Review - Anaïs Nin Goes to Hell (Maieutic Theatre Works and FringeNYC)

Review by Byrne Harrison


Shelly Feldman as Anaïs Nin

It turns out we were wrong about the afterlife. No golden gates. No heavenly choirs. Just a chain of islands in a sea guarded by a man-eating Hydra. On one of those little islands sit some of the greatest women in history: Andromeda, Cleopatra, Heloise, Joan of Arc and Queen Victoria. While they had little in common during their lives, they are now united in one pursuit - waiting for their men to return and rescue them. It is a wait that for some of them has gone on for millennia.

This is their afterlife. While they scan the seas, they quarrel, play pranks on one another, and occasionally self-immolate to pass the time. That is until Anaïs Nin arrives. Diarist, bohemian, writer of erotica, student of psychoanalysis, and above all a believer in the power of women, her presence will shake the illustrious figures to their foundations and force them to reevaluate their lives and afterlives. Are these women really defined by what they see, or think they see, in their lovers' eyes? And is the afterlife merely an extension of their lives on Earth, or an opportunity to transcend them and release the burdens they've carried for so long? Anaïs may hold the answer, if only she can make them understand.

David Stallings has written a fascinating and thought-provoking play, full of humor, smut, philosophy, and a smattering of Karen Carpenter. If there can be said to be one weakness, it is that Stallings broadcasts the ending. Not surprisingly, the characters in the play are forced to a final decision – search for their beloved men or let go. By not developing certain characters while lavishing time and attention on others, Stallings makes it perfectly clear which characters will choose to grow and which will stay the same. A little tension during those final moments would be welcomed.

The ensemble does a good job with Stallings' work. Of particular note are Shelly Feldman as Anaïs and Aly Wirth as Heloise. Feldman captures both Anaïs' cockiness and her hidden uncertainty; she is, after all, in uncharted waters. Wirth's Heloise is funny, vulgar and above all angry. Angry at a life she feels was wasted on both her lover Abelard and the God she served as an abbess. Wirth shows Heloise's anger and her childlike delight at what she learns from Anaïs and gives a wonderfully moving performance. Also notable is Maggie Benedict as the sinuous and sultry Cleopatra.

Set, lighting and sound design (Stephanie Tucci, Dan Gallagher and Martha Goode, respectively) are well done. David "DW" Withrow's costumes are outstanding, especially his costumes for Joan of Arc, Queen Victoria, and Anaïs.

Maieutic Theatre Works has produced another winning play. Since this is a FringeNYC production, there aren't many chances to catch Anaïs Nin Goes to Hell. See it while you can.

Written by David Stallings
Directed by Cristina Alicea
Producer: Julie Griffith
Set Designer, Prop Master: Stephanie Tucci
Costume Designer: David "DW" Withrow
Lighting Designer: Dan Gallagher
Sound Designer: Martha Goode
Stage Manager: Stuart Shefter
Assistant Stage Manager: Jonathon Saia
Marketing/Audience Building Director: Antonio Miniño
Press Agent: Katie Rosin/Kampfire Films PR
Casting Director: Colleen Piquette
Graphic Designer: Lindsay Moore
Photographer: Erica Parise
Volunteers: Allison Ikin, Maureen O'Boyle, Robin Madel

Featuring: Maggie Benedict (Cleopatra), Shelly Feldman (Anaïs Nin), Jeremy King (Lord Alfred "Bosie" Douglas), Madalyn McKay (Queen Victoria), Colleen Piquette (Joan of Arc), Marnie Schulenburg (Andromeda), and Aly Wirth (Heloise),

Connolly Theatre
220 E. 4th Street

Aug. 8-24
For dates, times, and tickets visit http://www.fringenyc.org/

Announcement - 52 Man Pickup (FringeNYC & Working Man's Clothes)

The New York International Fringe Festival--FRINGENYC & Working Man's Clothes
present

52 MAN PICKUP

at The Jazz Gallery
290 Hudson Street @ Spring
(1 to Houston; C/E to Spring)

August 14 @ 7:45 PM August 18 @ 9:15 PM August 20 @ 5:30 PMAugust 21 @ 10:00 @ 10 PM August 23 @ 3:00 PM



New York alt-comedy diva Desiree Burch mixes playing cards, audience participation and parting gifts as audiences “go fish” through her deck of hilariously true and unadulterated encounters. Between firemen, construction workers, editors, rockers, schoolteachers, bartenders and male cheerleaders, this salacious evening of storytelling and stand-up explores sex in the city that never sleeps with the same person twice.

Visit the 52 Man Pickup Website for Details!

Photo by Sarah Sloboda

Announcement - The Boy in the Basement (FringeNYC & Basement Boy Productions)

WORLD PREMIERE OF LIVE ACTION ROMANCE NOVEL
THE BOY IN THE BASEMENT
AT THE 2008 NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL FRINGE FESTIVAL

Basement Boy Productions is proud to present THE BOY IN THE BASEMENT as part of the 12th annual New York International Fringe Festival – FringeNYC. The Boy In The Basement is written by Katharine Heller and directed by Nell Balaban (Assistant Director of Golda’s Balcony and The Foreigner on Broadway). Performances will run from August 9th to 23rd, 2008, at the SoHo Playhouse (Venue #7), located at 15 Vandam Street between 6th Avenue & Varick in NYC. The show features original music on piano performed live by Jon Quinn.

Tickets are $15 and can be purchased online at http://www.fringenyc.org/ or by calling 1-866-468-7619. Running time is 75 minutes.

For more information on the show visit http://www.theboyinthebasement.com/.

THE BOY IN THE BASEMENT is a live action romance novel about four co-eds who find a striking stranger trying to rob their house. His punishment? One weekend in the basement - as their sex slave. But see what happens when Lance Speedworth breaks into their home . . . and steals their hearts. Sexy, funny and touching, THE BOY IN THE BASEMENT is a story about friendships with modern commentary on the contemporary romance novel.

Director Nell Balaban has served as associate director to Scott Schwartz on many plays and musicals including The Foreigner (starring Matthew Broderick) and Golda’s Balcony (starring Tovah Feldshuh). She’s worked at venues including The Roundabout, Papermill Playhouse, The Alley Theatre (Houston), Goodspeed Opera House and The Alliance Theatre (Atlanta). As a Broadway actress she appeared in the original Broadway cast of Jane Eyre.

The cast includes Lynne Rosenberg and Katharine Heller (both honored with a 2007 Fringe Festival Award for Outstanding Ensemble for Naked in a Fishbowl), Nick Fondulis (NBC pilot Kings), Michael Solis (Cubicle Improv), Tom Macy, Meghan Powe and Anna Stumpf.

Author Katharine Heller is a New York native who has appeared in numerous improv and theater shows including Chick Flicks, Ka-Baam! and Forbidden Fruit. She recently starred in the short film, The Thorny Rose, for Cherry Films, a new company headed by Ethan Coen’s wife, Tricia Cooke. Written originally as a book six years ago as a gift to her three college housemates (on whom the story is loosely based), Katharine then self published The Boy in the Basement as a novel.

The design/production team consists of Kathryn Moise (Producer), Sean Tribble (Set Design), Grant Yeager (Lighting Design) and Terra Vetter (Stage Manager).

Announcement - Johnny Law, Courtroom Crusader (FringeNYC & Johnny Boy Productions)

Johnny Boy Productions
Proudly Presents the World Premiere of

JOHNNY LAW
Courtroom Crusader

Performed by
TIM RYAN MEINELSCHMIDT

Written by
TIM RYAN MEINELSCHMIDT and THOMAS L. FOX ESQ.

Directed by CHRISTOPHER FESSENDEN

THE NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL FRINGE FESTIVAL-FRINGENYC
A PRODUCTION OF THE PRESENT COMPANY
AT THE SCHAEBERLE STUDIO THEATRE
AUGUST 8TH - AUGUST 24TH
TICKETS: $15. FOR TICKETS VISIT http://www.fringenyc.org/

JOHNNY BOY PRODUCTIONS is pleased to announce the world premiere production of JOHNNY LAW, Courtroom Crusader, the newest solo show from Tim Ryan Meinelschmidt whose last solo show ALL THE HELP YOU NEED, The Adventures of a Hollywood Handyman was honored with the Overall Excellence Award in the 2004 NY Fringe Festival. JOHNNY LAW, directed by Christopher Fessenden, will play a limited engagement as part of the 11th annual New York International Fringe Festival-FringeNYC at The Schaeberle Studio Theatre (Venue #2, 41 Park Row at William Street). Performances begin August 9th and continue through August 22nd.

JOHNNY LAW is a streetwise, savvy and somewhat cynical criminal defense attorney. Having seen it all, from corporate clients dripping in smug privilege to the urban gang-bangers thrown under the wheels of the legal system Johnny nonetheless remains, a tireless advocate for social justice and the rights of the individual. In this "election year FringeNYC," with so many issues of personal freedom and social justice hanging in the balance and before the public eye, JOHNNY LAW is the right-show for right-now.

JOHNNY LAW is loosely based on the Johnny Law Stories by attorney Thomas L. Fox, whose colorful career has lead him from the U.S. Attorney's office in Washington DC, to the L.A. County Public Defenders office and everywhere in between. A longtime supporter of the arts as producer and legal advisor, Fox, is the rare criminal defense attorney who effortlessly segues in and out of the entertainment world.

Karina Martins is the stage manager.

JOHNNY LAW plays the following schedule through Friday, August 22nd:

Saturday, August 9th at 1:45 pm
Thursday, August 14th at 9:30 pm
Friday, August 15th at 7:30 pm
Sunday, August 17th at 6:30 pm
Friday, August 22nd at 5:00 pm

Tickets are $15 and are now available online at http://www.fringenyc.org/ or by calling 866-468-7619. Tickets may also be purchased in-person at The Schaeberle Studio Theatre, 1/2 hour prior to showtime.

Announcement - Zombie (FringeNYC & Razors Edge Productions)

WORLD PREMIERE OF JOYCE CAROL OATES’ ZOMBIE
AT THE 2008 NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL FRINGE FESTIVAL

MAMMA MIA! RESIDENT DIRECTOR THOMAS CARUSO TO DIRECT

New York, NY – Razors Edge Productions presents the World Premiere of Zombie as part of the 12th annual New York International Fringe Festival. Zombie is a novella by Joyce Carol Oates, adapted for the stage and performed by Bill Connington and directed by Thomas Caruso (resident director of MAMMA MIA!).

Performances will run from August 9th to 21st, 2008 at The Players Theatre Loft Space (Venue #13), located at 115 MacDougal Street (3rd floor) between West 3rd Street & Minetta Lane in NYC. Cast members of Joyce Carol Oates’ Zombie and The Corn Maiden will be featured at a FringeU event entitled “Behind the Production: Zombie and Corn Maiden,” on Monday August 18th from 6pm to 7:30pm at FringeCENTRAL (201 MulberryStreet).

Tickets are $15 and can be purchased online at http://www.fringenyc.org/ or by calling 1-866-468-7619. Runningtime is one hour. For more information on the show visit http://www.zombienyfringe.com/.

“I’m not Jeffrey Dahmer, I’m Quentin P__. They say I murder, torture andrape young boys. That’s not how I see it. I’m trying to create a zombie. Join me. I’ll tell you my side of the story.”

What happens when outwardly “normal” people snap? Joyce Carol Oates’Zombie sheds insight into this question by taking you inside the mind of a sexual psychopath. In Zombie, a Jeffrey Dahmer-esque serial killer by the name of “Quentin P__” describes the murder, torture and rape of his young male victims. A sexual psychopath, he aspires to create zombie slaves to meet his every need. Zombie received the Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel and was awarded the Lilla Risk Rand fiction prize by the Boston Book Review. Warning: Zombie contains sexually graphic and violent language - no one under 18 will be admitted.

“When people say there is too much violence in my books, what they are saying is there is too much reality in life.” ~ Joyce Carol Oates in The New York Times

Joyce Carol Oates has written some of the most enduring fiction of ourtime. In a prolific and varied career that ranges over several genres of fiction, Joyce Carol Oates has proven herself one of the most influential and important storytellers in the literary world. She is a New York Times best-selling author of more than 70 books, including novels, short story collections, poetry volumes, plays, literary criticism and essays. She is a recipient of the National Book Award, the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction and the Common Wealth Award for Distinguished Service in Literature. She has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize, and has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 1978.

Director Thomas Caruso is the resident director of MAMMA MIA! on Broadway. His other directing credits include Mimi Le Duck (starring Eartha Kitt) at New World Stages, a national tour of Master Class (with Charlotte Cornwell of the Royal Shakespeare Company), Diagnosis (The Play Company) at 59E59, Two Boys… at Rattlestick and the musical Bingo at St. Luke’s Theatre. Thomas was the associate director for both Bombay Dreams and the musical revival of Follies. He received the Kenneth Frankel Memorial Directing Fellowship from Manhattan Theatre Club.

Bill Connington’s acting credits include Mr. Gallico at HERE, Spectacle of Spectacles at La MaMa and All Mixed Up Inside My Head at La MaMa. As a playwright, his credits include Lord Byron’s Lover, Teach Me All About Love, Johnny Mathis, and his own adaptation of The Picture Of Dorian Gray, all of which have been seen in New York. Bill has twice been a finalist at The O’Neill Theater Conference.

Zombie includes an original score composed by Deirdre Broderick. The design/production team consists of Joel E. Silver (Lighting Design), Josh Zangen (Scenic Design) and Naomi Anhorn (Stage Manager).