FREE SHOWS this weekend!

Hitting Williamsburg for the next two weekends (September 22, 23, 29, 30) is the 2nd Annual WPA Free Fest --

That is, a free festival from the Williamsburg Performance Alliance, where seven performance spaces/organizations in Williamsburg will open their doors all day and night to host free performances.

The home page is HERE (though it's not entirely updated as I write, and still has a lot of things from last year on there, but I'm told it'll be all set shortly).

The Brick will be participating on the first weekend in the evenings with their week of productions of Suzan-Lori Parks' 365 Days/365 Plays.

And also . . .

Gemini CollisionWorks will be participating on Saturday, September 22, with two free performances. At 3.00 pm, the return of

directed by Ian W. Hill

performed by Ian W. Hill, Rasheed Hinds, Roger Nasser, and Jessica Savage. 70 minutes long, no intermission. Not appropriate for kids. Really.

Returning from August, and (we hope) prior to more shows later this year, you have a chance to see this popular comedy for free now. It's our "loss leader," cause we think you'll wanna come back and pay the sawbuck later, and bring your friends . . .

(more info on this show below)

and at 5.00 pm:

Ian W. Hill performs the monologue In Moscow (A Moscow Hamlet) by Anton Chekhov, translated by Carol Rocamora. 20 minutes long.

Nasty, funny, bittersweet, tragic, satiric - the essence of Chekhov in 20 minutes, as an aging bohemian examines his own boredom, his own flaws, and his talent for appearing talented while knowing nothing in a cultural world that knows even less than he. As appropriate (or more?) to Williamsburg in 2007 as to Moscow in 1891.

Did we mention they're FREE?

Come on by and check us out, and go by some of the other participating spaces before or after and see what they're doing (also participating on both weekends: Vampire Cowboys/The Battleranch and Soundance at The Stable; participating on the second weekend: Triskalion Arts and WAX).

My shows are at

The Brick

575 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn

right by the L Train (Lorimer) and G Train (Metropolitan/Grand) stops

WARNING: Both shows feature the brief smoking of (legal in NYC but potentially annoying) herbal cigarettes onstage. It's actually important to both shows and the characters in them and it just looks silly mimed. Hope that's okay with you.

**********

The Hobo Got Too High by Marc Spitz

directed by Ian W. Hill

3.00 pm - Saturday, September 22 -- The Brick

Bug Blowmonkey loves music. Bug Blowmonkey loves a woman. Bug Blowmonkey loves cocaine. Two of these things are good for him, but the other one is messing him up. Bad. Wanna take a guess which one? Bug knows the blow is taking him down a dark path, but can't quit it on his own. Luckily, he has a spirit guide to help him out of his hole, and towards the "light" he seeks: Marvin Gaye. Granted, Marvin is also a drug-addled paranoiac (and dead for 20 years), but beggars can't be choosers when it comes to spirit guides, it seems. Will Bug, with the help of Marvin Gaye and a stuffed buffalo in The Museum of Natural History, be able to overcome his addiction and fight the haunting, taunting spirit of the girlfriend he lost to win the heart of a new woman in his life, who may be able to save him from himself? Will he find his "light?" Will he figure out why every person he sleeps with has a tail? Will this whole story be told in a fast, jumpy, non-linear style, full of hysterical one-liners and astonishing situations?

At least three of these questions will be answered in a viewing of Marc Spitz's play, The Hobo Got Too High, staged by Ian W. Hill. Spitz -- often described, probably to the point of his being tired of it, as "a downtown Oscar Wilde" -- is known for a distanced, ironic, comic sensibility in his plays. Hill -- often described, with deep inaccuracy, as a protege of Richard Foreman -- is known for a stylized, abstracted, presentational directorial style. What do these two share? A deep love and understanding of rock and roll music, and a hidden romantic, sentimental side. Put them together in this play, and you get a production that feels like a great eclectic mix tape, moving from the lugubrious sadness of Leonard Cohen to the jumpiness of The Velvet Underground to the wistfulness of Michael Nesmith to the pure pop of The Lightning Seeds to the deep soul of Marvin Gaye.

The Hobo Got Too High is an hour of sex, drugs, rock and roll, romance, non-sequiturs, vast numbers of curse words, retractable penises, and an appraisal of Diane Lane's breasts. Come see it FOR FREE in the WPA Free Fest!

Rest In "Blank"

In the chagrin-fringed "I Didn't Know They Were Still Alive When They Died" Department, a new entry . . .

Just read on Mark Evanier's blog that the beloved (by some, including me) Match Game stalwart Brett Somers has passed away. This is confirmed on Brett Somers' website (my god, there's a www.brettsomers.com!).

Of course she had a career and life outside of that game show, but I couldn't for the life of me have told you anything about that before reading the links I just included in this sentence. She was married to the Klugmeister? Huh. Somehow makes sense. Grew up around Portland, ME . . . lived in Westport, CT. Whaddya know?

And in tribute, a little piece of performance art from Mystery Science Theater 3000, as Crow T. Robot performs his one-robot show, a tribute to Gene Rayburn, Give 'Em Hell, Blank!: