Spooky ACTION goes to Wonderland
⊆ May 16th, 2006 by courtney | ˜By: Ronnie Ruff
Alice In Wonderland – Spooky Action Theater
Photo credit to: Micah Hutz. Cast: (bottom l to r) Joseph Perna, Yasmin Tuazon; (top l to r) Francisco Reinoso, Joel Reuben Ganz, Marissa Molnar, Jessica Hansen.
Talented upstart Spooky Action Theater has taken a fall in the rabbit hole that is Manhattan Project’s Alice In Wonderland and have done an admirable job not only with the fluid dialog but an even better job with the extremely fluid movement that twirls and twists before your eyes. A visual feast, there are superior examples of actors pushing themselves to get that extra ounce of performance, a flash of brilliance. Without doubt you will not see more energetic and artistic movement per square foot anywhere in DC this spring.
Director Richard Heinrich put his trust in his actors and they have not betrayed that trust. Mr. Henrich describes the direction as ten percent him and ninety percent the actors. These are actors who tumble, somersault, flip and catapult across the small space at FlashPoint as if they were fresh from Cirque Du Soleil. There are quite a few strong performances including Alice (Yasmin Tuazon), Humpty Dumpty (Francisco Reinoso) and The White Knight (Joel Reuben). Ms Tuazon (a Rorschach company member) is adorable yet feisty and simply infectious.
A very imaginative set design consisting of dozens of doors mounted around the black box with a single wall of newspaper. A parachute blows lightly overhead colored with brilliant lighting both conventional and at times a strobe. Both visually and aurally stunning Alice In Wonderland visually pleases without being overbearing, not surprising with Helen Hayes nominated lighting designer Ayun Fedorcha on the team.
Spooky Action Theater’s productions have shown marked improvement with each new show. They will be moving into new digs next season and we at DC Theatre Reviews look forward to another talented troupe moving into a church. Spooky Action is donation based theatre and as such is a huge entertainment bargain! Tell Richard DCTR sent ya!
