Dispatches From the Scene: The Kidz Are Alright

Pounding Nails Into the Floor With My Forehead, presented by Madhouse Theater Co.

Madhouse Theater Co. used to be, more than anything else, a vehicle for local Charles Ludlam-esque crazy-pants writer, John Stanton. Stanton’s beautiful looser characters, DIY courage and bizzaro humor made me a fan early on (late nineties), though I’ll admit the fan base was about as Fringe as this stuff gets; I think it was pretty much me and four other people I hung out with (one of which was in almost all of his shows). Hmmm… how to describe the aesthetic? It was something like Harold and Maude meets Christopher Durang meets Tracy Letts meets Fraggle Rock, and all of that was performed wherever Stanton could find a space. The result was, for instance, local actor Tobias Segal rubbing his buttocks and asking another actor to “rape his ass,” while art gallery owners and patrons looked on in horror.

How strange it is then to see Karen DiLossi taking the helm of this acid trip of a company. Having interviewed DiLossi, she has a very professional, no-nonsense demeanor. Of course I suppose she has to be in her day job with the Theatre Alliance of Philadelphia, where she helps to administer non-profit theater programs. That world isn’t crazy pants, it’s pants suits. No, it’s pants suits working to help crazy pants. The meeting of these two worlds can only be positive for Madhouse, and DiLossi is kicking off the era by producing an Eric Bogosian classic, Pounding Nails Into the Floor With My Forehead. The play was one of Bogosian’s many solo shows in the 90s, and it looks like DiLossi has decided to open it up to multiple performers. The usual Bogosian themes will all be present: rage, isolation and nihilism in an age of massive excess. Familiar locals will take on the Bogosian rants: Keith Conallen, Coleen Corcoran, Robert DePonte, Allison Heishman, Robert Neddoff and Nathaniel Robertson. It’s a good group of young actors. This material might wind up feeling a little dated and I’m not so sure how it will play in the bar atmosphere of Fergies, but I’m giving this show a shot this week. I suggest you do too. Go crazies! $10 - $20, Fergies Pub, 1214 Sansom St., Mar. 19 – 30, 215.260.4968, www.madhousetheater.com


Buzz(ed)
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Christian Fundamentalists and Theater Critics Unite Over Production of Corpus Christi

“I’m a democrat and an atheist to boot, but I just hate this show. It’s just not very good theater, and it should have never been written,” said online theater critic, Jake Newman, as he stood arm and arm with Christian fundamentalists protesting Corpus Christi, by Terrence McNally. The Dark Horse Theater Company production opened yesterday, and three audience members joined the protest at intermission. “Look, I’m Jewish. I don’ think it’s blasphemy. I just think it sucks,” said Sandra Stewart outside the show.