Liza Cassidy          Joy Lynn Andersen

Orietta Crispino     Jeanine T. Abraham

Concept and Direction by Carlo Altomare and Orietta Crispino

Music by Carlo Altomare and Joerg Burger

Film Media by Jeanne Liotta

May 6 – 17   Tuesday – Saturday  2008   8 PM    $20

What is it, about the art of acting, that touches us so deeply? It is, after all, an inherent deceit, in which the actor convinces us that they are someone else. What is the discourse between who we are and what we do? Why is that distance so compelling and moving within the self

At its heart, Appearance - A Suspense in Being is a performance piece about acting. In that respect it is unusual, since so much experimental theater is now devoted to movement theater and multimedia. Altomare and Crispino have devised a performance structure which focuses primarily on the actor's work, as revealed to the audience in a series of solo "exhibits" and group improvs. There is a stiff dose of Meyerhold in it, since Carlo Altomare is one of the few experts in Meyerhold's Biomechanics worldwide. Its centerpiece text is taken from the poetry of Octavio Paz, expressing the issue of the experience of being, the self, and the other. Other verbal and nonverbal texts are drawn from the actors' unconscious and their reporting in real time about their experiences and intentions.

"It is new, but building on the work of Meyerhold, Artaud, The Living Theater, The Open Theater and Grotowski. It takes their work to the next plateau. I was mesmerized by the four performers. They were exposed yet in command, vulnerable yet empowered by the techniques that Carlo Altomare and Orietta Crispino have evolved at the Theaterlab, their home on 14th St. "  – Larry Loonin

"The magnificent actresses of the ensemble shine in something that I can only call a mixture of Alexander Moissi and Jim Carey. Sentences cut in half, caricaturing our post-modern need, always more and more of what we want in this insatiable society. "   – Gerald Thomas