INK19 Archikulture Digest

By Carl F. Gauze

Archikultural Digest 47 - Fringe 2005 Edition

Obscenity
Written by Christian Kelty, Seth Kubersky, and Mike Marinaccio
Directed By Seth Kubersky
Starring Christian Kelty and Heather Leonardi
Green Venue
Orlando International Fringe Festival

Sure, you THINK it would be cool to be a porn star. And maybe it is, but after 5000 on-camera orgasms, Claude St. Cum (Tracy, played by Kelty) finds the job as thin as a rubber and thinks about culinary school. Icky. There's sex in his life, but no love until he stumble into innocent Angie (Leonardi). They play video games until dawn and then date for a few months while Tracy keeps up his secret career and a chaste relation. Not only ashamed of his job, he's haunted by the memory of his brother (Marinaccio) while his "best friend" Phillip (John DiDonna) struggles to keep him in the business. A man's got to eat, and it's not like he has many other skills

This is the fringe "A list" talent show, and the team pays off with a strong, unexpected drama. Kelty looks almost as tortured on stage as he seems in person, even though he's surrounded by the buxom and sexy Nikki Darden and Sara French as Venus and Honey pot, the catty costars of the porn empire. While the show has some nudity (I like Christian, but there are certain aspects of him I'm not interested in seeing), tons of strong language, and simulated sex acts, it's really a moving exploration of how an ideal situation still makes you completely miserable. Having said this, there's plenty of humor, particularly from director Kubersky who plays the near mute camera man on set. He's not ready to step up to the porn bed, but the chance arises and he prefers to keep his pride. Hovering over the show is a multimedia screen, which helps set place and time in this interior view of professional screwing. Between scenes, we get a reading of the Biblical "Song of Solomon" by Rus Blackwell reads it in his best Southern Baptist voice. This ancient sex poem somehow made it past the council of Nicea, but its connection to the action is a bit loose.

"Obscenity" is not in it self obscene, although it's what we look for at this adult theme park of theater. The obscenity in the show is Tracy's unwillingness to either commit to or abandon Angie or his career - he can't have both, and it hurts. Bad.

Orlando City Beat

2005 FRINGE FESTIVAL REVIEWS

Hurricane Me, American Cake, Obsenity and more

By Tod Caviness | Orlando CityBeat Writer
Posted May 23, 2005

Obscenity

Funny thing about the Fringe: When you see a show description that contains the words "porn star," you're automatically thinking campy exploitation. Not so with Obscenity, an intelligent drama that purports to "challenge the audience's notion of what is obscene." That aim ends up feeling like a secondary concern, not that it blunts the impact of the story itself. Christian Kelty (of Joe's NYC Bar fame) plays Tracy, a conflicted porn actor whose midlife crisis finds him taking a predictably opposite path from that of most 9-to-5ers. All he wants to do is settle down with wholesome new flame Angie (Heather Leonardi), but the future can't start before settling some debts with the past and present.

With a cast like this collaborating on the story, Fringe veterans knew it was going to be interesting at the very least. Tracy's brother Dante is underplayed brilliantly by Michael Marinaccio, and partners-in-sleaze Nikki Darden and John DiDonna exude Machiavellian venom. But the core of this twisted love story is the chemistry between Kelty and Leonardi, whose moments together make the ending hit like a brick. Someone arrange a screening for Tipper Gore.

Orlando Weekly

Greetings from Planet Fringe

Published 5/26/2005

By Lindy T. Shepherd

The script for Obscenity was born from improvisational sessions that drew on the overwhelming talent in the play's ensemble cast (Christian Kelty, John DiDonna, Rus Blackwell, Heather Leonardi, Nikki Darden, Michael Marinaccio, Peni Lotoza, Seth Kubersky and Sarah French). The resulting show is a captivating reflection of that mind-meld. The rumors you might hear are probably true – yes, there is nudity, most prominently Kelty's bare ass, and the opening "trailer" for a sexed-up sci-fi thriller is as raw as it is titillating. But the fine actors propel this adult drama – about a porn star (Kelty) who wants to call it quits to become a chef – beyond its sensational subject matter into the realm of self-realization and its many obstructions. As Kelty's sex-addicted character gets to the root (yes, tee-hee) of his compulsion in order to experience the openness of love, other forces are set into dark motion. This is a provocative, evocative work that doesn't ! have clear questions and answers; still, that's all the more reason to move past the flashes of hot bodies to feel the press of the hot buttons this fearless crew is trying to push.