The Innocence of Seduction, now being presented in a World Premiere Production by City Lit Theater in Chicago, is the second installment in an ambitious trilogy of new plays by actor, director, and playwright, Mark Pracht, about the comic book industry and the individuals who created it. Although not as interesting a human drama as was the first play in the series, The Innocence of Seduction remains a fascinating glimpse into a little known aspect of pop culture history.

Frank Nall Photos by Steve Graue

The Innocence of Seduction revolves around a group of artists, writers and publishers who were producing the lurid, violent, and sexually provocative comic books which lead to a congressional investigation into the comic book industry in the 1950’s. The claim that comic books were corrupting our young people and contributing to juvenile delinquency lead to the creation of the Comics Code.  That was censorship solely at the personal discretion of  one man, Judge Charles Murphy. In a sad parallel to our current times, legislators back then sought to repress access to ideas by their children, rather than teach their children how to think for themselves and live in a world with opposing viewpoints.

The whole story is framed with narration by by Dr. Frederick Wertham, whose book, The Seduction of the Innocent, warned that comic books contributed to juvenile delinquency.  In Pracht’s play, Wertham, played with oily, Germanic smarm by Frank Nall, keeps things moving with a creepy comic book gestalt of his own.

Zach Kunde, Laura Coleman, Sean Harklerode Photos by Steve Graue

The first play in the trilogy, The Mark of Kane, was an excellent, character driven drama. That story was shaped by the personal ambition of artist Bob Kane, creator of The Batman, who stole the credit for all the key story elements added to Kane’s very basic idea for the Batman character by his writer-collaborator, Bill Finger.

John Blick Photos by Steve Graue

In The Innocence of Seduction, largely unchanging characters are dragged through the events swirling around them. That formula, called melodrama, has been around ever since the bad guy twirled his moustache as he tied poor Pauline to the railroad tracks. The focus is on the dilemma rather than character development.

: Robin Treviño, Sean Harklerode, Paul Chakrin Photos by Steve Graue

But it takes a long time to get to the central conflict between the creators of early comic art and their would-be censors. When we finally do get to the bad guys, in the person of a grandstanding senator, Robert C. Hendrickson, played with appropriate bluster by Paul Chakrin, and Judge Charles Murphy, the creator and administrator of the Comics Code, played with self-righteous indignation by the fine Chuck Monro, neither antagonist is given enough stage time.

Brian Bradford, LaTorious Givens Photos by Steve Graue

Pracht has no apparent interest in giving the opposing point of view equal time. So both antagonists are quickly reduced to one-dimensional cartoons. What is interesting, however, is that such simple mindedness is frighteningly close to today’s reality, when you look at the behavior of those who are leading the call for censorship in our own times.

Brian Bradford (lying down), Andrew Bosworth (kneeling) Photos by Steve Graue

The central figure in this story is William Gaines, Jr., a failed teacher who reluctantly assumes the helm of Educational Comics. That  company was established by his father, Max, who had created the first American comic book, Famous Funnies, in 1934.  Max, embodied by bellowing actor Ron Quaide, visits his son, William, like Hamlet’s ghost, haunting his dreams and stoking William’s feelings of inadequacy.  William’s passivity until the very end of the story frequently feels like a big hole in the action instead of moving it forward.

Sean Harklerode, Charlie Diaz Photos by Steve Graue

Realizing that nobody wants to buy the illustrated bible stories his father created, William rebrands the company as Entertainment Comics, better known as “EC”.  Their bread and butter would be stories with dark, twisted, graphic, sexually provocative and violent imagery. The artists and publishers in this story just see their work as innocent fun, until they run into censorship under the nascent Comics Code.

Zach Kunde, Sean Harklerode, Chuck Munro, Charlie Diaz Photos by Steve Graue

One of those artists is Matt Baker, played with sincerity if not complexity by Brian Bradford.  Baker was a closeted, black, gay artist, who drew the sexiest female characters in the industry. Matt has a clandestine affair with his bisexual publisher, Archer St. John, played with sensitivity by John Blick, while hiding his real sexual preferences from his long suffering lady friend, Connie, played honestly by Latorious Givens.  Despite the potential of the juicy ménage a trois, Pracht’s sketchy rendition of their interaction comes off as simultaneously simplistic and overwrought.

Zach Kunde, Chuck Munro, Sean Harklerode, Charlie Diaz, Paul Chakrin Photos by Steve Graue

Apart from that relationship, the production features a gaggle of really fine character actors who bring lots of individual color to their roles.  They include Laura Coleman as Gaines’ wisecracking secretary, Shirley; actor Robin Treveno, who is especially engaging as the good hearted publisher, “Busy” Arnold; Paul Chakrin as Senator Robert C. Hendrickson, who led the congressional investigation against the comic book industry; and affable Andrew Bosworth, doubling both as Max’s friend, Frank, and as artist Jack Davis, whose work would later define the look of Gaines’ greatest success, Mad Magazine.

Andrew Bosworth, Megan Clarke Photos by Steve Graue

However, for me, the shining star of this production is Janice Valleau as Megan Clarke.  Ms. Clarke was a talented female artist trying to get a foothold in a male dominated industry, and the creator of a pioneering female detective character. Ms. Clarke is an absolutely riveting performer, full of heart, smarts, depth, and personal fire. See her while you can, as Chicago off Loop theater will not be able to contain her for long.

Andrew Bosworth, Robin Treviño, Megan Clarke Photos by Steve Graue

The set, lighting and projection design by G. “Max” Maxin IV is the best I’ve seen from him in this space. Beth Laske-Miller adds some nice, accurate period elements to a slim costume budget. Music composition and sound design by Peter Wahlback were a great enhancement of the foreboding atmosphere. Finally, Tony Donley’s program cover and poster art captured the tone of the story brilliantly.

As his own director, Pracht does a very good job weaving all the elements of his production together, and giving his work a fine showcase.

As with the previous play in the trilogy, you don’t need to be a comic book nerd to enjoy this tale of creative expression battling conservative oppression. The Innocence of Seduction will seduce you as well.

With The Innocence of Seduction, City Lit Theater continues a 43 year tradition of bringing intelligent, literate stories to the Chicago stage.  In conjunction with this presentation, they also are presenting readings at libraries across Chicago and the suburbs of works from the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, which have been identified as the “Top Ten Most Challenged Books” facing censorship in libraries and schools. That series is called Books on the Chopping Block.  If you live in the Chicago area, be sure to check for a presentation near you.

The Innocence of Seduction continues at City Lit Theater in the Edgewater Presbyterian Church, 1020 West Bryn Mawr in Chicago, through October 8^th. For ticket information call (773) 293-3682 or visit www.citylit.org.

Weaving and bobbing, drawing chalk lines with a focused gyrating audacity, a fascinating dynamic radiates out from the central core of an all-encompassing plastic spider web. The actor/playwright squats and shifts his black-clad body close to the ground, teasing us almost to enter the web, and maybe get caught in its arms. It’s a sharply defined space to walk into, fantastically intricate but straightforward in its plastic sensibilities, created with thoughtful intensity by set + costume designer Rachel Forbes (Canadian Stage’s Topdog/Underdog). It makes us feel that we are inside something intimate and intensely important as we make our way to our seats in the main theatre at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Toronto to see and get enveloped by the unveiling of speaking of sneaking.

The new play, performed and written by theatre artist Daniel Jelani Ellis (Buddies’ First Stone), comes alive slowly, seizing the stylistic moment that takes its time connecting. Deep inside this queer Black man’s ultimate navigation through folklore and reality-based hardship, the play shifts itself inward, as directed and dramaturged with a fiery fluidity by d’bi.young anitafrika (Trey Anthony’s ‘da kink in my hair) with a strong sense of movement and momentum by choreographer Fairy J (Obsidian/Canadian Stage/Necessary Angel’s Is God Is), from his youth in one “Yard” to another “Foreign” place, Canada. The tension and engagement are as tricky to outsmart as a folktale spider, that weaves out captivating stories with wisdom, knowledge, and power. The formula engages, even when it loses some captivating focus along the way.

Daniel Jelani Ellis in Buddies’ speaking of sneaking.Production photos by Jeremy Mimnagh.

Yet, it is a compelling web that is woven, ultimately feeling important and personal throughout the intersectionalities of identity and culture, playing with the deep multidiscipline unpacking of complicated self-discovery drawn from his familial Jamaican roots and the complexities of gender, sexuality, and class that creep out of the “Yard”. The performance is vivid and vital, frenetic and feisty, combining aerial light-footedness with dance, poetry, and all that lies in between. It attempts with a true heart and unending energy to captivate, and Ellis, as the determined Ginnal, manages, maybe not at first, but eventually, to take us in and snag us, as the web he weaves gets more grounded in the complications of survival alongside familial expectations.

Surrounded by barrels of regret and disappointment in himself, Ellis needs to keep weaving and weaving, “for me, not for you!” He shifts himself around the space, throwing his arms off balance but fully in control, collapsing his past and future from a spider-framed creation from Jamaica to a video web call rubbing his feet and seeing the future for a few PayPal donation dollars. The playful but ancient guide, “Anansi” lifted up from an Akan folktale slides in to the perspective to illicit shouts of “That’s enough” to the symbolic quarreling married sky and earth, trying to weave a web that will keep the collapse from occurring.

Daniel Jelani Ellis in Buddies’ speaking of sneaking.Production photos by Jeremy Mimnagh.

These folklore spider tales, which I knew little about, long ago sailed their way to the Caribbean by way of the transatlantic slave trade, and became a mythical model about skill and wisdom, giving praise to Anansi and his ability as a spider, to outsmart and triumph over any and all powerful opponents through the wise use of cunning, creativity, and wit. It’s no surprise Ellis as Ginnal digs into these formulations and folklore, basking in the delicately crafted light designed by André du Toit (Stratford’s R+J) with a strong sound design by Stephon Smith (B Current’s Wheel of the Year Walks). It will take all that cunning creativity to unpack the complexities of culture, homophobia, and ideas of masculinity that are weaved into his Jamaican “Yard” and the family that celebrates unity and care from way over there.

Wrestling with the fraught and trickster dynamics of survival in this new “Foreign” land, the expensive city of Toronto, Ginnal struggles with empty barrels waiting to be filled with donations of a different kind, feeling guilt and shame each time the phone rings. The spider steps in, initiating a journey towards liberation and freedom, after leaving one home to find another. The web is a complex construct, sometimes captivatingly embodied, sometimes not, with Ellis shifting from one well-formulated character to another, generally drawing us in as he straps himself in from above for this aerial journey, bungee jumping and creeping towards a new sense of home and acceptance.

Daniel Jelani Ellis in Buddies’ speaking of sneaking.Production photos by Jeremy Mimnagh.

Anansi was seen as a symbol of slave resistance and survival, turning the constraints of those plantation power dynamics around onto the controlling oppressors. Ellis embraces that energy, as he finds his way to generate dancehall-infused formulations by igniting cunning online trickery of his own. Through a compelling examination of colonial imprints on queer Jamaican identities by all those involved, as well as utilizing Afro-Caribbean-Tkarontonian storytelling aesthetics to elevate the spider mode of behavior and performance, the details of the intricate interweaving of bodies and family transcend the battle for survival and shifts it all into the flight for authenticity and identity. It has been written that the symbol of Anansi played a multifunctional role in the enslaved Africans’ lives, inspiring strategies of resistance to establish a sense of continuity with their African past and offering a context and formulation to transform and assert their identity within the darkened boundaries of captivity. It’s fairly clear how that energy resonates throughout the piece.

As he asks for world peace from a bachelor pad base camp created by new family members by choice, the weaving in of Granny Luna to “Petty Labelle” offers itself up into the sky wonderfully, ultimately capturing us in its complex web. Groundwork Redux and Buddies in Bad Times Theatre‘s production of speaking of sneakingdelivers, working its magic, eventually, fulfilling the folktale form with chaotic care. Through a Black queer lens, with the support of Buddies, Obsidian Theatre, and the Toronto Arts Council Black Arts Program, this new weaving finds its way into our collective consciousness, navigating itself through portals of neo-colonial contexts and out of the escape room axe throw party that might have destroyed him. The archetypal Jamaican Ginnal and the mythical African Anansi, together, discover and embody something akin to survival and connection. And in the weaving of that web, we find a different kind of soul rubbed true all for our wonderment and enlightenment.

Daniel Jelani Ellis in Buddies’ speaking of sneaking.Production photos by Jeremy Mimnagh.

For more go to frontmezzjunkies.com

The Argyle Theatre held its Gala, Encore! A Musical Celebration, hosted by Artistic Director Evan Pappas with musical direction by Jeffrey Lodin, on September 22, 2023, at 7:30 PM. Long Island’s premier theatrical showcasing the remarkable talents that ha graced its stages over the past four seasons.

Evan Pappas (Artistic Director and host for tonight)

Evan Pappas

Becca Andrews

Becca Andrews and Elliott Litherland

Becca Andrews

Becca Andrews

The one-night-only special event featured Becca Andrews (The Argyle’s Legally Blonde, Honky Tonk Chicks)

Tyler Bello

Tyler Belo

Tyler Belo (The Argyle’s Spring Awakening, Hamilton National Tour)

Dana Costello

Dana Costello

Dana Costello (The Argyle’s Cabaret, Broadway’s Finding Neverland, Pretty Woman)

Hana Culbreath

Hana Culbreath

Hana Culbreath (The Argyle’s Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Annie National Tour)

Alex Grayson

Alex Grayson

Alex Grayson (The Argyle’s Spring Awakening, Broadway’s Parade, Into The Woods)

Jack Hale

Jack Hale

Jack Hale (The Argyle’s Rock of Ages)

Elliott Litherland

Hana Culbreath and Elliott Litherland

Hana Culbreath and Elliott Litherland

Hana Culbreath and Elliott Litherland

Elliott Litherland (The Argyle’s Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Opera North Carousel)

Michelle Mallardi

Michelle Mallardi

Michelle Mallardi

Hana Culbreath and Michelle Mallardi

Michelle Mallardi  (The Argyle’s Elf, Footloose, Broadway Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Les Misérables)

Ellie Smith

Ellie Smith

Ellie Smith (The Argyle’s Grease, Miracle Valley Feature Film)

Ryan Thurman

Ryan Thurman

and Ryan Thurman (The Argyle’s Disney’s The Little Mermaid, The Producers).

Dylan Perlman

Marty Rubin (General Manager/Director of Sales), Dylan Perlman (Co-Owner and Managing Partner) and Mark Perlman (Co-Owner and Managing Partner)

“It brings me immense joy to celebrate the exceptional talent that has graced our stage over the past four years. Encore! A Musical Celebration is a testament to the dedication and artistry of our alumni, and it’s an opportunity for us to express our gratitude to both the performers and our loyal audience for their unwavering support in creating unforgettable moments.” The Argyle Theatre Artistic Director, Evan Pappas stated.

Jeffrey Lodin

Peter Averso

Hana Culbreath and Michelle Mallardi

Elliott Litherland, Hana Culbreath, Becca Andrews, Dana Costello, Ellie Smith, Jack Hale, Ryan Thurman, Michelle Mallardi, Tyler Belo and Alex Grayson

Tonight’s cast and band-Evan Pappas, Elliott Litherland, Hana Culbreath, Becca Andrews, Dana Costello, Ellie Smith, Jack Hale, Ryan Thurman, Michelle Mallardi, Tyler Belo, Alex Grayson, Peter Averso, Andrew Warren and Jeffrey Lodin

Elliott Litherland and Becca Andrews

Dana Costello and Evan Pappas

Hana Culbreath and Michelle Mallardi

The Fifth Avenue Portrait Collection, a massive public art exhibit by artist Alexa Meade, spanning 180 feet long, is now on display in the heart of New York City on Fifth Avenue and 44^thStreet.

All 22 works of art in The Fifth Avenue Portrait Collection are by Alexa Meade, who paints directly on the faces and clothes of live models, creating the illusion that real humans are two-dimensional paintings on canvas. The colorful living portraits are larger that life, with many of them over 12’ tall.

The art is being exhibited on the outside of the building of the former Wonderland Dreams immersive exhibition. Every inch of the 26,000 square foot space was painted from floor to ceiling, using Alexa Meade’s signature style of art which lets you step inside of a painting. It took over 1,000 gallons of paint to transform the space, which was a former Best Buy. Over 100,000 people came to see the Wonderland Dreams exhibition during its year-long run.

Alexa Meade said, “Walking into an art gallery is intimidating for a lot of people, so I am bringing my art outside for people to be able to appreciate while walking down the street. Art is for everyone, and not just those who feel comfortable in galleries and museums.”

The photography in the collection was primarily captured by either Ruby June or Mike Monaghan.

The live models Alexa Meade painted include such high-profile New Yorkers as Tony Award-winning actor Brian Stokes Mitchell, Grammy Award-winning singer Walter Russell III, and Emmy Award-winning journalist Paul Wontorek. Additional Broadway actors painted in the collection include Nadia Brown, Julia Lester, Gus Birney, Jonalyn Saxer, and Matthew Sims Jr.

Alexa Meade painted numerous creative powerhouses for the series, including magician Zach King, writer Amber Ruffin, costume designer Emilio Sosa, producer Eva Price, dancer Melissa Becraft, and composer Helen Park. The models also include Ruby June, Richie Ridge, Keith Hurd, Adrian Richardson, and Shelli Lether.

The Fifth Avenue Portrait Collection is located at 529 5th Avenue steps away from Grand Central Station, Bryant Park, and the Museum of Modern Art.

Alexa Meade, paints on the human body and three-dimensional spaces, creating the illusion that our reality is a two-dimensional painting. As The New York Times describes Meade’s artwork, “Think of it as a Van Gogh — that is, if one of his paintings were brought to life as a performative protest.”

Meade’s art has been exhibited around the world at the Grand Palais in Paris, the Saatchi Gallery in London, the United Nations in New York, Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo, and Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC. Her artwork has also been exhibited in space, orbiting the Earth on the history-making SpaceX Inspiration4 mission.

She has created interactive installations at Coachella, Cannes Lions, and Art Basel. Meade is widely known for painting on the body of Ariana Grande for her iconic “God is a Woman” music video, which has nearly 400 million views. Her solo show on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills was attended by forty-thousand people. With profound pop cultural relevance, Alexa’s art has been upvoted to the #1 position on the Front Page of Reddit. She has been commissioned by Apple, BMW, and Sony. In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Alexa teamed up with LEGO as a Master Builder for their “Rebuild the World” campaign.

Collaborating with spacetime researchers, Alexa was the first ever Artist-in-Residence at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. She has also been Artist-in-Residence at Google, where she worked alongside the engineers advancing Light Field imaging technology.

Meade and her groundbreaking work have been honored with the “Disruptive Innovation Award” from the Tribeca Film Festival. Respected for her thought leadership and non-traditional career path, she has lectured at TED, Stanford, and Princeton. Meade accepted an invitation to the White House under President Obama. Google Arts & Culture selected Alexa as the face of their “Faces of Frida” campaign, celebrating the legacy of Frida Kahlo and the female artists who are carrying it forward today. InStyle has named Alexa among their “Badass Women.”