Crescent Theatre Collective

As the Year Comes to an End

noreply@blogger.com (Glenn Meche) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 23:36:00 +0000

Theodore Mahne of NOLA.com and the Times-Picayune writes:

The brooding road trip of playwright Jerrod Bogard’s “Hugging the Shoulder” stayed with me for days, due largely to sublimely dark performances of Joe Seibert, Eli Grove and Liz Mills. The audience may have wanted to run away from watching a loved one slip into the spiral of addiction, but under Glenn Meche’s direction, none could turn away.

I can think of no lovelier note by which to ring down the curtain ... Thank you.

Kudos!

noreply@blogger.com (Glenn Meche) — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 19:05:00 +0000

A big Thank You to all of you

who helped make our productions

the artistic and critical successes they were.

Give yourselves a hand!

Audience Reaction to Hugging the Shoulder

noreply@blogger.com (Glenn Meche) — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 15:52:00 +0000

"Director Glenn Meche and his fine casts can do more with a room and two chairs than anyone else in town could do with a Broadway budget.

"... A very dark and powerful exploration of sibling relationships and the aftermath of [military] combat delivered with chilling conviction. Glad I didn't miss it. This troupe's delivery will leave your hand prints in the armrests and [have] you marveling at the finish that you didn't see ... coming."

- Mark Folse

"Let me say here that this show has been severely underrated. While not tonally perfect - catching the edgy despair but missing the lyric intimacy - it was a more honest, better staged work than Glenn's award-winning Frozen (and following a coup like that show, as well as Elm Theatre's similarly themed Blackbird, I suppose unhappy comparisons are inevitable) and Eli Grove was this close to splendid.

"Kudos to all."

- Michael Martin

If you saw the play and have a comment, let us know.

Examiner.com's Review of Hugging the Shoulder

noreply@blogger.com (Glenn Meche) — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 17:15:00 +0000

The two main characters in playwright Jerrod Bogard's work "Hugging the Shoulder" are brothers, but they are bound together by more than blood and family ties. They are connected through the insidious abuse of heroin by older brother Jeremy (Eli Grove) and his girlfriend Christy (Liz Mills). It is younger brother Derrick (Joe Seibert) who hatches the plan with his mother's approval to abduct his drugged out brother and literally throw him into the back of his van, driving until Jeremy kicks his addiction.

Along the way the play alternates between scenes of the past to illustrate the previous road Jeremy had gone down, their past relationship and the interaction of Christy between the two siblings. It is a stark set bereft of a good deal of light, highlighting the darkness that has descended upon the two as Derrick drives with no end in sight to his road trip. At first all Jeremy can ask is "why?" He accuses his brother of lying and attempts to break free. But reality sets in. He is unable to take care of himself and is in the throes of opiate withdrawal. The younger brother is easily able to subdue him and so the play continues.

Jeremy is an emotional wreck, suffering from post traumatic shock disorder as a result of his military service in Iraq. He is so angry with himself that he deliberately antagonizes anyone who is his friend so that he can be beaten as a means of punishing himself. He is self-loathing and a pathetic excuse for a human being. Despite Jeremy's mean spirited nature, Derrick is determined to save his brother. Seibert plays the parent role very well, but we appreciate that as Jeremy's health improves, his selfish and misanthropic self is revealed. As Christy, Mills is especially convincing. Her natty and disheveled appearance belies that of a junkie. Yet, underneath we can see she is suffering from the effects of a loveless relationship with Jeremy. Her only out is to give in to the heroin that she and Jeremy subsitute for sex. It is riveting to see the two of them both, separately, cook their dope, draw the liquid into a syringe and inject the hot fix into their veins. Each time the witness to this action is Derrick and he is asked on each occasion: "Have you ever seen anybody do this?"

The language in "Hugging the Shoulder" is as raw as the lives of the tortured souls who are the main characters in this drama. There is little room here for comic relief and in the end there is little resolution to the conflict between the two brothers. But this is a play that is worthy to be seen by audiences if nothing more than to drive home the dire nature of drug addiction and the hopelessness in breeds in those who succumb to its seductive proprerties. Drugs eliminate the need to be human and to have feelings. Nothing is more obvious than this when we see Jeremy and Christy shooting up and fading out.

Derrick looks to make a connection to his brother even though it is apparent they have never acted brotherly toward the other. Instead of being grateful, Jeremy retreats into his hardened exterior, oblivious to the good intentions of his brother. Without a program of recovery in place and a method to deal with his feelings, it is only a matter of time before he will slip again.

"Hugging the Shoulder" is not for the tame of heart. It is gritty and as vile as the bucket of puke and bile Jeremy spews in the first act. One week remains before this show, the world premiere of the new revision by Bogard presented by the Crescent City Theatre Collective closes. ...Grove additionally provides the design for the set.

- Alan Smason, Examiner.com, August 15, 2011

Gambit New Orleans' Review of Hugging the Shoulder

noreply@blogger.com (Glenn Meche) — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 16:51:00 +0000

Hugging the Shoulder sounds intimate, except in this case the shoulder is asphalt. Jerrod Bogard’s examination of lost youth and drug addiction is worthy of its own circle in Dante’s Hell, and it is stunning audiences at Shadowbox Theatre.

Under the nuanced direction of Glenn Meche, the talented cast was undaunted by the grueling trudge through despair. The story centers on the efforts of Derrick (Joe Seibert) to wean his older brother Jeremy (Eli Grove) off heroin by locking him in the back seat of a van and driving with no destination other than sobriety. The pilgrimage is messy as Jeremy is aggressive, sometimes incoherent and often vomits. In one extended scene, he writhes on the ground in his underwear. Determined to save his brother at all coasts, Derrick desperately contains himself.

The brothers are a foul-mouthed pair, and while this may represent a kind of gritty realism, it becomes tiresome, for we have become inured to torrents of “f—k this” and “f—k that” and “I’m gonna f—king kill you.” At one point, Jeremy calls Derrick a “pinko rat bastard.” That particular term offered such a whiff of the Cold War, I wondered if the drug addiction grew out of service in Vietnam, but there’s no hint if it did.

Shoulder alternates between two locations. Eli Grove’s clever modular set starts as a van and then transforms into a small room. It switches back and forth throughout the play, adding to the claustrophobia of the small cast and limited, if intense, conflict.

Christy (Liz Mills) is Jeremy’s girlfriend and warns him she won’t stay faithful if he “goes back” — to war? To drugs? Amid the chaos, the brothers recall moments from childhood but they usually have different memories of the same event. Shooting at each other with BB guns their father gave them seems to be a highlight. Neither parent appears in the drama, but the offstage mother seems to have been an addict of some kind.

In some ways, the most compelling image of the play is the moment when we see Jeremy give himself a fix. He wraps his arm tightly with his belt, injects himself and passes out. There is something chilling about this diabolic ritual — like sadomasochism performed in a chapel.

In the end, Jeremy is gone. Suicide? An overdose? Christy comes on to Derrick but in a twisted way. Shoulder begins in darkness and after a brief glimmer of light founders back into darkness.

- Dalt Wonk, Gambit New Orleans, August 17, 2011

Ambush Magazine's Review of Hugging the Shoulder

noreply@blogger.com (Glenn Meche) — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 02:06:00 +0000

In Jerrod Bogard’s Hugging the Shoulder, Derrick kidnaps his older brother Jeremy, tosses him in the back of a car, and drives him all over the country in an attempt to wean him off his severe drug habit. Or does he?

Bogard’s play does raise the timeless question of “Am I my brother’s keeper?” and explores how fate sometimes places you in situations you never thought you’d wind up in.

Unfortunately, while we feel the pain of Derrick and Jeremy, I can’t honestly say that I really ever cared much about them. Meandering and repetitive, Bogard’s script simply never goes beyond a surface deep exploration of these scions of a dysfunctional family resulting in an unsatisfying thinness. The ending especially feels like a cheat, a Twilight Zone rip-off.

Director Glenn Meche, who has notched up award-winning productions of The Glass Menagerie and Frozen in recent seasons, here creates some nice images with his simple staging, notably a Pieta-like one, but not even he can overcome the innate dullness of watching two guys watch a car race. One can only wonder what it was about this play that appealed to him.

Joe Seibert does well as Derrick, bringing out the decency of this nice guy who’s devoted to his brother. But even this fine actor can spin only so many variations on the same I’mgonna-save-you theme that the text provides.

Eli Grove, who in the past has done impressive work as a set designer (The Madwoman of Chaillot, Finer Noble Gases), is good as the manipulative, dissolute and, at times, incoherent Jeremy, but he’s too laid back for a character that calls for a more spontaneous, springy, even menacing approach. This is a role that requires a young Brando or Pacino, not a member of the mumblecore set.

Liz Mills is effective as Jeremy’s junkie girlfriend Christy, an ineffably sad casualty of addiction.

I wish I could be more enthusiastic about Hugging the Shoulder as it’s nice to see local producing entities such as Crescent Theatre Collective taking chances on plays that don’t come with New York or London pedigrees. But, frankly, after last year’s Blackbird, my tolerance for plays about druggie losers has reached its limit.

- Brian Sands, Ambush Magazine, August 16, 2011

Jim Fitzmorris Reviews Hugging the Shoulder

noreply@blogger.com (Glenn Meche) — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 10:49:00 +0000

Despondent over his older brother Jeremy’s crippling addiction to heroin, would-be musician and stoner Derrick kidnaps his sibling and tosses him in the back of their mother’s car. The younger Derrick sets off across the country in the hopes of using the vehicle and the road as a poor man’s detox. Following these brothers through time and space, Jerrod Bogard’s Hugging the Shoulder not only details Jeremy’s attempts to avoid his reckoning but also reconstructs the events that led to Derrick’s effort to save his brother from certain destruction. It is all about keeping a damaged vehicle on the road. Played by Joe Seibert and Eli Grove respectively, Derrick and Jeremy warily negotiate a journey of conflicting desire.

The driver buys time for his junkie brother to purge his system while his passenger searches for an exit to return to his addiction. Under Glen Meche’s direction, The Crescent Theatre Collective’s production of Bogard’s play at The ShadowBox Theatre handles like a polished workshop. It features intelligent performers, an unobtrusive touch in its blocking, modest-but-effective technical elements, and one beautifully executed monologue. Given the journey it has mapped for itself, it is a relatively error free evening of theatre.

But all of that comes with the following caveat: its lack of misstep seems to come not as the result of ferocious execution but from an aversion to risk. It lacks the recklessness so necessary to a drama of the American road: the wheels never feel like they will come off. Hugging the Shoulder seems stuck in first choices, lacks idiosyncratic touches, and mires itself in a tonal gray of despair. It is a production in need of a breakthrough, an imaginative jumpstart, charging its actors with an electric current of unpredictability. But with one unnerving exception I will discuss later, the production never accelerates to a speed where the possibility of disaster becomes a frightening reality. Hugging the Shoulder feels ominous, but it never seems dangerous.

Meche’s staging within Grove’s monochromatic set hints at what is missing. Grove’s design is clean, communicative, and, one early pileup notwithstanding, never hinders the blocking. Using a platform, a box, and car seats, the set effectively rotates between the car of rescue and the dingy apartment where Jeremy had trapped himself. Its black, white, and gray color scheme suggests the inevitability of an interstate highway, and it even has the lovely detail of tire marks along its platform base, the resonance of a car out of control. But instead of using the set as a foundational starting point, Meche seems to approach it as a final destination, as if the set is the work complete. Both the performance style and the staging are a match rather than a compliment to the constructed physical landscape. This flattens the dynamic of the evening, and it sticks Hugging the Shoulder into a cruise control of sorts: measured, rhythmic and ultimately deadening.

The approach to the acting feels throttled. Both Seibert and Grove ratchet the intensity past the point of believability. The actors are capable performers, clear in their objectives and strong in their storytelling. A number of Seibert’s childhood reminisces are particularly spot on in their framing. We do not miss a moment of exposition. However, there is no musicality, variation, or grace in either the telling of tales or the brother’s confrontations. The siblings’ early living room exchanges are a singular note of rising resentments, punctuated by Grove’s snorts and Seibert’s sighs. We do not see echoes of the little boys who went off in search of biplanes before cooked spoons took it all away. Because of this, the physical and emotional violence feels inevitable, expected, and even ho-hum in its arrival. The occasional performative lapse of cue-over-reaction in The Elm Theatre’s Brother becomes the norm in Hugging the Shoulder. It is a paint-by-numbers build, a carefully calibrated well-made-play approach, that seems almost set to a stopwatch. The characters inhabiting the play might be reckless addicts, but the methodology of the production is ponderous sobriety. Even the withdrawal vomiting, needle injections, and chirping crickets feel as if right on cue. Hugging the Shoulder is not an impetuous road binge; it is GPS drama.

Describing what the show could have or should have been is unnecessary, because it nearly achieves it in one particular performance. As Jeremy’s brutally codependent girlfriend Christy, Liz Mills’ approach to her character points towards a richer, more vibrant route not taken. Employing haunted stares and sudden twitches, Mills swerves between painful desire and dreamlike distance. It creates a portrait of a woman plummeting into heroin fantasy so as not to feel disgust with the reality of her surface. Her work comes to fruition with a creepy, candlelit monologue that Meche stages with simple effectiveness. Her rendition of “Tea for Two” is an act of seduction that is unnerving, spooky and sexually disturbing. For a fleeting moment, the production is filled with a tension and unpredictability so lacking elsewhere.

But even that performance and its arresting final sequence fall victim to what is missing from the production. Actors should relish the opportunity to remake themselves, but despite numerous prospects, Hugging the Shoulder fails to seize upon the possibilities for tour-de-force transformation. Mills is a beautiful redhead with a touch of an internal glow, but although she is playing a poor, white trash addict, little is done to alter her sublime countenance. Yes, Mills transforms her cadence, posture, and even delivery rhythms, but her physical appearance is unchanged. Those looks act as an unintentional beacon that outshines her intense character work. I am not asking for Charlize Theron in Monster, but with the exception of her clothes being a tad tattered, nothing suggests a life lived on a rough-and-tumble road. Mills is still Mills, so while the performance is disturbing, it lacks the chill that visual amplification would provide.

Playing humanity’s dregs demands embracing the physical wear and tear of the geographic sediment that covers that world. Lack of personal hygiene, bruises, needle marks, and sunken eyes are the wages of addiction that should be cashed across the landscape of the body. But neither Mills nor Grove show the erosion the disease causes to the faculty of their person. Whatever issue I might have had with The Elm Theatre’s Blackbird, it was not because director Laura Hope allowed her actors Garret Prejean and Becca Chapman to degrade their appearance and dignity in the creation of two hopeless addicts. Jaundiced, crippled, and wracked in pain, both performers were borderline unrecognizable.

There are three elements to any strong performance: logic, replication and emotional connection. To phrase it as a triple question: is it understandable, does it seem to be the things it claims to be, and does it elicit the desired emotional response? All three need to work together to produce the total effect of character. But Hugging the Shoulder, while precise and focused in delivery of story and purpose, falls short on seeming making it so. It lacks authenticity. Because of this, we hear and see the story, but we do not feel it.

- Jim Fitzmorris, NOLA Defender, August 10, 2011

The Times-Picayune's Review of Hugging the Shoulder

noreply@blogger.com (Glenn Meche) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 16:47:00 +0000

“Am I my brother’s keeper?” It’s an age-old moral question that has never been satisfactorily resolved since Cain first asked it. In “Hugging the Shoulder,” now playing at the Shadow Box Theatre, playwright Jerrod Bogard adds layers of complexities to the moral implications of the question as a young man desperately attempts to save his brother from the depths of his own drug addiction.

The setting is what appears to be a simple road trip – the pair of men driving in a van. Derrick, the younger brother has essentially kidnapped his brother Jeremy, and is driving across country for days and days to an unnamed destination, in the hopes of breaking Jeremy of his heroin addiction. Through a series of flashbacks, we see glimpses of their earlier lives together, as well as the spiraling path of self-destruction that Jeremy has plunged into head first.

The underlying strains of the old Hank Williams song, “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” provide the haunting music between scenes and set several key questions well: “Did you ever see a robin weep, when leaves begin to die? That means he’s lost the will to live.” How responsible is Jeremy for his own actions? At what point could or should Derrick have intervened? How much responsibility do either Derrick or Christy, Jeremy’s equally addicted girlfriend, bear in their enabling of his habit? And, if someone has truly lost any desire or willingness to be helped, can he be saved?

As in most cases, there is no single cause for Jeremy’s downfall and the answers are not easy in Bogard’s tautly written and intensely felt drama. Director Glenn Meche cuts the audience little slack in facing the sadness and the horror of addiction, and the pain of seeing a loved one slip from the desponding but frenzied grasp of help.

Despite the episodic nature of the play, in which the story could wander off aimlessly, Meche keeps it on a razor’s edge. Each hint of their past, each earlier encounter, lays the foundation for the current situation between the two brothers.

“Hugging the Shoulder” is finely cast. As Derrick, Joe Seibert gives a nuanced and delicately balanced performance of a man who is struggling to do the right thing, but is overwhelmed by his brother’s predicament. Seibert plays Derrick distinctly not as the hero – before the road trip, his primary relationship with Jeremy seems to revolve around knocking back a couple of six-packs, smoking joints, watching NASCAR, and fighting. Seibert especially captures the guilt of his conflicted feelings (he clearly loves his brother but he doesn’t particularly like him), as well as the tormented anxieties of being in over his head.

In the more overtly showier role of Jeremy, Eli Grove smartly never overdoes it. As he goes through his heroin withdrawal, the screaming, pleading, vomiting and fighting is ripe for over-the-top theatrics. Grove gets the feelings, the pain, and the sheer exhaustion of his character’s struggle across without scenery-chewing histrionics. He also is unafraid of presenting an unlikeable character but holds the audience captivated by each move he makes.

As Christy, the junkie girlfriend seen only in the flashbacks, Liz Mills only has a few precious moments to define her character (she spends one entire scene passed out on the couch) and its place in the brothers’ lives. Her brilliantly honest and heartbreaking performance captures the tragedy of addiction most compellingly in a monologue in which she describes Disneyland, the “happiest place on earth,” as she shoots up. The result is a disturbing and frightening allure.

In a brief role that is vital to the exposition, T.J. Toups does well as the highway patrolman.

Grove also provided the simple but efficient set design, in which the seats and console of the van are transformed as needed into Jeremy’s spartan apartment. Keith Launey’s lighting and sound add to establishing the mood of the piece.

A twist at the end of the play, while not unforeshadowed, packs an emotional wallop, as does the entire play. For “Hugging the Shoulder” provides no simplistic answers or assuaging of guilt in such situations; it rings vibrantly and violently true to life.

- Theodore P. Mahne, Nola.com, August 8, 2011

Production Stills: Hugging the Shoulder

noreply@blogger.com (Glenn Meche) — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 05:31:00 +0000

Joe Seibert as Derrick

Eli Grove as Jeremy

Liz Mills as Christy

(You can find more production photos here.)

Rehearsal Photos: Hugging the Shoulder

noreply@blogger.com (Glenn Meche) — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 05:47:00 +0000

T. Joe Siebert as Derrick

Liz Mills as Christy

Eli Grove as Jeremy

T. Joe Siebert as Derrick

Eli Grove as Jeremy

Liz Mills as Christy

Liz Mills as Christy - T. Joe Siebert as Derrick

T. Joe Siebert as Derrick - Eli Grove as Jeremy

Eli Grove as Jeremy - T. Joe Siebert as Derrick

Introducing the Cast of Hugging the Shoulder

noreply@blogger.com (Glenn Meche) — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 19:51:00 +0000

Following a round of open auditions, Crescent Theatre Collective's Artistic Director, Glenn Meche, has announced the cast of Jerrod Bogard's Hugging the Shoulder.

Playing Jeremy, the military-veteran older brother, will be director and set designer Eli Grove. Taking on the role of Derrick, Jeremy's younger brother, will be award-winning actor T. Joe Siebert. Another award winner, CTC's own Liz Mills, will cover the part of Christy, Jeremy's girl friend. Rounding out the cast is local character actor T. J. Toups as the Highway Patrolman.

Hugging the Shoulder tells the story of a young man who kidnaps his war-veteran brother and drags him cross country in an effort to wean him off a severe drug habit. Steeped in the tradition of American road literature, the play ponders the eternal question, Am I my brother's keeper?

CTC's production will be the world premiere of the author's new revision of the play following acclaimed productions previously mounted in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City.

The play opens at the Shadowbox Theatre, 2400 St. Claude Avenue, on Thursday, August 4, 2011. It runs Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays through August 20th. Admission is $15. Tickets can be purchased online, by phoning the theatre at 504-298-8676, or at the door.

Auditions

noreply@blogger.com (Glenn Meche) — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 04:32:00 +0000

Crescent Theatre Collective will be holding open auditions at the Shadowbox Theatre on Sunday, June 12, 2011, for the Regional Premiere of an original play, Hugging the Shoulder, by Jerrod Bogard.

Hugging the Shoulder tells the story of a young man who kidnaps his war-veteran brother and drags him cross country in an effort to wean him off a severe drug habit. Steeped in the tradition of American road literature, the play ponders the eternal question, Am I my brother's keeper?

CTC's production will be the world premiere of the author's new revision of the play following acclaimed productions previously mounted in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City.

The auditions will run from noon until 4 PM. We are looking for:

2 Males: Mid- to late-twenties, some guitar-playing required. The characters are brothers, the older prone to mood-swings, the younger idealistic but unsure of himself.

1 Female: Mid-twenties. Codependent yet strong-willed.

We will provide sides for the reading.

Please contact admin@noctc.org for a time slot.

On Our Way

noreply@blogger.com (Glenn Meche) — Fri, 13 May 2011 21:29:00 +0000

With only two productions under our belt, Crescent Theatre Collective has quickly established itself as a company to watch in the New Orleans theatre scene.

The past few months have served to solidify our prime position. Our inaugural presentation, Frozen, overwhelmed the critical press and collected a profusion of awards this year for productions mounted in 2010. The Ambies gave us four nominations and two nods. The Big Easy Awards graced us with five nominations and four wins. And, finally, the Marquee Awards crowned us with five plaques from a field of five potential wins.

If theatre-goers considered us daring in our choice of Frozen for our debut production, they may well have thought us off our heads to follow up that devastating play with our second offering of Parallel Lives, a rollicking, thought-provoking, blackout sketch-comedy of a show. Yet our audiences were with us, and our local critics approved.

We definitely feel we are on our way. So be on the lookout for our forthcoming productions and make plans to catch them as we lay them out for you.

Thank you for your support and the faith you have placed in us. Now, on with the show.

Examiner.com's Review of Parallel Lives

noreply@blogger.com (Glenn Meche) — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 20:09:00 +0000

When Mo Gaffney and Kathy Najimy first performed together as what became known as the "Kathy and Mo Show," they generated an incredible underground fan base, especially in the gay community. They won two Obie Awards for their collaborative work and this led to several successful HBO specials.

However, when film and TV offers started pouring in for the two successful and talented women, they decided to pay $50,000 to get out of their contracts in 1991. Najimy went on to star opposite Whoopi Goldberg in "Sister Act" and "Sister Act 2" and Bette Midler in "Hocus Pocus." Later she appeared on the small screen in "Veronica's Closet" with Kirstie Alley before becoming the voice of Peggy Hill on the Mike Judge animated series "King of the Hill." Gaffney had several successful appearances on TV, but made her biggest impact when she became part of the series "Absolutely Fabulous" in 2004.

Much of this early comic material has been codified on DVDs ("Parallel Lives" and "The Dark Side") and is also available for staging. Crescent Theatre Collective was given early exposure to these comic sketches by local actor-director C. Patrick Gendusa, who got Kevin R. Smith (no, not filmmaker Kevin Smith) to attach to the project. Recent Big Easy award-winning director Glenn Meche said yes and added Gendusa to the cast, making it two men performing all of the roles normally played by two women.

"Parallel Lives" may be the funniest play seen thus far this year. The material alone is hysterical, but when the cross-dressing, wig-wearing Gendusa and Smith play women, there is another layer of hilarity not seen or experienced with the original "Kathy and Mo Show."

The two played beautifully off each other, accentuating each other's comic timing and creating memorable comic scenes in the process. While Gendusa has been seen on stage regularly, Smith has taken a hiatus from the stage. Hopefully, his interest in playing this role will result in his taking on other theatrical challenges in the future. His brilliance on stage was nothing short of masterful. Gendusa was also at the top of his game, throwing his wig back at the opportune moment to signify attitude or a sexy move. Meche must have been like a kid in a candy store directing these two tremendously talented performers.

Kudos to Big Easy Award winner Liz Mills, who helped as dresser during the rapid fire changes between scenes, and recent nominee Keith Launey ("Frozen"), who handled lighting and sound.

- Alan Smason, Examiner.com, April 17, 2011 (Photo by Alan Smason)

Read Theodore P. Mahnes' Review for the Times-Picayune.

Read Brian Sands' Review for Ambush Magazine.

Ambush Magazine's Review of Parallel Lives

noreply@blogger.com (Glenn Meche) — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 00:31:00 +0000

Mo Gaffney and Kathy Najimy’s Parallel Lives, a series of vignettes that offers occasional wry amusement, takes a while to get going, but the wait is worth it as its final two slice-of-life scenes achieve a Chekhovian bittersweet humor that melts the heart and sends an audience contentedly out onto St. Claude Avenue.

The first is set in a gay bar 20+ years ago. A bartender (Kevin Smith) banters back and forth with a wannabe Liza (C. Patrick Gendusa). She sings Cabaret. They talk some more. Simple as this sounds, it creates a snapshot of life in the late 1980s, capturing with understated grace both a gay man’s paranoia-filled life at a time when an HIV+ diagnosis was still a death sentence, and the timeless impulse some people have to be in the spotlight, any spotlight, even if for only a few minutes.

This is followed by a scene in a country-and-western bar. It’s late. A bighaired blonde (Gendusa) of a certain age and her would be boyfriend of about the same age (Smith) play a game of flirting they’ve played many times before. They’ve had a few rounds. Suddenly she gets serious and the usual rules don’t apply any more sending them both off-balance. She lets him off the hook and he goes back to telling her, with the shallow conviction of a poseur, “You look very, very pretty tonight” but for a few moments their defensive armor evaporated to stunning effect.

On the way to these two wonderful moments we encounter Gina and Annette, teenage pals on Long Island watching West Side Story on TV, who deem it a “rip off of Romeo and Juliet”; two long ago angels deciding what colors people’s skin tones should be; and a riff on how guys would talk if they had to use tampons.

These and the other earlier segments amuse (I especially liked the description of a BLT where the “B” was held as a “dinner salad on bread.”) but lack both a necessary fizziness and depth to really pull one in the way the last two do.

Could it be that the material has aged? Perhaps. But having debuted off-Broadway in February 1989, one is less surprised that some of the humor has become dated than that overall most of it has held up fairly well. I suspect, however, that I may not have been blown away by it back then (though I do recall enjoying its predecessor, The Kathy and Mo Show).

Nevertheless, it should be noted that the women in the opening night audience at the Shadowbox Theater found virtually all of Parallel Lives funny and laughed steadily. Could it be then that whether guys or gals perform this material (Gaffney and Najimy originally appeared in Lives), there’s such a thing as women’s humor that appeals more to ladies than men? Who knows? (I’d be interested to see this done with a pairing of such local actresses as Lara Grice and Mandy Zirkenbach.)

Notwithstanding all that, Smith and Gendusa convincingly transform themselves from one character and one sex to another. If Smith comes off slightly better, it’s because he embodies his characters from drunken good ol’ boy to trashy hooker to Catholic school girl even more naturally than Gendusa does.

They work extremely well off each other, however, and both are excellent in the final two scenes which give them the most well-rounded characters to work with. Glenn Meche’s smooth direction fills the stage with easily recognizable people as he approaches this playful material with the same conviction he brought to The Glass Menagerie and Frozen.

- Brian Sands, Ambush Magazine (Volume 29, Issue 8, Page 38), April 12, 2011

Read Theodore P. Mahnes' Review for the Times-Picayune.

Read Alan Smason's Review for Examiner.com.

The Times-Picayune's Review of Parallel Lives

noreply@blogger.com (Glenn Meche) — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 03:46:00 +0000

In the history of theater there was a time when women were not allowed to appear on stage. Men in wigs and appropriate garb would play any female parts. Long after women (depending on the point of view) had risen to levels deserving the limelight or had sunk to the indignity of becoming actors, men in drag would remain a staple of the theater.

With “Parallel Lives,” presented by the Crescent Theatre Collective and now playing at the Shadowbox Theatre, actors C. Patrick Gendusa and Kevin R. Smith put a new spin on an old trick applying some gender bending to a series of comic sketches originally performed by a pair of comic actresses. The surprise is that what begins as a bit of a gimmick becomes a thoroughly satisfying evening of pure acting.

The show, written and originally performed by the team of Mo Gaffney and Kathy Najimy, is a contemporary revue comprising an assortment of sketches that are, at varying times, simply silly fun, sharply satiric, politically edgy or touchingly sweet. Most deal with issues that affect or are otherwise seen from a woman’s point of view.

The show had a successful Off-Broadway run, becoming something of a cult hit, which led its writing-acting duo to greater successes with a brief cable TV series.

So why do it with two men in the roles? Director Glenn Meche and his actors have taken the attitude of “Why not?” It’s the characters who are men or women and Meche trusts his players to be fine enough actors to be convincing. It’s a well-founded trust.

Gendusa and Smith are not going for laughs by simply playing men in drag. Nor, however, are they attempting to be full-fledged female impersonators, a la Varla Jean Merman. Instead, their focus is on creating their characters, female or male, ranging from the very realistic to caricatures that are broad indeed.

The tone of the show is set at the opening with a comical pair of angels (aren’t angels genderless?) present at Creation, assisting the powers that be in determining what to do with these newly created humans. Their rational but ultimately skewed arguments humorously affect everything from skin color and gender roles to childbirth and free will.

Continuing in that vein, one hilarious bit – which entails the two men playing men as played by women being played by men – simply answers the question, “What if men had periods?”

Some of the references and characterizations are dated, as many of the sketches developed over the course of Gaffney and Najimy’s act. However, the best pieces show an appeal that crosses time and situations.

The frat boy and Valley girl on a date sketch is, like, so ’80s but it still makes biting points about modern mating rituals among young people and sexual identity and politics. Gendusa is particularly funny here as the frat boy on the make.

There are thought-provoking moments scattered amid the laughs as the pair explore sexual stereotypes and gender politics but it never gets too screechy or heavy handed. Meche directs his actors well, keeping a light touch allowing the laughs to remain in the fore. He also allows Gendusa and Smith to go deeper and show genuine heart in several bits, as well.

Smith has a particularly elegant moment as the comic, beloved aunt who learns of her nephew’s sexual orientation. And Gendusa is pitch perfect, outdoing even Tammy Wynette as the country western bar patron who is “strong and attractive in a weak sort of way.”

As a couple in bed sharing pillow talk, arguing and then cuddling, the audience is unsure at first if Gendusa and Smith are playing a man and a woman, two men or two women. Ultimately it doesn’t matter. The scene is about two people in love facing issues that cross all lines of gender or orientation.

Note should be made of Lee Brickles’ wigs (none of which were harmed during the making of the production, the program points out) and Keith Launey’s sound. The music used between skits sets up each scene, with some clever choices eliciting their own laughs.

This production of “Parallel Lives” also has reconfigured the space of the Shadowbox Theatre, a onetime corner pharmacy, making it much more amenable to use as a theater space. The playing area and audience seating are more distinctively separated now, but the intimacy of the space remains, reminding one of the old True Brew Theatre’s space.

As spring weekends become filled with one festival after another, theater-goers will find an equally light, festive frame of mind with this charming diversion.

- Theodore P. Mahne, Nola.com, April 9, 2011

Read Brian Sands' Review for Ambush Magazine.

Read Alan Smason's Review for Examiner.com.

Parallel Lives Production Shots

noreply@blogger.com (Glenn Meche) — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 06:35:00 +0000

Kevin R. Smith (left and C. Patrick Gendusa

C. Patrick Gendusa

Kevin R. Smith

Parallel Livesby Mo Gaffney & Kathy Najimy

noreply@blogger.com (Glenn Meche) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 05:38:00 +0000

In the beginning, when the earth was without form, and void, two Supreme Beings meet to plan the creation of the world with the relish of two slightly acerbic interior designers decorating a split-level on the Upper East Side. Once they've decided on the color scheme of the races (a little concerned that white people will feel slighted being such a boring color) they create sex and the sexes. Afraid women will have too many advantages, the Beings decide to make childbirth painful and to give men enormous ... egos ... as compensation.

From this moment on, writers Kathy and Mo whisk the audience through an outrageous universe of gender-benders struggling through the common rituals of modern life: dating, mating, coping with guilt, bar life, curb life, sex, sex, sex. With boundless humor, Parallel Lives examines the ongoing quest to find parity and love (yes, love) in a contest handicapped by capricious Supreme Beings.

* * *

Parallel Lives, our second production, will have its local premiere on April 1st (no kidding) at The Shadowbox Theatre and run for three weekends (April 1st and 2nd; the 7th, 8th, and 9th; and the 14th, 15th, and 16th - all performances at 8 PM). Local actors C. Patrick Gendusa and Kevin Smith share an engaging sense of creativity as they switch roles and, occasionally, sexes. Glenn Meche artfully directs this series of satirical sketches that will leave you giddy with laughter all the way home.

Keep checking back for more information as it develops. This is one of those productions you won't want to miss.

* * *

Press Release from The Time-Picayune, February 14, 2011:

Angels in odd guises: Crescent Theatre Collective to stage 'Parallel Lives' in April

Published: Monday, February 14, 2011, 9:56 AM | Updated: Monday, February 14, 2011, 10:06 AM
By Andrew Adler

What is it about New Orleans that seems to encourage cross-dressing and similar declarations of gender-bending? Hold on -- maybe that question is better left unanswered.

Meanwhile, the intrepid souls at the Crescent Theatre Collective are embracing that theme with a show called "Parallel Lives" opening April 1 at the Shadowbox Theatre, 2400 St. Claude Ave.

Written by Mo Gaffney and Kathy Najimy a couple of decades ago as "The Kathy and Mo Show: Parallel Lives," the piece was a snapshot of a time when the protagonists could, as New York Times critic Mel Gussow wrote in 1989, assume the roles of "playful post-feminist satirists."

"Together they turn cliches into malapropisms and skewer stereotypes wherever they find them," Gussow observed in his review. "Playing two club ladies of mature years though not mature minds, they tell us about their women-studies group, which combines tours with such subjects as "Women in Terrorism," for them only a small step from macrame."

Gaffney and Najimy starred in that production, but the Crescent Theatre Collective's staging will feature actors C. Patrick Gendusa and Kevin Smith. Glenn Meche, who helped organize CTC in April of 2010, will direct.

Performances of "Parallel Lives" are slated for April 1-2, and Thursdays through Saturdays, April 7-16, all at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15. Call the Shadowbox Theatre at 504-523-7469, or go online at Crescent Theatre Collective.

© 2011 NOLA.com. All rights reserved.

CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS

Parallel Lives Publicity Photos

noreply@blogger.com (Glenn Meche) — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 16:23:00 +0000

C. Patrick Gendusa

Kevin R. Smith

Parallel Lives The Cast

noreply@blogger.com (Glenn Meche) — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 15:59:00 +0000

Kevin R. Smith

Kevin Smith hails from New Jersey and is an acclaimed actor and director, best known for the movies Clerks, Dogma, and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, as well as being too large to fit in one seat on a Southwest Airlines flight. Oh, wait ... wrong Kevin Smith ...

The Kevin Smith appearing in this production hails from North Carolina and is thrilled to be returning to the stage after a long hiatus. Previous shows include the roles of Ellard in the The Foreigner, Harry in The Prisoner of Second Avenue, Herbert in I Ought to Be In Pictures, Lt. Mootfowl in Squad Room, Mr. Meyers in Fame, and Bob in Beyond Therapy.

Kevin has lived in New Orleans for two years and looks forward to having as much fun in future shows as he has experienced working on Parallel Lives.

C. Patrick Gendusa

Patrick has worked professionally as a performer, instructor, and director in New York, Texas, New Mexico, Virginia, and Louisiana. He received his BA in Theatre Arts from St. Edwards University and his MFA in Acting and Directing from Texas Tech University. Currently he is Visiting Assistant Professor at Loyola University New Orleans.

Patrick was one of only 14 individuals chosen to participate in the prestigious Actors Center Teacher Development Program in New York City.

He has taught at the University of Richmond and Texas Tech University. He also toured with and was a founding member of the Second Youth Theatre Company and the Kinesis Dance Theatre Company. A few of his favorite roles include: Gaslight (Mr. Manningham), Wait Until Dark (Roat), Dial M for Murder (Tony Wendice), George M! (Jerry Cohan), Leader of the Pack (Gus Sharkey), Grease (Sonny LaTatieri), The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Bazzard and Neville Landless), Blood Brothers (Narrator), Into the Woods (Baker), Cabaret (Emcee), West Side Story (Chino), Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde (Edward Clarke), Plaza Suite (Director), Agnes of God (Director), You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown (Director), A Girls Guide to Chaos (Director), Hair (Director), The Laramie Project (Director), Almost, Maine (Director).

Congratulations Are in Order

noreply@blogger.com (Glenn Meche) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0000

The New Year gifted us with a pleasant surprise in the announcement of the nominations for the 2011 Ambie Awards.

Not only was our inaugural production of Frozen nominated for Best Production of a Drama; but Diana Shortes received a nod as Best Actress in a Play, while Keith Launey was hailed for his contribution as Best Actor in a Play.

Glenn Meche also received a nomination as Best Director of a Play.

Congratulations to all.

* * *

- Update: February 20, 2011 -

Not to be outdone, Mr. Jay Stanley has just announced the nominees for his Marquee Awards; and Frozen has made a clean sweep with Liz Mills being nominated as Supporting Actress in a Drama, Keith Launey as Leading Actor in a Drama, and Diana Shortes as Leading Actress in a Drama. The production itself received a nomination as Drama of the Year, and Glenn Meche was also nominated as Director of a Drama.

The company is honored by this recognition.

On a side note, our sister company, Break the Mold Productions, was also honored with a nomination for Karen Shields as Leading Actress in a Drama for The Last Reading of Charlotte Cushman, while that production itself was singled out as one of the Dramas of the Year. (Mr. Meche served as director of that production, as well.)

Congratulations, Karen!

* * *

- Update: February 22, 2011 -

And the winner is ...

Both Diana Shortes and Keith Launey were awarded Ambie's at last night's ceremony in New Orleans' historic Le Petit Theatre.

Congratulations to them and to all the other winners and nominees!

* * *

- Update: February 27, 2011 -

The Gambit just hit the stands today with its list of nominees for the 2011 Big Easy Theatre Awards. Frozen received nominations in five categories:

Best Drama 2010
Best Director of a Drama 2010 - Glenn Meche
Best Supporting Actress in a Drama 2010, Liz Mills
Best Actress in a Drama 2010, Diana Shortes
Best Actor in a Drama 2010, Keith Launey

That makes it three for three for Crescent Theatre Collective's inaugural production. What a lovely welcoming gesture from the New Orleans Theatre Community.

(Not to be outdone, Break the Mold Production's Karen Shields received a nomination, as well, for Best Actress in a Drama 2010 for her one-woman show, The Last Reading of Charlotte Cushman.)

Break a leg, everyone!

FROZEN Honors and Awards

noreply@blogger.com (Glenn Meche) — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 19:58:00 +0000

The Ambie Awards, Le Petit Theatre, February 21, 2011:

Frozen, Nominee, Best Production of a Drama
Diana Shortes, Nominee, Best Actress in a Play - Winner
Keith Launey, Nominee, Best Actor in a Play - Winner
Glenn Meche, Nominee, Best Director of a Play

The Big Easy Awards, Harrah's New Orleans Hotel and Casino, March 28, 2011:

Best Drama 2010, Nominee - Winner
Best Supporting Actress in a Drama 2010, Nominee - Liz Mills - Winner
Best Actress in a Drama 2010, Nominee - Diana Shortes - Winner
Best Actor in a Drama 2010, Nominee - Keith Launey
Best Director of a Drama 2010, Nominee - Glenn Meche - Winner

The Jay Stanley Marquee Awards, The Allways Lounge and Theatre, May 9, 2011:

Frozen, Nominee, Drama of the Year - Winner, Tied with Touch (Jonathan Mares Productions)
Diana Shortes, Nominee, Leading Actress-Drama - Winner
Keith Launey, Nominee, Leading Actor-Drama - Winner, Tied with Jonathan Mares for Touch
Liz Mills, Nominee, Supporting Actress-Drama - Winner
Glenn Meche, Nominee, Director-Drama - Winner, Tied with Kris Shaw for Touch

The 19th Annual Storer Boone Awards, Le Chat Noir, June 27, 2011

Frozen, Nominee, Drama
Diana Shortes, Nominee, Actress in a Drama
Keith Launey, Nominee, Actor in a Drama
Liz Mills, Nominee, Supporting Actress in a Drama
Glenn Meche, Nominee, Director of a Drama

Curtain Up

noreply@blogger.com (Glenn Meche) — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 16:52:00 +0000

Welcome to Crescent Theatre Collective. We are a new company of old hands dedicated to the production of quality theatre fare for the New Orleans Region.

Founded in 2010 by Keith Launey, Liz Mills, and Glenn Meche, CTC quickly established itself as a company to watch with its debut offering of Bryony Lavery's controversial play, Frozen. The production was a critical and popular success, exceeding our hopes and expectations.

We plan to be around for some time to come, and our goal remains to entertain, inspire, and stimulate, perhaps even astonish.

Thank you for stopping by.

A Note of Thanks

noreply@blogger.com (Glenn Meche) — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 16:23:00 +0000

We'd like to extend a heartfelt "Thank You" to all of you who rallied and came out in support of our inaugural production of Bryony Lavery's play Frozen. Your generous response was more than we had bargained for, and we look forward to offering you more thoughtful and provocative entertainments in the coming years.

You will notice below that you now have the ability to subscribe to both email and news-feed updates to our site. Feel free to take advantage of these opportunities to stay informed of our plans for the future.

We look forward to seeing you again soon.

Frozen by Bryony Lavery

noreply@blogger.com (Glenn Meche) — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 21:28:00 +0000

One evening ten-year-old Rhona goes missing. Her mother, Nancy, retreats into a state of frozen hope. Agnetha, an American academic, comes to England to research a thesis: "Serial Killing—A Forgivable Act?" Then there's Ralph, a loner who's looking for some distraction. Drawn together by horrific circumstances, these three embark on a long, dark journey which finally curves upward into the light. Angry, humane and compassionate, Frozen is an extraordinary play that entwines the lives of a murderer, the mother of one of his victims and his psychologist to explore our capacity for forgiveness, remorse and change after an act that would seem to rule them out entirely.

"…[a] fine play…so concentrated and unflinching that at times it takes your breath away." —Observer (London). "A major play…thrilling, humane and timely." —Times (London). "…[a] big, brave, compassionate play about grief, revenge, forgiveness and bearing the unbearable." —Guardian (London). "Consistently surprising and even bravely comic…The almost thriller-like promise of the play's climactic confrontation is like a time-bomb ticking in the back of your head." —Independent (London).

The remarkable cast features Diana Shortes as Nancy, Keith Launey as Ralph, and Liz Mills as Agnetha, under the direction of Glenn Meche.

Performances:

Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays
October 14th through the 23rd, 2010, at 8:00 PM
The Shadowbox Theatre
2400 St. Claude Avenue
New Orleans, LA 70117
504-523-7469

Admission is $15.00.