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/

Don't Miss "Just Ancient Loops"

At the Bang on a Can Marathon in 2012, Jim and I watched riveted as cellist Maya Beiser played Michael Harrison's haunting and hypnotic Just Ancient Loops,  accompanying overlapping loops of herself playing the same music--which comprised the score of Bill Morrison's film of the same title,  being projected beside her.

It was fabulous and unforgettable, one of the most extraordinary performances I've seen in recent years, and I was thrilled to learn that tomorrow,  Thursday, October 23,  8:00 p.m., at the Museum of Modern Art, Beiser will be doing the same thing in a program that includes two other  films as well.

http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/film_screenings/22083 

On Saturday, November 8, 8:00 pm, in Washington, DC, Beiser will be performing a program that includes  Just Ancient Loops  at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue.

http://www.washingtonperformingarts.org/calendar/view.aspx?id=2617

Composer Michael Harrison will likely be in attendance at both events.

Not to be missed if you have any interest in new music (or experimental film or the cello).

http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/film_screenings/22083d



http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/film_screenings/22083 Moses Fiction Prize

Don't miss: Daughters of the Sexual Revolution

Here's how the WorkShop Theater describes its latest mainstage production, Daughters of the Sexual Revolution by Dana Leslie Goldstein:

"As the country commemorates its revolution, three women engage in their own revolutionary activities.  Against the backdrop of post-Nixon America, they face ethical dilemmas, and question what it means to be faithful—to one’s values, one’s partner . . . and one's self."

Given the subject  and the general high quality of the WorkShop's offerings, of course I had to see the play,  but I kept putting off doing so--perhaps expecting an overly earnest and formulaic feminist tale, a didactic time capsule.

I needn't have feared.  Beautifully written and performed, Daughters of the Sexual Revolution is moving, funny, and thought provoking, with richly conceived stories and characters brought vividly--and memorably-- to life.


See it before it closes--the last performance is Sunday, October 11.

Workshop Theater Company
312 W. 36 St.

http://www.workshoptheater.org/workshop-events/2014/9/18/daughters-of-the-sexual-revolution

Tickets are only $18 ($15 for students and seniors)--a bargain in NYC for theater of this quality.