Re: The Fasting Girls by Amanda Jane Shank at Z Below in San Francisco
The Fasting Girls was just exquisite on every level, across all disciplines and modes of participation. Such a wonderful way to spend an afternoon. Beautiful, complex, evocative and fractal--each element yielding more beauty as I focused on it, then opening back out into an interwoven whole. Brava.
- Amanda M.
It was totally unique. There were just so many surprises through the show-- I feel like my eyes were having a feast. I appreciated the pace of the story, the freedom to play with silence, and the powerful relationship between the sisters.
- Rose Oser, Associate Artistic Director, Z Space
Re: Sonnets to Orpheus at the Live Arts Exchange Festival in Los Angeles
"Birritella selected twelve of those sonnets and set them to music as a song cycle that ranges from minimalist to rhythmic, ambient to romantic, a waltz, a torch song, and a joyous melodic finale. Each sonnet, although scored by a different composer, herself included, came together as a cohesive whole much like a film score beautifully performed by a string quartet with Birritella as the solo vocalist. What made the hour-long piece so arresting was the way the words and music were integrated into an ethereal multi-dimensional sensory exploration, that was both sonically and visually immersive. A dreamlike continuously changing visual landscape was projected over the performers on a transparent scrim. Flowing colors and patterns bled from inky dark blue to faded paleness, dissolving into a web of branches, rippling water, patterns of leaves. A white landscape as if blanketed in snow slowly turned black. Earth and bark, and canopies of leaves became airborne, land forms and galaxies and super novas gave way to strings of light and energy."
- FABRIK
Re: Exquisite Mistake at the New Orleans Fringe Festival
"Exquisite Mistake reimagines Henry James’ late 19th-century novel Portrait of Lady as a mod dance party, complete with impromptu dance numbers and an upbeat, bluesy score. In this immersive experience, the audience is the guest of honor, a collective stand-in for Isabel Archer, the protagonist of James’ novel who unexpectedly inherits a fortune. As Isabel, the roving audience is set upon by various characters — an old friend, a sad single father and a sensible cousin, among others — all of whom are eager to share in Isabel’s windfall. Combining choreographed performances with improvised interactions, Exquisite Mistake is both entertaining and engaging."
- Best of New Orleans
"[Exquisite Mistake] is a fun show and an interesting production. Suspiciously friendly characters mixed with a sense of dance-murder-mystery."
- NoLa Defender
Re: By the Bog of Cats... by Marina Carr
"Macnab has a background in 'modern dance, corporeal mime, story-theater and puppetry' and is an accomplished director who has made work in both New York City and Los Angeles. Her understanding of these diverse styles is what helps to merge this production's many elements into a nearly seamless whole. Theater is at its best when it can create a physical language that is entirely of itself in a uniquely theatrical way.
When a production can create a metaphorically rich world of movement and sound, based on and in alignment with its source material, some truly magical things can happen. Under Macnab’s direction, By The Bog Of Cats finds just that and the result is always engaging and at times actually breathtaking. This is unquestionably the best-directed show I've seen in Long Beach..."
- Long Beach Post
Re: Gods at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
"FOUR STARS"
"A delicate and gentle dance through sunny and beautiful fairy tales and dark and saddening memories. A white dress, tender poetry and sharp shadows behind a blurry screen guide through trashcan lined alleyways and roads guarded by linden trees, through wild journeys on public transport and on silken hot air balloons, through blue skies, to the Crimean sea and to Paris. They all end in a cemetery. Imagery, video installation and movement are skillfully used to create a sweet melancholy that shifts between love and sorrow. Beautifully interspersed between two screens, this is a clever and poetic collage on a touching short story by Vladimir Nabokov in which parents try to cope with the loss of their baby."
-ThreeWeeks
“The effect is hypnotic...” "...aesthetically entrancing...” “...encouraging the imagination...”
“Matthew Bamberg-Johnson’s interaction with the audience was effortlessly relaxed, as he leaned into his listeners with confident familiarity and warmth. Listening to his voice reverberating around the auditorium, the visual focus was on the projections or the silhouette of his silent wife, played by Genevieve Gearhart, slowly dancing behind the screen.
Gearhart is graceful and elegant, with minimal gestural movements delivered with calm precision and brief moments of bright, wonderfully animated facial expressions. Her silence produces a disconcerting intensity when she is present, often seen behind the first screen as if lost in some other world. This separation is intensified through the tender interactions between the silhouette of Gearhart and the physical body of her husband. Is she lost to him forever in her grief?”
-Broadway Baby
Re: Hôtel de l'Avenir at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
"FOUR STARS"
"'The entire city is like a blank piece of paper.' Movement, music, art and storytelling combine in the dreamlike world of 'Hôtel de l'Avenir.' Macnab plays all six of the quirky main characters with great panache; she's a 'cant-take-your-eyes-off her' kind of actress. Singer and accordionist, "Josephine" is particularly charming. There doesn't seem to be much of a plot, as such but this is part of the appeal, and the shadow-puppetry is mesmerising, with biscuits, boats, balloons, dogs and ghosts soaring above the breathtaking Paris skyline. Maybe I'm just an old romantic, but I was swept off my feet by the beauty and very French kind of nostalgia of this wonderful production."
-ThreeWeeks
" Hotel de l’Avenir is a Parisian gateway between dreams and reality…"
"...this is a real treat for francophiles, silent movie fans, and hopeless romantics."
"The skills of the three performers are evident in every scene. …It's all rather spellbinding."
-InformedEdinburgh.co.uk
"Macnab is a talented physical performer and a charming mime..."
-Edinburghnews.scotsman.com
Re: The Little Prince at the Oberlin Summer Theater Festival
"My family and I came to OSTF for the first time today. We saw The Little Prince. It was wonderful. Everyone from 60 to 6 years LOVED the performance. Thank you for a wonderful afternoon:)"
"Just watched "The Little Prince" with two of my grandsons. It was a great performance. Thank you for a great afternoon!"
"We (myself, my s-i-l and my children, 10 and 6) just got back from seeing The Little Prince and we all loved it! In my 6 year old's words "That was awesome!". It is so refreshing to see such amazing talent locally. I am personally so grateful to be able to introduce my children to theater in a cheap (free!) and fun way. This is just the beginning, I am sure, of their love of the arts. Thank you for putting on such a quality production!"
-Audience posts on the OSTF website
Re: Magic Monkey Dance Company with Laboratory Theater
"Macnab, as three very different female orangutans, and Dubson, as Kusasi, are both beyond amazing. Their simian assimilation is wonderful. They are both a large reason why the production is so enthralling—you really feel at times as if you are watching great apes in a jungle canopy."
-NYTheater.com