Also this issue:

Strikes, Fights, Big City
A turbulent New York theater season produced some notable work.
-Toby Zinman

Lullaby of Broadway
This season’s musical theater scene has been a bit sleepy.
-David Anthony Fox

Alone Again, Naturally
-Susan Hagen

Green Violin
-Steve Cohen

The Plotz Retrospective
-A.D. Amorosi

Bell Esteem
-Kristina Weise

Don DeLillo
-Andrew Ervin

Temple University Opera Theater
-Peter Burwasser

April 24-30, 2003

artsbeat

compiled by Debra Auspitz

For the last four months, Mark Lord’s Big House (plays & spectacles) and Atluk Theater Company have been hosting an evening of food and performance every last Monday. Last Mondays ran from 1994 to 2001 at the Ethical Society, and reopened in a new venue, Plays and Players Theater, this January. So far, Lord says, "it’s been full every month." For five bucks, Last Monday offers a vegetarian meal and a sampling of works from local actors, dancers and musicians.

This coming Monday, former City Paper Editor in Chief David Warner drops by from Vermont as a guest curator for the evening. Lord says, "David and I have been friends since 1977, and when he told me he was leaving for Vermont I wanted to do something to commemorate his having been here. He's been an important collaborator for me, and I think he has great taste."

Warner has chosen five acts for his Last hurrah. He says of his choices, "This is just a sampling of all the performers doing great things in Philly -- but I'd say the one common denominator for these folks is that when I see their names on a playbill it makes me happy in advance."

John Lumia, who had a Fringe hit with his one-man show, Amputation Nation, will read a six-minute selection from his new piece, Cryptome, which will have its premiere at this year's Fringe. Lumia's character, he says, "is a guy who's had a spinal injury, and he's lobbying before Congress to change the name of "America the Beautiful.' He thinks it creates pressure on society, it creates the equivalent of a societal plastic surgery nightmare, so he's lobbying to give America an image makeover that's more humble." As this is his first public reading from Cryptome, Lumia says, "I'm as interested as anybody else to see how it works."

1812 Productions' Pete Pryor will perform a scene from Brat Productions' recent run of Wallace Shawn's The Fever (he originally did the show in the penthouse suite of the Warwick Hotel). Anneliese Euler will rock out with some of her original songs. Warning: Use the bathroom before her set, otherwise you will quite possibly laugh hard enough to pee your pants. Actor David Disbrow and Headlong's Andrew Simonet and Nichole Canuso will perform together, calling themselves "The Santa Group." The evening wraps up with music from Kiss Kiss Kill. Last Monday begins at 7 p.m. on April 28 at Plays and Players, 1714 Delancey St. Tickets are available at the door, or call 610-526-5202.

Looking ahead, Lord says he hopes to create another Last Monday-type event for kids, with similar artists. "We probably wouldn't serve drinks," he laughs, "but we'd still serve spaghetti, 'cause kids love spaghetti."