![\"seven_11.jpg\"](\"http:\/\/www.sepiamutiny.com\/sepia\/archives\/seven_11.jpg\")
\nSeen any good plays recently? Yeah, didn’t think so. If you’re like me, you tend to fall asleep during big Broadway production numbers, but small “experimental” theaters leave you cringing with embarrassment or irritation. You know, all that minimalist white (or black) space, with some dudes dressed all in black (or white) rattling off non-sequiters.<\/p>\n\n
Theater – playacting before a live audience – is a quaint and arguably archaic form. But I have to say, when done right, it can leave you feeling deliciously voyeuristic, like you’ve peered into another life with an immediacy that no book or movie could ever provide.<\/p>\n\n
So imagine the excitement then, of theater written by a melange of browns and yellows, about them browns and yellows, for<\/i> the Bs & Ys (and the people who care for them). I’m terribly late (only 3 days left!) in posting this review, so you should stop reading now and scoot off to buy tix to the Fifth Annual Seven.11 Convenience Theater<\/b>. The talented folks at Desipina<\/a> created seven short plays, each eleven minutes long, each set it that haven of desi-ness, the 7-11 convenience store.<\/p>\n\n Date: March 29 – April 14 \n[Wednesday – Saturday 8pm, Sat\/Sun matinees 3pm ]\nCost: Tickets are $18<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n\n Location: The Abrons Arts Center. 466 Grand St at Pitt Street, NYC. www.henrystreet.org<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n\n If you care to know more, join me as I wear my Ben Brantley<\/a> hat after the jump.What? You didn’t buy the ticket already? Want to make sure you get your money’s worth, eh?<\/p>\n\n Cool, I can respect that. Seriously. I’m not calling you cheap or anything.<\/p>\n\n Eleven minutes actually turns out to be as short as you are entertained, or as long as you are bored. \nThe plays are decidedly second-generation Asian-American, and feature very pop-culture savvy jokes (Law & Order, post-modern, fourth-wall-breaking asides to the audience, MTV desi), gay themes, skimpy attire, simulated sex…er, yeah. So maybe you don’t want to see this with your parents.<\/p>\n\n The most juvenile (Bollywood Blueberry Brainfreeze Bonanza) still featured a really hysterical jab at hippity-hoppity-slangity MTV Desi VJs, and the most eloquent dared to tackle Sinhala-Tamil enmity in Sri Lanka (Cafe Ceilao), and fading friendships (Bachelor Moon). The actors are uniformely outstanding – funny, uninhibited, charismatic. Meetu Chilana brightened up a rather flat muscial number with an amazing, just amazing, depiction of a Pinocchio doll. Girl can really sing too. The cleverly staged sets deserve a mention, as do the excellent attention to detail: prop people even gave the actor playing a Sri Lankan a copy of Monkfish Moon<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n Given the 7-11 theme, I guess I expected to see more social commentary, something about the class divide, something more…you know…heavy. I wish they’d dug in a bit deeper. But still, some serious subjects were handled with a light touch, and all in all, I have to say, I had a really good time.<\/p>\n\n My favorite line: “It’s like the threadcount of his shirt is smothering me with butterfly kisses.”<\/p>\n\n Previous post: here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Seen any good plays recently? Yeah, didn’t think so. If you’re like me, you tend to fall asleep during big Broadway production numbers, but small “experimental” theaters leave you cringing with embarrassment or irritation. You know, all that minimalist white … Continue reading