Guest Review

Rhinoceros’ Slugs and Kicks Goes Behind the Scenes of College Drama

John Fisher’s comedy about college drama students rehearsing a play mixes personal intrigues with play rehearsals. Student actor Rory intermittingly narrates his role in a current college play along with his reactions to his house mate Anis, stage director Jerry, and other characters. Fisher’s youthful cast offers an irresistible freshness and spirited character interpretations that entice spectators into becoming accomplices to their decisions and actions…We empathize with a naïve Rory (Ben Calabrese), fearful of unlashing his emotions and sensual desires and unable to choose either a male or a female partner but rather subtly submitting to a kind and considerate Marty who understands and cares for him. We feel for Anis (Alexandra Izdebski) in her plaintive attempts to attract Rory, and even sympathize with stage director Jerry ( Zachary Isen) and his tough demands on his actors, with Marty (Robert Kittler) and his sophisticated indifference, and with Cynthia,(Asali Echols) and her flirtatious sensuality. The slugs and kicks that these characters provide for one another make for a delightful potpourri of youthful traits that quickly win over the audience.

Fisher’s Slugs and Kicks vividly evokes souvenirs of one’s college days in school plays.intermixed with personal drama as we,too, once sought to find ourselves through artistic expression..

Scenic Design (John Fisher and Anthony Powers) is minimal. An empty well lit stage, except for a stone like piece that resembles a long bench down stage works well for group movement and change of locale. Excellent stage movement and bodily expression enhances the verbal expression throughout.

Slugs and Kicks plays until December 9^th. For information for this play and for the Rhino New Year’s Eve Spectacular starring Lea

DeLaria and Tennessee William’s Something, Cloudy Something Clear in January call 800-838-3006 or visit www.The Rhino.org.

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A Poignant MTC TopDog/Underdog

Pulitzer Awardee Suzan-Lori Parks portrays the compelling and touching relationship between African American brothers Lincoln and Booth manifestiing their brotherly love and fraternal resentment as they live miserably in room without water and a toilet. The audience feels compassion for these brothers who have only themselves to find their way through the poverty they face as well as share their sense of humor throughout. Abandoned first by their mother and later by their father at an early age, younger brother Booth (Biko Eisen-Martin), a clever, swift moving thief, looks after older brother Lincoln (Bowman Wright), a tricky three card monte hustler who is divorced and without means to rent a place. Booth looks up to Lincoln, an addicted card hustler fighting to lose his addiction by wearing Lincoln’s top hat and cape to enact the main events in Abraham Lincoln’ life at a store front. His struggle to obliterate his addiction by playing a moral Lincoln helps him feel good but intensifies his conflict with going back to hustling the card tricks.. Booth’s relationship with girlfriend Grace menaces to have Lincoln find a place of his own. There are less tense moments when the brothers look back at the happier times in their early family life. But these moments are soon buried by the realization that first their mother and then their father left them to their own destiny. “Then it was you and me against the world,” says one brother to the other.
Can they survive if they give up making illicit money or robbing? And when Booth succeeds in getting Lincoln to show him the card moves Lincoln’s requires they play for big money. This leads to one brother losing his only savings given to him by one of his parents that will bring the action to a stirring melodramatic climax.

Expertly directed by Timothy Williams, the actors’ use of physical movement is well utilized in this piece consisting for the most part in a dialogue between two actors.

Stage sets by Mikiko Useugi and costumes by Callie Floor display the poverty surrounding the brothers and play an essential role in the dramatic action

Along with the realistic and gripping portrayal by Wright and Eisen-Martin of two poor jobless brothers presented in colorful street slang with lyrical rap during the card playing scenes., the piece is a heart wrenching presentation of fraternal warfare and love as well as a revealing testimony of the hardships of the African American struggle for economic and social survival.

TopDog/UnderDog plays until October 28st. For info call 415-388-5208 or visit www.marintheatre.org

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A Forceful Strange Case of Citizen de la Cruz at Bindlestiff Studio

The world premiere of poet, essayist, and literature and language professor at Hunter College and New York University Luis H. Francia’s first full length play depicts the demise of Bayani de la Cruz, a Philippine patriot during the Marshall Law under the Marcus Regime. Francia describes the events of this period with authenticity and a talent to bring to the stage the horrors of the human abuse that took place.in his country. Strengthening this portrayal of the dehumanization of the country’s inhabitants is the description of the loss of virility on the part of those subjected to this severe regime.

Quack Doctor Mang Kiko (colorfully created as an eccentric character role by Percival Arcibal) is kept busy selling a potion to cure impotent husbands. One spectator queried as to whether Mang Kiko’s potion symbolized the revolution as a cure against the regime. And psychiatrist Dr. Santiago is receiving requests from wives (emotionally well portrayed by Christine Jugueta as Nena de la Cruz) to help their husbands uplift their morale or regain their potency. Meanwhile militant Captain Rivera (performed with the use of violent physical tactics by Tasi Alabastro) is willing to save the doctor from the regime’s condemnation of his revolutionary views if he can cure the Captain’s own impotency.

We also witness several scenes of violent and brutal physical and mental torture. The overly patriotic De la Cruz (believably played by Ryan Morales),who once kept numerous flags of his country in his bedroom, is caught stealing passports in his work place and viciously tortured by Captain Rivera and his staff before our eyes. There are also some excellent combat fight scenes.

Directed by Jeffrey Lo with an able cast handling the high points, the production grasps the audience’s attention in an intimate stage space with well chosen musical selections accompanying the action.

This play depicts the extremist forces under the Marcus regime that served as a tool to strengthen the ruling class and demoralized the country’s citizens. The author also subtly warns of the dangers of extreme patriotism that forces citizens into blind submission.

The Strange Case of Citizen de la Cruz reveals a candid and forcefully dramatized account of the events that the citizens underwent in the Philippines during the Marshall Law.

Bindlestiff Studio is the epicenter for Pilipino and Filipino performing arts that provides Filipino Americans access to diverse artistic activities and engages artists of different arts and disciplines to evolve community theatre that offers creative new works and talent.

The Strange Case of Citizen de la Cruz plays until Oct. 13th. For information call 415-255.0440 or 800.838.3006 or visit www.bindlestiffstudio.org..
Annette Lust

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A Timely Classical Hamlet at California Shakespeare Theatre
California Shakespeare’s final play this season offers a spirited and meaningful Hamlet that takes hold of spectators from beginning to the tragic end of what probably is Shakespeare’s most emotionally charged and morally challenging work.

Cal Shakes’ Hamlet depicts a rich number of emotional states such as betrayal, treachery, deception, tyranny, political ambition, injustice, dementia, sexual desire and motherly and parental love. All of these emotional states are over ridden by Hamlet’s drive for revenge for his father’s unjust death. This version (directed by Liesl Tommy) centering upon a son’s avenging a father unjustly killed progresses briskly and elegantly through five acts as though happening in the twenty first century.

In Act One, after we learn of the death of King Hamlet, the ghost of Hamlet’s father appears to Hamlet to inform him he was poisoned by his brother Claudius (performed with authority by Adrian Roberts) in order to replace him as king and marry his widow Gertrude (interpreted by Julie Eccles with maternal grace and dignity).

In Act Two, Hamlet hesitates to kill his uncle and then thinks of a plan to confirm his uncle’s guilt by requesting actors to play a scene of the poisoning of a king before him. The actors’ scene, played as a farce, is somewhat overextended.

In Act Three, a guilty Claudius sends Hamlet to England with a plan to have him killed that fails. Hamlet meets with his mother and in one of the plays’ most stirring scenes rebukes her for marrying so rapidly after his father’s death. At one point when he hears Polonius (Dan Hiatt) hiding behind a tapestry, thinking it is his uncle eavesdropping, Hamlet stabs Ophelia’s father.

In Act Four, Ophelia goes mad after the loss of her father and Hamlet in a powerfully dramatic scene a bit overplayed by Zainab Jah.
Act Five contains philosophically deep reflections on mortality as a gravedigger (Dan Hiatt in a strong character role creation) digging Ophelia’s grave speaks about death as he pulls out skeleton heads from the earth. At the end of this act Hamlet duels with Ophelia’s brother Laertes (performed by Nicholas Pelczar ) for having argued with Hamlet about his sister’s death being a suicide.
In the play’s tragic end the duel is accomplished with a poisoned sword that Laertes prepared to kill Hamlet and wine containing poison meant for Hamlet that Hamlet’s mother accidentally drinks. Hamlet’s dying words are to Horatio (Nick Gabriel) requesting he tell Hamlet’s story.

California Shakespeare’s Hamlet is as philosophically and morally rich as it is dramatically and lyrically moving. It offers a blend of classicism, through the use of Shakespeare’s text, combined with semi stylized 20th century movement, and a performance in modern dress and on unadorned sets (Clint Ramos) that harmoniously bring human relationships and the dramatic action into our present century.
California Shakespeare Theater’s Hamlet plays until October 21. For information call 510.548.9666 or visit www.calshakes.org
Annette Lust

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Hot on the Trail of a Tropical Treat

By Judith M. Wilson

It was hot, just two days before the first day of summer in the southern hemisphere, and although it was mid-December and well into the countdown to Christmas, chocolate was the last thing on our minds. The tropical temperatures would have made it a gooey mess in our bags, and água-de-coco – coconut water — was far more refreshing in the heat. Besides, Brazil is more famous for bikinis, the slinky rhythm of samba-swaying hips, strong coffee and exotic animals than it is for chocolate, so it really wasn’t a consideration — until the very end of the trip, when we discovered Kopenhagen, a distinctly Brazilian confeitaria despite its European name.
The wait in São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport was a long one. My travelling companion Armelle and I had killed a fair amount of time indulging in one last snack of Brazilian pastel and fresh juice before our departure and admiring each larger-than-life Papai Noel (Santa Claus) mannequin we encountered. Now, we were down to the stores. We spotted Kopenhagen with its distinctive red storefront and gold lettering and decided that stocking up on some chocolate for the holidays was a good plan.
With unfamiliar choices galore in a crowded shop, it was difficult to choose, but I finally settled on some bars of dark chocolate that were sturdy and would be easy to tuck into the tiny space left in my carry-on. Armelle was a little more daring and declared that we needed a treat. And so she picked a large confection, sight unseen but carefully wrapped in paper, and her selection was probably because she’s French, and the presentation appealed to her Gallic sensibilities. I took note of the name, Nhá Benta Maracujá — maracujá is Portuguese for passion fruit and always gets my attention. It was our last purchase before checking in for our flight to the United States.
By the time we were airborne, it was after 10 p.m., and we were hungry, so somewhere over the interior of Brazil we decided to break out the chocolate. “You do it,” said Armelle, instructing me to split it into two. I carefully unwrapped what turned out to be a conical confection and did the honors, then, after handing over half, I shamelessly started to lick my sticky fingers so as not to lose a single bit.
Now, while it might place below fine chocolate on my index of taste favorites, passion fruit is right up there near the top, so pairing the two flavors struck me as brilliant, a taste sensation to be sure. The chocolate shell was silky milk chocolate, not the dark variety that we usually opt for, and inside, on top of a thin wafer, was a fluffy marshmallow filling delicately flavored with passion fruit. Wow! It had the taste buds tingling. This was one marvelous creation. We both gasped in dismay. We’d bought just one solitary chocolate to share. All we wanted to do was turn around and go back to get more.
Shorty after arriving home, I headed to the computer to find Kopenhagen’s website. After all, we can order just about anything online, right? The word “disponível” appeared next to Nhá Benta Maracujá. Unavailable. My heart sank.
I did eventually find a recipe for something similar on the Internet, but it required passion fruit-flavored gelatin, which seemed to be a mysterious and unattainable item in North America. Experimentation with frozen passion fruit pulp and concentrated juice yielded recipes for a wonderful passion fruit chiffon cake, cookies and delicious ice cream, all of which lend themselves well to pairing with chocolate of any kind, but nothing close to the elusive Nhá Benta Maracujá.
It was more than three years before I returned to Brazil, and the memory lingered. The first thing I did after checking into my hotel in Rio de Janeiro was to seek the location of the nearest Kopenhagen. With a wave of her hand toward the side door, the desk clerk said that the closest shop was down the street, just a couple of blocks from the beach in Copacabana. In fact, Kopenhagen, which Latvian immigrants Anna and David Kopenhagen founded in 1928, has been keeping sweet-toothed Brazilians happy with quality chocolate products for three generations and has 283 shops in 60 cities, so it’s fairly easy to find one.
On my first visit to the store, I learned that Nhá Benta, Kopenhagen’s signature chocolate, comes in several flavors, and although my personal favorite is maracujá, friends on this trip swore by coconut. Tradicional (vanilla), moranga (strawberry), chocolate and canela (cinnamon) are other options. This time, with lots of space in my bag, I returned home with a variety of chocolates for everyone and treated myself to one individual chocolate as well — passion fruit, of course — savoring it with gratitude for Mother Nature’s wisdom in giving us fabulous flavors and the skill of chocolate aficionados in using them creatively.
Finally, for good measure, I visited the local supermarket, Pão de Açucar, to stock up on passion fruit-flavored gelatin. I’ve decided not to try to replicate Nhá Benta though, suspecting that trying to match something that’s already perfect is doomed to disappointment. Instead, a vision of handmade passion fruit marshmallows dipped in rich, dark chocolate has taken shape in my mind, and I might just try making such a confection now that I have the requisite ingredients in my own kitchen. As for the treasured Nhá Benta, I’ll reserve it for another trip to Brazil.

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Albee’s absurdist “Play About the Baby ” premiered on the West Coast at San Francisco’s Custom Made Theatre to bring a stark caricature of young marriage, the birth and loss of a baby, and an older couple’s lessons. The  action includes vaudeville and commedia style acting in a farce like approach that heightens the cruel caricatured tone and sharpens the irony of the message that life brings loss and wounds that nonetheless show us that we are alive and who we are.

Masterfully directed by veteran director Brian Katz, the role of the Woman is performed with gracious charm and command by Linda Ayres Frederick and with vivacity and wit by Richard Aiello. Anya Kazimierski and Shane Rhodes bring youthful freshness and innocence to their roles of Girl and Boy.

Kudos to Custom Made’s efforts and perserverance to produce thought provoking absurdist theatre inciting query.

“The Play About the Baby”  plays until Oct. 7th followed by Tracy Letts’ “Superior Donuts”. For info call 415-798-2682 or visit www.CustomMade.org.

Annette Lust

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S.F. Fringe’s Cheesecake and Demerol. A Female’s Journey to Freedom

At the S.F. Fringe’s 21^styear, hosted in San Francisco’s downtown Exit Theatre, among the over forty independent new creations was nurse Gene Gore’s story of her life time journey to female freedom. Her storytelling piece is a well constructed work that reveals Gore’s’s life from childhood during the Depression to nursing school and career, marriage, children, divorce, caring for aids patients, and female emancipation all of which is seasoned along the way with pathos and humor. Gene Gore’s testimony of a life of female growth toward liberation is a rare experience narrated with heartfelt simplicity and intimacy as though our storyteller is openly confiding in each one of us.

Cheesecake and Demerol plays through Sept 16 at the Exit Left ,156 Eddy St. For info visit www. 2012 San Francisco Fringe Festival

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