that girl allison

In a tiny room at the back of The Gershwin Hotel in Grammercy, a group of 20 people are treated to one of the most intense and intimate theatrical experiences in New York.  The Amoralists have struck dramatic gold again with their new production, HotelMotel, featuring Pink Knees on Pale Skin by Derek Ahonen, and Animals and Plants by Adam Rapp.  We were given hotel room keys on our way in for re-entry after the 30-minute intermission between plays.  

The first play, Pale Knees on Pink Skin, took place in a 5-star expensive hotel room and followed the story of an orgy therapist (yup!), her husband, and two couples whom she is trying to help (while playing with their minds, of course).  The seven actors were incredibly committed to the integrity of the piece, especially when one scene called for the acting of a husband performing oral on her wife to the point of climax.  The end of Pink Knees is ultimately depressing, but I completely enjoyed the script because of it’s immensely interesting medical analyzations of the two couples delivered by Dr. Sarah Bauer (played expertly by Sarah Lemp).  

James Kautz and Vanessa Vache as the older, more professional couple Robert and Caroline Wyatt, stay true to the characters of a wife who’s been cheated on and a husband trying to regain her trust.  However Byron Anthony and Anna Stromberg are also compelling and heartbreaking simultaneously as the younger, more artsy couple Theordore and Allison Williams, who struggle their inabilities to achieve intimacy in bed.  Rounding out the cast are Jordan Tisdale as Leroy, Dr. Lemp’s hurting boyfriend, and Nick Lawson as Dr. Bauer’s confused and timid son Norman.

Animals and Plants, on the other hand, made very little sense but somehow still manages to be entertaining (as Rapp plays so often are).  Animals is about two drug mules, Dantly (William Apps) and Burris (Matthew Pilieci) who are holed up in a disgusting motel room in Boone, NC and waiting for a delivery of drugs.  The plot is murky but surrounds what transpires between Dantly and a stereotypical tree-hugger type character who he’d met that day, Cassandra (Kaite Broad) and the haunting ghost of Cassandra’s ex-husband Buck (played frightening by Brian Mendes).  Honestly, I didn’t understand Buck’s nonsensical interruption of the action and the play wouldn’t have been any worse off without his presence.  The end of Animals is also depressing, and bloody, with the suspicious of betrayal and the exit of Cassandra.  

I will always love everything Adam Rapp writes, but in this instance I think I enjoyed Pink Knees on Pale Skin more.  Regardless of which play is “better,” if you can swing the $50 ticket price, you won’t regret it (through August only).  Visit The Amoralists website for more information.

(Photo by Monica Simoes. (L-R): Sarah Lemp as Dr. Sarah Bauer, Nick Lawson as Norman and Jordan Tisdale as Leroy in Pink Knees on Pale Skin.)

Ticket was graciously provided gratis by DARR Publicity.

I’m seeing all three parts next Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  I initially wanted to do all three parts in a day but this works too.  I’m excited beyond words.  These are what the three parts are about:

Part 1, Rose takes place on the evening of November 28th, 1953, the day following the death of Eugene O’Neill (directed by Rapp).

Part 2, Paraffin is set on the first evening of the 2003 New York City blackout (directed by Aukin).

Part 3, Nursing is set in 2053 in a disease-free New York when the tenement has been transformed into a museum where young men and women in need of cash are injected with old-fashioned diseases for the amusement of the public (directed by Cullman).

I wish I knew how Rapp came up with his ideas.

I’ve professed my adoration of Adam Rapp’s work many times and I will continue to do as long as he keeps writing plays that leave me speechless like last night’s Ghosts in the Cottonwoods, produced by The Amoralists at Theatre 80 on St. Mark’s Place.

Ghosts in the Cottonwoods takes place in a run-down cabin in the south.  Bean Scully (Sarah Lemp) lives in the one-room hovel with her 18 year old son Pointer (Nick Lawson), and on this stormy night, they are awaiting the arrival of Jeff (James Kautz), the older son who has recently escaped after 6 years in prison.  After a few unexpected arrivals, their night does not go as originally planned.

There was violence, blood, rape, and implied incest.  Just your typical Adam Rapp play.

Direction by Rapp was spot on, and the cast (also with William Apps, Mandy Nicole Moore, and Matthew Pileci in addition to those mentioned above) played these intense and difficult roles with ease.  Moore could have quite the career if she followed in the footsteps of Zoe Kazan, as that was who she reminded us of.  

Ghosts in the Cottonwood is not to be missed for fans of Rapp.  It plays at Theatre 80 through December 6th.  

(image via)

I’ve mentioned my undying adoration of Adam Rapp’s work before.  Well, here’s the proof.  I’ve missed just one show of his (Essential Self Defense at Playwrights Horizons) in New York since falling in love with his work back in 2005 with Red Light Winter.  

(L-R: Stone Cold Dead Serious, American Sligo [Rattlestick Playwright Theatre], Kindness [Playwrights Horizons], Red Light Winter [Barrow Street Theatre], Bingo with the Indians, and The Metal Children [The Vineyard Theatre].)

So, tonight there was a book signing & release party for Adam Rapp’s (first &) new book, Ball Peen Hammer, with graphics by George O’Connor, at The Book Court (163 Court Street) in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn.  They were both in attendance and talked for around an hour - they each had a list of ten questions for each other since they said it’s rather hard to do a reading from a graphic novel.  Being that I’m a really awesome, die-hard Adam Rapp fan I totally [didn’t know] knew he was releasing this book.  Then again, I’m not a fan of graphic novels.  Well, it need not be said that I’m a huge fan of his; I’ve seen 99% of productions of his shows in New York since 2006 (starting with Red Light Winter, which is amazing and being made into a movie).  He’s one of my favorite writers in multiple literary categories.

Anyways, so they answered each others questions and took questions from the audience.  Adam is very different from his brother (who is an actor) because he is definitely not the outgoing one of the two.  I noticed his hands shaking as they took their seats in front of the audience and he rarely made eye-contact.  He was well-spoken though.  They both agreed that this was the darkest thing they’d both ever worked on (it started a play first, but then Rapp knew no one would ever produce it and his agent/manager thought it’d make a good graphic novel), which sparked my interest a bit so I picked up a copy from the front counter when they were done answering questions (I asked how writing a graphic novel was different from writing his last novel, The Year of Endless Sorrows - which is also a great book).

I went up to Rapp and asked if he would sign in and he was very sweet, though quiet.  I told him I was excited for The Metal Children at the Vineyard Theatre and that the Jesus-quote from it was one of my favorite lines (I interned at a casting agency for a hot second once, and they had a copy of it laying around the offices).    I also asked about Red Light Winter (the movie) and he said it might be in production as soon as next month.  I gushed a bit, I guess.  I was excited to meet him, give me a break (and I was surprised he was so nice, because I had heard otherwise).  I wished him luck with everything and he shook my hand.  It was cool.  I went and said hello to George O’Connor after, and he said signed my book, too.  I wished him luck, snapped the above picture of Rapp and was off.

(Picture above is mine, via Blackberry.  Adam Rapp is in the center in the sweater vest.)