12 Billion / Law of Life
by Nichol Alexander and Rhea MacCallum
directed by Ronit Muszkatblit and Eriko Ogawa
Featuring: Michael Billingsley, Beth Manspeizer,
Chantel Lucier, Moti Margolin, Joshua Peters, Matthew Paul Olmos,
Frederic J. Bender, Craig Butta, Charles Jang, Jimmie Jones, Julie
Katz, Darius Holiday, Philippe Cu Leon, Jenni Peterson, Sarvenaz,
and Emily Ward.
About the Work:
Written in response to the disintegration
of our world in times of war, these two plays follow their characters
through a collective nightmare where taxidermists go to war, eggs
explode, dogs burn, penguins drown, the antichrist is conceived
and the dying plead with god.
Reviews:
Penguins Puppies and Porn lists
itself as a night of two one act plays. It is actually three separate
pieces, each having a loose relation
to one of the objects in the
evening’s title.-
The first, called Law of Life,
takes place in a Manhattan
taxidermist’s studio, where proprietors George and Martha
debate such high concepts as the natural world’s role in mankind’s
day-to-day operations, and the element of cruelty in the process
of natural selection.-
I have never seen a taxidermist’s
studio, but at lights up I was sure that set designer C.D. Christian
had done his homework. Surrounded by stuffed and mounted animals,
George (Josh Peters) asks Martha (Chantel Lucier) "What happens
to the carcasses of penguins?" A legitimate enough question for
you and I to ponder... The conversation winds its way to Mother
Nature’s cruel-to-be-kind behaviors such as, how and why does
a beautiful mother hawk decide which of her children to feed, and
which to eat herself in service of Nature’s bigger purpose?
Some interesting writing and brain-teasing material from author
Rhea MacCallum…
The evening continues with
its Puppies portion, a series of short vignettes, called "12 Billion,"
canines being the common thread. It opens in a doctor’s office,
where an expectant couple has come to see a sonogram, and have a
fight over whether or not they will keep the child. The argument
is a gem. Playwright Nichol Alexander pens a hilarious domestic
dispute, and actors Beth Manspeizer and Craig Butta do a terrific
job fighting as only a couple whose fetus has the head of a dog
can fight. (It turns out she is a porn star, he is her pimp/manager,
and she did some scenes with a German Shepard.) The next scenes
follow a serial New
York dog killer from his rampage to his arrest and interrogation.
His justification for all the doggie homicide?
This country’s willingness to spend $12
billion on food and medical expenses for dogs, while American children
starve...
In the finale, Porn, we are
in God’s waiting room where sick Long Legged Lizzie has come
to beg God to return to earth and help us all. Actress Chantel Lucier’s
character work is excellent. At one point, I felt claustrophobic
and panicked at her embodiment of the human race’s final stages
of its debilitating, terminal disease.-
Dan Asher –nytheatre.com
Comments :
Falling Down. The
human race examined here in the heart of NYC - as indeed it should
be. Poignant + grabbing with an edgy comical
flare. Enjoyed very much - almost too much?
Ceij-Chris
Suswal
I loved it! Especially
the knocked up couple and the taxidermy and the meat in the face.
Loved the abstraction of it combined w/the familiar
rituals. Thank you for tackling these vital issues in such
a fascinating, unpredictable, thought-provoking way.
Laconia Koerner
