Julius Ferraro, Author at phindie

Mary Tuomanen and Aimé Donna Kelly in WE ARE BANDITS. Image courtesy of Applied Mechanics.

Reviews Theater

WE ARE BANDITS (Applied Mechanics): People like us don’t meet

Julius Ferraro July 21, 2014 2 Comments

With WE ARE BANDITS, director Rebecca Wright and Applied Mechanics are working against a brutal opponent: American cynicism.

They’ve turned the third-floor space of Asian Arts Initiative into what looks like a sprawling, minimalist installation piece. Tables, chairs, and little else delineate various spaces throughout the basketball-court-sized venue, including a city square, the apartments of various characters, a rooftop, and a church.

Dance Interviews Previews SoLow Fest 2016 Theater

SOLOW FLASH INTERVIEWS 2014, EPISODE ELEVEN: CHRIS DAVIS, CORINNA BURNS & KAYCEE FILSON

Julius Ferraro June 20, 2014 No Comments

In this final episode, we talk about people talkin’ ‘bout bodies in West Philly and a double-bill: dark skies and stalkers in South Philly.

SIGN FELT! (a show about nothingness) by Alexandra Tatarsky

Dance Interviews Previews SoLow Fest 2016 Theater

SOLOW FLASH INTERVIEWS 2014, EPISODE TEN: ALEXANDRA TATARSKY, CINDY SPITKO and JOY CUTLER

Julius Ferraro June 18, 2014 1 Comment

In episode ten, we’ve got nothingness Goethe in a secret secret place, grief clowning in West Philly, and autobiographical anatomy in Rittenhouse.

Paper Mustache (Or, Helix) by James Haro

Dance Interviews Previews SoLow Fest 2016 Theater

SOLOW FLASH INTERVIEWS 2014, EPISODE NINE: THOMAS CHOINACKY, SARAH VAN AUKEN & JAMES HARO

Julius Ferraro June 16, 2014 No Comments

In the SoLow Fest this year, some 30+ artists are creating cheap cheap theater in formal and informal spaces around the city. Challenging the idea…

Plato's Porno Cave: The Trial, Little Berlin, Marshall James Kavanaugh and Augustus Depenbrock

Arts Reviews Theater

Plato’s Porno Cave: The Trial (Little Berlin): Surrealist party, imagery orgy

Julius Ferraro June 15, 2014 No Comments

To the left of the pyramid was a little shanty you could enter and perform a primal scream. A glass window on either side faced in on a small chamber with an apple and, if you hit the right decibel with your scream, the apple would explode. The mechanism for blowing up the apple failed pretty quickly (it worked a few times before the forces of chaos seeped into the mechanism), but that didn’t stop the crowd going in and screaming periodically while the Eye played master of ceremonies from his pyramid throne.

What Sanity by Chelsea Murphy, Alex Romania, and Magda San Millan

Arts Dance Interviews Previews SoLow Fest 2016 Theater Visual Arts

SOLOW FLASH INTERVIEWS 2014, EPISODE EIGHT: DUO OF GROSSNESS, TRIO OF MADNESS

Julius Ferraro June 13, 2014 No Comments

In SoLow, you redact the boring stuff—these tickets and grants and five-year-plans and most importantly the stages and lobbies and flashy pricey venues—which are meant to indicate to the audience member, yes, see this show and not those.

Let’s imagine that when SoLow redacts these walls, what results, remarkably, is not dust and rock and paper shreds, but sand.

A big pile of sand.

SoLow is like a sandbox.

To give you a clearer picture of what’s being built in the sandbox, freelance writer/performer Julius Ferraro conducts a series of flash interviews of our artists.

Arts Dance Interviews Previews SoLow Fest 2016 Theater

SOLOW FLASH INTERVIEWS 2014, EPISODE SEVEN: KEVIN MEEHAN, AMELIA CHARTER & ELIZABETH WHITNEY

Julius Ferraro June 11, 2014 No Comments

SoLow is about play.

There are some plays in it.

There are some . . . things . . . in it which are not plays.

But, SoLow is about reducing the boring stuff—the stages and lobbies and tickets and grants and endless marketing strategies—which stands between the artist and the audience, so that everyone can play.

To give you a clearer picture of what’s being played around with, freelance writer/performer Julius Ferraro conducts a series of flash interviews of our artists.

Dance Features Previews Theater

Full House (Quince): You deserve a cabaret!

Julius Ferraro June 10, 2014 1 Comment

Downtown theater company Quince Productions – the punchy, LGBTQ-leaning bunch that puts on GayFest! every August – opens their sixth annual Full House cabaret series this Thursday in its ancestral home, the Red Room at the Society Hill Playhouse, and it’s looking as wicked, delightful and boozy as ever. (Boozy because your ticket includes the price of a drink.)

escape clause by Robert Gross and Julius Ferraro

Dance Interviews Previews SoLow Fest 2016 Theater

SOLOW FLASH INTERVIEWS 2014, EPISODE SIX: STEVEN WEISZ, MELISSA RAUB & ROBERT GROSS

Julius Ferraro June 9, 2014 1 Comment

SoLow is lo fi.

SoLow is lo stress.

SoLow is lo budget.

SoLow is happening, and to give you a clearer picture of what’s in store, freelance writer/performer Julius Ferraro conducts a series of flash interviews of our artists.

This episode we have modern dance in center city, astral projection installation performance in Kensington, and #sexualharassment on #Twitter.

Interviews Previews SoLow Fest 2016 Theater

SOLOW FLASH INTERVIEWS 2014, EPISODE FIVE: Meredith Sonnen, Sam Henderson and Asaki Kuruma

Julius Ferraro June 6, 2014 2 Comments

SoLow Fest 2014 sweeps the city this June. Floods of performances. Floods of performers. Get swept up!

To give you a clearer picture of what’s in store, freelance writer/performer Julius Ferraro conducts a series of flash interviews of our artists.

This episode we have Ingrid Bergman in South Philly, theatrical memoir on Vine, and porn at Quig’s.

Features Interviews Theater

Manon Manavit: Taking Philadelphia by Sturm und Drang

Julius Ferraro June 4, 2014 No Comments

Phindie talks to Manon Manavit, a future star of Philadelphia performing arts, before her debut show in the city. She just relocated from Montreal, where she worked with Cirque Du Soleil.

Dance Interviews Previews SoLow Fest 2016 Theater

SOLOW FLASH INTERVIEWS 2014, EPISODE FOUR: Lesley Berkowitz, Clara Elser & Danielle Solomon

Julius Ferraro June 4, 2014 1 Comment

SoLow Fest! In the house. (In many houses.) This month. OMG. Across Philly’s various neighborhoods, artists of all shapes, sizes and specialities are working on…

Previews SoLow Fest 2016 Theater

SOLOW FLASH INTERVIEWS 2014, EPISODE THREE: Michael Durkin, Joshua McLucas and Michael Broussard

Julius Ferraro June 2, 2014 1 Comment

The fifth SoLow Fest features over forty individual shows across Philadelphia. How are you supposed to pick which ones you want to see? They only cost $5 (or whatever you want to fork over—Lo, the magic of Pay What You Can) so you can see more than one so long as you know what’s going on.

To give you a clearer picture of what’s in store, freelance writer/performer Julius Ferraro conducts a series of flash interviews of our artists!

Solstice. Image courtesy of Douglas Williams.

Previews SoLow Fest 2016 Theater

SOLOW FLASH INTERVIEWS 2014, EPISODE TWO: DOUGLAS WILLIAMS, GAVIN WHITT, and HANK CURRY

Julius Ferraro May 30, 2014 1 Comment

Needless to say, with over forty individual shows slated to pop up across Philly from June 19-29, it can be hard to decide where you’re going to spend your pocket money.

To give you a clearer picture of what’s in store, freelance writer/performer Julius Ferraro conducts a series of flash interviews of our artists!

In episode two, we get Chaplin in Queen Village, time travel in South Philly, and brain spasms in Kensington.

Arts Previews SoLow Fest 2016 Theater

SOLOW FLASH INTERVIEWS 2014, EPISODE ONE: COREY BECHELLI, DAVID LAWSON, and ELLIE BROWN

Julius Ferraro May 28, 2014 1 Comment

While excitement mounts for SoLow Fest’s wooden anniversary, our artists are all at different stages of production. Some are re-memorizing old scripts, some are putting on the finishing touches on new compositions, and others are still hard at work in the studio.

Needless to say, with over forty individual shows slated to pop up across Philly from June 19-29, it can be hard to decide where you’re going to spend your pocket money.

To give you a clearer picture of what’s in store, freelance writer/performer Julius Ferraro conducts a series of flash interviews of our artists!

Dance Reviews Theater

COMMUNITAS (Almanac): The Contortionist and the Dancer

Julius Ferraro May 24, 2014 No Comments

The action in COMMUNITAS could be best described as four people taking turns carrying one another around a space, then falling off, then swapping who carries whom. In a way, it is structured around a continual exploration of ways to make two or more people into one. Balance is challenged not by standing on a tight rope, but by joining two bodies at a single point and leaning precipitously apart; disassemble and repeat as necessary.

Chelsea Murphy and Magda San Milan in WE TOUCHED IT. Photo by Kate Raines, Plate3Photography.

Dance Reviews

REMIX FESTIVAL (fidget): The Unseen Hand

Julius Ferraro May 2, 2014 1 Comment

Remix Festival, hosted at , is curated by Annie Wilson and Susan Rethorst, creator of the remixing concept (she calls it “wrecking”). The concept behind the festival is that on each of the four nights, three or four artists present original dance works. Then, after a short break, other artists present “remixed” versions these dances which they’ve had two days to prepare.

FringeArts presents world premiere of Nichole Canuso solo work "Midway Avenue," May 2-4. Photo by Peggy Woolsey

Dance Previews

Midway Avenue (Nichole Canuso): An interview with the artist

Julius Ferraro April 27, 2014 No Comments

Last fall, Nichole Canuso Dance Company presented The Garden, which wowed its intimate audiences—only six viewers per show—by weaving them deeply into the action of the dance, and outnumbering them two to one.

Reviews Theater

MOURNING BECOMES ELECTRA (Quintessence): America’s Ghosts Return to Haunt

Julius Ferraro April 11, 2014 1 Comment

There are plenty of things to thrill over in Quintessence Theatre Group’s stirring, and impressively-performed, MOURNING BECOMES ELECTRA. Director Alex Burns and his well-picked ensemble continue to impress.

Mark Nadler in I'm a Stranger Here Myself (photo courtesy of The Prince Music Theater)

Previews Reviews Theater

I’M A STRANGER HERE MYSELF (Prince): Intimacy, Song, and Rage in Weimar Germany

Julius Ferraro April 3, 2014 No Comments

I’M A STRANGER HERE MYSELF, created and performed by Mark Nadler and directed by David Schweizer, is both a lament and a celebration of Weimar Germany and the bohemian lifestyle celebrated by the young during this time. Incredibly impoverished, pincered by a swiftly inflating currency, stabbed by the growth of hate and, underneath that hate, a creeping fascism; yet this impossible position also gave rise to an incredibly fertile undergrowth and the arts mecca which Berlin became.