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One last review

I found one last patron review of Promenading from the city paper blog... thought I'd put it here for posterity.

At 7/31/2006 10:11 AM, rollergirl said...

I also saw Promenading with Lunatics, written and directed by Alia Faith Williams with a cast of four and live onstage musical accompaniment. The piece looks at three women writers from the 1800s: journalist Nellie Bly who went undercover in an insane asylum and uncovered hidden injustices, the woman whose story Ibsen used for "A Doll's House" and Charlotte Perkins Gilman who wrote the (feminist) classic "The Yellow Wallpaper". The only small quibble is that the play gets a bit preachy at moments, but all of the actors did wonderful work playing multiple roles, and managing the heady material. I was most impressed by the direction and staging... there was a lot of fluidity in the interweaving of the stories and in movement from scene to scene. Two standout moments: when Nellie looks at her reflection, portrayed by another actor, as she practices going mad; and the brilliantly creepy yellow wallpaper, represented by two of the actors covered in filmy yellow fabric who crept along the walls, moving offstage into the audience and around the entire theater space... you could feel Gilman's pain and terror. There was a woman next to me who seemed to literally start having a claustrophobic breakdown... way to create visceral theater!

Many Thanks

Since I am finally moving the pages about Promenading with Lunatics to their own section of the site I thought I would just take a moment and say THANK YOU! Thank you to Damian & Julianne and all of the Capital Fringe staff and volunteers who made the festival such a great event. Thank you to the cast and to Trevor & Carol for their incredible support and invaluable help... and Thank you, thank you to the audiences who came out and laughed and shivered and maybe scratched their heads a little, but who all seemed to enjoy themselves so very much.

The Patron Fringe & Purge Review

I am not sure how long this will stay up on the Washington City Paper Fringe & Purge blog, so I thought I would post our glowing patron review here. Thank you to Trey Graham for making his festival blog an open place for people to share! And thank you Michael B., whoever you are...

This one's from Michael B.:
For those of you who are looking for a "play"- as opposed to a solo performance, something with trapezes, or the interaction of animate and inanimate objects- go see Promenading with Lunatics. Inspired by the writings and experiences of three women, Lunatics is about the nature of madness and incarceration.

It is really three stories unified by theme. Reporter Nellie Bly takes on an assignment to feign madness and get herself committed to an institution in order to expose the cruelties of the system. Laura Petersen Kieler, a friend of playwright Henrik Ibsen, claims that Ibsen's classic, "A Doll's House", was based on her life. Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper", deals with a woman's descent into madness. The production weaves these three into a fascinating and twisted cloth as we watch each of the protagonists deal, in very different ways, with the loss of self.

The acting is exceptional. Lisa Lias as Kieler, Heather Whitpan as Gilman, and Veronica del Cerro as Bly present us with three distinctly different faces of madness. All the men in their lives are deftly played by Al Twanmo.

While the actors deliver consistent and mesmerizing performances, del Cerro's Nellie Bly deserves special mention. Because Bly's madness was contrived, we watch as del Cerro transforms herself from the enthusiastic reporter to the fragile, desperate, pitiful shell that presents herself to the courts as a madwoman. The delicacy of her performance is beautiful.

Directed by the playwright, Alia Faith Williams, the production is frightening, sometimes funny, but always rivetting. A musical accompaniment by composer Carol Gulley underscores the shifting tones of the play. Promenading with Lunatics is being performed through Saturday, July 29, at the Warehouse Downtown Arts Complex's 2nd Stage.

Hot Ticket!

Just wanted to let you all know that Lunatics is sold out for tonight and as of this moment there are only 7 seats left for tomorrow. Get your tickets while you can!

Word on the street...

They've posted a patron review on the Washington City Paper "Fringe & Purge" Blog. It's a glowing review and my parents promise me that they didn't write it. ;)

Up and running!

We opened tonight to a packed house! It is just an amazing thing to bring together a show and its audience. No two audiences are ever the same and tonight we had a wonderful group for the opening night. I wish I could thank all of them for showing up and sharing their time with us. So if you were one of them... Thank You! (especially the woman who laughed for like 5 minutes after the Dr. Rank line, you made my night!)... Hey, if you enjoyed the show rate it on Theatre Mania or send a review to the Washington City Paper at fringe@washingtoncitypaper.com.

The festival is quite a thing and it is so exciting that DC has welcomed it with open arms. If you haven't been down to the Warehouse yet (the festival hub), you have got to go check it out!

Ok. Now that we are up on our feet I need to sit down with the festival guide and find out what performances I can support as an audience member.

Sweltering Streetwalker

Just one of those little things that makes it worth getting out of bed in the morning (even though I haven't yet). Yahoo Mail spell check was stumped by www.treadwelltheatre.org.
The top two suggestions?

-Sweltered
-Streetwalker