reviews

MODEL BEHAVIOR

i.e., THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE

(work in progress presentation)

Los Angeles Times review

By Sara Wolf, Special to The Times

July 19, 2008

There is much to celebrate about REDCAT's annual New Original Works Festival, which opened its three-week, three-program run Thursday. To begin with, there is a fair amount of assurance by now that, after five years, the festival's selections, chosen out of a pool of more than 100 applicants, will more than reward one's sense of adventure.

And, as the first program amply demonstrates, the work may be fresh out of the box but the phrase "under construction" is hardly apt.

Concluding the evening with a bang -- and a snarl and arched eyebrow -- "Model Behavior, i.e., the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" demonstrates why Theatre Movement Bazaar is heralded as a gold standard in the peculiar genre of wry literary remakes. Here, Robert Louis Stevenson's classic is treated less as a morality tale than as a treatise on modes of social conduct and proper class and gender behavior, circa the Victorian era.

Though missing the troupe's frequent use of cinematic projections and only half its intended length, the piece, led by Jacob Sidney as Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, nevertheless capitalizes on Richard Alger's pithy, swift banter and the deft direction and choreography of Tina Kronis, who puts the members of the ensemble in almost contin- ual orbit around one an- other.

Chorus numbers on period manners and mores, wince-worthy jokes and magic tricks are provided by a stellar cast.

MONSTER of HAPPINESS

Backstage West Review
Critic's Pick

June 27, 2007

By Dany Margolies

Program notes indicate this 70-minute piece "draws references from" such varied artistic and stylistic sources as Meyerhold's biomechanics, the films of Kuleshov and Vertov, and photographic and graphic designs of Rodchenko, each used in service of the theme of finding a utopian ideal. The evening examines society's pursuit of happiness, told through a loose version of the Bible story of Adam and Eve. But if one is unfamiliar with these elements -- and, as it happens, without tools to critique their application here -- what's left for said audience member? Somehow, amazingly, the work's abundant cerebral details can softly wash over us, leaving us feeling invigorated, enthralled, refreshed -- in simpler words just plain happy. The thoughtful creativity, the crisp presentation, the awareness of but never pandering to the audience's attention, a whimsy to balance the intelligence, and a reaching for the highest common denominator are thrilling.

Performed by Tina Kronis and Richard Alger, the "theatre" portion is written by Alger, directed and choreographed by Kronis. He plays "the man," she "the woman," but as general as those names are, their portrayals are deliciously specific. He offers up the dance of the happy man: part Hawaiian hula, part macho muscle flexing, part cheery get-up-and-move motion that looks casual but probably took hours of thought and rehearsal. She scuttles to get the man's space set up; the tiny reverberations of her footsteps are as succulent as everything else in the pair's sound design. She speaks with a wicked, somewhat South American accent. His monologues are delivered in a richly monotoned noir cadence. The performances, despite their high style, remain intimate throughout. The actors change costumes and prepare for entrances onstage -- unlit, but there for those who care to watch the process of making art.

A bevy of wonderful local actors populates the "cinema" portions of the evening (directed and edited by Alger), done in the Soviet Style of the 1920s (cinematography by Michael Glover), the reviewing of which is better left to film mavens, but which to the untrained eye looks pointedly evocative.

MONSTER of HAPPINESS

Los Angles Times

David Nichols
June 22, 2007

A 'Monster' and Adam and Eve

Of the inalienable rights cited in the preamble to the Declaration of Independence, the pursuit of happiness might be the most vulnerable to subjective interpretation. That makes it perfect for Tina Kronis and Richard Alger, who turn this quest on its 21st century head in "Monster of Happiness" at the 24th Street Theatre.

Using the Adam and Eve story to underpin its study of a Happy Man and Happy Woman whose inner thoughts emerge on the soundtrack, "Monster" combines the movement discipline of Meyerhold and the fluidity of the Soviet film constructivists.

That inspiration is detectable everywhere, including in designer Jeff Webster's deceptively utilitarian set and the slew of effects from Chris Kuhl's lighting. The desaturated film sequences, which feature a dizzying array of notable experimental artists, are remarkable.

As ever, Kronis and Alger -- known as the Theatre Movement Bazaar -- make a marvelous team, swanning about in Ellen McCartney's deconstructed costumes. Spouting affirmations or segueing into a tango, Alger's arch, aquiline presence is ideally coordinated with Kronis' mesmeric blend of nonchalance and worry. Once their existential pingpong game begins, all bets are off.

Actually, the brilliant execution slightly outstrips the content. All elements certainly achieve cohesion, but the scenario's symbolism meanders a bit, with the lack of any clear serpent analogy a missed opportunity. Yet when Kronis leaves the stage with a rake to reappear on screen attacking grass, or when Alger dons glasses "to look slightly more intelligent than I am" and karate-chops an apple, it's hard to resist "Monster," a frequently breathtaking example of their kinesthetic ingenuity.

MONSTER of HAPPINESS

LA Weekly
GO! Recommended

Steve Mikulan
June 22, 2007

For a decade now, through their Theatre Movement Bazaar company, Tina Kronis and Richard Alger have been reveling in the cultural detritus of the 20th century -- while earnestly sifting through its artifacts for meaning. This latest outing finds them searching for happiness -- or, rather, exploring the gestures and mythology that the search for happiness creates. The pair portray a Happy Man and Happy Woman living in the American Eden, a couple dressed in an array of fragmented costumes (sleeveless suit coats for Alger, stitched-remnant dresses for Kronis). Their thoughts and conversations are broadcast as voice-overs -- a disarming pastiche of self-improvement affirmations, philosophical texts and lines from such film noir classics as Crisscross and Out of the Past. Alger's character is smugly self-contained while Kronis betrays cracks in her confidence and optimism. ("I gave up on time a long time ago," she sighs.) The 75-minute show consists of repeated and often-ritualized scenarios that dance against a backdrop of film clips and within an interactive video landscape (both shot by Michael Glover). Although their immaculate orchestration of rear-screen video projections, music and choreography may remind viewers of such 1980s art pleasers as Laurie Anderson and George Coates, co-creators Kronis and Alger maintain a playful intimacy with their audience and a genuine -- rather than ironical -- affection for the past, especially Soviet Constructivism, whose celebratory cinema and graphics are lovingly imitated here.

DRY CLEANING

Socal.com

Cassandra Frembling, Socal.com Writer

CIA = Cool, Immersive & Avant-guarde

“You’ve got a point.”
The above was written on a scrap of paper, slipped in with the admission ticket. The first of many clever and cryptic messages in Dry Cleaning, a multi-disciplinary theatre piece created by director and production designer, Jeff Webster, choreographer-performer, Tina Kronis and writer-performer, Richard Alger of 24th Street Theatre and Theatre Movement Bazaar.

Dry Cleaning is unlike anything else and to describe it risks the oversimplification of this complex, mysterious work. It is simply something one must see. It’s a thoughtful—and thought-provoking—fusion of performance, projected images, dance and sound.

The performers interact with each other as well as video images in a style reminiscent of Samuel Beckett and the Theatre of the Absurd. Eight sliding panels define the performance space, serving both as portals to conceal and reveal the stage action and as video projection screens, allowing performers and digital imagery to occupy and interact within the same pictorial frame.

The story, told in a non-linear fashion, according to Kronis and Alger, “is the re-interpretation of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth seen through the lens of international espionage and disguise.”

Dry Cleaning, in this context, is an espionage term referring to an agent’s obligatory daily period of inactivity while knowingly under surveillance. It is under this surveillance that the two players present the story of Orpheus, a gifted musician who traveled to Hades in an attempt to rescue his beloved from a cruel, early death. However, just as the pair were about to emerge out of the Underworld, Orpheus does the one thing he was forbidden to do—he turned around and looked at Eurydice and she was lost to him forever.

This Greek mythology serves as a foundation to this multi-layered play, with many intricacies throughout, most notably the adept dialogue and the inclusion of dance. Drawn from the writings of Marguerite Duras, Sigmund Freud, Andre Breton and Abbot & Costello, the elliptical dialogue is distilled and engineered into encrypted conversations so complex and intriguing, it leaves one wanting to see the play again to pick up everything missed the first time.

These encryptions are insightful and often humorous; they are simple exchanges which conceal complex reverberations. Additionally, the movement score is rooted in traditional Greek folk dance and statuary. It is unusual but befitting all at once and a pleasure to watch.

The on-stage action is mesmerizing as Kronis and Alger interact with one another as well as the projected images on the panels. Their performances are both intense and amusing, with seamless transitions between complete seriousness and the totally absurd. The design is purely brilliant.

Dry Cleaning is more than just a great play: it is a unique experience in modern art. The ingenuity and intense work of its creators, Webster, Kronis and Alger, is evident in every carefully planned-out moment, creating a production that is visually stunning and mentally stimulating. “You’ve got a point,” the scrap of paper promised. Dry Cleaning delivered. (Dec. 2004)

DRY CLEANING

LA WEEKLY review
Recommended
by Steven Mikulan

Theater Movement Bazaar's retelling of the Orpheus myth is all about coming in from the cold and, in a McLuhanist sense, fittingly relies on the cool media of video to narrate its story. Co-creators Tina Kronis and Richard Alger portray two enigmatic figures inhabiting some Cold War of intrigue. They might be lovers, couriers or secret agents but, above all, they are a man and woman who are separated from one another. It is up to Alger, dressed in a suit, long coat and Fellini hat, to return Kronis to his world from captivity and, after an hour of choreographed movement (designed by Kronis), he comes, shall we say, tantalizingly close to success. Kronis and Alger interact with video projections (designed by Peter Flaherty of footage shot by Michael Glover) of themselves and of physical settings that appear on sliding panels, so that virtual doors open to let various characters pass, or provide them with halls to wander down. Dry Cleaning's cynical joke-and-dagger milieu, as well as its vintage pop score, is familiar to any aficionado of 1960s spy films, with the actors speaking in deadpanned conversations of passwords and non sequiturs. While it's difficult in Alger's text to locate Dry Cleaning's Greek source inspiration (or, for that matter, to readily recognize quotes attributed to Marguerite Duras, Sigmund Freud and others), the evening, ably directed by Jeff Webster, glides along on its own momentum, a flawless ballet of actors, video and erudite gags. Sometimes the show, which is so dependent on the synchronization of technologies, seems to cutely wander down Wooster Street, but this remains a fresh and original work by a talented company. Theater Movement Bazaar at 24th Street Theater, 1117 W. 24th St.; Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 3 & 8 p.m.; thru Dec. 18. (213) 745-6516. (Steven Mikulan) Written 12/09/2004

DRY CLEANING

BACKSTAGE WEST

Reviewed By Dink O'Neal

Without presuming to psychoanalyze the team of Richard Alger, Tina Kronis, and Jeff Webster, this world premiere collaboration has resulted in one of the most fascinating productions in recent memory.
This cloak-and-dagger take--the title refers to an espionage term--on the mythology of Orpheus and Eurydice is jaw-dropping performance art at its finest, as facets of traditional storytelling mingle with
choreography and astonishing mixed-media effects.
A series of overlapping moveable panels, ably moved by crew members C.M. Gonzalez and Todd Silver, spans the stage. Photographic images, some still and some in motion, play across the infinitesimally varied screen combinations. Deserved kudos to cinematographer Michael Glover and video designer Peter Flaherty, whose work demonstrates flawless attention to detail. Performers Kronis and Alger appear on film and transition seamlessly in and out of live scenes with almost magical virtuosity. Their execution of Kronis' choreography, modern in origin yet humorously reminiscent of the Travolta-Thurman duet from Pulp Fiction, is top-notch.

As the story of two amorously connected spies, separated by a symbolic death or simple skulduggery, plays out, the two actors assume various personas with the aid of Ellen McCartney's array of muted film noir costume designs. Emphasizing a style of deadpan earnestness for his talented duo's delivery, director Webster, whose multilayered sound design is score-like in its intensity, augments his understated scene work with flashes of musical absurdity.

This piece requires a small amount of homework on the part of attendees. Without foreknowledge of the original tale, one might emerge mentally fogged. Take a few extra moments to bone up on the source material, ably provided via program notes; it will become apparent that this trio of creative minds pays homage to the Greeks.

This engrossing invention dares one to join it out in left field for an hour-long romp of bizarre, sense-challenging imagery. (Dec. 1, 2004)

DRY CLEANING
L.A. TIMES

-- David C. Nichols

Orpheus does 'Dry Cleaning'

Since 1997, Tina Kronis and Richard Alger have been blurring lines between art and theater, dance and speech, music and cinema. In "Dry Cleaning," their latest Theatre Movement Bazaar performance piece, this audacious duo raises its own stakes, refracting mediums into one imposing organism.
Created in collaboration with 24th Street Theatre, "Dry Cleaning's" title alludes to the inaction that spies observe when they know they are under enemy scrutiny. This proves central to "Dry Cleaning," which surveys the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice through a wry espionage spyglass.

It opens on a gray void, broken by Kronis' projected eyes, followed by the edifice of the Hotel Cyprus (videos designed by Peter Flaherty). A woman (Kronis) looks warily out. A man (Alger) lounges in an adjoining bedroom. Director-production designer Jeff Webster's sound goes from trance music to traffic noise, and an enigmatic exchange of encrypted intrigue begins. Alger's narrative traces Orpheus' trip to Hades to retrieve his dead wife with witty interdisciplinary cohesion, the references ranging from "Alphaville" to Abbott and Costello. Webster, Flaherty and cinematographer Michael Glover negotiate the aperture-minded set and Kronis' choreography to create a holographic playing field. Ellen McCartney's costumes take the disguise motif and run with it. Chris Akerlind's lighting meets every challenge of perspective. As performers, Kronis and Alger operate in effortless tandem, her Callas-like intensity precisely attuned to his coiled deadpan energy. Only the muted emotional tone softens the visceral impact. Still, "Dry Cleaning" is original, and its angular elegance is altogether arresting. (Dec. 3, 2004)

DRY CLEANING
ReviewPlays.com
Reviewed by Elizabeth Lopez

What do you get when you fuse cinematography, video, music, dance, repetitive moment with theater? Answer: Dry Cleaning, created by Jeff Webster, Tina Kronis and Richard Alger, is a super-charged, highly satisfying art performance that delights the senses with its stunning visuals and catchy musical numbers that grab your attention from start to finish. Its key performers, Tina Kronis and Richard Alger, transport you to a different world; from one scene to the next…this is a fun trip!
Hypnotizing scenes, flickering movement, rapid changes and perfectly executed moves make Dry Cleaning a sheer joy to experience. Based on the Orpheus and Eurydice legend, about a musician who falls in love, marries to later lose her in death, Orpheus, unable to accept her death, plunges to the depths of hell and finds her. He persuades Hades to release her, which he does, on one condition: that Orpheus not look back as he is leaving. He disobeys this command and, consequently, loses his beloved woman forever.
Which brings us to this story: The first scene is presented in film, a man and a woman appear on stage as they arrange to meet for a rendezvous somewhere in Greece or Italy. The whole story revolves around the man chasing after this woman until it reaches its bizarre ending. The characters looked like something out of 1950s period-like Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in the movie Casablanca. They were cool, sophisticated and somehow really modern. The changing visuals gave it a very energetic feel. It’s amazing to watch as these performers lose themselves and reappear in a different ‘form.’
Michael Glover, cinematography, and Peter Flaherty, video designer, do a tremendous job in bringing together a combination of art forms to create a dramatic explosion of visuals and sounds that provide a night of captivating entertainment. The actors, provide not only live theater via their dialogue and dance, actually become part of a seemingly living movie! It’s something like I’ve never seen before, which I found both entertaining and hypnotizing to watch. It’s something you simply must experience for yourself.
Highly recommended!. (Jan. 2005)

STRANGE BELIEFS (2003)

LA Weekly
PICK OF THE WEEK!

"On opposing sides of an expansive performance space, one line of women and one of men, dressed in early-20th-century Western apparel, slowly approach each other in gloom — starting, halting and starting again to the strains of almost familiar music. Immediately, a sense of antagonism between the sexes fuses with an equally powerful scent of the erotic — themes August Strindberg confronted throughout his life as a playwright, novelist and lover/hater of women. Strindberg’s writings are the inspiration for this astonishing work of performance art in which director-choreographer Tina Kronis
mellifluously animates 16 accomplished performers through a rapidly transforming series of stylized human tableaux, ranging from tragic to bawdy to the outlandishly absurd. Strindberg’s texts as arranged
by Richard Alger provide emotional clues but never establish a narrative through-line — the words blend with an exquisitely eclectic soundtrack that moves seamlessly between big-band music and heavily rhythmic contemporary sounds. Themes of obsession run throughout — whether fixations on the proper way to do the smallest things in life, or compulsions to engage in the most grotesque behaviors. Not a moment is wasted in what seems to be a masterpiece, with nary a visual nor aural flaw.
-- Tom Provenzano
©2003 L.A. Weekly

ReviewPlays.com

"Talk about Strange. Strange Beliefs, the new play by Richard Alger and Tina Kronis is credited as being suggested by the writings of August Strindberg, the Swedish born author of the late 1800’s. Strindberg was an avid writer, and experimented with different ideas and concepts including the occult, dreams and death.
  In the short foreword to “A Dream Play”, Strindberg explained his intention with the play: "In this dream play, the author has, as in his former dream play, “To Damascus”, attempted to imitate the inconsequent yet transparently logical shape of a dream. Everything can happen, everything is possible and probable. Time and place do not exist; on an insignificant basis of reality , the imagination spins, weaving new patterns; a mixture of memories, experiences, free fancies, incongruities and
improvisations.
The characters split, double, multiply, evaporate, condense, disperse, assemble. But one consciousness rules over them all, that of the dreamer; for him there are no secrets, no scruples, no laws. He neither acquits nor condemns, but merely relates; and, just as a dream is more often painful than happy, so an undertone of melancholy and of pity for all mortal beings accompanies this flickering tale."
  Fast forward to the Sacred Fools, and Strange Beliefs and if you’ve read Strindberg, you’ll see how bits and pieces of his ideas fit it all over, in this completely surreal presentation that keeps you nailed to the seat every minute.
  Time and space seem absent from the sixteen players who frequent the stage, sometimes two at a time, sometimes four, and once in a while more. The eight men and eight women are divided in subgroups, and each time a group appears, they are preoccupied with their particular theme, sometimes prancing, sometimes doing dance, often walking in deliberate skewed steps, and when they have their say, they disappear and a different group comes on. It’s a little like a theme with variations, and each variable gets more bent than the one before.
  The playbill states that this is “non-narrative physical comedy of the absurd”. That is so NOT true!. Don’t get us wrong – it is non-narrative, in that there is no plot that has a beginning, middle or end. It is physical, since there is a lot of movement – dancing, bodies in transit here and there. It’s the absurd that we quarrel with. This is so far beyond the envelope that it begins to make sense! If you watch and listen carefully, you see there is a great deal of truth being acted here . . . even if it is camouflaged under the guise of absurdity.
  The actors are completely into their character – whatever that character is, and we willingly let our beliefs and sense of logic go along for the ride, which they provide more than willingly. Sit back, and let the flow of the actions and movement take you into their strange world, and before long, you’ll see it’s not all that strange and bizarre. In fact, it’s the world outside the theatre that will seem different after the performance. When you meet people, you’ll wonder where they got their strange beliefs.
                       -- Jose Ruiz
                          ©2003 ReviewPlays.com

Backstage West
(feature article)

  When Tina Kronis refers to Strange Beliefs co-creator Richard Alger as a "text amalgamator," you can tell we've left Neil Simon territory far behind. While their latest production begins with Swedish playwright August Strindberg as its leaping-off point, this is not likely to be your show if you're
looking for biography, hagiography, or a vivid discussion of Miss Julie, for that matter.
  The uniquely non-linear approach Kronis and Alger bring to their productions leaves audiences thrilled and nonplussed. Their previous outing, Cirque Picnique, which began with William Inge's Picnic and
then went wandering far afield into Betty Crocker recipes and HUAC hearings, left the audience members the night I attended looking at one another trying to figure out if it was over or if the raised house lights were simply another unexpected element of the production. When I rather abashedly
admitted this to Kronis, she assured me that it was perfectly OK as the piece wasn't, in fact, over. It's never over. Kronis and Alger don't set out to deliver a nice, neatly wrapped package to the audience.
What they strive for is the unique, the memorable, the resonant.
  Strindberg caught the attention of the co-creators because he was, some say, one of the first truly modern playwrights, others saying he was either 50 years behind the times or 100 years ahead of them. It's not just his writing, but also his life that intrigued. He was interested in alchemy and mysticism (the strange beliefs of the title) and also had a disconcerting habit of marrying strong women and then trying to turn them into his mother. Thus the production will feature chemistry texts, personal correspondence, and reviews of Strindberg's plays in the mix, along with God only knows what else.
   As the pair explained it, the process always begins with the text and then just follows as one thing leads to another. The result is a massive "keep pile" which Kronis and Alger whittle away at until they have a workable amount of material. The text is then lifted completely out of context to render it idea- and gender-neutral and then rearranged according to rhythms and juxtapositions that please the creators. From this arrangement spring images and a whole movement vocabulary, derived from Kronis' training in dance, mime, clowning, and at the Moscow Art Theatre. The way an actor negotiates space, Kronis said she finds, can change everything. To her, choreography and direction are inseparable: It is through the physical that the emotional can be discovered, the body is the story.
  By the time the work goes into rehearsal, Kronis and Alger may not yet know exactly what the production will be, but they have a definite map so that if they get lost they'll at least know where they got lost from. Text might yet be rearranged, and actors will be assigned according to what they can bring to the piece. As the actors are frequently the same from show to show (this one includes Aldrich Allen, Shirley Anderson, Melina Bielefelt, Tom Chalmers, Jake Eberle, Aaron Francis, Crystal Keith, Corey Klemow, Majken Larsson, Julie A. Lockhart, Peter Mattsson, David LM McIntyre, Michelle Philippe, Pogo Saito, Kim Weild, and John Wuchte), the creators said they will occasionally add a scene to take advantage of a particular
performer's strengths in a way that will add to the flow of the production. Kronis, noting the damp, panicked look I take on when faced with complexity, likened the process to raising a sheep: You have this big ungainly sheep and the sheep generates useful wool, which is removed and separated and carded and spun, and there's no way when looking at the source material to know what you'll end up with. The actors end up being the final threads, she explained, each unique in color and texture, woven together to form an artistically pleasing whole, a singular piece of fabric.
  If I can now belabor this metaphor beyond all reason, the dyers will be working in earth tones and the cutters will be working under orders from the costumers at Gunsmoke. Kronis and Alger want to give the piece a Wild West flavor as a way of exploring the maverick quality of the madcap Swede. As
Strindberg was born the year of the Gold Rush and died the year the Titanic went down (1849-1912), his life was contemporary with that surprisingly short period we think of as the gunslinging,
every-man-his-own-law Old West. It's not just the mores but also the physicality of the frontier culture toward which Kronis gravitates.
  If you've never seen the work of Kronis and Alger, be prepared to see something utterly original. Pre-conceived notions will need to be left at the door, as Kronis is out to "resonate with someone on some level but not in a conditioned trope." If the lack of a coherent story makes you uncomfortable, that's fine. The creators only wants that each audience member makes a personal connection to
whatever parts float by that capture the viewer. It makes its demands, but if you're going
after something worth doing, Kronis said, "Don't take the easiest path, take the hardest."
                        -- Wenzel Jones
                            ©2003 Backstage West

CIRQUE PICNIQUE (2002)

LA WEEKLY
Pick of the Week!

William Inge’s Picnic inspired Tina Kronis and Richard Alger’s dance-theater spectacle (directed by Kronis). But don’t look for the play here. Yes, there are words — plenty of them, from many
midcentury writings, including the 1954 McCarthy Senate subcommittee hearings — but they’ve been
pretty much shredded into non sequiturs and ironies, accompanied by, say, a mambo and the actors’ campy choreography that’s deliberately robotic. The effect is not so much an expression of the arguments that the original writings strove for, but a more generalized and abstracted evocation of an era marked by political paranoia, suburban suffocation and a fledgling women’s movement. The effect is also hypnotically beautiful. (The opening scene has the company floating, or marching, or ambling, at different speeds and at different depths, in a singular direction across the stage’s expansive width.) The work represents the latest horizon of performance art, inspired by director Anne Bogart. The result is a taut precision of movement with a keen sensitivity to stage pictures and triple-decker irony. For Kronis and Alger, the work also shows an evolution from their Dumbshow of last year (based on Russian writings, and similarly filled with whimsical vistas of fear and loathing). The pristine cast includes Aldrich Allen, Aaron Francis, Corey Klemow, David LM McIntyre, Peter Mattsson, John Wuchte, Melina Bielefelt, Crystal Keith, Kelley Leathers, Julie A. Lockhart, Michelle Philippe and Pogo Saito.
-- Steven Leigh Morris
©2002 LA WEEKLY

LA TIMES

  In "Cirque Picnique" at the Sacred Fools Theater, Tina Kronis and Richard Alger once again display the wit, whimsy and rigor that distinguished "Dumbshow," their most recent previous production with the Fools.
  It's no coincidence that the creative duo's production company is named Theatre Movement Bazaar. The typical Kronis and Alger production is a marketplace of movement--riotous, exotic and
packed with an eclectic display of goods. A hybrid of dance, theater and performance art, "Cirque Picnique" was inspired by William Inge's "Picnic," as well as other "Cold War texts" ranging from
McCarthy hearing transcripts to Betty Crocker commercials.
  The dialogue is nonlinear and cryptic, fraught with period paranoia.  A blank-faced woman pronounces, "My deepest fulfillment is food
preparation and housekeeping." Two men in suits react with alarm to the sound of a ringing telephone. Three men, perhaps government
functionaries, obliquely discuss the prerogatives of power.
  If that sounds dry, it isn't. Kronis directs with firm hand and tongue in cheek, lacing her austere staging with moments of telling humor. Obvious lampoons of the era's gender stereotypes abound. To the sound of snappy music, a man removes his perfectly starched white shirt, only to reveal another white shirt underneath, and another and another, in cartoonish succession. Prostrate women are picked up by men and placed carefully on their feet, only to flop lifelessly to the ground as soon as the men leave their sides.
  The production design by Kronis and Alger is first-rate, particularly the sound, a perky blend of cha-cha and dissonance that is an effective counterpoint to the atmosphere of underlying dread.
  A crack ensemble brings Kronis and Alger's creative vision to full life. From the opening scene, in which the performers simply walk across the stage at different gaits, to the more intricately choreographed sequences, the actors display such precision and purpose, even their eye
movements seem syncopated.
                                   -- F. Kathleen Foley
                                      ©2002 LA TIMES

dumbshOw (2002)

LA Weekly
(Recommended!)

Dumbshow is a tightly choreographed and delightful theater piece, ostensibly about "getting the advantage" but seemingly more of a
whimsical dance about our regimented lives. Created by Tina Kronis and Richard Alger, it’s accompanied almost entirely by crackling, old phono recordings of accordian music or a small string combo. All of which fits perfectly on the stage’s slatted wooden floor and Victorian-era ambiance. The actors appear in three groups:
a pair of "comrades" (Peter Mattsson and John Wuchte) wobble their way into a duel; a "panel" of frock-coated, stuffy men (Aldrich Allen, Jay Harik, Corey Klemow and David LM Mcintyre) sit
rigidly side by side sipping tea. One gazes sneakily to the side at another, before tossing off an oblique line or two from Gogol, and we’re on to the next vignette. Finally, the gothic visage of "three
ladies" (Shirley Anderson, Kelley Justine Leathers and Michelle Phillippe) weaves though the event as though they’re attached at the hip, their faces glued into manic expressions. Snippets of text from
Gogol’s The Nose highlight the surreal fallacy of pushing ahead along a trajectory of logic, while excerpts from Dostoyevsky’s Notes From the Underground underscore our almost spiteful
determination to be anything but a cog — a blistering idea, given the stage pictures in front of us.
-- Steven Leigh Morris
©2002 LA WEEKLY

Backstage West
(CRITICS PICK!)

It could be Russian literature interpreted in a parallel universe. It could be our daily lives parsed and haphazardly reassembled a century ago. It could be pure theatre--from scripts to lighting--finely distilled. It could be a new form of mathematical equation: Text minus context equals twice
the subtext. Or we could merely sit by this 50-minute stream and become hypnotized by its glistening patterns.
  Created by Tina Kronis and Richard Alger, this production combines bits of text from classical
Russians--Gogol, Dostoyevsky--with physical theatre that takes its movement vocabulary from nearly familiar human actions, accompanied by musical selections that are familiar by genre but in the main defy specific identification. Linguistic and kinesthetic non sequiturs become the impetus for further action. Uncomplicated answers are offered to questions never asked.
  On the stage-within-a-stage set, the very upright Chekhovian characters move through counter-intuitive choreography, body language gone awry. Along nonsensical paths that get them where they're going, they acknowledge, encourage, block, or propel one another. Simple items--cup, saucer, and spoon--offer simultaneous opportunities for power plays and teamwork. Meisner repetition exercises work perfectly as conversation.
  Aldrich Allen, Jay Harik, Corey Klemow, and David LM Mcintyre could be pre-Politburocrats. Shirley
Anderson, Kelley Justine Leathers, and Michelle Philippe could be the eponymous three sisters. Dean Jacobson, Majken J. Larsson, and Julie A. Lockhart could be artistes of the theatre. Crystal Keith crafts a haughty grande dame. Peter Mattsson and John Wuchte engage in a chummy, forgiving duel. All are attuned to their characters, crisply rehearsed, and extraordinarily focused onstage. Every bit of dialogue is given import
without strain, every gesture is meaningful but not blatant. Those who momentarily recite in other languages leave the impression they are speaking ours.
  Sometimes machine cogs in an alien society, the characters turn hostile and animalistic, then again become properly civilized beings, pinkies up as they drink tea. And if there must be an upshot here, the evening concludes by showing us it does take more than two to tango.
                              -- Dany Margolies
                                  ©2002 Backstage West

LA TIMES

"This Surreal 'Dumbshow' Probes Our Primal Impulses"

  Dumbshow at the Sacred Fools Theater is a surreal and nonlinear piece that borrows freely from the works of Dostoevsky and Gogol to "examine the primal human impulse to gain the advantage."
That quote is taken directly from the press notes. However, feel free to interpolate your own meaning onto this bizarre but finely rendered show, which consists of a series of brief and tightly choreographed scenes set to eclectic music.
  In the opening scene, the men and women of the large ensemble move hectically about the stage, coalescing into a large circle. They begin a playground clapping game, which evolves into a ring-around-the-rosy dance, which ends with them dashing around in a long line, crack-the-whip style.
  Through it all, the actors maintain a joyless deadpan, an eerie juxtaposition to their childlike activities. The performers ambulate as if they are on tracks, rushing about the stage but never colliding. The ensemble quickly separates into recognizable groups.
   Two male antagonists jockey continually for supremacy, brandishing their suit coats in a bantam-like plumage
display.
   Four men sit in a formal tableau, stirring their tea, then blowing bubbles through their "spoons."
  Three women move like synchronized wind-up dolls, offering such comments as "Men are still men, not piano keys." Two other women cower in apparent terror, at one point donning white masks and gesticulating from behind a black curtain. A sole woman moves with dreamlike fluidity, inquiring, "Who do you think you are? The king of Spain?"
  And so it goes, urgently, playfully, mysteriously. Creators Tina Kronis and Richard Alger (Kronis directs, with Alger assisting) are longtime collaborators who have recently worked with the famed performance/puppetry collective Mummenschanz. And indeed, a keen sense of whimsy underlies their rigorous, purposeful staging. So, too, does a sense of collective paranoia, the disturbing feeling that something dire awaits these participants at the end of their random, not-so-senseless rounds.
                                       -- F. Kathleen Foley
                                          ©2002 LA TIMES