Tag Archives: Jason Slavick

Aug 04

“Macbeth” Gets Bloody Good: Part II

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Presented by Liars & Believers
Directed by Jason Slavick
Original Music and Sound Design by Jay Mobley
Additional Video by Sam Powell

June 18, 2020 – Present (Weekly)
View – https://www.liarsandbelievers.com/show/pandemicplay/
LAB on Facebook, Twitter

Review by Gillian Daniels

ZOOM – When we last left our antiheroes, Macbeth (Jesse Garlick) found his ambitions for the throne awoken by three, soothsayer witches (all played by Rebecca Lehrhoff in different registers and Instagram filters) and Lady Macbeth (Rachel Wiese) decided to do whatever was in her power to climb the hegemonic ladder and stomp on every person who got in their way as bloodily as possible. Betrayal has yet to visit ruin and mental anguish on their lives. Continue reading →

Jul 07

Socially Isolated with “Macbeth”

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Presented by Liars & Believers
Directed by Jason Slavick
Original Music and Sound Design by Jay Mobley
Additional Video by Sam Powell

June 18, 2020 – Present (Weekly)
https://www.liarsandbelievers.com/show/pandemicplay/

Review by Gillian Daniels

ZOOM — Liars & Believers slices off bite sized pieces of the Scottish Play for serialized consumption! In a world that demands us to simultaneously be far apart while empathizing with each other’s difficulties, we revisit a cautionary tale of a man whose name has become synonymous with backstabbing cruelty. In serializing Macbeth, we watch a show that absorbs the changes and horrors of our contemporary headlines and sense of unease each passing week. Continue reading →

Dec 10

Ethos of Old World fables: “A Story Beyond”

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Presented by Liars & Believers
Written by Jason Slavick and Rachel Wiese
Music and Lyrics by Nathan Leigh
Directed by Jason Slavick and Faye Dupras

Dec 6 – Dec 22, 2018
Boston Center for the Arts Plaza Theatre
539 Tremont Street
Boston, MA 02116
Liars & Believers on Facebook

Review by Diana Lu 

(Boston, MA) A Story Beyond is a reimagined fable inspired by various European folklores. This new musical tells the story of a young girl, Maya, who makes a dangerous and fantastical journey to figure out how to save her village from a dark cloud that threatens to turn everyone she loves into lead. Maya’s story is told through puppets, shadow puppets, mask theatre, and a two-person band. Other folk tales are interwoven with the main plot like a Spokane. Continue reading →

May 10

Canary in the Mine: “Yellow Bird Chase”

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Photo by Chris McIntosh; the cast.

Presented by Liars and Believers
Conceived and Directed by Jason Slavick
Written by the LAB Ensemble
In Collaboration with Luminati led by Johnny Blazes

May 4th – 21st, 0217
Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts
527 Tremont Street
LAB on Facebook

Review by Danielle Rosvally

(Boston, MA) Every now and again, a piece comes along that’s so far out of the box it defies most reasonable explanation.  Liars & Believers has a history of creating such pieces, integrating clowning with storytelling and adventure in original works that thrill and excite. Yellow Bird Chase is a creative and vibrant exploration of the imagination.  For that, I found the piece a bit confused (and confusing). Continue reading →

Nov 16

Royal Humanity: “Who Would Be King”

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Photo credit: Liars & Believers

Photo credit: Liars & Believers

Presented by Liars and Believers
Conceived and Directed by Jason Slavick
Music and Lyrics by Jay Mobley
Dramaturgy by Amanda Martin
Fight choreography by Ted Hewlett

November 5 – 22, 2015
The Oberon
2 Arrow Street, Cambridge MA
Liars and Believers on Facebook

Review by Danielle Rosvally

(Cambridge, MA) I saw something extraordinary at Oberon last night.  Liars & Believers’ Who Would Be King is a beautiful patchwork of physical performance, storytelling, and boundless humanity.  An original work by artists in residence at the LAB, Who Would be King is a re-mixed trove of biblical tales told in a compelling and timeless way with great humor, and great humanity. Continue reading →

Feb 20

Ignore what your Momma Told you: TALK TO STRANGERS

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LAB-tts-fbcover

Presented by Liars and Believers
In collaboration with the Boston Circus Guild
Directed by Jason Slavick
Music Direction by Chuck Lechien

One Night Only: February 19, 2015
The Oberon
2 Arrow Street, Cambridge MA
Liars and Believers on Facebook
Boston Circus Guild on Facebook

Review by Danielle Rosvally

(Cambridge, MA) Liars and Believers are well-versed in the art of collage. Bringing together dance, clowning techniques, poetry, music, mask-work, circus performance, and whatever you could call the live-improv style randomness that happens at Club Oberon, they have presented a beautiful ode to the pain of anonymity brought about by the modern technological era in their piece Talk to Strangers. Transient and fleeting, I could no more pin this piece down with words than replicate it. Continue reading →

May 06

Tale of clipped wings an homage to a tragic page in American history: ICARUS

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Photo appropriated from LAB Facebook page

Presented by Liars & Believers
Based on the Greek Myth “Icarus”
Conceived and Directed by Jason Slavick
Music and lyrics by Nathan Leigh

May 1-11
Club Oberon
2 Arrow St
Cambridge, MA
Liars & Believers on Facebook

Review by Noe Kamelamela

(Cambridge) ICARUS was developed and premiered by five year old company Liars & Believers (LAB) in Cambridge last year.  It is fitting that it would come back to roost after a successful flight through Boston and New York.  Clearly using their official residency with the ART to their advantage, LAB refreshes their hit for a longer and stronger run. Continue reading →

Feb 17

Violence and Its Aftermath Explored in “Interference”

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Icarus

Presented by Liars and Believers
Directed by Steven Bogart
Created by Many Collaborators

February 12, 2014
Club Oberon
Cambridge, MA
Liars and Believers on Facebook

Review by Gillian Daniels

Does Interference work as a play?  No, but I’m not sure if it’s meant to cohere as the kind of story with a single start and finish.  Liars and Believers have created an immersive experience with mixed results, one that works well enough when staged at a fantastic venue like the Oberon.  Similarly to Lunar Labyrinth, though, the last effort I saw by Liars and Believers, Interference is a series of vignettes inspired by a single work.  Here, the theater group takes its cues from Pablo Picasso’s 1937 painting, “Guernica.” Continue reading →

May 21

Troubled Flight for “Icarus”

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With Austin Auh and Corianna Moffatt. Photo courtesy of Liars & Believers Facebook Page.

Presented by Liars & Believers
Directed by Faye Dupras

May 17 & 18, 2013 (Grab tickets while you can!)
Cambridge YMCA Theater in Central Square
Cambridge, MA
Liars & Believers Facebook Group

Gillian Daniels

Liars and Believers’ Icarus is a wobbly production, a Depression Era circus fable that limps when it pushes hard to soar.  Like a small bird, the show is both endearing but weak.  Its flourishes are strong: puppets, bluegrass, and robots.  The result gives the audience a series of intriguing set pieces but nothing that really coalesces into a grand story.

Jason Slavick packs a lot into the show, the separate parts fluid and vibrant.  The lead-up to the play itself includes burlesque and music, giving the centerpiece, Minnie Minoseczeck’s Menagerie of Marvels, a vaudevillean glamour.  The trimmings for the circus are convincing, complete with posters promising a minotaur and a flying woman, Penny (Corianna Moffatt). Continue reading →

May 16

Liars & Believers to Put on “Icarus”

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Presented by Liars & Believers
Directed by Faye Dupras

May 17 & 18, 2013 (Grab tickets while you can!)
Cambridge YMCA Theater in Central Square
Cambridge, MA
Liars & Believers Facebook Group

by Gillian Daniels

(Cambridge) This weekend, local Boston-area theater group Liars & Believers will be putting on its new show, Icarus.  It will be at the Cambridge YMCA Theater in Central Square this weekend only on May 17th and 18th.

Described as a show about poverty and transcendence, this American-bred tale uses the Great Depression as a backdrop as we follow Minnie Minoseczeck’s Menagerie of Marvels.  The play is written and directed by Jason Slavick with original music and lyrics by Nathan Leigh. Included in the production is puppetry, designed and directed by Faye Dupras.

The myth of Icarus is well known in the Western literary canon, a fable to illustrate the crippling nature of success.  A boy, given wings made from feathers and wax, is given the ability to fly.  Once airborne, Icarus flies so close to the sun, the wax that holds his wings together melts.  He plummets into the sea, a metaphor for the deadly foolishness of egotism and youth.

Liars & Believers is a mainly experimental troupe, one that prides itself on integrating different artistic pursuits into unique, chimera-like productions.  Their shows often include dance, song, aerial gymnastics, spoken text, and numerous interdisciplinary forms. Previous efforts this year include Lunar Labyrinth, a show loosely based on a short story by Neil Gaiman. Lunar Labyrinth combined and rejoiced in different storytelling methods, knotting its plot and themes into dreamy contortions.  Icarus promises to be a show in a similar mold.