Hossein Fassa’s Director’s Note
I have often been excited and transfixed by the magical communal aspect of the theatre mostly because it entails the delicate, intricate process of the communing of a group of nomadic folks with vastly disparate backgrounds yet a shared common goal: to bring ideas to life with themselves as the instruments. It was a tremendous honor to work with such expressive performers comprising of veteran thespian talents and some emerging young actors who poured themselves into giving life to Sophia Romma’s unearthly lyrical words. It was thrilling to see this troupe of actors paint such a full fleshed-out scenic allegorical portrait in a very short space of time. One of the sheer joys of working with an author of such breadth of literary references, namely, political, farcical, biblical, lyrical, and satirical is the myriad of possibilities and levels of interpretation that the work presents the audience with. The danger is always that the director may force his or her interpretation upon such a unique voice, at the risk of diminishing the eleven dimensional multiverse that the piece may work on. Good plays gift us with markers to steer us in the right artistic direction. Sophia’s play, “The Blacklist” provides us with so much more. There is a real rhythm to her work, an underlying score. It may not be immediately obvious on a casual read through the play, but when voiced by gifted performers it becomes a veritable guide. I thank Sophia Romma for her immense passion and for this one of a kind meaningful, impactful avant-garde experience as a director of the theatre. Sophia’s drama is a twisted distorted mirror of turbulent life. She draws amply from the faults and weaknesses of mankind and expresses her dialogue in bold language which surpasses mere beauty—her verse is the language of the Gods that blossoms with the depth of truth which solely noble art may attempt to echo in earnest. Sophia has tapped into the issues which haunt all of us in contemporary times. She presents these issues in this play as fundamental ones. We shall be grappling with these dilemmas today and perhaps for centuries to come. In essence, Ms. Romma’s play is rather universal and unapologetically eternal.
Hossein Fassa is an actor, director, producer and former director of the Stella Adler Conservatory of Acting in New York City. As an actor, Mr. Fassa studied with Stella Adler and has performed at La Mama Experimental Theatre Club, Theater for the New City, Broome Street Theater, Tribeca Lab (where he served as a founding member) and at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Edinburgh, Scotland. He has directed works by Howard Barker, Yukio Mishima and a slew of new playwrights at theatre venues across New York City and at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Hossein Fassa
https://www.facebook.com/events/183559912006538/
Enthusiasts and admirers of musical theatre and pop culture caught an enthralling overdose of Steven Schwartz on April 16th, when a star studded ensemble of one hundred performers gathered together at legendary Symphony Space on the Upper West Side to witness “Wall to Wall Stephen Schwartz,” a free eight-hour musical smorgasbord for the discriminate palate.
“Wall to Wall,” especially Segment Three, which I had the pleasure to attend, featured a myriad of songs from Schwartz’s popular Broadway Musical hits, performed by famous and infamous artists of musical theatre, even humble humorous Stephen himself. Mr. Schwartz is rather brilliant in arranging a cacophony of virtuoso melodic compositions complimenting a spectrum of musical theatre voices, glorifying those brilliant and majestic operatic sopranos and underscoring the mediocre subdued talent of plastic elastic contemporary fluff. It is immeasurably admirable for a composer who belongs at heart to the ebbing and tumultuously experimental 1970’s, to bring the house down by applying the lofty art over which the muses of lyric poetry preside. In Segment Three, Schwartz is literally restrung in order to sublimely appeal to the ears of the masses, crafting a definitive psychological formula which ignites practically all of his musical compositions and imbues his hit Broadway musical scores with alluring lyrical ambiance, producing the effect of an eternal flame mirrored in the deep chords of sensual innuendos—hypnotic like Bollywood and delectable like amour. At times his redeeming melodies are melancholy like the precious patter of midnight rain over dilapidated European rooftops. Mr. Schwartz, a veteran composer, has an innate talent for concocting cocktail bombshells fizzing with an expressive combination of dancing enlightened tones. These tones are trained like lions at the circus, to tear through the misty panes of the human spirit, luring us with brushstrokes of pleasure, fear, trepidation, emulation, deceit, treacherous ardor and a divine candor. Schwartz’s music, bursting from its scientific shell, baits us with the art of pleasing—which is the very yolk of the populist genre of musical theatre.
Segment Three of “Wall to Wall” beckoned an operatic chorus of vocals. Schwartz’s rhythm was defined by a slew of musical instruments, representing musical drama which skillfully involved the tender appropriation of the maestro’s signature melodious declamations, arias, duets, fables, and a few fractured contrapuntal notes in which accidentals and foreign notes to the mode were introduced, albeit fearlessly. The Master of Ceremonies, Jeff Kready, who is lofty with musical comedy provided the comedic relief in contrast to the dipping falsettos of some of the stray performers who apparently were trained to sing at high pitched decibels, invoking sympathetic applause from embarrassed yet supportive Upper West siders—folks who refrained from entering the Gershwin Theatre to enjoy Wicked but instead chose to indulge in the echoing walls of Jericho as they were upheld by the sturdiness of Mr. Schwartz’s inexhaustible gem of a talent.
Playing at Musical Chairs while juggling an array of fashionista Broadway performers, I entered sacred Jerusalem as Schwartz’s musical game unfolded. “Wall to Wall” was a feast of tantalizing bits from Stephen’s prolific career, comparable to a Cliff Notes session when one has no time to read volumes amid cramming for high school exams. Segment Three commenced with “Generations,” performed by the formidable Wall to Wall Ensemble of eclectic vocalists, differing in their appearance and their vocal-range, conducted by the magnificent Alvin Though, Jr. When Stephen’s orchestration of “Children of Eden” stroked the air, the audience was mesmerized as the story of Genesis entered a new realm of pulp fiction mingling with a modern biblical paradise. The captivating Aurelia Williams sang her heart out with “Ain’t It Good” and received standing ovations. The sexy Raul Esparza crooned the “Chanson” in Schwartz’s “The Baker’s Wife” and Max Von Essen belted the life out of “Proud Lady”. When Patti LuPone took center stage, delivering “Where is the Warmth?” with feline finesse, Symphony Space flooded with an ethereal harmony as if a specter from Mr. Schwartz’s heydays had set in and taunted our soulless technological cellphone addicted society, filtering funk through LuPone’s agile and potent resonance. Ms. LuPone’s earth shattering performance was followed by the bland piano movement of Joseph Thalken who mournfully exclaimed: “Now let’s see how I can follow LuPone!” and thus sealed his downfall. Joshua Rosenblum, Schwartz’s dear friend, played his composition, “We All Need Help toFeel Fine.” That tune, in a silently primitive fashion, lulled me to sleep and certainly failed to light up the world, as its alternate title suggested. The light of this Wall Party was Schwartz’s raw-chested “Prince of Egypt.” Schwartz relayed that Prince of Egypt was inspired by Hebraic melodies which were delicately laced throughout “Through Heaven’s Eyes.” Then, in their duet, ravaging Betsy Wolfe and a coy, courageous Nikki M. James glorified the instantly recognizable “When You Believe,” conducted tenderly by Judith Clurman.
Part Three reminisced of Classical Schwartz, tripping down memory lane with the delightful “One Little Lie,” (from Séance on a Wet Afternoon) performed by the mesmerizing Lauren Flannigan with the voice of a nightingale, accompanied by the humor of Stephen on the piano, mouthing lyrics of the kidnapping plot. When Wicked arrived, the audience swiftly returned to magical Oz, where the psychedelic world of competitive witches, Glinda and Elphaba, reprised the contagious “Popular,” and the heart-stopping “Defying Gravity” which rocked Symphony Space, performed by the adorable Patti Murin and the astounding Merideth Kaye Clark, accompanied by a boisterous Ted Arthur on the heated piano. Perhaps the most illuminating part of the final segment of “Wall to Wall” was the Alan Menken Collaboration highlighting “Happy Working Song” coquettishly sung by the gorgeous Laura Osnes and “Colors of the Wind” an all-time 90’s classic from Disney’s Pocahontas, shedding light on the devastation reeked upon the Native Americans by our “noble” founding settlers fleeing the tyrannical British Crown. Our MC finally appeared as a performer, singing “Bravo, Stromboli!” from My Son Pinocchio and was truly impeccable whence he hit those impressive high notes.
In one of the longest evenings of musical repertoires of my life, “Pippin” unveiled the brilliant cadences of singing sensation, Patina Miller, who was suave and cool as she jazzed her way through the shores of Faust’s Burlesque with elegance and Vogue style. The legendary and super fit Tovah Feldshuh accompanied by the Yale Vocal Ensemble, brought the very best out of the Upper West siders as she enlisted the voices of the audience members to join her in marching to the tune of “No Time at All,” thematically grappling with the onset of old age. Tovah praised and honored Schwartz and recalled with pure nostalgia, her treasured time spent with Steven’s wife, who graced Symphony Space with her presence. Moments later, it was refreshing to discover the vibrant talent of a young Joshua Colley, lending a bravado depth to his duet rendition of “Wings of a Swan” from My Fairy Tale.
The evening culminated on a genuine note, as Stephen Schwartz thanked his fans, sat at the piano and masterfully played, “Can You Imagine That?” and ended with “For Good” which brought a tear to my eye, knowing that Mr. Schwartz and his generations of musical scores shall remain with us, for good.
Stephen Schwartz Tumbles Down the Walls of Symphony Space
Review is written by Sophia Romma
For the Internet review company - Theater Pizzazz
Photos: Maryann Lopinto
The NYU Alumni Association (NYUAA) represents all NYU alumni, from every NYU school and department—a community nearly half-a-million strong. The diverse and active NYUAA Board of Directors is made up of alumni volunteers who steer the Association in their mission to engage and support alumni. Sophia Romma (TSOA ’95, ’97) is a veteran member of the Board and is the leader of the NYU Alumni Club of Long Island, which plans events for alumni in Nassau and Suffolk counties.
Romma received her BA and MA in dramatic writing from Tisch School of the Arts, and holds a PhD in philology from Maxim Gorky Literature Institute. She is the author of fourteen Off-Broadway plays and her stage-plays have been performed at theaters throughout the world to rave reviews. She is also the author of the award-winning film Poor Liza, which won first prize for screenwriting and best original film at the St. Petersburg Literature in Film Festival in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Romma has taught drama, playwriting, and screenwriting courses at the New York Film Academy, McGill University, Lander College for Women, The Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center, and the Negro Ensemble Company, where she served as literary manager. She is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America, vice president of the International Center for Women Playwrights, and is a board member and International Committee chair of the League of Professional Theatre Women. She is currently the producing artistic director of the O'Neill Film and Theatrical Foundation, committed to achieving gender parity in both theatre and film, on the regional, global, and universal theatrical stage and screen.
I will forever remember by beloved professor of dramatic writing at Tisch, the Tony Award-winning playwright Colonel Leslie Lee. He was my mentor and he believed in my dramatic craft. Together we collaborated on seven Off-Broadway productions, which he directed. Leslie also introduced me to the iconic Ellen Stewart and from then on, Ellen had taken me under her wing and invited me with open arms to join her La MaMa family and even asked me to call her Mama. Leslie Lee shaped my dramatic voice, which now belongs to the theatre. We enjoyed a 25 year friendship and were co-conspirators of the theatre. My theatre craft will forever be entwined with Mr. Lee's brilliant legacy.
I am eternally grateful to New York University for granting me a vital core education, which was beyond remarkable. I have excelled in my career due to receiving a potent and compelling education in my field of arts and entertainment, without which I would have never been able to break through on the scenes of competitive theatre and film. I took courses with some of the most intelligent, caring, and dynamic professors. I give back because without an NYU education, I wouldn't have much of a professional career or very many friends in this highly saturated industry. Most importantly, I give back to NYU because I am immeasurably proud to be an NYU alumna. I am honored to serve on the NYU Board of Directors, and to support student scholarship through initiatives such as the Momentum Campaign, so that NYU's future students can attend their dream school. I was one of those students seeking acceptance, seeking the tools to sharpen my talent and NYU came to my rescue, so I give back. It's ever so worth it!
This week on HowlRound, we continue the conversation on gender parity, which has been gaining momentum this year through studies, articles, forums, one-on-one discussions, and seasons and festivals focused on women. As Co-President of the Women in the Arts & Media Coalition and VP of Programming for the League of Professional Theatre Women, I have the pleasure of working with, coordinating, contributing to, and raising awareness about many of these local, national, and international efforts. This series explores what needs to happen right now—in this precipitous moment—in order to profoundly, permanently expand the theatrical community's views and visions of women, both onstage and in every aspect of production.—Shellen Lubin.
On April 27th, 2015, I was among one hundred people who attended the Equity in Theatre Symposium in Toronto, Ontario, which featured a strong response to the research and statistics presented in the recently published study, Achieving Equity in Canadian Theatre: a Report with Best Practice Recommendations, researched and written by Dr. Michelle MacArthur. A panel of distinguished playwrights and artistic directors of Canadian theatres presented the challenges which hinder women's progress in the theatre world, often restricting us from key creative positions of power in the industry. A question which was astutely posed summed up the essence of this monumental conference: "What must be accomplished in order to improve equality in Canadian Theatre and in theatre around the world?”
A definitive Equity Policy in the theatre would outline identified barriers, detail how to eliminate them, provide a timetable for activities, and determine how to implement them.
I vehemently remarked several times on the existence of gender inequality in the American theatre and in theatres in Eastern Europe, of which I am well versed. I had suggested that harnessing foundations and organizations led by women who actively seek and employ other women and search for funding for women's productions are imperative in order to close the gender gap both in the US and in Canada; we share the same language, so we are plagued by a similar culprit of injustice and discrimination against the female sex in the entire labor force. Suggestions by our League of Professional Theatre Women’s International Committee Members, also attending the conference as the face of the League, ensued with deep and grounded conversations on how to aid Canadian theatre in constructing a strategic plan to improve equity.
The main symposium was fruitful, engaging, and productive, breaking out into sessions where small groups suggested ways of achieving gender equality through implementation of a step-by-step best practices scheme, gleaning examples from history, and moving confidently into the present by leveraging what has already been learned, with the goal of achieving 50/50 representation in 2020.
Toronto, Ontario, is the epicenter of the Canadian theatrical sphere. The city has various theatre and affinity group initiatives striving for deeper representation of women, the Pan Asian culture, the growing LGBTQ community, the Latino Community, the enlightened youth who seek representation in contemporary Canadian theatrical pieces from which they are peculiarly absent, and the indigenous community, who bear a sadly under-served presence in the Canadian theatre. Importantly, women working in the Canadian theatre yearn to preserve the thriving scene of theatre for social justice, which is much needed in the chaotic 21st century and is very much in line with the activism present in the United States on the theatrical front. In essence, activism on the part of women working in the theatre, in unification, is a growing necessity in achieving gender parity and social justice in Canadian theatre and in the United States.
In confronting gender inequity head-on, constructive discourse has become a staple. The loaded questions on direct procedure to achieve our goals remain the same, however. How do we nurture and reform the environment within theatre communities in Canada? How do we break the shackles of stagnant conversation and move towards action in order to close the gender gap in the theatre, permanently? It has become quite clear, through such symposiums calling for an end to inequity in the theatre, that in order to subdue the presiding culture and ideologies which currently feed the trends, female artists must present a united front.
At the conference, I met a Maori woman from New Zealand. She poignantly stated, “To talk feminism is never to talk nonsense; we must voice our concerns, make monumental changes, and reform shall occur in due time.” I heard many voices reiterate that we will be able to derive strength for all our efforts in the theatre as women, if all women stand united, convinced of our indelible worth as artists, and angry at our systematic oppression. Yet how do we fight against stubborn dictatorial oligarchy and discrimination which should have long been abolished? Furthermore, how do we shift from advocacy to activism?
At the EIT Conference, suggestions were made to establish strong leagues and unions dedicated to the fight for gender parity in theatre. A suggestion of formulating an Equity Policy in the theatre was presented and a heated discussion ensued. Essentially, many believe that the Toronto theatre scene should embrace a commitment to equity and diversity by providing a supportive work environment and culture that welcomes members of underrepresented groups. This policy would prohibit discrimination in the theatre workplace, and adhere to human rights legislation. A Canadian Human Rights Theatre Code could be established to prohibit the discrimination on the basis of race, ancestry, place of origin, color, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, age, gender, record of offences, marital status, family status, handicap, and sexual orientation. Currently, under the Canadian Human Rights Act, it is against the law to discriminate on the basis of race, sex, color, age, national or ethnic origin, religion, marital status, family status, disability, sexual orientation, and a pardoned criminal conviction.
Toronto is a city that does not condone any form of discrimination. It endorses and embraces the Canadian Human Rights Act which prohibits discriminatory practices, which should be extended and applied to the theatrical sphere. A definitive Equity Policy in the theatre would outline identified barriers, detail how to eliminate them, provide a timetable for activities, and determine how to implement them. A special division ought to be founded which will further monitor and evaluate the progress of the various activities in an effort to achieve gender parity in Canadian theatre. Progress on equity and diversity should be reported annually to the Canadian Theatre Council. This type of Equity Policy in Theatre should also be extended globally in an effort to achieve global and cosmopolitan gender equity in the theatre, once and for all.
https://howlround.com/moving-toward-gender-equity-canadian-theatre
A Preface by John Farrell (Director)
Sophia Romma is not your ordinary playwright. She is, rather, in a class all by herself. While some of her work conforms (slightly) to more conventional models (I conjure up, for example her elegiac portrait of exiled bi-sexual Russian poetess, Marina Tsvetaeva, the heroine of her play from The Past is Still Ahead, (which I have also had the pleasure of directing); it is with a play like That Queer Blind Silence that Romma’s enigmatic brilliance can be seen with full-on flashing lights. I say enigmatic in the sense of a mathematical paradox or a puzzle. There are many moving parts in Sophia’s play—a kaleidoscope of actions, motives and allusions that only reveal themselves when one approaches the text with newly opened eyes. Pay attention to what is there, not what you think may be there! At first glance, one could be forgiven (partially) for mistaking this play as a variation on the old "inmates running the asylum" theme, but that reading runs the risk of missing the play's ethos entirely, for Romma’s asylum is a battlefield of elemental impulses both embodied and inferred, each and every one demanding our keen attention. Romma's characters and situations do not so much evolve as they explode and the audience is advised to take cover! At times it seems to SHOUT: “Our political climate breeds a crisis for humanity; why are we just standing there? Our fundamental rights are in jeopardy! Take action this instance!”
In Romma’s world that Venn diagram of sexual, intellectual and spiritual chaos finds expression in the rise of Vladimir Putin. In many respects, the play feels prescient as the issues raised by the Sochi Olympics dating back to 2014 have only grown more urgent and grotesque. Putin may be a tyrannical monster, but he is a monster of our own, perhaps unintended, invention; like a poisonous gas he fills the rupturing fault lines of our dark, discordant worlds. He consumes the places we refuse to acknowledge; a malignant expansion super-charged by the denials and conflicts each and every one of us harbours. Nevertheless, this theatrical madhouse created by Romma is not a mere metaphor for a world peopled with tabloid celebrities, even if its occupants (Paul Robeson, Edward Snowden, Johnny Weir, Masha Gessen along with the cameo appearances of other renowned public personas) certainly fit that bill. I suggest instead that Romma offers us a world that is beyond metaphor; that its “is-ness” cannot be reduced to a play of symbols. The here-and-now presented by That Queer Blind Silence is not so much a mirror of the world as it is the world and that world, alive with all its contradictions, delusions and inchoate desires is not a pretty in pink sight.
The challenge in directing this unique play is to be quite certain and give Romma’s verse the oxygen which it needs; allow for every line and every action to breathe into the life required. Only then one will begin to find that the play’s seemingly disparate, even irreconcilable parts, come together, illuminating each other in ways that may remain evasive to even the closest of readings.
John Farrell’s Brief Biography
John Farrell is an Irish writer-director-broadcaster who has staged numerous plays and events in both Ireland and New York across a career spanning nearly half-a-century. Farrell’s first paying job in theatre came when he was thirteen years old, as a member of actor/director Geraldine Fitzgerald’s legendary Everyman Company in New York City. After attending Columbia University, Farrell returned to Ireland where he was to build a career as an influential Theatre Director and Arts Administrator, journalist, critic, television personality and radio broadcaster. He returned to New York in 2010 and has been delighted to serve as director of Sophia Romma’s extraordinary award-winning stage-plays. He has had the pleasure of staging Romma’s play, Carte Blanche at Polaris North Theatre Collective and at The Midtown March Madness Short Play Festival. He has also directed That Queer Blind Silence at the 13th Street Repertory Company and co-directed The Past Is Still Ahead at The Montauk Library for the “Women Celebrating Women in History Series.”
Jonathan Slaff (Publicist)
Press Agent’s Note
I treasure my two memorable decades of working with Sophia Romma as her press agent and publicist and our collaborative artistic relationship which continues to prosper because Sophia’s plays enlarge my awareness and scope—on a psychological, emotional, political and theatrical level. Occasionally, Sophia’s plays are truly prophetic. I have learned from "That Queer Blind Silence" what it feels like to live in a fascist kleptocracy in free-fall, in which a country is governed by regular attacks on chosen enemies. "That Queer Blind Silence" deals with the repression of the LGBTQ Community in Russia during and after the time of the Sochi Olympics. The play exquisitely articulates, in its own singular style of verse, the descent into paranoid anxiety that has been forced upon Russian society as a result of Putin's fascism. In the period of his consolidation of power, the Russian state has become vulnerable through election fraud and support of criminal oligarchs. Putin's solution has been to blame imaginary opponents for corruption of what we might as well call the "Russian ideal." The opponents included "Western Stooges" (like Hillary Clinton), Jews and homosexuals. Furthermore, an association between opposition and treason has been taken for granted and free-thinkers as well as ethnic minorities in contemporary Russia have found themselves held up as enemies of the people. Russia is a failed state, but thanks to Putin, it is being re-envisioned not as a country but as a spiritual condition, a civilization, which will not abide by the rule of law or a succession principle. It unsettles the mind to think of that kind of a country, yes it does. To be able to grasp and to fully picture the unsettlement these tyrannical regime actions churn is the creative challenge this play rises to.
Like many Americans, I was not aware of Russia's plunge into darkness at the time of the Sochi Olympics in 2014. While our government pursued a "reset of relations," most of my countrymen and I overlooked the warning signs, preoccupied with our daily lives and financial pressures, confident to leave important matters to a capable American president. Besides, it was better to have a strong man in charge in Russia than anarchy. At least somebody, we hoped, could protect the Soviet nuclear arsenal from
being pilfered and distributed around the world. We were especially unsuspecting that Putin's tools of fascism would soon be exported to new shores. We needed to wise up.
Politically speaking, it is far from incidental that Putin's target was homosexuals in the context of this play and upon reflection of Russia’s past discriminatory history against sexual and ethnic minorities. It is truly disturbing that today gay athletes are an object of fear; tomorrow it shall be somebody else. Any scapegoat will do when a political leader, fashions fictional problems such as the permanent encroaching hostility of a decadent West. I did not fully comprehend this concept in 2015, when I was working with Sophia on this play. But I get it now. Is America going to be living tomorrow in the same state of mind as Russia was in 2014, or is today?
The flavor of our discontent will depend on how fascism reinvents itself for our New World realities. Meanwhile, in Mueller we trust. And we gird our loins for the 2018 midterm elections. We will not have peace of mind until the ordeal is over. I can no longer say that my fate is somebody else’s problem, "but for the grace of God, there go I." Sophia Romma's portrait of the hateful rhetoric and prejudice waged against the gay population, against governmental non-conformists and the muted voices of the press in 2014 Russia is a potent warning to us all. That is what lies in store for the American people, if we fail to perceive the lurking dangers of a totalitarian state and if the rule of law does not prevail. That is the reason behind Masha Gessen’s support of Ms. Romma’s poignant theatrical masterpiece. Perhaps if we heed the screeching alarms of the messenger, we may still prevent future bloodshed.
Jonathan Slaff’s Brief Biography
Jonathan Slaff has been an independent theatrical press agent since 1988. He has proudly served as Dr. Romma’s press agent and publicist since Sophia’s debut play “Love, In the Eyes of Hope, Dies Last” at La MaMa Experimental Theater Club in 1997. Pursuant to La Mama’s production of Sophia’s surreal play, Mr. Slaff has continued to be the press agent and publicist for Romma’s cycle of phantasmagorical Obie-nominated plays in quantum verse, produced at La MaMa E.T.C., namely, “Coyote, Take Me There” and “Defenses of Prague.” Slaff was also the press agent for Romma’s international cycle of theatrical productions: “Shoot Them in The Cornfields!” at the Producers Club Theatre and at the American Theatre of Actors, “Absolute Clarity” at Players Theatre, “The Past Is Still Ahead” and “The Mire” at the Cherry Lane Theatre.
Mr. Slaff performs media relations and audience development services for cultural institutions, professional theater and dance companies, fundraising and civic events, government agencies, NGO's and self-producing artists of various kinds, primarily in New York City and vicinity. New York theatrical clients have included La MaMa Experimental Theater, Shakespeare in the Parking Lot, Theater for the New City, New Federal Theatre, The Negro Ensemble Company, Inc., Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre, The Drilling Company Theatre, Workshop Theatre Company, Kings County Shakespeare Company, The Yip Harburg Foundation, The American Place Theatre and Ubu Repertory Theater. Musical clients have included violinist Mari Kimura and two Klezmer attractions, The Klezmer Conservatory Band and The Klezmer Mountain Boys. Artists represented have received seventeen Obies, three Bessies, Lucille Lortel, Theater World, and Outer Critics Circle Awards. His success stories include the launch of one of New York's most successful and cutting-edge theatrical attractions, Blue Man Group. Mr. Slaff is also an actor.
https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/THAT-QUEER-BLIND-SILENCE-to-Play-13th-St-Rep-85-23-20150804
Garden of the Avant-garde and Theatrical Foundation presents:
That Queer Blind Silence
A new Political farce by Sophia Romma.
NEW YORK, July 7 – The human condition of gays in contemporary Russia mirrors life in a phantasmagoric insane asylum. That's the view of a new play, "That Queer Blind Silence" (www.thatqueerblindsilence.com) by émigré playwright Sophia Romma. Her political farce, written in English but in the style of Russian Expressionism, depicts the ordeals of a fictional figure skater whose character was inspired partly by the life and career of bronze medalist Johnny Weir. Underground International Voices of Theatre, in association with The O'Neill Film and Theatrical Foundation, will present the play's world premiere run August 5 to 23 at 13th Street Repertory Company, 50 West 13th Street, NYC, directed by John Beshaw-Farrell. Ten percent of ticket sales will be donated to Underground International Voices of Theatre to support that organization's efforts for equal rights of the LGBTQ community in the Russian Federation.
During the buildup to the 2014 Sochi Olympics, gay and lesbian life in Russia was rocked by the passage of a law against the promotion of "non-traditional sexual relations." While Olympic Sponsors and western statesmen cried out, harassment and violence against gays worsened. Threatening innuendos were spread in leaflets stating that prison and fines would be the punishment of deviants from the sexual norm.
Homosexuality had been decriminalized in Russia in 1993, however, to Russian émigré Sophia Romma, herself an accomplished figure skater, the change in Russia's recent political landscape suggested a certain regression into delusional psychopathology, which she paints in this play. It is an absurd, outrageous, macabre tale in which a fictitious gold medalist in figure skating is stripped of his honor and exiled to an asylum in Siberia, where the head psychiatrist, a lascivious sex-nik and mistress of Vladimir Putin, reforms homosexuals through spiritual cleansing and ludicrous soul-purging psychiatric tactics.
Romma's skater evokes the nonconformance of figure skater Johnny Weir, the 2008 World bronze medalist and three-time U.S. national champion, whose sexual orientation was a source of controversy during and after the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The protagonist Olympic figure-skater of the play, Szimon Pedro, known as the "Ice Oracle," had been surviving and passing by as a heterosexual pretender. However, when he achieves his life's goal of winning the coveted Gold Medal at the Sochi Olympics, his western thinking and "individual expression" become suddenly corrosive of traditional values, demographic trends—even posing a serious threat to the safety of children. Subsequently taking the gold, Szimon is locked up among prisoners seen and unseen: the computer analyst and whistleblower Edward Snowden, a Russian lesbian feminist dissident journalist named Masha Guessin' (based on the real Masha Gessen), and the ghost of the actor/singer/social activist Paul Robeson. Szimon is pressured to rat out his gay athlete friends and subjected to electro-shock therapy, pseudoscientific libido enhancement and bizarre seduction. Can he with-stand the pressure and earn heavenly redemption, or will he forever wear his gold medal as an albatross of bigotry around his neck?
The literary style of the play is courageous and unapologetic staccato verse. It chillingly reveals the angst and paranoia which are forced upon free-thinkers and ethnic minorities of contemporary Russia as a result of Putin's opposition to western influences and his immoral annexation of Crimea. The play would be a harmless, perverse delusion if it were not so chillingly true of the monomania and tyranny raging like a conflagration in contemporary Russia.
Director John Beshaw Farrell explains that thematically, the asylum in the play symbolizes Russia herself, maddened by her own lost grandeur: Orthodox, Imperial and Soviet. The inmates have all been useful idiots in advancing dishonest propaganda. The consequence of being betrayed by what they thought were their virtues has left them all damaged, unfit for any other life but that of a madhouse.
Playwright Sophia Romma adds, "In some ways, Russia's assault on LGBT rights is simply an opposition to American hubris and western concepts of individualism that are foreign to the Russian way of life. Various ethnic minorities threaten the Russian government, as do liberated thinkers, free spirits, nonconventional artists, athletes and reporters who openly criticize the current regime." She continues, "It's not just LGBT activists who give Russia the heebie-jeebies. A soul has no true rights due to the indelible fact that the law of Mother Russia abides. The country is striving for liberation but bogged down by its repression of break-through individualism deemed hazardous to the country."
The play is choreographed by Leslie Dockery. Set design is by Gregory Okshteyn. Costume design is by Marina Abramcyk. Music is by Michael Bulychev-Okser. Theme music for "Paul Robeson" is composed by Otis Cotton. Incidental music is performed live by "Manana" from Armenia. The actors are Alice Bahlke, *Walter Krochmal, *Grant Morenz, *Tommie Thompson, Gavin Rohrer, Anna Fishbeyn, Marina Levinson and *Otis Cotton.
*The Actors appear through the courtesy of the Actors’ Equity Association.
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
Sophia Romma emigrated with her parents from Russia as a child. Her mother is from Ukraine and her father was born in Romania. Her birth name, Murashkovsky, is Polish but she officially changed it "because nobody could pronounce it and the teachers called me Marsha Kowalski in school." Out of sheer reverence, Sophia appropriated the pen name of Romma to pay homage to her father's mother, who was of Gypsy ancestry. Sophia is a resident playwright of The Mayakovsky Academic Art Theatre of Moscow, where the name Quantum Verse was coined to describe her literary style. The name derives from the question "How real is the universe?" and the notion that it may contain parallel dialogues, a simple subtle one and a metaphysical one.
Romma received her MFA at New York University and her Ph.D. from the prestigious Maxim Gorky Literature Institute in Moscow. In 2017, she graduated from Fordham University School of Law with her Masters of Law in International Human Rights Law and Justice. One of her monumental theatre productions, "Cabaret Émigré" (2012) interpreted the soul and hardships of assimilation of the émigré with Quantum Verse. Jerry Tallmer of The Villager wrote that “Sex and politics intermingle at Romma’s ‘Cabaret’ as the playwright crafts crazy/erratic/erotic American vernacular.” Her "With Aaron's Arms Around Me and The Mire" (2010), two one-acts on the theme of intolerance, were produced by the Negro Ensemble Company at the Cherry Lane and played to appreciative critics and audiences. The New York Times (Andy Webster) wrote, "Each playlet takes a refreshing, almost sideways approach to the subject of ethnic tension." The review had particular praise for "The Mire," where a humorless lieutenant having served in Iraq, is skillfully undone by a young filmmaker named Svetlana, "who speaks in effervescent wordplay artfully derived from Chekhov, and [the Lieutenant] is ensnared in her enchantments. So is the audience."
Romma had three productions directed by Colonel Leslie Lee at La MaMa Experimental Theater: "Love, in the Eyes of Hope, Dies Last," "Coyote, Take Me There!" and "Defenses of Prague." Her other plays include "Shoot them in the Cornfields," "The Past is Still Ahead" (about exiled bi-sexual Soviet poet Marina Tsvetaeva, which premiered in Seoul, South Korea in November, 2015 to raving reviews), "Absolute Clarity" at Players Theatre and "Carte Blanche” which ran at Polaris North Collective and at the Midtown March Madness International Theatre Festival.
She was author of the film "Poor Liza," directed by Slava Tsukerman ("Liquid Sky") starring three-time Golden Globe and Emmy Award winning actor, Ben Gazzara, Obie, Emmy and Academy Award winning actress, Lee Grant and international Slovak superstar, Barbora Bobulova. The art-house drama phantasma won the Grand Prix Garnet Bracelet for best screenplay at the Gatchena Literature and Film Festival in St. Petersburg in 2001. In 2005, her anthology of poetry, "God and My Good" was published by the Gorky Literature Institute. In 2006, her collection of poems, "Garden of the Avant-garde," was published by Noble House, United Kingdom.
Sophia Romma is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America, a member of the League of Professional Women in Theatre (where she is chair of the International Committee) and President of the International Centre for Women Playwrights. She has been Literary Manager of the Negro Ensemble Company and currently serves as Producing Artistic Director of The O’Neill Film and Theatrical Foundation, which is committed to the plight of gender parity in both the theater and film industries (www.theoneillfilmandtheatricalfoundation.com). For more complete info please view: www.thatqueerblindsilence.com/main.htm#author.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
John Beshaw-Farrell began working in theater as a protégé to actress Geraldine Fitzgerald when he joined her esteemed Everyman Company over forty-five years ago. In 1981, Farrell immigrated to Ireland where he became a leading figure in that country’s artistic community, though he probably remains most identifiable from his long run (nineteen years) as sidekick to Irish broadcaster Gerry Ryan. Farrell won In Dublin Magazine's Best Production award for his staging of "Twelfth Night" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream." He was director of Dublin’s first Fringe Theatre Festival, an active Board Member of the Project Arts Centre and was, for several years, Director of Ireland's largest Arts Center, The Garter Lane in Waterford. Since returning to New York about five years ago, he has developed a one-man show about Brooklyn poet Walt Whitman, an on-going memoir/performance piece named "Three Lies About Brooklyn." Most recently, Mr. Farrell directed Sophia Romma's short play, "Carte Blanche," at the Midtown International March Madness Play Festival.
ABOUT THE VENUE
13th Street Repertory Theater, the venue for this three-week run, is the tiny landmark theater on W. 13th Street known as the “gem” of Greenwich Village and home of the longest-running OOB show, "Line" by Israel Horowitz. The theater has presented traditional plays for 42 years under its founder and artistic director, Edith O'Hara, and is now bursting with creative energy since the arrival last fall of its new Artistic Director, Susan Merson, who has renovated the place and is refashioning it into a community-based center for artists of diverse disciplines, presenting music, poetry, photography, painting and plays written by women.
RELATED EVENT—ART EXHIBITION
An exhibition of original artworks by Inna Bodner, an artist, scenic and set-designer for the theater, entitled "Ukrainian Guardians of Feminist Avant-garde," curated by Heidi Russell, will be held from August 1 to 23 in the 13th Street Repertory Company's theater lobby.
On Sunday, August 9, from 4:30 to 6:45 PM, the exhibition's opening will be celebrated with a catered reception of Ukrainian cuisine, Uzbek delights and champagne. Ms. Bodner was a long-time colleague and creative collaborator of playwright Sophia Romma, who will present a brief discussion on Bodner's prolific life in theater and in art and on their successful artistic collaboration. Heidi Russell will also hold a short Q and A session pertaining to the selection of artworks chosen for this honorary exhibition.
Ms. Bodner passed away in August of 2011 from breast cancer at the age of 43. She had 350 artworks in private collections in Ukraine at the time of her death, including 200 works on paper. Donations will be accepted to help preserve Ms. Bodner's artistic legacy with proceeds given to breast cancer research. The public is invited to peruse her oeuvre at http://bodner.sitetokeep.com/fine-art/paintings-new. For more information or for arranging a personal viewing with the curator, contact: Heidi Russell at heidi.womenartsalon@gmail.com.
CRITICS ARE INVITED to "That Queer Blind Silence" on or after August 9.
PHOTOS ARE AVAILABLE at www.jsnyc.com.
In 2013, The Midtown International Theatre Festival (MITF)’s fourteenth season featured a slate of full-length plays and musicals, as well as Short Subjects.
Sophia Romma's "The Past Is Still Ahead" was part of the line-up. Although Ms. Bodner had passed away suddenly in August of 2011 from breast cancer at the tender age of 43, her set and scenic design won first prize for best set design at the MITF yet again. https://www.theateronline.com/pb.xzc?PK=42425. In 2015, the NYU Alumni Club of Long Island and its President, Dr. Romma, honored the late Inna Bodner with the following event, albeit Dr. Romma's play, "That Queer Blind Silence" was abruptly pulled for presenting politically controversial content as she advocated for fundamental rights for all minorities on the global front. The event invitation from New York University read as follows:
| Ukrainian Art and Theater Exhibition and Catered Reception |
| Join the NYU Alumni Club in Long Island for this exciting evening of art and theater with a catered Ukrainian food and champagne reception near Union Square. Sunday, August 09, 2015 4:30 PM–9:00 PM 13th Street Repertory Company 50 West 13th Street New York, NY 10011 Tickets: $20 Adults, $16 Students, $14 for Seniors 10% of all proceeds will go towards the fight to achieve LGBTQ rights to equal life and freedom of expression in Russia. |
| More Information |
| From 4:30 PM–6:30 PM, we'll begin our evening with an art exhibition of Ukrainian artist Inna Bodner's work, and enjoy Uzbek and Ukrainian cuisine and champagne. At 7:00 PM, we'll gather for a performance of "That Queer Blind Silence," which "dramatizes the delusional psychopathology in the repression of the LGBTQ community in Russia." For questions about this event, please email us.alumni@nyu.edu. |
In February of 2016, the13th Street Repertory Theatre presented a Staged Reading of Sophia Romma's play, "The Blacklist" followed by an homage to Ms. Bodner and her inspiring artwork and bold apocalyptic scenic/set design. The exhibition was entitled Ukrainian Guardians of Feminist Avant-garde: Artwork by Inna Bodner.
https://www.facebook.com/events/183559912006538/
Also in February, Salon Radio and its host, international art curator, Heidi Russell, released the following in homage of Inna Bodner and her work in the theatre:
Salon Radio 02-18-16: Special feature honoring Visual and Theatre Artist Inna Bodner with Sophia Romma and her cast of her play The Blacklist, exhibition and staged reading tomorrow Feb 19th @ 13th Street Repertory Theatre (50 W 13th Street, NYC) 7:15 pm reception for Inna's exhibition and 8pm reading all free; Salon Solo {Radio} guest Rasa Vitalia, dance performer/vocalist/songwriter/performance artist (www.rasaviyalia.com); Host Maureen Van Trease; World Bulletin by Candi Sterling; Presenter IWAS founder and producer Heidi Russell; all shows on demand at www.cityworldradio.com.
OnAIR Players presents Sophia Romma's "Absolute Clarity". Two scenes and an interview of the playwright herself.
Actors in todays presentation:
De’Adre Aziza is a Tony Award nominated (Passing Strange) actor and singer who has appeared in 3 Broadway shows, and numerous Off-Broadway and regional shows. In addition to theater, she has appeared on several TV shows including “The Good Wife”, “Blue Bloods” and “Madam Secretary”. De’Adre is also a recording artist and musician, having sung at such venues as Carnegie Hall (“Ask Your Mama” with Jessye Norman and The Roots), The Hollywood Bowl (“Ask Your Mama” with Jessye Norman, The Roots, and Nnenna Freelon), and The Bermuda Jazz Festival.
ADRIANA SANANES was a leading actress at New York´s Repertorio Español for ten years, performing works from the golden age of Spain to Lorca to contemporary theatre. Her awards while there include a Theatre Fellowship Grant from The Princess Grace Foundation, Best Actress, XIII Chamizal International Festival, El Paso, in The Trickster of Seville and ACE Award for Eduardo Machado’s Revoltillo.
More recently she was seen in Sophia Romma’s “Cabaret Émigré” at Theatre Row, and in Carmen Rivera’s “The Fall of Trujillo” at Teatro Círculo, winning a Best Actress award from ATI, The Independent Theatre Artists Organization.
Alice Bahlke was trained at Emory University and the O’Neill National Theater Institute. Alice most recently appeared on Theater Row as part of Rachel Reiner Productions’ Villainous Company . Up next, Alice will be filming the feature film, The Goddess, with The Looking Glass. Favorite credits include As the World Turns (CBS), Hell House LLC which recently premiered at Lincoln Center, and of course, Marina Tsvetaeva in Sophia Romma's The Past is Still Ahead at the Midtown International Theatre Festival in the summer of 2013 . Alice is thrilled to be reprising her role for 365 Women's Playwrights A Year at the Sheen Center, as the ill-fated poetic soul of Marina Tsvetaeva.
Walter Krochmal (www.sonichoop.com) has a diverse career as an actor that spans classics, contemporary, performance art, sketch comedy/revue, site-specific, folk and other genres, in English and Spanish, with engagements at festivals in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the National Theater of Honduras and beyond. He recently played several roles in Sophia Romma’s Cabaret Emigré at the Lion Theater on 42nd St. and is proud to be working with her again on her cult play,
"Carte Blanche" which premiers at the Midtown International March Madness Short Play Festival in 2015.
Penultimate rehearsal for Carte Blanch - written by Sophia Romma. - as part of the Midtown International Festival at The New York Arts on W.43rd and 8th. Featured performers included Cam Kornman, Walter Krochmal, Michael Czyz, Daniel Erikson, Tim Haber and Gavin Roher with Manana providing musical color. John Beshaw-Farrell directed.