Category: Theater

This week, Josh Rivedal, answered some of my tough and hard-hitting questions about his one-man show and it’s transition into a book. The Gospel According to Josh: A 28-Year Gentile Bar Mitzvah will be released on September 24th. During this exclusive pre-release through the 23rd, 15% of the sales goes to The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the Centre for Suicide Prevention in Canada.

And without further ado:

Malini: Josh, you know I love your book. I devoured it one night the way I devour a bowl of pasta. My readers know that I respect those who share their truth. It is difficult to do that. Who really wants to admit their shame or expose their vulnerability? And you’ve shared your truth and vulnerability in two forms: performance and the written word. What was the catalyst in writing the book version of the show?

Josh: Great question. I really wanted to make this story more accessible. In three years I’ve reached about ten thousand people with the show version. But I can only do so many performances in a week or month. With the book it’s low cost and able to be consumed at a pace that suits the audience member. It’s much more easily shared as well. You can hand someone a book but I can’t live in someone’s pocket and put on a performance at a minute’s notice.

The book is also loosely structured as a three act play. It has one more act than the one-man show version. During the final act, the book shows my own spiral into clinical depression and suicidal thoughts a few years after losing my father to suicide. Additionally it shows my recovery from depression and bouncing back from rock bottom. In society we are constantly presented with pictures of people who are struggling but rarely are we shown someone in recovery. I wanted people to see someone who is in recovery and living a well-adjusted and productive emotional and professional life.

Malini: One of my favorite parts in the book, without giving anything away, is the use of voices and dreams. I found that they really enhance the story. How did you come up with that concept?

Josh: Thank you and… damn, that’s a tough question!

First on the conceit to use of dreams. I was having dreams on a consistent basis about my father for over a year after he died. I could understand things he was saying and these dreams drove me, in part, to write my one-man play The Gospel According to Josh. However these dreams were freaking me the hell out and it contributed to my deteriorating mental state. I thought I was going crazy (not true) and didn’t talk about it for a few years. The dreams were also a way for me to say goodbye to my father, something I never got a chance to do.

The voices. I think it came to me one day early in the writing process. I was taking a shower and was trying to think of a way to break up the exposition and give insight to my inner thoughts. We all talk to ourselves throughout the day, sometimes aloud, and often when we think no one else is listening. It’s more normal than you think. My thoughts often sound a little ghetto fabulous. I also quote Bible verses at myself because of my Evangelical youth. And I swear a lot in Spanish in my head. In the context of the book, these three voices (religious, ghetto, Spanish) are my friends and enemies. They’re vulgar, compassionate, needling; and they break up and lighten what can be some serious subject matter. They’re probably the most risky part of the book (as a writer) but they’re my favorite part too.

Malini: You discuss your first performance in the book and you are still touring the show, which I think is great. What has shifted for you, if anything, as you continue to carry your message?

Josh: I think the thing that’s shifted is that this message, carried out with compassion and humor, is snowballing. People are embracing it all over the U.S. and Canada. It’s taken a few years but it’s happening. And I’m somewhat known as “the suicide prevention guy” which is interesting. Not something I ever thought I’d be known as when I got into show business ten years ago. But here we are and I’m totally cool with it.

And there you have it! You can get all the info here as well as on Facebook. Or just click on any of the links above. Buy the book. It’s really a fantastic and inspiring read.

This week I saw a one-woman show Naked in Alaska, written and performed by Valerie Hager, and came away a changed man.

How? Like any good piece of the theatre, I uncovered a life lesson by watching Ms. Hager’s performance.

Being naked is an important part of life.

Naked in the metaphorical sense (sorry to disappoint all of your voyeuristic junkies).

To bare one’s soul, to open up about one’s sordid past, to disclose one’s private personal foibles—this is much braver than making a living dancing nude.

Ms. Hager performs her autobiographical piece with an earnestness and makes her work look effortless—two factors that belie the risk involved in this theatrical undertaking.

Putting your life story on stage for all to witness is no easy task—trust me, I know; I have my own Gospel to tell. What if audiences don’t like it, what if they say that your work, your theatricalization of your life is no good? That would be the worst thing in the world—like, worse than being told you’re not funny or you have an ugly baby.

Ms. Hager takes a huge gamble in creating and performing her life story—and it pays off. She lived in her truth and told her story and the audience connected with her honesty and candor. I imagine if she continues to play her deck wisely and doubles down with Naked in Alaska her future payoff can be huge.

Back to being naked (sorry, I couldn’t resist). Baring one’s soul on a stage—not everyone has that gift. But that doesn’t mean the lesson doesn’t apply all of us.

Whether you’re asking for a promotion, creating some sort of art, or mustering up the courage to ask your crush out for a night at the Cracker Barrel; we have the opportunity to take a (somewhat calculated) risk and share our souls with the person sitting across from us. What’s the worst thing that can happen? Temporary embarrassment? Egg on your face? A dinner alone at the Cracker Barrel? What’s the best thing that can happen? Oh, I don’t know, you get what you wanted!

Speak from the heart. Speak openly and generously, and for the benefit of the other person. Be brave. Show a little metaphorical ankle… or some metaphorical cleavage—oh, la, la. Be vulneOKrable in your dealings. Ms. Hager does it in her show and it’s taking her on a wild and fulfilling journey.

Get Naked. Go see Naked in Alaska. In no particular order.

Joshua Rivedal is an actor, playwright, and international public speaker. He wrote and developed the play, The Gospel According to Josh, which has toured extensively throughout the United States and Canada. His book The Gospel According to Josh: A 28-Year Gentile Bar Mitzvah, published by Skookum Hill, is available for pre-order in August, 26th 2013. He wrote the libretto to a Spanish language Christmas musical Rescatando la Navidad. www.gospeljosh.com www.joshuarivedal.com

3 SHOWS LEFT

Tues., Aug 20 @ 2pm
Wed., Aug 21 @ 7pm
Sat., Aug 24 @ 1:30pm

ALL DAYS: http://www.ticketweb.com/snl/Search.action?query=naked+in+alaska?

SUNDAY:http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=3703294

Oh boy! It’s getting  hot in here. I met Valerie Hager after a performance of her one-woman show, Big Man, at Stage Left Studio. I was instantly blown away by her performance and felt totally bummed that I missed Naked in Alaska in the EstroGenius Festival last year (yes, she was in the 5 % that I didn’t get to see!).  Since it’s the same 7 people in theatre, it wasn’t too much of a surprise that we shared a mutual friend in my best guy pal, Cas Marino. I eventually did see Naked in Alaska at Dixon Place and knew I had to be a part of it in some way. And I am. As Marketing Director, I have the best opportunity to get people to see this piece of art. However, when it comes to really capturing the spirit of the show in words, I turn to Cas. Here’s his two cents:

Never, in my experience has Alaska been so damned hot.

Nor has being naked been so damned meaningful.

That being said, in discussing Valerie Hager’s one-woman lightening bolt, “Naked in Alaska”,  we’re not talking about the actual climate of the Last Frontier, or the actual state of undress this artist just barely denies us with a few lacy and fringed bits of propriety; we’re talking about an audience’s mounting passion for a story and a cast of characters that hits in waves of empathy and curiosity and delight as a brutally honest young woman lays bare her true story of life as an exotic dancer, with an equally brutal courage that allows us to journey with her from the Deep South to the Way North and back, instead of merely sitting in the dark watching a staged version of some well-organized postcards.

You don’t see “Naked in Alaska”.

You absorb it.

So much so that to call it what it is in theatrical terms — a One-Woman Show — is to do the piece an absolute disservice, and to completely undervalue the One Woman whose show and story and naked truth we meet here.

The dozen or so characters embodied by Hager as she invites us into the gritty details and relationships and decisions that manifest in her sweeping story so instantly become as real in our temporary life with her as they were in her own.

The diminutive Hager needs only to affect a change in stature, a flip of her flowing hair, or a curl of her lip, and a whole other person has joined or replaced her entirely on the stage. She is simply that adept at pulling us into her private universe — so much so that we have no choice but to feel the presence of each of the characters that had, quite obviously, such a profound effect on her experience in this period of her life that they now impact us similarly as we share in it momentarily.

It is beyond rare to find an artist who is at once this gifted a storyteller with this level of craft and acting chops, who also has the power to write with such a visceral glow as to not simply deliver a monologue to an audience, but to virtually bring her audience inside her own head to experience that internal monologue right along with her.

The fact that the gorgeous Ms. Hager is also worth every dollar bill in your pocket when it comes to her mastery of the brass pole, which she works onstage to punctuate her story the way a seasoned novelist painstakingly employs ellipses and exclamation marks, is more than just a bonus for the visual aesthetes in the house.

Expertly directed by Scott Slavin, who knows the artist with an intimacy that shows in every aspect of the work, this microburst of theatrical brilliance will have you so engaged and leave you so enamored of the life that is Valerie Hager’s autobiography-in-progress, that if they’re anything like “Naked in Alaska”, such possible sequels as “Wearing Jeans in Starbucks” or “Throwing on a Robe because the Chinese Takeout Delivery Rang the Bell” couldn’t possibly be anything less that completely satisfying.

Cas Marino is an actor, singer, and director in New York City. His work as a spoken word artist and monologist has been seen by a wide variety of audiences, as well as his national television and radio appearances. As a freelance writer, he’s covered topics in print and online media ranging from pop culture and sexuality to food, fitness, nutrition, and theater.

If you haven’t gotten the memo yet, I am doing the PR for Gym Shorts. It is five vignettes based on what I love to blog about…life. Except it’s based in the gym. Now this girl does not love going to the gym so being a part of this amazing creative team is the closest I am getting to a workout. And since Adam is my guest blogger this week, I will  admit that I do about 4 minutes of yoga every day. That’s 4 more minutes than I did two months ago. What? I walk a lot.

Anyway, Gym Shorts is currently running at the 777 Theatre here in NYC.  Tuesday, May 14th is Pay Your Age Night – just stop by the door, use the keyword ERIC, prove your age, pay in cash.  Also, follow me on Twitter (@malinism) as I will be live tweeting on Thursday night.

And without further ado:

Right off Broadway are a motley, manly crew of actors performing their collective hearts out…well, maybe not that manly.  “Gym Shorts” is a 90-minute play in five parts all set in a, (surprise!) a gym.  The rugged, sweaty, testosterone-fumed gym.  Yet soon the audience sees there is something very strangely askew…like the ever- unsaid relationship dynamics of this modern haven of muscle-mass are suddenly spoken.  Loudly.

The nearly all male cast (with one woman, played by Cara Maltz) take us into the lives of “those that dwell at the gym.”  One is jealous of another’s new spotter, while the shameful truth falls unceremoniously out of the bag of another man…spurring an oft-uncomfortable dialogue.  Discussions heat up.  Arguments.  Threats.  Neurosis.  Anger.  One trainer is fired, to the petulant dismay of his former student.  Another dares to stray from the “typical” gym regimen, causing more ire.

Written and directed by Eric. S. Robertson, the characters’ cattiness becomes apparent throughout the stories.  Deep seeded insecurities are brought to the fluorescent lights of the gym, with some genuinely funny results.  Both the gym rats and detractors will have something to smile about in this farce.  If you’re looking for an evening of highly energetic actors, good ole’ off-Broadway hijinks, and a surprisingly all-age friendly show (though kids will not get a lot of the humor), then check out “Gym Shorts.”  The “Shorts” are gonna be pulled down real soon though, so best catch it while they’re still up!

Adam Kern, Creator and host of over 200 episodes of “Obsess This!”; a weekly talk radio program on arts, science, politics, and sports broadcast on Long Island’s oldest radio station, WGBB 1240 AM. Also host and engineer at Sportsradio NY (sportsradiony.com).  Commercial/ Voiceover, television/ film actor. Yoga practitioner at Bamboomoves Forest Hills. Adam lives in Fresh Meadows, Queens.