Actor, blogger, investigative journalist – our cast’s own Michael Criscuolo has done a preview/profile of the show on his blog, nytheatre mike 2.0, in which he delivers a scathing exposé of the horrific abuse to which I have subjected him and the rest of the cast. I have offered to rebut some of his more salacious claims in an interview, which will hopefully be appearing on his site shortly.
March 25, 2008
The Pointy Finger of God
This is the Bible that my parents (or someone) gave me when I was a kid. I was raised Catholic, and we’d trudge to mass every Sunday, and it just bored me to tears. I was a big reader, though, so my mom let me bring a stack of books into church with me, provided they were Christian (preferably Catholic) in nature.
I devoured a whole lot of illustrated parables and stuff over the years, mostly garbage in the end, but this Bible was the standard. Honestly, I don’t remember if I actually read any of the stories or if I just looked at the pictures. They were amazing – full-color paintings of a lurid pulp-cover variety, depicting the Devil and Christ’s visions and other stuff as realist kitsch, without a shred of stylization or irony. The images actually went a long way towards shaping how I envision of Bible stories and Christian history – even a quarter-century later, I can’t get the damn things out of my head.
Unfortunately, I haven’t managed to keep my hands on my copy of it – it might still be in my parents’ basement, but it’s only been since I started working on this show that I’ve been wishing I’d retrieved it. In particular, the illustration for story of Daniel and Belshazzar and the writing on the wall is something that has stuck with me. Of course, I’ve also always loved the picture of the same scene created by some dauber named Rembrandt, which I actually had a reproduction of in a children’s book of Questions and Answers I read at the same time:
The lady and the old man on the left just crack me up – the woman’s totally disgusted, like somebody just exposed himself at the dinner table, and the old guy looks like he’s already on the verge of being bored: “Now I’ve seen everything – guess I’ll just die.” And I love that Belshazzar looks like a total lunkhead – you can see from his face and position that he’s afraid he’s about to get smacked across the face. Check out that tiny little crown poised ever so carefully on the back of his turban.
But I’m sorry, the hand of Jehovah is a little bit dainty for a wrathful Old Testament God – I could see delicate little Jesus with girlish fingers like that, but not his Father in his prime. The hand was much bigger and more sensational in the Golden Children’s Bible version. I can’t find any illustrations from that edition online, but apparently it was the result of an editorial team of a Catholic scholar, a Protestant scholar, and a Rabbi. Interesting…
Anybody else have any particular Bible memories from being a kid – especially as applies to stories of Daniel?
March 21, 2008
Jesus Died For Your Sins
On this Good Friday, it is important for us to remember the heathens – the little fellas who got left behind when the Christian juggernaut got jump-started by Christ’s resurrection. As such, I can think of nothing better than to unveil our first production photo, which we’ll be using as the basis of our postcard/poster image – a shot of Hope Cartelli as the High Priestess of Ishtar, taken by Jason Robert Bell.
A damn sight better than a skinny guy on a cross, don’t you agree?
Happy Easter!
March 18, 2008
Yes, Somebody Said “Party.”
[The following just went out via Piper McKenzie e-blast. You are officially on call.]
Did you think that just because you hadn’t heard from us for a few weeks that Piper McKenzie was weathering the winter in a finely appointed study, feet up on a velvet-upholstered ottoman while surrounded by rich volumes of the world’s great literature, smoking a fine cigar?
FOLLY!
We have been re-creating an entire city within the confines of Williamsburg’s Brick Theater in preparation for our spring show, BABYLON BABYLON, and now we would like to invite YOU to be a part of it. How? By inviting you to
The First Ever
BABYLON BABYLON
Fundraising Fête
to be held at
KUSH LOUNGE
131 Chrystie Street, Manhattan
www.kushlounge.com
Monday, March 31 7-9pm
A mere $10 (that’s the bill with Alexander Hamilton on it) will get you:
Drink Specials!
1/2 Price Hookahs!
Little Tchotchkes!
and Performances such as:
Bellydance by Amantha!
www.amanthamotion.com
Adam Swiderski’s painfully earnest singer-songwritery goodness
myspace.com/adamswiderski
Lyricist of the Blasé Romaine Belavacqua
and maybe, perhaps, some of his wayward friends
A Middle Eastern dance lesson from Rasha Zamamiri!
and, by special arrangement with Piper McKenzie, a musical appearance by
Bill “the Yeti” Yetison
not to mention the pre-YouTube world premiere of
The Babylon Babylon
Coming Attraction Promo Trailer Film Teaser!
AND MORE!!!(!)!!
All proceeds go directly to the ever-mounting production costs of maintaining a thriving mercantile/religious/political metropolitan center on the eve of its spectacular downfall.
What else could you possibly be doing on a Monday night???
March 18, 2008
Gods Are People Too!
Sunday night a number of us met at The Brick so our very own Jason Robert Bell could film some footage for our projections. Though we’re trying to cultivate an air of secrecy around the actual filmed imagery in order to incite our legions of fans into a frothing frenzy of anticipation, we decided it would be okay to share some of our behind-the-scenes photos as a kind of teaser. So behold! This is what the gods are truly like… behind the mask…
The truth can now be told – they look not unlike me, Jeff Lewonczyk. At right is Julz Kroboth, couturier to the gods.
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All photos by Jason Robert Bell.
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More after the jump…
March 14, 2008
Props
We are given a shout-out by Michael Gardner in yesterday’s Gothamist - he was being interviewed about Notes from Underground, and was asked what’s happening next at The Brick. The answer was apparent.
(FYI, that handsome photo was taken by none other than our own Hope Cartelli – and right before Wednesday’s rehearsal no less! We are a furious hotbed of activity, we Brick.)
March 14, 2008
Scooped
What’s the point of continuing with this show when the same source material has already been explored in a more compelling form?
March 9, 2008
Do Their Hands Look Like Lions?
Of course they do.
Lily Burd and Ali Skye Bennet in a recent rehearsal.
Photo courtesy Ken Stein/Run With Scissors Photography
March 4, 2008
Towers of Babels
One of the images that’s been rattling around in my head since I first conceived of this Babylon project in 2001 is the infamous Tower of Babel, as described by the Old Testament. Apparently everybody in Babylon tried to build a massive tower to reach the sky and God, put off by all the hubris, decided to pre-empt their progress by making a mishmash of their heretofore universal language. With no one laboring on the project able to understand what anyone else was saying, the work came to a standstill. (My brief exposure to the modern-day construction business makes it clear that little has changed.)
Though we don’t directly include the building of the Tower of Babel in our plot, I don’t think it’s possible to summon the idea of ancient Babylon without having this story somewhere in the background. It’s one of the numerous reasons why the city stands in popular myth as being the archetypal seat of chaos, pride, sinfulness, and all-around URBANITY, exploring which is one of the most exciting parts of the show for me. Moreover, I think many people (myself included), can’t summon the idea of ancient Babylon without accompanying visuals of the grandiose tower in various states of construction.
The above image – apparently one of several concocted by Peter Brueghel the Elder – links to a blog entry that highlights four different paintings of the Tower, and I include a few more pictures after the jump.
February 28, 2008
The Pictures To Prove It
Here is a sample of photos from our Sunday, February 24 rehearsal. This was only our third rehearsal (and the first was in November!), so the fact that compelling imagery was generated is tremendously encouraging, and possibly terrifying. All photos by Ken Stein/Run With Scissors Photography.
Danny Bowes leads the cast into the fray of an improv exercise.
More photos after the jump…
