1) Come one, come all to CL’s Mixt A, Vol. 1 Record Release Party at Eyedrum, with performances by the Balkans and more.
2) Pinterfest opens at PushPush Theater.
3) The City Skies Electronic Music Festival returns to Kavarna.
4) Moving in the Spirit examines the history of education in Education Revolution: School House Rock Style at the Rialto Center.
5) Comedian Ben Gleib performs at the Laughing Skull Lounge.
(Photo by Joeff Davis)
Today’s Air Loaf features CL’s Chanté LaGon and Curt Holman chatting about PushPush Theater’s production of screwmachine/eyecandy. (Through Dec. 20.)
Air Loaf is broadcast weekdays on 1690 WMLB-AM at approximately 8:10 a.m., 12:20 p.m. and 6:20 p.m.
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MAD MONEY: Claire Christie (right) as Maura Brown in screwmachine/eyecandy
PushPush Theater’s memorably titled screwmachine/eyecandy depicts an ordinary middle class couple, Dan and Maura Brown (Randy Havens and Claire Christie), that finds its marital trust, its personal dignity and its faith in the American way of life tested under enormous pressure. The venue? A TV program called “The Big Bob Show” in Burbank, Calif.
Subtitled “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Big Bob,” CJ Hopkins’ darkly comedic play takes what would seem like an out-of-date, obvious target — “wacky” 1970s-style game shows — and pushes it into surprising territory that’s at first hilarious, then horrifying. It’s as if Nobel Prize-winner Harold Pinter had eschewed the theater of menace to work with Chuck Woolery or Monty Hall.
Matt Stanton plays host Big Bob as a glib jokester whose questions and patter turn increasingly hostile. While beaming at the folks at home and extolling the show’s “consumer items,” he taunts Dan for his dreary-sounding job, hits on Maura, loses his temper, claims he was kidding and peppers the couple with unanswerable questions like “It is or it isn’t?” Stanton sustains a remarkable level of intensity for the 80-minute play, steering the tone from merely frivolous to sinister.
The announcer describes the game as having “No rules!” and Havens and Christie both project the confusion and dawning resentment of ordinary, hardworking Americans who discover that the system is rigged. Havens effectively nurses Dan’s wounded pride, but Christie offers an energetic, ultimately devastating performance as Maura tries to process their predicament. An eager competitor — “It’s the winning itself that’s so exciting, even more than what you win” — Maura initially makes excuses for Big Bob’s behavior, until she finds the situation utterly nightmarish. Her role wouldn’t be half so affecting if Christie didn’t make Maura so credible.
PushPush Theater frequently bills itself as a workshop theater and in the program notes director Tim Habeger describes screwmachine/eyecandy as the equivalent of a work in progress that may get an “actual run” in 2009. Frankly, the distinction is lost on me. screwmachine/eyecandy may be a little unpolished and has room for more elaborate props and audio/visual effects, but it packs more punch than many “real” plays I’ve seen in 2008. The playwright may pass an unnecessarily harsh anti-materialist judgment on his characters, but PushPush turns screwmachine/eyecandy into a compelling spectacle. Too late, the Browns discover that the price is wrong.
screwmachine/eyecandy. Through Dec. 20, with performances Dec. 29 and 31. $15-$35 (pay what you can). Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m., Sun., 5 p.m. PushPush Theater, 121 New St., Decatur. 404-377-6332. www.pushpushtheater.com.
(Photo courtesy PushPush Theater)
He might be too modest to post it, but by God I’m not.
Tonight, CL senior writer Andisheh Nouraee will join the talented members of the Doug Dank Project at PushPush Theater in Decatur to perform a free-wheelin’, mindblowing, chuckle-inducing improv performance. The fun starts at 10 p.m.
Here’s the gist of how the evening goes: Andisheh will stand before the crowd and begin talking. The members of the troupe will use these delicious thoughts and topics as fodder for improv. Andisheh decides when to cut them off and the process repeats until time runs out or the fire marshall has all parties arrested for safety concerns and/or noise complaints. Hilarity does indeed ensue.
Tickets are $5 at the door. Push Push is located here.
1) The Kills and Raconteurs play the Tabernacle.
2) Signs of Reappropriation continues at Atlanta College of Art Gallery.
3) Against Me! and Ted Leo and the Pharmacists play the Masquerade.
4) PushPush Theater hosts the Doug Dank Project.
5) Lukas Ligeti and Klimchak play Eyedrum.
(Photo by Stephen Berkman)
1) Ultimate Fighting Championship 88: Breakthrough invades Philips Arena.
2) ART Station hosts an opening reception for Gwinnett Techinal College Portfolio Show with artist-initiated organization Women in Focus.
3) Carlos Mencia performs at the Fox Theatre.
4) Dr. Dog plays the Earl.
5) Karen Body’s Birth opens at PushPush Theater.
(Photo courtesy UFC)
