Date of Performance: June 14-30, 2007, part of the festival OFF STAGE: THE WEST VILLAGE FRAGMENTS

Performance Space: outside Phebe's, 4th Street and Bowery, NYC

Director: Gabriel Shanks (parallel company directed by Chris Mirto)

Cast: Oscar Castillo, Jason Martin, Matthew Cummings, and Lars Preece

Producers: Peculiar Works Project (Ralph Lewis, Catherine Porter, and Barry Rowell, Co-Directors)

Reviews and Press:

"If theater should be a moving experience, OFFstage: The East Village Fragments must certainly be the season's theatrical highlight. Few works have ever kept their spectators in such constant, breathless motion. Much more seamless than last fall's West Village Fragments in the way it links scenes together, Peculiar Works Project's new foray into the history of the movement makes both memories of the old Off-Off and the possibility of its youthful rebirth seem tangible. Leonard Melfi's Birdbath on a brownstone stoop, Sam Shepard's Rock Garden against the fence of St. Mark's Church, Hair with the chorus in the Public Theater's window alcoves, two riotous "rival" productions of Charles Ludlam's Conquest of the Universe under a construction scaffold, and for a finish, Megan Terry's Viet Rock in a grim metallic hallway-—it's all there, in its outrage and exhilaration, a chance waiting to be seized. Grab this joyous chunk of the past and,when you've caught your breath, start contemplating the future." - Michael Feingold, The Village Voice

"Peculiar Works' OFF Stage: the East Village Fragments is a fascinating look at the beginnings of the off-off Broadway movement...One of the most thrilling aspects of the evening is the anticipation of where the next scene will come from. I found myself studying passersby on the street, wondering if they would become part of the show next. The size of the audience fluctuated as we moved through the Village, with onlookers getting caught up in the public spectacle and tagging along with the group for a few scenes. During the performance of Tom Eyen's (Why Hanna's Shirt Won’t Stay Down), three people using the ATM at the bank located directly behind the actors lined up in the window to gawk, becoming an unwitting backdrop to the scene. The other thing I found truly remarkable about the evening is the grace with which one scene flows into another. Often the pushcart pulls away to bring the audience to the next performance while the actors from the previous scene are still speaking to each other. In other cases the new scene starts behind the audience or erupts spontaneously from actors planted in the audience. With 80 actors and 22 directors staging 29 scenes over the course of two hours and 40 minutes, the production could easily have been bogged down by its own size. Peculiar Works does an amazing job of finding innovative ways to carry us from one piece to the next. OFF Stages: the East Village Fragments is a treasure trove for anyone with an interest in the roots of off-off Broadway." - Pete Boisvert, NYTheatre

"I take it that all of you reading this are theater fans; that said, why haven't you already seen Off Stage: The East Village Fragments? Peculiar Works Project, following up on their West Village version, has put together a historical homage, a walking-tour-de-force, of off-off-Broadway '60s plays (surreal, abstract, absurd, experimental, classical, satirical, happening) to help pass on the culture and teach us all more about the state of theater today. I saw a lot of glimmering talent in all those styles and performances, and I hope there are some producers out there who realize that this type of concentrated festival can do as much good, if not more, than a full-length summer series....East Village Fragments also provides audiences with immediate visualizations for different styles of theater, not to mention the ways in which directors can give life to a text, as with Casey McLain's row of flashlight illuminated women in "The Mulberry Bush," Belinda Mello's intimate proximity of the cast in "A Corner of a Morning," or the way Halina Ujda turns a narrow street into the final walk on death row in "Lullaby for a Dying Man." The creativity occasionally bleeds into confusion, as with the absurd "The Conquest of the Universe (or When Queens Collide)," which, in order to pay respect to the two visions that split the play into two theaters, has two casts and directors working at the same time. It's a valuable lesson in what the Playhouse of the Ridiculous was all about." - Aaron Riccio, Show Showdown

Date of Performance: October 13-November 12, 2006

Theater: Spotlighters Theatre, Baltimore, MD

Cast: Richard Goldberg, David Gregory, Patrick Kilpatrick, Suzanne Knapik, Terry J. Long, Shannon Maddox, Don Mullins, and Towanda Underdue

Design and Crew: Allen Cutler (sets/props), Chris Meade (compostition/sound design), Shannon Maddox (costumes), Jodi Ratti (lighting), Shannon Hunt (stage management), Andrew Syropoulos (assistant stage manager/dramaturg), Robbie Heacock (sound design, with Chris Meade), Patrick Kilpatrick (fight coordinator), Pete Fonda (original compositions, with Chris Meade), Fuzz Roark (co-producer)

"I will state it now, a few weeks before my best of 2006 list: Angels is the best local play produced in Baltimore this year." - Baltimore Out Loud, which did indeed name Angels in America the Best Theatre Production (and Best Ensemble) of 2006

"Friday, October the 13th turned out to be a day of good fortune for Spotlighters, which opened its solid, thoughtful production of Angels in America: Millennium Approaches on that date. In this co-production with the MADSHAG Performance Group from New York, a very up close and personal (both by design and default -- Spotlighters is a small venue) concept has been adopted. The concept that this is really about community -- it takes place mostly in New York, but is relevant to any community -- is immediately clear upon entering the theatre when the company is seated on the stage casually talking to each other, and eventually to various members of the audience. The device is a calming one; it levels the playing field, and truly does give the impression of "we're all in this together." In fact, it is so "between all of us" that we watch the actors change costumes and they join us to watch from the seats. It is a brilliant way to bring the epic down to a manageable size for all concerned....The staging is almost cinematic in style and really fits, especially in the jarring way the fantasy sequences pop up amidst the otherwise even flow. Aided by stunning slides and minimal set pieces to let us know where we are, the "real" scenes do have an undercurrent of commonality while still being site specific. The sound and music, designed by Chris Meade, Pete Fonda and Robbie Heacock, seamlessly add to the constantly changing and evocative scenes. Technically, this production is masterful in using a small space while creating a giant, sweeping story....

It seems Mr. Shanks has emphasized the more emotional content (the stories of Prior and his lover, Louis, and of the conflicted Mormon, Joe Pitt and his pill-popping wife Harper) over the political content (Roy Cohn and his cronies bullying their way through life). This, it turns out is an excellent choice – the emotional content is more universal and the players involved are much more interesting and of quality....As the central character of Joe Pitt, Patrick Kilpatrick has certainly stretched his already considerable acting muscles. His is a performance befitting the epic he is in....One can only imagine how emotionally and physically spent he must be at the end of each performance. That commitment to character pays off handsomely, as Mr. Kilpatrick is giving one of the finest performances of 2006 on any stage in Baltimore. Given much less stage time, but with no less effect is Shannon Maddox, as Harper Pitt, his wife. Not only is she convincing in her drug-induced state, Ms. Maddox also allows us to see very real pain and fear, even as the character feels she is covering it up perfectly. The bizarre fantasy sequences we see are all the better because this Harper is fully committed and truly believes what she is seeing. This is a performance of truth, anguish and complete believability -- in lesser hands it could be a mess....Richard Goldberg, as Louis, gives a fascinating, mesmerizing performance. His take on the role is layered and so interesting that one never becomes bored with the character’s incessant need for validation and acceptance after a cowardly departure from his lover. The nuance, gravitas, and even delightful humor Goldberg brings to the character allows us to alternately hate Louis for abandoning his partner at his time of greatest need, and to completely sympathize with him...As whatever approaches gets closer, let’s hope an angel is there to guide us. Until then, let Angels in America: Millennium Approaches at Spotlighters into your life. This beautiful production is there to remind us of hope and love and beauty in the unlikeliest of places and circumstances, and we are all the better for it." - Broadway World

"An ideal setting for Tony Kushner's frenetic, phantasmagoric Angels in America: Millennium Approaches. The multiple-role-playing cast zip in and out of shadowy offstage areas and ricochet off each other like billiard balls on the stage before rushing back to the inky black recesses. This production is a roller-coaster rush of comedy, anger, compassion, guilt, and survival." - Baltimore City Paper

"Absolutely spectacular. Angels in America, written by Tony Kushner, has been performed many times in the past on stage and adapted into an HBO miniseries, but this has to be one of the best productions. Three hours fly by like 30 minutes, and many members of the audience may find themselves wishing they could view part two immediately after part one finishes....The acting is exceptional, especially considering that each actor is playing at least two roles." - The Towerlight

"A fresh adaptation...the thorniest challenge in the little, low-ceilinged Spotlighters is how to fly the Angel at the end. Director Gabriel Shanks and his designers resolve this by having the Angel's huge, feathered wings hover over one corner of the stage throughout the performance. It's a constant reminder of the extra-terrestrial presence looming over the characters...In a broader context, however, as this ambitious production affirms, Angels remains pertinent - a brilliant commentary on the importance of coming together, taking responsibility and looking forward to what the Angel calls "the Great Work" ahead." - Baltimore Sun

About The Show: This post-millennial production found an epic magic realism inside the confines of a very small playing space...and in the round. Our first significant use of projections since 1996's Poor Super Man, each wall of the theatre was illuminated with video of actual New York locations, surrounding the audience inside the play itself.

Date of Performance: September 21-October 7, 2006, part of the festival OFF STAGE: THE WEST VILLAGE FRAGMENTS (2007 OBIE AWARD)

Performance Space: outside Po Restaurant (formerly the Caffe Cino), Cornelia Street, NYC

Cast: Steve Hauck, Gretchen Michelfeld, and Lars Preece

Producers: Peculiar Works Project (Ralph Lewis, Catherine Porter, and Barry Rowell, Co-Directors)

Reviews and Press:

"Peculiar Works Project's jaw-droppingly ambitious new production is an homage to the writers, artists, and venues that pioneered the off-off-Broadway theatre movement of the 1950s and 1960s. The spirits of The Living Theater, The Judson Poets Theater, and other off-off companies of yesteryear are resurrected while the audience is led on a labyrinth trail of Greenwich Village streets, stoops, and storefronts. Over two-plus hours, 50 actors and 14 directors present scenes from the plays of off-off's signature scribes—including Sam Shepard, Lanford Wilson, and Maria Irene Fornes—that simultaneously send the viewer back in time and put the present into a larger historical perspective. It is a thrilling, vibrant, and inspirational piece of theatre that is unlike anything I have ever seen before....As one might expect from a show of this magnitude, there are many highlights. For me, they include Steve Hauck's powerhouse rendering of the title character from Wilson's The Madness of Lady Bright (which earned a well-earned round of applause from the outdoor diners at the Cornelia Street Café, seated nearby); Michael Tomlinson's haunting turn as Fred Herko from Monuments; Freddie's Monologue by Diane di Prima (I actually thought he was a homeless guy laying in a puddle of his own urine until he rose and started speaking); and a tribute to Dames at Sea, featuring Kristen Lewis and Joel Newman tap-dancing their hearts out on the corner of Bleecker and Cornelia Streets. Truth be told, though, the entire cast is spectacular, and all the directors do a splendid job.....My hat is off to Peculiar Works Project for pulling off something this gutsy and no-holds-barred. OFF Stage: the West Village Fragments is entertaining, vital theatre that I can't recommend highly enough." - NYTheatre

"The event might be called off-site-specific: Linked by the tenuous thread of an imaginary quest to raise bail money for Judith Malina (inspired by her 1966 arrest for breaking the IRS padlock on the Living Theatre), the walking tour went to spots where Off-Off plays or theaters had once thrived, performing choice bits from '60s works in the streets outside these mostly vanished landmarks. Lanford Wilson's Madness of Lady Bright stopped traffic on Cornelia Street; jazz from the restaurant that replaced Circle Rep underscored the vaudeville repartee of Maria Irene Fornes's Successful Life of 3 ; and a long, wacky excerpt from Home Movies, complete with accordion accompaniment, swelled the crowd outside the Provincetown Playhouse on MacDougal. The loose-jointed, high-spirited event dramatized, forcefully, the many differences between the '60s and today...It drew from many more styles of theater and used them with far greater political and dramaturgic daring; it bounced imaginatively off TV and movies instead of imitating them, like the often mediocre stuff our budget-conscious Off-Broadway institutions feed us today....The West Village Fragments, like the theater that inspired them, have vanished; stay tuned for East Village Fragments next spring. Stay patient, hoping for the new theater that will build with imagination on the memories the '60s left for us." - Michael Feingold, The Village Voice

"Part traveling site-specific performance, part historical walking tour, Off Stage: The West Village Fragments is an homage to the pioneers of New York's downtown theatre scene. The audience meanders through West Village streets as scenes from over a dozen of Off-Off-Broadway's more-influential plays are presented in front of landmarks from the movement's early days....The scenes, staged by a sizable team of actors and directors, are strewn throughout the West Village — on stoops, sidewalks, even in hedges. Working outdoors conveys the sense of danger associated with those early days, as many theatres were raided and gay content was considered a punishable offense. It feels as though the show can be shut down at any moment for lack of proper permits or because a group of drunken NYU frat boys are going to beat up an actor in drag." - BackStage

"You couldn’t ask for a more beautiful space to stage 'Off Stage: The West Village Fragments', a warmhearted and well-researched tribute to the birth of Off Off Broadway that includes a series of excerpts from pioneering downtown plays of the 1960’s. The elegant, twisty streets of the West Village may no longer be home to the cutting edge in theater, but they do provide a lovely background for early works by Sam Shepard, Lanford Wilson and the Living Theater." - The New York Times

About The Show: This tender, quiet show about lonliness and heartbreak was one of the most gentle theatre pieces we've ever done...until we got out into the middle of traffic on bustling Cornelia Street, which is where the performance of the walking tour/theatre event was. Suddenly thrust into the cold weather and busy glare of urban life, the actors (bless their hearts) had to adapt quickly to the material. Over the three-week run, the piece would have many special guest stars, including homeless people, drunk senior citizens, SUVs from New Jersey and hundreds of very appreciative audience members. One of the great experiences of our theatrical lives.

Date of Performance: September 8-25, 2005

Theater: Bank Street Theatre, New York City

Cast: Josh Billig, Frank Blocker, Oscar Castillo, Noshir Dalal, John Dohrmann, Christian Felix, R.J. Foster, Avi Glickstein, Janice Herndon, J. Damian Houston, Jeffrey James Keyes, Willie LeVasseur, Shannon Maddox, Joshua Marmer, Christopher McAllister, and Matthew Trumbull

"...does more to add vitality to the contemporary theater than any number of pallid, if diverting, revivals." - Gay City News

"A sincere and often eloquent analysis of the nature of power...a thoughtfully executed production...Director Gabriel Shanks quickly hones in on Brecht's overriding theme: a critique of the horror of war and the randomness of power, concisely staging the senseless series of rebellions and feuds that spiral from a vendetta into open war. Shannon Maddox's costume pallette of dull brown and army green emphasizes the fickle nature of victory, painting each momentary winner in the same colors as whomever they have just defeated...Allen Cutler's set, through which this is conveyed, resembles an abstracted warehouse: paint-streaked columns and a red-spattered floor are grazed by yards of plastic sheeting, while dozens of bare lightbulbs, metal chains, and pulleys dangle from the ceiling. It's lovely, and the chorus of bare bulbs make for an immensely varied lighting pallette." - Curtain Up

"Frank Blocker is a fascinating Mortimer who approaches the problems he encounters in an almost detached, philosophical manner rather than with hot-blooded passion...Shanks has set the play's action in the near future, indicated primarily by modern dress and the use of guns rather than swords. But he does not overemphasize this conceit, instead allowing the play itself to raise issues of power and responsibility, the cost of perpetuating war, the inevitability of corruption, and the possibility of redemption. Although Edward II is generally considered to be one of Brecht's minor plays, it still has relevance."- Theatremania

"Shanks translates the spirit of the court into a kind of gang lust for sexual pleasure."- Variety

About The Show: Bertolt Brecht's version of EDWARD II is a sharp commentary on the nature of war in society told through the rise and fall of the openly homosexual Plantagenet king of England, whose battles with a despotic and ambitious ruling class led to his deposition and murder. This production of Brecht's EDWARD II moved the action into an imagined future, finding new modern relevance as it explored the devastating repercussions of a power-hungry, warring society.

Date of Performance: October 21 - November 7, 2004

Theater: The Independent Theater, New York City

Cast: Frank Blocker, Janice Herndon, Shannon Maddox

Village Voice: "Voice Choice"

BackStage: "The Fall of the House of Usher calls for committed performers, meticulous staging, and nonstop technical support. Creative Mechanics delivered on all counts and succeeded in making an indelible impression with its haunting, harrowing presentation...eclectic pacing, vivid stage pictures, and creative physicalization of inanimate objects."

named one of 2004's Best New York Theatre Productions by Backstage, 12/29/04

"Creative Mechanics presented the most creatively indelible production, reviving Steven Berkoff's take on Edgar Allan Poe's Fall of the House of Usher. Frank Blocker, Shannon Maddox, and Janice Herndon were hypnotic under director Gabriel Shanks, and the designers (Allen Cutler, Chris Meade, and Erik C. Bruce) turned the Independent Theater into a haunted mansion full of harrowing imagery." -- Elias Stimac, BackStage

Show Business Weekly: "Takes the audience on a journey through the imagination...a definitively creepy appearance. The Fall of the House of Usher will make you jump at least once and send chills down your spine."

New York Magazine: "Off-Off Broadway Pick"

Talkin' Broadway: "a flawless ride...jumping straight from the pages of the original novella and straight into our nightmares...a nice mix of ghastliness and elegance to the production, and as Halloween approaches, those who brave the stairs up into the Independent Theatre will not be disappointed."

Off-Off Online: "A pageant of hair-raising theatrics, the play will keep you riveted in your seat from the first full-throated scream....pulses with the menace and raw sexuality of the vampire-like attachment of the Usher twins."

Date of Performance: July 10-27, 2004

Theaters: The Space at 40 Worth, part of Peculiar Works Project's In Praise of Folly: The Don Quixote Project

Cast: Frank Blocker, Roger Calderon, Oscar Castillo, Avi Glickstein, Janice Herndon, Mitchell Horn, Shannon Maddox

Date of Performance: April 15, 2004

Theater: stART Series at Judson, New York City

Cast: Helen Bessette, Frank Blocker, Michael Busillo, Mitchell Horn, Allen Jared, Shannon Maddox, Nick Mathews, and Maryann Walsh

3 Stories to the Ground

Poor Superman

rite #55/wonderwall elegy