One more week to check out BRAHMAN/I: A ONE HIJRA STAND-UP COMEDY ROUTINE!

I've spent the last month working on this weird, wonderful, and utterly hilarious play about an Intersex Indian-American stand-up comic, directed by my incredible wife and also starring my dear friend Aila Peck. It plays through the end of the month in Ithaca, NY, and it's an educational and entertaining look at gender, colonialism, and love. Seriously — even if I didn't have to sit there with a bass every night, I'd still think it was a worthwhile experience for everyone. Here's a peek:

I also chatted with Chris Heddon on WHCU 95.9 The Arts Beat.

It was supposed to be an interview about the show, but took some wildly entertaining turns into dancing death bunnies, the nature of mythophysics, and of course, Journey.

Here's the edited, Brahman/i-centric clip:

And here's the even more ridiculous full interview about, well, everything:

SO MANY THINGS HAPPENING IN THE THEATRE AHHHHHHHH

Man, life was so calm and easygoing for that first month after I got back from Clarion. What the hell happened? Oh yeah. The Jungle Book, our new world premiere musical adaptation of the Disney animated film, directed and adapted by the incredible Mary Zimmerman. We've just extended the show a second time, so it now closes on October 20 (but tickets are going fast, so get 'em while you can!). It's been a pretty crazy time at work, but luckily, all in a good way, with lots of special promotional events for the show that have kept me pretty busy. But here's a little glimpse at a few of the things I've been doing for it:

Our "audience testimonial" video, with some B-Roll from the production, and interviews with real audience members who cannot stop raving about the show (so you don't just have to take my word for it). 

We also took the cast of the show to Fenway Park, where they performed the National Anthem before the Red Sox totally obliterated the Stankees. Here's their actual performance...

...and here's a fun little overview of their entire (did I mention they had soundcheck at 10am for a 1pm game, plus a two-show day starting with a 2pm matinee performance? Yeahhhh it was kinda nuts) 

On top of that, I've been doing some video editing work for Project: Project's upcoming production How May I Connect You (Or, Scenes in The Key of D:/), a really cool devised theatre piece full of hilarious sketches about communication and human interaction in a digital era. That show goes up this coming weekend only, Sept. 26-29, at the South End / Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA, so see while you still can!

(oh, and plus, my girlfriend just directed this incredible production of Nina Raines' Tribes at SpeakEasy Stage Company, which is getting absolute stellar reviews, so you should go see that as well. It runs through Oct. 12.)

"...And We Go Ahhhhhhh / Like a Raisin in The Sun /.... "

(...that's how the song goes, right?) Coming up next at the Huntington, Liesl Tommy is returning to direct the classic A Raisin In The Sun, a play which I probably don't need to tell you anything about because you've already read it. But here's a video I made of our Artistic Director Peter DuBois talking about what makes this production special (including a mention of Bevin's next project, the Boston premiere of last year's Tony Award winner Clybourne Park for SpeakEasy Stage).

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERERCo1dI1o]

A Raisin In The Sun plays March 8 - April 7, 2013 at the Avenue of the Arts / BU Theatre, and Clybourne Park runs March 1 - 30, 2013 at the South End / Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA.

You For Me For You Reviews

The reviews have started coming in for You For Me For You, directed by my girlfriend, M. Bevin O'Gara. EDGE Boston says:

"M. Bevin O’Gara’s sensitive and humanistic direction satisfyingly plumbs the depths beyond the novelty of the script to keep our hearts and minds firmly engaged in the sisters’s fate. O’Gara has the benefit of a wonderful cast of mostly Asian actors who have freed themselves from the muted performances too often imposed on them to this day in the popular American media. They give their emotions full throttle and so engage ours."

So, ya know. That's nice. Here's a little video I put together of audience testimonials, in case you're still not convinced!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsW5qxdLAOw]

Who For You For Me For Who?

My incredibly talented partner, Ms. M. Bevin O'Gara, is directing the Boston premiere of You For Me For You, a fantastical new play by Mia Chung that tells the story of two sisters trying to escape North Korea and flee to the United States. Bevin and I tend to stay out of each others' ways when it comes to our creative processes, so while I've read the script, I honestly don't know much about the production itself -- but I can tell you that I'm incredibly excited to see this highly imaginative story acted out on stage (and not just because my girlfriend is the director and I'm biased). Here's a little preview video I put together for the production, which starts performances tomorrow and runs through February 16:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=qlpSZVLyuEA]

(side note, when I was approached to create a video for the show, it took so much of my will power to not just give them this:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEaKX9YYHiQ]

but you knew that was coming, right? I'm a horrible person)

MATT DAMON. Also Ben Affleck. With Breasts!

Would you believe that the script for Good Will Hunting literally fell from the sky (well, the ceiling) and landed right in the laps of two young men in Somerville, Massachusetts? Would you believe that, prior to said script falling from said ceiling, said young men were working (as all young men have done) to adapt The Catcher in the Rye into a screenplay?

Would you believe that Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are totally chicks?

Yeah, me too. Which means you should probably check out Matt & Ben, the hilarious genderswapped "true" story behind the breakout success of those two Cambridge lads and the script that made them both into stars. Written by Mindy Kaling (like, from The office) and Brenda Withers and directed by my superawesomelytalented girlfriend, Ms M. Bevin O'Gara, this fantastic bromantic comedy opens today and runs through the end of the month at the Central Square Theater in, well, Central Square — right where it all started, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

But seriously, go see this show, because even I weren't biased (which, I mean, I'm not), I would still tell you to see it, because it is that entertaining. Also I'm pretty sure the set dressing was modeled after my bedroom, even though my girlfriend totally denies it.

So check it out! Because, you know. Matt Damon.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PajyQrpu26I&w=425&h=349]

Da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-BAT-BOY!

For the next 10 days, you can find me in the pit (well, okay, technically balcony, but it's still called the pit) playing guitar for MetroStage Company's production of BAT BOY! The Musical, directed by the lovely and quite talented Miss M. Bevin O'Gara. Here are the performance dates, for those of you who are interested:

• Friday, June 3 at 8pm
• Saturday, June 4 at 8pm
• Sunday, June 5 at 2pm
• Thursday, June 9 at 7:30pm
• Friday, June 10 at 8pm
• Saturday, June 11 at 8pm

Performances take place at the Cambridge Family YMCA Theatre in Central Square, Cambridge.

And the synopsis (in case you're somehow unaware of the "Bat Boy" trend that once ruled The Weekly World News):

Based on a story in The Weekly World News, BAT BOY: THE MUSICAL is a musical comedy/horror show about a half boy/half bat creature who is discovered in a cave near Hope Falls, West Virginia. For lack of a better solution, the local sheriff brings Bat Boy to the home of the town veterinarian, Dr. Parker, where he is eventually accepted as a member of the family and taught to act like a "normal" boy by the veterinarian's wife, Meredith, and teenage daughter, Shelley. Bat Boy is happy with his new life, but when he naively tries to fit in with the narrow-minded people of Hope Falls, they turn on him, prodded by the machinations of Dr. Parker, who secretly despises Bat Boy. Shelley and Bat Boy, who have fallen in love, run away together from the ignorant townfolk and have a blissful coupling in the woods, but their happiness is shattered when Meredith arrives and reveals a secret. Soon the entire town arrives and hears the shocking story of Bat Boy's unholy origin.