An Unusual Solo Show : A Kind Shot

Terri Mateer was 6' 1" by a very young age (saying just how young would be a bit of a spoiler for the beginning of her one-woman show).   Not surprisingly she played basketball--eventually on a pro team.

Mateer has quite a story to tell, and she tells (and plays) it well in A Kind Shot.  After her New York City run is done, she hopes to tour on the college circuit, where young women, in particular, will have a lot to learn from her experiences.

Mateer may not be the most polished performer I've seen, but she's one of the bravest.  Whether or not you're a basketball player or fan, seeing A Kind Shot will enlarge your world. 

Don't bring the kids, unless they're very mature; this show is definitely R-rated.  Do, however, stay for the talk-back, if there is one (the show itself is not much more than an hour).  You have through February 7. 

For tickets and further information, go to:

http://terrimateer.com/

The Golden Toad!

I always have high expectations of a new show from The Talking Band.  But their latest, The GoldenToad, is extraordinary--not to be missed.  It may be their best yet.

As the postcard for the show says, The Golden Toad is an "original music-theater epic journey through a changing New York, tracing the shifting of identities over time and circumstances."

Mentioning any specific event in this wonderful show, thus diminishing your surprise, would qualify as a spoiler.   So I'll just say that The Golden Toad is about time, change, aging, art, love, loss, and chance--among other things.  It's beautiful and complex, rich and strange, funny and moving--altogether a masterwork.  It almost goes without saying, given The Talking Band's standards, the acting and music are terrific.

At nearly three hours, the show is long, but the moments fly by.   It's structured in four parts and a brief epilogue, with breaks for the audience to move from the current location to the next. There's one intermission during which beverages and snacks can be purchased. 
 

The Golden Toad only runs through February 7 at La Mama.  If reviewers love it as much as I do (to avoid spoilers, please don't actually read the reviews), it will start selling out.

http://talkingband.org/

"Diamondback Tales" - a poem

You can read "Diamondback Tales"*  in the latest issue of Star 82 Review online (also in their print journal).

It's listed in the Table of Contents as a Hidden Gem:

http://star82review.com/2.4/contents.html


*Warning: not recommended for those suffering from snake phobia.  

Obsolete Weapons - a short story

One of my more experimental short stories, "Obsolete Weapons,"  has recently been published online and in a free e-book by Jet Fuel Review.  

It begins thus:

"How often has she wakened with just this sense of impending disaster, of needing to leave but not knowing how to go?"

To read more, visit:

http://www.jetfuelreview.com/previous-issues/issue-8-fall-2014/fiction/

The Talking Band

"ILLUMINATING THE EXTRAORDINARY DIMENSIONS OF EVERYDAY LIFE"  reads a subhead on the Talking Band's website.  It's a great description of what they do so well and so consistently.

Here's a list of favorites among the shows of theirs I've seen over the years:

Marcellus Shale (2013)
Hot Lunch Apostles (2012, 1983)
The Peripherals (2012)
The Walk Across America for Mother Earth (2011)
Panic! Eurphoria! Blackout! (2010)
Flipside (2008)
Delicious Rivers (2006)
Black Milk Quartet (1998)
Betty Buffet's Theory of Relativity (1995)
The Three Lives of Lucy Cabrol (1987)


This is the Talking Band's 40th anniversary, and their new show, The Golden Toad, is opening tomorrow night  at La Mama.  

Go.


http://talkingband.org/