Southwest Story

To begin its landmark twentieth anniversary season, Matrix Theatre Company revives one of its first original productions: 1995’s Southwest Story. This contemporary take on the Romeo and Juliet story pays homage to its most famous predecessors, both Shakespeare’s text and the New York youth of West Side Story; however, the text is not just a translation of an old play to a contemporary setting, but a true adaptation in its own right. As directed by Mona Lucius, this production (staged at the Boll Family Theatre within the downtown Detroit YMCA) threads present-day issues through the timeless relatability of illicit young love, in an enlightening and easily relatable tale.

Here, we lay our scene in fair Southwest Detroit, at a busy intersection that puts the Nuñez family’s corner market and liquor store in opposition with Reverend Turner’s neighborhood church. In close keeping with the beats of the Shakespeare text, the opening scenes introduce the viewer to young Cristina Nuñez (Maria Romo) and Andrae Turner (Damon Whitman), then introduces them to each other when Andrae and his friends crash Cristina’s quinceañera (the Latino predecessor to the sweet sixteen party). The young lovers are beset by obstacles — manifest in Cristina’s cousin, Tomas (Justino Solis), who carries the parents’ feud with him into the younger generation — but also find allies — in particular, wise but insouciant Nicky (Monique Coleman) and Sister Rice (Rubelhia Aleman), a groovy old hippie with a catalog of quirks. The fifteen-year-old script (which was collaboratively penned by Wes Nethercott and a large group of students) has now seen some obvious updates, introducing Facebook and cell phones in thoughtful ways that thoroughly complement the storytelling.

Click to read more ...

SPOT THE ROGUE for EncoreMichigan.com: Day 1 wrap-up

With Mister EncoreMichigan.com himself, kindly playing along.

Thanks to the patrons and artists at Planet Ant Theatre's late-night comedy Seance 4 and one later-night reveler at =7= Brothers Bar for kicking off SPOT THE ROGUE for EncoreMichigan.com with a strong first night's showing. The current total stands at $125, although I believe at least one more image is pending — remember, email those to me as attachments, as I need to post the photo on the site in order for it to count.

This weekend, there's only one more activity concretely on the schedule: opening night of Jewish Ensemble Theatre's Imagining Madoff, at 8:30 this evening. If you can't SPOT me there, consider taking advantage of the wild-card option I'm calling "Spotter's Choice." If you want to SPOT THE ROGUE at a certain performance or just stumble across me at your favorite café, email roguecritic@gmail.com and invite me wherever you like. I'll do my best to put myself in your camera's path.

SPOT THE ROGUE: Fundraiser Edition

Through the end of October, the Rogue Critic announces the return of the marginally popular SPOT THE ROGUE contest to help EncoreMichigan.com.

EncoreMichigan.com needs a boost. Let's do this.

Click to read more ...

The Hot Mess Chronicles 3

Leave it to the Abreact to spin a turd into gold: a few Halloweens ago, a last-minute show was assembled to fill an unfortunate scheduling hole, and lo and behold, a series was born. This year’s installment, The Hot Mess Chronicles 3, sees the return of director Mike McGettigan to a new crop of fright-themed plays engineered to surprise and amuse, even as they retain the best of that thrown-together magic.

In true Hot Mess fashion, the episodic play is strung together with introductions by its host; this year, a uniquely outfitted and disembodied-voiced entity known as MR BABY presides from his spot catty-corner to the main stage. The placement, along with Kevin Barron’s lights and quietly creepy sound design by Mike Eshaq, provides enough distraction to let the scene changes feel unobtrusive and gives the production a nice flow. Quick changeovers are crucial for this installment, which has grown from four to eight short plays by a total of nine playwrights. This year’s selection features a number of scenes that deliver a quick one-two, just enough setup to enact a change-up ending: Ron Morelli’s “Yard Sale of the Damned” infuses an ominous tone into a humdrum transaction, Joe Becker’s “Player V Player” lies in the safety of two guys playing video games, and Dave Davies’s “A Family Feature” fires off a punchline in its suggestively grotesque resolution. A longer second-act piece, Bill McGettigan’s “The Wreck of the Minerva Witherspoon,” takes its time maneuvering toward a gruesome fate, giving its construction-worker characters a long leadup full of probably important but ultimately foggy details.

Click to read more ...

A Behanding in Spokane

Breathe Art Theatre Project begins its season with playwright Martin McDonagh’s deceptively shady A Behanding in Spokane. At first a simple tale of a man who rightfully wants what was taken from him, the play spins into a comically depraved direction as it examines our highly personal and often ridiculous grip on the desire for retribution, however symbolic. Directed by Andrew Huff, this production does justice to its assorted characters and the wrongs they’ve suffered, but comes up short in terms of overall cohesion.

The implicit violence of a gunshot sets the tone of this story: the mysterious, one-handed Carmichael (Dan Jaroslaw) fires off a round in his hotel room before calmly phoning his mother. The blast appears to summon other questionable elements to the fore, first reception desk jockey Mervyn (Joel Mitchell), then skittish Marilyn (Katie Galazka), who flings a package Carmichael’s way. What’s inside is supposed to be the man’s long-severed hand (part of something from the sick-puppy school of properties design); its unveiling triggers both a hailstorm of exposition and a spate of obscenities just about unmatched in the English language. The last piece of the puzzle is Toby (Sean Rodriguez), Marilyn’s partner in life and in crime; the pair is well-matched only in that they are equally bad at both pursuits. The premise thus dispatched, the remainder of the play’s eighty minutes concerns itself with avoiding the inevitable and settling scores — more than one, as it turns out.

Click to read more ...