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Monday
Mar022015

TO TAKE YOUR BREATH AWAY // A REVIEW OF "AN OCTOROON"

BY MATEO MORENO

 

There are plays that force us to think, to relive ghosts of the past and confront them in a modern day light. There are plays that use subtle images to explain moments of pain and sorrow, leaving our looming imaginations to do the rest. Then there are plays that stike us in the head and heart over and over with imagery we cannot escape, making us both uncomfortable and unable to stop thinking about the subject matter. Others still want us to laugh, laugh at the misfortunes of our past as we confront the problems of our present and future. However, to do ALL of that in one evening, in one piece of work, is one mammoth project indeed. To teach us, to shock us, to make us laugh, and to create something we've never seen before, leaving little room for imagination and more room for tears. That is what playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins has sought out to do with his reimagining of AN OCTOROON (first seen at Soho Rep last year and now by popular demand restaged in Brooklyn). To say the final product is "exhilarating" wouldn't quite give this play the height it so deserves.

**I will also note that this review may contain a few SPOILERS that I was unaware of when stepping into experience this piece of theatre. Should you feel the need not to read any of those, I truly understand. Bookmark this page, move on to www.TFANA.org and buy a ticket. After your viewing, return here and we'll discuss more. **

We  begin the evening with Austin Smith portraying the playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (or BJJ in the program) and informing us of what we're about to see. He's an African American man who's therapist doesn't fully understand his pain, his creative problems. He shares them with us and tells us of the play The Octoroon, a play from 1859 written by the Irish playwright Dion Boucicault. He takes the plot of the play to begin his re-telling of the tale. Right away, he explains to the audience that white actors won't play these kinds of roles anymore (slave owners, maddening racist types) so he dons "white-face" and sets out to begin the story (the first of many moments your mouth will drop). A man watches him from afar, the original playwright Boucicault. After a brief battle of... a word... the set swiftly changes and they begin to tell their story. They realize they're short on actors, so BJJ will portray several roles as well Boucicault. He dons "red face" to portray the Native American character and his assistant (Ian Lassiter) dons Blackface to play two black central characters. I told you, your mouth WILL drop.

"An Octoroon," the term that is, refers to a woman who is one-eighth black, and is the term for the character of Zoe (Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812's luminous Amber Gray). She is played more straight forward, sincere, and powerfully of the times we are set in. The character of Dora (Mary Wiseman), a white woman out to get her man, is a wildly comic role, dizzying in her portrayal. Then there are the three black female house servants (Maechi Aharanwa, Pascale Armand and Danielle Davenport) whose vernacular leaps straight out of the modern day lexicon. They speak as if they live in 2015 but clearly are surrounded by a much more harrowing time. And then there's another man who appears on stage as a... famous animal that's too priceless to point out here. It's not the only time you'll see him on stage and each time he will throw you into hysterics.

The story tells, more or less (but considerably more), of Zoe the daughter of a slave and deceased plantation owner. The new plantation owner George (also played by Smith) loves Zoe and a mustache twirling villain of a man, M'Closkey (also Myers) also loves her. The play often stops to comment on itself, and how theatres in the 1800's would use sensationalism or tricks to force audiences into a frenzy so they would experience something they had never seen before. What playwright Jacobs-Jenkins, Director Sarah Benson, and the entire cast create here is a thrilling, utterly surprising production that shocks you into feeling, truly feeling, what people so long ago have gone through. The cast is incredible. Austin Smith is remarkable, truly remarkable, in the lead roles of BJJ, George, and M'Closky. He bounces with buoyancy and charm while digging the awful truths of our past. Ian Lassiter and Haynes Thigpen are also truly powerful (and often very funny) in each and every moment, and all three actors portray almost all of their character in a racially offensive makeup, forcing you to see race in a complete different way. Amber Gray is stunning as the lovely Zoe, and Mary Wiseman is rip-roaring hilarious as the rich white woman who wants her man at any cost. Rounding out this incredible cast, Maechi Aharanwa, Pascale Armand and Danielle Davenport will keep you laughing, sometimes uncomfortably, throughout the evening (sample dialogue: "I know we slaves and everything, but you are not your job..."). Accompanied by a tender and beautiful Cellist (Lester St. Louis) the evening propels into a nonstop thrilling ride, complete with a horrifying projection and a truly "breathtaking" experience in Act II. The ending may surround you in darkness, but when the lights come up, you will be awakened, having experienced "What Theatre CAN BE." I've truly never seen anything like An Octoroon and I don't know if I ever will again. Do whatever you can to get there before it closes on March 18th, not because you can, but because you need to.

 

MATEO'S GRADE: A+

Based on the play The Octoroon by Dion Bouciacult Written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins Directed by Sarah Benson. Starring: Austin Smith, Haynes Thigpen, Ian Lassiter, Maechi Aharanwa, Pascale Armand, Mary Wiseman, Amber Gray, Danielle Davenport. Now playing through March 15th at Polonsky Shakespeare Center (262 Ashland Place between Lafayette Ave & Fulton Street Brooklyn)

Final Thoughts: Remarkable and poetic, there is nothing like An Octoroon, or a way to describe how you'll feel after seeing it.

MATEO MORENO recently won a bet on who could hold their breath the longest underwater. He won the bet, having beat local loudmouth Jimmy "Thunderbird" Thomas with a record breaking "fourteen minutes." True, part of that time was him unconcious and the other part was him being revived, but he still counts it, and is now $20 richer. Take THAT Thunderbird! He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Saturday
Feb212015

THERE'S A PLACE FOR US // A FILM REVIEW OF "DRUNKTOWN'S FINEST"

 

BY MATEO MORENO

 

"A place to leave, not to live." So says Nizhoni (Morning Star Wilson), the young narrator who leads us into the small town near Dry Lake New Mexico, part of a Navajo reservation. She's one of the three Native American characters whose story we follows. The other two include Sick-Boy (Jeremiah Bitsui), a young man who's in and out of trouble with the law and has one last shot to straighten up his life. There's also Felixia (Carmen Moore), a transgender woman living with her parents and prostituting on the side. Writer/Director Sydney Freeland explores how each of their stories intersects and spiral into sometimes painful ways in his directorial debut DRUNKTOWN'S FINEST.

Wilson plays Nizhoni, a young woman who's adopted white mother works at a local hospital and prescribes her meds to help her calm down and sleep. She's in the middle of community service for college and is quietly searching for her birthparents. Felixia (Moore), in addition to prostituting herself to pay the bills, wants to audition for the "Women of Navajo Calendar." She's proud of who she is, as is her parents, who in a wonderful change of pace, fully support her and who's only concern is that she's not hurt (they don't, however, know about her nightly visitors). And finally Sick-Boy (Bitsui) has run into the law one too many times. He's a week away from joining the Army and after a run in with a local cop is given one last chance to straighten up. He's supporting his pregnant wife and sister, but ends up back with his old bad crowd and follows Felixia to a party after coming onto her at a grocery store.

What's refreshing in Freeland's film is how none of the characters fall into stereotypes, but still embrace old traditions of their Native customs (seeing an Owl as a bad sign, a sign of death, and the local Medicine Man telling a story of how he thought he was watching a morning star but was really watching a plane is a standout moment). The characters are interesting and the tone is there, but what hurts Freeland's film often is bad acting, specifically from the supporting characters. To say that many of them are simple doing "straight line readings" is an understatement. Wambli Eagleman, as Felixia's sassy friend, is especially terrible. However, there are some solid performances here, notably Jeremiah Bitsui's conflicted Sick-Boy and Morning Star Wilson has some lovely moments. Carmen Moore is not terrible, but a stronger actress would have made the role really sing.

Thought the film definitely has its flaws, Drunktown's Finest is an interesting film, harking back to the early days of the indie movement, and shows real promise in writer/director Sydney Freeland. It's also exciting to see a story of Native Americans told simply as a community of people, going through the same hardships everyone goes through. I'm excited to see what she comes up with next.

MATEO'S GRADE: B-

Written and Directed by Sydney Freeland Starring Morning Star Wilson, Jeremiah Bitsui, Carmen Moore.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Shows strong promise, but stilted acting drags the film down.

 

MATEO MORENO recently won a bet on who could hold their breath the longest underwater. He won the bet, having beat local loudmouth Jimmy "Thunderbird" Thomas with a record breaking "fourteen minutes." True, part of that time was him unconcious and the other part was him being revived, but he still counts it, and is now $20 richer. Take THAT Thunderbird! He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Wednesday
Feb182015

BAD MOVIE? GUILTY PLEASURE? BOTH? // A FILM REVIEW OF "50 SHADES OF GREY"

BY CHRISENA RICCI

 

I admit it. I saw 50 SHADES OF GREY this past weekend. Feminist groups call Christian Grey ‘abusive’. Christian groups call the film ‘pornographic’. And my mother simply referred to it as ‘the film that shall not be named’. I think it’s simply a bad film, with a lot of hype.

After guiltily reading all three of the 50 shades books on my Nook, I was curious as to how well it would adapt into anything suitable for a movie theatre. When I heard the soundtrack I was actually excited to see the flick. That was my main problem right there, I allowed myself to get my hopes up that a mediocre book series could be in anyway improved by a screen adaptation. One of my main problems with the books was that everything moved too slowly. Too much time gets wasted on repetitive self- doubt. Most of the time, I really miss the inner dialogue of the main character when it transitions from book to film. Not this time. For some unknown reason, the monotonous turmoil of Miss Anastasia Steele is all kept intact. They don’t even finish the first film in line with the ending of the first book. When the credits started rolling, I joined in the chorus of “What? Is that IT?” that was being shouted from around me. It was excruciatingly slow, and even at a glacial pace, it still somehow managed to end abruptly.

Now for some of the uncomfortable things that the film felt was necessary. There was a lot of body hair. Like, A LOT. Now I’m all for everyone grooming to whatever extent they wish, but this was, overwhelming. In the first steamy scene, it is apparent that Ana doesn’t shave her legs, ever. I went to a women’s college, and I am all about women doing what makes them happy with their leg hair. Braid it for all I care. However, in the books, Ana is not portrayed as the hairy feminist, or the lazy-with-a-razor  kind of lady. She’s just a regular kind of a girl. She may be a virgin, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t shave her legs. And by unshaved legs, I’m talking multiple inches long, highlighted by being captured in a shadowy silhouette. The audience’s involuntary and collective “ew” was actually laughable.

I spent most of my time laughing through this movie. The script was ridiculous and the “explicit sex” scenes were embarrassing for all the wrong reasons. I did really like the music selections that were playing throughout the entire film, and I thought the costumes were pretty fantastic. Although, it is pretty hard to mess up a soundtrack featuring an exclusive Beyoncé track and wardrobe made up mainly of nudity and gray neckties.

The addition of Ana’s parents was a surprising and welcome addition to the film. In the books, Ana is basically an orphan who has a pretty crappy "brother" in Jose and "sister" in Kate. It makes her situation with Christian seem more isolating and creepy. But in the film, Ana has a good relationship with her mother, whom she goes to visit. She is supported and loved without Christian, and I really appreciated that change. I also like that Ana is portrayed as both strong and intelligent when negotiating the Sub/Dom contract. The film does a good job of giving her a little bit more back bone and making her a lot more likeable than in the books.

I’m sure I will gladly see the second movie. I really did enjoy the chemistry between Ana and Christian, and I think the actors did a good job with an atrocious script. I found this film entertaining. It didn’t expand my mind, or provoke any interesting thoughts. But I had fun. I treated myself to a shameless amount of Jamie Dornan’s abs and movie theatre popcorn. It was the perfect girl’s night out.

 

CHRISENA'S GRADE: D-

Directed By Sam Taylor-Johnson Screenplay By Kelly Marcel Based on the novel by E.L. James Starring Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan, Jennifer Ehle, Eloise Mumford, Victor Rasuk, Luke Grimes and Marcia Gay Harden

FINAL THOUGHTS: It isn’t a good movie, but I sure had fun watching it.

CHRISENA RICCI once went to a costume party dressed in an all black dress and black wig. No one there could guess who she was. So she shouted out, "I'm Christina Ricci, without the T or I and add an E!" Everyone stood there confused, she was annoyed, so she stormed off. She never returned to that apartment ever again. Which is fine, because she later realized she was at the wrong party. She now lives in New York City.