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the last three weeks!

9/24/2012

Three weeks ago I was closing Irma Vep at Cortland Rep. Towards the end of the run I found out that there were some audience members who didn't realize till later in the play that I was playing both Nicodemus and Enid. That made my night! At the final performance, I got spontaneous applause at many of my entrances, exits and laugh lines. It was a perfect way to go out. Cortland was a great experience. I would go back in a heart beat!

In my last post I predicted how insane my two weeks in NYC would be. I was either modeling, clowning or otherwise performing every single day. Marina and I devised a longer version of The Possible and the Imp. The piece is an experiment in stillness and minimalism and it's so gratifying to hear the piece reading for an audience. I'd like to keep performing it as well as turn it into a short film Ora and I finished our three month run at the PIT of An Existential Sing-Along. This will the last time for a bit that Stampy, Ora and Joey will go on the ultimate quest for truth with an audience. Starting soon, Ora and I will be launching two new Doppelskope series, one a set of puppet improv shows, and the other a monthly existential variety show featuring new doppelskope material and special guest artists.

Now I'm back in VERMONT! It is so good to see all my familiar friends and collaborators here. I'm going to get a good night's sleep, hit the gym, and head to the first read through!

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News and Reviews

9/6/2012

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There is so much going on, all of it positive! I'll be spending two weeks in NYC between Irma Vep in Cortland and Hamlet, and a lot will be happening there.

I'll be performing (and developing further) The Possible and the Imp with Marina Tsaplina at the MuseIAM on September 13th. We'll also be working on The Domovoi.

I'll be modelling both weeks at the Janus Collaborative. I also already have one clown gig and will hopefully book more.

An Existential Sing-Along will return to the PIT on September 20th. http://thepit-nyc.com/show/an-existential-sing-along-4/?cur_d=120920&cur_m=1209

I also just realized that I dialect coached two full length plays this year, and worked with many private clients, and that I'm very grateful for that.

We've been getting a lot of great press coverage for Irma Vep and it motivated me to start collecting my other press quotes into one place. They need to get their own page on the site but for now they go here:

Reviews of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)

“Lost Nation Audience Nearly Dies Laughing

The usual way to review a play is to describe what happens on stage. But the current offering at Montpelier’s Lost Nation Theater, “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged),” is not a usual kind of play, and describing it would be really, really hard to do.

So instead of describing the play, we’ll describe the reaction of the audience. That’s easy.

This reviewer has never—at Lost Nation or anywhere else–seen an audience laugh so hard and so long as at this play. Simply put, we were convulsed with laughter for almost the entire 90 minutes at the sheer mad genius of what was happening up there on the stage.

Lost Nation Director Kim Bent assembled an amazing cast of three young actors—who are also trained variously as a magician, clown, and a cellist—from three corners of the country—New Mexico, New England, and Louisville/New York City, and simply turned them loose on this outrageous, madcap romp through Shakeseare’s plays.” - M.D. Drysdale, The Herald of Randolph

“Actors Aaron Aubry, Eric Love and Christopher Scheer prove their mettle as comedians (and Love as a cellist and Scheer as a magician, as well) in this madcap comedy.” – Jim Lowe, Times Argus

***

Review of The Possible and The Imp (devised and performed by Christopher Scheer and Marina Tsaplina)

“Minimalist, sexy, funny, touching…” Jim Moore (www.vaudevisuals.com)

***

Review of Black Tie

“ He handles the emotional side of his character with a sense of honesty and rawness…” - Michelle Trauring (Southampton and East Hampton Press)

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Reviews of An Existential Sing-Along (devised, written and performed by Ora Fruchter and Christopher Scheer)

“One long, pleasurable sucker punch.”
“Just the right amount of weird”
“Awesome, surreal puppetry”
“Beautiful, delicate and funny. It made me feel better about life.”
“Makes me feel good, like drinking a smoothie”
- Audience Reviews

“These two slightly off-the-wall and uninhibited artists take the personalized human experience and condition to an entirely new level….

Singularly, Scheer and Fruchter’s energy are downright enchanting, but together, they put forth what appears to be mind-numbing brilliance….

You instantly feel a connection to one of several rudimentary pieces of felt. The puppets mirror our inner angst, apprehensions, aspirations and tiny voiceless, internal thoughts. They are a way for us to speak an unspoken truth about our lives, loves and lamentations…. The masters of puppets make no attempt at hiding the fact that they are indeed puppeteers. The plane of disbelief is broken as you watch the actors control the furry little beasts on stage before your eyes.” – Alan Vetter, Taos News

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Reviews of The Mystery of Irma Vep

"Vep is a blast...A great show, fun, entertaining and irreverent. John DeSilvestri and Christopher Scheer are both newcomers to CRT, but with theater credits up one wall and down the other. It looks like they've earned everyone one of them."
- Katie Hall, The Cortland Standard

“This striking set allows director Bert Bernardi to turn the stage into a cartoon frame for the ghoulishly outsized performances to come, and DeSilvestri and Scheer oblige with tour-de-force performances....

(They) probably met for the first time a few weeks ago, but they attack the show with the gusto of a veteran comedy team."
Bryan VanCampen - The Ithaca Times

"Two skilled actors under Bert Bernardi's direction delighted the audience with stunningly quick costume changes and even more stunning character changes, along with exits and re-entrances timed to the split second” - Neil Novelli, The Syracuse Post Standard

“Elsewhere Ludlam’s dialogue is not always Irma Vep’s strongest asset. Many of the gags rely on puns, such as the comparison of virginity with a balloon. Somehow many of the worst groaners turn up in the mouths of characters played by Christopher Scheer, who has a way of rescuing the situation by taking on a look as if he were covering up for audible flatulence….

More effective are Ludlam’s scripted improvs that look like pop postmodernist violations of form, like having Scheer in drag shout, “Well, any man who dresses up as a woman can’t be all bad.” Or, with Scheer again, having Lady Enid begging to see Nicodemus and not comprehending why he won’t appear….

Actors DeSilvestri and Scheer, sane, perfectly timed fellows, win our admiration and our applause.”
- James MacKillop, The Syracuse New Times

Reviews of Christopher Scheer’s Right Leg in The Mystery of Irma Vep

“Nicodemus has one wooden leg, and Scheer gets maximum laughs with that premise, flailing and stumping around with the leg moving at all angles. He can use it to make major comedy out of sitting down.” - Neil Novelli, The Syracuse Post Standard

“That artificial limb has a way of taking on a life of its own, springing up when least expected or flying over the heads of the unwary.” - James MacKillop, The Syracuse New Times

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