Theater Ninjas’ production of [sic] is at the 78th Street Studios through March 15

Melissa James Gibson’s verbose, frenetic [sic] focuses on three neighbors, their mistakes, and their friendship of convenience.

Babette is trying – unsuccessfully – to pitch a book about history-changing temper tantrums. Theo is struggling to compose a theme song for the Thrill-o-Rama rollercoaster. And Frank is stumbling over his words as he dreams of becoming a professional auctioneer.

While they’re each counting pennies and hitting the wall with their creative pursuits, they’re making mistakes in their personal lives. Drunken hookups, vanished wives, jealousies over an ex-boyfriend who’s moved on.

[sic] shows the three repeatedly spilling out of their apartments and into the hallway with their ups, downs, arguments, and flirtations, before slamming a door and retreating into their personal prisons.

It was exhilarating and a little emotionally exhausting.

Left to right: Actors Ryan Lucas, Rachel Lee Kolis and Gabriel Riazi, as Theo, Babette and Frank in [sic]

There was little sleep, but who needed it when you were fueled by putting order to the chaos and a couple of martinis.

Although I may not have been a full-blown trainwreck at the time, I would have qualified at least as a fender bender trying to figure out what I wanted and making many mistakes.

Looking back, was it exhausting? Yes. But was it also an incredibly fun and invaluable experience? Definitely. And many good stories resulted from that time.

Which is why I loved [sic]. It made me recall working back-to-back shows on Sundays, punctuated by a riotous weekly dinner with the rest of the crew and cast. Or having a cigarette with my roommate on our apartment building’s front stoop, hoping we’d run into our neighbor Akbar, a local artist and chef who always had something interesting to say.

Director Pandora Robertson pondered in [sic]’s playbill “Why do we end up with the friends that we have? Why do some friendships last and others fade instantly? Do we really choose our friends?”

We don’t really have that much control as the characters in [sic] demonstrate. They’re brought together because they all knew the same mutual “friend,” someone we don’t meet, but hear a lot about from Babette, Theo, and Frank.

Much of [sic] rotates around the characters’ mistakes and their habit of pointing out the others’ in defense of their own

[sic]’s script runs at a manic pace, focused on the cacophony of the city and the at-times overly clever language of its inhabitants. I found myself having problems keeping up on occasion and missing a line here or there. However, the actors playing Babette (Rachel Lee Kolis), Theo (Ryan Lucas), and Frank (Gabriel Riazi) never waned in energy and thrust our focus from each tumultuous moment to the next.

Kolis, in particular, captured my attention and never let go. Her expressions and body language were always in sync with Babette’s shifting moods and whirlwind outbursts. Whether she was seeking a few pennies or support for her book (neither of which she got from anyone but Theo), her desperation shot straight to my heart.

Theo bangs out a not-very-thrilling Thrill-o-Rama composition while Babette and Frank listen outside his cramped apartment

The highlight of every Theater Ninja show is seeing how they use a performance space, whether it’s the atrium at the Cleveland Museum of Art or a common area between a few galleries in the 78th Street Studios.

In the same space where Theater Ninjas’ first run of Excavation had audience members wandering between multiple vignettes, set designer Val Kozlenko has built out [sic]’s intimate, messy apartments.

Even though each apartment is the size of a broom closet, it fully realizes the inhabitant’s personality and problems. I loved how each space was built at a slant, melding into the 78th Street Studios’ walls and support columns, creating a refuge where the characters could continue to torture themselves in private. 

[sic] will be at the 78th Street Studios through March 15 with shows on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Monday at 8pm. Tickets range between $15 and $20. Purchase them at https://squareup.com/market/theater-ninjas

Disclosure: I was invited to attend [sic] with a guest in exchange for sharing my opinions of the production. The opinions here are 100% my own.

Disclosure: I was invited to attend Theater Ninjas’ Black Cat Lost to share my opinions

The jisei, or death poem, is a tradition among zen monks and haiku poets – short poems written moments before death. Some are poignant, others surprisingly amusing. All are candid insights into the author’s last thoughts as death approached, regardless of whether or not they welcomed it.

As we walked into the Waterloo Arts gallery for Theater Ninjas’ Black Cat Lost, Obie Award-winner Erin Courtney’s play about death and our personal grappling with it, there was a table of colored paper and white pencils. We were each asked to write our death poem.

After last spring’s The Excavation, the one thing I’ve come to expect when attending a Theater Ninjas show is to be open to the experience. In their show choices and execution, the company, led by Black Cat Lost‘s director Jeremy Paul, is about taking risks. So when the blank cards were staring us in the face, we thought “why not?”

A good reminder for a Theater Ninjas show

Scott and I each penned our poems privately and made our way to our seats. Sitting down in one of the church pews, I took in the sparse space around us. Sparse but calming. I liked how they framed the empty art studio with a couple of wood-and-paper screens up stage and a window curtain or small vanity mirror here and there. It wasn’t overwhelming – an open space that was clearly designed to allow for a lot of fluid movement. Zen-like.

It managed to lure me into a calm that wouldn’t last for long. Within the first ten minutes of Theatre Ninjas’ performance, I was suckerpunched.

Prior to Black Cat Lost, the Theater Ninjas presented The Refrain, a short, three-person piece about two people discussing a friend who is on her deathbed.

It was about the memories you have of a person who’s vivacious, intense, and alive one moment, and then, suddenly, they’re not. The inclination to gloss over the bad stuff – a friend’s hotheadedness, unpredictability or selfishness. The guilt. Your and your friends’ different capacities for dealing with the loss of someone, especially that first time someone in your age group dies.

The December after I graduated from college, a close friend passed away after his car was struck by a drunk driver. I have no way of describing it except that it was a weird time. I was all over the place – happy when I’d think about my memories of Matt, hollow at other moments, hysterical, angry.

Scott and I on our way home from a college theatre formal. Matt in his pink tux on the right-hand side.

I’m only sharing this to explain why nine years later I found myself quietly ugly-crying at the end of The Refrain. Out of the evening’s two performances, Scott and I agreed afterwards that we preferred this one – the pacing, poetry and performances from Tania Benites, Ray Caspio, and Sarah Moore were ones we understood and connected with.

Fortunately, when the lights went down for a few moments at the end of The Refrain, I was able to regroup before the cast immediately transitioned into Black Cat Lost. 

Black Cat Lost is a collage – snippets of poetry, humor, philosophical meditations, dance, and interrupted vignettes between different characters – all about dealing with the loss of others and ourselves. Similar to our relationships with family, friends, and acquaintances, characters pop up, go away, and reappear throughout the performance.

Ray Caspio, Lauren Joy Fraley, and Sarah Moore, the cast of Black Cat Lost. Not pictured: Tania Benites of The Refrain

Although Black Cat Lost is disjointed, actors Ray Caspio, Lauren Joy Fraley, and Sarah Moore for the most part make it easy to ride along. Thinking back on their performances, it’s like recalling memories of a series of memories.

After my emotional response to The Refrain, I welcomed Black Cat Lost, which was moving and insightful in its own right but intentionally fleeting. It was a perceptive decision to pair these performances as they uniquely reflected on dying.

Black Cat Lost, a mix of dance, movement, humor and musings on death

As is the case with previous productions, a significant aspect of Theater Ninjas’ work is the nomadic nature of their company. Not having a ‘home theatre’ allows them to use different spaces like the Cleveland Museum of Art and Ohio City Masonic Temple and leverage the space as a character.

Black Cat Lost takes it one step further as the group’s first touring production. Last weekend’s performances were at Waterloo Arts; the Oct. 31-Nov. 4 performances are at 78th Street Studio-Survival Kit; and Nov. 7-9 will be at Summit Artspace in Akron.

This multi-venue approach gives audiences a chance to see how Black Cat Lost transforms in three different worlds. Like each of our journeys toward the inevitable, each weekend’s performance is unique.

On Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays, performances start at 8pm. There is a late night show on Nov. 2 at 11pm.  Tickets cost $10 on Mondays, $15 on Thursdays, and $20 Fridays and Saturdays. Purchase them at blackcatlost.brownpapertickets.com.

Disclosure: I was invited to attend Black Cat Lost with a guest in exchange for sharing my opinions of the production. As always, my opinions are 100% my own.

Theater Ninjas’ The Excavation at Cleveland Museum of Art

From Good People and Much Ado… to next week’s War Horse, Scott and I have been spending a lot of time in theatre seats lately.

And as impressive and enjoyable as all of these shows have been, sometimes you need a palate cleanser. Something that’s a bit off-the-wall, that you’re not really sure what to expect from at any moment.

Enter Theater Ninjas’ The Excavation, currently “on loan” to the Cleveland Museum of Art as part of The Last Days of Pompeii exhibit.

The cast of Theater Ninjas’ The Excavation

You don’t really see a Theater Ninjas show, you experience it.

According to their website, the Theater Ninjas are “architects of out-of-the-ordinary experiences” creating “innovative, exciting theater events that use the power of the human body to tell stories.”

And I learned just what that means when I attended their performance of The Excavation at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Scott and I got to the museum a little early that Friday night. Fortunately, it’s the Cleveland Museum of Art, so there’s always something to do. After enjoying Gallery One, we made our way into the Atrium where the performance takes place.

Part of its interactive charm, characters from The Excavation mingle with the audience

While a few of us were meandering around, we ran into the Artist who led us on his tour of the contemporary galleries. Two parts irreverence, one part art history, our Ninja tour guide shared his offbeat insights not only about the art on the walls, but also the trashcan by the elevator.

As our guide took us back to the Atrium, we could see it was about time for the performance to begin. Once there, we noticed a few characters filtering into the waiting crowd – we met Luigi an archaeologist and a young lab assistant named Edith.

Gradually, all of the characters made their way to a platform in the center of the Atrium where they gave us a taste for what we were in for that night.

Like The Last Days of Pompeii exhibit, The Excavation explores how the ancient city of Pompeii lives on in our modern imagination. Why are we still so fascinated with the lives we never knew, trying in vain to piece together stories from the buried rubble?

We never did find out where she was going – just one of many reasons to catch a repeat performance of The Excavation

Unlike a traditional play, The Excavation has no seats and no single stage. Instead, short, interactive vignettes take place throughout the evening in all corners of the Atrium.

A hallway becomes a lecture hall, an escalator a lovers’ quarrel – with the actors fully responsible for setting the scene, not able to rely on stage dressing.

I loved the intimacy of it all – during each scene, you’re fully engrossed in what’s going on as the actors are performing just for you and a small handful of other people.

It’s important to note, though, that you will not be able to experience all of it in a single visit.  As with a Choose Your Own Adventure book, you can choose where you go and which performances you see, but at the expense of missing others.

The good news is that all performances of The Excavation are free, so multiple visits are highly encouraged and easy on the wallet.

Theater Ninjas’ The Excavation at Cleveland Museum of Art

While the performances had us laughing all night (The Vettii Brothers puppet show is a don’t-miss if you’re into pun-y groaners), don’t be mistaken that Theater Ninjas is doing this just for chuckles.

There’s an underlying layer of sobering and at times scary reflection about our obsession with Pompeii thousands of years later – and what it says about the modern human condition.

Jeremy Paul, Artistic Director of the Theater Ninjas, wrote in the program notes “It is a performance rooted in the idea that human beings are frequently, blindly and joyously wrong about mostly everything…The thesis of The Excavation is that we can never truly know Pompeii, but through attempting to do so, we might inadvertently learn something about ourselves.”

Credit is due to the Cleveland Museum of Art for partnering up with Theater Ninjas to provide this unique programming. It’s a smart complement to the Last Days of Pompeii and I would love to see similar programming based around future exhibits.

The next performance of The Excavation is this Friday, April 12 in the Ames Family Atrium. 

This is followed by performances on April 28 and June 12.  The shows this Friday and June 12 start at 7pm; April 28 starts at 2pm.

Additionally, stop by the museum for Ninja Days April 14, 19, 21, and 25 and May 3, 5, 10, 12, 17, and 19 (3-7pm on Fridays, 12-4pm on Sundays).  During Ninja Days, characters from The Excavation will be around the museum, performing scenes and bringing the art on the walls to life.

No two Ninja Days will be alike, so visit often. Just like performances of The Excavation, Ninja Days are free.

Learn more at theaterninjas.com and clevelandart.org.