UNIVERSAL CROSSWORD ACES ON BRIDGE
“Long Distance Affair” is back with an entirely new set of plays, performers and destinations. The production will take fans on virtual quick trips to Mumbai, Beirut, Mexico City, Lagos (Nigeria), Los Angeles and Portland.
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Team Championships round robin would have done well to be aware of Rixi Markus’ Bols bridge tip: “When, as a defender, you are about to attack from a holding such as J-x, Q-x or K-x, consider the possible advantage of leading a low card.”
The Netherlands’ Oscar Nijssen and Tim van der Paverd, along with Adam Stokka and Simon Hult of Sweden, were the only pairs to defeat three notrump from the South seat.
West led a low diamond, and declarer ducked the lead, hoping that East’s continuation would help him decide whether diamonds were 5-3 or 4-4. When East continued with the diamond eight, apparently from an original three-card holding, declarer ducked.
Nijssen, West, won with his queen and could see there was no future in the diamonds. Hearts represented the best hope of setting up tricks there, but to play the heart queen would give the defense no chance — declarer would win the ace, cross to hand and take the club finesse.
So West found the excellent shift to the heart nine, and when declarer played low from dummy, East, van der Paverd, did likewise. A heart continuation then set the game, East scoring his heart king when he gained the lead in clubs.
With most venues shut down for nearly a year, pandemic-era theater has taken many forms: play readings; previously recorded productions; shows or revues shot with safety protocols in place; artist interviews or classes; and, more rarely, the occasional live experience.
But few digital productions have achieved what Miami’s Juggerknot Theatre Co. and New York’s PopUP Theatrics pulled off in May with “Long Distance Affair.”
Inspired by immersive, sitespecific shows created by PopUP in different countries beginning 10 years ago, the production took at-home “travelers” on virtual journeys to Madrid, Miami, Paris, London, New York and Singapore, where theatergoers watched – and sometimes interacted with – actors performing new short plays.
Now “Long Distance Affair” is back with an entirely new set of plays, performers and destinations.
Running through Sunday, the production will take adventurous theater fans on virtual quick trips to Mumbai, Beirut, Mexico City, Lagos (Nigeria), Los Angeles and Portland (Oregon). A journey to three cities costs
$40; double that for all six.
Juggerknot founder and executive artistic director Tanya Bravo notes that the first “Long Distance Affair” was propelled by “an urgency to connect” in the early days of pandemic isolation. She and her collaborators had hoped to do a second edition before the presidential election but felt too many colliding pressures during the fall.
“We were all stressed out. Many of us were trying to get the word out about voting. It became a different world after the election,” Bravo says. “The first ones got such a wonderful response that we said, ‘Let’s try this again.’ This time, we asked, ‘How close and intimate can we get in this medium?’”
Bravo is one of several Miami-connected artists involved in this edition of “Long Distance Affair,” producing alongside her sister, Natasha Bravo, who is Juggerknot’s community impact director.
Others include playwrightdirector Michael John Garcés, a Miami native and 2020 Doris Duke Artist Award winner who is artistic director of the Cornerstone Theater Co. in Los Angeles; playwright France-Luce Benson, who grew up in South Miami and serves as community engagement coordinator for Los Angeles’ The Fountain Theatre; Tai Thompson, a New York-based director who has spent the pandemic with family in Miami and Daytona Beach; and Michelle M. Lavergne, Juggerknot’s company manager and stage manager.
Each piece is the work of a playwright, director and solo performer – most of them firsttime collaborators based in different cities. Meeting virtually, they got to know each other, asking questions whose answers were often worked into scripts, then rehearsed and refined the work via Zoom and other platforms.
Mumbai-born, New Yorkraised
Dipti Bramhandkar wrote “Mrs. Asha’s Benevolent Purposes and Small Causes Musical Medium Services,” performed in Mumbai by Neha Singh. It is directed by Thompson, who is also directing Benson’s “Angelique,” featuring Los Angeles actor Wendy Abraham.
Tracy Cameron Francis, artistic director of Portland’s
Boom Arts, is directing Garcés’ “the break,” performed by Portland-based Barbie Wu.
She’s also staging Leila Buck’s “Night Lights,” performed by Pia Haddad in Beirut.
Ana Margineanu, PopUP cofounder and creator of the “Long Distance Affair” concept, is directing Zainabu Jallo’s “Bariga Spirit,” which will be performed by Segun Adefila at his home and arts center in Lagos.
Singapore-based Henrik Cheng, who will help run the show along with Lavergne, is directing Mexican playwrightdirector Alfonso Cárcamo’s “Troya,” to be performed in Mexico City by Naomy Romo.
The six pieces vary in style and thematic content, exploring marriage and betrayal, the longing for parenthood, spiritual connections and more. But a key element in each play involves achieving a real connection with those watching them.
“The goal is to make the audience actually be a part of the experience,” says Margineanu. “We don’t want to be competition for YouTube. With Netflix, if you step away to go to the bathroom, nothing changes … ‘Long Distance Affair’ has been pretty successful; people respond more strongly because of the intimacy. You sense when you’re needed. A connection has to happen from both ends.”
Director Thompson has worked hard with her playwrights and actors to create
connections that will go beyond fleeting engagement with the stories.
“Coming out of this crazy year, where we’re all in this PTSD realm, there’s a certain amount of healing these shows are exploring,” she says. “[Benson’s] ‘Angelique’ is based on a ritual the character is sharing with her Facebook followers, a very personal, intimate experience … You feel like you’ve known her from the very beginning; it feels like we’re connected in the ritual. ‘Long Distance Affair’ has always been interactive, but this reaches a different level, as a metaphysical type of connection.”
Bramhandkar’s Mumbai-set play centers on a medium trying to tell her observers about themselves, while also tapping into the qualities of the city where she was born by conveying “the absolute warmth, natural rhythm and musicality of my culture and my city,” the
playwright says. “for immersive pie ation is even more of the people you’ with. The process letting go happens is the first time I’v something with th acutely in mind.”
“Our show cann without the audien son observes. “Th talking to you. Th you questions. If y answer, you migh up.”
Though Thomp son are both from gelique” marks th the two have work The playwright isn virtual rehearsals thing; I miss being together, but this closer to a live the ence,” Benson say though she misses audience respond she noticed somet
Awards season is upon us. Two major award nominees top the DVD picks for the week of Feb. 23.
“Collective”: Government corruption and incompetence. A health care cover-up. Unnecessary mass death and suffering. Sound familiar?
On this year’s Academy Awards documentary feature shortlist and nominated for both the Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary and the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Nonfiction Film, director Alexander Nanau’s “Collective” follows a team of Romanian journalists who are investigating the 2015 fire at the Colectiv nightclub that killed 64 and injured 146 people due to lax safety standards and preventable hospital tragedies. And it’s an eerily relevant story for the COVID-19 era.
“The Croods: A New Age”: Seven years after the franchise’s first installment, the Croods are back. Nominated for the Golden Globes Best
Animated Feature, the film follows the family’s continued quest to find a landing spot. Along the way they encounter the Bettermans, who are more evolved, and interested in compelling Guy (voiced by Ryan Reynolds) to stay with them forever, much to the chagrin of Crood patriarch Grug (voiced by Nicolas Cage) and daughter Eep (voiced by Emma Stone), also Guy’s girlfriend.
Overall, it’s a “chaotic good” vibe, wrote Tribune News Service critic Katie Walsh in her review.
ALSO NEW ON DVD
“The Last Vermeer”: A Dutch artist (Guy Pearce) is accused of selling valuable artwork to the Nazis.
“Last Call”: A depressed man (Daved Wilkins) misdials a janitor (Sarah Booth), thinking he’s reaching out to a suicide prevention hotline.
“Redemption Day”: A Marine captain (Gary Dourdan) attempts to save his kidnapped wife (Serinda Swan) in Morocco.
“Silk Road”: Ross Ulbricht (Nick Robinson), creator of the infamous unregulated online marketplace that inspired a drug pipeline, is sought by the DEA. Also stars Jennifer Yun and Jimmi Simpson.
“Wrong Turn: The Foundation”: A group hiking the Appalachian Trail gets lost and faces a deadly confrontation with a secret community. Stars Charlotte Vega, Emma Dumont and Matthew Modine.
“John Hughes 5-Movie Collection”: Collection of
‘80s hits from the legendary director includes “Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” “She’s Having a Baby,” “Pretty in Pink” and “Some Kind of Wonderful.”
“Lady Sings the Blues”: 1972 biopic starring Diana Ross as Billie Holliday is available on Blu-ray for the first time.
“Scooby-Doo The Sword and the Scoob”” Animated film has the Mystery Machine crew transported to medieval times by a sorceress.
“Inside Amy Schumer: The Complete Series”: Collection includes all four seasons of the hit sketch show by the stand-up comedian.