Project 3 - Too Hot Too Handle

Too Hot Too Handle

1. NYC Today

Girls in Trouble
Off-Broadway @ The Flea Theater-NYC
February 12th - March 1st
Produced by Jonathan Reynolds Directed by Jim Simpson

"The new play by Jonathan Reynolds (Stonewall Jackson's House) ""dares to explore the controversial history of abortion through its life-changing effect on women across three generations...""
http://www.playbill.com/news/article/137620-Girls-in-Trouble-Controversial-Play-%20About-Abortion-Gets-Extra-Week-Talkbacks-Announced

This play is so controversial because it takes you back to the beginning of the abortion debate and shows you how we have gotten to where we are today. By doing so, it allows you to form your own opinion as to whether abortion is bad as opposed to just thinking like you are told to think.

2. Naked Broadway-

Spring Awakening

Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff as
adolescent lovers in “Spring Awakening.”

Broadway’s Eugene O’Neill Theatre-NYC
December 10, 2006 - January 18, 2009

Produced by Tom Hulce

Directed by Michael Mayer

Written by Frank Wedekind

Spring Awakening is too hot to handle because it places the issue of coming of age and sexuality before the public in an uncensored but relevant way. While It is definitely not the first play to deal with sex, it places the current politics involving sex and our youth at the forefront for discussion.

3. Gay Broadway

Boy Meets Boy
Off-Broadway @ Actors Playhouse NYC
1975
Produced by Christopher Larkin and Edith O'Hara
Music and Lyrics by Bill Solly

This charming hit by Solly & Ward imagined what the 1930s might have been like if gay and straight lifestyles were equally accepted.
http://www.musicals101.com/gay7.htm

This controversial play written by gays caused uproar because it showed what would happen if homosexual relationships were given the same respect that hetero sexual relationships were. Basically, it tried to show a world where being gay was looked at no differently than being straight

4. Racist Broadway

Showboat

Chris Mueller/Signature Theatre

VaShawn McIlwain plays Joe in
Signature Theatre's production of
"Show Boat," which runs through Jan. 17.

Broadway @ Ziegfeld Theatre, NYC
Dec 27, 1927 - May 4, 1929
Produced by Florenz Ziegfeld
Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Music by Jerome Kern

This play is so controversial because it confronts all of the racist practices of that time and showcases them in a way that condemned them. It depicts whites coming to the aid of a mullatto women and her white husband as opposed to condemning them..it was illegal for whites and mulattos to be married.

5. Busted

Sex
Broadway @ The Casino Theater-NYC
April 26, 1926 – March 1927
Written, Produced, and Directed by Mae West

"Sex is a 1926 play, written by, and starring, Mae West. It was very popular for about a year before the New York Police Department raided West and her company, charging them with obscenity..."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_(play)

Sex was so controversial because it showed a woman using the sex business as a means to get out of the decrepit life she was in. It also was controversial because it contained nudity. It also should be noted that among those who attended were judges and their families along with members of the police department…who ironically raided the show later.

6. NEA 4

Holly Hughes, Tim Miller, John Fleck,
Martha Wilson and Karen Finley
at NYU, April 15, 2004.

Consisted of four performance artists whose grants were denied by the National Endowment for the Arts. A process by which the board would accept or deny the artists requests resulted in a veto by NEA chair John Frohnmayer despite their requests being approved by a peer review.

These artists were “Too Hot Too Handle” because there work involved works that while they were artistic were considered indecent to the people on the review committee. They including pieces involving gay right and marriage, sexuality, and immigration issues…all hot button political issues of the time.

7. Regional Theatre

Eric Brady The Roanoke Times
Posters at Mill Mountain Theatre

advertise plays Tuesday that will not be

staged. The theater will close after the

production of "Driving Miss
Daisy."


Mill Mountain Theatre
Roanoke, Virginia
January 27, 2009

Controversy exists over how deep in debt the Mill Mountain Theatre is and what can be done to save it. It has been speculated for a few years that the debt could be above $600,000 and with the current economy it appears that they can no longer stay afloat.

8. College University

Quills

Media Credit: Chris Gregory/Hatchet
photographer Sophomore Mark Amoroso
and senior Michael Weiss will perform
amid controversy this weekend in the
Company's production of "Quills."

George Washington University
May 1st and 2nd, 2009
Cast of the Play vs. University Officials

It is such a hot button topic because backside nudity has come to be accepted but when you get to full frontal nudity you start dealing with sexuality on a whole different level. The controversy here surrounds how far one should go when it come to art imitating real life.

9. High School

Laramie Project

Steven Robertson and Christian Latham

rehearse for ‘‘The Laramie Project.’’

(Boston Globe Photo / Jon Chase)

http://www.boston.com/news/local/
massachusetts/articles/2007/11/01/
parents_others_protest_laramie_
at_high_school/

Acton-Boxborough Regional High School - Boston, Massachusetts
Nov. 9 and 10, 2007
MassResistance, The Westboro Baptist Church, and the students

This play is causing controversy because you are taking topics such as homosexuality, which is a point of controversy among older audiences, and placing it in a high school setting amongst teenagers. The graphic subject matter surrounding the peace is making the parents uneasy and they are concerned about how it will affect their children in the future.

10. Wild Card

Corpus Christi
Tarleton State University in Stephenville
March 23, 2010
Students vs. Community

This play is controversial simply by the fact that it depicts Jesus as a homosexual and at one point has him marrying two of the disciples. This play would have controversy in the most liberal states, but because it is in a small Texas town, it will have more than its share of protestors.

Experimental Theatre

Project #2: Experimental Theatre

The Garage

http://baretnews.com/story/20091224201401001b.html

The Garage." (L-R): Vedran Zivolic,

Goran Bogdan, Nina Violic, Frano Maskovic.

Photo by Mara Bratos.

La Mama Experimental Theatre Club

January 28 - February 7, 2010

Thursday - Saturday at 7:30pm

Sunday at 2:30pm

Based on "The Garage" by Zdenko Mesaric

Directed by Ivica Buljan

Performed by Zagreb Youth Theatre of Croatia

Throw in an audience, a couple of wrestlers, and a ring, and the first thing that comes to mind is a wrestling match...or so you would think. The La Mama Experimental Theatre Club's performance of The Garage, performed by the Zagreb Youth Theatre of Croatia is the definition of experimental theatre. The set consists of a boxing ring in which the actors perform and Croatia's leading hip-hop group will be taking care of the plays music. This play conbines several genre's from martial arts film along with the excitement of a wrestling match. The use of a wrestling wring as the actual stage makes this play unlike anything you will probably ever see.

The Tempest

http://www.bohemian.com/bohemian/09.16.09/stage-0937.html

ANIMATE: Actors using dolls takes

manipulation, a key theme in

The Tempest,' a step further

Sonoma County Repertory Theatre

Directed by Conrad Bishop

Based on the Tempest by William Shakespeare

Premiered September 18, 2009 with 18 total performances

( specific days not specified)

This production combines the use of actors being portrayed thru puppets. The world puppet is an understatement because the actors are dressed in all black and operate lifesize puppets with ornate costumes and exquisite detail. What makes this production so unique is the actors are visible to the audience giving a sense that it is not real but also requiring the actors to give even more life to the puppets and characters they are embodying.

Continuous City

Hotel Pro Forma

Directed by Marianne Weems

Written by Harry Sinclair

September 19, 2008 - August 13, 2009

“Continuous City surprises, questions, puzzles and fascinates with its mastery of the very technologies it speaks about. Visually superb, the show directed by Marianne Weems, evokes a multitude of small matters that will keep you thinking long after the last haunting scene”
Le Soir, Belgium, January 26, 2009

http://www.thebuildersassociation.org/press.html

This production is unique because it takes the city that it is being staged in and ties it specifically to that particular city. The show combines a traditional set with a projection screen on which shots from that particular city are shown on the screen. One particular thing that sets this production apart is the fact that you are being narrated thru the city that is being higlighted and actually seeing footage from that city as if you are walking through it yourself. This aspect of the production has been planned ahead of time and fits perfectly into the plot as oppossed to feeling like an afterthought.

Roller Skating with My Cousin

The LIDA Project Experimental Theatre Company

An original play writtten by The LIDA Project

January 15 – February 20, 2010

"Part science lab, part disco, Roller Skating With My Cousin combines the mythology and archetypes of the Biblical story of the Tower of Babel with the sexual revolutionary act of roller skating, whilesimultaneously asking whether we can all create a custom-designed universe in our kitchen sink and, furthermore, why did Ronald Reagan fail as the anti-Christ?
This mash-up of themes results in a lively, dark romp in which a synchronized chorus of roller skaters builds a tower under a star-flecked mirror ball sky".

Bindery/space

http://bindery.lida.org/

The use of scenery and props in this play is what makes it unconventional. The set uses cardboard for objects such as a tower that are suppossed to be sturdy. Not only is the scenery unconventional but the props are also with the use of gas masks and other objects that really do not link themselves together in any obvious way. The final icing on the cake is the use of professional skater derby girls and why the title of the play may not match what happens on stage...it is nevertheless unique in every sense of the word.

The Making of Americans
The Gertrude Stein Repertory Theatre

Directed by Cheryl Faver and John Reaves

Performing December 2008 and January 2009

"Designed to be performed in the style of Japanese Bunraku in front of live audiences by a process that we call "digital puppetry," GSRT's adaptation will give unique expression to the literary device Stein employs as she isolates, dissects and grafts psychological traits onto imaginary characters. By overlaying images to create "new" characters, we too will be "making Americans."

The Gertrude Stein Repertory Theatre

http://www.gertstein.org/project1.html

The Making of America by Gertrude Stein shows life in a family spanning multiple generations. This particular production is unique in the sense that there are cameras placed within the set, which consists of a house, and actions taken place in the house are seen on the screens by the audience. As the audience watches the peformer in front of them, they are also viewing what is happening inside the house thus keeping the action in constant movement.