Red Metal Mailbox Blog

OLD TRICKS is back...

OLD TRICKS re-opened on Thursday, June 14th to a rave review from Metro NY's Elizabeth Zimmer who calls OLD TRICKS "the perfect diversion for a summer night." We're excited about the press, (especially that our pic was bigger than one of Lindsay Lohan), and we're even more psyched about the chance to do the show again. It's a rare opportunity to get to revisit something after it's had time to really sink in to a cast, and though we dearly miss our expat musician Sarah Gancher, new blood Gina Samardge is rocking the house with her accordian each night. We've got three more shows - June 21, 28, and July 5, so come check it out.

Hawaska!

Stop, you're both right: it's the tundra and the tropics - it's Hawaska, and it's RMM's next project. The project formerly known as SHORT FOR ELIZABETH formerly known as EINSTEIN'S DEAD AND SO ARE YOU, A LOVE LETTER TO BETSY ROSS, is now HAWASKA. We heard somewhere that less is more. After a brain-twisting rollercoaster of a residency at the Dragon's Egg in CT, we've landed in Hawaska, and we're gonna stay for a while. It's a magical place where opposites, multiples, and reflections co-exist, sometimes without ever intersecting. So, yeah, we're still playing with physics, but we're having a lot more fun. Plus, Betsy Ross and Einstein have morphed into a pair of postal employees braving new terrain to set up shop in the brand-new state(s). Did you know that Alaska and Hawaii both became states in 1959? If you did, congratulations, you're smarter than a fifth-grader. (Sorry, no cash prize.)

365 Update

Well, we did it. We performed in a Suzan-Lori Parks play at the Public Theater - pretty damn exciting. Despite a miscommunication that had us arriving at 8:30 AM on Sunday morning for our tech that was actually at 1PM, we had an amazing time. Spending a day with so many other theater artist was incredible, and we look forward to building on the sense of community we found. So many theater companies are working in relative isolation, breeding a culture of mistrust and competition. Yesterday's experience was the complete opposite - there was an overal feeling of mutual respect, interest, and support. Props to Travis Chamberlain at Galapagos for putting our portion together, and thanks to the Public Theater for taking this leap of insanity. 365 Days/365 Plays continues through November, 2007, so go see more and meet more folks - we know we will.

365 Plays/365 Days

As you probably know from the homepage, RMM has been selected to participate in The Public Theater's 365 Plays/ 365 Days festival of new plays by Pullitzer prize-winner Suzan-Lori Parks. You may have seen the profile on Parks and the festival in the New York Times, or on the cover of American Theater magazine, but you may not have seen this profile, that features a photo of RMM and further info on the premiere showing at Galapagos: http://brooklyn.untilmonday.com/story/365_days365_plays. The site is worth checking out on its own, but we're especially thrilled they chose to feature the RMM photo from FRACTAL REMAINDER.

If that makes you nostalgic, you'll be excited to know that our birthday party in February will feature a retrospective performance of scenes from each of our previous productions. Any requests?

Fall Update

The leaves aren't quite turning yet, but that familiar back-to-school chill is in the air. Everyone in NYC is busy proving to the world that they can work harder and look more fabulous than anyone else. No pressure. Although we hope it's motivated by more than a desire to "keep up with the Jonses," RMM's got a full roster for the 07 Season (as it's mysteriously called despite the fact that it's still 2006 - something to do with fiscal years, I guess.) We're developing a new show called EINSTEIN'S DEAD AND SO ARE YOU...A LOVE LETTER TO BETSY ROSS, which we'll workshop at Galapagos in October. Also in October, we're celebrating our 5th Birthday (also at Galapagos), and launching an education program for children and teens at the Micro Museum in Brooklyn. We've also got two more THROW showings lined up for the fall, and we're planning to bring OLD TRICKS back (by popular demand) to the Chocolate Factory next summer. Stay tuned, and check the other detail pages, there's a lot more in store...

RMM wants YOU - to help with our new show

Ok, so those pictures from OLD TRICKS still aren't up, and we've got some great ones from the Trout Parade in Livingston Manor, NY to toss up as well. Patience, grasshopper. Check in around the 4th of July when you're waiting for the fireworks, and maybe there will be a surprise in the gallery for you. Speaking of the 4th of July, we're planning to gather some material for our new show over the holiday weekend by asking folks on the street to tell "the story" (as they know it) of Betsy Ross. You can play along at home too by adding a comment to this post and telling your version. To avoid spam, the comment feature disables on each post after one week, so if you miss the window, just email your story to redmetalmailbox@gmail.com, and we'll put it up for you.

The first THROW at Galapagos was this past Wednesday and included workshop performances by Renee Archibald, Estelle Woodward and Jeff Arnal, and Rachel Tiemann. The showings were solid, and the discussions were very interesting - quite an opening for this new series; thanks to all who came out. The next one will be August 23rd, for details, click THROW.

Happy summer.

teaching a new dog

OLD TRICKS has closed at the Chocolate Factory theater, and the post-show depression is in full swing. Good thing we've got plans to bring this one back. In the meantime, we'll be making an appearance at the Trout Parade on June 10th in Livingston Manor, NY www.troutparade.com as well as heading back to the Egg to get started on a new work in July. Pictures from OLD TRICKS coming soon.

Catch Us!

Ok, so yes, I do write for CultureCatch.com, but one of the crazy things about the information age is that I don't know anyone else there, so you can reasonably trust Victoria Sullivan's review of OLD TRICKS to be impartial. Read below, or click here: http://www.culturecatch.com/node/249

CULTURECATCH.COM
OLD TRICKS at the Chocolate Factory

Red Metal Mailbox has created what at first appears to be a delightful confection of 1890s-style all-female vaudeville. Three talented performers dance, sing, pout, tell jokes, do tricks, and generally create the intimate atmosphere of a Parisian nightclub in the basement of an industrial building just on the edge of Long Island City. Standing outside on a warm spring night, one can see the buildings of Manhattan just across the East River. For a jaded Upper Westsider, it’s worth the trip to Queens.

Presented as part of the Chocolate Factory’s Visiting Artists Program, Old Tricks is the creation of Sarah Maxfield, Rachel Tiemann, Sarah Gancher, and Ali Harmer. Red Metal Mailbox’s mission is to create “investigative performance by linking original text with a highly physical aesthetic.” What results is an entertaining mixture of music, song, and dance, along with brief tales of both humor and pathos. The mostly twenties audience laughed with pleasure.

The evening’s gaiety starts with the performers personally leading the audience into the mildly sepulchral space, seating around 40 or so people. In a chair to one side of the performance area, a lone violinist (Sarah Gancher, who is responsible for all the music) sits and plays. The performers then step to the other side of the space to a dressing table and invisible mirror, where they prepare to go on—robing, making up, posing, pushing breasts into place over corsets, etc. It is all in good fun and part of the set-up: “we are here to entertain you” is the message. And art, in this instance, is artifice.

What follows is a “boardwalk performance” in front of a kind of stylized brain machine on the wall. The gimmick is that it can read the audience’s mind so that they will perform what we want to see. They will be sensual, do tricks, even contortions, tell jokes, and generally knock themselves out to make us happy. Much of this part of the show is physical comedy, evoking laughter. Picture the Three Stooges, but lovely young women dressed provocatively, and you get the idea.

There is a kind of intermission, with the ladies passing out boxes of really quite tasty popcorn, and little flags for us to vote on our “favorite” among them. Since no one gets up and leaves the area, it’s not exactly an intermission; or rather, it’s the staging of a staged intermission. The section which follows is a good deal darker than the first half, and is fueled by the words “the future” that the brain machine has coughed up.

Each of the three women then performs a solo piece, with the longest first, a monologue by Flora (who has earlier shown herself as a clown-like drinker, the life of the party, both playful and needy). Her monologue is the quite brilliant and moving story of the “little oyster girl,” obviously a version of herself, pursued by inner and outer demons, driving her to a sad demise. The actress, Rachel Tiemann, gives a stunning performance. She is followed by Daisy (played by Ali Harmer), who does a dance sequence that takes a similar path towards an unhappy conclusion. Her body simply starts to run out of muscle and steam; her earlier flirtatiousness and coy vanity turn to pathos, and she is reduced, finally, to simply sitting on the floor.

Last is Pearl (who has been the saucy intelligent troupe member, witty, wry, and well-embodied by Sarah Maxfield). She starts to sing, but feels something in her throat, something is wrong—pins, pins and needles, nails and ropes, what she soon labels “all the anguish,” and like a Beckett character, she falls into silence. So now the three members of the little troupe are separate and alone.

This is not, however, the final moment. Rather, the three together again ask us once more to “pick your favorite.” When Flora is chosen, the machine tells her, “Congratulations, you may unveil.” When she stands on a small wooden table to do this, shedding corset, skirt, bloomers, top, it proves a humiliating strip tease. Flora looks frightened and confused; the other two women quickly redress her. This theatrical moment reveals the potential pain of nudity, the extremely vulnerability of the naked body.

Old Tricks ends with a song thanking the audience for coming, with the remark, “we tried to please you,” which raises the question of what this evening is about. I would say it is about “performance” and about being female. It suggests, certainly in the post-intermission material, that performance has the potential to be draining for those who do it, leading in “the future” to an emptiness, a downhill slide, an anguished self-awareness of loss of prowess and youth. Of course we know that clowns are basically sad, and that ladies who disrobe in public often harbor huge hostility for their audience. So is Old Tricks trying to tell us that if we truly unveil, we may find the scorpion under the rock, the death’s head under the pretty face, the sadness of Marilyn Monroe, Sylvia Plath, or Billie Holiday? Perhaps. Or perhaps they just wanted to please us. - Victoria Sullivan

OLD TRICKS is playing through May 13, 2006. The Chocolate Factory is located at 5-49 49th Avenue in Long Island City, and is having its annual Benefit Party on June 7.

Ms. Sullivan is a poet and playwright who lives in Manhattan and has a little cabin outside of Woodstock, NY. When not brooding, she is generally traveling, writing, or staring at the trees. She also loves to laugh.

Eagly/Davis Re-mix

Last fall, Ursula Eagly and Rebecca Davis presented an exciting, intriguing, super-fun, shared evening of work at the Chocolate Factory, which I wrote about here. They're remounting both works next week, so you've got a second chance to check them out. Read my interview with Eagly and Davis on the Movement Research Critical Correspondence website here: http://movementresearch.org/publishing/cc/interview/eaglydavis4-8-06.html.

Spring Update

Hello Cyberspace,
Rehearsals for OLD TRICKS are well underway, and the show is shaping up wonderfully. After feedback from our most recent invited showing, we've decided to cram the previously three-ring spectacle into one jam-packed ring. The tight proximity is a definite improvement, and it's exciting to begin seeing all of the pieces fall into place. The beautiful postcards - designed by Gene Kelly (not the one you're thinking of) are in, and our fancy high-button shoes have been ordered. Lots to go, but the clock is ticking... Will we make it in time, folks? You'll just have to find out this May...

While you're waiting on the edge of your seat for the show's debut, check out my recent review of Carrie Ahern's RED at Danspace Project, http://www.culturecatch.com/node/181 as well as this awesome new website from Movement Research for which I've been doing some behind-the-scenes work http://www.movementresearch.org/publishing/cc/interview/interview.html.