OK, now I've seen the whole show.
Wow.
I expected to be amused; I expected to be educated; I expected to be made to think. I expected to hear anecdotes of teacher experiences, stories of students, tales of the culture shock of a kid from Indianapolis private schools finding himself as a teacher in notoriously tough South Central Los Angeles, and the insights that came to him as result of that experience.
And I did; it was all there.
What I didn't expect was for Jack's stories of his experience to move me to tears. For the sad events to tear my heart; the accomplishments to give me joy.
Yes, I understand that Jack's a great teacher, a special teacher. Anyone who can not only understand the preciousness of these students, but share it with complete strangers in such a way as to make them feel what he feels cannot help but be, for it is those same skills that he uses to teach us about these kids. And to teach us to care about these kids.
If you're in Indy, you've got this weekend and two after to catch this show. If you're not, it's headed to an Off-Broadway run in November and December. "Must see" is thrown around way too casually these days, but that's what this is: a show that will not only entertain you, but feed your soul.
Way to go, Jack.
03 October 2009
29 September 2009
They Call Me Mister Fry
Just saw a preview tonight for Jack Freiberger's They Call Me Mister Fry. Jack's one man show about life as a teacher in South Central LA --- a teacher whose background is white Midwestern privilege --- looks to be insightful and thought-provoking. It's worth taking the time to head to the Fringe building for the full show, I believe: showtimes, location, and all that nitty-gritty here.
Hope to see you there!
Hope to see you there!
31 August 2009
FringeNext: Come See Our Show or the Teddy Bear Gets It
[FringeNext is the young performers, under 18, who may become the next generation of Fringe performers.]
Lyndsey Brown, Kevin Burgun & Christina Cardenas
Brebeuf Jesuit Prep (Indy)
These are excellent performers; the girls sing beautifully, together or separately, and they all act well. But the play ("winning" the Irish lottery---actually falling for an internet scam---and attempting to force payout of the "winnings" by threatening to guillotine the teddy bear taken from a child one of the girls is supposed to be babysitting, but has in fact left home alone) has, with apologies to Gertrude Stein, no "there" there.
The original songs were good. But the script was a meandering ramble. Even the core part of the "plot" didn't seem to exist: they did some background on the lottery "win", wandered off to high school life and getting in to college, and then shifted to "ok, time to shove the bear in the guillotine" so abruptly, and unexplainedly, that I was left wondering if they'd accidentally skipped a couple of pages of lines. Then having set that scene, pretty much went back to rambling from topic to topic with no dramatic tension until they reached the end of their time slot, with no denouement whatsoever---simply "okay, we're done now, thanks for coming."
There's a great deal of performance potential here, but it needs a script that goes somewhere and does something.
Piggie's Rating: **** for the performers and the musical portion; ** for the show itself
Lyndsey Brown, Kevin Burgun & Christina Cardenas
Brebeuf Jesuit Prep (Indy)
These are excellent performers; the girls sing beautifully, together or separately, and they all act well. But the play ("winning" the Irish lottery---actually falling for an internet scam---and attempting to force payout of the "winnings" by threatening to guillotine the teddy bear taken from a child one of the girls is supposed to be babysitting, but has in fact left home alone) has, with apologies to Gertrude Stein, no "there" there.
The original songs were good. But the script was a meandering ramble. Even the core part of the "plot" didn't seem to exist: they did some background on the lottery "win", wandered off to high school life and getting in to college, and then shifted to "ok, time to shove the bear in the guillotine" so abruptly, and unexplainedly, that I was left wondering if they'd accidentally skipped a couple of pages of lines. Then having set that scene, pretty much went back to rambling from topic to topic with no dramatic tension until they reached the end of their time slot, with no denouement whatsoever---simply "okay, we're done now, thanks for coming."
There's a great deal of performance potential here, but it needs a script that goes somewhere and does something.
Piggie's Rating: **** for the performers and the musical portion; ** for the show itself
FringeNext: Every Story Has a Song
[FringeNext is the young performers, under 18, who may become the next generation of Fringe performers.]
International School of Indianapolis
This compilation of stories and songs was excellent, and the performers quite talented. The one thing I found distracting was the singers using sheet music for their songs: in a self-described "cabaret", I expect the performers to know their pieces (as they did in storytelling), and the continual movement of the music stand and flipping of pages in the sheet music was an annoyance which detracted from the overall effect of the performances.
Other than that, it was top drawer for a high school performance, and as professional as any Fringe performance---and more than some.
Piggie's Rating: ***
(Would be a four star without the sheet music)
International School of Indianapolis
This compilation of stories and songs was excellent, and the performers quite talented. The one thing I found distracting was the singers using sheet music for their songs: in a self-described "cabaret", I expect the performers to know their pieces (as they did in storytelling), and the continual movement of the music stand and flipping of pages in the sheet music was an annoyance which detracted from the overall effect of the performances.
Other than that, it was top drawer for a high school performance, and as professional as any Fringe performance---and more than some.
Piggie's Rating: ***
(Would be a four star without the sheet music)
Fringe: Tortillo!
Avenging Orange Productions (of Indy)
written by Casey Ross
The concept here is interesting: a mystery of malfeasance in a snack food company, and the acting was mostly pretty good. But the script starts to lose direction about 2/3 of the way through the show, until it's trying to be a comedy, a mystery and an odd tribute to the late John Entwistle of the Who all at the same time---and thereby succeeding at none of those attempts.
I think Casey's got a great deal of potential, but she needs to be clear on where she's trying to go with a script and not get seduced by ideas of "and we can work this in...and we can work that in....." Looking forward to seeing what she comes up with next year.
Piggie's Rating: ***
written by Casey Ross
The concept here is interesting: a mystery of malfeasance in a snack food company, and the acting was mostly pretty good. But the script starts to lose direction about 2/3 of the way through the show, until it's trying to be a comedy, a mystery and an odd tribute to the late John Entwistle of the Who all at the same time---and thereby succeeding at none of those attempts.
I think Casey's got a great deal of potential, but she needs to be clear on where she's trying to go with a script and not get seduced by ideas of "and we can work this in...and we can work that in....." Looking forward to seeing what she comes up with next year.
Piggie's Rating: ***
Fringe: Simple Joys
Jennifer K Sutton (of Indy)
This show was radically different from anything else in the Fringe: a light and easy dance, and a journey back to kindergarten. A refreshing interlude with audience participation.
It was a bit short, and perhaps light, for the Fringe setting, though.
Piggie's Rating: **
This show was radically different from anything else in the Fringe: a light and easy dance, and a journey back to kindergarten. A refreshing interlude with audience participation.
It was a bit short, and perhaps light, for the Fringe setting, though.
Piggie's Rating: **
Fringe: The Rise of General Arthur
Maximum Verbosity (of Minneapolis)
This setting of the Arthurian legend in modern Baghdad was a fascinating concept, but the execution seemed a bit off.
Phillip Andrew Bennett Low's "narration" may have been styled the way it was to set it apart from the "acting" parts of the one man show, but the rapid-fire monotone was counter-productive, a hypnotic drone that hindered the mind trying to absorb the information rather than assisting it. It made the narrative of the overall show hard to follow, and the rapidity of the narration made it feel that perhaps this was a show written to run 90 minutes which was sped up to fit its 60 minute time slot, rather than being cut or otherwise adapted.
I think he's got something good here, but I'd love to have a chance to see it again with the narration done a bit slower; there's more quality there to absorb than the style permitted.
Piggie's Rating: **
Done slower, it would have been a three or even four star show.
This setting of the Arthurian legend in modern Baghdad was a fascinating concept, but the execution seemed a bit off.
Phillip Andrew Bennett Low's "narration" may have been styled the way it was to set it apart from the "acting" parts of the one man show, but the rapid-fire monotone was counter-productive, a hypnotic drone that hindered the mind trying to absorb the information rather than assisting it. It made the narrative of the overall show hard to follow, and the rapidity of the narration made it feel that perhaps this was a show written to run 90 minutes which was sped up to fit its 60 minute time slot, rather than being cut or otherwise adapted.
I think he's got something good here, but I'd love to have a chance to see it again with the narration done a bit slower; there's more quality there to absorb than the style permitted.
Piggie's Rating: **
Done slower, it would have been a three or even four star show.
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