Author: dumsumla

magic is awesome

Posted on by dumsumla

I saw a great show last night. It’s actually the second time I’ve seen it. “The Absence of Magic,” written and performed by the always amazing Eric Davis (Red Bastard), is one of the best solo shows I’ve seen all year…and I curate a solo arts festival. It’s playing as part of the NY Clown Theatre Festival, also produced by Mr. Davis, his partner, Audrey Crabtree and The Brick Theater.

I first saw “Absence” about a year ago, in the same space, and since then, the show’s gotten tighter, funnier and more poignant. It’s a grand ride into the mind of a nameless Clown who searches for the “Glove of Never-ending Awesomeness.” It places The Clown with us in a theater, a proverbial prison. He’s trapped, and so are we. The Audience doesn’t just become interactive with the clown; it becomes part of The Clown’s existential journey. But unlike desperate existential stories seen before, hope permeates the play.

“The Absence of Magic” is an ironic title, for it is the opposite of what occurs for 70 minutes in this tiny, black-box theater located just off the Lorimer stop on the L Train. Between spouts of confusion, fear, anger, frustration and absurdity intersect joy, love, happiness and optimism. The Audience laughs at The Clown, and as soon as it does, it piques his interest in The Audience, which becomes part of the show. Some of the bits are typical ones we’ve seen in tons of shows before. But this experience is different. Instead of just using The Audience for a laugh, The Clown really utilizes them to find what he wants: Never-ending Awesomeness. It’s in these gaps of forgetting the propetual fearful state in which he exists that he enjoys the journey. He forgets about his neurotic fear of bones strewn about the stage (presumably, from a previous long gone cell mate), the possibility of escape by the horse that rides through every ten days, the huge ball of wire he insists is a conch shell and The Voice from above that talks to him but The Audience cannot hear. When he lets go of toiling over the quest, he is free. The instant he stops playing, he remembers he’s trapped. Exhausted, toward the end of the play, he declares, “It is the petty things that wear you down, really.” Letting go of the pettiness and, instead, embracing the play(ing), The Audience leaves, rewarded with a little bit of magic.

And, such is life.

Check it out. It’s got two more shows this weekend. Ten bucks. It’s worth more.

ABSENCE OF MAGIC Eric Davis
Written by Eric Davis and Sue Morrison
Directed by Sue Morrison
www.redbastard.com

Eric Davis stars as a bone-thin cantankerous clown, whose neurotic endeavors run the gamut of comic expression. Wildly impish one moment, pathetically gutless the next, he answers the call to an epic adventure only to find himself stranded in a cave for 100,000 years. Surrounded by the skeletons of failed attempts, he must now conquer a disembodied voice as this unlikely hero fends off monsters, struggles to make a name for himself and quests to find the Glove of Never Ending Awesomeness.

Sat., Sept. 16 at 8:30 PM
Sun., Sept. 17 at 2:30 PM
70 minutes

what it’s like in beirut – for real

Posted on by dumsumla

THE FOLLOWING IS AN EMAIL FROM MY FRIEND, ARTIST, LEE FREDERIX, WHO HAS BEEN LIVING IN BEIRUT FOR THE PAST SIX YEARS. HE WAS PLANNING ON RETURNING TO THE U.S. THIS WEEK, AND THEN ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE BETWEEN HEZBOLLAH AND ISRAEL LAST WEEK. HE IS STILL WAITING FOR THE U.S. EMBASSY TO GET THEIR ACT TOGETHER SO HE CAN EVACUATE.

PERSONALLY, I’M NOT FOR EITHER “SIDE.” WAR, DEATH AND POWER STRUGGLES, TO ME, ARE HORRIBLE, NO MATTER WHO IS DOING WHAT. I AM POSTING SO PEOPLE MAY SEE A DIFFERENT SIDE OF WHAT IS BEING REPORTED ON CNN, FOX AND OTHER U.S. DRIVEN MEDIA. IT IS IMPORTANT, NO MATTER WHAT YOU SEE ON TELEVISION, TO DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH. DIG DEEPER. AS LEE MENTIONS, AL JAZEERA DOES THE SAME THING, TOO. PROPAGANDA PERPETUATES DEATH.

hello to you all from formerly-lovely beirut!

first of all, I AM SAFE!

this is just a quick group mail to let you all know that.
i’m sorry i havent gotten in touch sooner, but as you can imagine, it’s been just a wee bit hectic over here. so i’m sure you’ll all forgive me.

i’m just waiting for the us government and embassy to get their act together. mad king george II and his cronies need to get the evacuation under way. we’re hoping to get on a ship to cyprus within the next 48 hours. it’s a bit frustrating to sit and watch the swedes, the french, the italians, the spanish etc all leave while the bombs continue to shake the windows, the power is periodically cut, and my embassy personnel rudely tell me “there’s nothing to tell you”

hopefully i’ll be stateside by the weekend, relaxing on my dear mom’s ranch in the high new mexico desert. (mom tells me she already has the guest room made up for me)….then over to pittsburgh to see the rest of my greatly-missed family, including the cool kids that refer to me as uncle lee.

the situation here is indeed bad. latest estimates say 215 lebanese dead (maybe 5% of them hezbollah forces)…. the airstrikes continue, israel has ground forces in the south, and both sides refuse to consider a ceasefire. hezbollah may unfortunately have the technology to strike tel aviv, and obviously nobody wants that to happen. consequences would be horrific for both sides.

fortunately, the neighborhood where i live is very safe and has been as far as possible from the attacks. i am a bit nervous, though not as rattled as my windows by the rolling thunder of missile attacks and low flying fighter/bombers.

CNN has been reporting bullshit. yesterday their correspondant was reporting from the front of my bank in downtown beirut, but he claimed to be in haifa (you can even see the lebanese military guardbooth in the frame!)…. they’ve reported that the port of beirut is belching flame and billowing smoke. the port is about 300 yards from my apartment, and the view from my roof shows NO damage whatsoever….. they’ve also made spelling mistakes, misquoted spokesmen, and failed to report certain things that may hurt foreign sympathy for the israeli cause. al jazeera does the same for the other side……

i recommend sky news (BRITISH) if you can pick it up. if not, BBC is fairly accurate and extremely objective. please don’t be misled by the war machine. get as much info from as many sources as you can, and make up your own mind.

i hope you’re all well…..

take care and keep your fingers crossed that all this will settle and lives will be spared.

lots of love…..

lee

communication breakdown

Posted on by dumsumla

Texting. Cool toy. Not cool for communications. I really don’t like it. It’s fun for a quick “hello” or a “miss ya, sexy,” but when it comes down to real communication, I can’t stand it. People use it instead of actually picking up the telephone and talking to me. Either that is actually how they communicate all the time, or it’s a way of telling me what they want without having to really ask. Texting is the passive aggressive person’s dream!

I see a lot of people using email like this, too. They’ll email something very important to me because they are afraid of how I’m going to react. I recently had a woman tell me she didn’t want to see me anymore this way. (Too, a friend just relayed a story where he told a woman that he wasn’t going to continue pursuing their relationship over a text message!) Last month, a guy quit a very important job under my employment four days before he was to execute the job by sending me an email at 2am. I’m assuming, after a few beers and a couple tokes, this joker got the courage to sit down and pour out his heart as to why he was in a “bad headspace” and couldn’t keep up “the charade” any longer. Now, sure, I know you’re suppose to give a letter of resignation, but when it is four days before you are going into production on a huge show, have the courage to call me and talk to me yourself. Maybe we can work it out. At least, then, I wouldn’t think you were a coward.

I, myself, just ended my association with a job, and I called. I got a voice mail. I left a message on the voice mail, telling my superior that I wouldn’t be returning to work in the fall, spelling out important personal reasons for my departure, and if he wants to talk to me about it further, he can call me. I haven’t heard from him. Perhaps, I shouldn’t have left the information on the voice mail, but at least, I had the courage to actually call and risk talking to the guy. If it’s my luck that he didn’t pick up, then that’s how the cards fell. Plus, I told him to call me, if he wants to discuss it. He didn’t call, and I don’t believe he will. That’s his choice. Still, to quit a job or break up with someone over email or texting is lame.

A few months back, I heard that Mariah Carey’s manager, Benny Medina, eliminated his email as a form of communication. He said, “Generally, E-mail ends up as a form of communication that can go completely unanswered, with people thinking they’ve followed up on an outstanding issue when they haven’t, and it’s bad at communicating a feeling or an emotion.”

Personally, I like it when people take the time to write complete letters in email, starting with a traditional “Dear…” and ending with some sort of proper sign off – at least a “Thanks,” but often, people will just start typing thoughts in fragments and run on sentences, ending with the initial of their first name. I’ve done this too (for those of you out there reading this who’ve received these kinds of emails from me), but I’m just saying I pay more attention to the proper letters that are written to me. They feel like they are more important somehow. They feel like you care about what you’re writing and the person to whom you’re writing.

I’m not out to crusade for change on how people email and text. They are new forms of communicating, and, I’m sure, like television, radio and the telephone itself, they will evolve into something I cannot even imagine at this point. Hell, as I write this in Microsoft Word, I look back to the word “texting” and it’s underlined in red, indicating that it is misspelled or not a word. That’s how new texting is. It isn’t even considered a word.

I could also explore how the English language is being completely transformed by short hand like LOL and WTF. However, there are linguists out there who are writing many great studies about this subject far better than my brief thoughts, and I encourage you to seek them out. All I’m looking for is some proper communication. When you have something important to say to someone, whether business or personal, say it. Don’t cower behind your Blackberry and tell someone you don’t want to see them anymore, and certainly don’t quit a job via AOL because you’re afraid of the heat. If there’s heat, then there’s usually a reason for the heat. Take it the heat, and learn from it. More often than not, though, you’ll be surprised. People are far more understanding than given credit, and if they do not understand, they don’t need to be in your life anyway.

what a week

Posted on by dumsumla

It’s taken me over a week to process all that happened last week, for it was wild, teaching me not only about human nature, but the impact one has with one’s words (namely, my own).

Three days after the first woman who told me I was “remarkably accurate” in my portrayal of feederism and posted a link to the show from the Dimensions Magazine website (if you go to this site, there will be plot spoilers from my play…so, if you plan on seeing it in the future, you may want to avoid), two woman showed up and sat in the front row, indignant and scowling during the entire play. After the show, they stopped me, asking all sorts of questions about the show: “What was my point?” “What research did I do?” “Did I talk to any feeders or feedees?” After 45 minutes of their grilling and my friends leaving one by one without my getting to hang with a them, I realized I handled the situation very poorly. Not only was I starving and out of my mind with hunger, I was “post-show” head space, which is not very coherent. As a result, I wasn’t as articulate as I would have liked. Disappointed, I chalked it up to a bad experience, one which if given an opportunity, I would’ve handled differently.

Kicking myself for having done such a poor job explaining my show, I went to the Dimensions Magazine website, and I checked out the chat thread that started after the woman on Saturday night. Sure enough, one of the women disgruntled with the show went on and posted a scathing review of the play. Then, she talked about how, after the show, I described my play as “bad art” and misquoted me on a few facts. Basically, she asked me what the show meant. Did I want people talking about my show after they went home from the theater? I told her I believe “good art” should resonate. People should continue talking about it when they go home. I don’t propose to tell people what they should think – “good art” should just provoke people to conversation. Then, I qualified and said, “Not that I’m saying this is “good art…I’m just saying that’s what good art is, and if people keep talking about it once they get home, that’s great.” Trying to be humble. Didn’t work.

As a result, I figured I’d revise my previous post and “thesis” regarding the show and post it here:

A van speeds across country. Inside, a man tells a tale of a relationship with a woman named Jesse. To whom does he speak? Where is he going? And what will happen when he reaches his destination? FEEDER: A Love Story is an oddly touching, surprisingly funny, dark and twisted tale of passion, revenge and dessert. The play delves into a fringe fragment of the BDSM (Bondage, Domination, Submission & Masochism) world of feederism, where feeding and “growing” ones partner to enormous sizes is considered beautiful.

Living in a country where “thin is in” and plastic surgery is the norm, FEEDER: A Love Story holds a fun house mirror up to society and forces the audience to question the absurdity of typical beautification tactics. Additionally, it questions the fetish of feederism, imagining what would happen if said feeder became obsessed with the fetish, knowing no boundaries, and broke all the rules.

We are obsessed in this country with beauty. And beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The point of the play is not to say that if someone finds a fat person beautiful that they are crazy (as the third woman who posts on the Dimensions site suggests I am saying), it suggests, as with any relationship, it can move to obsession when one refuses to accept the change in that relationship.

Too, one last point, the ladies who disliked my show were very polite (while obviously unhappy) to me, and I’d like to thank them for challenging me. The anger they show in their posts are not to be mistaken for how they treated me in person, which was with respect. I don’t want to disrespect them either, but it seems I have, which brings me back to my original point. You can’t please all the people all the time. And, the challenges these women presented me have forced me to rethink the mission of this play. I am writing a second act. I am going to try and sit down with either a feeder or a feedee and interview him or her…and I the second act will be from the feedee’s point of view (while the monologue I presented was from the feeder’s point of view). It’s a love story. And there’s always two sides to every love story. So, why not tell it?

Thanks to everyone who came out last week and supported. Your thoughts and comments have been invaluable and have also been instrumental in bringing me to the decision to expand the play. And, for those of you who couldn’t make it, it will return soon.

meeting a feedee…i think

Posted on by dumsumla

Wow, it’s been a whole month since I’ve posted here, and with good reason. terraNOVA’s 3rd Annual Solo Arts Festival has been taking up all my time. It’s been a wild ride this year for more reasons than one, but I suppose that’s all part of producing a festival.

The best thing about it for me, quite frankly, has been acting in a play I wrote, FEEDER: A Love Story. It’s the first time I’ve done this, and it’s the first time I’ve acted in a play in about 5 years. I’d really forgotten the jazz one gets being on stage in front of strangers…and, I think, the craziest part, was walking out from backstage afterwards, receiving congratulations from friends, family and strangers. I’d anticipated enjoying the performing, but I’d forgotten that people come up and give props after the show. It was a funny and great experience.

The craziest part of the after show “meet and greet” was an introduction to a very pretty, overweight woman who approached me with a beaming smile. She introduced herself and told me what a great job I’d done. Turns out, she attended the show because her “friend” got the email from PS122 and he brought her. Then, I did it. I asked…

“So…do you know about this?” (‘This’ meaning ‘feederism,’ a fringe fragment of the BDS&M world where one feeds one’s sexual partner and ‘grows’ him/her to great sizes. – for those of you who don’t know, that’s what my play is about.)

“Yes…I do.”

“Well…what did you think?”

“You know when you see something on the news or on T.V., you know a lot about it, and you say, ‘That’s not quite right?'”

“Yeah.”

“You got it right. Remarkably accurate.”

OH MY GOD! She was very sweet, gracious and, I’m guessing, a feedee (one who gets fed). The first night I do the show, and I had a feedee in the audience! And, if she wasn’t a feedee, she knew a lot about the world. Interestingly, it was the greatest compliment I received all night, and I got a lot praise from a lot of wonderful people I love and respect.

I also received a lot of people turned off by the show (too, from people I love and respect) which I expected. This is what fascinates me so much about this subject and other people living on the fringe. They are polarizing. They are ostracize. And people are judgmental. Nothing new on this front. People have watched Geek/Freak Shows for centuries, engaged because of the differences between them.

At the same time, much of the message of FEEDER is about accepting who one is – we shouldn’t have to augment bodies, making them beautiful for someone else’s ideal. We, then, do become a slave to our need to be accepted by others. It’s only in the acceptance of one’s self that we can truly be happy, and I believe that’s the major message I want to convey in my work. It’s about loving one’s self, not augmenting one’s body into something else in order to be adored.

PS: I do believe in augmenting one’s body for the sheer fun and joy of it. And, as long as it doesn’t damage your health physically or mentally, go for it!

One more thing: In discussion, someone brought up the question of what is a fetish. And my sister relayed a bit of information from a friend of hers, a fetish photographer:

“If you are in to fetishes…and you enjoy it…but it’s just something you enjoy…that’s healthy. If you cannot enjoy sex without the fetish, it’s an obsession…which isn’t healthy.” My play explores the unhealthy side of fetishism, and when it goes truly wrong.

As Calvin Klein said: “Between Love and Madness lies Obsession.” I believe obsession and madness are closer cousins than Love and obsession. And in the case of fetishes, when one obsesses over his/her fetish, madness is just around the corner, as with anything in life.