Potion: A Play in Three Cocktails – Location, Tickets, Reviews
Potion: A Play in Three Cocktails is an amalgam of immersive theater, site-specific performance, multimedia presentation, and spoken word opera performed at People Lounge, a bar on the Lower East Side, by Stolen Chair theater company. During the performance, audience members receive three custom-made cocktails (titled: Curiosity, Pins and Needles, and Love Potion #10).
Kiran Rikhye, Stolen Chair’s co-artistic director, constructed the text for Potion — rhythmic, repetitive, rhyming verses — by matching each scene to a song from an opera by Mozart, Verdi, and others. There are no recognizable similarities, however, between the final result and those traditional operas. In Potion the texts are spoken rhythmically, not sung, with mellow live music in the background.
The story of Potion is set in a special bar that serves personality-altering potions rather than traditional alcohol. Love, self-discovery, and confrontation are unleashed when Tom and Charley, the bar owners, and Jim, the bartender, serve their mystery concoctions to the bar’s thirsty patrons.
Maxamoo
As the description may suggest, Potion is by no means an ordinary show and Stolen Chair should be commended for this adventurous production. The unusual delivery of the text and orchestration were impeccably performed and transfixing. Sean Cronin’s original music, which he played throughout the show on several different instruments was whimsical and fun. Finally, the cocktails, specially mixed by Marlo Gamora, were delicious and beautifully-served, completing a successful night to the last detail at this refreshing, charming, and clever show.
Public Opinion
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Critics’ Review
New York Theatre Review
When the dialogue form retreats and each performer’s characterization is given space, the light-hearted premise of Potion takes air as a charming theatrical evening.
Theater Pizzazz
The rhythmic musicality of Kiran Rikhye’s juicy libretto and Sean Cronin’s impressive multi-instrumental accompaniment proves Stolen Chair’s experiment with “spoken word opera” a tremendous success.
NYtheater Now
Kiran Rikhye’s text and Jon Stancato’s direction do not dance, they wobble tipsy and speak slurring too loudly; in a haze we can’t catch the melody.
Theatre Is Easy
Stolen Chair took a risk with this show; it’s not every day a theatre company says “Hey let’s do a spoken word opera in a lounge and give out three drinks called Curiosity, On Pins and Needles andLove.” I applaud them for a bold, brave move.
TICKETS
$25 plus $20 for cocktail prix-fixe (click here for tickets)
DATES
Every Sunday (open run)
LOCATION
People Lounge
163 Allen Street
New York City
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RUNNING TIME
1 hour 15 minutes, no intermission
CAST & CREW
(partial list)
Conceived by Kiran Rikhye and Jon Stancato
Written by Kiran Rikhye
Directed by Jon Stancato
Music by Sean Cronin
Cocktails by Marlo Gamora
Featuring Raife Baker, Noah Schultz, Natalie Hegg, Liz Eckert, Jon Froehlich, Molly O’Neill, David Skeist