Brüka Theatre has dedicated three days to a workshop, new works, spoken word, music, comedy, dance, and more. This was the thirteenth year of the ‘BIGGEST little Theatre & New Works Festival.’
~Article and photo essay by Dana Nöllsch~
Thursday, Physical Theatre Workshop
The three-day celebration began on Thursday and featured a Physical Theatre Workshop led by Martin A. David. I could not attend the workshop, but talking to those who did, it is clear that it was energetic and inspirational. If you can experience a workshop led by Martin A. David, you should jump at the chance.
Friday, The Big Schmooze & Bohemia
FESTIVAL COCKTAILS & SCHMOOZE TIME
The second day started with an hour of shmoozing and discussing the theatre scene. Bruka’s neighbor, Wild River Grille, provided yummy snacks. This was an exciting chance to network with actors, directors, and writers.
To start the evening’s main event, various performers offered spoken word, comedy, new works, dance, and more. The performances were indeed exciting and brilliant. This was hosted by the multi-talented Michael Grimm as Charlie the Mime.
BOHEMIA – WORDSMITH
For almost twenty-five years, Brüka Theatre has been presenting “Bohemia Nights.” This is a place for performers to share their art with the audience in an open and accepting environment.
GREGORY HILLMAN’S – THE LIMERENCE
Tom Cruz as Elias, AJ Clopton as Luis, and Sophia Roman doing stage direction did a reading of Gregory Hillmans’s – The Limerence, an original short play.
KELL KITTELL’S – QUE SERA, SERA
Kell Kittell’s play Que Sera, Sera was performed by Bradford Kai’ ai’ ai’ as Terry, Ryan Corrigan as Ryan, Kell Kittell as Leon, and Stephen Moore as Chaz. This short play about love and moving forward even when faced with tragedy is brilliantly prominent. I hope it gets to be performed again.
OPEN MIC
The open mic portion was filled with inspiration and energy. The audience was treated to Jesse James Ziegler’s first public performance as Reno’s new Poet laureate. The poem Ziegler read is at the end of this article, and I highly recommend reading it.
Saturday, BIGGEST little FESTIVAL DAY
Saturday was the big day, with performances starting at noon. There were five plays during this festival day. Unfortunately, I missed the first two performances and have no photos of those performances.
TRANSFORMING TYRANTS
Writer/Director – Michael Wilder FrazelSynopsis: Four reality TV stars join forces to extreme makeover a dictator and his struggling country. While they claim they are there for the right reasons, secrets will be revealed, alliances will be betrayed, and there might even be a musical number. This darkly comedic romp through your favorite reality TV shows like Love Is Blind, Ghost Hunters, The Great British Baking Show, and The X Factor examines modern monetary theory, heartbreak, and whether people can ever really change.
Note: The description is taken from Brüka’s playbill.
THE HUNGRY GAMES
Bob Gabrielli, Writer/Director. It’s a typical day for food bank volunteers at a drive-thru distribution.
Note: The description is taken from Brüka’s playbill.
THE REHEARSAL/THE PROBLEM
These two plays are great examples of the theatre of the absurd, exploring existentialism and the human condition. The first play, “The Problem,” finds our two players trying to make sense of the world around them with squares and tape measures, but the numbers don’t align. The second play, “The Rehearsal,” finds the actors rehearsing a play, but without the presence of the director, they find themselves with, well, no direction.
There is more to the second play, “The Rehearsal.” The action on stage culminates with gunfire and a brutal kick to the victim. With that kick, the actors switch roles, and the scene starts again. This cycle goes on for a bit. In the talkback, David told the audience that the play could go on for hours and has done so in other performances.
Written & Directed By Martin A. David, with Kathryn Webber-Karp and Michela Munoz-Brown playing the parts.
THE BALLAD OF FRANKEE & MATILDE
This is a beautiful story of mime love. We see Frankee and Matilde meet and fall for each other, building a life together and facing the reality of life together. Set to a French soundtrack from the 1966 film “A Man and a Woman, this tale of love is something you won’t soon forget.
Langsdale and Lynn promise to perform The Ballad of Frankee & Matilde in the future, and if you have the opportunity to see them perform this lovely story, definitely do it.
Lyndsey Langsdale (Co-Writer/Co-Director/Co-Stage manager/Performer – Frankee)
Carrie Lynn (Co-Writer/Co-Director/Co-Stage manager/Performer – Matilde)
FLAUNT YOUR FLAWS
“Flaunt Your Flaws” is the story of a reality game show where contestants looking for love tell their potential dates the flawed parts of their personalities. This is a great premise and proves to be quite entertaining. The first half is the contest and is a musical as well. The contestants sing about their flaws egged on by the show’s host, Faulty Foibles, played by John Wade.
In the show’s second half, we see the contestants paired up, and together, the audience votes on who should be with whom. This part of the show is totally improvisational.
The cast is fantastic! The songs are memorable. And “Flaunt Your Flaws” is very funny.
“Flaunt Your Flaws” will play eight more times at various locations over the next month.
Find out more here: flauntyourflaw.com
Creator/Playwright – Stephanie Gittleman. Director – Tim Mahoney. Vocal Director – Cindy Sabatini. Stage Manager – Judith Barnes.
CAST: BAD BOY – John Frederick. CHRONIC COMPLAINER – Amelia Giles. DRAMA QUEEN- Erin Maresh. FRAUD GUY – Freddy Publico.
THE HOST (FAULTY FOIBLES) – John Wade. ICE PRINCESS – Tabitha Andrews. LIVES IN PAST (LIP MAN) – Tim Mahoney. NAUGHTY GIRL – Patricia Brewer. SERIAL CHEATER – Elijah Frederick. VELCRO GAL – Megan Davidson. WORRYWART – Matthew Stevenson.
UNDERSTUDY/SWING/STANDBY CAST: Kaity Librada, Judith Barnes, Troy Gardner.
Note:
The BIGGEST little Theatre & New Works Festival is an annual event, and I encourage you to make plans to see next year’s Festival. Every performance I attended this year was sold out, so be sure to get your tickets early next year.
Here is Jesse James Ziegler’s poem that I promised.
Curtain Call
That’s why the tomb was empty. Jesus was rehearsing the curtain call.
There are time-honored traditions being carried out in houses all over the globe, and these houses, most of them are made of brick, mortar, steel, wood, adobe, earth, and stone meant for a small handful of kin to dwell within at most, down to those who live alone.
Some houses are made of cardboard, tarps, and trash bags, which have been cut at their seams to open up coverage.
Some houses, however, are built upon the foundation of hopes and dreams, using the framework of craft and storytelling, with a sturdy roof of imagination, intricate fixtures to accentuate the narrative meant for the public at large to thrive within.
There are time-honored traditions being carried out here as well. I am one of those. Playhouses where let’s pretend it is commonplace and creating the world anew is a daily practice.
I suppose that’s why this poet fell for theatre as a second love shortly after my first thunderbolt truck in the form of verse because my dreams are big enough to fill an entire stage, my voice can reach out to the back row and up to the stars at the same time, the heart on my shoulder
tends to rub off on others, and anything is possible on the page or the stage.
There is one time-honored tradition within the world of theatre, which I will wave my magic wand over and adopt henceforth.
Such a gesture is long overdue, and I’m in the midst of writing a show now. A tradition outside of the performance itself. When the music’s over, as the Lizard King once said.
Some see life as a comedy, Some as a tragedy, Others a test, a game, or a gift. Those can all be true as my attention drifts. I’m more concerned about what comes next When this perplexing production ends.
You see, in my show, there are the same wars we have here, the same glossy political ads, the same lies, same betrayals, and same murders. But, in my show, everyone gets to come back out at the end to cheers.
So everyone can know when this show is over the entire cast of characters gets to return to the stage, holding hands, taking a bow together, at first individually, and then in unison.
Heroes and Villains, Children and the Elderly, Men and Women, and all those who prefer not to say.
Trees cut down tragically early, well before their time; those burned down in wildfires, and the ones left to grow long enough to give everything they could ever give, a bountiful harvest, Holding hands together.
Chadwick Bozeman and Sidney Poitier come out on either side of Selena, and the entire line of three are wearing matching Hawaiian shirts with leis and smiles just as bright.
My friends Donald and Darrick come out together nervously and excitedly for they’re finally going to be able to celebrate their twenty-first birthdays together at the massive after-party lovingly prepared by Anthony Bourdain.
PAC and Biggie come out together, holding hands, and take their place in line beside Nipsey and Emmet Till, who are already there.
Malcolm and Martin come out together, laughing and smiling, red ink still fresh upon their costumes.
My Mother-in-Law, St. Erma, My Dad, my Mom’s walking partner Susan, and their dear friend Brooke all come out together and I’m smiling so intently at the National Geographic Monarch Butterflies hoodie my father’s wearing as a nod to my Mom that I almost don’t even notice the gray in his hair has been washed out and the lines on his face have been wiped away already.
Kurt Kobain and Billie Holiday come out together, waving to the crowd, smiling, and blowing kisses.
All the nice folks from the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, along with those from Club Q in Colorado Springs, would come out along with the students at Sandy Hook, and they’d all take their place in line.
Gandhi and Mac Miller come out holding flowers in their teeth and pirouetting downstage to raucous applause while the kids from Tech in Blacksburg, Uvalde, Parkland, Santa Fe, and Stoneman Douglas are playing their meanest air guitars as laughter abounds.
Sharon Tate, Natalie Wood, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Princess Diana come out together, starting the giant beach ball into the nearby audience.
Most are standing by now, wiping away tears, bearing witness to their own soul’s revival.
Prince and Bowie light saber battle downstage before taking their place in line beside Betty White, who’s arm in arm with Robin Williams.
Trayvon’s popping all the Skittles his heart desires until the company bow at the very end.
George Floyd’s pretending to have a bird on his shoulder, and Sam Cooke is bringing it on home to me in my show.
The missing and murdered indigenous women, those deemed small enough to fall through the cracks in the system, get to return and listen, laughing, smiling, and hearing you cheer for them the way they so richly deserve in the show I just wrote.
There are no understudies in this show, but it feels like a church revival, and there will be a grand reunion. Y’all are getting the early waits on those pearly gates.
And me?
I’m content with the show I’ve written.
Happy to wait in the wings, watching others get theirs.
I am a playhouse; anything is possible within me. If you choose to be of those anything is possible within you as well.
We’re all getting to touch stage in this magnificent show. So, let’s hold hands and smile, turning toward each other as we take our final bow together.
Jesse James Ziegler
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