 I'm ready for my Zoom-up! OK, I know everyone's doing it, but I have to admit I was skeptical... until I, too, indulged.
For the last 90 minutes, I had the great good fortune to read an original play aloud with a group of trusted collaborators. It was a private reading, just the playwright and 7 actors reading her words aloud... and it was a blast! I don't yet know when we'll be back in a rehearsal room together, or how and when plays onstage with people in an audience will resume. But I am here to say that whatever we just did today was theatrical. We could see and hear each other and react to the story we were telling together. It was funny, and intimate, and so much fun. If you are a playwright and are looking for a way to hear your words, consider arranging a Zoom table read. Or reach out to TIC! Above all else, stay safe, and if you can, creative.  TIC is thrilled to be working for the first time with actor and playwright Mindy Pfeffer, who will be performing her solo show, From The Bronx to a Bike, in the upcoming Plus 1 Solo Show Festival, November 1 and 2 @ 8 pm, Theatre 54 @ Shetler Studios. Tickets are $20 at www.tictheater.com or by calling 1-800-838-3006.
We asked Mindy a bit about herself and her solo show. What's your solo show about? My show is about how my father taught me how to ride, as a kid from the Bronx, and how I connected with him after his death, finding happiness cycling in a thunderstorm in an Ironman triathlon. Who inspires you to write and perform? Not any one person in general -- but -- humanity, in general, and the highs and lows it/we are capable of. The power of the human spirit and the kindness we can provide for each other inspire me to create. What's the hardest part about doing a solo show? Not having anyone to joke around with in the dressing room... :-) What's the best thing about doing your piece? It relates to the hardest thing about solo work in general - I love the back and forth, give-and-take with my onstage partners, other performers, when onstage with them, and of course, in a solo show, that can't happen. BUT - with a solo show, the audience is my partner. I love that! It's a joy unlike any other. Plus I get to relive the fun and fear of riding a bicycle (one of my favorite things to do) with them and take them along on my journey.  TIC was fortunate to get to know Tracilyn Jones when she starred in TIC's 2016 production Rapture, Blister, Burn. Since then, Tracilyn developed her original solo show, Art in Motion, and premiered it in 2019. The piece is part performance, part art -- literally. She paints and shares stories about her evolution as an artistic person, and by the end of the piece, there is a large, completed canvas.
TIC will feature Art in Motion in its Fall 2019 Plus 1 Solo Show Festival, which runs Nov. 1 & 2 @ 8 pm at Theatre 54 @ Shetler Studios, 244 West 54th Street, 12th Floor. Tickets are $20 @ www.tictheater.com or by calling 1-800-838-3006. We sat down with the multi-talented Tracilyn and asked her a few questions. Who or what inspires you to write? No one in particular inspires me to write other than my Spirit, but it is my mother who inspired me to paint. The only lesson I ever had as a child was by her, I was maybe 7 and we were coloring grass... She told me to find where it grows and paint in that direction. So to this day although my pieces are all abstract, they do have a heartbeat and a source that I have to navigate, so once I find and breathe into it, I move from there. What's hard about creating a solo show? I could tell you the truth, but it's too vulnerable, so I'll simply say the word, "everything." What's the best part of creating this piece? That it's an evolving process. As I change as an artist, I've created a piece that will move and grow with me. I'm back to the grass analogy...  As his bio mentions, Matt Whitfield can't help but bring a chill vibe to all that he does. Come check him out in his original one-man show, The Wheels on the Bus, being showcased in Tongue in Cheek's Plus 1 Solo Show Festival November 1 and 2 @ 8 pm, at Theatre 54 @ Shetler Studios. Tickets are $20 @ www.tictheater.com or call 1-800-838-3006. We asked the talented thesp a few questions about the process of creating and performing his autobiographical piece. What's your solo show about? How one family's best intentions lead them on a three-day road trip from hell. Who inspires you to write and perform? My wife. She's always encouraging me to share my stories. It wasn't until I got married that I realized how bizarre my childhood was. And if I had to pick a performer who inspires me to share my stories, it would be Mike Birbiglia. I love how he shares his most embarrassing moments and turns them into jokes for everyone to enjoy. I'm trying to that with this show. It's when our best laid plans go out the window, that we find out who we are. What's the hardest part of doing a solo show? Figuring which details to leave out. In my case, it all happened. It's all true. There are so many details that it gets hard to decide what needs to stay in the story, and what doesn't. It's been a challenge condensing three life-altering days, each filled with mishaps, into a 25-minute piece. What's the best thing about doing your piece? Seeing my parents as peers. It's fun because I'm older (now) than almost all of the characters are in my story. I find myself wondering what I would have said to my parents if they were my friends, or, if I, as an adult, were along for the ride. Relating to them as fellow humans, not Mom and Dad, has been a surprising and totally enjoyable part of this experience. Artistic Director Note: We're so thrilled to be working with Matt again -- he helped devise a new play in 2013-14 that became Buffalo Heights, in which he played a high school stoner who makes a big difference in the life of a new teacher.   Tongue in Cheek is beyond delighted to be working with Caralie Chrisco for the third time.
On November 1 and 2, she will be performing her new solo show, Are You My Father... Shaquille O'Neal? in TIC's Fall 2019 Plus 1 Solo Show Festival. Tickets are $20 at www.tictheater.com A few years back, Caralie premiered another solo show in Plus 1, and in 2018, helped devise a new work that became Relentlessly Pleasant. We asked the talented writer-performer a few questions about her latest project. What's your solo show about? My show is about my younger self, self-assigning a fabulous father figure to an empty space. Who inspires you to write and perform? My mother. She's been writing her whole life but without the intention to be published or performed. What's the hardest part of doing a solo show? Realizing you're asking your friends and coworkers to hear a very personal story they probably wouldn't know otherwise. What's the best thing about doing your piece? It's a cathartic experience. It's not something I could have ever performed in my younger years in Louisiana. I feel free of judgment and just open for understanding in New York. With a solo piece, you own the narrative and the execution, and that's a powerful thing. Indeed! Catch Caralie onstage for 2 performances of the Fall 2019 Plus 1 Solo Show Festival, November 1 and 2 at 8 pm at Theatre 54 @ Shetler Studios, 244 West 54th Street, 12th Floor. One ticket gains entry to see 4 great solo works. 1. She's a Gemini, if you buy into horoscopes and all that... and our play, Recent Tragic Events, is all about twins!
2. She's been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize 3 times: Black Water (1992), What I Lives For (1994), and Blonde (2000). 3. She graduated from Syracuse valedictorian. 4. She's immortalized by a sock puppet in Recent Tragic Events! TIC presents its 41st production with Recent Tragic Events, May 8-11 and 15-18 @ 8 pm at The Bridge Theater @ Shetler Studios. Tickets: $20 here: www.tictheater.com And this: https://www.readitforward.com/essay/article/the-7-best-joyce-carol-oates-novels/
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