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<p class="MsoNormal"><br><b style><span style="color:windowtext"></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style><span style="color:windowtext"><span style="color:rgb(255,153,0)"></span><br>
</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style><span style="color:windowtext"><br></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style><span style="color:windowtext">BLACK CAT LOST, a thought provoking experience at Theatre
Ninja</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style><span style="color:windowtext"> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:windowtext">Theater Ninja is a nomadic theatre company
which has no permanent home and appears in store fronts, art spaces, and
churches. <span style> </span>It was founded in 2006
with the goal of developing innovative, nontraditional theatrical
experiences.<span style> </span>As founder Jeremy
Paul explains, We are a risk-taking company. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Lucida Grande";color:windowtext"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:windowtext">Erin Courtney, the author of BLACK CAT LOST,
Theatre Ninjas most recent offering, fits perfectly into the mold of Ninjas
targeted scripts/devised theatre.<span style>
</span>The play, which centers on the impermanence of life and the pain of
loss, uses esoteric language and Zen poetry, to examine conflicting memories of
events jointly experienced, and the viewing of death and the unseen.<span style> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:windowtext"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:windowtext">Using the controversial concepts of
Elisabeth Kuebler-Rosss stages of grief and dying: denial (often accompanied
by isolation), anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance, the multi-scene
play accentuates the idea of seeing each event twice.<span style> </span>First it is experienced, and then it is relived as a memory.
The questions arise, Are our memories accurate?<span style> </span>Can any two people have the same memory
experience?<span style> </span>Can individuals
experience and then move on?<span style> </span>These
issues can become intense as people attempt to re-experience someone who has
died. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:windowtext"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:windowtext">Though somewhat obtuse, the script does
invoke thoughts of an individuals own mortality and how we remember those who
have passed through our lives and are no longer with us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:windowtext"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:windowtext">Director Jeremy Paul uses his actors and the
intimate Waterloo Arts space well.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:windowtext"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:windowtext">Ray Caspio, Lauren Joy Fraley, and Sarah
Moore are all convincing in their portrayals. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:windowtext"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:windowtext">BLACK CAT LOST is preceded by the REFRAIN, a
short devised presentation conceived and directed by Paul, which features Tania
Benites, Caspio and Moore. <span style> </span>The
piece was first performed as part of AT-TEN-TION SPAN 2012, Cleveland Public
Theatres , </span><span style="color:rgb(15,15,15)">10-minute play series.<span style> </span>It is described by its conceiver as, </span><span style="color:windowtext">a highly rhythmical sequence of movement and voices a
pseudo opening band for Black Cat Lost.<span style>
</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:windowtext"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:windowtext">It is composed as a non-linear connected
series of lines, with no clear story.<span style>
</span>It is performed by Benites, Caspio and Sarah Moore.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:windowtext"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:windowtext">The final segment of the evening was TANGLE,
TANGLE, a developing concept play performed by its writer Caspio, with
accompaniment by composer Sean Ellis. <span style> </span>It is billed as a queer performance of songs and stories, a microcosm
challenging hate. The segment presented, much in the vein of, I Am What I
Am, from the musical LA CAGE AUX FOLLES, examines masculinity and femininity.<span style> </span>It includes concepts explained by
American Psychologist Sandra Bem in her Gender Schema Theory.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:windowtext"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style><span style="color:windowtext">Capsule judgement:<span style>
</span>THE BLACK CAT LOST, THE REFRAIN and TANGLE, TANGLE, are the type of
theatrical experiences that the cult followers of Theater Ninjas expect.<span style> </span>It is an evening of offerings that are
probably too abstract for the traditional theater-goer, but will be of interest
to the philosophical and contemporary thinker.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style><span style="color:windowtext"> </span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:windowtext">BLACK CAT LOST will be staged at Summit
Artspace in Akron on November 7<sup>th</sup>, 8<sup>th</sup> and 9<sup>th</sup>.<span style> </span>For information go to </span><a href="http://theaterninjas.com/"><span style>http://theaterninjas.com</span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal">
<br></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:rgb(255,153,0)"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br><a href="http://theaterninjas.com/"><span style></span></a><span style="color:rgb(15,15,15)"></span></p>
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