Kill Me Now by Kaliyuga Arts at Cross Street Theatre Center, Hudson: The Catskill-based Kaliyuga Arts — which is run by a married couple, Steven Patterson and John Sowle, who have been artistic collaborators for 25 years — gave a wrenching U.S. premiere to Canadian playwright Brad Fraser's powerful drama about a father and son dealing with a health crisis. It was brave and painful theater, at times so emotionally intimate that watching felt voyeuristic, but you couldn't look away. - Steve Barnes, Times Union
5. Kill Me Now Kaliyuga Arts at the Cross Street Theater. As with Canadian playwright Brad Fraser’s True Love Lies earlier in the summer, Kaliyuga Arts brought this challenging playwright to an unsuspecting audience, taking difficult characters and subject matter head on in plays not likely to be seen in the region elsewhere. The U.S. premiere of Kill Me Now showed the best of Fraser’s plays, as frank and cruelly honest as the others, but more humorously humane or humanely humorous. - James Yeara, Metroland
"A wrenching black comedy about - there's no sugarcoating it - euthanasia. Using hard-edged laughs to make his points, Fraser paints a portrait of a family struggling with a teenager's disability, and what happens when a crippling illness hits another member of the same family. There is sex, sadness, comedy and tragedy; in other words, a rich evening of theater." Metroland
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"A TRULY EXTRAORDINARY PERFORMANCE ... In a long summer/autumn season with many insightful and moving new plays and musicals this one is a standout ... Possibly the last must-see theater of the 2013 season. If you cannot get to see this you will have missed the best chance you'll ever have to see this play this well-performed. One more superlative here and the page will simply burn up." -- J. Peter Bergman, Berkshire Bright Focus (Click here for the full review)
"Profoundly emotional and deeply human and humane, KILL ME NOW by leading Canadian playwright Brad Fraser is remarkable and rewarding theater ... So honest and raw that watching at times borders on unbearable. There are moments that are true and heartbreaking enough that it feels like a privilege to witness them ... Ensemble acting near its best. That Patterson and Sowle have an artistic bond is understandable, given that they’ve been partners in life and onstage for more than 25 years. But for them to develop such trust and passion with young actors is thrilling to experience. Productions like this keep me going back to the theater." -- Steve Barnes, Albany Times Union (Click here for the full review)
"Canadian playwright Brad Fraser at his best...As with Brad Fraser's True Love Lies earlier in the summer, Kaliyuga Arts brought a challenging playwright to an unsuspecting audience, taking difficult characters and subject matter head on in plays not likely to be seen in the region elsewhere. Kill Me Now is the best of Fraser's plays, as frank and cruelly honest as the others, but more humorously humane...Kaliyuga Arts director John Sowle services the play with an excellent cast again; each performer brings the same focus, energy, and believability. To call this 'ensemble acting' would be to slight each actor's achievement, but to not have had actors of equal talent would have been to slight Kill Me Now. Director Sowle once again does double duty, and his economical set design serves both director and playwright well." -- James Yeara, Metroland (Click here for the full review)
"I am so in awe...One of the most compelling plays I've seen this summer and this has been a season for challenging work...A moving and beautiful experience. The performances were perfect. Samuel Hoeksema as the disabled Joey was no less than brilliant. Work this good does not happen in a vacuum and director John Sowle's invisible hand had to shape this memorable theatrical experience. A week ago I did not know anything about Kaliyuga Arts. Now I wouldn't miss one of their productions." -- Bob Goepfert, The Arts Whisperer blog @ "The Troy Record" (Click here for the full review)
"A NIPPERTOWN TIP! ... Intimate, funny, and heartbreaking." -- Nippertown
And excerpts from a few of the Edmonton reviews:
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Kay Capasso as Twyla Kay is an actor based in New York City. She received her Acting MFA at Actors Studio Drama School as part of the graduating class of 2012. Favorite NYC credits include Nan in As Wide As I Can See, Betsy in After the Circuit, and both Reggie and Jackie in 3x3, or 9 After 9. Prior to New York, she worked professionally in Chicago for three years. Some of her favorite credits there were Sarah in Stop Kiss, Ingrid in Becoming Ingrid, and Chris in Dancing at Lughnasa. www.kaycapasso.com |
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Samuel Hoeksema as Joey Samuel returns to Kaliyuga Arts after appearing as Royce in their production of True Love Lies this spring. Originally from Calgary, Alberta, Samuel Hoeksema moved to New York in 2010, attending the two year Professional Acting Program at Circle in the Square Theatre School, graduating this past Spring. Select theatre credits include: Lazy Philosophy in which he originated the role of Evan (Manhattan Theatre Rep), Waiting for Lefty as Sid (Circle in the Square Theatre), Five Variations on Hamlet as Hamlet (Frost Theatre), and The Right to Children (Workshop Theatre) as Jack, also written by Samuel. www.samuelhoeksema.com |
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Molly is an actor and singer based in the Hudson Valley. Molly is delighted to work with the Kaliyuga Arts team again, after appearing their previous productions of True Love Lies (Carolyn) and The Mound Builders (Cynthia). Other recent credits include A Little Night Music (Desiree) at Rhinebeck Theatre Society, The Divine Sister (Mrs. Levinson/Timothy) and Forbidden Broadway at Stageworks/Hudson, The Ladies Man (Marie) at Shadowland Theatre and The Sound of Music (Elsa) at TriArts Sharon Playhouse. Favorite roles includeThe Language Archive (Mary), Hairspray (Velma), The Drowsy Chaperone (The Drowsy Chaperone), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Muriel Eubanks) and Falsettos (Doctor Charlotte). |
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Steven Patterson* as Jake Steven has performed in New York City and regionally with such theaters as South Coast Repertory, TheatreWorks, Capital Repertory, Lexington Conservatory Theatre, freeFall Theatre, Chenango River Theatre, Centenary Stage Company, Depot Theatre, Contemporary Opera Marin, and the Oregon, Orlando, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, and Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festivals. A few of his favorite roles have been King Lear, Jean Genet in Beauty, Austin Wiggin in The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World, David in Poor Super Man, Zach in A Chorus Line, the Creature in Frankenstein, Ubu in Ubu Rex, and Judi Boswell in How to Pray. Co-Artistic Director of Kaliyuga Arts, he currently resides in Catskill, NY.
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JD Scalzo as Rowdy JD Scalzo is thrilled to be working with Kaliyuga Arts on the U.S. premiere of Kill Me Now. He was most recently seen in On the Uptown 2 Express Train with Broadway Theatre Studio in the Strawberry One Act Festival. He has been a part of several other new works including the New York City premieres of Envoy with Ensemble, Atria in the Midtown International Theatre Festival, Bayside the Unmusical! (a parody of Saved by the Bell), and in The Black Book as apart of the 2012 Araca Project. Additionally he originated the role of Andrew in the world premiere of Follow Me Down with Aporia Theatre produced at The Flea Theatre. JD has worked across the grid with several independent theater companies including RAL Productions, YATA, The Heights Players, and The Looking Glass Theatre. He is a graduate of Wagner College Theatre. www.jdscalzo.com. |
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Jen Dobies* -- Production Stage Manager Jen returns to Kaliyuga Arts after stage managing their production ofTrue Love Lies and serving as Production Stage Manager and Artistic Associate for Stageworks/Hudson's 2013 summer season. Jen resides in Durham, NY and is a 2012 graduate of Mount Saint Mary College with a BA in English and a minor in Theater. In 2010, she produced, designed, and directed a Staged Reading of Dog Sees God. In her senior year, as an executive member of the Student Government Association, she designed the annual spring concert featuring We The Kings and Mayday Parade. And as President of the campus Drama club, she designed and directed an adaptation of Rent. She plans to attend Graduate School sometime in the near future. |
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Brad Fraser - Author Brad Fraser is one of Canada's best known playwrights, in addition to being a director for stage and film, a talk show host, and wearing many other hats. Born in Edmonton, Alberta in 1959, Brad won his first playwritings competition at the age of 17 and has been writing ever since. Brad's International hit play Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love premiered at Alberta Theatre Projects PlayRites festival in 1989. It has since been produced worldwide and has been translated into multiple languages. His Poor Super Man, developed by Canadian Stage, was first produced by the Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati in 1994. It was nominated for a Governor Generals Award for Drama and was developed into a feature film with Brad as writer and director. Poor Super Man, like Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love, was listed by Time Magazine as one of the top ten plays of its year. Martin Yesterday premiered at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre in 1997. The Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, England commissioned Snake in Fridge, which opened November 20, 2000. His musical Outrageous, written with composer Joey Miller, enjoyed a successful run at Toronto's Canadian Stage and is being redeveloped for off-Broadway. The Royal Exchange Theatre commissioned Brad to write Cold Meat Party, which had a successful opening there in February 2003. And his two most recent plays, Five @ Fifty and True Love Lies have also premiered at the Royal Exchange. Kill Me Now is currently slated to premiere at Workshop West in Edmonton, Alberta in September of 2013. Other produced plays include: Mutants (Walterdale Theatre, Edmonton, 1981), Wolfboy (Twenty-fifth Street Theatre, Saskatoon, 1982), Rude Noises (For a Blank Generation) (A pseudo-collective with Paul Thompson and Theatre Passe Muraille, Toronto, 1982), Chainsaw Love (Edmonton Fringe Festival, 1985), Young Art (Theatre Passe Muraille, 1986), Return of the Bride (Edmonton Fringe Festival, 1989), The Ugly Man (Alberta Theatre Projects, Calgary, 1990) and Prom Night of the Living Dead-a musical with Darrin Hagen (The Citadel Teen Festival of the Arts, Edmonton, 1991). Brad's plays have won numerous awards including The London Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright, The L.A. Critics Award, The Dora Mavor Moore Award, and London's Time Out Award for Best New Play. Brad is a five-time winner of the Alberta Culture Playwrighting Competition and a two-time winner of the prestigious Chalmers Award. In addition to his work as a playwright and director Brad has spoken at various universities and arts institutions across the continent on such subjects as "Why I Hate The Theatre" - a witty, merciless commentary on the current state of theatre and theatrical criticism (The Grand Theatre, London, Ontario and The University of Saskatchewan, Regina), and the affect of AIDS on his work in the highly personal and hard hitting "What I Did During the Plague" (Concordia University, Montreal and The University of Nebraska, Lincoln). Brad has written extensively for print media (The Edmonton Bullet, The Globe and Mail, Western Living, The National Post), radio (CBC, BBC, and CKUA) and various film companies (Disney/Touchstone, Lewis Chesler Productions, Atlantis/Alliance and Serendipity Point Films). Brad's film and television work include "Love and Human Remains" (Directed by Denys Arcand and Genie award winner for best adapted screenplay), "Parade" (A feature length video with Daniel MacIvor), and the self-directed "Leaving Metropolis" (based on his play Poor Super Man, winner of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Film Festival Audience favourite award, and available on DVD in Canada and America). He worked as a writer and Supervising Producer on Showtime's highly popular "Queer As Folk" for three seasons and continues to develop scripts for film, TV and Stage. Brad has been playwright in residence at Theatre Passe Muraille, Workshop West Theatre and Alberta Theatre Projects. He has been a three-time member of the Banff Centre's Playwrights Colony. Currently Brad divides his time between his home in Toronto and Los Angeles. Brad's work has enjoyed the very important support of The Canada Council, The Edmonton Arts Council, Alberta Culture, The Trillium Foundation, The Laidlaw Foundation, Telefilm Canada and The Ontario Arts Council. Without the support of these groups Brad's work would not have achieved its success. Brad's plays are available at finer bookstores everywhere. |
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