What I saw last night. Katie Workum at the Chocolate Factory. 
Four women in long black skirts sprint around the stage and in general look concerned. At the end they lose their shoes.
Elements: whispering, sitting in audience
Title: “Fruitlands”
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What I saw last night. Lyndsey Karr at the Chocolate Factory. 
Upon entering the space which is set up runway style, two women on opposite ends of the room are huddle naked against the walls. Eventually they move front and center hauling red rocks about and attaching them to their vaginas via golden thread. Later things move to the downstairs space where they fulfill many domestic duties naked while we are seated in a dinner theater configuration. Things conclude in the hall with more seduction type movements. Helen Reddy’s “I am Woman” would have been a logical music choice for the conclusion. They went with Bad Company.
Elements: nudity, body casts, dolls, vegetables, wine, rocks, golden thread, wigs, film, pies, microwave
Title: “the One”
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What I saw last night. Christine Elmo at the Chocolate Factory.
The layout was very similar to the last show I saw here except there were only two women and the previous show I think had four. Much lunging about occurred and some aggressive movements but the point if one was to be had largely eluded me. There was a video installation as well but I missed it in my efforts to avoid getting seated on stage.
Elements: sobbing, talking, audience members on stage
Title: “Empress, Empress fall down your skirt is too short”
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What I saw last night. RoseAnne Spradlin at the Chocolate Factory. 
Upon entering the space a naked woman is playing guitar or it may have been a bass. 
She walks across the stage to put on some beaded accessories and does some emphatic dancing. Later she is joined by three more women oddly dressed and during the performance their clothing falls away. This continues in various permeations of being clothed or not throughout the show with some very hard stamping of feet that suggests this is a rigorous if not always coherent work.
Also to be seen in the corridor is photographs by Ryutaro Mishima (note he is the only member of my blogroll). Pay attention to them when you go in and you may notice something different after you leave the show.
Elements: nudity, screaming, beaded headdress, guitar
Title: “beginning of something”
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What I saw last night. Sarah Maxfield at the Chocolate Factory. 
First there was an installation in the basement that consisted of programs, costumes and other materials from performances of downtown dance shows.
The performance (a solo) consisted of recorded interviews with performers about their experiences at shows and in New York. It was sort of interesting since I understood many of the references and have seen a lot of the shows referenced. That said I am not sure any one West of the Hudson would have got much from it. Go for the exhibition.
Elements: programs, fire, village voice, black & white cookies, spoken word
Title: “We Deserve Each Other”
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What I saw last night. Anneke Hansen at the Chocolate Factory. 
Seven women and one man are performing when you enter the building. You look down the hall and they are performing on the upper and lower floor. I almost missed that from my poor vantage point. Eventually you get a seat. One of the women is pregnant. They are all in gray and black and engage in mostly energetic gimmick free dance. That is until the end when they do this counting bit that turns it into an annoying exercise class. Other than that it was pretty good.
Elements: live music, whistling, counting, already performing upon entrance
Title: “Look at them long and long”
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What I saw last night. Neal Medlyn at The Chocolate Factory.
A show devoted to Hannah Montana and/or Miley Cyrus. The hall was festooned with Hannah/Miley gift swag from the obvious to hand sanitizers and Christmas ornaments. In the performance space the floor was cover in shelled peanuts, guitars, a drum set, flotation vests and more. Three men played various parts Billy Ray, Hannah etc and sang her songs, quoted her tweets and videos and wore wigs. This was part 2 and I did not see part 1 so maybe it would have made more sense to me. As it is I had to read up on Miley in Wikipedia before I went or I would be totally at sea.
Elements: peanuts, spoken word, tapes, live music, flotation vests, cans, snow etc.
Title: “Brave New Girl”
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What I saw last night. Jillian Sweeney at The Chocolate Factory. 
A one woman show. I have respect for any show that references James Ellroy.
Elements: basket, easel, film, voice over, spoken word, cereal, milk, table, chair, heart monitor, etc.
Title: “This could be it”
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What I saw last night. Juliana F. May at the Chocolate Factory. 
It is always a jam up before they let you in the space. 
This is where I often go when I am early for this venue.
The show. Four women dance while the audience sits on either side.
Elements: brief audience participation, singing/chanting, live guitar
Title: “Discrete Body Dilemma”
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What I saw last night. Brian Rogers at the Chocolate Factory. 
I saw a show by this person about 6 or 7 years ago at the Chocolate Factory. Apparently in that time it has moved from a big loft in Long Island City to a small low narrow building in Long Island City. Fittingly the show was in part about Real Estate. There were a number of elements in this piece but since it was theater heavy I am not going to include them in my tally.
Title: redevelop (death valley)
