It’s the world premiere of Bed Snake at Washington Ensemble Theatre.
Posted by: Laura Dannen on May 11, 2012 at 11:30AM0 Comments
Blood Kry$tal Wolf will mess you up.
A world premiere at Washington Ensemble Theatre always has potential. It could be a one-woman musical about cancer, or a story of a girl who falls in love with a robot told without any dialogue. Those were some of my favorite creations—smart, funny, bizarre, innovative—and exactly what I’ve come to expect from the tiny fringe theater on 19th Avenue.
Tonight’s premiere of Bed Snake, written by WET co-artistic directors Noah Benezra and Hannah Victoria Franklin, promises to “melt your face.” I kind of like my face, so I don’t know if I’m up for that. But when I chatted with Franklin about the show last week, I learned that at its core is the familiar Faust story of a man who sells his soul to the devil for fame and fortune. Only this time, it’s set inside a rap video.
Wannabe star Wolf makes a deal with snaky lady Kry$tal and rap duo Blood Kry$tal Wolf is unleashed on the world. They’re (loosely) inspired by South African rap-rave crew Die Antwoord, who also prefer dollar signs to the letter S and love to make audiences uncomfortable. (David Letterman didn’t know what to make of their freaky face masks and black contacts.) “They’re weird, offensive, and hysterical in a sideways way,” Franklin said of Die Antwoord. “We said, Let’s riff on that.”
It’s going to be a manic concert-as-theater performance with homemade music videos, strobe lights, crunk, hip-hop, and somewhere in there, a story. Fingers crossed.
Bed Snake May 11–28, Washington Ensemble Theatre, $10–$25
PNB principals Karel Cruz and Maria Chapman dance Christopher Wheeldon’s “After the Rain pas de deux” in 2011.
Pick of the Week Book-it Repertory Theatre should take more chances, like it did adapting Olympia novelist Jim Lynch’s Border Songs. While there’s an inherently juicy narrative about guards patrolling the Washington–British Columbia border for drug smugglers, illegal immigrants, and terrorists, that’s not what this story is about, and certainly not why we care. We’re in it for Brandon Vanderkool. Played by Patrick Allcorn, Brandon is a 6’8, dyslexic, bird-loving Border Patrol agent who’s as quirky as a Miranda July film. You’re expected to write off Brandon as a nitwit—but there’s something special about this gentle giant. Are all border guards this misunderstood? Closes Oct 9.
Rolling in the hay’ With a few more dance routines, Washington Ensemble Theatre’s MilkMilk Lemonade could be It Gets Better: The Musical. Inside the barn on a lonely chicken farm, two fifth grade boys play house. Like adults. They don’t really know what sex or sexuality is yet—life’s truths are simpler at this age. Like: Effeminate little Emory will get beat up if he sings show tunes at school. Pyromaniac bully Elliot can’t tell anyone he likes Emory. And someday Emory’s best friend Linda—a talking chicken—might end up on his dinner plate. Despite learning early on that life is f’n hard, this lovable cast of misfits, led by adorable grown-up Tim Smith-Stewart as Emory, empowers us to hold our heads high during a choreographed ribbon dance. Closes Oct 10.
Ballet’s “It Boy” Now I know why Christopher Wheeldon is one of the most in-demand choreographers in modern ballet. On opening night of Pacific Northwest Ballet’s All Wheeldon program, I left enamored by two completely different performances: the spare and tender “After the Rain pas de deux” by Maria Chapman and Karel Cruz, and a gleeful one-act comedy ballet that goes behind the scenes of a dance rehearsal. Wheeldon understands both nuance and parody, creating kooky prima ballerinas (Laura Gilbreath) and lasting images. I likely won’t forget Chapman, bent over backwards and frozen in place, carried across the stage like a prop by a bare-chested Cruz. Closes Oct 2.
Solo show explores Loss (with a capital L) at Washington Ensemble Theatre.
Posted by: Laura Dannen on Jun 07, 2010 at 11:00AM1 Comments
It’s a comedy! About cancer! Montana von Fliss stars in WET’s latest, Cancer: The Musical.
I know what you’re thinking: It’s been gray and miserable outside for the last three weeks—minus that teaser day of sunshine on Saturday—and the last thing you want to do is go to a play about cancer…the disease. Not the astrological sign. Especially once you find out there ain’t no music in this musical.
But hear me out: The new solo show by Montana von Fliss at Washington Ensemble Theatre is heartwarming, funny—an Irish wake kind of good time. Over 90 minutes, von Fliss tackles an intensely personal subject—caring for her father as he slowly died from liver cancer—and tries to measure Loss (with a capital L) using the scientific method. In lesser hands, the conceit would be charmless, all one-liners and squirm-inducing moments when you know someone hasn’t quite gotten over their pain and are making bad jokes to compensate. (I like to call this Catholic grief.)
But the jokes aren’t bad—this is, after all, Montana von Fliss at the helm as writer, director, and star. With wide eyes and a wicked smile, she switches nicely between a deadpan “grief and loss scientistician” and a daughter in mourning, meek and cross-legged, recounting a devastating story about her father’s final day. It’s hard to tell where the acting stops and the group therapy session begins, but that rawness lends an authenticity to the show that would be hard to match otherwise.
Cancer: The Musical runs through June 21 at Washington Ensemble Theatre.
As the “robots” in Storm Trooper masks started dancing in unison, under flashing strobe lights and thumping techno, I turned to look at the elderly man sitting next to me at the opening night performance of RoboPop! And he was smiling. A slight smile, to be sure, maybe a smirk. But it was a sign of contentment if I’ve ever seen one. And that’s how it is with Washington Ensemble Theatre’s latest show, an 80-minute music video onstage that threatens to be too esoteric (there’s no dialogue), but manages to appeal to everyone with its sweet—not saccharine—storyline and outstanding tech elements.
It’s best not to get hung up on the details of the plot. In fact, WET’s playbill is the equivalent of a CD cover, with song tracks listed instead of acts. Just know that in some indeterminate time in the future, man and robot coexist, and they don’t quite get along. Libby Matthews plays “the chosen one,” a girl who will lead humanity in its battle against machinery…except that she pulls a Juliet and falls for Romeo 2.0. And though the cast should be applauded for its dance moves and mimicry (and for lasting that long inside stuffy Storm Trooper helmets), the real stars of this show are the tech crew.
Ensemble member Andrea Bryn Bush’s set— a seeming nod to Michael and Janet Jackson’s “Scream” video —gives depth to the small black-box space. Lighting by Amiya Brown adds emotional layers to fight scenes and romantic interludes alike, while the sound-and-video team of Brendan Hogan and Wes Hurley keeps the play moving like a well-timed Lady Gaga concert. The whole show—the brainchild of directors/veteran ensemble designers Heidi Ganser and Ben Zamora—is fresh, creative, and professional. In other words, exactly what I’ve come to expect from WET.
RoboPop! runs Thursdays through Mondays until May 10 at Washington Ensemble Theatre. For tickets, clickhere.
Before joining Seattle Metropolitan, Laura Dannen covered all things A&E as deputy editor of Time Out Singapore. She’s an award-winning reporter and editor whose team of entertainment junkies delivers daily doses of news, reviews, and interviews.
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