Sexual Perversity in Chicago takes the lead in recent Playground poll.

Our friends at The Playground, ran a poll asking South Florida audiences "What SoFla Show Will You Make Time For?" and you guessed it, Sexual Perversity in Chicago came in first. We would like to take this time and thank everyone who took the time to vote and to Alexis Scheer for helping make Sexual Perversity in Chicago our most successful show to date. Here is a copy of the poll that ran in The Playground on November 26th 2009.

November Poll Closed
Song of the Day: "Rosemary" (How to Succeed)

In a recent poll I asked "What SoFla Show Will You Make Time For?". And here are the results!



Congrats to the cast and crew of Sexual Perversity in Chicago over at the Alliance Theatre Lab!

Keep on the look out for future polls!

NEW TIMES LOVES SEXUAL PERVERSITY

A Healthy Blast of Filth
Sexual Perversity in Chicago takes a stand for sexual normalcy in Miami Lakes.
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By Brandon K. Thorp
Published on November 10, 2009 at 2:39pm

Left to right: Jehane Serralles, David Sirois, Bertha Leal, and Travis Reiff
Details:
Sexual Perversity in Chicago By David MametDirected by Adalberto Acevedo With Bertha Leal, David Sirois,Jehane Serralles, and Travis Reiff Through November 22 The Alliance Theatre Lab; 6766 Main St., Miami Lakes305-259-0418; thealliancetheatrelab.com

The sexual perversity showcased in Sexual Perversity in Chicago is neither very Chicagoan nor very perverse. That is, if you judge perversity by things done rather than things thought about. But like most people in Chicago and elsewhere, Deborah, Danny, Joan, and Bernie — the denizens of this David Mamet joint — think about sex a lot more than they have it, and the less they have it, the weirder their thoughts about it become.

This may not have been Mamet's original point in writing SPC in the early '70s, but that's the play's most obvious message during its run at The Alliance Theatre Lab. SPC's first, ludicrously entertaining scene has Danny and Bernie (David Sirois and Travis Reiff, respectively), seemingly all jacked up on something or other, hashing over Bernie's sexual encounter of the night before. He's in a bar and this knockout is trying to buy cigarettes, only she forgot her money in her hotel room. So Bernie does the decent thing and offers to spot her, after which she invites him to the room for payback. They somehow wind up in the shower, and Bernie's soon doing her in the legless-doggy position on the bed. She instructs him to yell "BOOM!" every 30 seconds or so and calls in a friend to provide military sound effects — machine guns, dive-bombing planes, the whine of incoming artillery. When she lights the room on fire with a tub of gasoline — intentionally, to intensify climax — Bernie makes a run for it and bumps into the fire department in the elevator.

There is a pause after Bernie finishes his story, during which he stands there, panting, wild-eyed and scared, as we and Danny reflect on the deeper implications of all he's said. Then Danny says with a sigh: "Nobody does it normally any more."

Bernie's story was bullshit, of course, as is nine-tenths of everything that comes out of his mouth. We learn this by and by, and in a more staid production we may ponder what deep traumas in Bernie's youth have rendered him incapable of telling the truth, or of having good, sane sex in adulthood. (Or even good, sane conversations.) But I think director Adalberto Acevedo was having too much fun to worry about such somber things, and this version of SPC provides no time or space for them. This production is about antics and four actors' transcendent ability to get wild and dirty and crazy onstage.

SPC's story is skeletal, just a lift-off point for the sex rants Mamet puts in his characters' mouths. Basically, Danny and Deborah (Bertha Leal), two lost young Chicagoans, manage to overcome their sexual hangups long enough to initiate a relationship, but not long enough to really fall for each other before their union crumbles. Bernie and Joan are less nimble, their hangups more well-hung, and they resent the couple's successful acquisition of sex partners and mates. Joan (Jehane Serralles) spends the play saying terrible things about Danny, whom she hardly knows, and Bernie spends much of the play trying to hide his resentment and support his buddy, but ultimately can summon nothing so much as passive aggression.

Forget the story, though. The deep pleasures of this SPC — and there are many — come from individual moments of dramatic ingenuity that have nothing to do with Mamet's vision or anything else. Consider Jehane Serralles' amazing acid tongue, so potent it might burn holes through her lovely cheeks before the run is over. When at one point Danny — rightly — suggests she jam a lamp up her ass, she cools down and sucks the heat out of the room with a subtle movement of her head. "That's very telling," she says, with a slow-spreading crocodile smile, in a voice as managed as a controlled demolition. "On your suggestion, I'm supposed to rend and torture myself anally." In this moment, her character looks more comfortable than in any previous scene, as though she's settling into a role for which she's long prepared and "truly" relishes: a front-line combatant in a gender war.

Another pleasure: Travis Reiff's fantastic over-the-top misogyny and sexual angst. They make him difficult to share a room with but delirious fun to watch. Witness his breakdown as his Bernie tries to congratulate Danny on his new romantic venture. By the time Bernie forces himself to say, "You are one fortunate son of a bitch," he's so upset that he might as well be saying, "I've just discovered my family dead in the basement." The disconnect between the words and the quavering, loathing-filled mouth that says them is scary and mesmerizing.

But the greatest pleasure, and the best bit of acting, in Acevedo's SPC comes during Danny and Deborah's courtship, in a scene on a bed in Danny's apartment, as they talk to each other in cutesy little-kid voices and Deborah squirms around on Danny's lap. I couldn't tell what they were saying — the audience was laughing too hard at whatever it was — but watching their faces was enough. I don't know if I've ever seen two actors better capture the euphoria of fresh infatuation as it really is. The infinitely knowing smiles of fresh cohabitants, luxuriating neither in each others' words nor even their real personalities, but simply their presence; the presence of this new person who, for inexplicable reasons, has deigned to open their thighs and heart. You see all of this on their faces, and on Deborah's especially. They are thinking and feeling their parts, moment by moment. It's a revelation.

Again, none of this has anything to do with Mamet's vision, or the revelation about love and lust he was attempting to communicate during his own sexually perverse youth. In a softer, less antics-crammed production, we might pause to wonder what it means when Danny complains of his home life with Deborah: "Everything's fine. Sex, talk, life, everything...until you want to get closer, to get 'better.' Do you know what the fuck you want?" In other productions, that line comes across as the war cry of an eternal adolescent in chains. Here, it's all but swallowed. There are no fireworks in it, and it provides no opportunities for artful mugging. So the show goes on.

Acevedo and his actors lack the kind of hangups that severely restricted Mamet's characters. Their philosophy of playmaking is more libertine — more "if it feels good, do it." It's a philosophy that many have mouthed, but few have ever lived up to. Certainly, it's one that has never sufficed for Mamet or his creations. I say fuck 'em. SPC feels great.

EDGE REVIEWS SEXUAL PERVERSITY IN CHICAGO.

Sexual Perversity In Chicago
by Michael Martin
EDGE Contributor
Tuesday Nov 10, 2009

It is true that big things often come in small packages. Such is the case with the Alliance Theatre Lab’s current production of David Mamet’s Sexual Perversity in Chicago now playing at the intimate Main Street Playhouse in Miami Lakes.

A powerfully talented cast of four justly portrays Mamet’s characters from one of his earliest works. The explicit language sounds less shocking today than when the play was first produced in 1976, however Mamet’s deftly defined battle of the sexes still rings true with many present day couples. 

Not unlike the 70s television show, Love American Style, the script contains a vast amount of quick vignette scenes. Often, a large amount of blackouts causes annoying disruption on behalf of an audience. Mamet’s keen flair for writing, however, leaves a sense of yearning for the next scene to be lit. 

The author’s characters become so well defined, thanks in large part to the superb cast, that an air of eagerness soon permeates the confines of the theatre space as the audience anxiously awaits any new developments.

Bernie Litko (Travis Reiff) and Danny Shapiro (David Sirois) are best friends and work colleagues. Though the pair bond through shared stories of their adventures as single men trying to conquer the unassailable mount of complexity known as "woman", their approaches to dealing with the opposite sex vary widely. 

Deborah Soloman (Bertha Leal) and Joan Webber (Jehane Serralles) are roommates, and likewise profess different ideologies when it comes to dealing with the human male species.

What really works here is director Adalberto J. Acevedo’s keen casting. Each actor infuses their character with realism, allowing the audience to easily relate to their characters’ individual plights. 

Reiff masterfully commands the stage from the start. His clever use of tone and body language allows us to discover a Bernie that is wrought with insecurity issues, which the character continually attempts to conceal with manifested bravado. 

Sirois likewise utilizes a suave naturalness to his tone that convincingly produces a likeable Danny despite his crude treatment of girlfriend Deborah during their breakup. 

Leal exudes a perfectly coquettish behavior for her Deborah, who’s claim that she has lesbian tendencies may in fact be more a political stance rather than a sexual preference. 

Serralles contains the unique ability to present the likeable bitch in her rendition of Joan, a woman who views herself as scorned by men so often that she has since adopted an unwavering bitterness concerning the gender.

Reiff is also credited with sound design. The spectacular choices of 70’s music that plays between each short scene perfectly add in creating the set time period for the piece. Amy Spadafore intelligently dresses the confined space to portray the required different locales, accompanied by Skye Whitcomb’s focused lighting that highlights these variances.

Overall, Acevedo delivers a production wrought with convincing talent and justly serves David Mamet’s original intent. 

Sexual Perversity in Chicago continues through November 22 at Alliance Theatre Lab, 6766 Main Street, Miami Lakes, FL. For more information, visit the Alliance Theatre Lab website.


Michael Martin has been an active member of Actors’ Equity for over 20 years. As a professional actor, he has toured many parts of the US and the world. Originally from St. Louis, he now resides in Miami.

Sex and Foul Language: GO MAMET!!

Sexual Perversity in Chicago. Those of you who missed it - we've still got two weekends (that EIGHT performances, folks) left for you to catch up! If you're in a production and can't make it over the weekend, we also have Industry Night November 16.

With that said, here are some pictures from one of our last dress rehearsals to wet your appetite:

The Miami Herald Raves About "Sexual Perversity in Chicago"!

THEATER REVIEW
Mamet's Sexual Perversity in Chicago a pleasure for audience
BY CHRISTINE DOLEN
cdolen@MiamiHerald.com

David Mamet's Sexual Perversity in Chicago is a play of a certain era: early Mamet, post-sexual revolution, pre-AIDS.

Written in 1974, the play flits from one short scene to the next, providing a snapshot of twentysomething big city ``romance'' and serving as a window into the younger Mamet's mind. This is a work that is funny, foul-mouthed and more than a little misogynistic; still enjoyable, but a harbinger of better things to come from a talented playwright.

The Miami Lakes-based Alliance Theatre Lab is winding up its year with a time-tripping performance of Sexual Perversity. The preshow music is vintage Marvin Gaye, setting a sensual mood as only he could do. The costumes, such as one guy's three-piece suit and wide tie, also say '70s. The rest -- the attitudes, sexual come-ons, fast physical intimacy among strangers -- is classic Mamet.

Sexual Perversity in Chicago follows the romantic fortunes of two guys and two gals.

Bernie Litko (Travis Reiff) is -- to put it succinctly -- a pig. Perpetually on the prowl, he sees women as things to be chatted up, slept with and physically discarded, though they'll linger as the subjects of Bernie's graphic tales of his sexual exploits. Bernie's work buddy Danny Shapiro (David Sirois) seems to be a more evolved type, and he jumps into an actual relationship. But it's not long before this Mamet man reveals that, just under that sensitive surface, he's not so different from Bernie.

Danny's squeeze is Deborah Soloman (Bertha Leal), who jumps into bed and a live-in relationship without much more thought than she'd give to buying a new dress. Not smart. Her tart-tongued roommate, kindergarten teacher Joan Webber (Jehane Serralles), doesn't much care for Danny (or any guy) and can't wait for the inevitable breakup to crow, ``I told you so.''

Director Adalberto J. Acevedo keeps the play hurtling forward as he turns actors who weren't born when the play was written into spot-on interpreters of Mamet's crude, fast-paced battle of the sexes. Reiff runs wild with Bernie's outsized vulgarity, Serralles gets Joan's frostiness, and Leal finds Deborah's empathetic vulnerability. Sirois does wonderfully layered work as Danny, sliding from decency to nastiness so convincingly that you feel as let down as Deborah does by a good guy gone bad.

Though Alliance still needs to raise its game when it comes to design work, its production of Sexual Perversity in Chicago gives four talented young actors the chance to take a walk on the wild side through Mamet's outrageous, R-rated world.

SOLD OUT OPENING NIGHT!

Here is a look at the sold out opening night performance of Sexual Perversity in Chicago by David Mamet.

Thanks to our wonderful audience, and to the brilliant cast and crew for making it happen! Tickets are going fast for this one, so be sure to click on those tickets on the right-hand sidebar, and let the internet gnomes whisk you to TicketLeap to get your tickets!

"Perversity" Is a Hit! The Ron Levitt Review

YOUNG ACTORS HIT THE MARK IN MAMET PLAY

NOW BEING PRODUCED BY THE ALLIANCE THEATRE LAB

By Ron Levitt

Florida Media News / ENV magazine

MIAMI LAKES, FL – it is always revealing to watch a small, local theatre company produce a well-known play without benefit of big-money-sets and extravagant lighting and sound. One never knows exactly what to expect. Despite such budget shortfalls in the technical department, lighting expertise by Skye Whitcomb and recorded music – along with four magnetic actors – allow The Alliance Theatre Lab to take over the Main Street Playhouse’s tiny venue in Miami Lakes with topnotch quality in a David Mamet revival of the 1970s hit – Sexual Perversity in Chicago. It was this language-peppered play which put Mamet on the artistic map.

This play hits its mark thanks to some astute direction by Albert Acevedo but also by a cast of twenty-something actors who explore relationships ferociously among the working class in the Windy City circa 1970 and do it with such realism that one may forget he or she is watching outrage on a tiny stage set up to reach 50 seats in the audience. If ever actors deserve applause, it is this foursome “making mad” in Miami Lakes.

David Sirois, Travis Reiff, Bertha Leal and Jehane Serralles are the quartet who find their relationships falling apart because of the caustic nature of their vocabulary – enough profane words to set records for insulting and arguing in any year. Sirois and Reiff in particular, shine for two different reasons: Sirois for underplaying his low-key character and Reiff for his volatile performance of the womanizing best-friend. Mamet has always been strong in his male character depiction and dialogue and these two actors – thanks to Director Acevedo – fill Mamet’s character progression.

One might think a 1970s play would not be relevant to the new Century. But, despite its reflection on a time past, it could be any moment, anywhere as relationships sour. This production is not played as a period piece, It is not dated, even with outdated references to the Equal Rights Amendment and other cultural highlights.

Mamet’s play originally was all about language and how it can be used. Is this truly “gutter talk” or is just “stylized filth” – the way this generation talked! Like others before, you can decide!

The plot is primarily about the relationship of Danny (Sirois) and Deborah (Leal), who go from sexually attracted individuals to uncomfortable people living together. Their pals (Reiff) and (Serralles) add to the confusion as they talk about what they consider usual man-woman subjects. In a nutshell, their friends help to poison the relationship. This play is perfect for ensemble-size theatre groups with paltry budgets. It is also a class-A production to showcase individual actors.

As for the Mamet of 1972, he forces his audience to examine society’s attitudes toward love and romance, those rebellious years when the idea of a stable, committed relationship had become a modern-day perversity. His ability with dialogue is well-tested in film and on stage. His works range from Glengarry Glenn Ross, Wag the Dog to his recent mainstream success, Speed-the-Plow. Returning to see his earliest success gives theatre-lovers a chance to compare Mamet’s story-telling evolution.

The show runs through Nov. 22. Call 305.259.0418

First look at Sexual Perversity in Chicago

Here is your first look at the comic cast of Sexual Perversity in Chicago.

Things heat up between David Sirois and Bertha Leal

Travis Reiff as Bernie and Jehane Serralles as Joan

Can true friendship survive the test of true love?

Bertha Leal as Deborah seeks comfort in her friendship with Joan.

David Sirois as Danny can't seem to commit to new love Deborah.

One night stands turn into true love in Sexual Perversity in Chicago by David Mamet

Don't miss this comic look at modern love in 1970's Chicago.

2010 Season Auditions!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the time has come upon us for us to take another look at the phenomenal talent which South Florida has to offer!

The Alliance Theatre Lab proudly announces the season auditions for its 2010 season! To quote playwright David Caudle: "Theatre today is blood and guts. You got blood in ya, you got guts, spill 'em out, man! Do your thing!" Actually, on second thought, please do not inflict any sort of self-harm during your audition; we'd have to make Amy get the mop, and then there's all the paperwork to fill out, and the harsh interrogation techniques by the cops, and Albert just hates getting waterboarded on suspicion on murder, so perhaps it's best if you just give us a couple of contrasting monologues, a headshot and resume, and bribing the directors with a little chocolate never hurt (and maybe a doggie biscuit for Iago).

ANNOUNCING SEASON AUDITIONS FOR THE ALLIANCE THEATRE LAB

Auditions will be held Saturday, November 14 and Sunday, November 15 from 11 am - 5 pm each day, with Season callbacks being held the following weekend at the same time. Auditions are by appointment only. Each actor is asked to bring 2 contrasting monologues, plus head shots and resumes. Time slots are 10 minutes each. Please contact the Alliance Theatre Lab at thealliancelab@aol.com or (305) 259-0418 to request an audition slot. Leave your name, contact number, day/time preferred and Equity status.

2010 SEASON PLAY AND CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS

ORPHANS by Lyle Kessler - March 18-April 4, 2010
Two brothers are taken under the wing of a shady businessmen.

• Phillip: Male, early 20's. Illiterate, innocent, but intelligent in his way. Longs for companionship.
• Treat: Male, late 20's. Phillip's older brother, a thug. Keeps Phillip dependent upon him.
• Harold: Male, 40's - 50's. Small-time gangster who "adopts" the brothers.

Orphans is the story of two brothers - Phillip, a wildchild naif whose illiteracy and innocence belie a feral intelligence; and Treat, a switchblade-wielding thief who manipulates his brother into remaining dependent on him. Into this den of dysfunction comes Harold, a not-so-legitimate businessman who takes the "Dead End Kids" under his tutelage. At its core, Orphans is a warped father-and-son story, with all of the realism and none of the saccharine.

COYOTE ON A FENCE by Bruce Graham - June 10-27, 2010
Two death-row inmates wait for their impending executions.

• John: White Male, mid-30's-40's. Highly educated inmate who murdered a drug dealer. Editor of a prison newsletter that rants against the death penalty.
• Bobby: White Male, 20's. Simple, highly religious inmate. Member of the Aryan Nation.
• Shawna: Female, late 20's - early 40's. Prison guard who tries to repress her guilt over the executions.
• Sam: Jewish Male/Female, 20's-40's. Reporter doing a story on John and his prison paper. Torn between John's insistence upon neutrality and his/her own feelings regarding Bobby.

This "thought-provoking work about man's inhumanity to man" (The Stage) examines capital punishment through the differing viewpoints of two death-row inmates. John, a well-educated liberal who rages against the practice that will end his life at the point of a hypodermic needle, gets a new cell-mate: Bobby, an unabashed racist and anti-Semite who looks at his execution as the gateway to the God who told him to kill.


A SKULL IN CONNEMARA by Martin McDonagh - November 2010
A dark comedy revolving around Mick Dowd, whose job is to empty graves over seven years old in order to make room for new occupants.

• Mick Dowd: Male, 40's-50's. Town gravedigger.
• Maryjohnny Rafferty: Female, late 50's-60's. Gossipy grandmother with a taste for Irish moonshine.
• Mairtin: Male, mid-late teens. Maryjohnny's grandson; juvenile delinquent.
• Thomas: Male, mid-late 20's. Mairtin's older brother; town policeman who dreams of being a "real" cop.

The second play in McDonagh's Lennane trilogy. Set in Galway, Ireland, A Skull in Connemara introduces us to a quartet of besotted, beguiling characters, whose empty lives are filled with sly gossip, witty banter, and rotgut poteen. Mick's job is to clear out old graves in the overflowing cemetery in order to make room for new burials. But when the time comes for his deceased wife Oona's grave to be emptied, old rumors of how Oona really died start spreading, mallets start coming out, and bits of tibia and ulna start flying about the stage.

First look at new "Sexual Perversity in Chicago" art work.