Jaybird - Michael & Lena

Pure, authentic and uplifting – writer/director Pel Tedder’s fine play, Jaybird & Hallelujah, is currently playing at the NoHo Actor’s Studio until Aug 7^th.

Jaybird & Hallelujah is a serio-comedy about the mysteries of the afterlife, in which several troubled souls share their touching stories.

Tedder’s play is set in Purgatory where a handful of characters assess their situation and examine what brought them to this stage of torment in limbo. Finding themselves stuck on a bus travelling through difficult terrain, this group of passengers each has their own cross to bear. What happens next – only God knows.

We meet a tough-talking, agitated young guy Willie (Eric Goldrich) and his affectionate, consoling girlfriend Adriana (Sarah Delpizzo) who urges him to seek out the silver lining. One velvet-smooth character, Swamp Rat (Greg L. Grass) also takes a positive outlook to their dilemma, spouting words of comfort in a self-deprecating fashion, such as, “I’m just an old man talkin’. You don’t have to listen to me. I’m just tryin’ to cheer you up.”

But there are icy roads and menacing rioters and weirdos at large, threatening their bus trip to the corner of Jaybird and Hallelujah Streets, where the doorway to Heaven may be found.

Some of these characters, including Lena the disgruntled bus driver (Danielle Lofton), have been on this cyclical journey for years and years, in search of their salvation. As Lena puts it, “There’s no going back. You are on this bus for a reason.” One nervy girl Cassie (Nelinda Palomino) is a newbie. She’s always cold because she died after freezing to death in a dumpster. Cassie’s story is especially heartrending. When the setting shifts from the bus to a diner, we see Cassie get a chance for something she’s been longing for her whole life. Here new lessons and tests are created for these lost souls to deal with as best they can.

Tedder tells me he was inspired to write this play after riding an LA city bus for a year and encountering a whole range of eccentric personalities. “In that job you see some extraordinary and crazy things,” he smiled. He had also heard a song that had the lyrics, ‘What if Heaven is just another door?’ and that got his brain humming about different interpretations of the afterlife. Within thirty minutes, Tedder says, he had outlined the main idea for his play.

jaybird - Cassie & Jewel 1

Most nights The Ukomo Theatre Project presents the same play with two different casts, therefore two different interpretations and strikingly different endings. It’s an interesting experiment and one that pays off.  Subtitled ‘The Redemption’ and ‘The Salvation,’ both these versions of Jaybird and Hallelujah will play on Saturday 31^st July. The last night for ‘Salvation’ is Fri Aug 6^th at 10pm, and ‘Redemption’ plays until Sat Aug 7^th.

There are some beautiful and touching moments, especially towards the end. Flashes of comedy are underpinned by its serious theme. Never bleak nor hopeless, Jaybird and Hallelujah is a gentle reminder to us all to live the best life we can. Tedder’s poignant play promises to change the way you think about life, death and what happens after death.

WHERE:

NoHo Actors Studios

5215 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood;

WHEN:

Plays: Sat., 9:15 p.m. & 10pm or 10.30pm;  thru Aug. 7^th, 2010

BOX OFFICE:

Tickets are $13.00 (or only $10.00 if purchased in advance)

Contact PEL OR BROOKE:

ukomoproject@live.com (818) 761-2166

peltedderco@live.com (818) 276-5509

Review by Pauline Adamek

Circle of Will - photo by: Alexis Fancher

It’s a really, really bad sign when you start checking your watch 30 minutes into a ninety minute one act play, because those ninety minutes soon start to feel like nine hours… Jack Grapes’s play Circle of Will is an excruciating theatrical experience that I wouldn’t wish upon my worst enemy.

Why?  Here is a play that is purportedly a comedy – and yes, there are several good lines that elicit laughs – but is, in fact, a poorly written exercise in existentialism that strives for the brilliance of Sartre’s No Exit. And spectacularly fails.

Circle of Will is also a perfect primer for ‘How to torture your audience’.  Ha ha ha.

A good two-thirds of the play, meaning about one hour, is spent enduring the two main characters search for an ending to this play.  So, what’s worse than watching a badly written play?  A play that REFUSES to end AND – punishingly – begins all over again.

Circle of Will?

More like Circle of HELL.

THE GOOD: This play stars Joe Briggs as a posturing, preening Richard Burbage, who theatre buffs and historians will remember as being Shakespeare’s leading man back during Elizabethan times. Burbage most famously was the star of William Shakespeare’s theatre company, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men which mutated into the King’s Men (playing company) on the ascension of James I of England in 1603. He played the title role in the first performances of many of Shakespeare’s plays, including Hamlet, Othello, Richard III , and King Lear.

With his tall stature, handsome features, funny facial expressions and physicality, Joe Briggs resembles a young Marlon Brando PLUS he has impeccable comic timing. Joe Briggs is the only saving grace in this otherwise ghastly endurance test.

Director Brian Herskowitz did an okay job.

THE BAD: Jack Grapes co-stars as an incompetent Will Shakespeare and Jack Grapes also co-wrote this crappy play.  His acting style is relaxed and natural (while Joe Briggs’s is broad and frequently amusing.) Jack Grapes in nowhere near as charming or funny as he evidently thinks he is.

THE UGLY: It’s when the two characters start to depart from the script (or do they?!) and break into some kind of improv meets stand up comedy exchange with the audience – and even bring some poor hapless person (or is she?!) up on stage, that the play really starts to fall apart.

THE EXTRA UGLY: Here’s the sticking point – Jack Grapes not only co-stars and co-wrote this play, but he is also a fairly renowned writing teacher who apparently is fantastic at “helping writers to find their voice.”  Bravo, on your teaching success, Mr. Grapes, because apparently you cannot write a play that doesn’t make me want to give you a piece of my mind in the foyer afterwards.

SIDENOTE: There was a lot of laughter in the audience that my companions and I did not share. I saw a lot of adulation in the expressions of Jack Grapes’ students and fans. I can only assume they would not know a decent comedy if it crawled up their arse and sprouted sparkles.

Can you tell I passionately hated this play?

Avoid Circle of Will at all costs.

IN CASE YOU WANT TO DECIDE FOR YOURSELF:

WHERE:  Macha Theatre, 1107 N. Kings Rd., West Hollywood, CA 90069. There is some parking available in an onsite lot and also across the street.

WHEN: Runs through Sunday, August 15.

Regular show times: Thurs.-Sat. at 8pm, Sun. at 7pm.

ADMISSION: $30.

RESERVATIONS: (323) 960-7822

ONLINE TICKETING: www.Plays411.com/circleofwill

ESTIMATED RUNNING TIME: 1 hour 30 minutes.

Review by Pauline Adamek.

Love Connie - All photos credit: Loretta Ramos

***

An up-beat multimedia dance comedy thriller by and starring John Cantwell, who fans will remember from The Nellie Olesons, Love, Connie is a drag show with a difference. It’s a full evening of entertainment that starts in the lively bar of the Silverlake’s Casita del Campo restaurant.

After we all descend into the squeezy and intimate basement to the Cavern Club deathtrap – I mean theater – our drinks in hand, a fun raffle is held as the charming MC warms up the packed house with a raffle and advises the production is “one continuous unnatural act.”

The show begins with a projected short film that features the menacing presence of a black leather-clad stalker type. It’s all very Brian de Palma / Dressed to Kill.

Then, in bursts Connie (John Cantwell) on her platform heels to take over the tiny stage. Connie’s a loveable, blonde-wigged and hirsute heroine who just loves to dance, dance, dance! She regales us with energetic flashdancing (cue the black leotard and leg warmers!) and occasionally shows off her pageantry skilz. Some vague references to Connie’s evidently hick town upbringing include a rumpled beauty pageant sash that reads ‘In-bred’ teamed with a tiara as our girl demonstrates some impressive high-kicks.

The entire show is basically a love letter to her fans and a full-on dancefest set to raucous 80s pop tunes such as B-52’s chirpy Housework and snippets of tracks by Prince, Blackeyed Peas, Pointer Sisters and Herbie Hancock.  The choreography is just fantastic – this six-foot tall bloke has got the moves! – and a costume highlight is a fab red, white & blue bikini complete with red tassels where it counts. Turns out this eye-catching little number is a vintage collectible from the Kathy Ireland collection for Target.  Stylin’!

Love Connie - All photos credit: Loretta Ramos

The dance numbers are interspersed with funny fake advertisements, as voiced by someone with a plummy British accent, and we also see further scenes of these sinister projected mini-movies. It transpires that the black-wigged stalker chick Bambi (Kelly Mantle) has evil designs on Connie’s precious white cat, Vickie.

Lightning-speed costume changes and high-energy dance routines keep the slightly demented Connie on her toes and Cantwell maintains a cracking pace. Love, Connie runs for barely 50 minutes, but that leaves plenty of time for killer margaritas in the buzzy upstairs bar.

Molly Cranna co-stars as the shapely cat “Vickie”, complete with kitten mask and anatomically correct white suit. She performs a sweet pas de deux with Connie, set to Madonna’s “Beautiful Stranger,” and this sequence accompanies pre-taped flashback to when Connie adopted her beloved kitty.

Refreshingly, the only dialogue in this hilarious evening is an on-screen chunk of exposition, venomously snarled by our villain Bambi as she explains her deadly motivation. The gorgeous Kelly Mantle clearly relishes her dastardly role.  Incidentally,  Cantwell has also appeared in campy, fun movies such as Legally Blonde, Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist.

By the way, the mini-movie, directed by Michael Bodie, is beautifully done. Apparently filmed on the streets and staircases of Silver Lake, it was shot in less than two days.

Love Connie - All photos credit: Loretta Ramos

The mood of this spooky little drama was inspired by music and scenes from all the best psycho thrillers, including Dressed to Kill, Sisters, Body Double, Cape Fear, Friday the 13th, White Dog, Psycho, Exorcist 2:  The Heretic. Cantwell says he focused mostly on the superb musical scores of Ennio Morricone, Pino Donaggio and Bernard Herrmann and if you’re especially perceptive, you might even hear snatches of music reminiscent of the haunting melodies from Klute by composer Michael Small.

With its emphasis on bubbly fun, Love, Connie is such a tonic! Especially for this Sydney girl – the show was a real blast from the past. I just didn’t realize how much I had been missing my hometown, birthplace of Pricilla, Queen of the Desert, and the drag shows of Oxford Street. Pure enjoyment!

Cantwell is a consummate performer who gives his all and had the enthusiastic and vocally appreciative audience in the palm of his hand.

Be advised, however – this is a risqué performance, featuring suggestive groping and scandalous simulated broomstick penetration. Also the subterranean cave ‘theatre’ setting is not suitable for claustrophobes.

But Love, Connie is as funny as hell!  Don’t miss this riotous show!

Movie info:

The short film sequences were shot on the Panasonic HPX-170, which is a small HD digital camera that shoots to P2 cards.

Old film-style visual effects (such as scratches, dust and flash frames) were added in post using Final Cut Pro plug-in filters.

Director – Michael Bodie

Executive Producer – Bryan Fuller

Producer – Loretta Ramos

Screenwriter – John Cantwell

Cinematographer – Lisa Wiegand

Camera Operator – Reza Tabrizi

Makeup – David DeLeon & Molly Cranna

Editor – David Kittredge

Original Music Editor – DJ Shyboy

Additional Music Editor – Mr. Dan

Graphic Design – Nubar

Photography by Gabriel Goldberg

Acting by John Cantwell and Kelly Mantle.

Love, Connie runs until THIS WEEKEND O N L Y, with performances on July 23^rd & 24^th, 2010.

Show starts at 9:00 PM

Cavern Club Celebrity Theatre at the Casita Del Campo Restaurant
1920 Hyperion Ave,

Silver Lake, CA 90027
Phone: (323) 969-2530
Website.

FB page

E-Mail: cantipants@sbcglobal.net

Review by Pauline Adamek

Sinan Revell's photos at Cella Gallery

disambiguations – a unique series of self portraits is a collection of stunning and complex conceptual photographs created by Sinan Revell currently on display at Cella Gallery, in NoHo  (only until Sat July 24th).

Full of wit, black humor and social comment, this is an enthralling exhibition of three interconnected bodies of work by this multi-talented artist in her most complete show to date.
Also on view are photographic works from Revell’s Color/Blind Test series, as well as a display of her distinctive Homeland Security Blankets.

Read a review of the exhibition here. In the meantime, please enjoy our interview:

Cella Gallery

5229 Lankershim Blvd.,

North Hollywood, CA 91601

(213) 291-7908

info@cellagallery.com

HOURS:

Tuesday – Thursday: 12-5pm

Friday – Saturday: 12-8pm

Closed Sunday & Monday

Report by Pauline Adamek

Photojournale - “Little Ballerinas” © Lisa Hogben

Drawing from a stunning collection of photos from some of the world’s finest documentarians, visionaries and front-line photojournalists, some selected images from the Photojournale website are now available in book form, as Photojournale Connections Across a Human Planet.

Featuring photo journal stories and photo documentary from every corner of the world, this remarkable and engrossing book is a companion to the impressive online photo collection.

Photojournale Connections Across a Human Planet is a beautifully unpretentious little coffee-table book that stylishly showcases the contributors and stars of the website by presenting a glimpse of their best work.

From the war-torn regions of Angola (Stephane Lehr), Uganda (Bea Ahbeck), Kenya (Hes Mundt) and Iraq (Walter Gaya); to the scorched and fire-ravaged terrain of California (John Horniblow); to the checkpoints on Palestine’s border (Yaniv Nadav); to the wings, dressing rooms and jails of Thailand, Nicaragua, Spain and Sydney; to the monasteries of India, Singapore and Cambodia and the religious ceremonies of Russia, Turkey, Mexico and Bangladesh; to the exotic urban and simple rural life of Burma and Thailand (John Hulme) – the photos in this elegant collection evoke an astoundingly vast range of emotional responses.

Photojournale - suspected gangland members await trail, Bangkok © Jonathan Taylor

This book is like a fine artisanal sake, the result of a laborious process of distilling the thousands of photographs exhibited on the website. The project’s instigator, and one of the book’s editors and publishers, John Horniblow put together an editorial team with each person representing the Australian, North American, European and Asian perspective. Incredibly, these contributing photographers edited the book virtually, as most of them live on different continents to each other. In fact, few of these artistes behind the lens have even met in person.

While the mission of the website concentrates on developing and digitally publishing – and also promoting – the work of a world-wide community of documentary photographers and photojournalists, the main intention with the publication of these selected works in book form was to create something tangible that complements and contributes value to the virtual product.

Explains Horniblow, “Photojournale is a passion that I’ve devoted a lot of effort to for the past five to six years. It’s really all about bringing together photo-documentary stories from all around the world and celebrating the craft of storytelling. The book itself tells a story, as well.

“The collection of photos selected in Photojournale Connections Across a Human Planet are our human stories, our commonalities and our truths.  The selection is not only drawn for their beauty, or their technical excellence, but out of the essence they capture, the universal story they tell, in a captured or latent moment of time, somewhere across our globe. These photos are compassionate, energetic, sometimes fun and celebratory, at other times confronting.”

Adds contributor and co-editor Michael Fox, “From the first time I saw content on the Photojournale website, I was intrigued by the extreme differences, and surprising similarities, shown in photographs from all over the world.  With high quality images being submitted from photographers on five continents, it was fascinating to observe how, in one or more ways, we are all connected – belief systems, personal goals, living conditions, employment challenges, interests, family environments, and outlook, on local and international affairs.  I was delighted to be invited to help edit this book which, I feel, is a first step in effectively representing humanity as it exists without religious, political, or geographic boundaries.”

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE BOOK:

Photojournale - street child in Angola © Stephane Lehr

The diverse stories presented by Stephane Lehr focus on the daily struggles of the forgotten children on the streets of Angola’s war-destroyed capital Lobito (above).

Morgan Hagar’s photo of the hand of a child making a peace sign while clutching a rock, in the shadow of a war zone’s guard tower is especially poignant and chilling.

One of the book’s editors and contributing photographers, Lisa Hogben is a Sydney, Australian-based photographer. Hogben’s photo series chronicles the tensions and dramas of the Sydney City Eisteddfod competition. Featuring seven and eight year old ballerinas, we are reminded of the innocence and beauty of their age. With Little Ballerinas (seen at top), Hogben’s lens captures a tense moment as a young girl’s friend makes a blunder on stage.

SPOTLIGHT ON THE WEBSITE:

Photojournale - ladyboy applying makeup © John Hulme

Recently uploaded to the Photojournale website is Backstage with the Ladyboys of Thailand, a series by UK photographer John Hulme.

This remarkable collection of black and white images offers us a seldom-seen glimpse into the backstage dressing rooms of a unique set of performers as they apply makeup, elaborate costumes or just chill out.

Thailand’s ladyboys, or ‘katoey’ as they are known locally, are male-to-female transgender persons or effeminate gay males in Thailand. They are amongst the most beautiful and convincing transvestites in the world. An estimated 200,000 of this ‘third sex’ are accepted in this Buddhist society, which places a high value on tolerance, compassion and the belief in past lives.

BOOK PRESS RELEASE:

The narrative of Photojournale Connections Across a Human Planet follows the concept of cradle to grave; Childhood, education/school, adolescence, work, home, ritual, religion, celebration, sport, art, conflict, aging, sickness, death, mourning and remembrance. It’s an emotional and human journey of images drawn from the documentary stories, captured moments or situations from every continent.

Photojournale Connections Across a Human Planet illustrates the common truths that connect the human experience and is represented by photographers from around the world. The book is drawn as an edited anthology of photo documentary and photojournalism stories that are published on Photojournale.com.

Photojournale Connections Across a Human Planet is printed on premium paper and retails for $73.96 (hardcover) and $50.96 (softcover). Click links to purchase.

For a preview the book, click here or here.

Review by Pauline Adamek

BOOK INFORMATION:

Photojournale Connections Across A Human Planet
Softcover Edition
ISBN 978-2-8399-0593-0

Foreword: Ami Vitale
Design: Peter Barwick
Editors: John Horniblow, Lisa Hogben, Michael Fox, and Erica McDonald. Assisted by Santanu Chakrabati.

Cover image: Yaniv Nadav
Back cover: Igor Sherman

Photographers:
Peter A Calvin, Jiri Tondl, Michael Fox, Lisa Hogben, Erik Messori, Alfonso De Castro, Morgan Hagar, Jonathan Taylor, Jaime R Carrero, Jan Sochor, Alex Masi, Teresita Chavarria, Agnieszka Balut, Igor Sherman, Jamie Bailey, Hes Mundt, Alfredo Munoz, Walter Gaya, Rick Carter, Petr Antonov, Sam Bienstock, Ouria Tadmor, Jeroen Leonhard, Gabriela Bulisova, Santanu Chakrabarti, Tyler Freeman Smith, diLuNa, Amir Mahmoodi, Ben Milpas, John Hulme, Tashi Tobgyal, Gazi Nafis Ahmed, Jeff Chouw, Lara Wechlser, Stephen Uhraney, Yaniv Nadav, John Horniblow, Joaquin Gomez Sastre, Jeryc Garcia, Mike Hutmacher (Skippy Sanchez), Jan Bierkens, Alexander von Spreti, Daniel Kaifer, Angelo Cuissi, Anamitra Chakladar, Md.Kabirul Islam, Debasish Aich, Kiên Hoàng Lê, Alex Kotlik, Nilanjan Mitra, Gulbin Ozdamar, Gianfranco Spatola, Pedro Tzontemoc, Supian Ahmed, Saverio Serravezza, Stephane Lehr, Patricio Valenzuela Hohmann, Ertugrul Kilic and Bea Ahbeck.

The photographers in this book are recipients of – and participators in – awards, exhibitions and publications that include (but are not limited to) the following:

Geo Mundo, National Geographic, Time, Burn magazine, 100eyes, Reflex, Peace Reporter, Focus, International Herald Tribune, Vienna Reporter, Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, Financial Times, Czech Press Photo, Fotoweek, International Colour Awards, Angkor Photo Festival, PDN photo Plus, Russian State Ethnographic Museum, Russian Cultural Centre Bratislava, Tate Britain Gallery, VPRO, BBC, Channel 4, Deadline Press Photos.