Gemini CollisionWorks and The Brick Theater, Inc.

present

THE COLLISIONWORKS

An Annual Presentation of Theatre from Gemini CollisionWorks

2 Shows designed and directed by Ian W. Hill
assisted by Berit Johnson

August 12 to 29, 2010

DEVILS

a play by John Whiting / designed and directed by Ian W. Hill

France, 1633-1634 – The city of Loudon, unlike most of the country, is at peace. While religious wars swept the country and kept the Protestants and the Catholics at each others’ throats, the sects live and have lived together without incident in the city for years, primarily due to the charismatic priest Father Urbain Grandier, who acts as a kind of second Governor of the town, loved and respected (despite his frequent and well-known personal transgressions, mostly involving the women of Loudon), but also due to its secure battlements, which keep the city separate and self-sustaining (and whose security has been guaranteed by King Louis the XIII).

Cardinal Richelieu, in Paris, seeking to unify the State and the Catholic Church and have complete control of the country under both, despises Loudon’s independence, but with the popular and connected Grandier, and the King’s promise, he cannot take the city’s walls down and gain control. Until a convent of Ursuline nuns in Loudon suddenly begins exhibiting signs of demonic possession and claiming Grandier as an agent of Hell – a story which no one believes, but has power anyway – and a narrative is set in motion which can only end in madness, violence, hysteria, torture, exorcisms, chaos, destruction, and an execution.

And this is all a true story.

This production of John Whiting’s classic 1960 play, The Devils, remains faithful to Whiting’s text and vision while combining elements of both his source text, Aldous Huxley’s 1952 book The Devils of Loudon, and also Ken Russell’s intense, brilliant, and still deeply controversial 1971 film of the play to create a wider image of the societal and personal forces that combine to use religion as a political club and irrational thought to destroy reason as a man and city are eliminated through a lie that no one believes, but all must obey. 23 actors in a small space create a seething, fast-moving portrait of all aspects and classes of a society that come together to create a horrible event, combining the intensity and stomach-churning aspects of the Russell film with a breadth and scope more often found in the work of Robert Altman. A mix of the darkly comic and deeply horrific, Devils is a stew of the beautiful and human mixed with the repulsive and inhumane.

NOTE: This play contains nudity, sexuality, extreme violence and torture, among other potentially disturbing elements. Not for children or people of sensitive natures.

The cast of this production is David Arthur Bachrach*, Olivia Baseman*, Lynn Berg*, George Bronos, Lindsey Beth Carter, Sarah Malinda Engelke*, Saara Falk, Ian W. Hill, Mike Hill, Justin RG Holcomb*, Michael Jablonski, Norah Elise Johnson, Candace Rachel Lawrence, Michael Marion*, Justin Maruri*, Samuel Muniz, Eric Oleson, Shelley Ray*, Timothy McCown Reynolds*, Noah Schultz, Anna Stromberg, David Watson*, Morgan Anne Zipf

August 14, 19, 21, 26, 27, and 28 at 8.00 pm; August 15 and 29 at 2.00 pm
approximately 3 hours (including two intermissions)

AND

SPACEMEN FROM SPACE

An Exciting New Serial for the Stage in 6 Thrill Packed Episodes!

written, designed and directed by Ian W. Hill

Holy smokes! Unusual weather patterns are devastating the entire world! Scientists are baffled! Little do they know that this is an alien attack, courtesy of Queen Oneida of the planet Ataraxia, who intends to soften up Earth before her planet sends its armies to conquer it. But little does Queen Oneida know that opposing forces who have figured out her plan are gathering at the one place on Earth immune to her cosmic-wave-beam gun, Rancho Bardo, home to radio hero Cowboy Adam (and His Lonely Valley Boys), a singing cowboy who fights crime and is a Real American. But little does Cowboy Adam know that arriving on his ranch is the scientist and hero Rocket Brannon, who fights crime by flying around on his jet pack, and who knows the secret to defeating the Ataraxians. But little do Our Heroes know that their old flame, tough-talking dame reporter Chickie West is determined to get a great story and has snuck onto the ranch, about to get in everyone’s way. And little do they ALL know that the masked supervillain The Lavender Spectre is also on the ranch, with a brace of Evil Minions who are out to control the weather themselves, and eventually RULE THE WORLD!

Does this make sense to you? Good, it shouldn’t, but never mind that now . . .

A loving pastiche of 1930s-40s b-movie serials intended to keep hyper children entertained during extended Saturday matinees, Spacemen from Space: An Exciting New Serial for the Stage in 6 Thrill-Packed Episodes! combines as many elements of the straight-faced, sincerely-played episodic genre works into one big mashup of fast-moving fun – a single play made up of 6 episodes played one right after another (with cliffhanger endings, of course), that fills The Brick’s stage with a cast of 21 talented comic actors (featuring many Brick/Gemini CollisionWorks favorites, including noted performer/author Trav S.D.) running around telling this overly-complicated, barely sensical plot with absolute seriousness and belief. Spacemen from Space is a sweet, silly, simple confection designed to keep the audience on the edge of their seats, wondering what will happen next to our steadfast heroes, and if you need a break, you can step out during the four original songs performed by The Lonely Valley Boys, our band of actors, which include a couple of love ballads that younger audiences will find icky, but older ones might possibly find charming.

There is, however, a deeper, darker metaphoric level to the play – something, the playwright keeps saying, about anti-science and anti-intellectual thought in America today – but all that can and should be safely ignored (who wants to listen to that serious-minded playwright, anyway?), ‘cause jet-packs are just plain fun!

A hysterical comedy with almost no “jokes,” Spacemen from Space is an affectionate collection of clichés, made by people who love them, celebrating a world where jet packs, singing cowboys, aliens in stupid hats, g-men, robots, unfunny comic reliefs, ray guns, cliffhangers, and incomprehensible plots are still a beautiful fact of life.

The cast of this production is Alex Amery, Ethan Angelica*, Aaron Baker, Eric C. Bailey*, David Berent*, Ali Skye Bennet, George Bronos, Josh Hartung, Stephen Heskett, Ian W. Hill, Justin RG Holcomb*, James Isaac, Douglas MacKrell, Roger Nasser, Cara Moretto, Amy Overman, Yvonne Roen*, Trav S.D., Adam Swiderski, William Webber, Stephanie Willing

August 12, 17, and 20 at 8.00 pm; August 15 and 22 at 7.00 pm; August 14 and 22 at 2.00pm
approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes long (including one intermission)

*appears courtesy Actors' Equity Association

Only at The Brick, 575 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
one block from the Lorimer stop of the L train / Metropolitan stop of the G train

All tickets: $18

All tickets available SOON at Theatermania (212-352-3101)