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Vaudevillian Craziness

Took my kids to see Wizbang: Variety Circus Mayhem at Mahalls: Twenty Lanes in Lakewood on Saturday. It. Was. Awesome.

The organizers for Wizbang are the great duo of Pinch and Squeal, whom I’ve seen in any number of locations, with their enormously energetic creations of vaudeville, burlesque, humor, and magic. Here, the production was lifted by an entourage of similarly-minded artists who were amazing as much for their individual talents and the level of energy they maintained throughout their performance.

For the kids, Wizbang was just about as stimulating at you’d want a theatrical experience to be–especially in the conspicuously over-stimulated world in which they exist today. At Wizbang, things were happening everywhere. That is, everywhere you looked there was something to engage the eye and interest: costumes, lights, balloons, exceptional performance. On the stage there was a fantastic mix of sexual appeal, fear, glory of color and execution of feats, and the downright creepy. The show is a glorious vaudevillian circus with the promise of great joy and the threat of death that all children desire: magic, juggling, jump-roping, hoola-hooping, egg-cracking, dancing, romping, clowning.

And yes, later at night, there is an Adult version.

When it comes around again, Wizbang is a must see.

Just finished my first :10 minute play for the project. I was given the prompt of Shmokee (two elephants smoking marijuana) by Joe Park. Playwrights receive their prompt in dramatic fashion like choosing lots and then raising the prompt high for all in attendance to view. In addition to the prompt, the play must have a tool used incorrectly, a character who finds something, and a character who curses something.

I’m working with Gregg Ashbrook II, and Lynda and Andrew Santa. In discussions with them I learned that Gregg likes characters with “rough edges”, Lynda wanted to play an “evil mastermind” and Andrew a “lazy, toady.” All this combined lead to rather surreal short play I named “Spare Room” involving a construction worker and a entranced/distracted serial murderer and her assistant. To see the short, come to the May 6 Manhattan Project event at Mahalls.