collisionwork | On the Lighter Side . . . (Reply)

For the record.

The one and only review of the "Marys" program in the Baby Jesus One-Act Jubilee has been from Li Cornfeld at offoffionline.com. Some nice things are said about my production of Marshmallow World, namely:

A Christmas Carol is followed by Marc Spitz’s Marshmallow World, which brings a literal return to the craziness. Set in a support group, the play features a collection of colorful oddballs all suffering from “sonic” addiction. Victor (Brick Technical Director Ian Hill, who also directs, in addition to serving as marathon light designer and tech director) is among the group’s more senior members and seems strangely sweet given his criminal record, substance abuse, and obsession with NPR’s Terry Gross. Meanwhile, Angel (Alyssa Simon) yearns for a better sense of aesthetics as she tries to move beyond her love of bad music at intimate moments, while Ray (Aaron Baker) fears a particular infamous string of notes. All three deliver comedic performances that embrace their characters’ quirks while resisting the urge to play them as simply insane.

From the beginning, however, audience attention is drawn to Boris (Jason Liebman), who sits alone in a corner hiding in a black hoodie and looking as though he wants to disappear. Fortunately, he instead reveals why he has come: he’s a religious Jew obsessed with Christmas music. As Boris, Liebman is at once deeply distraught and charmingly amusing. Elsewhere in the program, Liebman is engaging as anachronistic Biblical thugs, and it’s fun to see him succeed here at something different.

Pleasant enough. Yup, I'm "strangely sweet." That does seem to be something I can pull out easily onstage.

I kinda specialize in playing Brutes, Intellectuals, or Fops, or any combination thereof (wanna see a brutish fop? I've done it a couple of times; good at it). And I can throw "strangely sweet" on top of any of them.

I actually - to my own surprise as well as others' - turned out to be really good at light romantic comic leads the couple of times I was cast that way, but I'm gettin' long-in-the-tooth for that, and I was never the right physical type anyway.

The big thing I can't do well at all, at least as far as I'm concerned: dumb people. Big limitation as an actor, but one I got. Can't do dumb people well. A friend of mine who got cast as dumb people frequently (and I never believed him in those parts either, but maybe that was 'cause I knew him) always said, "Oh, it's easy - just make your eyes wide and your jaw slack," but it never seemed to work for me.

Well, at least I'm good at "thinking."