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RE: Houston RATS?
Is this your way of taking revenge on those of us who were stupid enough not
to see you when you were in L.A.?
> -----Original Message-----
> From: NashGay@aol.com [SMTP:NashGay@aol.com]
> Sent: Thursday, January 13, 2000 9:04 PM
> To: rat-list@whirl-i-gig.com
> Subject: Houston RATS?
>
> BIENVENUE THEATRE proudly presents.....
> JUNIOR BLUES
> and
> SENIORITIS
> (Parts III and IV of the Off-Broadway Bound Holy Cross Quadrilogy)
> Written and performed by
> Rob Nash
> When: Special Opening Night Performance, Wednesday, January 12, 8:00 PM.
>
> Continuing through January 30, Thurs. - Sat, 8:00; Sun. 6:00.
> Where: BIENVENUE (formerly "Curtains", also formerly, "Cleo's")
> 3722 Washington Ave. Between Yale and Waugh/Heights
> Tickets: 713-426-2626. $18-$20, $15 Students.
> General Admission. Limited Seating. Advanced purchase
> recommended.
>
> In each installment of the "Holy Cross Quadrilogy" the characters only age
>
> one year while the time around them changes significantly. "Freshman Year
> Sucks!" takes place in 1981, "Sophomore Slump" in 1992, "Junior Blues" in
> 2013, and "Senioritis" in 1954. It's theatre. We can do this. "In high
> school, we all want to be unique and still belong. By skipping around in
> time, I hope to show the timelessness of high school rites of passage and
> the
> universal desire for individuality and community," says Nash. (And, no,
> you
> don't have to have seen "Frosh" and "Soph" to fully enjoy "Junior" and
> "Senior." Each play is self-contained.)
> In "Junior Blues," it's 2013! Do you know where your teenager is?!
> The
> country is at war! Johnny wants to avenge his brother Richard's death in
> the
> desert by enlisting Norman Normal to help build a bomb in an
> ill-conceived,
> half-baked act of civil disobedience. Ben meets rock idol, Sick Blood, in
> an
> online 3-D holographic chat room and becomes another ship, passed in the
> night, in a head on crash course with heartbreak. George, his dad and his
>
> step-mother-to-be, Julie Rose, are thrown into family chaos when a visitor
>
> from Mr. Daly's past shows up at the wedding.
> After intermission-aw, gee, don't get sore, just set your clocks back
> to
> 1954. "Senioritis" is an aliment that strikes many adolescents in their
> last
> year of secondary school. Feelings of boredom toward high school coupled
> with feelings of anxiety toward the world beyond high school contribute to
> an
> inner climate of apathy, ambivalence and ennui. Now, try going through
> that
> in the middle of the Eisenhower administration.
> The mid-50s provide an engaging turn in a saga which has, until now,
> only
> skipped forward in time. When you revert to before the social revolution
> of
> the 60s (and the pop psychological revolution of the 70s, 80s and 90s),
> the
> old school "rules" dictated that many things, (especially secrets), were
> handled quite differently. (They were kept). How does the 50s influence
> Ben's and Mr. Smith's homosexuality? What happens when Johnny ponders
> marrying girlfriend, Maria, a Latina? What happens to George's and Julie
> Rose's secret-their son, who everyone assumes is Mr. Daly's?
> Should Johnny, the restless proto-Beatnik, go smoke reefer and write
> poetry in New York or stay in Houston, marry Maria and teach high school?
>
> Will George actually enlist in the Army to find some structure in his life
> of
> underachievement? Should Ben deal with his homosexuality and move to some
>
> Pre-Stonewall haven for queers (New York? San Francisco? Paris?) or heed
>
> the call of the cloth and go into the seminary? All these questions and
> more
> will be answered or avoided in "Senioritis."
> After "Freshman" and "Sophomore" enjoyed a critical and audience
> success
> last Summer at STAGES Repertory Theatre, Nash and director, Jeff Calhoun
> (of
> Broadway's "Grease" and "Annie Get Your Gun") participated in a week of
> development at Dartmouth University with the New York Theatre Workshop
> (Creators of "Rent!") where the verdict was unanimous: "Don't take any of
>
> the plays to NYC, until all are ready to be presented in rep, in an epic
> solo
> theatrical event: "Frosh" and "Soph" one night, and "Junior" and "Senior"
>
> the next. So, because of pressing time considerations (Plans to mount the
>
> full Quadrilogy off-Broadway by Spring 2000 are underway) and because of
> scheduling constraints at STAGES, Bienvenue Theatre graciously stepped in
> to
> provide a home for "Junior Blues" and "Senioritis" this January.
> Not standup, not monologue, not performance art, Nash describes his
> work
> as "serial ensemble theatre performed solo." His previous works include
> "12
> Steps To A More Dysfunctional You," "12 Steps To A More Dysfunctional
> Christmas" and "12 Steps To A More Dysfunctional Family," which have
> enjoyed
> sold out houses and critically acclaimed runs across the country. Nash
> has
> also been seen on VH1 "Stand-up Spotlight with Rosie O'Donnell" and Comedy
>
> Central's "Out There in Hollywood."