V (Butter & Serve): Fringe Review 18

Pig Iron’s School for Advanced Performance Training is in its infancy, but it has already fostered some of the most exciting young artists and companies in Philadelphia. Butter & Serve mark another entry on that list with their Fringe piece, V. In a short, engaging production, the four APT students in Butter & Serve (Alicia Crosby, Vanita Kalra, Riva Rubenoff, Sara Vanasse) give an impressionistic, non-linear recounting of “The Night Witches”, the female Soviet air regiment who flew harassing bombing mission against invading German troops in World War II.

butter-and-serve-vPlaced on a simple yet expressive set (scattered paper airplanes, prints of Stalin and Hitler), V shows a deft use of varied narrative and theatrical techniques. With simulated oral histories, storytelling through creative movement, and naturalistic scenes of the women’s interaction, Butter & Serve craft an engaging and intelligible account of military service from a female perspective. And it only takes 35 minutes. [Pig Iron School Studio One, 1417 North 2nd Street] September 5-7, 2014; fringearts.com/v.

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