 |
Photo Gallery (3) |
 |
Documents (2) |
 |
Contact |
 |
Add a testimonial |
 |
Testimonials (0) |
 |
Tell a friend |
Assholes & Aureoles , 2 woman comedy by Eric Pfeffinger will have a surprise run in Indy! Theatre on the Square, 627 Massachusetts Ave.. Indy. Feb. 12, 13, 20, 21, 27, 28. 317-637-8085 for tickets.
A&A got superb reviews at the Midtown International Fringe Festival in New York City and at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival.
If you'd like to see one of the short scenes from the show, go to www.youtube.com & search Aureoles and you'll find it!
Here are our rave reviews:
THURSDAY, JULY 30, 2009
Review- Assholes and Aureoles (NYC -- Midtown International Theater Festival, InterAction Theater, Inc., and Off The Leash Productions, LLC)
Review by Bryan Stryker
When a play has a title such as Assholes and Aureoles, you know you're not in for a squeaky clean Neil Simon experience.
A series of eight interwoven scenes involving domestic abuse, child molestation, rape, self-identification, sexual harrassment, and more are served up with an extra twist of the knife. Just when you think you know where a scene is heading, it veers off in the opposite direction. This thoroughly engaging (not to mention laugh-out-loud funny) piece comes from the delightfully warped minds of its performers, the spritely Diane Kondrat, her performance partner, the Amazonian Karen Irwin, and playwright Eric Pfeffinger.
"What must it feel like to do such good...and be so hot," muses Kondrat during a monologue, as she holds up an 8x10 glossy of Chris Hansen, host of the "Dateline NBC" program's "To Catch a Predator" series. The wide-eyed admiration and adulation for the investigative reporter glistens from her eyes and you can't help but laugh. From there, she launches into a sexual fantasy involving Hansen as if he was a member of a junior debate team competing at a regional competition in Rochester.
Irwin shines during her monologue about a woman who is about to be raped but is able to deftly fend off her attacker by claiming it wouldn't be rape, as she would consent to the act.
"But it'll be rough," she growls as the rapist.
"That's the only way I like it," she drawls.
The seriousness of the subject matter and the subversive take Irwin gives the matter makes you squirm while laughing at the same time.
With four solid scenes under their belt, Irwin and Kondrat tackle what is termed in the playbill as "The Long Scene" set in a woman's domestic abuse shelter. Kondrat plays the harried social worker interviewing volunteer Irwin, and takes her through a role play scene of how to handle certain situations. Kondrat's abused wife with an "undeterminable Eastern European accent" and Irwin's social worker soon include other characters like the redneck husband, an Irish coworker, and a good old boy cop.
While the actresses magically throw themselves into these characters, I couldn't help but think that I've seen the same "actress-playing-multiple-parts-in-one-scene" bit done before and much better (Kristine Nielsen in Durang's Betty's Summer Vacation comes to mind). The timing seemed off during the performance as if it should have played much quicker with less transitioning between character changes.
Additionally, "long" is a bit of an understatement for the scene, as the it dominates the running time of the show and could have been trimmed by a good five to seven minutes while still maintaining the integrity of the scene. Sadly, the momentum generated by the actresses during their first four scenes is lost during this segment. The goodwill generated from the audience during the prior scenes seemed to slowly dissipate, and the final two scenes dealing with suicide and political correctness did not get the response that it could or should have.
Leonora Trey deftly maneuvers her players across the stage with minimal props and staging. Through the two chairs, a card table, modular boxes, and a few pieces of fabric, Trey, along with lighting designer, Marc Tschida recreates the staging for each scene making it easily recognizable and identifiable within the first few moments of each vignette.
Assholes and Aureoles is a delightful comic romp that requires you to leave your sense of right/wrong, black/white, good/bad at home, and embrace a slightly skewed view of some taboo topics.
Assholes & Aureoles
Reviewed in NYC for TheaterOnline.com By: Jennifer Rathbone
As the economy struggles, it�s difficult to justify a night out on the town, but if you indulge your theatrical appetite a little, the Midtown International Theatre Festival offers a vast selection of entertainment opportunities. And if you�re searching for a sure thing to stimulate your comedy palette, Assholes & Aureoles, presented by InterAction Theater, Inc. & Off The Leash Productions, LLC, will sate your craving. Playwright, Eric Pfeffinger, has composed eight independent scenes which exploit status, situations, and conflicting character objectives. Infused with his humorous language, the evening evolves as a comedic exercise in character transformations. Assholes & Aureoles is a zany, sketch comedy presented in hyper-drive concluding in just about an hour.
Leading this circus-act of clowning, complete with tutu and sequin dress-up, are Karen Irwin and Diane Kondrat. The women work these eight comedic scenes through seamless transitions and polished character modulations. The first scene, A Short Scene, is like a setup for the evening�s long joke; it establishes the tone for the rest of the sketches. There�s something cute and light-hearted about the bond between the mother and daughter at first, but then we�re jerked into a new understanding of the relationship that�s seemingly absurd and taboo.
Situational humor induces the third scene, A Different Short Scene, a mundane job interview, into bedlam. Diane plays an uptight interviewer looking for the right candidate to fill the position, while Karen interviews for the job. Once again, Pfeffinger engages the audience into an ostensibly ordinary verbal exchange, until the tables are turned and Karen�s interview becomes about her need for a urine drug test right there in the office.
The highlight of the Eight Works of Art, as the program is titled, is the fifth scene, The Domestic Violence Scene aka �The Long One.� We�re taken into the women�s shelter, �Transition House,� where a pre-screening of Clarissa�s (Karen Irwin) potential as a volunteer is already underway. The taut-jawed social worker (Diane Kondrat) incites a role-playing activity in order to test Clarissa�s abilities to handle any domestic abuse situation that walks in the front door. What ensues is a raucous battle of the broads that escalates to such momentum and absurdity that teeters on farce. Blow after blow, the women contrive new alter-egos and dynamics to one-up each other in an audacious display of physical comedy. Then we�re drop-kicked back into reality with a telephone ring.
The final scene, The Last Scene, touches on the topic of unmentionable vernacular vulgarities, what is politically correct, and what it truly means to identify with one�s ethnicity. By playing dress-up throughout the scene, Pfeffinger�s concept and words are articulated visually. As the women drape themselves with more and more ridiculous accessories, they continue to discuss political correctness. They become so entangled in the language that they end up spiraling into a fight using the PC terms they�re created.
Leonora Trey has directed a physically dynamic realization of Eric Pfeffinger�s impudent and insightful script. InterAction Theater, Inc. & Off The Leash Productions, LLC�s Assholes & Aureoles indeed makes you wonder are they demons or angels to be tampering with our delicate social sensibilities. Well, one thing is for certain, the whimsical romp with these two vivacious women is definitely worth getting yourself to see.
Assholes and Aureoles
By Rodger Pille
CincyBeat.
It�s usually a bad thing to have any kind of expectations walking into the
theater. Something you expect to be good is never good enough. Conversely,
if you don�t think you�re going like something, you probably won�t.
Having said that, I full-on admit I expected Assholes and Aureoles to be
funny. Like really funny. Like pee-in-your-pants funny.
Lofty and unfair expectation, right? Yes and no. And that�s the best part of
theatergoing: the surprises. Assholes was funny. But, more than that, it was
smart. Like really smart.
The company and the Fringe organizers didn�t play up that aspect of the
show. Might it scare off the masses? Maybe, although hopefully not at Cincy
Fringe. But I guess it�s wise marketing to tout instead the comedic
outrageousness of any show with "asshole" in the title.
Stringing together six unrelated scenes, the two-woman piece explores all
manner of social dysfunction. Domestic violence. Child molestation. Sexual
harassment in the workplace. Politically correct identification. All
subjects tackled with absolute gusto, fearlessness and candor. And, yes,
with intelligence.
Performers and co-creators Diane Kondrat and Karen Irwin � along with
playwright Eric Pfeffinger � fashion a show befitting of the opening night
of a fringe festival. Adult breast-feeding just has a way of setting a tone,
you know?
But that first piece could easily have been about the joke, the gimmick or a
glorified sight gag. Instead, the performers make some subversive commentary on mother-and-daughter relationships. Oh sure, the joke is there and funny it is. But it was more than that.
The second piece might be the funniest of the bunch: a soliloquy on the
glowing merits of Chris Hansen from TV�s To Catch a Predator reports.
Kondrat sits unassumingly in front of the audience and holds up an 8-by-10
glossy of Hansen. What follows is wonderful and perverse. "What must it feel
like to do such good," she asks, "and be so hot?" Her Hansen fantasy leaves
no detail untold.
The third scene is a monologue for Irwin about rape. As expected, literally
and figuratively, she turns the table on the matter.
The longest and most ambitious piece is set in a nondescript women�s
shelter. This scene might best sum up the strengths of the two women, who
relentlessly spar every way imaginable as Kondrat�s social worker determines
if Irwin�s Pollyanna-suburban girl is up for the task of volunteering at
such an emotionally challenging place.
It's in this piece that the two actresses use their height contrast to great
effect. It�s also the most physically demanding of the set. Each plays three
wacky, wide-ranging characters, one more outrageous than the next (most
especially an Eliza Doolittle homage).
It's a great, entertaining and simultaneously hard-hitting scene. And, yes,
it's wicked smart.
Cincy Enquirer, May 28, 2009
A&A Touching, not Preachy
by David Lyman
On paper, Indianapolis� InterAction Theatre sounds like a well-meaning bunch. They�re noted for presenting works about a wide variety social issues.
But truthfully, theater groups that brag about being do-gooders rarely have much insight about staging interesting theater. They�d rather be preachy than entertaining.
Good news. InterAction�s Fringe Festival presentation � we�ll have to call it �A�s & A�s� � isn�t preachy at all.
And despite the fact that the six vignettes deal with pedophilia, rape, assault, spousal abuse, sexism, racism and all sorts of other societal nightmares, it�s a flip, sassy and decidedly in-your-face piece of theater.
Fun, even.
Diane Kondrat and Karen Irwin play everything from dysfunctional mother-daughter to ambitious and callous executives. In one piece, they play six characters who are all on stage at the same time. It�s a delicious scene, as they zip back and forth displaying a dazzling bit of actorly derring-do.
Who knows if playwright Eric Pfeffinger had visions of �A�s & A�s� occupying some moral high road. What he did do, though, was provide a witty showcase for a pair of actresses as talented as they are audacious.
Here are some of our reviews from the Indianapolis Fringe Festival:
While parts of my mind and heart were deeply engaged in the thought-provoking stories another part of me kept thinking, �Man, what a treat it is to see these brave and talented actors at work! They are putting it all out there in a controlled way, and I get to see it.�
It was a pleasure. A real gift for this theatre junkie.
� Hope Baugh, www.IndyTheatreHabit.com
Suffice to say that it�s outrageous in very smart ways and that the capacity crowd I saw it with was rolling with laughter. Our reaction built and built to a passionate standing ovation when the show was over. If comedy shows had encores, I�d still be at the theater.
� Lou Harry, Indianapolis Business Journal
Clever dialogue is matched with broad physical comedy that will leave you believing there are more than two people on stage. � Lorraine Ball, on-line Fringe review
See this show if you listen to NPR so much that your
PC-ometer needs to get blown up and re-organized.
-- Nell Weatherwax.
Irwin and Kondrat don�t shirk their roles � they own them, and dare the audience to have a problem with it. At the women�s shelter, Irwin and Kondrat play multiple roles to riotous effect. Come prepared to laugh at things you know are intrinsically wrong. � NUVO magazine
Other info:
In March 2009 Diane performed Shakespeare in My Room in Norfolk, Virginia at the 40st Street Stage!
"The heart is ... creation's electrical indicating meter by which we may read and decipher the world. Jettison the heart and you're left with the dark abysm of incomprehension." -- G. Berger, O LOVELY GLOWWORM
A&A got superb reviews at the Midtown International Fringe Festival in New York City and at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival.
If you'd like to see one of the short scenes from the show, go to www.youtube.com & search Aureoles and you'll find it!
Here are our rave reviews:
THURSDAY, JULY 30, 2009
Review- Assholes and Aureoles (NYC -- Midtown International Theater Festival, InterAction Theater, Inc., and Off The Leash Productions, LLC)
Review by Bryan Stryker
When a play has a title such as Assholes and Aureoles, you know you're not in for a squeaky clean Neil Simon experience.
A series of eight interwoven scenes involving domestic abuse, child molestation, rape, self-identification, sexual harrassment, and more are served up with an extra twist of the knife. Just when you think you know where a scene is heading, it veers off in the opposite direction. This thoroughly engaging (not to mention laugh-out-loud funny) piece comes from the delightfully warped minds of its performers, the spritely Diane Kondrat, her performance partner, the Amazonian Karen Irwin, and playwright Eric Pfeffinger.
"What must it feel like to do such good...and be so hot," muses Kondrat during a monologue, as she holds up an 8x10 glossy of Chris Hansen, host of the "Dateline NBC" program's "To Catch a Predator" series. The wide-eyed admiration and adulation for the investigative reporter glistens from her eyes and you can't help but laugh. From there, she launches into a sexual fantasy involving Hansen as if he was a member of a junior debate team competing at a regional competition in Rochester.
Irwin shines during her monologue about a woman who is about to be raped but is able to deftly fend off her attacker by claiming it wouldn't be rape, as she would consent to the act.
"But it'll be rough," she growls as the rapist.
"That's the only way I like it," she drawls.
The seriousness of the subject matter and the subversive take Irwin gives the matter makes you squirm while laughing at the same time.
With four solid scenes under their belt, Irwin and Kondrat tackle what is termed in the playbill as "The Long Scene" set in a woman's domestic abuse shelter. Kondrat plays the harried social worker interviewing volunteer Irwin, and takes her through a role play scene of how to handle certain situations. Kondrat's abused wife with an "undeterminable Eastern European accent" and Irwin's social worker soon include other characters like the redneck husband, an Irish coworker, and a good old boy cop.
While the actresses magically throw themselves into these characters, I couldn't help but think that I've seen the same "actress-playing-multiple-parts-in-one-scene" bit done before and much better (Kristine Nielsen in Durang's Betty's Summer Vacation comes to mind). The timing seemed off during the performance as if it should have played much quicker with less transitioning between character changes.
Additionally, "long" is a bit of an understatement for the scene, as the it dominates the running time of the show and could have been trimmed by a good five to seven minutes while still maintaining the integrity of the scene. Sadly, the momentum generated by the actresses during their first four scenes is lost during this segment. The goodwill generated from the audience during the prior scenes seemed to slowly dissipate, and the final two scenes dealing with suicide and political correctness did not get the response that it could or should have.
Leonora Trey deftly maneuvers her players across the stage with minimal props and staging. Through the two chairs, a card table, modular boxes, and a few pieces of fabric, Trey, along with lighting designer, Marc Tschida recreates the staging for each scene making it easily recognizable and identifiable within the first few moments of each vignette.
Assholes and Aureoles is a delightful comic romp that requires you to leave your sense of right/wrong, black/white, good/bad at home, and embrace a slightly skewed view of some taboo topics.
Assholes & Aureoles
Reviewed in NYC for TheaterOnline.com By: Jennifer Rathbone
As the economy struggles, it�s difficult to justify a night out on the town, but if you indulge your theatrical appetite a little, the Midtown International Theatre Festival offers a vast selection of entertainment opportunities. And if you�re searching for a sure thing to stimulate your comedy palette, Assholes & Aureoles, presented by InterAction Theater, Inc. & Off The Leash Productions, LLC, will sate your craving. Playwright, Eric Pfeffinger, has composed eight independent scenes which exploit status, situations, and conflicting character objectives. Infused with his humorous language, the evening evolves as a comedic exercise in character transformations. Assholes & Aureoles is a zany, sketch comedy presented in hyper-drive concluding in just about an hour.
Leading this circus-act of clowning, complete with tutu and sequin dress-up, are Karen Irwin and Diane Kondrat. The women work these eight comedic scenes through seamless transitions and polished character modulations. The first scene, A Short Scene, is like a setup for the evening�s long joke; it establishes the tone for the rest of the sketches. There�s something cute and light-hearted about the bond between the mother and daughter at first, but then we�re jerked into a new understanding of the relationship that�s seemingly absurd and taboo.
Situational humor induces the third scene, A Different Short Scene, a mundane job interview, into bedlam. Diane plays an uptight interviewer looking for the right candidate to fill the position, while Karen interviews for the job. Once again, Pfeffinger engages the audience into an ostensibly ordinary verbal exchange, until the tables are turned and Karen�s interview becomes about her need for a urine drug test right there in the office.
The highlight of the Eight Works of Art, as the program is titled, is the fifth scene, The Domestic Violence Scene aka �The Long One.� We�re taken into the women�s shelter, �Transition House,� where a pre-screening of Clarissa�s (Karen Irwin) potential as a volunteer is already underway. The taut-jawed social worker (Diane Kondrat) incites a role-playing activity in order to test Clarissa�s abilities to handle any domestic abuse situation that walks in the front door. What ensues is a raucous battle of the broads that escalates to such momentum and absurdity that teeters on farce. Blow after blow, the women contrive new alter-egos and dynamics to one-up each other in an audacious display of physical comedy. Then we�re drop-kicked back into reality with a telephone ring.
The final scene, The Last Scene, touches on the topic of unmentionable vernacular vulgarities, what is politically correct, and what it truly means to identify with one�s ethnicity. By playing dress-up throughout the scene, Pfeffinger�s concept and words are articulated visually. As the women drape themselves with more and more ridiculous accessories, they continue to discuss political correctness. They become so entangled in the language that they end up spiraling into a fight using the PC terms they�re created.
Leonora Trey has directed a physically dynamic realization of Eric Pfeffinger�s impudent and insightful script. InterAction Theater, Inc. & Off The Leash Productions, LLC�s Assholes & Aureoles indeed makes you wonder are they demons or angels to be tampering with our delicate social sensibilities. Well, one thing is for certain, the whimsical romp with these two vivacious women is definitely worth getting yourself to see.
Assholes and Aureoles
By Rodger Pille
CincyBeat.
It�s usually a bad thing to have any kind of expectations walking into the
theater. Something you expect to be good is never good enough. Conversely,
if you don�t think you�re going like something, you probably won�t.
Having said that, I full-on admit I expected Assholes and Aureoles to be
funny. Like really funny. Like pee-in-your-pants funny.
Lofty and unfair expectation, right? Yes and no. And that�s the best part of
theatergoing: the surprises. Assholes was funny. But, more than that, it was
smart. Like really smart.
The company and the Fringe organizers didn�t play up that aspect of the
show. Might it scare off the masses? Maybe, although hopefully not at Cincy
Fringe. But I guess it�s wise marketing to tout instead the comedic
outrageousness of any show with "asshole" in the title.
Stringing together six unrelated scenes, the two-woman piece explores all
manner of social dysfunction. Domestic violence. Child molestation. Sexual
harassment in the workplace. Politically correct identification. All
subjects tackled with absolute gusto, fearlessness and candor. And, yes,
with intelligence.
Performers and co-creators Diane Kondrat and Karen Irwin � along with
playwright Eric Pfeffinger � fashion a show befitting of the opening night
of a fringe festival. Adult breast-feeding just has a way of setting a tone,
you know?
But that first piece could easily have been about the joke, the gimmick or a
glorified sight gag. Instead, the performers make some subversive commentary on mother-and-daughter relationships. Oh sure, the joke is there and funny it is. But it was more than that.
The second piece might be the funniest of the bunch: a soliloquy on the
glowing merits of Chris Hansen from TV�s To Catch a Predator reports.
Kondrat sits unassumingly in front of the audience and holds up an 8-by-10
glossy of Hansen. What follows is wonderful and perverse. "What must it feel
like to do such good," she asks, "and be so hot?" Her Hansen fantasy leaves
no detail untold.
The third scene is a monologue for Irwin about rape. As expected, literally
and figuratively, she turns the table on the matter.
The longest and most ambitious piece is set in a nondescript women�s
shelter. This scene might best sum up the strengths of the two women, who
relentlessly spar every way imaginable as Kondrat�s social worker determines
if Irwin�s Pollyanna-suburban girl is up for the task of volunteering at
such an emotionally challenging place.
It's in this piece that the two actresses use their height contrast to great
effect. It�s also the most physically demanding of the set. Each plays three
wacky, wide-ranging characters, one more outrageous than the next (most
especially an Eliza Doolittle homage).
It's a great, entertaining and simultaneously hard-hitting scene. And, yes,
it's wicked smart.
Cincy Enquirer, May 28, 2009
A&A Touching, not Preachy
by David Lyman
On paper, Indianapolis� InterAction Theatre sounds like a well-meaning bunch. They�re noted for presenting works about a wide variety social issues.
But truthfully, theater groups that brag about being do-gooders rarely have much insight about staging interesting theater. They�d rather be preachy than entertaining.
Good news. InterAction�s Fringe Festival presentation � we�ll have to call it �A�s & A�s� � isn�t preachy at all.
And despite the fact that the six vignettes deal with pedophilia, rape, assault, spousal abuse, sexism, racism and all sorts of other societal nightmares, it�s a flip, sassy and decidedly in-your-face piece of theater.
Fun, even.
Diane Kondrat and Karen Irwin play everything from dysfunctional mother-daughter to ambitious and callous executives. In one piece, they play six characters who are all on stage at the same time. It�s a delicious scene, as they zip back and forth displaying a dazzling bit of actorly derring-do.
Who knows if playwright Eric Pfeffinger had visions of �A�s & A�s� occupying some moral high road. What he did do, though, was provide a witty showcase for a pair of actresses as talented as they are audacious.
Here are some of our reviews from the Indianapolis Fringe Festival:
While parts of my mind and heart were deeply engaged in the thought-provoking stories another part of me kept thinking, �Man, what a treat it is to see these brave and talented actors at work! They are putting it all out there in a controlled way, and I get to see it.�
It was a pleasure. A real gift for this theatre junkie.
� Hope Baugh, www.IndyTheatreHabit.com
Suffice to say that it�s outrageous in very smart ways and that the capacity crowd I saw it with was rolling with laughter. Our reaction built and built to a passionate standing ovation when the show was over. If comedy shows had encores, I�d still be at the theater.
� Lou Harry, Indianapolis Business Journal
Clever dialogue is matched with broad physical comedy that will leave you believing there are more than two people on stage. � Lorraine Ball, on-line Fringe review
See this show if you listen to NPR so much that your
PC-ometer needs to get blown up and re-organized.
-- Nell Weatherwax.
Irwin and Kondrat don�t shirk their roles � they own them, and dare the audience to have a problem with it. At the women�s shelter, Irwin and Kondrat play multiple roles to riotous effect. Come prepared to laugh at things you know are intrinsically wrong. � NUVO magazine
Other info:
In March 2009 Diane performed Shakespeare in My Room in Norfolk, Virginia at the 40st Street Stage!
"The heart is ... creation's electrical indicating meter by which we may read and decipher the world. Jettison the heart and you're left with the dark abysm of incomprehension." -- G. Berger, O LOVELY GLOWWORM
