Back for the first time since 2011, the Comic Book Theater Festival opened last night at the Brick Theater in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Comic books and theater – it's a wonder the two crowning achievements of human culture aren't mashed up more often, especially with comic book stories making a killing at movie theater box offices with the likes of X-Men, Iron Man, The Avengers, unceasing waves of Batman and Spider-Man reboots. With the musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark uprooted from Broadway and headed for Vegas it's only natural for a gang of Off-Off-Broadway scenesters to step in to fill Gotham's void.
The Comic Book Theater Festival is presenting over 20 events throughout the month of June, with plays, readings, video projection shows, storytelling presentations and more running the gamut from serious to silly.
Some productions relate to the history of real comic books. Crystal Skillman and Fred Van Lente's King Kirby dramatizes the life of Jack Kirby, the legendary but too-often-forgotten comic book innovator behind Captain America, the Fantastic Four, Thor, the original X-Men, and many more beloved characters. J. Anthony Roman uses the character of Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner (possibly due for movie treatment himself) to investigate "the strain that is put on an individual who is trying to succeed in two different worlds."
By contrast, Matthew Thurber's Mining the Moon plays out a smashing original idea: a werewolf President who has "halted the spinning of the moon, so the moon's always full and he can stay in power." Matthew Barbot's El Coquí Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom concerns a comic book artist deprived of work because his ideas are "too Puerto Rican." And Sarah Todes's "live graphic novel" Lifetime Supply riffs on the superfood/superpowers connection with a tale of a woman whose attempt at suicide by acai berry supplement results instead in "powers beyond her wildest imagination."
The Retardedly Boring Misadventures of Apathy Boy from Foxy Henriques and The Circuit Theatre Company combines animation and live action. R. Sikoryak adapts Masterpiece Comics and its sequel, his graphic novel re-tellings of classic literature, into Masterpiece Comics Theater. Out of Frame: Dance+Comics brings together choreographers and comic book artists for short dance and movement pieces. All American Girl and her plucky sidekick The Scarlet Skunk will put in an appearance. And the list goes on.
For full details and schedule, visit the Brick Theater website.
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