RAISED BY LESBIANS

BY ROBERT SMITH

As a teenage boy, your primary concerns should be:

1. Your image,
2. The ongoing battle against pimples and zits, and
3. Thinking of sly ways to hide that your mother’s girlfriend is hotter than most of your friends.

Perhaps you don’t have to deal with the third situation, but Joe, the main character of RAISED BY LESBIANS, can’t avoid it. Most teenagers are embarrassed by their parents, but add to that Joe’s discomfort with his mother’s sexuality, and you’ve got a guy who will do just about anything to avoid any possible attention to his family. Joe’s anxiety actually stems from his own inability to accept where he is from and to be who he really is.

RAISED BY LESBIANS revolves around two central themes: acceptance and normality. Joe is dealing with the common teenage issues of growing up, creating an identity, and finding where he fits in. Joe yearns to be accepted by his peers, and thinks that living with two moms might affect his social standing in school. This leads him to consider living with his father and step-mom in a different state. By moving to his father’s house, Joe would have the opportunity to reinvent himself – and, most importantly, nobody would know about his gay mother. The meaning of “normal” is stretched to the limit when both Joe’s mother and father argue about which parental environment would be better for Joe.

The non-linear structure of RAISED BY LESBIANS is nevertheless well organized, and incorporates the present, the past (in flashbacks) and alternate realities (in dreams). I was especially impressed by Matthew Glogowski, who plays Joe. His commitment to the part creates a very authentic character. When I spoke with him after the show, he told me that he did a lot of research in order to present Joe in a realistic way. Not only did he draw from his own experiences as a teenager, but he also spoke with friends who dealt with similar issues to those faced by Joe.

I asked the director Dev Bondarin what she thought about the term “normal,” and she told me that normality is a socially constructed theme, but that does not preclude our fascination with it.

I recommend this show to everyone, but especially teenagers who imagine their parents must be the most embarrassing around.

RAISED BY LESBIANS is presented as part of FringeNYC. For more information visit www.raisedbylesbians.com

UNTITLED MASTERPIECE

BY SHONIQUE SALMON

UNTITLED MASTERPIECE is a comedy about love, success, and other lies you were told in college. The play opens with Joseph, the main character, just graduating with his Bachelors degree from college. His new found happiness is cut short when he realizes that he needs to make some money to pay off his college loans.

Joseph wants a job that makes a difference, but soon learns how difficult it is to find that kind of work. Joseph is stuck – he can’t get an apartment without a job, he can’t get a without experience, he can’t get experience without a job, and so on and so forth. Joseph is forced to move in with his friend from college, the cliché character who always slacked off in school, but still got the best grades. His friend shares the house with a Native American anarchist lesbian and a southern African American Hasidic bisexual.

In a twist of events, Joseph is thrown into a game show that mocks real life situations, such as finding a job and an apartment, meeting people, having sex, etc. In the end Joseph realizes that his life is pretty much dictated by the people surrounding him. He works to create his own identity and to find his own place in the world, and tells everyone to stop telling him what to do.

UNTITLED MASTERPIECE is a nice parody of real life after college. It had a lot of weird characters and crazy situations that you wouldn’t actually see in real life, yet at the same time, it portrayed realistic messages. The director also used interesting technique, such as breaking the fourth wall, to capture the audience’s attention. The actors were also very committed in their multiple roles.

UNTITLED MASTERPIECE by Patrick Flynn is presented as part of FringeNYC. For more information visit www.untitledmasterpiece.com

MARE COGNITUM

BY CHRISTA TANDANA

Three roommates with different perspectives are living on the verge of a war, observing protesters from their apartment above. Lena is an action-seeking girl with a wild imagination, Thomas is an atheist who grew up in a Christian family and Jeff is a socially awkward bookworm with a fascination in science. Lena wants to be a part of the protesters below. Out of a sense of helplessness, she resorts to using her imagination as an escape. She and Jeff start their own protests for their own causes, like the existence of Pluto and the Brontosaurus.

While they play, the outside protesters disperse and the bombing starts. There is nothing left to do. Lena once again turns to her imagination and takes Jeff, and eventually Thomas, on a trip to the moon. After several interruptions, they finally land, only to discover that the moon is barren and lifeless. As Jeff and Lena begin to see the earth rising, Thomas’s cell phone rings, bringing him back to reality. Lena pleads with him not to go, but loses.

There were some humorous parts scattered throughout this play. The acting was pretty good from all three actors, but I think the writer tried too hard to make it philosophical. I wouldn’t recommend this Mare Cognitum because it was a bit long and frustrating, mostly due to Lena’s nonsensical reasoning. I think that Lena needs to wake up from her childish dreams and face the world for what it is. Yes, it can be ugly at times, but surely going off to the moon isn’t going to help anyone.

Mare Cognitum is presented by Theatre of the Expendable as part of FringeNYC. For more information visit www.theatreoftheexpendable.org

@lice in www.onderland

BY SABRINA KHAN

@lice in www.onderland is a multimedia dance adaptation of Lewis Carrol’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The play links the modern society’s obsession with the internet to the drug induced dream world that Carroll and his Victorian counterparts may have engaged in. @lice in www.onderland portrays cyberland as a world of infinite possibilities and absurd realities, the imagination gone wild by the click of a mouse and key board.

Each chapter in the winding tale of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is performed in a clever way in @lice in www.onderland. For example, the white rabbit circles in and out on roller blades and the caterpillar is made of two women entangled by a single garment. All of the dancers are wonderful, fusing ballet and contemporary techniques that magically tell the story. In addition, the costumes and soundtrack truly complete the production, making it a feast for the eyes and ears.

@lice in www.onderland is as dazzling and frightening as the classic, successfully providing a view of the world wide web and our increasing fixation with it. The final words of the play ring true: “Cyberspace has become everyone’s wonderland.”

@lice in www.onderland is recommended for those who appreciate dance and fairytales. Carroll experts might also find this production interesting.

@lice in www.onderland is presented as part of FringeNYC. For more information visit www.onderland.net

FROM THE INSIDE, OUT

BY HANNAH PERRI

Cutting. Self injury. Self mutilation. All words that make me cringe. I was surprised that I was so comfortable with the play From the Inside, Out even though it is about self-injury. I was moved and given a new perspective on this sensitive subject.

The story focuses on a girl named Maggie. She and her father are eating at an empty Indian restaurant. Maggie has something she wants to tell her dad, but she doesn’t know how. She tells herself that she will count to 30 and then tell him. Maggie counts in her head while her dad discusses politics. She passes 30 and continues to count.

Maggie first tells us that she got a B in her Creative Writing class because of an essay that she wrote about hardship and growth. Maggie chose to write about her mother who had died a few years earlier. Although Maggie thought that her clever metaphors and perfect grammar made her paper perfect, her teacher said that there was no “meat” in it.

From there, Maggie guides us through her true-to-life hardships. She tells us of the times when she so desperately wanted to scream and tell others that she was a cutter. Other stories of self-injury are seamlessly woven into Maggie’s tale as she desperately struggles for the right way to tell her father.

From the Inside, Out is relevant to anyone who has ever felt inadequate and unable to ask for help. This show definitely has “meat.”

From the Inside, Out is presented by 4th Meal Productions as part of FringeNYC. For more information visit www.4thmealproductions.org

FACE [EVERY GOOD BOY DOES FINE]

BY CHRISTA TANDANA

FACE is a mixture of music and theatre created spontaneously by six actors and a jazz quartet. The actors open the show by asking the audience for a suggestion. This suggestion is then used as a theme for the performance. Every performance has a new audience and a new script, meaning that each show is a unique experience.

At the performance that I attended, the actors asked us what we were inspired by. Unsurprisingly, the answer was The Olympics. From that, the actors created the world of the play. A world that contains characters such as Michael Felps. That’s right, I said Felps, not Phelps.

I commend the actors and musicians of FACE on how well they worked together to create a continuous flow of dialogue and music. Unfortunately, in the process, they also confused me. FACE attempts to take many different stories and move from scene to scene smoothly. While I was waiting to laugh, I got lost when characters switched and stories changed. I was also expecting the Olympics to be incorporated a bit more than it was..

Fusing comedic and musical improvisation in one show is a great concept, but this production just doesn’t hit the mark. FACE left me perplexed and disappointed, but every performance is completely unique. So who knows? You might have a better experience.

FACE is presented as part of FringeNYC. For more information visit www.faceimprov.com

UNDERWEAR: A SPACE MUSICAL

BY HANNAH PERRI

Underwear. And space. In a musical. Together?

Not too far off in the future, the worlds of underwear modeling and space collide, creating witty jokes and catchy songs. Underwear: A Space Musical is a story about Dottie Smallton, a girl from Ohio (the planet), who ditches her old-fashioned home planet for Patricia’s Panties, the ultimate planet for underwear modeling. Dottie learns that on this planet, food is in pill form and models are forbidden by law to learn to read.

Dottie meets and falls for Andi, the underwear model, and teaches him to read even though it's a crime. Dottie and Andi discover that their manipulative boss, Patricia, plans to take over the world with mind-controlling underwear. Can they stop her in time? The play becomes a battle of good against evil as Dottie tries to save the world from Patricia’s schemes.

Underwear is a show for anyone who loves musicals. You will fall out of your seat laughing at all of the witty banter, great comedic timing and hilarious lyrics. The characters are also very loveable. Dottie has a warm naivety that contrasts nicely to the harsh modeling world, while Andi has an innocent simplicity to him. They mesh well together and have strong chemistry.

Underwear is a joy to watch. It will put a smile on your face and you will leave the theatre humming the musical numbers. I highly recommend checking out this show.

UNDERWEAR: A SPACE MUSICAL is presented as part of FringeNYC. For more information visit www.underwearaspacemusical.com