Horizon Theatre Blog

ArtsATL can’t wait to see The Toxic Avenger again!

Review: Horizon’s “The Toxic Avenger” is one of the unsung super heroes of this theater season

February 10, 2016

By JIM FARMER

Leslie Bellair steals the show with dual roles in The Toxic Avenger. (Photo by Amanda Cantrell)

Leslie Bellair steals the show with dual roles in The Toxic Avenger. (Photos by Amanda Cantrell)

Oftentimes theater gems can be found when least expected. It’s not the splashiest show around, or even the highest profile musical in town, but Horizon Theatre’s The Toxic Avenger is arguably the most fun to be had at a local theater right now. Running through March 13, it’s a thoroughly enjoyable piece of musical theater.

Based on the movie of the same name, The Toxic Avenger boasts books and lyrics by Joe DiPietro, and music and lyrics by David Bryan. It’s the same team that brought Memphis to life, yet this is a much different creature, a show not likely to worm its way into highbrow patrons’ calendar books.

In the city of Tromaville, a toxic waste dump off the New Jersey Turnpike, Melvin Ferd the Third (Nick Arapoglou) is a mild-mannered, nerdish guy who wants to be an earth scientist. He also naively wants to clean up the area. While investigating the city’s problem at the library, with an assist from Sarah (Julissa Sabino) — the blind librarian he secretly loves — he discovers some secrets involving Mayor Babs Belgoody (Leslie Bellair).

Out one night, he is attacked and pushed down a drum of waste by the mayor’s goons. He lives but emerges from the waste a green monster, with a deformed face but a superhero’s physique. And he has an axe to grind.

Sarah is pretty hot for the avenger after he rescues her one evening; she affectionately nicknames him “Toxie” and tells her friends about him in the number “My Big French Boyfriend.”

Nick Arapoglou as Melvin Ferd the Third with his true love, played by Julissa Sabino.

The musical, which won an Outer Critics Award for Best Off-Broadway Musical, doesn’t stray far from the cult 1984 movie. It’s campy and too-thinly plotted, but it’s made with exuberance and a tongue-in-cheek tone. It’s also full of zingers, with jokes about Michele Bachman and Mother Teresa, and an air of political incorrectness.

It’s a little perplexing how this musical, which bowed in 2008, has never gone on to much mainstream attention. What really elevates it is a score that is bouncy, addictive and clever.

The material may not seem like it would make a musical, but it does — and Heidi Cline McKerley directs the hell out of this. Mckerley has become one of the city’s most reliable, versatile directors, bouncing back and forth between musicals and drama, and she really delivers here. She and her husband, Jeff McKerley, handle the choreography, and the musical numbers have a crisp flair to them.

The director get great assists from Moriah and Isabel Curley-Clay’s industrialized set, which is appropriately run down and — yes — overflowing with waste, as well as music director S. Renee Clark, conductor/keyboardist Bryan Mercer and musicians Andrew Cleveland, Kent Osborne, Lorenzo Sanford and Joel Saidi.

The five-person ensemble cast is delightful. Arapoglou gives Melvin a decency while his Toxic Avenger becomes a reluctant superhero. The actor is expertly suited for the role, especially a chase sequence where he hauls out a harmonica and plays it. Sabino, a standout in Actor’s Express’ Rent last year, is a warm presence who can also belt her heart out, while Austin Tijerina and Michael Stiggers — who play multiple supporting roles — are as appealing as they’ve ever been, fleshing out a lot of different characters, from thugs to hairdressers to a folk singer.

As adept as they all are, however, this is ultimately a showcase for Bellair. She is in top form, with a rangy vocal vocabulary and superb comic timing. Besides playing the mayor and capturing her in all her sordid, Joisey-accented glory, the actress also portrays Melvin’s mother, who has long been disappointed in him, even before he turned green and toxic.

In her number “Bitch/Slut/Liar/Whore,” both of Bellair’s characters face off at the same time and it’s one of the giddiest, most creative musical moments in recent memory. The song is a showstopper with catchy lyrics (“You’re a bitch, you’re a slut, you’re a liar, you’re a whore / Did I leave something out, let me think some more / You’re a tart, you’re a tramp, you’re as cheap as Demi Moore”) and Bellair nails it.

If she doesn’t win a Suzi Award for this, it will be a Tromaville injustice.

The second act seems a little anticlimactic and at times Toxie become a secondary character in his own musical. Nonetheless, even when the narrative stalls, the score doesn’t. Another engaging number is “Choose Me, Oprah!” with Sarah and her vampy back-up singers, Diane and Shinequa (Tijerina and Stiggers), detailing an idea for a memoir.

Anyone looking for high art or a message should look elsewhere, but musical junkies and those with an adventurous streak will eat this up. Aurora Theatre’s Wit moved me, and the Alliance Theatre’s Disgraced made me think (and think), but The Toxic Avenger is the production that slapped a goofy smile on my face.

I simply can’t wait to see Horizon’s version again.

– See more at: http://www.artsatl.com/2016/02/review-horizons-the-toxic-avenger/#sthash.m5TCiV60.dpuf

AJC Review: Horizon unleashes campy kicks in ‘Toxic Avenger’

To how high a standard can you really hold something like “The Toxic Avenger”? It is what it is – a campy, lower-brow musical parody based on a cheesy, low-budget cult movie of questionable merit. The less you expect from the show in terms of basic originality or theatrical sophistication, the more likely you’ll be to give in to and go with the pure nonsense of it all.

(P.S. If you loved last year’s notably smart and stylish production ofthe musical “Memphis,” don’t even think about the shocking fact that the script and score for “The Toxic Avenger” is co-written by the same creative team, Joe DiPietro and David Bryan.)

Our hero is a nerd named Melvin Ferd the Third, an aspiring earth scientist and environmental activist of little self-esteem, who runs afoul of a corrupt gang of politicians and corporate types bent on turning his hometown of Tromaville, N.J., into a haz-mat dumping ground and wasteland. Left for dead in a vat of toxic goo, he emerges as a mutant monster with superhuman strength to take the wrongdoers to task.

But it’s not easy being green. When he isn’t persevering as an angry pacifist, literally ripping the bad guys limb from limb, he’s a hopeless romantic struggling to conceal his true identity from the woman he loves, Sarah, a blind librarian who affectionately nicknames him “Toxie.” As though that weren’t enough, during a couple of the musical numbers, he’s even compelled to play a mean harmonica, too.

In Horizon Theatre’s “Toxic Avenger,” Nick Arapoglou, the exuberant and engaging star of its “Avenue Q” a few seasons back, is a real kick in the title role, reuniting with “Q” director Heidi McKerley. Cast as his sweet love interest is Julissa Sabino, who shone in Actor’s Express’ recent “Rent.”

The industrious – and tireless – supporting ensemble features Leslie Bellair, Austin Tijerina and Michael Stiggers in a quick-changing multitude of other parts, ranging from a mad scientist and sassy hairdressers, to surly street thugs and a hippie folk singer, to a maniacal mayor and a meddling mother. They’re infectious fun to watch, especially Bellair in one terrific scene requiring two of her characters to be in the same place at the same time.

Under the music direction of S. Renee Clark, Bryan Mercer (on keyboards) leads a live four-piece band. The dozen or so songs — including “Hot Toxic Love,” “You Tore My Heart Out” and a pair of others that can’t be reprinted here — are more diverting than memorable.

Perhaps befitting of the source material, and for better or worse, the show’s production design is suitably tacky. At best, lighting designer Mary Parker occasionally uses black lights and glowing green slime to trippy effect.

However boisterously staged and performed it is, high art “The Toxic Avenger” ain’t. Get over it already, and then just enjoy.

THEATER REVIEW

“The Toxic Avenger”

Grade: B

Through March 13. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Fridays; 3 and 8:30 p.m. Saturdays; 5 p.m. Sundays. $25-$35. Horizon Theatre, 1083 Austin Ave. (in Little Five Points), Atlanta. 404-584-7450,www.horizontheatre.com.

Bottom line: Mindless mayhem.

A Monster of a Musical Comedy Off-Broadway Hit opens Horizon’s 2016 season!

ATLANTA –Kicking off Horizon’s 2016 season, The Toxic Avenger, winner of the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off-Broadway Musical, is a hot toxic love story and laugh-out-loud musical that has it all — an unlikely hero, his beautiful girlfriend, a corrupt New Jersey mayor and two guys who play… well, everyone else … bullies, mobsters, old ladies, and stiletto-wearing back-up singers. Melvin Ferd the Third turned Toxic Avenger is here to save New Jersey from toxic waste, clean up his neighborhood, and win the love of the blind librarian. It’s a toxic love story with an environmental twist! The Toxic Avenger will leave audiences laughing in the aisles as it rocks the house.

Featuring a wailing rock score and based on the campy cult classic movie, The Toxic Avenger is by the award-winning writing duo behind the hit musical Memphis, with book and lyrics by Broadway veteran Joe DiPeitro (I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change) and music and lyrics by David Bryan (keyboardist and founding member of Bon Jovi). Horizon’s Co-Artistic Director, Lisa Adler notes, “The Toxic Avenger is a perfect fit to open our 2016 season of contemporary plays–an ensemble musical comedy that’s a ton of off-beat fun and a tour de force for five powerhouse actor/singers.”

Performances are Wed., Thurs. and Fri. at 8 PM, Sat. at 3 PM and 8:30 PM, and Sun. at 5 PM at Horizon Theatre in Little Five Points/Inman Park (1083 Austin Avenue NE Atlanta, GA 30307). The play contains strong language and adult content, and is not recommended for children. Tickets start at $25 Tickets and information are available at horizontheatre.com or 404.584.7450.

More About The Toxic Avenger: The Musical and this Production

Everyone needs a hero and New Jersey is in trouble! The mayor and her thugs are selling space for toxic waste and poor Tromaville has turned into one smelly stop. Who or what will rescue New Jersey? Enter Melvin Ferd the Third, a wannabe earth scientist with a crush on the lovely blind librarian, Sarah. His attempts to save the city without resulting to violence are foiled when the mayor’s thugs dump him into a vat of toxic goo. Don’t lose hope though- The Toxic Avenger, Toxie for short, emerges. Melty green skin, a traveling left eye, and pecs to die for, Toxie is a wall of masculine waste wrapped around a heart of gold. With his new found strength and his love for Sarah fueling him, Toxie muscles his way through one obstacle after another. With snappy songs, a casting that requires a duet with only one person on stage, and two guys playing 27 characters combined, this musical is sure to become a fast favorite of Atlanta as they root for the ‘goo guy.’

When asking about what makes this production special for Atlanta audiences, Adler points out, “We’re bringing back our award-winning creative team from our mega-hit Avenue Q led by Horizon artistic associate Heidi Cline McKerley and her long-time musical director collaborator S. Renee Clark. And for our ensemble, we are mashing up the casts from two recent powerhouse Atlanta productions, Horizon’s Avenue Q and Actor’s Express’ Rent.”

Writers, Cast and Creative Team

Book and Lyricist writer Joe DiPietro, along with Bon Jovi’s own David Bryan writing music and lyrics, had such success with Memphis that they decided to step up their game, give homage to their home – The Garden State of New Jersey – and created a rocking success with The Toxic Avenger. When watching the musical preview for their first audiences, DiPietro joyously noted that “Somehow each night, the Toxic Avenger reduces three-hundred adults to giddy children.” DiPiertro’s I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change was one of Horizon’s most loved musical productions, having enjoyed three long runs at Horizon after its multi-year Off-Broadway run, and his The Thing About Men was another popular hit for Horizon.

The Toxic Avenger musical is based on the Lloyd Kaufman 1984 film of the same name. Originally released as a low-budget superhero movie, the film developed a huge cult following, generating three movie sequels (with a fourth planned for future production), along with a comic book series, a cartoon series, novel, graphic novel, and ultimately the hit musical.

Horizon’s production will be in the steady hands of Heidi Cline McKerley who will direct this fast-paced romp with S. Renee Clark guiding the rocking score as musical director. After winning the Suzi Award for Outstanding Direction, Musical Direction and Musical Production for Horizon’s Avenue Q, they have now mounted Avenue Q three times for Horizon in three different Atlanta venues, including Theatre in the Park at Piedmont Park last summer. They also teamed up on two of Joe DiPietro other musicals (I Love You, Your’re Perfect…, The Thing About Men) as well as three productions of Cowgirls at Horizon. Around town, their work has been seen at every professional theatre, including Aurora, Theatrical Outfit, the Atlanta Lyric Theatre, Georgia Ensemble Theatre and Actor’s Express.

A cast as strong as our hero helps bring Tromaville alive as a combination of Horizon’s Avenue Q and Actor’s Express Rent actors come together. Nick Arapoglou (Princeton-Avenue Q, My Name is Asher Lev and The Gifts of the Magi at Theatrical Outfit) transforms Toxie from a green mess into the lovable good guy while he chases Sarah, played by Julissa Sabino (Actor’s Express’ Rent and Rocky Horror Picture Show; Alliance Theatre’s Lizard and El Sol), the lovely blind librarian. Leslie Bellair (Christmas Eve in Horizon’s Avenue Q, Aurora Theatre’s Les Miserables) brings in the evil as our villainous (but sexy) mayor and also plays her own rival, Toxie’s mom, getting to relish a duet with – herself! The 27 other characters are an actor’s feast and a riot of quick changes covered by Rent alums Michael Stiggers (Aurora’s Les Miserables, Alliance Theatre’s A Christmas Carol) and Austin Tijerina (winner of a 2015 Suzi Bass award for Outstanding Feature Actor for Rent, as well as the 2014 for Oklahoma at Serenbe Playhouse). Between the costume changes, character voices, and stunning songs, this cast is sure to prove it can withhold the toxic fumes.

Back for another season, Horizon’s resident designers, the multiple Suzi Award winning Moriah and Isabel Curley-Clay, are tackling the set and costumes for the comic book world with resident lighting designer Mary Parker lighting their way. Rob Brooksher (Avenue Q) will help create the audio atmosphere with his wicked sound design, while the Alliance’s own Kimberly Townsend props up the prop department with everything from toxic sludge to a mutant fish to fake limbs.

Tickets and More

The Toxic Avenger runs at January 29 through March 13, Wed, Thurs and Fri at 8 PM, Sat at 3 PM and 8:30 PM and Sunday at 5 PM at the Horizon Theatre in Little Five Points/Inman Park. (1083 Austin Avenue NE, Atlanta, GA 30307, corner of Euclid and Austin Avenues). There is a special early bird show time of 2pm on Super Bowl Sunday February 7.

Tickets start as low as $25 (plus 8% sales tax) and are on sale now. Prices change based on availability and demand, so buy early for the best prices! Four and five play subscriptions also available to get your tickets for as little as $15 each. And don’t forget to stay after the show for your photo op with The Toxic Avenger. Tickets and information are available at or 404-584-7450 or www.horizontheatre.com.

The Santaland Diaries enchants Sedaris fans and Scrooges alike

Creative Loafing’s review of our Holiday Tradition

The Santaland Diaries enchants Sedaris fans and Scrooges alike

Posted By Beca Grimm @becagrimm on Wed, Nov 25, 2015 at 10:13 AM

COURTESY HORIZON THEATRE COMPANY
REIGN IN: (From left) LaLa Cochran, Harold M. Leaver, and Enoch King ‘sleigh’ in The Santaland Diaries.

Expectations can weigh heavy on experiences. It isn’t particularly fair, but it often applies when approaching art. So was my struggle when ascending the Horizon Theatre Company’s lavender stairs to catch a showing of David Sedaris’ The Santaland Diaries. The show is based on his essay of the same name, chronicling a seasonal gig as a Macy department store elf called Crumpet. It’s an essay I’ve known and loved since my teen years from a writer I’ve known and loved just as long. I did my best to settle into a back row, plastic cup of wine in hand, with as few expectations as possible.My sister and I, regardless of sharing a zodiac sign, grew up and continue to be very different people. We let those differences cancel each other out, allowing respective prowesses fill in the others’ cultural cracks. Most holidays I gifted her music and she gave me books. In high school, I peeled pages from our local daily off the David Sedaris compilation, Me Talk Pretty One Day. “He’s got a funny way of telling stories,” she said. “Ones that might otherwise be boring.” I took zero pause before consuming the entirety of his published works. It kickstarted a worship transcending into college when I cobbled together meager paychecks from the record store to hear him read at the posh Florida Theatre. He spoke with ringing clarity and ease, cruising through personal narratives just as I’d heard him do countless times before on public radio.

I first encountered his “The Santaland Diaries” essay in the seasonal collection Holidays on Ice(1997) after the aforementioned gifting. Deep into my first job as a burrito shop counter girl, I knew the complex feelings that come with working a service industry job. But that was at 17. Later on, as an adult, I’d be subjected to a string of humiliating gigs — yes, often involving uniforms — and only then would I actually get the struggle Sedaris details with charming hindsight.

In its 17th iteration, Horizon’s spin on The Santaland Diaries is presented with the same ringing clarity Sedaris likely intended. Harold M. Leaver takes on the role of Crumpet, also for the 17th time. Leaver breathes animated life into Crumpet, a disgruntled, hypersexual writer desperate for a buck while living in New York City. I’ve lived this reality — it’s dark — however, like Sedaris, Leaver’s Crumpet takes crummy circumstance with winking stride. After all, it’s a job — a fact Crumpet trumpets throughout the 90-minute work. It’s a cadence many of us are familiar with.

COURTESY HORIZON THEATRE COMPANY
FLAMENCO CAROLS: Cochran and Leaver nail on-stage harmony.

LaLa Cochran (2014’s Suzi Bass award recipient for Best Featured Actress, Theatrical Outfit’s Best of Enemies) and Enoch King (Santaland vet, Metrostage’s Uprising) act as at least 30 characters each, rounding out the main trio taking stage for the production. Together Leaver, Cochran, and King work as a hilarious cocktail, serving up a dose of seasonal spirit so potent even the most cynical Scrooge could get tipsy. The play is stuffed with vignettes of Crumpet’s holiday hell, sprinkled with plenty of cameos from cartoony customers who may come off as too real to anyone who’s ever worked retail. There’s music, including a few snippets of Crumpet himself performing, but make no mistake — Santaland is not a musical, thankfully. It’s more like a medley, perfecting the balance between inner monologue, people-watching epiphanies, and wisecracks.Cochran channels intense The State-era Kerri Kenney vibes while taking on roles like a foul-mouthed elf manager, peak Vegas Cher, a vodka-soaked soap star, and a scrapbooking racist. Her comedic timing and easy sleuthing through potentially touchy characters (seriously? A scrapbooking racist) make her performance especially a treat.

COURTESY HORIZON THEATRE COMPANY
SNOWBALLIN’: Leaver and King do killer crowd work.

Leaver and King also do great work, especially in the tricky territory of crowd participation. As a rule, I regard crowd participation the same way I do skateboarding: it looks fine from far away and I don’t mind it, as long as it’s not me doing it. The way Santaland and these two specifically pluck folks from the audience helps personalize the performance and make it a more authentic experience. (Poor Chris. Those pink cheeks sure looked bona fide.)

Despite “Santaland’s” 22-year-old roots, director Jeff Adler does a bang-up job keeping the script and performance current. Snapchat jokes aren’t forced, instead, references to iPhone 6s and Cecil the lion come up infrequently and unforced. The modernization act as sugar coating to help viewers swallow other big pills that come up in grim examples of xenophobia, racism, and sexism.

Ultimately, Horizon’s The Santaland Diaries does what most holiday plays hope to do: conjure more than a few jolly laughs from bah humbug viewer — Sedaris fan or not. And frankly, that alone is pretty damn magical.

The Santaland Diaries continues at Horizon Theatre Company through December 31.

Reposted from: Creative Loafing

http://clatl.com/freshloaf/archives/2015/11/25/the-santaland-diaries-enchants-sedaris-fans-and-scrooges-alike?utm_source=hootsuite

Playwright’s Point of View: An interview with Gabrielle Fulton

Gabrielle Fulton, UPRISING playwright.

Q. You’ve said that Uprising is very much inspired by family. Could you talk about how those relationships and stories impacted Uprising and the characters?

A. Sal, the main character in Uprising, is derived from stories my grandfather, Freddie Gordon Sr., shared about his mother whose name was Sally Lawrence Gordon. With great pride he reported that she could pick two hundred pounds of cotton. My grandfather also spoke of how his mother’s cotton-picking prowess allowed her to claim a prize over male counterparts. It was his admiration for her work ethic and strength that helped shape this character.

Q. Uprising has already been such a journey for you as a playwright. What has the process been like from your first reading to now?

A. All love … which is to say, painfully challenging at times and yet completely fulfilling. Being connected to the characters in this play and allowing my imagination to live in the world in which the play is set has been incredibly stimulating and oftentimes consuming. From the first reading to now my passion for this work, as Ossie would say, burns the same bright. Witnessing the emotional connection many had to the work early on was especially gratifying. It strengthened my commitment to continue delving deeper into the world and interior lives of the characters to unearth more, provide greater clarity, and heighten further still the entertainment value of the work.

Q. The play is set before the Civil War, but the themes are still relevant today. What do you hope audiences will take away from the play?

A. Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another.

~ Toni Morrison

As evidenced today by #blacklivesmatter and the reproductive rights movement, the reality of progress and freedom is not simple. It takes courage. Civil liberties are susceptible to erosion when the human drama of self-interest that undermines freedom persists. I hope audiences will take with them the desire to investigate their own experience of freedom. Not just on a societal or political level, but personally. The play hopes to inspire a positive, deep and meaningful conceptualization of black identity and the human significance of self-determination.

Q. Uprising has touches of magical realism such as Red Bird and Wind. Why was it important to you to include these elements and what do they represent?

A. Redbird and Wind have been there from the beginning. They were conceived at the same time as Sal. It was important to include them as elements in the play because as I contemplated Sal, I began to wonder how my ancestors made it through torturous labor under insufferable conditions. Redbird and Wind came to represent the connection to something greater than self, which I imagine helped my ancestors survive. Sal’s ability to connect with Redbird and Wind is what makes her special. It allows her to thrive. And dazzles Ossie.

Q. Although your work is on stage now at Horizon, your short film Ir/Reconcilable, which was an official selection at the 2014 American Black Film Festival in NYC and was honored as a finalist in the HBO Short Film Competition, is currently on HBO as well. What are the differences for you between being a stage and a screen writer? And what is next for you as writer?

A. I enjoy writing for the stage and screen. Not sure if it’s because I grew up in theatre, but the process of developing a play definitely feels more organic. Though character is the driving force for both, when writing plays I find myself starting with dialogue and structure comes later; whereas with screenplays I lead with structure and dialogue gets in where it fits in. Currently I’m writing the book for an exciting new musical and I have two plays ready for development. Uprising’s next stop in its Rolling World Premiere is the D.C. Women’s Voices Theater Festival September 20^th– October 25^th at MetroStage in Alexandria, VA. As for the Ir/Reconcilable short, it was so well received that audiences wanted more. A feature film is in the works and we’re in the process of fundraising right now. Connect with me:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uprising.atl

Twitter: @blueskyclouds

AJC calls UPRISING “hauntingly beautiful”

Cynthia D. Barker (Sal) and Anthony Manough (Ossie) in Gabriell Fulton’s UPRISING. Photo by Jay Bowman.

AJC Theater review: ‘Uprising’ meditates on nature of human bondage

By Wendell Brock – For the AJC

With “Uprising,” Atlanta-based playwright Gabrielle Fulton delivers a hauntingly beautiful study of the nature of freedom, love and the chaos of the human heart.

Though it reflects on choices made in a world held ransom by racist brutality, terrorism and the looming shadow of war, “Uprising,” at Horizon Theatre through Aug. 23, is not a play of the present day.

A history-based drama set in 1859, it imagines the repercussions felt by a community of freed slaves when white abolitionist John Brown decides to storm the U.S. military arsenal at Harpers Ferry. Brown, who loses his bid to start a slave revolt, never appears, but the wages of his politics take a devastating toll on Fulton’s central characters.

Directed by Thomas W. Jones II, “Uprising” employs music, dance, poetry and video to tell the tale of Sal (Cynthia D. Barker), a former slave who tries to earn a living and raise her nephew (Jaden D. Robinson) by picking cotton. As she goes about her work, Sal talks to the birds and shrugs off the comical advances of Bo-Jack (Enoch King), a country bumpkin who can’t carry a tune but has the sweetest intentions.

Enter Ossie (Anthony Manough), a handsome and articulate Oberlin College philosophy student trying to recruit supporters for Brown’s insurrection. As luck has it, Sal falls for Ossie — at some great cost. She then spends the rest of the play trying to undo the tragedy that befalls her. “Uprising” gains its considerable emotional impact from her near-undoing.

As directed by Jones, the ensemble — which includes Margo Moorer, LaParee Young, Brian Kurlander and Chisom Awachie — engages in some lively call-and-response spirituals that evoke the parallels between the slaves of America and those of biblical times. Playing the Tuneman, Theodis Ealey sets the tone with terrific acoustic guitar riffs.

Moriah and Isabel Curley-Clay contribute an all-purpose set of rough-hewn boards that functions for various locales, from Philadelphia to Georgia. Robbie Hayes’ videos are nicely designed, but in the end, it’s not always clear (to me at least) where we are on the map exactly.

Fulton’s play — which will soon get a second production at MetroStage in Alexandria, Va. — is a deeply moving story brimming with ideas about emancipation and bondage, past and present. What good is freedom when the ones you love can be ripped from you by the white man, as if from your own flesh? It’s one thing to have a piece of paper declaring you a freed slave, quite another to stand your ground in the white man’s world.

That said, “Uprising” feels a bit clunky and confusing at times, and the author seems to struggle to find her way out of it.

With its feminist theme, the story brings to mind the work of Lynn Nottage; and it may be the best play since Carlyle Brown’s “Pure Confidence” to evoke the awkward horror of a people who live with one foot in bondage and the other in freedom. In uprisings of race, religion, body and soul, there are bound to be casualties. That is what Fulton dissects so thoughtfully here.

THEATER REVIEW

“Uprising”

Grade: B

8 p.m. Wednesdays-Fridays; 3 and 8:30 p.m. Saturdays; 5 p.m. Sundays. Through Aug. 23. $20-$35. Horizon Theatre, 1083 Austin Ave. N.E., Atlanta. 404-584-7450, horizontheatre.com.

Bottom line: An intensely moving, history-based play.

Meet the Actors: Masha

Come behind the scenes for the last week of VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE, and meet the actors of this dynamic, hilarious, and moving ensemble show.

Tess becoming a Disney princess backstage

On Broadway, the role of Masha was originated by Sigourney Weaver — a former classmate of our playwright, Christopher Durang. Described in the script as “[Vanya’s] sister, 50’s, glamorous and successful actress who goes gallivanting around the world,” Masha breezes into the play with a boy toy in tow and costume party plans for all.

Meet TESS KINCAID, Atlanta’s own glamorous and successful actress back at Horizon after seven years to play our Masha…

What was one major inspiration for how you approached this role initially? It was actually a combination of merging my perceptions of Arkadina in “The Seagull” with a not to be named 50-something movie star upon whom Durang based the role of Masha. Fun inspirations to go with, but tricky to merge and navigate.

What trait or feeling do you share most with your character? Insecurity. Was that an okay answer? Are you sure?

Without spoilers, is there a moment in the play that you struggled with initially? Why? It’s tricky to calibrate the cracks in her mask as she starts to let the “movie star” persona go. But if she’s going to do that with anyone, it’s with Vanya and Sonia.

Favorite line of the week? “Go get the paper bag for her head, would you?”

For Tickets to the final week, click HERE!

Meet the Actors: Cassandra

Come behind the scenes of this must-see play, VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE, to meet the actors of this dynamic, hilarious, and moving ensemble show.

Denise in the dressing room for Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike

In addition to the siblings named after Chekhov characters, our play includes a cheeky nod to Greek tragedy. Described in the script as the “cleaning lady and soothsayer, any age, any race,” Cassandra frequently bursts into scenes uttering wild and dire prophecies — which sometimes come true.

Meet DENISE ARRIBAS, actor around town who has happily come back to Horizon as our Cassandra…

What was one major inspiration for how you approached this role initially? Cassandra is a tricky character since she is Cassandra/whichever spirit is communicating through her. So, for vocal/accent I was inspired by Rita Moreno in the Ritz and Eartha Kitt. As for physicality, I watched lots of youtube videos about mediums, Whoopi Goldberg in Ghost, and the dinner scene in Beetlejuice (there, now you know my acting technique).

What trait or feeling do you share most with your character? I always want to help people around me. I get frustrated when I can see a mile away a friend is making a horrible decision (we’ve all had that friend that dates the worst guys over and over), and I want to help them but they NEVER LISTEN TO ME. It’s human nature to want to experience things first hand but nonetheless frustrating.

Without spoilers, is there a moment in the play that you struggled with initially? Why? My incantations were the most difficult part mainly because there is not much background story to this character and they come out of nowhere. Making my own background story and making those incantations make sense, look natural and organic, and at the same time understandable and not repetitive was very challenging…completely worth it… but challenging.

Favorite line of the week? Funnily enough my favorite thing I read this week, “’No’ is a complete sentence” correlates to my favorite line I say in the show: “I don’t want to.” How liberating it would be if we didn’t feel obligated to say “Yes” to everything just to be polite. A lot of times it’s ok to say “No” and when you do, you are probably just saying “Yes” to yourself.

For Tickets, click HERE!

Meet the Actors: Vanya

Come behind the scenes of this must-see play, VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE, to meet the actors of this dynamic, hilarious, and moving ensemble show.

Bill about to go onstage as Vanya

First revealed in a nightshirt, Vanya is described in the script as “50’s, living in Bucks County. Resigned to his life, more or less, at least compared to Sonia.” Vanya often finds himself in charge of maintaining the tenuous peace between his sisters.

Meet Bill Murphey, fresh off his celebrated run as Colonel Pickering in My Fair Lady at Georgia Ensemble Theatre, we are tickled to have him as our Vanya…

What was one major inspiration for how you approached this role initially? Vanya says early in the play that he marches to a different drummer. He means one thing specifically when he says it, but it can be universally applied to his character. He and Sonia have lived alone (with each other) for so long in this house, there’s sort of a Galapagos feeling to them. They do things their way, and are sometimes at odds with the rest of society. There are no rules. We love, we scream, we make up. It’s family!

What trait or feeling do you share most with your character? Vanya has strong feelings for the past and is not a fan of change. I understand his feelings though I’m not so vehement about them. I’m of that age where I’m remembering the way things were, and missing them. I also share his strong family ties.

Without spoilers, is there a moment in the play that you struggled with initially? Why? Without spoilers, it’s kind of hard. There’s a line that I have toward the end of the play that’s sort of long and convoluted and covers many topics, is sometimes contradictory, and runs a wide range of emotions. I no longer struggle with it as much, but I DO find new things in it each night that I have the privilege of saying it. For better or worse, it’s never once been the same. On the other extreme, there are several times in the script where my character is onstage, but Durang doesn’t give him any lines for several pages – he just listens. My fellow actors are so engaging that I sometimes forget that I need to be listening as VANYA and not as BILL

Favorite line of the week? How could I possibly narrow that down! Most of my favorite lines are delivered by other actors. I love watching Tess and Lala interact with each other. They’re such pros. They nail it every time. Even lines that will only get laughs from theatre people, I love their commitment to them. I am the luckiest actor in town right now.

For Tickets, click HERE!

AJC calls AVENUE Q “a delightful puppet romp!”

Nick Arapoglou and Molly Coyne during a rehearsal of Avenue Q at the Conant Performing Arts Center.

Theater review: ‘Avenue Q’ remains a delightful puppet romp
By Wendell Brock – For the AJC

Since appearing off-Broadway 12 years ago, “Avenue Q” has expanded and contracted to fit theaters of all sizes around the world.
Atlanta’s Horizon Theatre produced Robert Lopez, Jeff Marx and Jeff Whitty’s naughty little puppet musical in 2011 and 2012 at its home base in Little Five Points. Now, after a weekend-long, PG-13 run at Piedmont Park, Horizon has restored the “Sesame Street” spoof to all its salacious glory at Oglethorpe University’s Conant Performing Arts Center.
An “Avenue Q” enthusiast since the beginning, I’m tickled to say that director-choreographer Heidi Cline McKerley’s take on this tale of post-college angst is as fresh and appealing as ever. It remains, if you’ll forgive the pun, fur-ever young.

A zany sendup of racial stereotypes and sexual discovery, “Avenue Q” is a study in couples.

The old notion that opposites attract is borne out in the pairing of bossy, over-educated, Asian immigrant Christmas Eve (Natalie Gray) and her boyfriend, Brian (Andy Meeks), a hopelessly bad Jewish comedian.

Rod (Nick Arapoglou, filling in for injured actor J.C. Long), a nerdy Republican banker, is in denial about his sexuality, so it doesn’t help that he develops a crush on his slacker roommate, Nicky (Jeff McKerley).

And then there’s Princeton (Arapoglou), an English major searching for purpose in life, and Kate Monster (Molly Coyne), a sweet, perky kindergarten teaching assistant who suffers the indignities of being a “person of fur.” Egged on by the squeaky-voiced Bad Idea Bears (Jill Hames and McKerley) and quite a few Long Island iced teas, Princeton and Kate engage in a randy, athletic romp and seem destined for long-term bliss — until Lucy the Slut (Hames) arrives to stir up trouble. Arapoglou and Coyne both sing beautifully, and they make for an ideal Princeton and Kate.

Meanwhile, upstairs in this outer-borough New York tenement, the red-furred Trekkie Monster (McKerley and others) is addicted to Internet porn. And former child star Gary Coleman (Spencer G. Stephens) is the building superintendent and the butt of a whole string of self-inflicted, “What you talkin’ ‘bout, Willis?” riffs.

Coyne, Gray, Hames and McKerley are all terrific. But Arapoglou is extraordinary. Not many actors can craft two characters that are so wholly different, and wholly indelible, but Arapoglou rises to the occasion, evincing a pent-up, nasal-voiced, awfully funny Rod.

As designed by Moriah and Isabel Curley-Clay (sets), Anna Jenny (costumes) and Russ Walko (puppets), “Avenue Q” looks swell and feels right at home in the Conant.

My one caveat: Some puppeteers are required to provide so many bits, pieces, arms, legs and voices of characters that it can get a little confusing at times.

When this scrappy, highly original little musical beat out “Wicked” for the 2004 best musical Tony Award, it was hard to imagine that it might one day be described as a timeless classic.

But it’s a tribute to the material that the musical has hardly aged at all. (For all the silly shtick, songs like “There’s a Fine, Fine Line” and “When You Ruv Someone” endure as affecting love songs.) And it’s a testament to Horizon that it proves, for the third time around, that it doesn’t suck to be “Avenue Q.”

THEATER REVIEW
“Avenue Q”

Grade: A-

Through July 12. 8 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays; 3 and 8:30 p.m. Saturdays; 5 p.m. Sundays. $30-$40. (VIP tickets, including a reserved pre-show table, a drink and other perks, are available for an additional $15.) The PG-13 version will be reprised at 3 p.m. June 20, 5 p.m. June 28 and 8 p.m. July 8, and students under 25 are encouraged to take advantage of $20 tickets. Produced by Horizon Theatre at Conant Performing Arts Center, Oglethorpe University, 4484 Peachtree Road N.E., Atlanta. 404-584-7450, tickets.horizontheatre.com.

Bottom line: Puppet musical is still naughty good fun.