I do this every year

One final thing for the Halloween weekend. This is one I've been lucky enough to participate in for probably close to a decade.

The Halloween Haunted Walk at the New York Botanical Gardens!

It's billed as a treat for the kids, and they do love it, but as far as I'm concerned it's fun for all ages.

Again, the puppets and costumes are by Ralph Lee and his company. (Love him! Have you gotten that yet?) The Botanical Garden event staff work with him to find a path through their grounds with places to stop, places to hide, and pretty walkways. Lee then sprinkles the path with performers. Some are groups, (devils, spirit birds, tap dancing skeletons), some are single performers and there are some things hidden in the bushes so don't get too comfortable.

I am part of the skeleton group and we are always a big hit with the crowd. I believe last year we were the first stop on the trip. We still have to have a volunteer who helps to move the crowd along so there isn't a bottle neck. We have a live accordian player and tap shoes and cool songs and I'd totally show you a picture but I don't have one so you'll just be forced to come see it! Give me a wave, I'll be able to tell it's you even if you can't tell it's me.

Details:

Halloween on Haunted Walk
October 30, 2005 • 2 to 4 p.m.
In the Benenson Ornamental Conifers (sounds dirty!)
Fee: $2 per person plus grounds admission (total of $8 for adults, $3 for children); includes participation in Halloween on Haunted Walk and admission to the Everett Children's Adventure Garden. (Fee is included in the Combination Ticket.)

Find directions here.

Puppies in drag

Once upon a time a princess came from her mysterious homeland of Tennessee to settle in the wild lands of Brooklyn. She came with many talents, she could talk with the animals whether they walk on 2 legs or 4, she could create garments that sparkle and shine for people who sang with a twang and her laugh was mesmerizing. After she had been in Brooklyn for a time she decided that the people of her little clearing should band together for safety and to improve each other's lot. But how to convince them to trust each other and spend time in each other's company with civil talk and coffee?

Finally she hit up on it!

The princess is Kath and the Great Pupkin is a little event that she thought would be fun to do to bring awareness to the Fort Greene Park Users and Pet owners Society (PUPS). The first year it was a fun little gathering with the "regulars" from Fort Greene Park. This year is the 7th Annual Great Pupkin and a conservative estimate suspects we'll have 60 entrants and may even have to turn people away. (We hate turning people away.)



What I think is great about this (along with that whole sense of community, meeting your neighbors, doing it for the kids blah blah, suburban, whatever, I know I should be better at this) is that people are incredibly imaginative. Yes, it's easy to get incensed when the costume you think is perfect doesn't win but it's also easy to understand because the choices are so varied. A Jack Russell as Seabiscuit and a Newfoundland as Richard Simmons. One of the greatest and yet most unassuming costumes of all time was the calmest Boston Terrier I've ever seen...dressed as a bat.

Yes, it's getting to be a bit of a mob scene but even if you just wander through the crowd for a bit and see the dogs you'll get the flavor of it. If you happen to wander by a PUPS donation jar then consider offering something because the princess puts a lot of that money toward the poop bag dispensers which keep the park clean and fresh!

Details:

Join PUPS Saturday, October 29, 12:00-1:00 for the
7th Annual Great PUPkin Halloween Dog Costume Contest.

Registration will begin at 11:30, follow the signs at park entrances for the registration location. (HEY! THAT'S ME! I'M DOING THE SIGNS! Crap, I have to go buy posterboard quick!) Suggested donation is $3.00 per dog; $5.00 for two dogs.

PUPS welcomes this year's Guest Celebrity Judge, WNBC-TV's Jane Hanson, host of "Jane's New York." Joining her on the judges' panel will be the Fort Greene Association's Phillip Kellogg and 35th Council District Councilmember Letitia James.

Generously donated prizes include dinner for two at Olea, a day of dog playcare from Kiki's Pet Hotel, goodie bags for all entrants from Walker Pet Shop, a surprise gift from Pintchik Hardware, and a gift certificate from The Greene Grape.) Certified Dog Trainer Dawn Prentiss from Semper Fido will be on hand to offer training tips.
So get your costumes ready, and mark your calendar for Saturday, October 29.

Rain date will be Sunday, October 30, same time.

All Souls to All Saints

There's this cool thing that I've never attended but have participated in that I think you'd like. I mean, who wouldn't?

The Halloween Extravaganza and Procession of Ghouls at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine. Every year the cathedral shows a classic silent film complete with organ music accompaniment. After the movie there's smoke and a procession of ghouls created by Ralph Lee and embodied by a few of his many followers. The cathedral is mostly lit by candles and the music is amazing and no matter your age you'll be some combination of fascinated and scared out of your seat by the procession.

This year's movie is Lon Chaney's Phantom of the Opera.

I can't tell you whether I'll be performing yet. I haven't asked if I can. If so I'll probably do the late show since I'm a relative newbie.

The cool New York serendipity story is that when I was a kid Ralph Lee's Mettawee River Theatre Company came to Prescott Park every year and my dad loved them so we always went and saw what they were doing. I followed their short parades, I watched them build masks, I moved around to every seat in the audience for their shows. It was like some sort of magician came down from a mountain to grant my community an audience once a year. Years later I come to New York, I start working with my mentor and at one point she introduces me to a fellow dancer and teacher. That fellow turns out to be Lee's daughter. It was like meeting royalty! And thanks to her I know about this event and I've even dressed in the man's costumes!

You can't get a much better endorsement than that, can you?

Here's the scoop:

Halloween Extravaganza & Procession of Ghouls
Fri. Oct. 28 at 7 PM & 10 PM

Featuring the 1928 classic horror silent film Phantom of the Opera, starring Lon Chaney, this is one of the Cathedral's unique and popular events, an evening of thrills and chills. The film is followed by the frightful pageantry of The Grand Procession of the Ghouls. Staged by Ralph Lee, the Obie Award-winning creator of New York City's Halloween Parade, the Procession is a theatrical tapestry of fabulous puppets, creatures and special effects. A memorable Halloween experience for young and old. Tickets: $15; students and seniors $8.

They murdered Marlowe

But in a good way.

The bottom line is: Go see this show. It's an intelligent, entertaining piece with high production values executed by a talented theatre company.


(Caralyn Kozlowski as Emilia and Cedric Hayman as William Shakespeare in "Murdering Marlowe" by Charles Marowitz. Directed by Jason King Jones. Onstage at the Access Theatre from October 11-23, 2005. For tickets, visit www.SmartTix.com or call 212-868-4444. Photo: Brian J. Ruggaber.)

Now, that said, nobody's perfect, right?

What's known, historically, is that Christopher "Kit" Marlowe died in a pub of a knife wound to the eye. The framework this play uses to explain these bare facts is some governmental machinations that take advantage of an weak and insecure fellow artist.

William Shakespeare is portrayed in this work as a great admirer of his good friend Marlowe but who, as an artist, believes that talent and fame are finite in the world and that when one person excels others will feel the lack. To present this man in a small, 4th floor walk-up theatre a couple of blocks below Canal is, well let's say thought provoking for those of us struggling to win a piece of that pie.

Caralyn Kozlowski's Emilia is a shining light in this production. Her performance is well rounded and nicely nuanced with a good sense of both the comedy and the true feeling of her part. Full disclosure, it was a friend of Ms. Kozlowski's who turned me on to this play but I couldn't paint the picture more honestly.

She is closely followed by Tim McGeever as Philip Henslow and Glenn Peters as Marlowe. They each have an ease of manner and command of the diction and flow of the piece that carries you along with them into a world edgily close to our current one. There are varied sexual exploits, judicial interrogation, government intrigue, all that with which we are now achingly familiar.

Jason King Jones's direction focuses rightly on the relationships in the piece which are the meat of the story. A tryst between Marlowe and Emilia is deliciously sweet, exploring the pull of desire and the tart quality of the extramarital affair. Marlowe's seduction of a young orphan, played hysterically by Jeremy Beazlie, is both sexually appealing and somewhat disturbing as Marlowe delights in the discomfort of the younger man. Jones also has a lovely feel for transitions which is unfortunately hampered by the necessities of set and prop movement.

I do have some questions. With the exception of Ms. Kozlowski, the dialects are spotty at best. I wonder if it might not have been fine to have left well enough alone with neutral American accents to keep the distraction to a minimum.

The costumes by Maggie Dick were interesting as well. Marlowe's Superman t-shirt is a nice joke that works beautifully with the play. I also enjoyed the belted Elizabethan-style half-skirts that the women wore over pants and corset tops. However, there was no answering nod to the period in the men's clothing, creating an unfinished feeling to the concept.

Mr. Marowitz's writing is long on emotion, has a solid dose of comedy and gives each character plenty to chew on. He tacks on a loose-end-tying final scene that a thinking audience (which In Actu seemed to have in spades) could probably have done without. Once Marlowe has passed on we might have been better left to our own devices. The insecure, vindictive, unimaginative man Marowitz paints as Shakespeare is certainly potentially valid and an interesting way to look at it. It's not how I, personally, want to remember the playwright, but I can see how it might have been true.

In the final analysis, though, the questions and bobbles are few and far between. The East Coast premiere of Murdering Marlowe is a credit to all involved and you'd do well to catch it while you can - they close on Sunday. Everyone involved has stellar credits behind them and it's a treat to see them up close. I'm sure you'll be seeing them all again.

In Actu Theatre
presents the East Coast Premiere of

Murdering Marlowe

written by Charles Marowitz
directed by Jason King Jones


(Glenn Peters as Christopher Marlowe and Cedric Hayman as William Shakespeare in "Murdering Marlowe" by Charles Marowitz. Directed by Jason King Jones. Onstage at the Access Theatre from October 11-23, 2005. For tickets, visit www.SmartTix.com or call 212-868-4444. Photo: Brian J. Ruggaber.)

with

Cedric Hayman
Patrick Hallahan
Tim McGeever
Mandy Olsen
Caralyn Kozlowski
Glenn Peters
Bryan Cogman
Jeremy Beazlie
Nicholas Coleman

The Access Theatre
380 Broadway, 4th Floor
2 blocks South of Canal Street

Saturday, October 22, 2005 8:00pm
Sunday, October 23, 2005 3:00pm

Tickets $15

for more information visit their web site.

Pre-review

I was hoping to have some pictures for this but sadly no. A new play, Murdering Marlowe, has been brought to my attention by the mystical Julie. I am going to see it tonight. When she urged me to see it I took a look around the web site and the cast seems truly stellar and the premise interesting. I mean, you know that anything Shakespeare related is a good idea in my book (well...almost, remind me to tell you later about the production of Winter's Tale I saw last night, it will require a video of my impression to do it justice but...). So, Murdering Marlowe, people, go see it! And hurry, it's tonight at 8, tomorrow at 8 and Sunday at 3 at the Access Theatre (380 Broadway, 2 blocks below Canal, 5 floor walk up - it's a play and a work out all in one, fabulous!)

Once I've seen it I will update this entry with more info (and maybe pictures!). In the mean time please, please see if you can squeeze in a little support of new theatre in New York.

NOLA helps you back

I'm getting better, I'm a few days ahead of this one.

I do this thing...uh...I never know how to describe it, some people call it a networking group, some call it coaching, I tend to go with a career counseling group. It's different than anything else I know of in any of those veins, though.

Penelope Brackett is a Life Coach (Eyes front private, I know that phrase makes you uncomfortable but she's not like that! No, for real, she's not. She is a fan of practical action and forward motion starting with your skills and desires and moving toward those lofty aspirations you keep hiding under the bed.)

Twice a year (or maybe thrice, I can't remember) she has a big networking brunch. (Hey! It's just a word! It doesn't mean what you think it means. I'd paraphrase you her fabulous net of people catching you when you stumble speech but I can't do it justice. And that is why you have to come to this brunch. I'm pretty sure she'll do the net speech.) This half year's brunch is this coming Saturday (details at the bottom of this missive).

However, this time it's personal! Well, even more personal than usual. PB is from New Orleans and has developed a fabulous initiative called Party it Forward, to help with the reconstruction along the Gulf Coast. Saturday's brunch proceeds will go to helping that effort.

What to expect? Well, I think there are instructions here. But I'll tell you how it goes. The first hour or so is mingling and chatting and meeting people. As a special treat this time there will be music from NOLA and PB is faxing New Orleans cuisine recipes to the restaurant so the food will be fun, too. Then everyone sits down and we go around the room and briefly (2 minute limit, you will be timed...but kindly) let everyone know who you are, what you do, you offer one gift and make one request. The gift can be offering to help organize people's closets or fix their resumes or find the silver lining in whatever cloud they bring you. The request can be for names of schools to sell your show to or names of agents for your playwrighting or a lead on a free rehearsal space (Look how I identified 3 requests just for me, me me!)

Not only does this always (seriously always) get you at least one thing that you've been looking for, it also gives you openings for talking to and meeting new people because they have just told you their interests. Brilliant!

So come do yourself good all for the good of the Gulf Coast. No, please come, sit by me. That whole first hour where I don't know anyone actually makes me want to puke with fear so it'd be really nice to have some company (Not puking company, company for...well, you know what I mean, company.)


The Creative Seed and Party it Forward invite you to:
Share the Wealth New Orleans Networking Brunch & Benefit

Saturday, October 22, 2005 12:30pm
1050 Restaurant, NYC
10th Avenue & 50th Street

All proceeds go to Hurricanes Katrina & Rita relief
(Habitat for Humanity & Save Our South)

Oh and by the way...

If you'd like me to post word of anything here please feel free to let me know and I'll do my best.

Gifts of October

I'm so late with this! Ack! Guess I have some habits to get into regarding timliness of event notification.

Anyway, there's something cool happening tonight and tomorrow. It's one of October Project's loft concerts. I went to my first one this spring and the only thing I could think of to describe it is that it's like Disney World for the Sex and the City set. It's so far beyond my regular sphere that I'm shocked and amazed that I get to go to another one tonight. (Thank you Julie!)

You go to the web site (or you beg your very hip friend who is part of the group) and you order a ticket ($50) and they e-mail you the address (because it's at someone's home so, you know, posting the address on the internet could be dangerous) and then you go. You get checked off the list at the door which is SMACK! in the middle of Soho then you take the teeny elevator to their floor and this apartment? It's the sort of apartment that you see on TV, it's like Friends big. I'm here to tell you that the reality of New York real estate is that a combo office number cruncher and rarely working D list actor or a combo coffee shop waitress and oft out of work chef are sharing studio apartments not two bedrooms with HUGE living rooms.

Anyway, the loft concert loft is out of a dream world. You come in, take off your shoes, have some munchies, get a glass of wine and mingle with the crowd.

A word about the crowd. Diverse.

And long about 7:45 the magician, Ben Robinson, comes on. You heard me. I wanted to talk to him after the last concert but I got freaked out and didn't. So maybe tonight I'll meet him.

After he cuts his arm into 3 pieces (and, incidentally, re-assembles it) there's a break and then the opening act. Tonight it's Richard Barone and tomorrow it's Francine Wheeler. I don't know anything about them but I'm confident that Julie and Emil and Marina wouldn't ask someone who sucked to join them.

Then another short break and then there's October Project. For me it's the lyrics that are so important. But that's just me, you can't discount the way that Emil's music supports and expands what I find in Julie's words ("in the verses and reverses of my heart"). Marina and Julie's clear voices blend in a way that, really, only friends can do. Eh, I can't do it justice, go to the concert.

If you can't make it to the concert this time I think they'll do another weekend in the spring and in the mean time you can buy a disc. I recommend Different Eyes.

Here's the scoop:

First Live at the Loft Concert of the Fall
An Unplugged Event in Soho
with Richard Barone and Ben Robinson

Friday, October 14, 2005
8:00 pm
Private Soho Loft
New York, New York

Join us for the return of our much talked-about Live at the Loft concerts in Soho. Illusion genius Ben Robinson will open the show, and we are proud to announce a rare, special guest appearance from a performer described by New York's Village Voice as "Prince of New York, pop icon," Richard Barone. Richard's shimmering montage of words and music explores love's victories and defeats. His beautiful, spine-tingling voice opens the heart and stirs the soul. Having produced Tiny Tim at the tender age of 16, he fronted the Bongos in the 80s, pioneered chamber pop in the 90s, and is currently completing a new album and book of memoirs. DO NOT MISS HIM!

Beverages and a selection of hors d'oeuvres will be served.

Seating is VERY limited. Be sure to reserve early. Reservations secured by Advance Purchase Only. Concert location and other details will be sent via email upon confirmation of your paid reservation.


For more information:
Contact: info@octoberproject

Tomorrow Night!

My good friend Carolann's band, Red Molly, is playing in NYC tomorrow night. They hardly ever play here (although, they'll also play up at Postcrypt on the 22nd). Please come out to see them at a new venue. Join me in encouraging them to play closer to home more often.


Tuesday, October 11th, 2005 7:30 PM
Satalla
"Under The Radar" Series
37 West 26th Street
New York, NY
212.576.1155
www.satalla.com
Price: $10
Our first time at this swanky NYC club. Sharing the night with two talented ladies (April Verch and Kathleen Pemble). John Platt, DJ at WFUV and great guy, is the host.