[excerpt from the review]
Posted by Dan Lehman
June 19, 2008 in New York City Events, New York Theatre | Permalink
“Following A Handsome Woman Retreats, Eric Lockley performed his one-man show Last Laugh, a satire in which two black performers begin to confuse performance and reality. Lockley developed the show at NYU's Experimental Theatre Wing when he was still a drama student at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts last year, and performed it at New York's LaMaMa ETC. in February.
The show is about the dueling --literally -- personalities that a black performer in America must balance, in order to entertain audiences without pandering or losing his sense of identity. Think Spike Lee directing The Incredible Afro-Hulk from a screenplay by Charlie Kaufman, and you get a sense of the inner transformations and character mutations that Lockley performs in his 60 minutes on stage.”
Reviewed by Martin Denton
Jun 18, 2008
soloNOVA Arts Festival Reviews
Last Laugh
[excerpt from the review]
“It's compelling and important work that reminds us how treacherous it is to try to navigate a path toward success against the odds of irrational, institutionalized bigotry; in this regard, Last Laugh transcends the issue of racism to take in every kind of hurtful pop culture stereotype, from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy to Tonto.”
Street Theater
By Andrea Appleton
POSTED OCTOBER 1, 2007
[excerpt from review of One Million Forgotten Moments]
“But in mid-September, the little store at 38 Park Row was all dressed up. Red velvet curtains draped the walls, chandeliers hung from the decrepit ceilings, and opera music filled the tiny room. There, an audience of about 25—gilded opera glasses and fold-up fans in hand—watched as more than 100 artists, from a singing cowboy to a glowing mermaid to a Jackie O impersonator, performed on the sidewalks, the median, and even the scaffolding, transforming the street into a Vaudeville stage.”
VIDEO OF STREET PERFORMANCE
Blacken the Bubble was a revival... shown for two sold-out performances... After all, the slapstick comedy, and somehow the uncomfortably honest tone of the script combined with the in-your-face staging made it that much more hilarious....
The actors were not afraid to make their characters as wacky as possible, and their easy rapport was infectious. Alexander Richard as Brad, the boss’s nephew, and Xosha Roquemore as Kanese, the best friend of the only other black employee, commanded the most comic attention because they were the most stereotypical of their respective races.....
Maybe all Trevor Washington [the main character] wanted was to be defined by remaining undefined. Where Blacken the Bubble truly succeeded is in shocking the audience with its own laughter; that is where to find the real beauty of comedy rooted in hatred.
Blacken the Bubble Bursts a Bubble
[excerpt from the review]
Review by: Melissa Kimbler
April 14, 2009
Mermaid in Manhattan: Going Green
From the moment I walked into the theatre, I knew I was in very creative hands. Rather than a paper stub ticket, I was given a magnet from a reservoir preservation company. The pre-show announcement was made by “Mother Earth”, a friendly and sassy woman who proclaimed she was watching us. She informed us that, during the rehearsal process, no paper was used, only computers, and since there was little time to prepare, a projection screen with the actors’ lines on it was hung behind the audience.
One of my favorite pieces was “SOS”, in which “Mother Earth” meets and creates an open, raw, and wild “Man”, only to have him hurt her with all his technological fascinations.
As a work of stagecraft, Hope Speaks is impressive, particularly given the relative youth of its creators. It seems styled after works by The Civilians, Tectonic Theatre, and Anna Deavere Smith..”
“What struck me most vividly in hearing and seeing this work, now nearly 30 months after the events they chronicle, is how hopeful so many of us in this nation were back then, and how that contrasts with the national mood today. McCrory writes in his Director's Note in the program that he views this play as "a call to action for us to reflect and continually fight for the American promise." My own hope is that with this work and whatever follows, these earnest young artists of Movement Theatre are able to do exactly that, and to steer clear of the cynicism and anomie that has seemingly rendered so much of the American polity inert in the face of serious threats to the freedoms we take for granted.”