Offscript - Phoning it in
For nudity, press or say Three’”
You have reached the Off Script Automated Theater Column. Atlanta theater will be monitored for your quality assurance.
To read a review of Theatre Gael’s A Man of No Importance, a musical from the creators of Ragtime, press or say “one.”
“One.”
We’re sorry. Due to Tropical Storm Ivan, the review of A Man of No Importance, playing through Oct. 17 at 14th Street Playhouse, is not available at this time. The estimated time for the review to be ready is one to two weeks.
To read a review of the world premiere of Phillip DePoy and Lee Nowell’s Urban Fairy Tale, playing through Oct. 3 at Theatre in the Square’s Alley Stage, press or say “two.”
“Two.”
We’re sorry. Due to the friendship between the columnist and the playwrights, a review of this comedy about contemporary courtship could appear to be a conflict of interest. Off Script does commend actor Matt Meyers for his hilarious portrayal of humorous self-consciousness during the most awkward first date imaginable.
To read about how live theater runs into risks with naked actresses and ...
“Three! Three! Three!”
The Actor’s Express full-frontal production of Killer Joe provides a reminder of how theater demonstrates the difference between “nakedness” and “nudity.” Unclad performers in film or pay cable, and even in strip clubs, seldom have the same immediacy as nudes in live theater.
With theater, such exposure feels fraught with tensions. You’re in the same room with a live, life-sized person with no clothes, frequently as a voyeur of fictional characters’ private behavior. A naked body is such a potent stage effect that it easily distracts from the “world” of the play. Killer Joe’s uneasy seduction scene between Jeff Portell and Ariel de Man succeeds by exploiting that very discomfort.
Play audiences usually forget to laugh at jokes involving nakedness, but Killer Joe gets away with one. Adulterous waitress Sharla (Jill Perry) opens her trailer door wearing nothing but a T-shirt that barely reaches her hipbones. Her stepson (Nick Rhoton) exclaims, “Put some got-dam clothes on!” and she replies, “Well, I didn’t know who you were.” As if being undressed from waist down is acceptable dress for some visitors, just not him. Many theaters get more than they bargain for when their casts take off their clothes, but Killer Joe doesn’t let the bodies eclipse the play itself.
To read what Horizon Theatre features in its 2004-05 season, press or say “four.”
“Four.”
Horizon Theatre tilts its 21st season more toward musicals and monologue shows. It begins Oct. 15 with the bawdy cabaret musical Cafe Puttanesca, depicting three ladies of the evening in post-WWII Europe. December marks the return of David Sedaris’ Santaland Diaries, a caustic comedy about being Santa’s elf at Macy’s. In January, Thomas W. Jones directs Blue, a comedy-drama with musical interludes about skeletons in the closet of an African-American family. In March, String of Pearls (rights pending) connects the lives of 23 women via a single pearl necklace. In May, Carolyn Cook stars in the one-woman show The Syringa Tree, about the shared lives of two South African families. And next summer’s The Big Bang presents two singing performers as wannabe producers who act out a Broadway musical about the history of the world.
To read what Horizon will not feature in its 2004-05 season, press or say “five.”
“Five.”
Horizon Theatre’s new season skips the playhouse’s 6-year-old New South Play Festival. In previous seasons, the festival featured two full productions of new plays, as well as extensive “Playworks” readings. But Horizon has scaled back the festival over the past two years, and in May will present workshops of only four scripts. Artistic director Lisa Adler says the New South Play Festival has not cultivated the audience Horizon had hoped for, and while the theater will continue to workshop and premiere new scripts, it may not stage them in the festival format.
To read this column’s reaction to the New South Play Festival’s absence, press or say “six.”
“Six.”
It sucks. The lack of a New South Play Festival diminishes Atlanta’s reputation as a rising theater city.
To read about the Southeast Playwrights Project’s play-reading marathon, press or say “seven.”
“Seven.”
Fortunately, Atlanta has more organizations devoted to new theater than the Horizon festival. On Sept. 25 at the Alliance Theatre Hertz Stage, the Southeast Playwrights Project will present the 2004 Showcase of New Plays in Process from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. The staged readings include Under the Arches by John Grudzien, Collection of One Acts by Bill Wellborn, From Sea to Smiling Sea by Bill Gibson, The Hermit by David Davis and Virgin Tears on Wyoming Avenue by Mary Miller.
To exit the column, press or say “nine,” or just turn the page.