htm

There are a number of peculiar and unconventional happenings in this production. The location in the words of critic Leanne Campbell, "The Weenies have created a theatre space in a most unlikely spot: a large room above a bakery on East 1st Avenue, near Main, in that funny little industrial area north of the car repair shops." A local DJ by the name of Tracey D serves as conductor for the piece. There is live "beat-dropping" on stage and some passages one might traditionally sing are now rapped. This Canadian Electronic Opera is clearly unconventional.

3.Ape

The Walker Art Center

March 18-29, 2009

Gary Stevens

British performer Gary Stevens (center) performs in Ape 

along with Julian Maynard Smith (left) and Wendy Houstoun.

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/03/17/stevens_ape/?refid=0

Gary Stevens has gone from singing the Teletubbies theme song, and helping with movement on the children's shows to confusing audiences all over Britain- and now the US. Gary Stevens says about his show, ""It's rather like some sort of alien who has seen a theater show once and decided to so on and got it wrong." The entirety is a jumbled sub-human affair with no formal script and constantly shifting roles depending on the deliveries of certain lines which the performers "repeat, respond and adapt what the others are saying." Sounds fun.

4. England

World Performance Project (WPP) at Yale

October 28-30, 2008

Tim Crouch

A publicity image for “England,” Tim Crouch’s two-act play

touching on the themes of art, wealth and the value of human life.

http://opa.yale.edu/news/article.aspx?id=6152

Premiering at the 2007 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, one can only expect unusual happenings in this show. It is set in an art gallery, so of course- the audience travels through one! The play is autobiographical in nature, so appropriately the playwright plays one of the two docents leading the audience and commenting on the artwork. The second act takes the audience into the theatre of the gallery where the rest of the heart transplant art murder mystery continues.

5. an oak tree

Presented by Perry Street Theatre Co.,

Rosalie Beer, A.J. Epstein and 

Richard Jordan Productions

 in association with Barrow Street Theatre

November 4th, 2006- February 2007

Tim Crouch

writer turns person into character!

http://www.newsfromnowhere.net/shows/an-oak-tree.html

 Tim Crouch again already- he must be quite the unconventional guy. Now this show just sounds amazing- Tim stars and plays everynight with another actor on stage. That other actor changes every night. The other actor has never read the script before. It's genius. He's had quite a few noteable guests on his stage including Mike Myers, Frances McDormand, and F Murray Abraham.

Too Hot To Handle

1. New York City Today- Broadway

    

What-  Jane Fonda in  "33 Variations" 

Where- Eugene O'Neill Theatre

When-  3/9/09-  5/24/09

Who-   Moises Kaufman

Vietnam war veterans protest outside of the Eugene O'Neill Theatre against Jane Fonda for her views on the Vietnam War.

Although this protest is not about the work itself, it still represents a controversy involving protest. The woman performing is causing the uproar, and that's not too different from a director staging a show in a way that would upset people- even if the staging wasn't in the script at all.

2. Naked Broadway

What- Tryst

Where- Promenade Theatre

When-  4/6/06 - 6/11/06

Who-   Amelia Campbell 

Amelia Campbell & Maxwell Caulfield 
(Photo: Jean Marie Guyaux)

What is not too hot to handle about nudity? It is not expected, and it appears. Tryst was the first show I ever saw with full frontal nudity. The nudity itself sparks interest in the play, and it may have even turned people off from seeing it.

3. Gay Broadway

What- Take Me Out

Where- Walter Kerr Theatre 

When- 2/27/03- 1/4/2004

Who- Daniel Sunjata & Denis O'Hare

Post infamous shower-scene in a production of Take Me Out

As much as this selection could double with its nudity factor, or triple with its racial factors, at its heart, this ball of controversy is mostly a gay show. The study of how a locker room changes when one man comes out as a homosexual is enough to make it "Too Hot To Handle".

4. Racist Broadway

What: Miss Saigon

Where: Broadway Theatre

When: (4/11/1991 - 1/28/2001)

Who: Johnathan Pryce

Apparently not "Asian-enough" for Protesters.

This one actually involved quite a bit of protest. Many Asian-Americans were upset at the decision to cast a white man in a prominent Asian-French role. Already having a hard enough time getting on stage because of their race, Jonathan Pryce really fired them up. Such signs were held that read, "''What next? Pryce as M.L. King?''

5. Raided or Closed

What: The Folly Theatre

Where: Kansas City, Missouri

When: 1940's

Who: Rose La Rose and many other Burlesque dancers

Mitzi, your typical Burlesque queen.

The Folly Theatre in the 1940's, like many Burlesque houses at the time, had a red light in the footlights to let the scantily-clad vixens know if a censor was in the house. This allowed them to tone down their acts ahead of time. Unfortunately, some dancers (Rose la Rose comes to mind) took this light as a dare to be as scandalous as possible. Subsquently, the Folly Theatre was raided on several occasions. 

6.Arrested

What:Henry VI, Part 1

Where: Portland, Oregon Northwest Classical Theatre Company

When: 9/6/03

Who: Thaddeus Carson

"Just before the curtain rose, the actor playing Lord Talbot was standing off to the side in full costume, swinging a sword. A startled off-duty police officer jogging past said, "Hey, man, be careful with that thing. "According to the police man, the actor began cursing loudly and brandishing the sword menacingly. The fleet-footed officer ran to a pay phone and dialled 911. Before you could say "enter stage left," the police arrived to arrest the faux-Elizabethan for menacing."

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/09/05/1062549019288.html?from=storyrhs

7.NEA 4

What: We Keep Our Victims Ready

Where:Alice Tully Hall

When: 7/22/1990

Who: Karen Finley

Finley's Famous Chocolate

Immediately after the Supreme Court's decision to deny funding for Holly Hughes, Tim Miller, John Fleck, and Karen Finley, the latter rips her conservative critics to shreds in her intense one woman show. Giving all the more attention to Finley, and garnering sympathy, I'm sure the Courts regret their decision.

8. Regional Theatre

What: Equus

Where: Asolo Repertory Theatre

When: 3/28/08- 5/4/08

Who: Juan Cardenas

"It's causing a whole lot of controversy all over the world. Peter Schaffer's stage play, "Equus" debuts Friday night at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, and the production team doesn't really understand what all the controversy is about."

http://www.mysuncoast.com/Global/story.asp?S=8080367 

Apparently, Equus is still a big deal. Just shows how ignorant people are. As mentioned, right in the article, as soon as Harry Potter appears nude- NOW everyone is familiar with Peter Shaffer. Because the recent Broadway production was all over the news, it's now fresh in everyone's minds and controversial enough to have an article written about it.

9.College/University

What: Sex Worker's Art Show

Where:VCU

When: February 2007

Who: VCU parents and state politicians

An ad for the show performed in the school's theatre.

It is funny to see the burlesque controversy from the 1940's rearing its ugly head almost 70 years later. It is nothing more than burlesque, and everyone is in a fit, complaining about their money going to such filth. History will always repeat itself, I guess.

10. High School

What: Rent (School Edition)

Where:California, Texas and West Virginia

When: 08-09 School Year

Who:Ron Martin

He said his principal, Fal Asrani, had objected to the show because of its treatment of “prostitution and homosexuality.” “When I heard that, I stopped her and looked her in the eye and said, ‘First, there is no prostitution in ‘Rent,’ and second, homosexuality is not wrong,’ ” Mr. Martin said. “She made no comment. It was the most demoralizing, disappointing moment in my career as a teacher.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/theater/20rent.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1

It makes sense that Rent in any form would worry a high school principal. Society is just not that open yet, and especially with such an immature age group. Still, I can't help but feel for that teacher after reading the quote.