#andi chapman

Big Business (1988) Review

Two sets of twins one from New York and the other a countryside town discover that something a little bit strange happened the day they were born and could quite frankly explain a lot . . . ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Continue reading

Taking a brief sidestep from my usual content, I wanted to give a brief summary of my thoughts on this episode (Take Back the Night from season 4), which I just watched for the first time and was really interesting from a 2017 perspective. In the midst of all the current discussion of sexual assault, it was kind of surreal to see it handled in a teen drama from almost 25 years ago. In some ways, I was impressed that it was addressed in a way that was so head-on and direct. Having Steve be accused of rape was pretty bold, and is perhaps even moreso now. And there was some thoughtful (if somewhat cursory) discussion about what rape means, female agency, and victim-blaming. Plus, it finally addresses something that always bugged me about the season 2 Halloween episode, in which Kelly dresses provocatively, despite warnings from her friends that she’s “asking for it,” and ultimately is almost raped for that exact reason, with the episode basically ending on an “I told you so” (thankfully it’s handled more tactfully here). But unfortunately there were also a few too many cringey moments for this episode to have aged well. For instance, the constant dismissal of the Take Back the Night movement by most of the male characters was pretty off-putting, if understandable to an extent for 1993. Brandon encouraging Dylan to check out the rally because there will be plenty of “babes” there is a prime example of this. But more frustrating were the storylines that could have been powerful, but didn’t go anywhere. And there were lots of them. For example, David engaging in the “not all men” backlash before the invention of the hashtag. He comes around by the end, but in a way that is arbitrary and unsatisfying. Having him work through his feelings of anger and frustration (which are actually fairly well articulated) would not only have made more sense, but would’ve been more cathartic. Another example is freshman-Brandon being continually harassed by Lucinda, a grad student in her late twenties. In an episode about sexual harassment, calling this behaviour out for what it is should seem like a no-brainer, and it would’ve been especially interesting since it would position Brandon as the victim in something he had previously dismissed, forcing him to confront not only his experience as a victim of harassment, but his stance on Take Back the Night overall. Finally, I found the Laura/Steve storyline to be the most cringe-worthy, since it basically says that, yep, women do lie about rape (when we know in fact that these cases are far more rare than rape itself) . Within the context of the episode, yeah sure, it made sense for it to turn out that Laura was just upset that Steve dumped her, and to have her take it out on him by accusing him of forcing himself on her. Honestly, it’s probably better this way considering having a main character confirmed as a rapist would most likely have been handled far worse, but of all the stories they could’ve told relating to the subject, this probably should’ve been at the bottom of the list. And it’s funny, because the episode actually does talk about how women claiming to have been raped are often met with disbelief, but then it pulls the same thing anyway. 

All in all, it’s not a bad episode, and I don’t necessarily blame it for the flaws that I, as a viewer in 2017, perceive. I still think it was probably bold for its time, and I think that in that way, it’s an interesting way to see how far we’ve come in the past 25 years. Because it’s hard to imagine a popular series addressing this issue in the same way now. And that’s probably for the best.

There are many exciting elements at play with the west coast premiere of Angelica Chéri‘s Berta, Berta at the Echo Theater Company with a talented cast composed of Kacie Rogers & DeJuan Christopher and director Andi Chapman (who I’ve been a stalwart fan of for years). But while there is no doubt that the commitment from the actors are sublime, the plot machinations involving supernatural elements…

Andi Chapman's rendition of Macbeth at A Noise Within is an refreshing work of art with a stunning ensemble cast comprised mostly of Black & global majority actors.

I do have a sincere (and most likely minority) belief that Shakespeare plays need to be retired as more often than not, it just does not need to be done. It is however an often safe and boring choice for many PWI theatres and a guarantee to hire mostly white actors dishing out their favorite monologues to varying amounts of success. But Andi Chapman‘s rendition of Macbeth at A Noise Within…

A Los Angeles Theatre Review: 'SHE' at the Antaeus Theatre Company

A Los Angeles Theatre Review: 'The Bluest Eye' at A Noise Within

Staged adaptations of novels usually don’t end up working well as they are clunky at best and downright tedious at worst. Thankfully, the staged version of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye is one of the few works that so vividly brings the novel’s words to life, thanks to the fine adaptation of Lydia R. Diamond. It is with great pleasure that under the superb direction of Andi Chapman, the newest…