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CLICK ON PLAY FOR AUDIENCE REVIEWS FOR THAT PLAY

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@six
21/One
Another Ugly Duckling Tale
BabyLove
Before the End

A Boy Called Noise
cruel & unusual
Curriculum Vitae
Eating Skeletons
Exiles
Fall and Rise of the Rising Fallen
Flamenco con Fusion
Fuse
Get It? Got it. Good!
Get Laughs or Die Tryin'
Irma at the Movies & Frozen
Just For Laughs
Kingdom of Not

Neon Man and Me

nEO sURREALIST sYSTEMS
Pomp & Circumstance
Readiness is All
Revolving Madness
sally: MIA / Sheepish
Secret Ruths of Island House
Sisyphus on Vacation
Stone Trilogy, Three Tales
Thanatics - A Rock Opera
This Lily Was (Fontana)
Thrilling Adventures of Elvis in Space
Tilting at Transformations
Visiting Bertha
Waiting for Bordeaux
Where the Sun Don't Shine
Woof, Daddy
Yellow Fever Express
Yorick & Co.

Play: cruel and unusual
Reviewer: Jan Robinson
4 Stars
To this observer, the four plays depicting various aspects of cruel and unusual punishment used in American culture, were a mixed source of horror and fascination. Simply by the title on the program, you know that you are about to be subjected to the worst that human nature has to offer. Added to that, is the rage that comes boiling up within, upon reading the program cover which contains words of the current Commander-in-Chief (not mine!) that attempt to justify actions that our forefathers forbade in the Constitution. So I bitterly prepared once again to feel the shame brought on to us by our current political leaders, and I braced myself for the revulsion that comes with whole idea of torture.

The plays themselves, however, were brilliantly written as anti-torture pieces, providing glimpses into the dark world of government-sanctioned abuse and cover-up. As an ensemble, they worked well together, and ranged in settings from Gitmo to Baghdad, and from prison “death row” to the Pentagon. The last play, “Corpse”, supplied camera phone images used in the first play, “Photos”, giving a cyclical element to the group. Tying them even closer together was a bizarre series of skillful vocalizations by Marcelle Dronkers, which were every bit as grotesque as the situations being portrayed. Ranging from diabolical laughter to agonized tears, the sounds seemed insanely appropriate for the material.

The stories were well executed by the actors. Sondra Putnam, in particular, slid effortlessly into three very diverse roles, and commanded the room with her presence. Rob Dario’s strongest moments came during his forceful portrayal of Zuwicki, a mentally unstable Abu Ghraib prison guard. While Alan Quismorio’s performance seemed generally solid enough, some of his words were unfortunately lost during his “pacing” scene in “Photos”.

Although some of the dialogue included gallows humor to lighten the harshness of the subject matter, the audience seemed to find laughter difficult. Perhaps it was the sobering realization that not one of the plots was far-fetched or fanciful, but seemed like frighteningly plausible back-stories to the evening news.

Play: cruel and unusual
Reviewer: Melanie Curry
4 Stars
four ten minute plays about torture?! No thanks. But wait a minute....intense, scary, short, well acted. Okay then. I can take it.

Play: cruel & unusual
Reviewer: Diane
5 Stars
Wow! This is serious theatre; theatre that treats a serious topic in a very compelling way. Four short plays about torture: well-written, well-performed. Disturbing, fascinating. See this one.

Play: Cruel and Unusual
Reviewer: britta
5 Stars
I didn't expect to enjoy the play given the title and the performance time - a Friday evening after a long work week and a commute into the city. But it was fantastic! I loved the pace and variety of the 10 minute plays; in fact it was a relief to not be stuck in a 2-hour drama! I thought the acting was superb, especially of Sondra Putnam as the drunken anaesthesiast. And it was interesting to have an opera singer between the plays. The human voice in a different way - no words, just expression. If the plays are a bit literal minded, Marcelle Dronkers' "arias" are ambivalent, confusing - and beautiful. Erin Blackwell's clinic seems to p(l)ay off!

Play: cruel & unusual
Reviewer: Sharon Eberhardt
4 Stars
Intense look at intense subject, pulling you in deeper and deeper so by the end I could see how a reasonably good person ends up involved in really bad, bad stuff.

A fringe show with ideas, one I'll remember.

Play: Cruel&Unusual
Reviewer: Anonymous
4 Stars
Cruel & Unusual offers a wrenching portrayal of current events. A series of ten-minute plays in development weaved together by wordless arias of human suffering, Cruel & Unusual has promise for its independent production in October.

Actress Sondra Putnam makes a strong appearance as Candace in "Prison" (Alina Trowbridge) and Dr. Grace Walcott in "Anaesthesia" (Darothy Durkac). Despite the gravity of the topic, "Photos" (Rodney Thomas) and "Corpse" (Patricia Milton) feature healthy doses of humor. Marcelle Dronkers' eerily incandescent voice helps to unify the four plays in one performance.

Acting by Rob Dario and Alan Quismorio proved a bit uneven. They sometimes failed to fully engage the other characters on stage or reached a volume more appropriate for a larger space. That said, director Erin Blackwell has built a solid foundation on which the October performances can be developed.

Play: cruel & unusual
Reviewer: Robert Hayden
4 Stars
Well worth seeing. The individual works were uneven. But . . . the ones I liked best were the inverse of those of my companion . . . so take your pick. The cast got their teeth into it: you'll hate the slimy press secretary, you'll marvel at the inebriated doctor who's kissed her ethics goodbye, and you'll almost sympathize with an apish moron who - oops! - killed the innocent woman.

Play: cruel & unusual
Reviewer: Bob Bruman
5 Stars
This is a timely and important play and a necessary response to the times in which we live. I went to opening night on the very day that the President was admitting to secret CIA prisons. In the darkness of the theater I could hear the screams of torture, my stomach turned, photos of detainees were categorized by the extent of the brutality heaped upon them during interrogations, an eye gouged here a finger broken there. The whole evening left me feeling a little grateful that at least the arts were crying foul!