Tag: Theater

REVIEW: The Vagina Monologues

Phillip Wachowiak 3 Comments

By the start of Saturday’s show, the Vagina Monologues had raised over $2,500 for Safe House, which was wonderful to hear. There were far more women than men in the audience–either it was the subject material, or maybe it was because the men were too busy watching the latest NCAA Tournament game.

The show was split into two halves: the first half consisted of students on campus telling their stories, and the second half a rendition of Eve Ensler’s play of the same name. Out of respect for the women in the first half, I won’t post any quotes or pictures. Instead, a checklist of things I gathered:

  1. Found out what the clitoris is
  2. That virginity is a social construct meant to control women
  3. PCOS (polycistic ovary syndrome) makes you have irregular periods, and makes it really hard to lose weight
  4. There is a huge lack of women and diversity in Hollywood (duh)
  5. Don’t spray perfume up your vagina!
  6. Just because you enjoy Anime doesn’t mean you have yellow fever (probably)
  7. Don’t hook up with girls and then refuse to date them
  8. Don’t refuse to take girls out to eat, but then offer to eat them out later
  9. No means no.

The second half–Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues–was in a way more concise than the previous monologues. This was partly due to the fact that each monologue was actually from a compendium of interviews Ms. Ensler had conducted with over 200 women in preparation for the play.

Some stories were raunchier than others, some were funny and some were so serious that the Rackham Amphitheater got so quiet you could hear the breaths of the people in the audience.

One women said the word cunt, and then kept repeating cunt, as well as words that were related and/or sounded like cunt.

Another woman was obsessed with making other women happy, so she stopped being a lawyer to become a sex worker that worked only for women. She was a dominatrix that loved hearing women moan, and the audience received quite the description of the different moans she had heard from various women.

There was only one moment when I felt the urge to “man-splain” something. Regarding Pap smears, one woman wondered aloud why she had to wear a papery apron instead of a velvet robe, and why they used such uncomfortable instruments rather than something else more pleasurable. If Pap smears were like that, the hospital bill would probably be a lot higher than it currently is for the procedure. But alas, I am a graduate student in a physiology program, so medical things stand out to me.

Overall, the Vagina Monologues is a worthwhile event to go to, especially if you are a man. Although not as provocative as it might have been in a more conservative town, the Vagina Monologues is still a raunchy, R-rated show that can help you expand your horizons if you let it.

 

 

PREVIEW: Beyond Sacred: Voices of Muslim Identity Ping Chong + Company

Phillip Wachowiak Leave a comment

Ping Chong + Company is a New York-based theater company that is putting on an interview-based theater production centering around Muslim-American identities in our post-9/11 world.

Below is a preview of the one-day event coming up this Saturday:

Where: Power Center

When: February 18th at 8 PM 

Cost: FREE with a PASSPORT TO THE ARTS

The event page on the UMS web site states that

“Participants come from a range of cultural and ethnic backgrounds and include young men and women who reflect a range of Muslim identities…Beyond Sacred illuminates the daily lives of Muslim Americans in an effort to work toward greater communication and understanding between Muslim and non-Muslim communities.”

You can also register for a reminder about a livestream of the performance here

REVIEW: The Importance of Being Ernest

Phillip Wachowiak Leave a comment

Every single male role was played by a female, and the most imposing female role was played by a male. Such was Rude Mechanical’s original conception of “The Importance of Being Earnest,” Oscar Wilde’s classic play published in 1895.

The play is all about relationships. Algernon, played by Cailean Robinson, and Jack, played by Mason Van Gieson, discuss romance and courtship. Both men develop a facade as they pursue two different women, and they build up a tower of lies until it all comes crashing down at the end in perfectly absurd Wilde-like fashion.

Although the play was supposedly changed to have its setting in the 1950’s, I didn’t notice much of a difference from Wilde’s original conception. Perhaps I just don’t know enough about English social history. Either way, the decision to switch genders was brilliant.

I didn’t realize how well the play would go with women in the shoes of men. Every role was well-acted, from Algernon’s well-timed poses as he recited Wildean witticisms, to Lady Bracknell’s diva pose every time he/she entered the stage.

Also losing his/her pants
Also losing his/her pants

Some of the one-liners were especially ironic, given the change of gender, such as when Algernon tells Jack:

“My dear fellow, the truth isn’t quite the sort of thing one tells to a nice, sweet, refined girl. What extraordinary ideas you have about the way to behave to a woman!”

Or this rendition’s focus on the actors fondling their own and each others’ genitalia right in front of the audience (see above picture).

The set design was tasteful without being too imposing. Each act, from Algernon’s flat in London to the drawing-room of the Manor House in the country, had plenty of eye candy and props that the actors were free to interact with at will. There were some scenes where I couldn’t tell if the actions were rehearsed, or if they were entirely ad-libbed. My favorite example of this was in the Garden, where Cecily (in pink) grabs a flower pot and makes some raunchy gyrations with it.

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The only drawback of the play wasn’t because of the acting or directing, but due to Oscar Wilde himself. Say what you will about the man, but you have to admit that he likes his sensational plots. The first act goes out in all different directions, and the second act seems to tread out without telling the audience where its going. It isn’t until the very end of the third act that the play pulls itself together and makes sense of things.  Luckily, Rude Mechanicals made the journey worth it.

PREVIEW: The Importance of Being Ernest

Phillip Wachowiak Leave a comment

Gather round connoisseurs of aesthetics, readers of 18th century plays, and lovers of Oscar Wilde.

Rude Mechanicals’ is putting on a version of The Importance of Being Ernest–set in the 1950’s–this weekend! See this link for specific showtimes and how to purchase tickets online.

Where: Mendelssohn Theater (Michigan League)

When: November 4 – 6 

Cost: $7 for students or FREE with a Passport to the Arts (yay!)

“Be yourself; everything else is already taken”

–Oscar Wilde

 

 

PREVIEW: Biorhythms Medical Student Dance Show

Phillip Wachowiak

Biorhythms is an opportunity for graduate students to maintain an interest in the arts and perform on stage. The spring show is one of their two annual shows. Both shows are student-directed, produced, and performed.

  • When: Sunday, January 25th @ 7 PM
  • Where: Lydia Mendelssohn Theater (Michigan League)
  • Cost: $7 at the door (cheap!)

As t hey state on the web site: “This year’s lineup includes: Brazilian, Hip-Hop, classical Indian, Flags, Tahitian, singing, rapping, and Mance!”

What is Mance you ask? I don’t know either but I intend to find out.

Check out the website:  https://biorhythmsdance.wordpress.com/about/

 

REVIEW: Collage Concert

Tsukumo

Now in its 38th time, Collage Concert by the School of Music, Theater, and Dance on January 17, 2015 put together another incredible show featuring many departments within SMTD. This unique performance, in which one act followed another without pauses, showed how interconnected different disciplines of art can be.

On a performance style like that of Collage, where works from old and new come together to create one performance experience, Maestro Gustav Meier (former professor at Eastman School of Music and U-M School of Music) states:

“…[A] quartet called the Five Century Ensemble, a soprano, a tenor, cello, and harpsichord, … performed music from every period with the last note of each work overlapping the first note of the next composition. … We were all just stunned. It never occurred to me that such a programming technique could happen. What a contrast — old music, new music — so close together.” (Quoted from The Instrumentalist, February 1980)

At the University of Michigan that night, in our own Hill Auditorium, we created a gigantic Five Century Ensemble — or rather, Five Century and Disciplines Ensemble. We are lucky to be at a school where many departments are top-notch in their fields, and the School of Music, Theater, and Dance is no exception. However different the appearances may be, all performances were tied to the core of artistry.

This kind of performance requires a lot of careful planning, both logistically and artistically. First of all, there are hundreds of performers in Collage, who are all students with different, busy lives. Organizers have to connect with all of them to make sure they are at the right place at the right time. In addition to this, the lighting cues can be complex, and stage setups can require special knowledge. I wonder if the logistics coordinators for this performance got to sleep at all in the past few days with all of this in mind. All of these were executed perfectly, at least to my knowledge.

Artistically, the directors put together a program that just flows. There is no worry about the quality of the performances, as the individual acts are very strong. However, the program — which included various types of music, skits, and dance works — somehow needs to make sense without any gaps for applauses and reset. With that said, the performace order was truly stunning, especially in the first half. My most favorite was a reading and stunt of Shakespeare’s “Henry V” by Ian Johnson and Ben Reitemeier, going into Gandolfi’s Flourishes and Meditations on a Renaissance Theme, played by the Symphony Band. The music seemed to compliment the Shakespeare play so perfectly. Many other surprising yet understandable combinations happened throughout the two-hour show.

I have been on two sides of the Collage: performer and audience. I performed in the Collage last year as a Symphony Band member, and it was such a wonderful experience. Now, I am happy to see the performance from the other side, sharing the surprises with the general public. It excites me that I share practice rooms with these students, and I can only imagine how great they will become in the future in their arts. (And perhaps me too — hopefully?)