Triskelion Arts Presents:

Growing Pains 

a night of untamed revelry to benefit Triskelion Arts

Saturday, December 11th, 7pm 

$25 at the door includes: all the hors d’oeuvres you can eat, all the beer and wine you can drink, and all the entertainment you can stomach.

A live auction unlike any other: Sculpture by Clever Vercosa, Photography by Caitlin Goodman, Javier Oddo, Eric Carroll, Paintings, drawings and prints by Frank Mason, Steve Wasterval, J. Silberman, Sydney Maresca, Cynthia Malarin, Abby Bender's hand-painted toilet seat, Dinners to Ditch Plains, Salt, Craftbar paired with tickets to DTW, Nutcracker Rated R, The Production Company, and Triskelion Arts, Week-long vacation getaway (to Martha’s Vineyard!!!!!), Book collections from Aperture and Hachette book group, Yoga with Marisa Gruneberg, Thai massage with Sarah Seely, Pilates from Bluming Studio, personal training with Jessica Gaynor, Martial arts classes with Professor Roger Mamedov, Handyman work from Billy Schultz with gift certificate to Aurora Hardware, Haircuts from Deluxe salon, Specialty pies from Schmook's Pizza, Gift certificate to Bliss Spa, Children's wall sconces by ACME World Zoo, Year's supply of movies and pcorn from Sunshine Cinema, Designer handbags and fashions from Emu, Sequoia Paris, Lipsy and more, Vintage wear from Rags-a-GoGo,  A spanking new iPad, AND OH SO  MUCH MORE.

Raffle: Every $5 ticket is a winner!

Performances by:  Who's on First by alexanDance, The Donovan Ensemble, and a surprise performance by your hosts and emcees, Abby Bender and Andy Dickerson 

Schedule of events: 

7pm SHARP eating, drinking, schmoozing, perusal of goods up for auction, 

8pm SHARP dance, music, comedy show, 

8:30 SHARP the bidding begins! Please join us in showing your support for our “growing” artistic hub. 

RSVP appreciated at info@triskelionarts.org. 

Triskelion Arts Aldous Theater, 118 N. 11^th Street, 3rd fl., Brooklyn, NY 11211 -- L Train to Bedford Ave.

(There’s a reason it only happens once a year…A DANGEROUSLY FUN BENEFIT!)  

It's CIRQUE OFF time!!!

Featuring Acts From:

Billy Schultz

Audrey Crabtree

Cassandra the glass walker

Jeff & Buttons

Aya Tucker

The Hula Hoop Harlot

Alex Merinov

Merry Makers

Mister Mona Rogers & Her Living Doll

Jino Fort

Chris Rozzi

New Excitement

Kyle Peterson

The Amazing Amy

Jonathan Kaplan

Middle to Nowhere Sideshow

Michael Matson

Tanya Solomon

Make your reservations NOW by clicking HERE.

NOW ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS FOR CIRQUE OFF

It’s that time of year again!  Cirque This and Triskelion Arts are looking for circus acts of any nature* for our 4th Annual CIRQUE OFF!  Cirque Off offers the opportunity for both seasoned and emerging circus performers to show their acts in a supportive, fun and polished environment.  Triskelion Arts provides lighting, space and promotion, while the Cirque This cast will be your roustabouts and help to keep the show moving.  

Selected acts will be performed 1 or 2 nights during the festival on October 1st, 2nd and 3rd, 2010, and be given 1 30-minute tech time at some point before their scheduled dates. To submit an act, or for more info, please complete the submission form here before Monday, August 23rd, 2010.  

* Due to insurance regulations, we are unable to accommodate aerial or fire acts.  Sorry!  We love our fire-wielding and ceiling-hanging friends, but unfortunately, insurance companies don’t!

CIRQUE OFF 2010 IS IN THE WORKS!!

SAVE THE DATE

October 1st, 2nd & 3rd

(Act submission form will be posted soon)

Looking for acts of all circus sorts:

Clown

Juggling

Glass walking

Sideshow

Acrobatics

and so on...

brought to you by

Remember

A major portion of my education on the Holocaust came from performing in a play called "Who Will Carry the Word" by Charlotte Delbo when I was a freshman in high school.  A lot of research went into preparing for the roles in the play, a play with an all female cast set in an Auschwitz barracks.  The reason why I use the word 'major' in describing the education is because I find that actively learning about something by going to talks and museums and doing research is a way to gain a greater knowledge about pretty much anything.  Rather than only sitting in a classroom.

I bring this heavy topic up because of a show that I recently saw as part of the Toy Theater festival at St. Ann's Warehouse.  It was a full length puppet show called "Kamp" about Auschwitz, built and performed by Hotel Modern.  It's a very strong and quiet piece showing some intense scenes that may have happened in the day-to-day life and death at the concentration camp.  Using thousands of 3" handmade puppets and a whole replica of Auschwitz - buildings, railways and streets.

It was a stunning visual from the way-back of a 307 seat house, seeing the whole concentration camp fill the entire stage.  Individual scenes were projected on the back wall of the stage by miniture cameras that the 3 performers/puppeteers, who were operating the whole death camp, held.

I was able to see the show twice in the hot June heat at St. Ann's Warehouse with hundreds of other people and in those 2 nights only a handful of people total left either from the heat or the subject matter or maybe a combination of the two.  But as a whole the audience of people seemed to be engrossed at the success of this horrifying piece of art.  So was I.

It was clear that a lot of work (manual & mental) went into creating this piece of puppet theater and I'm just glad I got to see it.  This event in history can and will not ever be forgotten.

Buddy Cop 2

Looking for an interesting piece of theater to see?

Then I recommend Buddy Cop 2 by The Debate Society.  

I saw it last night and it's a pretty great one.  You definitely can't go wrong with a TDS show...and I've seen them all live except the one I was part of, The Eaten Heart, which is actually a favorite of mine. 

Paul and Hannah have great dynamic when it comes to both their playwriting and onstage performances.  

In this show they are funny as police officers Novak & Olsen and adding in Michael Cyril Creighton as Don, another officer, I had thoughts of seeing these 3 characters on a sitcom taking place in this temporary police department...I'd definitely tune into that as the humor factor would be brilliant, I'm sure.

See it at the Ontological until June 12th.  

     

Comedy in Dance - there certainly is!

A really cool festival I've been attending and performing in is Triskelion Art's Comedy in Dance Festival. 

There's an amazing amount of talent in the nightly lineup and the funny is really present in every act.  I've always found dance to be quite humorous - and I mean how can it not be when humans are moving there bodies in strange and interesting positions for an audience to interpret on their own - even on the dance floor in clubs people do funny things, and it's all very amusing to me.  I just love it.  
So to create a whole festival with this as a theme is a brilliant idea that seems to have brought out some of NYC's best funny physical performers...a lot of them being smart funny - with the exception of the act I'm performing with Cirque This.  Don't get me wrong it's funny and really great, just not smart funny...well except maybe to certain amphibious creatures it definitely is.  

Last night I saw Abby Bender Schmantze Theatre's Geegahdongpeoria, which is the one and only full length piece in the Comedy in Dance Festival.  It is an intriguing show that seems to represent many cultures, religions, past-times and curiosities and with a ton of non-stop, and really fabulous, dance.  Every dancer is a character so no one gets lost in the mix and the story of this place, Geegahdongpeoria, and its people is a really fun and colorful one with splashes of darkness - totally deep.  And they speak a foreign language.  Foreign languages are definitely funny!       


The festival runs until Sunday, May 23rd with Cirque This performing on Saturday, May 22nd.  For reservations send an email to info@triskelionarts.org, tickets are $15.  

Gin & "It"

I saw Reid Farrington's Gin & "It" last night at PS 122 and I'm SO glad that I did!

It's hard to imagine how Reid came to conceive of this complex idea initially, so I won't...but the outcome was brilliantly done and really worked on stage.  Especially after seeing him hard at work at his computer for over a year (or so) while I was rehearsing for The Death of Evie Avery at his space, it was such a pleasure to watch it all happen live.  Clearly a ton of work went into this project.
The concept is difficult to explain but after seeing the piece it is very clear that words are not so necessary since the experience will explain it all.  These people are making a movie using some really excellent physical theater!  It was as much of a magic show as it was a film and the theatrical experience put it all together like I've never seen before.  I really enjoyed this work of art.

The making of is really interesting, watch it here.

Gin & "It" plays at Performance Space 122 only until this Sunday, May 9th.  SEE IT.

Planet Earth: Weird & Sort of Scary Noises

Wandering the wilderness.

Are the animal noises real or fake?  

Now don't be scared.

Young @ Heart in End of the Road

Tonight I watched Young @ Heart in End of the Road by No Theater at St. Ann's Warehouse.
Wow, what an inspiring and healthy show it was.  With an extra large cast of energetic 80 year-olds singing all sorts of cover songs past and present I thoroughly enjoyed myself in this theatrically staged concert.

While experiencing all sorts of emotive feelings including but not limited to: happiness, sadness, laughter, concern, goose bumps, and on and on...I had thoughts of death from the obvious age (and the use of canes, walkers & wheelchairs) of each singer but also thoughts of everlasting life from their youthful energy at times, especially during solo singing moments up at the mic.  There were a handful of key singers that tore it apart up on that stage and really put their everything into it.  I absolutely want to have the same great health and vitality as these performers when I am in my 80s.

Maybe performing in a live show for hundreds of people at that age contributes to a longer and (awesome-er) life.

At St. Ann's Warehouse until May 1st.

Time Out New York Loves Cirque This...

...or at least they love our hot bodies!

We finally got more than just a listing printed in TONY, 

we got a production photo from Viva La Evolution!

Page 117 of issue 759!

All it took was an awesome photoshoot by the amazingly talented Javier Oddo, 

the brilliant mind of costume designer Lais Williams 

and one of the most fabulous casts in the history of Cirque This!

Yay for all of us!

Comedy/Tragedy

The Handlebar

Vs.

The Fu Manchu

That's funny & sad.  Isn't it?

VIVA LA EVOLUTION, it's a Cirque This show, duh!

Reservations are now being accepted for our latest masterpiece:

Viva La Evolution

Coming to Triskelion Arts Theater in
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
April 15-18 & 22-24 at 8PM
$12
Seats WILL fill up fast so click here to make a reservation


You're gonna love it!
They all do...

NEON LIGHTS is this Sunday night!!!

Sunday, March 28th at 9:30PM come see Neon Lights, a vaudeville variety show at Triskelion Arts Theater.


Facebook event page


I'll be guest hosting the show for Jeff-n-Buttons who can't make it.
Tickets are $10 at the door.


Line up of Acts:
Rob Stern
Richard Harrington
Two-Hander
Ann Ragsdale
Carlough Brothers
Luke & Bethany


Come check it out, it'll get silly.

a sneak peak at VIVA LA EVOLUTION

Hey, stop lookin at me.  

I said stop.

Yeah you.

Eww, you look nerdy.

Now.

I said now.

I'm outa here.

Oh Scared?

You nasty.

Boo.

Cirque This Presents:  

VIVA LA EVOLUTION 

April 15-18 & 22-24

Make your reservations NOW!!

Corey Haim

What a shame. I loved your movies, well some of them. Especially the ones in the late 80s. I was fully entertained by you and even had a little crush. Though of course it did bounce back and forth between you and the other Corey. Blush. But now the two Coreys are down to one. Which saddens me at the thought if no more 80s Corey fun. I guess I'm a little stuck in the past. But here is what I mean, Adieu Corey Haim and dream a little dream.

missing my colorful garden

Here are a few plants I see lately when I look out at my terrace...

Thyme

Chives

Lavender

Everything is really gray now but each of these plants are perennials and come back each year - or at least they have for the last few years.  As you can see there is some visible life in the lavender and thyme but the chives look completely dead.  The interesting part with chives is that they come back each spring even more plentiful than the previous year.  Neat, eh?

I really want to go outside and play in the dirt.  

c.c. clowns, you are so great

What I love are people who are funny, interesting, smart, energetic, sensitive, not predictable and really truly themselves. I recently discovered how much that matters to me while hanging out with about 65 clowns for 3 days. So many different personalities, ages, backgrounds and interests. Everyone with a different history and in some cases, a very shocking one. I've never been around so many great people in one place before so I knew I had to try my best to connect with each one of them or I would seriously regret missing out. This was no time to be shy, I wanted to know these amazing people. And so, I decided I wouldn't waist too much time sleeping at the bedtime hours but instead participate, observe and share...I was determined to learn from each person and take that knowledge with me and maybe treasure it as a beautiful memory. That to me is worth a lot. And so I did. I slept little but bonded (and danced) a lot and loved every minute of it.
Such wonderful humans these clowns are and I love them for that.

mac & cheese: sometimes it rhymes and sometimes it don't

Mac & Cheese I love you and your cheesiness.
I love to cook you so quickly then scarf you on down.
Maybe the whole box is too much for just one, but so what.
The fullness goes away eventually but the taste will linger till a cleanse of the palate

Oh Mac & Cheese remember me, you'd make my night.
As my mom called "dinner time," I'd rush in the house to enjoy a great bite.
Then in a jiffy I'd bust out the door, leaving my friend to ponder my swift flight,
and continue a game of tag on a warm summer evening, what a sight.

Now I confess the difference I feel after this once beloved meal.
It could be an ache a gas a bloat but I'm gonna be needing a couple of tums.
After some yoga breaths I think I'm alright.
Ok I love you again.
Just pretend that didn't even happen.
Lets not again fight.

Me.

the cheapest stuff

I usually don't go looking for deals at the grocery store or clothes shopping or when in search for other random items, but it's deals I would love to find.

Not having a lot of money to shop with I know the cheaper stores or neighborhoods to find what I need.  I go to stores like payless for shoes and H&M (or China town) for clothes and C-Town for groceries - these are the places I know are already cheap and I will find what I'm basically looking for on a particular day.

However, near by the c-town in my neighborhood and even closer to my apartment is a great little organic market called The Garden, where the produce always looks better than c-towns and the store looks more colorful and glittery and the skin products and dish washing products are all organic and just seem better to live with on a daily basis.  They are more expensive, but I see them at the Garden and I feel like they're better because they improve the way of living for the long term and not just for a one-time-thing and that's probably what my body would like to live with.  Natural, organic, glitter...a world that's starting to remind me of Pandora.

That being said, I do not go food shopping every day nor do I search for clothes or shoes that much either...It usually has to be pay-day for me to even think about it.

Here's the thing...I'm an iphone owner.  I love love love my iphone.  It's changed my life in ways I never knew.  I have a computer, but there are days when I don't even turn it on, either from being too busy or too tired.  On those days especially I am constantly using my iphone.  I'm not a phone talker, I really don't even like it, but what I love is texting, researching, tweeting and using well made apps.
Why are they amazing?
Well, it depends on each app but usually if it lets me do what I need to do at that very moment, super fast and AND it's cheap than that's all I need.

Apps are probably the cheapest thing in my life currently and I like them and what they provide.

dehydration

When one is dehydrated, the best thing to do is drink buckets of water.

However, too much water consumed at too fast a pace can make a person feel sickly.
So by adding the juice of half a lemon to each tall glass of water one drinks, over the course of 1 hour the dehydrated individual will come to feel completely cured.

A good idea would be not to sit out in the sun while performing this process but rather in a shaded area or inside a covered structure of some sort.

A hut can almost always be built by found objects gathered from close by in most areas of the world.  This would be my recommendation if one was in such a state as this.

     + 

avatar & why i simply liked it:

It may not be the perfect movie as far as the storyline and it's predictability, but I was really into it as an enjoyable IMAX 3D experience as a whole.  


Also, putting myself in their world I'd love to experience the spiritual Pandora and run around on a soft natural ground with pretty much nothing on except a bow & arrow and soar through the landscape connected to a monstrous bird.  It's a beautiful and simple place that Pandora and it's people, whom I fell in love with.  I mean, they were definitely hot!  Super tall with their blue skin and their long braids...how could you not fall in love with them?  At least for a little while anyway.  

The group chanting used to transfer the human life & soul into that of their avatar was really beautiful and gave me the chills.  Definitely wish more of that was added somehow...it was just really powerful seeing a large group of people focused, chanting and meditating on a singular being for just one reason and all connected.  I often like seeing tribal gatherings like this in films because it's the only way for me to experience them.  Having not been brought up in a very spiritual cultural in terms of the meditation and connectedness around certain beliefs makes me want to try it out even more.  


The experience was awesome and I may even attempt to see it again in the theater.  

back to blogging...and circus stuff

I've decided to give it another go. Writing again. Hoping it will last a bit longer this time...I think it will.

Tonight was our first rehearsal for Cirque This' spring show. It's going to be a great one. A few new cast members have been brought to the table & I feel it's going to make for a very strong show.

I'll keep the interesting stuff on the process posted here...and probably some of the boring stuff, too. I think it's all pretty great.

This is as far as I can go for now without giving too much away. Also because I don't know much more about the show because we just started.

Tonight.

It's totally not done yet.

Nope. Sorry.

Can't say anything more.

Not on this topic.

On no I can't.

Don't you talk to me like that.

Don't give me that stupid look.

Stop watering my plant.

Don't you drink that glass of water on the counter and stare at me over the glass.

Don't even think about washing that water glass and placing it gently on the drying wrack.

No.

Stop it.

Now you're getting all annoying to me.

It's all over.

And clean.

Well that's just great.