Cruel Theatre (Interactive and Scripted Texts)
Double Above the Knee (with the Lizard Loft)
Double Above the Knee - Written by Hawaii Shakespeare Festival’s Tony Pisculli and produced by Cruel Theatre in association with the Lizard Loft at Mark’s Garage. Double Above the Knee (DAK) explored body mutilation, ownership and identity--do we and can we have complete control over our own bodies. Hosted by Eve Brown (aka Diar Rhea, the most stunning drag-super star of Honolulu) DAK followed the story of a beautiful young woman who dreams of becoming an amputee--both legs amputated above the knee. The cast of DAK was: Mariko Neubauer, Danel Verdugo, Mike Marianni and Reb Beau Allen.
DAK began with an introduction by Gina Collagen (Eve Brown aka Diar Rhea) and ended with a post-show discussion led by Gina. In addition to the lovely hostess sections, each scene of the play was followed by a musical interlude with Physical Theatre creating expressionistic dramatic segments.
DAK began with an introduction by Gina Collagen (Eve Brown aka Diar Rhea) and ended with a post-show discussion led by Gina. In addition to the lovely hostess sections, each scene of the play was followed by a musical interlude with Physical Theatre creating expressionistic dramatic segments.
Crave (with Late Night Theatre)
Crave (with Late Night Theatre) - Visually stunning, completely cruel. Sarah Kane’s Crave was staged using 6 actors--four who spoke, two for bits of physical theatre (picking sunflower petals, drawing on bodies with markers, loving). A single white sheet hung as the stage setting. As the play progressed, the white sheet became further and further stained with blood. The cast of Crave was: Mariko Neubauer, Brent Reynolds, Danel Verdugo, Kathy Hunter, Blake Kushi, Henry West and Chris Garre. The entire audience left feeling violated. A near-flawless production.
The Stranger
The Stranger - This one-actor-one audience member interactive environmental performance dealt with the Patriot Act and issues of security versus freedom. A couple story lines very loosely paralleled moments of Camus’ “The Stranger”; performances ended with each actor and audience member pair being interrogated and driven around in an ‘FBI’ car (the audience member was then dropped off at the box office at the very end of the show.) The cast of The Stranger included: Brent Reynolds, Shawn Thomsen, Reb Beau Allen, Danel Verdugo, Kathy Hunter, Jeremy G. Pippin, Troy Apostol, Otto and Doug Upp
Since each (approximately) hour long performance ended with the audience member/actor pairs being driven around in a car and interrogated, start times were staggered: two pairs (actor/audience member) began at 7pm, another two groups (of four) began 15 minutes later, etc. This allowed for scenes between actor/audience member pairs and a final interrogation with two different cars, two sets of four FBI agents--each FBI pair interrogating the audience member and actor. Two of the six primary actors were against the Patriot Act, two of the six primary actors were pro-Patriot Act, and two of the six primary actors were undecided. This allowed for a non-didactic overall production, in which the audience experiences the liberties now given to the government under the Patriot Act (holding a terror suspect without a charge) and the audience can therefore decide for themselves the value or lack thereof. (*Brent Reynold’s story line involved getting the audience to actually protest the war…)
Since each (approximately) hour long performance ended with the audience member/actor pairs being driven around in a car and interrogated, start times were staggered: two pairs (actor/audience member) began at 7pm, another two groups (of four) began 15 minutes later, etc. This allowed for scenes between actor/audience member pairs and a final interrogation with two different cars, two sets of four FBI agents--each FBI pair interrogating the audience member and actor. Two of the six primary actors were against the Patriot Act, two of the six primary actors were pro-Patriot Act, and two of the six primary actors were undecided. This allowed for a non-didactic overall production, in which the audience experiences the liberties now given to the government under the Patriot Act (holding a terror suspect without a charge) and the audience can therefore decide for themselves the value or lack thereof. (*Brent Reynold’s story line involved getting the audience to actually protest the war…)
Phaedra
Phaedra (with Kumu Kahua Dark Night) - Beginning with the ending and using a polaroid camera, this staging of Racine’s masterpiece was heavily inspired by Japanese Noh theatre concepts as well as Neoclassical theory--the focus was the "Unity of Time".
The cast of Phaedra was: Craig Howes, Kathy Hunter, Christy Hauptman, Danel Verdugo, Jeremy G. Pippin, Reb Beau Allen
The cast of Phaedra was: Craig Howes, Kathy Hunter, Christy Hauptman, Danel Verdugo, Jeremy G. Pippin, Reb Beau Allen