CÔTE D’AZUR TRIANGLE

By Harry Kondoleon,

At Oddfellows Hall, East Hampton, 1994

Directed by Gaby Rodgers

ABOUT THE PLAY

A woman, her husband and her husband’s lover arrive at the Côte d’Azur airport and over a period of time go up and down the Riviera, only to be disappointed by the Riviera. The dullness and of the Cote d’Azur reveals to these three Americans the dullness and impossibility of love. Soon, they tire of one another and pursue sexual partners, at random. Up and down the Côte d’Azur… until they are attacked and consumed by sea dragons.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The Lost Voice of Harry Kondoleon by Charles McNulty 

Harry Kondoleon was a playwright constitutionally incapable of playing by the rules. A Dionysian talent dancing in the face of his own extinction, he had the misfortune not only to die from AIDS a few years before the advent of life-extending medications, but also to practice his art in an age when Apollo, with his tight-noosed aesthetic logic, remained king. If fate hadn't been so quick to shortchange Kondoleon, no doubt our theater would have done so eventually. In a world with an inexhaustible appetite for clone drama, it's always the oddball peg that's the problem, never the banal round hole. Kondoleon's death at age 39 left behind an agonizing legacy of what-ifs. What if he'd had the chance to grow into his voice? What if he'd had the time to become more rigorously himself? Fortunately, there's plenty of Kondoleon writing to appreciate, much of it inadequately understood when it first emerged in the late '80s and early '90s. His sui generis offerings were often treated as though they were mere eccentric trinkets. But then it's still hard to accept just how liberated he was from the theatrical past. 

DIRECTOR

Gabi Rodgers is an American actress, theater director, and journalist. Though she worked extensively as a television actress in the 1950s, she is most remembered for her role as the villainous Lily Carver in the legendary 1955 film noir Kiss me deadly. Her only other theatrical film role was in a gritty 1953 New York indie called The Big Break, starring James Lipton, better known today as the goateed host of cable TV's Inside the Actors Studio. Gaby was also on the cover of the January 1957 issue of Cosmopolitan, representing what the magazine billed as "The New Face of Broadway."

CAST

Maria Pessino

Tom Neigh

Scott Ryder

CREW

Richard Neu - Lighting

Andrea Gross – Stage Manager

Tony Finstrom – Assistant to the Director

John S Maddox – Managing Director

PRESS

Review: Cote D'Azure Triangle
Dan's Papers - July 31, 1992
Elaine Benson
view article (pdf)

Stylish Anomie On The Beach
The East Hampton Star - July 10, 1992
view article (pdf)

WHEELS OVER INDIAN TRAILS

by Robert Savina

At LTV studios in East Hampton, NY (1993)

Directed and Designed by Maria Pessino

ABOUT THE PLAY

Robert Savina takes us on a bicycle journey across the USA and into the Rosebud Reservation, where he meets Russell Means, the Oglala Sioux Native American leader. Four Brothers and Whiskeyville were both produced in NYC. For the past 5 years, Mr. Savina has worked as a production designer for feature film. 

Russell Means has lived a life like few others in this century – revered for his selfless accomplishments and remarkable bravery. He was born into a society and guided by a way of life that gently denies the self in order to promote the survival and betterment of family and community. His culture is driven by tradition, which at once links the past to the present. The L.A. Times has called him the most famous American Indian since Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. His indomitable sense of pride and leadership has become embedded in our national character. 

CAST

Robert Savina, Ken Weisinger, Frances Alenikoff

In addition to the play, Oddfellows Playhouse presents a series of events, which address Native American issues, such a symposiums with Native Women of the Americas, lectures by Dennis Banks (Ashinabe) and professor John Strong, children’s workshops by Elisabeth Haile, from the Shinnecock Reservation.

Natives Talk
Dan's Papers - July 23, 1993
view article (pdf)

Playhouse Celebrates Indian Heritage
The New York Times - July 18, 1993
Thomas Clavin
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Culture Vulture - Photo
Hamptons - August 6, 1993
Photo by Renate
view image (jpg)

AIM Founder Speaks
The Southampton Press - July 15, 1993
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JOAN OF ARC, a vision through fire

By John Morrow and Uni Dahr

Directed by Glyde Hart

Music by Hal Mc Kusick

At LTV studios: East Hampton, NY (1991)

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Uni Dahr is a leading Norwegian theatre and film actress who has been a member of the repertory company of the National Theater of Bergen for 12 years. Classically trained at the State Academy of Performing Arts in Oslo, she has played many of the great classics – from Shakspeare to Ibsen and Chekov – as well as modern experimental drama. 

ABOUT THE PLAY

A monologue in which Joan of Arc re-lives her life, starting with her first visions until she burns at the stake. All other characters in her life, parents, soldiers, angels voices, King Henri, accusers, executioners, are played by Hal Mc Kusick, who uses his saxophone in lieu of words.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Glyde Hart With a BA in science and drama from Bowdoin College, Glyde moved to New York. She spent 13 years in NYC and the East End as a writer, actor, producer, director and business manager. While director of The Art Barge, she produced the “Fridays at Sundown”, a series of special events with a number of East End performance artists and writers to present a wide range of original work in a unique setting.   

CAST

Hal Mc Kusick and Maria Pessino

CREW

Richard Neu – Lighting

Andrea Gross – Stage manager.

Review: Joan of Arc: Vision Through Fire
Dan's Papers - February 21, 1992
Ellen Keiser
view article (pdf)

Gutsy Performance
The East Hampton Star - February 27, 1992
Patsy Southgate
view article (pdf)

BEHOLD AND REFLECT

At Oddfellows Hall: East Hampton, NY (1992)

A collaborative performance piece conceived, directed and designed by Maria Pessino, exploring The Loss of the Beloved

Original texts by Maria Pessino, Francisco Sainz, Nancy Mullinelli, Janice Bishop, Ellen Frank, Paddy Noble

CAST

Maria Pessino, Janice Bishop, Nyssa Frank, Diane Grotke, Gabriele T Raacke, Francisco Sainz, S M Bennett, Frances Alenikoff, Nancy Mullinelli, Andrea Gross

PRESS

Review: Behold and Reflect
Dan's Papers - July 3, 1992
Ellen Keiser
view article (pdf)

Reviews: From Poetry to Fortune Cookies
Newsday - June 26, 1992
Steve Parks
view article (pdf)