It is my belief that nudity and simulated sex are not a part of the craft of theatre and film acting and should not be engaged in at any point in their career by actors and actresses who are sensitive enough and talented enough to be considered artists and craftspeople.

In the same way that drinking three shots of whiskey and then “acting” in a drunk scene is not acting, so is actually being nude or engaging in real “simulated” sex not acting.

In the same way that eye gouging is not allowed or a part of the skill and sport of playing professional basketball or football, so should nudity not be allowed in artistic acting projects that consider themselves to reflect the superior quality of the craft of theatre and film acting.

Why isn’t eye gouging allowed in professional sports? Well, obviously eye gouging has nothing to do with the skill or gifts required to perform in professional sports. The second and most obvious reason why eye gouging is not allowed in sports is because it causes permanent injury to the player. In fact, after just one or two good eye gouges the talented sportsperson will be lacking the required facility – eyesight- to perform in the sport ever again.

No one wants to admit that nudity in film and TV is dangerous to your health or your career but we all know it is. The only question to ask yourself when casting an actress in a role that requires nudity is-would I cast a friend in this part? The answer will almost always be no. Why? Because you know that this actress will be subjected to a process that is demeaning at best and psychologically crippling at worst. That the chances of appearing nude in a feature film or TV show like ‘ Entourage” could very easily be the worst career move of her life, causing future casting directors to look on this actress’ resume as belonging to a stripper/exotic dancer type or a permanent extra player.

I’m not going to run down a list of actresses whose careers have either gone into a tailspin after doing nudity in film or never resumed forward momentum in career status because I don’t want to do any further damage to artists who have essentially consented to being “molested” on camera. In fact with the advent of the internet these actresses are reminded every day that the few seconds of film in which they appeared nude are being downloaded as freeze frames ad infitum just like any porn star with no acting training, experience or gift at all.

If you read a few interviews at random with actresses of quality about their actual experience doing nude scenes you will see several common claims. That the experience of being nude on a film set with many strangers watching and filming was “upsetting, embarrassing” that they “cried in their trailers afterwards”, that they were “unable to feel confident as actors afterwards” or made it impossible to interact with the other players as professional equals, that they “regret doing the scenes” and “would not do it again.” And importantly, that it not only did not open the career doors that were promised by “taking the risk and baring all” but in fact destroyed the very faculties of extreme emotional and psychological sensitivity and openness that are part of parcel of the skill package required to perform in “top form” in the craft of theatre and film acting ever again. And this happens after just one experience - just as quickly and efficiently as one good eye gouge destroys the eyesight of a pro sports star.

Unfortunately for actresses in particular, providing the nudity that helps “sell” a feature film translates into a “Game Over” situation for that artist.

Kimberly Katz' Platinum Press

National Pastime Theatre has done it again, this time producing Doo Lister’s Blues, a story that takes place in Chicago during the 1960’s amidst riots and revolution. Terry Abrahamson’s powerful story revolves around a black barber, Doo Lister – a songwriter who pushes the envelope by exercising free speech, despite strong warnings from the F.B.I. who view his material as that which could incite race riots.

Abraham’s piece, both thought provoking and inspiring, is beautifully brought together by the outstanding direction of Victor J. Cole, its strong cast, and very memorable musical numbers.

The show wastes no time in getting started as modern day rapping narrator “Nine Pound Hammer” (Al Tamper” Mayweathers) bursts out onto the stage to heavy hip hop beats, setting the stage for this inspiring story. The show then takes the audience back to the mid-1960’s to Doo Lister’s barber shop. Doo Lister (played brilliantly by Warren Levon), an aspiring songwriter, and his uncle “Catfish” (Kenneth Johnson) tend the shop where it is business as usual until outspoken record distributor “Rebecca Zwieg” (Victoria Abram-Copenhaver) enters their lives and changes everything forever. Urging Doo to sing about the important things taking place on the streets and around the nation rather than songs that always equate love to sweets, it takes a personal tragedy before his eyes begin to open.

Doo Lister’s Blues cast couldn’t be more perfect. Lucy Sandy is wonderful as Doo’s wife, Maria Lister. Sandy and Levon exhibit a true genuineness as a couple trying to get by in such a hard time, making the story that much more authentic. Levon also showcases his ability to entertain with hard-hitting spoken word numbers coupled with a strong stage presence. Damien Crim, who is highly believable in a role that could only succeed if just the right amount of conflict and sympathy are brought forth, plays F.B.I. agent Jewel Moton. Terry Froncois should also be noted for his excellent portrayal of younger brother, Buck Lister.

Doo Lister’s Blues is an important piece that is masterfully presented and can be seen through November 27th. Complete with catchy songs, extraordinary acting and a well-suited set, this is a show that should be seen by everyone. For more information on show times, visit www.NPT2.com.  

I have to admit, when I saw “The Beatles Love” at the Mirage, I wasn’t in the mood for love. I was alone in Vegas on a “working” vacation and although I appreciate the Beatles music and their irreplaceable contribution to music and politics, I was afraid to see and hear what would happen when their incredible songs were translated into a full length Vegas production. Well, with Cirque Du Soleil’s Dominic Champagne, Gilles Ste-Croix and Chantal Tremblay at the helm, I needn’t have worried.

The most difficult task of all, re-orchestrating and re-mixing their music was done with such abundant love and creativity by Sir George Martin and his son Giles and then broadcast to the audience with the most incredibly powerful sound system with such force and precision that I can honestly say you will never hear their music sound as dynamic or as fresh as it does here in the “Love” theater.

Although this Cirque production has it’s share of exciting acrobatics and feats of daring like the synchronized in line skaters effortlessly navigating half pipes, or the performers on trampolines who gracefully defy gravity, the main focus of this Cirque show falls squarely on the shoulders of the beauty and strength of it’s dancers and dance itself, as it should.

You don’t often get to see pure modern dance and ballet flowing in this way without the interruption of stunts or spectacles to overshadow the mind-blowing poetry of the trained human body in all its glory. Two great examples of this are in the overwhelmingly sexy, romantic dance numbers of “Something” and “Come Together.” Instead of casting the tall, lanky showgirl type dancers, or an abundance of overly athletic acrobats, “Love” has wisely been cast with genuine petite, youthful Balanchine style dancers, and ballerinas, delicate and full of expression with strong American thighs that perfectly convey eternal youth in motion and the true spirit of sixties freedom and rebellion.

I dislike when reviewers try to describe the amazing special effects and light and set changes that occur in any Cirque show, simply because when you anticipate them as an audience member, it lessens the impact. I will just say that there are so many wonderful eye popping effects going on visually, so rich in color, detail and light, so many fantastic costumes in every number, that you can not possibly take it all in and will say to yourself, I have to see this again, even as the show is unfolding.

My favorite music from the Beatles has to be the songs they created when in the period of experimenting with psychedelic drugs like marijuana and LSD. I feared that this production would “clean up” or “family friendly” the songs too much and lose that spectacular feeling of psychedelic mind expansion and transcendence of the boundaries time and space in music that the Beatles pioneered. Again, I needn’t have worried. At the opening, in a discrete nod to this fact about the Beatles, a few dancers quietly walk the stage as the lead dancer swings a smoking lamp past their faces, like the ones used in churches and the show begins… taking the audience on a magnificent spiritually musical, and visually psychedelic journey that is naturally intoxicating.

Everything about this production shines with the same great humor, lightness of heart

and unique genius that the Beatles themselves conveyed throughout their careers.

It doesn’t matter if you are in the mood for love when you enter the theater because by the time you leave it you will be filled with the joyful feeling that “Love” is truly, all you need.

For more information on “Love” visit www.mirage.com.

Kimberly Katz’ Platinum Press

“This Brilliant Jew is No Dummy!”

I have been eager to see the brilliant comedian and actor Don Rickles live and in concert for so many years. I saw him perform finally at The Venue in Hammond, Indiana last week and I was blown away by his abundant energy and razor sharp rapier wit. Even at 84, Don is still knockin’ ‘em dead with his own, unique brand of insult comedy.

The audience in the sold out house roared as Rickles’ hysterically skewered those in the front rows. “Hey look it’s a black guy in the front row, isn’t that nice, that’s lovely, send them some champagne. Oh and you the Jap, why don’t you take a picture of the nice black couple in the front row with their champagne - you’re never gonna’ see that again!”

I am Jewish too, and there is kind of an unspoken thing that if you ARE Jewish, you can joke about Jews, and since your people survived the Holocaust, well… you can pretty much safely joke about everyone else.

Rickles’ is a long time Democrat, and the thing that actually makes his insult comedy politically correct is that instead of spewing hate, he is actually defusing all the stereotypes and generalizations that most people have bubbling under the surface, and he allows them to come out into the light of day and pop like so many soap bubbles in laughter.

I was surprised to find out that this long time friend of Frank Sinatra is actually in possession of a great set of pipes himself. Rickles’ performs a couple of great tunes in his act with a full orchestra behind him and with great force and emotion. I was very impressed and had no idea he could sing so well!

I also loved the general atmosphere of his show. Many of my relatives, my grandparents and great aunts and uncles have all passed and being there with Don and his audience, which happily had a lot of alta cockers - old Jews in it, was like being back at home at my grandparent’s house in Miami, Florida as we kibitzed around trying to make each laugh. What a wonderful evening it was and I have rarely seen an audience this size and with so many races and ages in attendance, leave a show laughing and with such huge smiles on their faces!

One of my favorite bits was about his wife of 45 years, Barbara. Don says

”I still have to give her what she wants once in a while. When I come home and hear her saying, ‘Pussycat? Pussycat?’ I know I have to jump under the bed and say ‘Meow? Meow’ -Yeah, I still do it for her…because everything is in her name!”

Rickles continues to be very active on the stand-up comedy scene, and is still a popular performer in Las Vegas with many dates booked through the end of 2010. He has no plans to retire and as he recently said in an interview: "I'm in good health. I'm working better than I ever have. The audiences are great. Why should I retire? I'm like a fighter. The bell rings and you come out and fight. My energy comes alive. And I still enjoy it!”

Kimberly Katz' Platinum Press

I enjoyed this piece about an upper middle class family in Glencoe struggling to welcome an errant family member home after his five-year stint in prison.

Tony nominated actor Kevin Anderson plays Doug, the black sheep of the family and does a great job portraying the wild mood swings a person might experience trying to fit in and accommodate alienated family members as he adjusts to the basics of having a nice place to sleep again, nice food to eat and nowhere else to go. Kevin, who is originally from Gurnee Illinois, is well cast in the role and has a good sense of comic timing. Now at age fifty, he has the depth and road weariness to make you believe he is the disoriented, loser of this well educated, moneyed family.

Francis Guinan also gets high marks for his role as the neurotic, out of work, ineffectual father figure. Guinan’s high strung, detail oriented performance made me actually squirm in my seat with its authenticity. I was waiting for his character to explode, which he does finally when he discovers his precocious genius child has purposely killed all his exotic fish.

I also enjoyed Cynthia Baker’s portrayal of her character “Betty”, a cougar who has been writing to Doug while in prison and who desperately and futilely tries to win his affection and trust by showering him with expensive gifts and unconditional love but to no avail as he bluntly reminds her over and over, “I’m not going to f-ck you.”

Kudos also to set designer, Jeff Bauer, who has designed a sumptuous, spinning set that really makes you feel you are inside and on the patio of a gorgeous Glencoe million dollar home on the edge of a forest preserve.

The luxury and beauty of the home are also quite sterile in the way that many of these homes are and serves to exemplify the main theme that no matter how nice your home,

if you aren’t happy inside it, you might as well be back in prison - prison of another kind.

The feeling of isolation in the home with it’s track lighting and vaulted ceilings, completely surrounded by trees also serves the play in that each family member are so lonely themselves, that just having Doug’s presence there in this big house is a welcome, distraction, kind of like welcoming home a new puppy. They are eager to play with him (Doug) but desperately afraid he will metaphorically crap all over the house and their lives.

There are a few problems with Joel Drake Johnson’s script that only he can iron out - places where the monologues are not cut properly and cause these fine actors to struggle to make them sound natural and believable.

Overall though, I think that the Chicago families who attend theater at Victory Gardens are very much like the one in this play and will see themselves in it in a new and ultimately positive light.

*photo by Liz Lauren - Kevin Anderson (left) and Bubba Weiler

When is the last time you saw full frontal nudity in the theater? Was it “Hair”, “Oh, Calcutta!” or maybe “The Blue Room”? Maybe you have never seen a play with nudity in it, well, here is your chance to experience the liberating effect of live theater specifically designed to give you the feeling that your body - despite its quirks or flaws - is OK just the way it is.

Laurence Bryan, my old friend and classmate from DePaul, is the Artistic Director of National Pastime Theater and he has assembled a really wonderful assortment of plays that each utilizes nudity in an artistically sound fashion. I have already seen two of the one act plays, “The Emperor’s New Clothes” deftly directed by another talented DePaul Alumna, Carolyne Anderson, and “The Living Canvas: Demons”.

I highly recommend buying the festival pass or daily pass to enjoy more than one show because they are all very different in their approach, some farcical, and some more sensual or dance oriented and taken in combination you really get the full effect of  a democracy of positive body image that the Naked July Festival is trying to convey.

“The Emperor’s New Clothes” is a light, funny, very clever take on the original tale by Hans Christian Andersen with a satirical political twist thrown in for good measure.

“The Living Canvas: Demons”, is the seventh show by this company, directed by founder Pete Guither and, by using projected light over nude dancer and actors bodies, beautifully portrays the journey into the mind of an autistic girl and her sister’s attempt to understand that world. It was tremendously moving and exciting to watch. The performance of the lead dancer Emily Mark, who portrays Lily the autistic, was worth noting as she was not only an accomplished dancer but also an accomplished actor in expressing without words a very precise and deeply moving sense of what it must be like to be trapped in a body and mind afflicted with Autism. Also, I think it is a tremendously courageous task to undertake a role like this involving nudity from beginning to end. The neat thing about “Living Canvas” shows is that at the end they allow the audience to strip down and join them onstage under the lights and a lot of people actually went for it and joined in. That in itself was a beautiful, free love kind of thing to see happen in a theater setting in the year 2010, not 1968!

I’ll be honest, I was skeptical. I have always felt that nudity in the theater is something to be avoided at all costs to avoid damaging the delicate psyche of a good actor. However, when it is undertaken in the way that Naked July Festival has with a real eye for liberal thought and artistic merit, it is a tremendously exciting and liberating experience rarely encountered in traditional theater going.

I especially enjoy returning to the atmospheric and historic National Pastime Theater (4139 N. Broadway), which was an actual speakeasy for almost twenty years and fills it’s lobby with wonderful local artwork for sale in the theme of the shows currently running.

I highly recommend attending the Naked July Festival: Art Stripped Down, and I look forward to seeing the last two pieces, “Eros” and “The Tumultuous Tale of the Tragically Transparent Tunic” next weekend. See you there!

Call 773.327.7077 for performance times or check in at www.np2.com.

“Fuerza Bruta: Look Up” was hands down the most exciting, sensual, life affirming theater piece I have seen in years!

 From the moment you enter the theater, Fuerza Bruta, which means “Look Up”, takes the "fourth wall" and literally breaks it over the audience's head - explosive! When I got home I found confetti in my undergarments. It was awesome!

I knew this was going to be a different kind of show when I walked into the normally staid Auditorium Theatre lobby and found a full fledged bar and disco party going on. I love the feeling of disorientation that occurred as we were ushered into the theater and away from the seats right onto the stage. I had no idea we were about to stand for the entire hour and fifteen minute show. As we got onto the stage, which also had club music pumping, the crowd looked expectantly around at each other, some dancing, and most wondering where the set actually was. Suddenly out of the darkness, a spot lit, beautiful man in a white business suit appears walking purposely on a treadmill. Soon he is running at full speed and, with the help of a harness, is eventually jumping through solid brick walls, which explode into bits onto the audience and without any words really gives the feeling of the obstacles we face in modern life. 

The dances grow more and more intense including two dancers flying/fighting/dancing up a twenty foot, undulating wall of color and silver fabric. During intervals a DJ sprays the crowd with a fine mist of water while music pumps and a fog horn blows, almost as a cue for the crowd to start jumping up and down, turning the entire stage into a bouncing rave.

Without giving away all the spectacles, one of the most remarkable is a transparent latex sheet like a gigantic kiddy pool that holds five female dancers, clad only in childlike cotton shorts and tops slipping and sliding like playful dolphins over the audiences heads. The occasional breast innocently and sensually pops out as the latex swimming pool is lowered right down onto the audience’s heads.

I can’t say enough about how refreshing it is to have the fourth wall of the theater broken down so completely, actively involving the audience directly in every action that occurs onstage. It really gives the feeling of great sex with plenty of passionate “throw down” as the crowd is moved, seemingly effortlessly, in the dark through one set change after another. As you are moved from one spot to another and another, a dynamic stage full of dancers rises out of the darkness giving you that wonderful feeling of awe and wonder about what will happen next in the play and how in the world did I get in this position?

I loved the attitude of the dancers, they seemed to have a gusto for life and a saucy, get up off your asses energy that radiated through the audience, making us dance and respond where we would all normally be sitting quietly in our theater seats hoping not to be singled out into participating.

One of the most beautiful and surprisingly “wet” moments of the show comes at the end where a rain shower opens up right in the center of the audience, pouring down large warm round drops of water onto whoever is willing to jump in and dance. After a brief hesitation that my blouse might be turned into a transparent wet t-shirt like the dancers in the pool, I just jumped in and danced and was happily drenched by the heated rain shower in just a few seconds. I really felt transported to a party somewhere on a beach in Rio, everyone’s arms upraised, jumping and dancing with friends and strangers, free and unfettered by the any of the usual protocol of theater decorum or life in the city.

I can’t recommend seeing this show highly enough. My suggestion to really get the full experience is to go with some good friends, have a drink or whatever loosens you up before this show and wear comfortable shoes.  If you see Fuerza Bruta prepare to have your mind blown by some incredible dancing and acrobatics and be willing to get really WET!

“Fuerza Bruta: Look Up” is playing at the Auditorium Theatre through July 25^th. For more information on this amazing show, visit www.auditoriumtheatre.org.