"All Your Questions Answered" - Part IV

(All Your Questions Answered, written by Greg Kotis and directed by Sean Daniels, will open September 19 at the Geva Theatre as part of the Rochester Fringe Festival)

My first run through!  The cast has done several so far, but always at the end of their rehearsals, and the timing hasn't been right for me to attend.  Sean even commented on the difference the reversal of timing might make, since they'd only had about 45 minutes of rehearsal before they jumped in.  He explained that the actors would have to find their energy without rehearsing the entire show, much as they would have to for the actual performances.  The cast quickly formed a circle and did some very interesting warmup exercises (including an adaptation of the German drinking game Ja, Nein, Scheisse?!).

Sean used the initial time to work on a couple of transitions - the passages between skits that allow the actors to move the sets and get themselves into (or out of) place - and to "take space out";  he tightened up several of the transitions and eliminated many pauses in a couple of skits. The changes were very subtle but also critical to making the pieces work.  Whodathunkit?

I finally got to see a few of the skits I'd only read in the script, one of which will probably be one of my favorites of the show.  Another reminded me of yet another Roundabout Theatre production I saw years ago - Ashes to Ashes (a matinee, a Pinter play...).  It was bizarre but mercifully short, and it was so pretentious that the 45-minute show was followed by a 45-minute "discussion" on the meaning of the play, which was still opaque when we finally fled the theatre.  Watching one of the skits in AYQA made me wonder if Kotis hadn't also seen that production - he seemed to be poking fun at just that sort of navel-gazing, self aggrandizement.

There are a few skits that break the barrier between the actors and audience and which might make an audience member a bit uncomfortable, depending on where he or she is sitting (I'm not giving away where that interaction primarily occurs, but I'll definitely be scouting for a few of the "safer" seats when I attend...), or his/her tolerance for being drawn in to the action (again, some people love to be on the periphery of the spotlight!).

Seeing the show start to finish also made me think about the satire of the show's title, since many of the skits left me thinking, "Huh?", "What just happened?", or "Seriously?"  The "answer" is sometimes just a wink, or a nod, or a shrug, or in many cases, another question.

This was the cast's 22nd rehearsal, and the 5th one I attended  At the 4th, which I didn't write about separately, Sean had rearranged some scenes so there would be some "light amidst the darkness."  Again, it wasn't until I saw a complete run through that I understood the nuances of the pacing, and how important the order of the skits might be to letting the audience react to them. I can't wait till the actual performance, though, to see how the actors will react to the audience reacting to them!  Will the audience's laughter interrupt their tempo?  Will they keep their faces straight during a skit, or will the audience's laughter cause them to break character and smile (as sometimes happens on SNL, or happened in hilarious Carol Burnett Show skits)?  And how does Sean know when a scene is perfected?  Will he keep tinkering after the show opens?  (Again, I'm reminded of a quote from Tina Fey's Bossypants - it's one of the things she learned from Lorne Michaels:  "The show doesn't go on because it's ready;  it goes on because it's 11:30.")

I suspect that...all of my questions will be answered...when I attend opening night on the 19th. Then again... maybe not!  ;-)

"All Your Questions Answered" - Fringe Festival Context

I had the opportunity to attend a talk given by Erica Fee (Festival Producer) and Justin Vigdor (Chairman of the Board of the Fringe Festival), and learned a great deal about Fringe Festivals in general and the Rochester Fringe Festival, in particular, that helped put Geva’s offering into context for me.  The first fringe festival occurred in Edinburgh in 1947, when shows that didn’t make the cut decided to perform anyway – in any space they could find, on the “fringe” of the official festival.  There are now 50 Fringe Festivals in the United States, and although Rochester’s is only in its second year, the attendance at last year’s inaugural festival propelled it into one of the country’s top five! 

Several years ago, Joel Seligman, President of the University of Rochester, thought that our city should have a Fringe Festival, and he got local artists (including Mark Cuddy, Geva’s Artistic Director) together to discuss and plan the event.  They got sidetracked for a while, but when Erica Fee, a London theatre producer, was visiting her hometown of Rochester, she helped revive the concept, and moved home to run it.  Several of the area’s institutions of higher education (e.g., U of R, Nazareth, and MCC) are partnered with the Fringe Festival, which might explain the youth of many of the performers (including those in All Your Questions Answered).

One of the ideas behind a fringe festival is bringing together audiences and performers in non-traditional ways (and again, All Your Questions Answered fits this theme), to revitalize a city – to make it a better place to live. This year the festival is expanding from 5 days to 10, and will include 360 shows in 28 different venues around the city.  The Festival organization requests that shows be kept short, but otherwise does not participate in the selection process.  Instead, the venues review the applications themselves and decide which shows to sponsor.  The Fringe Festival only takes 10% of the ticket prices (and they encourage venues to set prices at or below $16 so that the shows are accessible to a wider audience).  Again, this explains why tickets to All Your Questions Answered are so inexpensive…

One of the highlights this year will be a Spiegeltent, which has been imported from Belgium.  In addition to performances in the round in that space, there will also be “silent disco”: a dance party with no audible music except through headphones!  Another will be the return of BANDALOOP in Manhattan Square Park (it’s estimated that 10,000 people attended the two performances last year, so let’s hope for good weather this year).

scene from Colleen Culley's "Foot in the Door"

It looks like I’m going to be in for a very busy 10 days, since I’ve circled a lot of performances in the Official Fringe Guide, including a friend’s offering called “Get a Foot in the Door:  the Dance of Late Capitalism” (if that isn’t “fringe” I’m not sure what is).  Hope to see lots of my friends at Geva’s All Your Questions Answered and at other shows throughout the festival. We might have to carpool – I can only imagine that parking is going to be stressful!

Rochester "Staycation"

It probably isn’t often that you get a chance to stay at a hotel in your own hometown.  Because seriously, why would you bother?  The last time I did was in the late 90’s, just after I had moved in with my fiancé (now husband) and he went on a business trip.  For some reason I couldn’t fathom, the alarm system wasn’t working (it turned out to be a minor electrical problem, but in my irrational fear mode, Charlie had done it on purpose to have me killed while he was away, so he’d have an alibi and not have to marry me!).  I checked myself in, nightly (giving no address – I didn’t want the hotel staff to know the house was unprotected), to the local Best Western, leaving early each morning to get home and ready for work.  Thankfully, since then, either we’ve had functioning alarm systems or I’ve made friends with people who would let me crash with them when Charlie traveled!

Luckily, this stay, at the Del Monte Lodge Renaissance Rochester Hotel & Spa, in Pittsford, would be as a couple, and for fun, not fear.  We had “won” a spa/stay package at a silent auction at some benefit gala, and we had to use it last weekend before it expired.  We put our dog in jail (I mean a kennel) and headed over for our evening massage appointments.  The spa was lovely and calming; the women’s side was decorated in beiges and creams, including the gas fireplace, and I was told the men’s side was darker and more manly.  We both had very relaxing massages (and I even ran into my neighbor Kathy, who’d just had a mani/pedi!) before heading to the Erie Grill for a delicious dinner. 

The hotel recently renovated the restaurant, so the décor now complements the cuisine.  There seemed to be a good crowd for a Friday night, and many of the diners were locals who were not staying overnight.  The large windows overlooking the Erie Canal let us enjoy the crew teams practicing as well as a lovely sunset through the rail bridge. We took a short walk around the village of Pittsford after dinner before turning in. I was a bit worried that being so close to the railroad tracks would make sleep problematic, but incredibly, I did not hear any trains over the white noise of the air conditioner. 

After a yummy breakfast, we departed, leaving early to ‘beat the traffic.’ The staff were all very friendly and the room was quite comfortable – I would definitely recommend this hotel to anyone with ‘overflow’ guests, and the restaurant to anyone especially craving red meat!

"All Your Questions Answered" - Part III

(All Your Questions Answered, written by Greg Kotis and directed by Sean Daniels, will open September 19 at the Geva Theatre as part of the Rochester Fringe Festival)

What a difference a week makes!  At the next rehearsal I attended, none of the actors was using a script (although an actor would occasionally call 'Line!' in the middle of a bit and be supplied with it immediately by the stage manager).  This allowed much more freedom of movement than the last rehearsal I witnessed.  It also impressed me when Sean would stop them mid-scene and ask them to repeat a spot to rework it, and they'd be able to rewind the script in their heads to the appropriate point, without having to start all over again!

It's interesting to watch a show being created, rather than just rehearsed.  Since this combination of skits has never been performed as a collection, and some have been newly written, the actors and director don't have the pressure of having the audience compare them to whoever set the standard in the 'original' (it must be very difficult for actors in revivals of famous plays or movies - I know I couldn't help thinking that Leonardo DiCaprio was no Robert Redford as Gatsby...).  Sean and the actors have more latitude in interpreting the words on the page, and they seem also to have the authority (not sure if it is in conjunction with the playwright or not?) to change or delete lines, both of which I noticed in this rehearsal.

Almost half of the skits are theatre-centric, many are very dark, and, surprisingly, only two brush at political themes.  I wonder how the actors feel about the skits - do they like them?  Do they enjoy them?  Does comedy come easily to them, or would they rather be in a juicy drama, but they're just glad to be employed?  

At one point in a break, I caught Sean's eye, and even though I wasn't 'there,' I was there, so I asked a question about the staging of a particular playlet.  He explained to me that "confusion is the enemy of comedy" and that the first ten minutes of comedy are extremely important.  That's when the tone and pace of the show is set, and when you "let the audience know they're in good hands."  I'd never thought about that, of course, because either I've been taken care of without knowing it (Book of Mormon comes to mind), or not (coincidentally, ten minutes in is just about when my companion and I escaped from Kotis' Pig Farm at the Roundabout Theatre in 2006).

I snuck out of rehearsal as the cast began running the transitions between scenes, so they could make sure their props are in the right places.  In addition to performing, the actors will also be responsible for setting up and breaking down each scene. I know I keep using the word "impressed" but when I see how versatile these kids are, I can't help that feeling, watching them making theatre, but also singing and playing guitar.  I suspect that more than a few of them can also dance when the role calls for it.  It's amazing how many more talented people there are in this world than there are outlets for them to display their talent.  My wish for these ten is many more outlets.

Comedy Club Redux: Judah Friedlander / Gilbert Gottfried

Uncle Trent

There are several ways to gauge the popularity of a comedian at the Comedy Club.  The obvious ones are the ticket price (more popular = more expensive;  for the less famous it's sometimes free on Thursday night) and the size of the audience (Judah Freidlander had a modest crowd on his Thursday appearance;  Gilbert Gottfried’s audience was sold out last Thursday night).  Additionally, the bigger the main attraction, the more warm-up comedians there seem to be.  Judah was preceded by the host (a comedienne, which made a nice change, who was originally from Brockport but current lives in Dubai...???) and an additional comedian who was very funny - most of his jokes were about his girth.  Before Gilbert took the stage, two comedians (including Uncle Trent, the 2013 winner of the club’s Funniest Person in Rochester Contest) and a host entertained us.  We had cajoled our friends Gwen and Leigh to go to this show with us, and the warm-up acts picked on them quite a bit!

Judah Friedlander

It’s interesting to compare the styles of different comedians.  Judah, who is on his "World Champion" tour, was extremely comfortable and interactive with the audience, and very quick on his feet.  Anything the audience said they did, he did better.  He informed us he was going to run for  President, and invited people to name an issue for him to state his position.  His solution for homelessness: have them be 24 hour toll collectors, since they're good at asking for change.  Weed:  he'd start with legalizing heroine because that would make legalizing marijuana easier.  His response to the person who asked about immigration was that he'd deport the person after the show.  I asked him if he missed 30 Rock and he said he'd never watched the show, but he’d heard it was good!  Someone else then asked if he had slept with Tina Fey and without missing a beat he replied "how do you think I got the job?"

Gilbert Gottfried

Gilbert, on the other hand, didn’t converse with the audience at all, but gave us an incredibly funny and “politically incorrect” show, and he did at least respond to our laughter (or groans).  His political incorrectness wasn't just a comment here and there, but long riffs on the Japanese (the reason he's no longer the voice of the Aflac duck...) and on midgets.  And maybe that's part of the humor - a single off-color joke might be uncomfortable, but five over-the-top minutes on the same subject really is funny.  When the evening was over and I was hoarse from laughing, we didn't wait in the long line for a photo with Gilbert, but Gwen did buy a book of poetry from one of the warm up comedians whose day job is as an English teacher in Buffalo.  Well, they have to make a living somehow!

"All Your Questions Answered" - Part II

(All Your Questions Answered, written by Greg Kotis and directed by Sean Daniels, will open September 19 at the Geva Theatre as part of the Rochester Fringe Festival)

I missed the second rehearsal of the show (I am not going to be a totally consistent Cohort...), and by the third, some playlets had been cut, others added, and parts had been assigned to the ten extremely young actors (all either still in college or freshly graduated, and mostly local). Again, I could only stay for two (of the eight!) hours, so I only saw a few skits rehearsed, but I was impressed with the speed with which the actors responded to Sean's excellent direction.

All of the actors were still holding their scripts, of course, so it was difficult for them to speak their lines and move simultaneously.  Nevertheless, the scenes were taking shape, and it was amazing to see in just a few read-throughs how well the actors incorporated prompts from Sean about their characters' motivation or a scene's tempo and dynamics.  Some of Sean's direction seemed necessary because of the actors' youth - they aren't old enough to have experienced some of the situations, or to know the pronunciation of some of the words...  At one point in a scene that didn't seem to work, Sean had the two actors improvise the subtext instead, and I'll admit that I found the improv funnier than the actual scene.  But perhaps that was the point - for the actors to figure out how to convey that subtext in the actual text that seemed totally unrelated.  Confused?  I was!

The show reminds me a bit of Paul Sills' Story Theatre, which I saw on its post-Broadway tour in the early 70s, but darker (although some of Grimms' fairy tales, which are the basis for much of Story Theatre, are much nastier than their sanitized Disney versions).  Both are comprised of little morality tale vignettes, many of which portray a slightly conflicted morality, with characters who are both good and bad, sweet and macabre, innocent but also complicit.

It's odd sitting in "the audience" and watching a rehearsal - it feels a bit voyeuristic.  It is evident to me that even though the cast are all young, they are taking this business of making comedy very seriously.  And they obviously understand that part of their job (and it is a job, rehearsing eight hours a day, six days a week) is to make the enormous effort that goes into producing those couple of hours of entertainment seem effortless.  I am distressed that I will miss a whole week of rehearsals while I go on vacation - I can't wait to get back to the theatre after Labor Day and see the progress they've made!

I tried to buy tickets to opening night at the box office on my way out, only to find out that the first five performances, which are part of the Rochester Fringe Festival, are only available through the Fringe Festival:  http://rochesterfringe.com/   I made my purchase on their website, and I guess I'll have to get to the theatre early - it appears that there are no assigned seats!  Tickets for subsequent performances can be purchased from Geva directly (if not on their website, then in person at or on the phone with the box office).

Geva Cohorts Kickoff & Read-Through of "All Your Questions Answered"

(All Your Questions Answered, written by Greg Kotis and directed by Sean Daniels, will open September 19 at the Geva Theatre as part of the Rochester Fringe Festival)

So, full disclosure about my theatre preferences.  First of all, I am "always in thrall most, to anything almost" by Stephen Sondheim.  In the spreadsheet of all of the shows I've seen (part of my mild OCD), the highest counts are for Sondheim musicals, and a few non-Sondheim musicals/plays, such as Chess, Grey Gardens, Three Tall Women, and Proof.

There are some wonderfully quirky shows that I've always wished either to see again or to see other shows by their creators, including Waverly Gallery, Joined at the Head, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, and Urinetown the Musical.  How lucky could I get to have the opportunity not just to see Urinetown again this year (at Nazareth College in October), but to meet Greg Kotis, who wrote the book and lyrics, and see a new work by him - All Your Questions Answered!

Geva Cohorts Kickoff
The Cohorts were invited to the kickoff meeting for Pump Boys and Dinettes and All Your Questions Answered (although we would only be involved in the latter show, both were starting rehearsals on the same day). It seemed a bit chaotic as we crammed into a rehearsal hall upstairs at the Geva Theatre.  After we formed an enormous circle and everyone introduced him/herself, there was an overview of the costumes and set for Pump Boys (audience members will be invited onto the set at intermission to buy pie - how cool is that?  I'm glad I already have my tickets to that show!) and an introduction of All Your Questions Answered by Greg Kotis (playwright) and Sean Daniels (director).

All Your Questions Answered Read-Through
After we split up into our two separate shows, the Cohorts were invited onto the stage as the eight actors, stage manager, director, and playwright sat around a table and read through the script for the first time.  Parts had not yet been assigned, so actors just jumped in, although it seemed more premeditated to me!  (An actor later confirmed that despite my impression, there were indeed no assignments, although they'd all read the script beforehand, so perhaps had some ideas of which parts they might like to play.)  Sean and Greg explained that there was substantially more material than would fit in the eventual 90-minute production, so the read-through would also help them decide which skits to select for their "theatre tapas."  I found that description quite appropriate - there will be lots of little playlets, and since not everyone has the same taste, or sense of humor, not every play will appeal to every audience member.  It reminded me of a quote from Tina Fey's Bossypants:  "It is an impressively arrogant move to conclude that just because you don't like something, it is empirically not good," and that some people actually think the Three Stooges are funny, or that Jon Stewart is not - go figure!  But with luck, each play will appeal to enough people to provoke the desired response.

There seemed to be quite a few theatre-centric skits.  One of them reminded me of Invocation and Instructions to the Audience, from Sondheim's The Frogs.  Another sketch and song parodied the financial system, but I couldn't quite figure out whether it was ridiculing the banks, the consumers, or both.  As I proceed, I will try to refrain from talking about the details of the specific skits, so as not to give anything away before you see the show in person.

In rehearsing comedy, there is the challenge of "keeping it fresh as an actor."  I wonder if the Cohorts will also be challenged in hearing the same scenes multiple times - will we still find them funny (or not funny, as the case may be) when we see them as part of a real performance?  I only had time to stay for the first few skits and songs (which Greg sang and played guitar for), and I already got a glimpse of the actors' enthusiasm and talent.

Finally, I apologize that I won't have photos to share during this process.  They're forbidden due to union rules, I think!