Published in The PassionPit·Feb 2Member-onlyHow Life Colored A Comic ArtistOne of the Improvisational Repertory Theatre Ensemble’s founders has a story to tell. No, it’s not a funny one. Robert Baumgardner thought he was just like everyone else … until he attended school. “I do consider myself POC out of those BIPOC letters, although it was never always that way…Irte5 min read
Published in The PassionPit·Dec 17, 2021Member-onlyANTHONY LAURA: Face to Face with the FutureIn March of 2020, Anthony Laura announced that he was not doing his play, THE GIRL WITH THE RED HAIR, at the moment. He did not announce that he as shuttung down. Quite the opposite. Face to Face Films, his stage and film company, produced a record-breaking three-dozen virtual readings…6 min read
Published in The PassionPit·Dec 9, 2021Member-onlyDeVita comedy hits the Heights.Community theater has a really bad rap. The stereotype — so much of one that it even has a meme — is that community theater is filled with local admins and shopkeepers wearing their own clothes standing in front of bland sets doing Hello Dolly or The Odd Couple (over…4 min read
Published in The Horror-Storian·Nov 22, 2021Member-onlyCheers for Fear… ConA memoir of Phoenix FearCon X: The tenth anniversary celebration of all things macabre in Phoenix Arizona at the [hopefully] tail-end of the pandemic of 2020–202120 min read
Published in The Horror-Storian·Oct 9, 2021Member-onlyDress in your finest enchanted forest couture when you enter Titania’s ‘Round Midnight RevueMIDSUMMER: A SHAKESPEARIENCE presented by Variety Life Productions OPENING OCTOBER 13 Wednesdays thru Sundays at 8:00pm Loft 51 625 W 51st…Theatre8 min read
Published in The Horror-Storian·Aug 31, 2021Member-onlyAlbina Kim on Designing a PandemicRoy Shellef, director of — what he thought was a deep character study (and it is) — was genuinely shocked to discover his film, Alone, was looked at as a horror movie. He was recently interviewed for Phoenix FearCon — where he will be a guest filmmaker for this film…3 min read
Published in The PassionPit·Aug 16, 2021Member-onlyEMERGING ARTISTS SPOTLIGHT: An afternoon with Face to Face FilmsThe pandemic laid waste to so much of the commercial arts of New York, but the arts of the independent scene ambitiously used this time of a level playing field to expand its personal horizons. One such company is Face to Face Films. What started as a small indie film…28 min read
Published in The PassionPit·Aug 13, 2021Member-onlyThe Bard and the Dane: “Everyone wants to play Hamlet because it’s Hamlet.”As the pandemic guidelines are relaxing — or at least, relaxing for now — acting troupes are leaving the airwaves and trodding the board again. It is fitting and quite heartening that the worlds most enigmatic play, Hamlet, will be heard and seen live even before Broadway officially opens. The…Off Broadway6 min read
Published in The PassionPit·Jun 29, 2021Member-onlyDancing in QuarantineThe human spirit can conquer most — if not all — boundaries. But it is the artist that can conquer these boundaries and make it look pretty. Take two ambitious and talented performers — Haley Ostir and Paris Martino. Both having played leads and featured roles in musicals, both competent…4 min read
Published in The PassionPit·May 13, 2021Member-onlyIndependent Women in the Independent ArtsIt’s sadly too familiar to hear that women — while making up about half of the arts industry and 60–70% of its audiences — are not given the same spotlight as their male counterparts. It gets worse. These facts are basically for the commercial arena of the arts. Exact figures…Women In Business22 min read