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A CurtainUp Report

2011 New York International Fringe Festival



Updated August 29, 2011 (Final)

The curtain came down on Fringe 2011 two days early, due to Hurricane Irene. For a list of awards, click here.

Again this year, after the completion of the Fringe Festival, there is an unaffiliated program of shows from this year's festival. Further information on the Fringe Encores program, including locations, performance dates and times as well as tickets, is available at here.


Daniel Marks, Miles Cooper in Elysian Fields (Photo: Victor Mignatti) Julia Taylor Ross and Ryan Barry in In the Summer Pavilion (Photo: Paul David Young) Brian Stanton in Blank (Photo: Brenda Stanton) Randy Noojin in Hard Travelin' with Woody (Photo: Jim Gloster) Tayo Aluko in Call Mr. Robeson (Photo: Sarah Franklin) Jessica Sherr in Bette Davis Ain't for Sissies (Photo: John DeAmara)

Click on Show Title Below, or Scroll Down Page to Browse

A. Chekhov's The Darling | American Vaudeville Theatre 15th Anniversary EXTRAVaganza | Ampersand: A Romeo & Juliet Love Story | Be Careful! The Sharks Will Eat You! | Bette Davis Ain't for Sissies | Blank | Broken Box Mime Presents Words Don't Work | Butoh Electra | Call Mr. Robeson | COBU - Dance like Drumming, Drum like Dancing | Courtney and Kathleen: A Riot Act | Destinations | Echoes from HOME | Elysian Fields | Greenland | Hamlet | Hard Travelin' with Woody | Hip.Bang! Improv | Hush the Musical | In the Summer Pavilion | Killing John Grisham | Killing Nellie | The Legend of Julie Taymor or The Musical that Killed Everybody! | Lou | PARKER & DIZZY'S FABULOUS JOURNEY TO THE END OF THE RAINBOW | Recovery | Romeo & Juliet: Choose Your Own Ending | Sanyasi2011 | Theater of the Arcade | The Toughest Girl Alive! | Virgie | Walls and Bridges | Who Loves You, Baby? | Yeast Nation (The Triumph of Life) | You've Ruined a Perfectly Good Mystery


EDITOR'S NOTE: Now in its fifteenth year, FringeNYC runs August 12-28, 2009. This year's festival has scheduled almost 200 shows at eighteen venues. We will report on a healthy dose of this year's offerings in the reviews below.

Many people do their show-picking on the fly, but readers are advised to consider making reservations for popular shows they don't want to miss. What shows are those? We don't like to predict. Further information, schedules and tickets at least 24 hours prior to the show time are available by phoning 866.468.7619 (9 AM-7PM, credit cards only, convenience charge applies); on the web at: www.fringenyc.org (24 hours a day, credit cards only, convenience charge applies) or in person at Fringe Central at 45 Bleecker Street (at Lafayette) (Noon-8PM, cash or credit card). Day-of-performance tickets are available (cash only) at the door at each venue, 15 minutes prior to the show. Prices: $15 for advance purchase, $18 at the door, reduced (only at Fringe Central or at the door) to $10 for kids under 12 to FringeJR events and for seniors. There are also passes: 5 shows for $70, 10 shows for $120 and the "Lunatic Pass," which entitles you to attend as many shows as possible, for $500.


A complete list of venues (with addresses) can be found at the end of this page or by clicking here.

The last name of the author of each capsule review is indicated at the end of the review in brackets.


Reviews

Who Loves You, Baby?
Directed by Taylor Negron, and performed by Tom DiMenna, this funny lounge act resurrects the hairless icon Telly Savalas of "Kojak" fame. Dressed to the nines in a tuxedo and bow tie, DiMenna seems to be joined at the base of the skull to the late great Savalas. He not only brings back the persona of the tough TV character named "Theo" Kojak, but also portrays Savalas as the romantic recording artist whose spoken word rendition of "If" was number one in Europe for 10 weeks. DiMenna copiously draws on the career and life of Savalas, but what gives the show its genuine edge is his own acting virtuosity. An alumnus of Second City Chicago, and trained in Shakespeare at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, DiMenna has good comedic timing and classical instincts. This show is an unabashed tribute to Savalas, but it's never mawkishly sentimental. With DiMenna as your guide, you can time-travel back to America in the 70s, and listen once again to Lieutenant Kojak's dark cynical wit and his famous catchphrase: "Who loves ya, baby?" DiMenna deftly incorporates Savalas's forays into the movies, by referencing his appearances in classic films like Birdman of Alcatraz, The Dirty Dozen, and On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The Greek American Savalas cut an impressive swath through our popular culture. And with tongue firmly planted in cheek, DiMenna will let you experience first-hand why Savalas still matters. At Bowery Poetry Club. 50 minutes. [Donovan]

Killing Nellie
If anything proves the difference between something working on paper and in practice, it's Killing Nellie, the brainchild of Australians Mark Storen and Oda Aunan. The show is ostensibly a folk concert gone wrong, where a husband and wife team (the first from Australia, the second from Norway) spend more time being angry at each other than actually getting through the set list. On paper, it's a funny concept with lots of potential; in practice, it's one of the meanest-spirited and nasty productions I can ever remember seeing. The show is resolutely un-funny throughout, poorly paced and oddly structured; the shtick of making wife Embla (the Norwegian) frustrating because she doesn't speak English gets tired very quickly, and since we have almost no context for the couple's mutual dislike, all we know is that she and her husband Rupert hate each other. Even a train wreck could theoretically be engaging in a black comedy sort of way, done correctly, but here it's played so straight that one almost gets the sense they're not joking. There's nothing funny about watching a husband beat up his wife on stage--he punches her in the face several times during the scene's climax--yet apparently the show intends us to find it hilarious. The stunned silence from the audience at the conclusion was indicative of how badly the intention misfired. There's nothing wrong with the performances; it's what they're performing that's the problem. Unless you enjoy watching angry people be angry with each other--and not in a funny way--give this a wide berth. At Bowery Poetry Club. 1 hour. [Wilson]

Theater of the Arcade
I'm probably old enough now that admitting I frequented video game arcades when I was a kid isn't that much of a shocking revelation. What I didn't expect was that my childhood of game playing and adulthood of theater show reviewing would eventually merge, but thanks to the Fringe and Jeff Lewonczyk, it's finally happened in the form of Lewonczyk's play Theater of the Arcade. The show takes five classic video games--Frogger, Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, Asteroids and Super Mario Brothers, if you want to know (and really, it wasn't like I figured out any of these because I, uh, played all of them)--and turns them into dramatic vignettes. But it's more than that, since each scene is inspired not just by a video game but a playwright...so you get to watch Donkey Kong as written by Tennessee Williams, or Asteroids as conceived by David Mamet. Ultimately what makes the show work isn't just the concept, but the execution; the actors undertake Lewonczyk's vision with gusto, and director Gyda Arber is smart enough to let the humor flow naturally rather than forcing it throughout the production. The result is a fun, occasionally thoughtful romp through 80s video game nostalgia, and if a few problems with pacing and dynamic tension crop up here and there (I mean seriously, Frogger wasn't THAT existential!), on the whole it's a good time for anyone who might have used up a few too many quarters from their allowance in the heady days of youth. At Bleecker Theatre. 2 hours, with intermission. [Wilson]

American Vaudeville Theatre 15th Anniversary EXTRAVaganza
Some people would say vaudeville died in the early 1930s, but Donald Travis Stewart, aka Trav S. D., would not agree. His American Vaudeville Theatre, now in its 15th year, has played at Joe's Pub, Galapagos, Dixon Place and Theater for the New City. And now it is celebrating its 15th anniversary in a new production at the Fringe (which is coincidentally celebrating its 15th too). The show includes contortionist Amazing Amy, magician Nelson Lugo and Leela Corman performing Salome and Her Dance of Seven Veils.There are also several Interludes featuring Trav S. D. and others: Don Travo the One Ball Juggler, a sketch called The Crime of the Rhyme and some Rare Impressions. As in vaudeville, some acts are outlandish and bizarre. But save the rotten tomatoes. This is the Fringe where being out of the mainstream means you're swimming with the current. At Bleecker Theatre. 2 hours. [Simmons]

You've Ruined a Perfectly Good Mystery
This parody of the detective story, most specifically those about Sherlock Holmes, has a highly literate and often very funny script by Christian Neuhaus and Rick Stemm. But what really makes the play a success is Sam D. White's superb direction and his talented cast. Christopher Younggren as the egotistical Detective, Matthew A. Schrader as the self-effacing Doctor, Liz Angle as Lady Bosom-Heaving, Matt Korda as Iago Von Evilton and especially Jamie England as the prissy Narrator, who frequently stops the action to ask the audience which clue the detectives should follow, all have perfect, split-second timing. What's more, the ensemble, which brings in and interacts with set pieces, adds much of the cheek to the tongue-in-cheek feel of the show. Although one gets the feeling that the audience's vote really doesn't figure in the direction the play takes, the audience interaction gives the show great spontaneity as everyone tries to solve the mystery. Hint: the butler didn't do it. At Teatro LATEA. 2 hours, with intermission. [Simmons]

PARKER & DIZZY'S FABULOUS JOURNEY TO THE END OF THE RAINBOW
Unabashedly striving not to miss a single gay stereotype, cliché or joke, Parker (Peter Zachari) and Dizzy (Joey Mirabile) bring us along on their Journey as they try to get to the bottom of the murder of a drag queen (and not just any drag queen, mind you, but one here portrayed by the estimable Steven Polito, better known as Hedda Lettuce). Along the way, they manage to make this into not just a murder mystery of sorts, but an action adventure one to boot. We meet a wide assemblage of people, far too numerous to list, and some of whom bear a greater or lesser resemblance to some gay icons. Not lost in the fray is a warm, very genuine-feeling friendship (and "just" that, we are repeatedly told) between the outsized Parker and the skinny queen Dizzy, who earned his name honestly it seems. Zachari wears many hats here: star performer, director, book writer, and co-composer/lyricist. It's likely too many for his own good. The show can be quite sharp and funny and holds the audience's attention through the many machinations of the first act, which is sprinkled with some quite respectable songs and some good performances (though some decidedly not), but the second act is larded with unnecessary songs and other material that cries out to be cut enroute to collapsing what's left into a much happier one act show. Zachari and Mirabile (who also is the choreographer) are terrific throughout, and would be even better with a more evenly capable cast. The band of four, under the direction of Douglas Maxwell, is solid, if at times overwhelming. At La MaMa - Stewart. 2 hours, 15 minutes, with intermission. [Gutman]

Butoh Electra
Greek drama is far too rich to be wholly clear. And that may be why The Ume Group's workshop production of Butoh Electra relies more on movement than words. This new performance-art-piece re-imagines the tragedy of Electra in a surreal world of samurai and shogun. It employs words, butoh dance, gymnastics, martial arts, and in its final scene, audience members who are willing to serve as a de facto jury. What you get here is no museum piece but a very muscular interpretation of the classic tragedy. If you are familiar with the unfortunate characters populating the House of Atreus, then you should have no problem following this broad retelling of the story. Conceived and directed by Jordan Rosin, it's briskly paced and movement-driven. And though it's a bit rough around the theatrical edges, it manages to drive its points home through the strong physical acting of its 10-member ensemble. You will catch echoes of Sophocles, Akira Kurosawa (the cinematic titan who directed Rashomon, Seven Samurai, and Ran), and a trace of Hamlet in this 90-minute presentation. This visceral incarnation of Electra is not for purists or the faint-hearted. But adventurous theatergoers who like their Greek drama with a twist may enjoy Rosin's new take on the old revenge tale. At Fourth Street Theatre. 90 minutes. [Donovan]

A. Chekhov's The Darling
Although there's lots of dismaying nonsense at this year's Fringe Festival, A. Chekhov's The Darling, as performed by the accomplished Lisa Dalton, is not among the silliness. This dramatization of the author's 1898 short story is appropriately slow, sprawling, and leisurely. Cleanly directed by Victor S. Tkachenko, you won't be jiggled or massaged with any special effects or theatrical gimmickry. But then why mess with Chekhov? He is a master of continuous revelation, and his Darling is both a poignant love story and philosophical inquiry into a human soul. The story follows the life and mind of Olenka, a woman who was "always fond of someone, and could not exist without loving." But there's a deeper and more disturbing premise lurking beneath the surface narrative. Olenka's nickname "Dushechka" derives from the Russian idiom meaning a "total lack of one's own personality and identity." And there is the rub! Is the protagonist actually a reflection of pure love and dedication? Or merely a human parasite who must subsume her life in another's identity? Chekhov would be proud of this solo production with its authentic-looking Russian Samovar, straightforward retelling of his tale (new translation by Victor S. Tkachenko), and Dalton's fine and humane acting. There are splashier, flashier, and more eye-catching shows at the Fringe this year. But The Darling, as Leo Tolstoy once aptly described it, is a "pearl." At IATI Theater. 90 minutes. [Donovan]

Hip.Bang! Improv
Between Upright Citizens Brigade, the Magnet, the Pit, and countless independent venues, New York City is saturated with its own improv comedy. Perhaps all we need is a breath of fresh Vancouver air. Tom Hill and Devin MacKenzie perform in one of the most courageous of all improv formats, the two-man show. There are no other performers waiting in the wings, and there's no safety net. Fortunately, they carry it off brilliantly. In a little under an hour, Tom and Devin took me on a wacky journey through time and (outer) space, and continually managed to be zany but not unreal, personal but not narcissistic, and at times, even a little poignant without being sentimental. I say that they took me on this journey, because I was literally the only person in the audience. While this was a great treat for me (when they broke the fourth wall, they spoke to me directly, which was pretty cool), it is a tragedy that these two performers are being lost in the Fringe shuffle. One could say they haven't found their audience, but more accurately, their audience hasn't found them. This is world-class improv, worthy to compete with some of the best that New York City has to offer. Get after it, folks. At Kraine. 50 minutes. [Ash]

COBU - Dance like Drumming, Drum like Dancing
Taiko drumming is a uniquely Japanese art form. Essentially, it's a single extended jam session on a drum set the size of an entire stage, played by a group of dancer-musicians who move as one. It's a phenomenon that has to be experienced to be believed, and COBU does not disappoint. In a brief but breathtaking set, Yako Miyamoto and her all-female ensemble of drummers move fluidly from one staging to another, exploring all the ways that seven bodies and their drums can play off of each other. The fact that COBU has effectively mobilized the local Japanese community, who cheered throughout, makes their performance all the more entertaining. It's not entirely perfect; the program note optimistically describes their work as a fusion of "Japanese Traditional Taiko Drum & American Tap Dance," but the "tap dancing," which only bears a passing resemblance to its American counterpart, is lacking in polish and technique. The relatively tame choreographed sections cannot detract, however, from the kinetic explosion of the drumming, which is unbelievably powerful in the relatively intimate space. Particularly if you've never been exposed to taiko drumming, COBU is worth seeing. At Bleecker Theatre. 45 minutes. [Ash].

Ampersand: A Romeo & Juliet Love Story
Romeo & Juliet has been performed a lot. It's even been done with a lesbian couple at its center a number of times. But it has probably never been set to a pop-folk songbook in Verona, Iowa, with pretty much everybody else in drag. This play brings a lot of exciting ingredients to the table, but ultimately it does not succeed. This is partly due to the script, which is built around a strong core of Romeo and Juliet scenes, but displays a lack of focus in the rest of its material -- veering unsteadily from a poorly integrated chorus, to a small-town mayoral campaign that might or might not be a mouthpiece for commentary on American politics, to songs that briefly yank the audience from reality, usually to drop them off right back where they found them. Also to blame is the staging, which fails to make effective use of a cavernous space. The lighting design, which often abandons the use of a perfectly good lighting grid in favor of underpowered flashlights held by the actors, is especially at fault here. At one point, one of the actors dangles a plastic ball on a string in front of a flashlight, in an attempt to create a disco ball effect on the wall forty feet behind them. It doesn't work. What is not to blame is the acting ensemble, which is strong almost across the board. It is impossible not to like Brigitte Choura (Juliet). Her beautifully simple and believable performance keeps the audience on her side as she navigates a difficult role. And Lauren Hennessy is utterly fearless as a charismatic fireball of a Romeo. Her infectious energy drives the action forward almost by itself. It is their two-person scenes, and the good writing that underlies them, that form the beating heart of this promising but flawed production. At La MaMa - Stewart. 2 hours, 30 minutes, with intermission. [Ash]

Yeast Nation (The Triumph of Life)
Part creation myth, part love story, and altogether a very promising new musical, Yeast Nation (The Triumph of Life) weighs in at this year's Fringe Festival with plenty of laughs and wit. It's the sparkling new brainchild of Mark Hollman and Greg Kotis, the dual creators of Urinetown: The Musical. And in case you need a reminder, that was the musical with the toilet-centric plot that began its life at the 1999 New York International Fringe Festival and later catapulted itself to Broadway. Unlike Urinetown, Yeast Nation is not a spoof of the Brechtian theater of revolt and doesn't take the audience into the future. In fact, Hollman and Kotis take you back to the beginning of time, 3,000, 458, 000 B.C, when the first forms of life, the salt-eating yeasts, are found in the brine of the primordial soup. If that sounds terribly dull and distant, think again. These yeasts talk, sing, and at times, dance for you. And their existential churnings about life, survival, moral responsibilities, and the future of their beloved Yeast Nation, will both fascinate and entertain you. Yes, yes, everybody knows that Yeast Nation is THE SHOW at the Fringe. But hype aside, this new work is a solid piece of musical theater. It clocks in at well over 2 hours, but I never once looked at my watch. The acting of the 16-member ensemble is solid, chorus and all, with no weak links. And Tony award-winning actress Harriet Harris (Thoroughly Modern Millie, Desperate Housewives, Frasier), as the blind seer Jan-the-Unnamed, is utterly divine. Kotis, who helms the work, might consider whittling away 15 minutes in either Act 1 or Act 2 to tighten up the piece. But otherwise, this charming tuner (with a social conscience) is the best thing I've seen at the Fringe this summer. Although the surface story is about the sustainability of the yeasts, it is really a touching parable about human aspiration, love, and theatrical storytelling. Suffice it to say, that Yeast Nation, from here on out, is likely to rise and have a joyous post-festival life. At La MaMa - Stewart. 2 hours, 30 minutes, with intermission. [Donovan]

Greenland
As thoroughly satisfying as any Fringe show could hope to be, this Canadian import boasts a beautifully wrought, thoughtful script (by Nicolas Billon), three wonderful performances (Susan Heyward, Andrew Musselman and Claire Calnan) and simple but effective direction (Ravi Jain). Consisting of a series of interconnected monologues reminiscent of Conor McPherson, it's the story of a husband and wife (Musselman and Calnan) and their niece (Heyward). He's an ice-obsessed glaciologist who discovered an island off the coast of Greenland that he got to name after himself. His chain-smoking, put upon wife couldn't be less amused. Their niece (who lost her parents in a freak accident) is doing a school geography project on -- what else? -- Greenland. Billon manages to painlessly tell us a lot about Greenland and the effects of global warming, but what makes this show so special is that it's really about the three fully-formed characters he's given us, and the challenges of their lives. Short but very sweet. At Players Theatre. 50 minutes. [Gutman]

Virgie
Renee Newman-Storen's feisty solo performance in Virgie suits her real-life subject: a courageous female actor named Virgie who brought Shakespeare to the Australian desert in the 1890s. Newman-Storen tells Virgie's remarkable story by tracing the actor's journeys throughout Australia and Europe and simultaneously interweaving famous Shakespearean quotes both to illustrate the actor's theatrical work and to reflect her multi-layered psyche. To be sure, this is more than just an homage to the little-known actor, who eventually settled in Adelaide, Australia, and created a theatre troupe. It's a probing investigation of an actor coming-of-age and the unique struggles she endures to bring the Bard to others. The main problem with this piece is that Newman-Storen attempts to cover too much biographical material in one hour. And by laying it on with a trowel, the scenes inevitably begin to blur and lose dramatic texture. An amalgam of monologue, historical excerpts, and shadow puppetry, it seems as if the work can't make up its mind about its genre. What is to be admired about this drama, however, is that it draws attention to the Sisyphean dilemma of so many artists. That is, great artistic efforts can be defeated by the harsh realities of life. Indeed, the actor in question, after surviving the Depression in Australia, ended her days in a home for the destitute at age 70 in 1940. The real strength of this work, however, is Newman-Storen's earnestness in portraying the persona of Virgie. She feelingly celebrates the life of this obscure but intriguing female actor. At Bowery Poetry Club. 1 hour. [Donovan]

Hush the Musical
A blinding snowstorm has stopped all takeoffs at LaGuardia airport, where a group of oddballs are stranded in a VIP waiting room. Othello (Seth Blum), a materialistic businessman in an unhappy marriage, keeps telephoning a hit man (Tommy J. Dose), whom he has engaged to get rid of his unsatisfactory wife (Diana Falzone). Gloria (Emeline Aleandri), a New Age Buddhist is determined to get Othello to see the light. The premise of this new musical seems interesting. But the actual writing and production just don't fly. In fact, for most of the musical, people sing a song explaining how they feel and then sit down again, making the show seem like a musical therapy session. By the time it grinds to a predictable ending, it seems that, like all those planes, this musical never gets off the ground. At Le Poisson Rouge. 1 hours, 20 minutes [Simmons]

Destinations
Chris D (Steve Monarch) and his band were big hits in the 1970s until the drug and booze addictions of Chris and his wife, Michelle (Amy Casey), caused the band's breakup. As the band embarks on a reunion tour 10 years later, Chris is in recovery, but the return of his wife and a burgeoning relationship with Nicole (Laura Carbonell), a new recruit, again threaten the band's unity. Not a terribly original plot, but it does provide the scaffold for a lot of very enjoyable music (most notably by the excellent band and Casey as vocalist), making for an entertaining evening. At Le Poisson Rouge. 2 hours. [Simmons]

Broken Box Mime Presents Words Don't Work
Physical diversion? Charming bric-a-brac? Or true theatre? The more one attempts to define mime, the more it seems to elude definition. But one can easily detect its virtuosity in the flesh and blood of the Broken Box Mimes. In their current program, Words Don't Work, the troupe presents silent short stories that range from mere physical gags to more fully-expressed corporeal dramas. Set to contemporary music (sound design by Bennett Kuhn), this 90-minute show is hip, and its 8 performers (Becky Baumwoll, Christina Black, David Jenkins, Tasha Milkman, Molly O'Neill, Joel Perez, Will Shaw, and Joe Tuttle) follow in the distinctive footsteps of Marcel Marceau, Blue Man Group, and Pilobolus. Simplicity rules here. All the actors perform in black costumes: body-fitting pants and t-shirts, with shoes resembling ballet slippers. Their makeup is the traditional whiteface, with touches of black paint that give their eyes a permanently startled look. The eclectic program is comprised of 13 vignettes, with each sketch preceded by a title card. No, not all hit the bull's-eye. A couple of short stories are too fragmentary and lack dramatic tension ("Man's Best Friend," in particular, is thin in its plot). But most are well-executed, exuding robust energy ("Mime Finds Pandora's Box") or a quiet romantic melancholy ("Besos de Traicion"). One of the more zesty pieces is "Queens Waste Management," a thumbnail portrait of a drag queen. But instead of merely creating the illusion of a drag queen through various gestures, the male mime presents along with the physical demonstration, a portrayal of the emotions of a man transformed into a woman. In short, one sees reflected in the mime's face a blending of self-satisfaction and personal liberation. Other numbers are pretexts for the troupe to draw caricatures of city life. Several numbers involve folks on subway trains ("Uptown 3," "Downtown 5," and "Crosstown L"), all spoofs of how we interact with each other in tight quarters. But the real showstopper is "Icarus." Here the actors modernize the Greek drama of Icarus, showing the mythic figure's bravura, his physical prowess, and his later meltdown (in both the physical and emotional sense). Indeed, the dumb language of this show gives voice to many stories, some with comic thrust and others with tragic coloring. This production might be wrapped in acres of silence, but it surely has much to tell. At Bleecker Theatre. 90 minutes. [Donovan]

Walls and Bridges
John Lennon is banished--for several weeks in the 70s Yoko cut John loose to straighten himself out. It feels to him like the end of the world, and the angry young man who became an icon is unraveling. During his dark night of the soul, he converses with Stuart Sutcliffe, his estranged mum, and Brain Epstein-- all long dead, but clearly on his mind. Scott Murphy, the inspired playwright, seems to have gotten inside Lennon's head and captured his cerebral bent. I thought of John as more acerbic, but the play's essentially a ramble with moments of mordant humor. There's much to appreciate and admire here. The lead actor, Philip Quinn, doesn't so much look like Lennon as make an effort to suggest his spirit. All actors are admirable, especially Sam Inkson. This Liverpool Actors Studio work does have a few issues: The production would benefit mightily from more dynamic stage directions. Even operating in a black box space, actors could move along oblique lines. And act one is hard to hear--with wall to wall talk, mumbling, and accents, the actors could use mics. The volume picks up in act two, however, with Julia, the mum's, entrance. John was and still is larger than this. Yet the concept is impressive--a reminiscence going on in John's head enhanced by visitations. A tad long for general audiences, for the legions of John Lennon admirers it's about right. Take it from a fan--when I was a kid my mother took me to a psychiatrist because she thought I thought I was John Lennon. (I didn't.) This show warrants a fan alert. At Teatro SEA. 1 hour, 45 minutes, with intermission. [Osenlund]

The Toughest Girl Alive!
If you need genuine inspiration, check out The Toughest Girl Alive! Although you'll be listening to raw and unvarnished stories about a former Los Angeles gang member, unwed teen mom, plus-sized ex-porn star, punk rocker, blues singer, and more, you'll also be watching a bonafide living legend. Based on the writings of Candye Kane, and performed by the author herself, there's no other show in the Fringe quite like it. Briskly directed by Javier Velasco, this show is definitely not for everybody. (Sensitive-souls should keep as far away as possible!) But this brassy diva has earned her stripes, and has much to offer an audience. Kane's voice has been compared to the natural beauty of the Grand Canyon, and she really can belt out the blues. In this show, she delivers a potpourri of blues tunes, spicy anecdotes, and sassy humor. She's performed for presidents worldwide, movie stars, and been a frequent guest on national TV shows like Roseanne, Penn and Teller, and Queen Latifah. She goes beyond talent. Theatergoers who visit her website (www.candyekane.com) can learn about her recent past, and how she's beat down pancreatic cancer (she was diagnosed in 2008, and was cancer-free a year later). Undoubtedly, she's a fighter, a social activist, a philanthropist, and a first-rate performer. What's her secret? Kane just goes down into her own arsenal of licks and surprisingly comes up with theatrical gold. Go to this roof-rattling show, and leave richer and wiser. At Le Poisson Rouge. 1 hour, 50 minutes. [Donovan]

Blank
Brian Stanton's solo play concerns adoption. Not just in general but his own adoption. Sounds like social issues. Sounds bo-ring. Where's the exit? But, amazingly, it's not dull. The action commences as Brian is unable to complete an acting class exercise on Oedipus because the role cuts too close to truths he can't face about his progenitor. An extravagant acting teacher puts him on the spot to draw answers out of him. "So, Eee-da-puss, what's your meow? The arc of the story includes Greek tragedy along with questions and issues that everyone, adopted or not, faces. The Brian character feels that he exists in two places at one time, like a photon. A person is a lot of things, and this performance attempts to address the complexity in the flux of a person's life. Many idiosyncratic personas inhabit the work. Some of the studies are quick and funny, like his foolish, sophisticated adoptive mother, cigarette always in hand. Others, like his adoptive father, are more poignant. Sketches include two very distinctive acting teachers and a real-piece-of-work priest. Well chosen Van Morrison music enhances the experience. Brian Stanton's beautifully articulated language is matched by his equally articulated physical action. No doubt about it, this guy is an artist. At Manhattan Theatre Source. 65 minutes. [Osenlund]

Courtney and Kathleen: A Riot Act
That's Courtney, as in Courtney Love and Hole. And Kathleen as in Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill. The tatty punk rock princess and the earnest fem revolutionary are front women in the early 90s feminist punk movement, Riot Grrrl. Writer/director Liz Thaler pieces together differing POVs of a central altercation: Love's candy and tostados attack on Harris. In a seriously funny performance, Heather Lee Harper nails the messy perfection of Courtney Love. Emilie Soffe is at once direct and defensive as feisty Kathleen. But her manifesto speeches, the declarations of an enthusiastic activist if not exactly a penetrating thinker, are presented as too-too set pieces. The show makes use of nice gender twists-- the sole male, Alex Shaw, delivers the feminist message on boy standards, and Soffe handles the male witness's testimony to Love's assault. Striptease teasers provide inspired year-transitions to keep everyone on track, and the rough-looking media support works just fine. However, even if it's true that "You're punk so it doesn't matter that you suck", more instrument mastery would come in real handy. The ending of this dialectic is dodgy and not at all convincing. It needs more music and more raison d'être. Still, the turmoil of early 90s grrrl groups provides an optimal fringe subject, and it's really fun to watch, At La Mama - First Floor. 1 hour. [Osenlund]

Killing John Grisham
This is one funny show, bursting with clever lines and potshots at poor Mr. Grisham, "the literary equivalent of Law and Order," who is "keeping people from actual literature." The story takes place in a little bookstore where an aspiring author works. They're hosting a John Grisham author night. First Jack Moore's play draws you in with its nicely drawn characters and then it sucks you into his plot. It's like a Meg Ryan romcom, but with surprising twists. Act one sets it up well. But the show is not without problems, both minor and major. Occasional careless stage business evidences the need for more precision in directing, and the work is begging for judicious overall cutting. Most of all, the mechanics of the plot need to be pulled together. A tightly plotted comedy like this one can't fall apart at a crucial juncture in the second act. How to put it delicately and avoid a spoiler? One veiled example: A couple of important, but sprawling scenes transpire as a key character is interminably sidelined and stranded. In a movie you can get away with this kind of plot hole for a little while. Just point the camera elsewhere. But on stage the handling of the plotline and timeline must be all straightened out. These are not trivial problems. But still, the show is engaging and humorous, with top notch actors. It falls into a John Grisham class of plays-popular, enjoyable and appealing, without hi-brow pretensions. At Teatro SEA. 2 hours, with intermission. [Osenlund]

Romeo & Juliet: Choose Your Own Ending
The hook to Impressionable Players' adaptation of this Shakespearean tragedy is presumably that it allows the audience to vote on how the story should unfold at three different junctures. But one has the impression that whatever the audience chooses, the show will have the same brilliant irony, energy and sheer silliness that makes for such hilarious entertainment. This is an updated Shakespeare that makes equal use of Elizabethan language and modern slang. The ensemble has perfect comic timing and a fine sense of the ridiculous. In fact given the youth of the characters involved, there are times when this version actually seems to make more sense than Shakespeare's original. Even the most stiff-necked purist should enjoy the very literate originality in Ann and Shawn Fraistat's script and the talented troupe's interpretation. At Teatro SEA. Time varies. [Simmons]

The Legend of Julie Taymor or The Musical that Killed Everybody!
Presented in a spirit of malicious glee, The Legend of Julie Taymor is a very hot ticket. Performances are sold out. Some come to see what all the Taymor commotion is about. Some come because they know well what the fuss is about and maybe had something to do with it. This exuberant-some might say harsh-lampoon uses the custom-made elements of farce presented by the free fall of Julie. It's loaded for bear with all the ill advised decisions, failed alliances, hubris, rush to scapegoating, and injured and dead persons (not to mention added criminal intent). Nothing comes out unspoofed, neither the supremacy of spectacle, revenge of the critics nor the bloodlust of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark's audiences. On stage, a backdrop painted in black, white and red is a Guernica of Broadway, Spider-Dude, a newspaper building, and TKTS with a topsy-turvy Julie in its center. Julie "I'm just that good" Paymore is too big to fail, and powerhouse actress Jennifer Barnhart does justice to the harridan role. Christopher Davis Carlisle literally prances across the platform stage as the columnist who blew this whole thing open. That the whole creative team did such a good job pulling off this hastily assembled musical is nothing short of miraculous. The don't-hold-back-the-snark story is a schadenfreude delight that draws the audience's disaster-tropism. Travis Ferguson's book, Dave Ogrin's music, and their lyrics are a producer's wet dream. Director/choreographer Joe Barros keeps the super cast running like a Swiss watch on XTC in this intricate musical romp through showbiz disaster. This musical, so irreverent, so satisfying, and oh so topical makes for an ideal fringe offering, but as a show about a show, can it develop the legs that such a rich, witty musical deserves? At Bleeker Theatre. 1 hour, 45 minutes. [Osenlund]

Elysian Fields
The title alone sets up visions of delicious insights into the murky recesses of Tennessee Williams plays. Chris Phillips's concept is extremely intriguing, inspired as it is by characters, who, like repressed ideas, pull and exert enormous influence but aren't seen. They are Allan Grey, Blanche's young husband in Streetcar; predatory Sebastian Venable of Suddenly Last Summer; and the pivotal but elusive Skipper of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. In Williams's plays, these characters all are dead before the plays begin. One woman plays the three women in Elysian Fields : Blanche DuBois (Streetcar), Maggie (Cat) and Catharine Holly (SLS). Each in her distinctive way is a life force. Although each bears some responsibility for the demise of the man in question, in this work there's no hint of who she is. For instance, the role Catharine played in Sebastian's sexual exploits remains unexplored as do the reasons for and circumstances of his horrific end. And although Blanche and Maggie are polarities, here they are both virtually interchangeable with Catharine. The woman is used as a prop on which to hang a long, vague yet predictable man story. An exploration of the subtext of these marvelous Williams plays calls for rich, metaphoric language. Here are a couple of examples of this play's subtlety range: Maggie to Skipper (trying to discern his and Brick's shrouded relationship): "Did something happen between the two of you?" When the male characters find themselves dispatched to mythic Elysian Fields, we hear: "Did I die or something...?" "We all did. That's what we do." The breathtaking concept that should have shed light on hidden depths of sexuality deflates into clumsily told garden variety, coming-of-age gay stories. At Kraine. 1 hour, 45 minutes, with intermission. [Osenlund]

Hamlet
Why is Bama Theatre Company presenting Hamlet in the Fringe? Even apres show, the question remains: What's their angle? This traditional take falls under the old road show with a trunk concept. No particular purpose or fringe theatre experiment seems to be underway here. Initially very interesting sounds are introduced, and it looks like there's going to be a neat soundscape, but the sounds soon peter out. And the show would benefit greatly from a lighting trunk from which to pull out spots and fresnels to perk up the drama by focusing attention. There are just lots of issues: Chris Roe (a mindful Hamlet) and David Matthew Douglas (a restrained Claudius) handle the language well, but often when other actors speak the rhetoric could be notched down a few degrees. All is declaimed, nothing's offhand. The performance also would be rewarded by integrating much more movement of individual actors and of the ensemble. The relatively slow-paced and essentially static presentation is rife with actors standing still and too far apart as someone speaks a speech. Further, the choice of having actors who aren't involved in a scene sit upstage and observe is subtly obtrusive, particularly annoying in the "be all my sins remembered" scene and the prayer and chamber scenes. In addition, while double casting is expected in Hamlet, some of these pairings are not optimal. For example, the Laertes/Rosencrantz combo could be confusing. As a company dedicated to spreading appreciation of Shakespeare, BTC might want to take a fresh look at their package. At Connelly Theatre. 2 hours, 20 minutes, with intermission. [Osenlund]

Recovery
Mark Jason Williams' Recovery doesn't come wrapped in an aura of "culture," education and serious artistry, but it has something better going for it: authenticity. Without being a bio-drama, this work is based on Williams' own personal experience as a leukemia patient and survivor. The play essentially follows 2 middle-aged leukemia patients, Michael (Brian J. Carter) and Kathleen (Elena Zazanis), who confront their deadly disease as they struggle to regain a sense of hope, humor, and love in their lives. Is this play depressing? Not at all. Watching Michael and Kathleen undergo their cancer treatments triggers some very funny scenes, underscoring the old idea that tragedy and comedy are opposite sides of the same coin. One of the drama's more poignant moments, in fact, plays out in a hospital room following Kathleen and Michael's blood transfusions. Michael, whose attempts at seducing Kathleen have repeatedly failed, suddenly inflates a disposable examination glove and offers it as a pseudo-bouquet to Kathleen. It's a disarming moment, and a profound one. There are stories wrapped within stories here. Along with following Michael and Kathleen's leukemia battle (and romance), we learn about others suffering from the disease and those trying to heal them: Dr. Bestar (Jon Krupp), Nurse Lucille (Erin Cherry), Man (Dan Patrick Brady), Woman (Kathy Searle) are all minor characters but add much emotional depth to the work. To be sure, Brady's Man and Searle's Woman are compelling to listen to when they speak about dealing with their cancer. But it's when they speak posthumously, in a sort of coda, that they will truly move you. Unswervingly directed by Andrew Block, and strongly acted by the entire cast, this production reminds you that plays are not mass-produced commodities. Recovery clearly comes out of the playwright's personal experience with leukemia, and is equally inspired by those in his past who faced the disease as well. At Kraine Theater. 85 minutes. [Donovan]

In the Summer Pavilion
In its own way, Paul David Young's In the Summer Pavilion is a perfect little play. Its premise is psychologically intriguing: What if there were multiple futures and you could see them all at once? The response to this question is surreally teased out in Young's 90-minute drama. The action begins when three recent Princeton grads drop acid on one wild Maine night and hallucinate their futures. They bend time, unleash ambitions, and rearrange themselves into new futuristic situations. This is a noirish comedy that allows the audience to witness the wreckage of dreams fulfilled-in-a-hurry. As you accompany this trio down their yellow brick road to success, you will likely recall that old maxim: Be careful what you wish for. Not only do these hedonistic characters immediately get to live in their mail-order futures, they enter a bizarre love triangle that works hetero-, homo-, and bi-sexually. Tautly directed by Kathy Gail MacGowan, this play is one terrifying comedy. Meena Dimian, as Nabile, creates a thoroughly slick mixture of intellectual schmaltz and all-American bonhomie. Ryan Barry, as Ben, is insecurity personified, albeit with a charming flair. And the pretty Julia Taylor Ross, as Clarissa, is impeccably poised as the colossally successful art dealer. This play tells the future with Freudian density and a phantasmagoric air. A Bacchanalian feast crossed with a coming-of-age rite, this disquieting work will make you stop yearning for magic bullets and instant results. Let us have more Young. At Living Theatre. 90 minutes. [Donovan]

Call Mr. Robeson
Call Mr. Robeson is a treasure of a show. Written and performed by Tayo Aluko, it is a sensitive dramatization of the life and songs of Paul Robeson. And though it presents only a sliver of the great performer's life and career, it is a potent and illuminating portrait. In regard to the title itself, it references Robeson's summons to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee on June 12, 1956. And if you share Aluko's theatrical angle here, his defiant testimony before the committee was "the most important performance of his career." This work doesn't always flatter the great actor, singer, and civil rights campaigner. We learn of his extra-marital affairs, his political naiveness, and how his radical activism led to his downfall. But then Aluko is careful to balance the controversial aspects of Robeson's life with his very formidable achievements. Aluko, a veteran performer who hails from Liverpool, England, inhabits Robeson with sincerity and much energy. He has already performed his play across the UK, USA, Canada, and Nigeria. And next February he will take his play to Carnegie Hall. Catch this show at its current intimate space before it moves on to the posher venue in mid-town. Not only will you hear a fine dramatic rendering of "Ol' Man River," but you will better understand why Robeson is writ large in history. At Bowery Poetry Club. 75 minutes. [Donovan]

Hard Travelin' with Woody
Those who have seen the film Bound for Glory too many times will welcome Randy Noojin's new solo show Hard Travelin' With Woody. Noojin impersonates folk icon Woody Guthrie and invites the audience to accompany him on a musical journey that cuts a broad swath through our country. Instead of making the American singer larger than life, he presents him as a regular Joe who has a talent for strummin' the guitar, blowin' the harmonica, and teachin' and preachin' with his witty songs. Noojin's Guthrie talks and sings about hopping boxcars, sleeping under the stars (and occasionally landing in "skid row"), and always standing up as a "union man." Well-written and tightly directed by Richard Mover, it may bring some mild complaints from Guthrie's fans, since the play omits many popular songs from the folk singer's canon. But Noojin delivers fine renditions of the "Dust Bowl" ballad "Do, Re, Mi" and the crowd-pleasing "This Land is Your Land." Indeed this is not a breezy nostalgic tour of Guthrie's best-known songs. But it is a portrait ablaze with life. And it neatly traces how Guthrie fashioned himself into an American folk singer with a social conscience. One of the best scenes in the play is when Noojin re-enacts Guthrie's audition at the glamorous Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Center. Offered the job, Guthrie instinctively refused the skyline gig, realizing that his artistic growth would be better nurtured in homespun places. Undoubtedly, some will leave this musical play hungry for more of Guthrie's popular songs. But what this show captures is Guthrie's free-wheelin' personality and the dust-parched soil from which his songs grew. At CSV Flamboyan. 70 minutes. [Donovan]

Bette Davis Ain't for Sissies
Performer-writer Jessica Sherr, in her one-woman play, Bette Davis Ain't for Sissies, has a promising scenario: Set in Bette Davis's boudoir on February 28th, 1940, Davis is imagined to have left the Oscar ceremonies. She has read the list of winners in a "leaked" story in an early edition of the Los Angeles Times and knows she has lost to Vivien Leigh, as Scarlett O'Hara, in Gone with the Wind. (Davis herself was nominated, as Judith Traherne, in Dark Victory). Against this background, Davis deals with her dashed hopes and contemplates her career and life: her tough rise to stardom; her frequent confrontations with the moguls at Warner Brothers; and her volatile romantic relationships. The problem with the show is that it hangs in mid-air, that it's never clear to whom Davis is speaking to in her 70-minute monologue. Sherr never uses the audience as her collaborator, a dramatic technique that could add much life to this static piece. The play is urgently concerned with Davis's ambitions as an actress and how she coped with the huge obstacles placed in her way by Hollywood's elite. True, there's plenty of feminine assertiveness in Sherr's acting, but it doesn't equate to passion. One wishes that Sherr had excavated more of Davis's steely nerve here and less of her talk, talk, talk. Still, Sherr is a beautiful actress with much poise. Not only does she have very expressive eyes, but a curvy figure that looks great in the couture gowns she wears during this 70-minute show. Sherr doesn't physically look like Davis, but with cigarette in hand and a red-haired coif, she manages sometimes to suggest the iconic actress. Unfortunately, Sherr's acting and Theresa Gambacorta direction, in relation to the opportunities Davis's life and career affords, are merely routine. At CSV Kabayitos. 70 minutes. [Donovan]

Be Careful! The Sharks Will Eat You!
Jay Alvarez becomes a theatrical wonder boy in his one-man drama about his escape with his family from 1960s Cuba. The old adage, "Life is stranger than fiction," takes on a new bite (pun intended) in his 65-minute piece. Alvarez doesn't have any brilliant gimmick or trick to put over on the audience. His incredible real-life story is what works here. That's not to say he doesn't have genuine acting talent. He does. In fact, during the show he ingeniously impersonates countless relatives, friends, Cuban government officials, and servicemen in the American Coast Guard. It's a spot-on comic dramatization with serious socio-political underpinnings. Alvarez's story takes place in 1960s Cuba, when the island was a hotbed of politics triggered by Fulgencio's Batista's fall and Fidel Castro's rise to power. Alvarez depicts the political turmoil, as vividly remembered through his young boyish eyes. We listen to intimate details of his family's strategizing and preparation to leave Cuba, followed by their nightmarish boat journey to America. Alvarez doesn't limit his play only to the political and domestic goings-on in Cuba either. He includes parallel stories of the glitz and glamour of Havana nightlife, and the sultry beats of the celebrity mob-controlled Tropicana in the 1950s. Be Careful! The Sharks Will Eat You! has a peculiar fascination, beginning with its extravagant title and ending with Alvarez's deeply-felt epilogue. Firmly helmed by Theresa Gambacorta, the play has made a splash in former incarnations on stages in New York, Florida, and California. No doubt it's bound to create theatrical ripples elsewhere. This drama reminds you that storytelling is an art. And Alvarez, with his great performance vitality, is one artful storyteller. At Cherry Lane. 65 minutes. [Donovan]

Lou
One of the most magnetic European personalities of late 19th and early 20th centuries was Lou Salome, a heavy hitter in the literary and social science department no less than in very public affairs while maintaining an consummated marriage as Mrs. Andreas-Salome. Diminuitive Elena McGhee gives an energetic one-person confessional-type account her best shot, but the magical glue that united all the threads that made this remarkable personality is missing. For this it may be best to turn to Dominique Sanda's sensual portrayal in Liliana Cavani's film from 1977, Beyond Good and Evil, which centers on the intellectual threesome of the heroine plus budding philosophers Friedrich Nietzsche and Paul Rée. John Carter's script is also at its best covering these bohemian days, and he makes clear how central to their discussions were ideas on God and religion. But conveying paramour Rainer Maria Rilke's poetry is weaker and Andreas-Salome's later forays on the intellectual circuit unfortunately become muddled, perhaps because Carter is far more familiar with the details than the audience. Tina Benko's direction illuminates Lou's early days in Russia, where she single-mindedly devoured books and knowledge that would carry her through an eventful life. At Manhattan Theatre Source. 80 minutes. [Lipfert]

Sanyasi2011
Bengali literary figure and thinker Rabindranath Tagore doesn't get much play these days, and so this first non-European Nobel laureate is unfortunately not well-known. An early edition of NY Fringe hosted a touching production of The Post Office, so this edition of Tagore's Sanyasi is especially welcome. Simply stated, the action revolves around a high-born ascetic who proudly renounces worldly pleasures only to be reminded by an outcast Untouchable waif that his path is incomplete without love. Ameneh Bordi's clever direction has a nimble ensemble of five mostly mime "storytellers" as backdrop for the two leads. Their quick application of costume elements pulled off clotheslines is a delight. But she misses the necessary nuance for the Sanyasi character to fully understand his evolution, and much of Tagore's poetic language is also lost in the process. While Monica Flanagan's petite Vasanti is suitably affecting, lead Evan Sanderson as the ascetic lacks the necessary depth and maturity for a role that must project many different interior moods. His final liberated state is particularly wide of the mark. And strangely for a small theater like The Kraine, many of the players were nearly inaudible, even Sanderson toward the end. Keith Adams's sound score is noteworthy. At Kraine. 60 minutes. [Lipfert]

Echoes from HOME
Elissaveta Iordanova distills folk culture and traditional dance in this two-part look at homeland and emigration. Her committed, all-female Elea Gorana Dance Collective is attired in white dresses and smart folk costumes that contrast with the sparely-lit black floor. One by one they enter. The first lays down a line from a ball of red wool as if telling a story or determining fate, others enact the cycle of growing and harvesting grain. The women prepare for a wedding and finally celebrate their communal lives. Iordanova uses a highly expressive, modern vocabulary which is imbued with Bulgarian folk dance without using specific steps. After a brief interlude by composer Theodosii Spassov, the company of six women including the choreographer plus a lone black man Edwin Brathwite offer a look at coming to America that alternates between gentle humor and sentimental moments. On the faces of the somewhat unruly line of people waiting to be interviewed at the entry airport there are mostly expressions of anxiety. Relief comes from treasuring a favored item that must stand in for the objects and relationships left behind. Iordanova shows the newcomers' lives dissolving and then being reconstituted in this cycle of change through migration. At Fourth Street. 60 minutes. [Lipfert]


Venue Addresses

Bleecker Theatre, 45 Bleecker Street (@Lafayette)
Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery (Bleecker/Houston)
CSV Flamboyan, 107 Suffolk Street (Rivington/Delancey)
CSV Kabayitos, 107 Suffolk Street (Rivington/Delancey)
Cherry Lane, 38 Commerce Street (7th Av/Hudson)
Connelly, 220 East 4th Street (Avs A/B)
Dixon Place, 161A Chrystie Street (Rivington/Delancey Sts)
Fourth Street, 83 East 4th Street (2nd Av/Bowery)
IATI Theater, 64 East 4th Street (2nd Av/Bowery)
Kraine, 85 East 4th Street (2nd Av/Bowery)
La MaMa - First Floor, 74A East 4th St (2nd Av/Bowery)
La MaMa - Stewart, 66-68 East 4th St. (2nd Av/Bowery)
Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker Street (@Thompson)
Living Theater, 21 Clinton Street (Houston/Stanton)
Manhattan Theatre Source, 177 MacDougal Street (8th St/Waverly Pl)
Players Theatre, 115 MacDougal Street (@Minetta Ln)
Teatro LATEA, 107 Suffolk Street (Rivington/Delancey)
Teatro SEA, 107 Suffolk Street (Rivington/Delancey)





Overall Production/Play:
PigPen Presents The Mountain Song
The More Loving One

Overall Production/Musical:
Yeast Nation
Pearl's Gone Blue

Performance:
Jennifer Barnhart (The Legend of Julie Taymor, or The Musical That Killed Everybody!)
Ryan Barry (In the Summer Pavilion)
Miles Cooper (Elysian Fields)
Patrick Byas (Sammy Gets Mugged)
Casey McClellan (My Name Is Billy)
Brian Charles Rooney (Winner Takes All)
Lauren Hennessy (Ampersand: A R&J Love Story)

Playwriting:
Nicholas Billon (Greenland)
A.D. Penedo (The Three Times She Knocked)
Bella and the Pool Boy (Dennis Flanagan)

Music Composition:
Chris Rael (Araby)
Dusty Brown (The Ballad of Rusty and Roy)

Ensemble:
Jersey Shoresical
The Bardy Bunch: The War of the Families Partridge and Brady
Stimulated!
Crawling with Monsters

Costume Design:
Stephanie Alexander (Le Gourmand, or Gluttony!)
Mark Richard Caswell (Parker and Dizzy's Fabulous Journey to the End of the Rainbow)
Tara DeVincenzo (Technodulia Dot Com)

Directing:
Greg Foro (Hamlet)
Joshua Kahan Brody (Fourteen Flights)
Alaska Reece Vance (The Disorientation of Butterflies)

Solo Performance:
Donna/Madonna
The Day the Sky Turned Black
Be Careful! The Sharks Will Eat You!
Paper Cut
Heroes and Other Strangers

Dance:
Wallstories
When the Sky Breaks 3D

Video Design:
Cinty Ionescu (Nils' Fucked Up Day)

TheaterMania Audience Favorite Award:
COBU - Dance like Drumming, Drum like Dancing



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2010 Fringe Report
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