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Michael Grossberg’s Top 10 Reasons to See “Skyscrapers”

April 15, 2011 By Matt 1 Comment

The Columbus Dispatch’s theatre critic liked a heck of a lot about our new production of Skyscrapers of the Midwest. Straight from his late-night review, here are his Top 10 Reasons to see the show.

1. Dinosaurs, robots and stuffed animals add to the fun.

(Two central performances help generate the emotional core so vital to such a clever and self-analytical work.)
2. Acacia Duncan brings out the vulnerability and imaginative inner consciousness of the young Josh Cotter.

3. Adorable, funny, sad, irrepressible and always convincingly childlike, Drew Eberly couldn’t be better as Jeffrey, Cotter’s tag-along younger brother.

(Of the 10 deft actors playing 22 characters human and animal, real and fantasy quite a few others register even under face-covering helmets or from within obscuring costumes.)
4. One of the most enjoyable: Jordan Fehr, who fulfills every boyhood dream of the near-perfect playmate as Rex, Jeffrey’s rambunctious but cuddly dinosaur doll.

5. The awkward self-consciousness of adolescence almost becomes the driving motif of Slaybaugh’s playful adaptation, which is at its best in its overall staging.

6. Ian Short, one of Available Light’s best actors.

7. The production wouldn’t work as well without Brant Jones’ video designs, which incorporate short films and many of Cotter’s cartoon panels. Some of the most dramatic and revealing moments arise when the videos comment on or add ironic contrast to the stage actions.

8. Tony Auseon’s creatures…

9. Eleni Papaleonardos’ [and Michelle Whited’s] costumes…

10. Dave Wallingford’s sound designs [Mr. G forgot to mention that Dave appears live on-stage. – Matt]

11. … and Carrie Cox’s dramatic lighting help bring Cotter’s troubled life and art to brilliant but erratic life.

Yes, that was 11. I just couldn’t stand to leave anyone out, he had so many nice things to say. Sure, Michael didn’t like everything about it, but the show is packed floor to ceiling with innovation and action, and we can hardly expect anyone to praise every minute of it. [Except me. I like all of it. – Matt]

We look forward to hearing about your favorite parts. Comment here or drop us a line on the Facebook.

See you at the show!

Filed Under: Skyscrapers of the Midwest

“Skyscrapers” video preview

April 13, 2011 By Matt Leave a Comment

If it looks like we’re having fun, it’s because we are. Can’t wait for you to join us.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Skyscrapers of the Midwest

First photos: Skyscrapers of the Midwest

April 13, 2011 By Matt Leave a Comment

[Read more…]

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Josh & Matt Recommend Comics for you

March 13, 2011 By Matt Leave a Comment

If you’ve read Skyscrapers of the Midwest, or anything like it, you’re no doubt wondering what to read next. Well, visiting your local comic book shop is a great way to dive right in. Or, if you’re a fan of Amazon, and you’d like to see AVLT get a little kick-back from your purchases, look no further than this handy, dandy, online mini-shop, stocked with recommendations from Joshua Cotter and Matt Slaybaugh.

Filed Under: Skyscrapers of the Midwest

“Skyscrapers” adjusts its schedule

March 9, 2011 By Matt Leave a Comment

You heard it here first.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes… Greetings and good morning everyone. AVLT is rolling with the new.

The crazy news for today: We’re going to run Skyscrapers of the Midwest for only 2 weekends instead of 3 and open it on April 14 instead of 7. It will still close April 23.

Please adjust your calendars, accept my apologies, and post your questions, comments, concerns, and celebrations here.

Oh, and…. THIS SHOW IS GOING TO KNOCK YOUR SOCKS OFF!!!

Filed Under: Skyscrapers of the Midwest

What it’s like right now

February 22, 2011 By Matt 1 Comment

I thought some people would enjoy reading a bit about my experience adapting this piece. Well, maybe not enjoy … Anyway, here’s the unvarnished moment.

It’s an understatement to say that I love this comic, this work. Skyscrapers the Midwest is a story, or a set of stories, that has added a lot to my life already. And ha already done, even before I became involved with it in the creative way. And so it has been with great trepidation, in many ways, that I have appraoched the creation of this adaptation.

It’s a delicate relationship that we have to some pieces of art, and I knew that, in some ways, I would be destroying my relationship with this book in the process of creating something new. That sounds sad, doesn’t it? But it’s happened before and I know it will happen again. Hopefully though, other people will form new, helpful, moving relationships with Josh Cotter’s world and his work, and everyone will move forward enhanced in some way. I’ll be focussing on what I’ve gained, far more than I what I’ll lose.

(I’m imagining that he’s going to hate reading that paragraph, if he does. As a particularly thoughtful artist, he’s well aware of the risk at which we all put ourselves of becoming too precious or too matyred when we discuss things like pain, and loss, and our souls. As if The Artist is anymore damaged or unique than anyone else. No one wants to be aware of their own Christ complex.)

At any rate… (or insert your own poor executed transitional phrase)

I’ve been tearing the book to bits, re-arranged pieces, cutting out dialogue, mashing-up images, and even cramming some of Josh’s adult persona into the mix, turning into something that might even be less than what it is in book form, hoping that I get enough of it right that I don’t seem like a fraud in the end. Hoping I won’t make Josh (or anyone else involved) look bad. I mean, the guy’s parents are in the show, they’re gonna see this. Would you want the pressue of playing one of those roles? Some poor actors … alas and alack.

I suppose that would be something to aim for, to reach for, wouldn’t it? If we could make our interpretation true enough that it works, yet separate enough that it doesn’t spoil any of the books allure or mysteries. I guess one big indicator of our success will be whether I actually want to read to the book again a week after the show closes. It’s not that I think the book won’t hold-up, I just fully expect it cause self-recriminations when it serves to jog my memory about the show.

We’re probably adapting two more books next season, so I have those regrets to look forward to as well.

I know this hasn’t been excellent marketing, but for those who want a look into what goes on in someone’s psyche at a moment like this, here ya go. It’s a hall of funhouse mirrors. Minus the fun.

Filed Under: Skyscrapers of the Midwest

From Comic to Play

February 9, 2011 By Matt Leave a Comment

I read Josh Cotter’s “Skyscrapers of the Midwest” comics in early 2008. (You can buy the collected version here.) After reading the book several times, I started thinking about making it into a play. Theatre and comics don’t seem to have a lot in common on the surface, but I actually think the needs and strengths of the mediums are very similar. Most importantly, in my opinion, to both mediums (at least as I enjoy them) is a strong sense of connection and intimacy.

When you read a comic like Skyscrapers, you get really, really close to the moment of creation. It’s almost as if the artist has simply drawn the page and passed it across the table to you. There’s almost nothing that comes between you and the artists’ intentions.

And Josh’s art takes full advantage of this closeness, pushing the vulnerability of the characters and the artist in the process to an almost uncomfortable level. It’s not a book you can read with unemotional detachment, especially if you have any notion of the kind of childhood isolation that Cotter’s writing about.

The best theatre works the same way. In fact, in the theatre, you’re actually present at the moment of creation, you’re even a participant in the process. Sure, there’s a lot of preparation in rehearsal, a lot of technical work done ahead of time to get the performance ready (That’s true for comics too, just ask Josh about his sketchbooks.) but “theatre” doesn’t happen until the audience arrives and the artists do their thing, and the art is what happens in the space between the actor saying his lines and the audience receiving them. How much more intimate a creative process could there be?

So, that’s what was in my head when I tracked Mr. Cotter down on the internet and emailed him out of the blue to see if he’d be interested in seeing his book as a play. I don’t know what possessed him to say yes, but he did. And he’s been really open and supportive ever since. What happens next? We’re pretty curious too.

Filed Under: Skyscrapers of the Midwest

The real skyscrapers of the midwest

February 8, 2011 By Matt 1 Comment

I spent dark, snowy January week in Missouri, 80 miles north of Kansas City, in a beautiful locale where you could stand on top of a hill and see nothing but snow in every direction. (Well, snow and maybe a wind farm, more on that later…)

I was very privileged to be a guest of the Cotter family at their home near Barnard, MO. Josh and I spent many hours talking in front of a microphone in their living room, we ate more Japanese food than I expected (courtesy of Momoko’s skills) and walked over their 80 acres of land seeing no other living soul except a pair of hunters, dressed head to toe in snow-patterned camouflage. It was a wonderful escape from my life for a few days, and certainly the best way to better understand the setting of Josh’s stories.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the trip.

Filed Under: Skyscrapers of the Midwest

When I first read “Skyscrapers”

February 7, 2011 By Matt Leave a Comment

It was early 2008, I read a lot of blogs about comics and I had one of my own (titled “Comic Books and Hip-Hop.” Guess what we wrote about?) Over at Comics Should Be Good, I read a review by good-ol-d-reliable Brian Cronin of something with a really intriguing title. After acquiring the reviewed issue, I started my own review this way: “This book is amazing and beautiful. Amazingly beautiful. Go buy it right now. I’ll wait.”

Here’s how the rest of it went. (It’s archived here, for the record.)

86C26C26-6366-419C-BF33-609F9AE1880F.jpg
This book is amazing and beautiful. Amazingly beautiful. Go buy it right now. I’ll wait.

It was something like 67 degrees today, a freakishly warm day. So, I sat on my couch, opened the front door and windows, and pulled out Joshua W. Cotter’s newest masterpiece.

I bought it based on Brian Cronin’s recommendation. (He also did a nice review of the book when it came out almost three months ago.)

At any rate. If you have any inkling towards non-super-hero work, you should pick this up. And yes, they’re working on a collected edition, but who knows how long that will take? You need to improve your life today, right?

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Skyscrapers of the Midwest

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