Trevor Dawkins

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Review: Bite Radius

Published May 8, 2015 by biggayhorrorfan

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I’ve forgotten the name of an undead trick or two after an adventurous night on the town. Unlucky Peyton, the title character in Spencer Parson’s incisively graphic short film Bite Radius, one up’s me, though. His evening debauchery results in a dead body in the bathtub.

Thankfully (or not), Peyton’s friend Nicole has a twisted idea of how to deal with Kelsey, the unfortunate lass who breathed her last behind the shower curtains of her career girl apartment. This involves a machete, a hand saw, fire and lots and lots of blood flying around. Naturally, this all ends a bit badly for everyone involved.

Here director Parsons, best known for 2013’s truly enjoyable (and highly recommended) Saturday Morning Mystery (AKA Saturday Morning Massacre) completely catches how this Age of Kardashian effects certain twenty-something’s with either Peyton’s numbed self indulgence or Nicole’s media thrill seeking. It is fine work that shows he is capable of many colors as a director not just the fun throwback vibe of SMM.Bite 1

He is complemented, fully, by his go for broke cast. One of Chicago’s most inventive and enthusiastic stage performers, Trevor Dawkins brings a charming otherness that draws audiences to Peyton despite his misdeeds. Sophie Traub, meanwhile, supplies an infectious energy that tempers Nicole’s ingratiating madness with a childlike mystique.

Nicely, in a genre that exploits the female form above all else, almost the entire cast here, with Dawkins and Traub leading the charge, revels in the naked abandon of their aggressively careless characters, bringing this piece a gritty reality and honest equilibrium all at once.

Bite Radius is showing this weekend at the Maryland Film Fest

http://www.md-filmfest.com/festival/film-schedule/300

and will, also, be showing at CUFF on May 16th in Chicago

https://m.facebook.com/events/976318255714642.

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Theater Review: Redletter

Published March 6, 2015 by biggayhorrorfan

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While definitely not a horror piece, Redletter from (the very gay friendly) The Neo-Futurists does feature a segment which details the terrors of uninformed journalism in the modern age, with prominent attention paid to the numerous incorrect reports in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing. In these moments, you can truly feel the dread of creator Lisa Buscani, whom seemingly nurtured this show due to her love of responsible, old school reporting, leaping off of the stage. Lives were destroyed due to false reports and Buscani’s disgust at the unprofessional actions of the press is palpable here.

While this moment is truly one of the show’s most notable, as in all Neo-Futurist productions, the ensemble eventually gathers together to share their personal stories about their own writing careers and how newsworthy events have impacted their lives. Thea Lux’s memories of 9-11 are poignant while Lindsay Muscato bravely shares how her own insecurities have often halted her progress in her creative endeavors. Buscani who leads the whole ensemble, including affable Co-Artistic Director Bilal Dardai, with heartwarming enthusiasm, also, shares happy memories of family gatherings with the morning paper and her early attempts at student journalism.Redletter horiz 1

In a feat of dramatic contrast, the notion of honest, old school reportage is given by a ribbing by the committed ramblings of the truly talented Trevor Dawkins. Dawkins, who, winningly, staged his own action movie in last year’s athletic Haymaker, here morphs into an insane, coke snorting version of his journalist father. Revealing that even in the golden age of television journalism, networks could be bought and sold, Dawkins is a marvel. Whether grooving across stage with perfect Fosse hands or rambunctiously attacking Buscani, Dawkins comes off like the coolest guy in town, perfecting all of the truly awkward and totally delightful energy of every Neo-Futurist production in one performance.

Hmmm…Hey, Trevor, wanna be friends?!?

Redletter runs through March 29th, 2015 at The Neo-Futurariam , 5153 N. Ashland, in Chicago. More information is available at http://www.neofuturists.org.

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan