Displaying items by tag: Jen Ellison

I went to see "A Story Told in Seven Fights" at Neo-Futurists Theater on my birthday for two reasons. One, I wanted to have a fun, exciting interactive theater experience and two, because my dear friend and college classmate, actor, comedy writer Phil Riddarelli was one of the original members and founders of the theatre’s longest running hit, "Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind.” 

I am happy to say it was a very happy birthday experience indeed. 

Even if you know nothing about the play's stories regarding the rift that occurred between the ensemble members and original founder Greg Allen in 2016, which prompted the company members to change its most popular production's name to "The Infinite Wrench," or the seven real life historical fights between Arthur Cravan, or his contemporaries Tristan Tzara and Andre Breton and boxing champion Jack Johnson, you will STILL totally enjoy this show! If unfamiliar, worry not. You'll catch on quick and, in the process, learn amazing stories such as the time when Cravan, a poet and philosopher in the early 20th century who ushered in the birth of Dadaism and Surrealism, actually fought the unbeatable Jack Johnson in an exposition match that he publicized to raise money for himself. This is just one of his many fights.

"Seven Fights" is the epitome of what this theatre stands for as it holds true to that from the Neo Futurist company’s website info: 
"From our namesakes, the Italian Futurists, came the exultation of speed, brevity, compression, dynamism, and the explosion of preconceived notions (although not the warlike fascist tendencies). From Dada and Surrealism came the joy of randomness and the thrill of the unconscious. From the theatrical experiments of the 1960’s came audience interaction, breaking down all notions of distance, character, setting, and illusion. Finally, from the political turmoil of the 1980’s came a socially conscious voice and a low-tech, “poor theater” format. This aesthetic would eventually become the guiding principle of all work produced by The Neo-Futurists".

"Youth in revolt!" If it's a system, it needs to be smashed. The safety bubble created to protect us from the system has now become a system - so let's smash it. 

Trevor Dawkins and director Tony Santiago have created a 90-minute long format play that is socially conscious, exciting to watch and full of "poor theater" energy that keeps the audience both laughing and thinking at the same time for every minute of this super funny and thought-provoking production. "Seven fights" is Oracle Production's Tony Santiago's Neo-Futurist debut and it appears he's a good fit for the progressive theatre company. Dawkins also gets a huge assist from his surrounding cast members that include Jen Ellison, Rasell Holt, Arti Ishak, TJ Medel, Kendra Miller, Stephanie Shum and Jeff Trainor. Holt is exceptional as legendary Jack Johnson (not the guitarist!) who became the first African-American World Heavyweight Champion in 1908. Ellison also stands out in a surprise role, infusing her own unique blend of humor into the production, a talent that has been enjoyed in past productions by both Neo-Futurist and Second City fans.  

Cast members actually stage elaborate fights under Gaby Labotka's well-choreographed fight direction and do other interesting things like drawing a chalk line on the stage where they talk to each in "real life" on one side of the line and "in character" on the other side of the line. Throughout the play audience is swept along to consider their own inner battles with how to properly and safely express anger over whatever may be "seven fights' in their own lives, perhaps like the ones many of us feel we are experiencing under Trump's reign of terror in our country right now.

In most of our lives actual fighting is not the answer for normal, yet persecuted, people to pursue without making the situation worse. 

Dawkin's very interesting script, which reminds me of a famous ensemble piece about the Kennedy assassination called "The Serpent" back in the 60's, gives the audience many entertaining and thoughtful ways to channel their anger and even turn it into humor and art. 

I highly recommend this super funny, energy-packed show to people of all ages who want to have a lively and positive theater experience that they will not forget. 

"A Story Told in Seven Fights" is currently being performed at the Neo-Futurists Theatre through April 7th. For more show info visit www.neofuturists.org.

Redletter is the latest creation by the Neo-Futurists, this piece written by ensemble member Lisa Buscani and directed by Jen Ellison.  As Buscani puts it, “Everyone’s bemoaning about the ‘death of news’. But the news will never die, not as long as humans do newsworthy things.” That’s true…to a point as we see in Redletter when a news team covers a burrito.

Redletter hits on many media related issues such as how the rise of technology has affected the way news is delivered over the years, the mistakes in reporting and transferring the news along with the corrections that go unnoticed (if corrections are even made), the silly stories that have now become news, story oversaturation and the manipulation of media - it’s cause and effect. What you get in Redletter are samples of each while each issue is worthy of its own story and then some. As a viewer I felt a bit teased by the multiple issues brought to the table rather than watching a story that solely focuses on any of the above mentioned subjects. It’s mentioned at one point that a reporter is asked to make up the news leaving hope that corporate and government media manipulation would be addressed in depth, but instead the story jumps back to another questionable form of news delivery. Still, it’s nice to see attention paid to these unethical media practices that go unnoticed by many due to laziness, ignorance, complacency or simply the belief that our trusted news carriers would never purposely dupe the public. Kudos to Buscani for taking the initiative to tackle such a brave subject.

In true Neo-Futurist fashion we get a nice blend of witty humor and subject matter that we can take home and think about afterwards. Buscani is joined by ensemble members Bilal Dardai, Trevor Dawkins, Lindsay Muscato and Thea Lux who together combine for a very amusing cast, each contributing their own unique comic talent to collectively create a smart amalgam of absurd fun. Projections are plenty used in adding oomph to the show’s story including a comical montage of 1970s Robert Redford who Buscani sees as a real media man.

Trevor Dawkins steals much of the show with his genius transformation into his dad, an overly exaggerated portrayal of a hard-nosed CBS news man from the early 1980s who can be found partying at night in the clubs living it up with cocaine and Jack Daniels, but can also just as easily be found at his own “pity party”. Dawkins performance is as energetic as it is hilarious receiving one belly laugh after another from the crowd and in itself is a good enough reason the see Redletter: The News Done Medium Well.  

The bottom line is this play has plenty of funny moments, and though Redletter might be trying to cram in too many issues at once with news and media, it does raise awareness to this important subject and makes us question what we deem as “news” and question the trust that we so often blindly put in the hands of “professional broadcasters and writers”.  

Redletter is playing at The Neo-Futurarium through March 28^th Thursday through Saturday at 7:30pm and tickets are very reasonable at just $20 ($10 for students and seniors). For tickets and/or more information visit www.neofuturists.org or call (773) 275-5255. 

*Photo - Trevor Dawkins