A few Midnight Brainwash Revival memories
I was involved with Midnight Brainwash Revival from the beginning, working as Kirk Wood Bromley's dramaturg and producer.
I think it was 1998 when Kirk first thought about doing this play. We assembled our favorite actors for beers at a cafe on the corner of Avenue B and 8th Street. I remember Al Benditt, Howard Thoresen, Josh Spafford, and Matt Maher were there. I think there were more people, too.
I mainly remember Kirk asking us all what we thought about the end of the millennium, or more specifically, just what we were excited about at the time. I was into these head freezers at Alcor (the company became Chillcor in the final text), but everyone was leaping in with ideas.
Matt Maher was particularly vociferous about his points.
A few other memories:
* Nina Gapinski and Josh Spafford made a giant plaster mountain in my living room - it was the main set piece. Of course, it was impossible to fit through my door and when it arrived on set it was crumbling and most of the cast and crew looked at it with deep skepticism.
* Jen Kroll agreed to make an appearance as the immanence at the end of the play, nude and about 9 months pregnant with Fern. It was a beautiful image.
* There was a revolt at one point by the actors, some of whom wanted to shut down the show. They had good points, we were doing Twelfth Night at the same time and it was exhausting work. Somehow, we plowed onward.
* I made my only appearance on stage (since Tiny Tim, age 7) as one of the Chillcor agents. My line, "Freeze!" and then, "Chillcorp: cheap, safe, forever."
* Al Benditt as Hooch, teamed with Matt Oberg; Josh Spafford and Jeni Henaghan in the funniest love duet ever; Matt Maher smoking the magic cigar - these were some of the most hilarious and moving moments I've ever witnessed.
What are your memories?
mbr
i remember matt oberg's silver puffy pants.....goddess jen's other worldly dress....darius in a dress...chillcor windbreakers with frozen head logos....trying to henna tattoo hank's body, and having it come out a pastel yellow, lasting for one day. he even slept in my livingroom with the henna painted on him...guess i didn't do it right! and, electric performances by everyone...
Frozen Head logos
Yes, those frozen head logos were great! I didn't know that the henna was such a problem. That first production definitely had its share of problems.
I recall spending hours thinking about this beautiful moon that would slowly descend as the sand ran out of it, like a Rube Goldberg mechanical reminder of time wasting. When we tried it out, the moon just sat there and the sand poured onto the floor. We had to yank the rope to make it move (that actually was my job for a few nights).
I remember watching in the audience, during a very touching moment, and this big Styrofoam moon starts dropping in a yanky motion. Clearly, someone was backstage with their hand on the string, but not really paying attention.