Excerpt from another skit "That's Not Cool" for Young Principles Theater Company

This is an excerpt from my skit "That's Not Cool" for the Young Principles Theater Company showcase.

The tentative date for the showcase is Oct. 26th - 28th at 8pm. Some titles for the show that we're considering are Gumbo and Oxy Moron.

THAT’S NOT COOL

by Frank Reynoso

Characters:

Kim
Steph
Dan

Two gals, KIM and STEPH are hanging out outside their building. Both are long time friends as well as hip, ubran twenty-something year olds who love to hang out. Kim paces about while puffing her cigarette. Steph is filing her fingernails.

KIM: The hell was Dan thinking?
STEPH: Obviously a delusional moron.
KIM: Somebody needs to shoot that head of his down before it burns up in the stratosphere. Does he seriously believe we laugh at his stupid little antics?

STEPH: You have to make retards feel good about themselves. It’s an unwritten law.
KIM: And his hairy chest? (gags)

Kim pauses, takes a pull from her smoke, grunts and continues to pace around.

STEPH: Write him an anonymous letter. (pulling out a notepad and scribbling) Dear Shit licker, you SUCK, your ass SUCKS, and I hate your stupid, suck-ass FACE. You ASS! Signed, a secret admirer.

Kim snatches the notepad and pen.

KIM (shaking the pad in Steph’s face): Uh Hello! Don’t you think he’ll figure out who sent it?
STEPH (annoyed): Uh Hello! You can type it and print it out. (reclining) It was just an idea.
KIM (snatching notepad and pen): Leave the thinking to the professionals, alright?

Pause.

STEPH: Do an intervention!
KIM: What?
STEPH: My cousin had one the other day because she couldn’t stop smothering her chihuaha. Everyday it was new pictures, new toys, new dresses.
KIM (approaching Steph): Eew. Psycho.
STEPH: Grade A psycho.

Kim listens intently.

STEPH: Anyway, we’ll get a bunch of people together, you know, people who know Dan sucks and we’ll lock in a room and we’ll tell him the truth.
KIM: Can we bring snacks?
STEPH (glaring): Can I finish?

Kim scowls.

© Frank Reynoso, Aug. 2007, All rights reserved.

Still from rehearsal of Global Warning

Here are some stills from the Young Principles Theater Company's rehearsal of my skit "Global Warning" at 440 Studios last night, Aug. 27. This skit is also directed by me.



Left to right: Tom (Dennis Pimentel), Jerry (Jared Scheinberg), Karl (Emily Powers), and Graham (Connie Xanthopoulos) - four religious leaders - meet to discuss a grave matter that's threatening America: global warming.

Graham (Connie Xanthopoulos) gets riled up about those "feminazis."


The four men brainstorm on the religious cause for global warming.

Karl (Emily Powers) berates Graham (Connie Xanthopoulos).


Jerry (Jared Scheinberg) listens intently as Karl (Emily Powers) puts his foot down.

© Frank Reynoso, Aug 2007, All Rights Reserved

Fly in Your Eye: excerpt from my interview with LES cartoonist Fly

FLY IN YOUR EYE: An interview with LES cartoonist and activist Fly















Here's an excerpt from my interview with radical cartoonist and awesome person, Fly. You can find the full interview at Comic Critique or the Indypendent. Thanks to Louis Vitela at Comic Critique, and John Tarleton and Irina Ivanova at The Indypendent for punching this material up.

- Frank

Fly’s distinctive style and message came to my attention some years ago on a flyer for a political event at ABC No Rio. Her actions and works speak volumes of the enigmatic person: a consistent presence in New York City radical circles, a member of the World War 3 Illustrated collective (founded by Seth Tobocman and Peter Kuper), and an adamant supporter and teacher of DIY zines and comics. From the cover of the first issue of $pread, a magazine by and for sex workers, and PEOPS, her zine-turned-book by Soft Skull, which chronicles the lives of many downtown Manhattan residents, artists and activists, Fly hardly shies away from the controversial and the commonplace. The prolific cartoonist and illustrator took some time out to talk about the laborious task of making zines, her artistic growth inspired years ago by Sue Coe’s powerful work and Fiona Smyth’s techniques, and the transformation of the Lower East Side in Manhattan.

FR: What she makes of the transformation of the Lower East Side?

FLY: That’s a big question. The LES has been transforming for so long! It’s sort of the nature of the place. People have been fighting [the latest wave of gentrification] since way before I arrived here in the late 80s. There was of course the real estate boom of the 80s that sort of went bust. Anyway, when I got here it was still pretty rundown and crazy in good ways and bad ways. I have to say that I do not miss the drug dealers or the people shooting up on the street but I do miss all the insanely talented artists and performers and just general characters that used to populate the area and I also think it is very unfair that so many people who were born in the Lower East Side now cannot afford to live here. It used to feel a bit like a small town around here but with all the options of a big city. Now if I am out in the evening, especially on the weekend, I am horrified walking along the sidewalks — even on avenue C! — to see the multitudes of loud drunken idiots making so much noise and making a big mess. I don’t know what the hell they are doing but its just so boring! I think a big problem with the Lower East Side is that it used to be a neighborhood and it had real character — and you can still find that here but it is seriously threatened by the dorm mentality of some idiot developers and the fancy restaurants and hair salons that no one living here can afford to go to. With the whole clean-up of the area of course it became safer and so suddenly since it’s considered so “edgey and hip” everybody wants to live here and the rents have become ridiculous. So what happens in the long run is that the real neighborhood gets displaced because people can’t afford to live here and they are slowly being replaced by a very transient population, NYU students and other high priced renters who are not interested in working on a connection to the real soul and history of the place. The LES is just a stepping stone for them, a place to sleep and to use as a background for pictures — oh — I could rant for hours about this. I know I am generalizing but hopefully you get the idea. There are some books I could recommend for your further edification like the recently published Resistance, edited by Clayton Patterson and published by Seven Stories

FR: What would be your dream collaboration? Living or dead.

FLY: Hmmm…. That’s a really hard one because there are so many people that I’d love to collaborate with… and lately I have been collaborating more… But I’m such a control freak. I think my dream collaboration would probably be not with another visual artist but with a writer. There’s so many writers that I really love so it’s hard to… I know: Kathy Acker. She died a while ago but I would love to have been able to work with her on a comic. (excited) Oh man, yeah. Kathy Acker. Definitely Kathy Acker. I first read her stuff in the 80s when my life was really chaotic and transient. I felt like the way she wrote was like the way I was thinking; it was like the voices in my head mixed with what was happening in the moment mixed with what already happened. It was like deconstruction or something… sorry I’m not much of a literary critic. Her writing to me was just really authentic — she wasn’t afraid to just put everything out there. I could feel it in my bones and the thing about it was that when ever I read any of her stuff I would get so inspired that I would end up doing a lot of writing and drawing myself and I would also have the craziest dreams — I used to do a lot of comics based on dreams too. I just think I could have done some amazing comics in collaboration with Kathy Acker! Hmmm maybe I should try to do a piece on her.

© Frank Reynoso, Aug. 2007, All Rights Reserved

Global Warning: A skit for The Young Principles Theater Group

This is the opening of 'GLOBAL WARNING', a skit I wrote for The Young Principles Theater Group. The group is planning to put on a showcase of sketch comedy in either October or November. As soon as I know the actual dates, I'll let you know.

We haven't rehearsed this yet but I can't wait to see it come to life. I'll try to get some pictures - and maybe video - of the rehearsals.

The idea's been in my head for some time - maybe a month or so. It pretty much wrote itself in one train ride from Brooklyn to Manhattan. Bob Odenkirk and David Cross' Mr. Show came to mind as I scribbled the first draft of this in my notepad.

- Frank


GLOBAL WARNING
by Frank Reynoso

Characters:
Tom
Graham
Jerry
Karl

In the middle of the room is a simple, round table that looked like it was bought in Ikea. A pitcher of water and a couple of empty glasses sit in the middle of the table. Beside the pitcher is a tray with freshly backed cookies. The room is hot. Three men, in the middle of a tumultuous debate, sit around the table. Behind them are a couple of similar looking, empty tables. JERRY is a clean-shaven, thin, lanky dandy with a slouch. His body seems to get lost in his suit. Whenever he walks, he drags his feet. Jerry uses a handkerchief to wipe his brow. TOM is a thick-mustached, middle-aged, husky guy who looks like he played a lot of high school football and remained in that mentality. His movements are heavy and grave. His blazer is unbuttoned, revealing a barrel chest. He exhales often and heavily, using some papers to fan himself. GRAHAM is a slender, proud fifty-year-old man. His movements are grand; he strides whenever he walks. His silver hair caps his intense eyes and pronounce chin. Graham sits with his legs crossed and his blazer unbuttoned, cordially sipping his glass of water.

KARL enters. He’s a thirty-plus year-old, balding man, with thin-rimmed glasses and a heavy second chin. His pasty skin contrasts with his dark suit. He waddles to the excited men. The three rush to greet Karl. He smiles, hugs, pats shoulders and shakes hands with each. He motions them to sit down.

KARL: Please, continue your conversation while I settle in here. (chuckling and dabbing his brow with a kerchief): Tad warm in here.

The men take a seat and chuckle at Karl’s joke.

KARL (cont’d): My, my. The Lord is glad, as am I, to see four pillars of American spirituality gather like this. But please, go on.

Karl removes his blazer, drinks some water and sits at the head of the table.

JERRY (snickering): How about them homos and queers and lesbos? I always liked them.
TOM: We can’t. We’re still using them for New Orleans.

Karl opens his briefcase and pulls out folders filled with papers, which he places on the table before him. Graham turns to Tom.

GRAHAM (waving papers in Tom’s face as if about to slap him): C’mon, Tom. You’re hogging all the good ones. Well what about feminism? We haven’t had a good angry-bitch-feminazi campaign in a while. They’ll never see it coming.
(amused) It’ll spread like a California forest fire in the summer.
TOM: Jesus Christ, Graham. Feminazis? Cliché.
JERRY (tossing his file across the table): Out of season. Unless we can come up with a new spin on it, I’ll block your proposal.

Karl clears his throat and raises his hand as if he were about to do the laying-on-of-hands.

© Frank Reynoso Aug. 2007, All Rights Reserved

Microphone check, one, two, what is this...

Hey everyone,

Many of you know me as an illustrator and a cartoonist whose works have appeared in numerous publications like the Indypendent and $pread magazine. Some have come to know me as a writer of fiction and non-fiction. I've decided to collapse these two personas with this blog, thus presenting a more current and complete face.

Due to circumstances within and beyond my control, and the feedback I've gotten on my writing, I've worked more fervently as a writer mostly for the stage and print.

I could ramble on and on about the myriad of reasons behind this transition - and how it's not a transition but rather an extension - but I'd like to save this topic for casual evening over a beer in a cozy hole in the wall of your liking.

So, on to the writing.

Later,
Frank

PS. The title of this post comes from A Tribe Called Quest song. The line is an opening, rapped by Phife Dawg. :)