MARLENE NICHOLS

NEW SHOWS MAY13th-15th 2009

2009-05-10T22:29:00.004-05:00

Hello my dear friends,

This is a big week!
But I don't want you to be nervous. We're going to have fun and we're going to laugh.
I hope can can join me in Manhattan for some live theater
Reservations strongly recommended!!!

May 13th, 14th, & 15th @ 8pm
(Wednesday through Friday)
You'll go from Memphis to Paris in 90 minutes with
RUM BOOGIE, & JUST BACK FROM DREAMING
@Stage Left Studio
438 W 37th Street 5A (btw 9th& 10th Ave)
TICKETS $18 @ www.smarttix.com

***
RUM BOOGIE
Starring: TC Corwin, Raissa Dorff, Cheryl King, Nicole Monica, Marlene Nichols, and Kathy Towson
Directed by the amazing Theresa Gambacorta
written by Marlene Nichols

This collection of monologues is set in Memphis, Tennessee. Think Mississippi River, flower print dresses, long hot summers and Beale Street. The characters in Rum Boogie are irreverent, eccentric, and fighting like hell to survive the latest situation life has put in their path.
Faye is having a flood.
Amelia is writing a list for life.
Sophie WILL squeeze into the size zero for the gala.
Janie dreams of a car that never has to stop for gas.
Henry and Vivian are neighbors whose paths cross in a way they never expected.
So rip off your girdle and dance the blues with RUM BOOGIE.

After RUM BOOGIE…you’re off to Paris

JUST BACK from DREAMING
A solo show by Marlene Nichols
Directed by Theresa Gambacorta

M is in Paris trying her hand at the great American expatriate novel but every time she's about to make a “breakthrough” her father shows up demanding she write about him instead. “What could be more dramatic than your old man?” The piece deals with the struggles of creativity, searching for greatness, memories of our parents and Sam Shepard.

Catch....

2009-03-30T18:07:00.004-05:00

Stove Top Series Vol 2 #2

2009-03-30T17:43:00.003-05:00

Return of the STOVE TOP SERIES, Volume II

2009-03-30T16:45:00.008-05:00

Love half off

2009-02-24T11:14:00.002-06:00

On Valentine's day every shop on Marcy Avenue under the elevated JMZ trains was selling red heart chocolates, white stuffed teddy bears and rose is a rose is a rose upon rose. The rotisserie chicken store had a display out on the sidewalk so did the 99 cent store, the bodega, the electronics store. No one was buying. The next day everything went on sale half price. Men flooded the stores to buy gifts for all their women (kids, wives, girlfriends, moms). You'd hear the various excuses at the registers, "I couldn't get to my girl yesterday so I'm getting with her today" or "I'm buying even more stuff for her because why should Valentine's be only one day a year?"

Waist Up or Waist Down

2009-02-13T09:49:00.002-06:00

Here is a video of the piece, Change Me, performed at The Forbidden Kiss show on February 7th, 2009

Change Me

See me from the waist up and down doing a crazier version of this piece at the Forbidden Kiss show on February 28th @ Stage Left Studio.

ticket details

New show-February 19th, 20th, 21st!

2009-02-09T09:02:00.004-06:00

After several months of messing around on the white page and in various unheated rehearsal rooms my new show Just Back from Dreaming is set to run February 19th-21st @ Stage Left Studio in New York. Tickets are $18 and you can buy a piece of me here

.............................Stand Me Up & Dress Me

2009-02-05T15:19:00.005-06:00

Wednesday's story (2.4.09) ***It was the 80’s in Memphis. My mother would pick me up from school and take me back to work with her at Mary Ellen’s Couture. I’d prop my books against the serge machine pretending to do my homework but I was more interested in the women going in and out of the fitting rooms squeezing into the Bob Mackie and Valentino dresses for the various balls they were attending. Sophie Kaplan, my all time favorite customer, was big hair, big curves, and foundation garments in every color. She’d strip down to her girdle and stand on the platform in the dressing room talking to Janice, her saleslady.

Sophie:

Janice! You are looking at the new head of the committee for the Symphony League Benefit Gala. I’ve been plucked, waxed & teased for tonight and you’re my last stop. I know I already bought a dress but that was when I was a member of the committee. Now I’m HEAD of the committee and I need MORE of a dress, more elegant, more decadent, more cleavage, more hips.

Don’t tell my you haven’t heard? Mona’s had a breakdown. She’s not fit to be seen. She finally found out about Jackson tomcat’en around with Delores Coleman and… Those eyes better not be rolling in my direction. I -have -no - idea who told her. Probably an anonymous letter or something. Well, everybody knew. She confronted him on Monday and he moved out of the house that afternoon. I drove by Delores’s to see for myself and sure enough the two of them were outside doing yard work like an old married couple, Jackson trimming the rose bushes and Delores’s fiddling with that commune of garden gnomes she’s got squatting in her front yard.

Pass me that box of chocolates. I’ve been starving myself ever since I got the call from the board this morning. Of course I’m heartbroken! Mona and I have raised money for the ladies auxiliary, bought paintings for the museum, walked for cancer, and I never said a word about her conniving and weaseling her way to the top. Patroness of the Arts, my sweet…have you seen the mall art hanging in her bathroom? This is my night, Janice. I want all the rest of those witches who think I’m not high class enough to be blinded their own jealously. I left the car running, so we got to hurry. Show me what you’ve picked out.

Too frumpy.

Too many bows.

Get that size 14 away from me!

Wait, what’s that one? Feathers cape, Versace, genius! Help me step into it. What’s the matter? Stuck? Why do they always make the lining smaller than the dress? Well, just…oh…just cut it! That’s better. It’s stunning don’t you think? Needs to be tighter in the bust. They need to be up, up. I said tighter! Mona should be grateful I’m saving her all this. Beauty is hard work.

How is she? Well, she’s not fit to be seen. She’s holding Jackson’s dirty laundry hostage. She keeps washing and ironing his shirts over and over again hoping he’ll come by to get it. The woman is not fit to be seen. Hair’s flat, ankles swollen, wielding that iron like a galley slave. When I told the symphony director…well I had to make sure he understood she wasn’t in any state to be seen. It’s up to me now to step up and show the grace and poise befitting a true patroness of the arts.

No, there’s no time to take it off you’ll just have to stitch me into.

Istanbul's version of midnight

2009-02-02T12:37:00.004-06:00

...............you didn't die-die, you dream died

2009-02-01T13:37:00.011-06:00

Feb 1, 2009

"People don't die in their dreams," my parents assured me every time I woke them up at 2am because I'd had another nightmare.

"OK, you dreamed you fell off a cliff but you didn't land did you? You caught yourself, you woke yourself up. You didn't land so you didn't really die. You dream died. It's not the same thing as when...say...go back to sleep.

I dream die a few times a year. Usually I'm run through by a Samurai sword, as if my assassins are all sent by Akira Kurosawa. When they stab me everything goes black, my eyes no longer work but my hearing is perfect. I can hear every word that's said over my presumably slumped body which makes me laugh. It feels like I'm eavesdropping on my dreams.

HldMeCls** Texted Texts

2009-02-01T13:21:00.005-06:00

FEBRUARY 1, 2009

The apartment
complex widows
lean over their
balconies to
watch us float
by. ‘I have
useless blue
eyes’ he tells me,
yet another
stranger striking
up conversation.
‘They precede
me into every
room and leave
feelings in their
wake none of
which I can
reimburse. Not
the cleverest
joke or the
deepest
confession.
People need
edges where
doubt and
meaning can
drop off. Blue
eyes never have
edges.

**HldMeCls/Hold Me Close is a series of texts sent as text messages. This is how they appear on my phone before I press send.

January 29th, 2009

2009-01-28T12:50:00.003-06:00

"Katherine just phoned to tell me the funeral’s in an hour," my mother says, “So now I’m frantically rolling my hair trying to look decent. She’s been calling and hanging up for two days because she was put off by the ‘strange voice’ on my answering machine, can you imagine? I told her that’s not a strange voice, that’s Marlene’s voice. How many years has she known you and now she’s hanging up on your voice?”

Wait, who died and why doesn’t she recognize my voice?

Don’t take it so hard, Mo; People forget. You’re a long way away. I’m sure she’d recognize your face, as long as you haven’t done anything too drastic to your hair. It’s just your voice that’s the stranger.

My mother puts the receiver down on the desk and yells from the next room.

It’s not a big deal. I lost my own voice once in Istanbul. It was pretty useless there anyway; my 20 words of Turkish were good for pleasantries about the weather but not much else. I wanted to buy saffron from a shop in the Spice market. The shopkeeper explained in broken English how his was the most popular, most powerful of the entire market because of the spirit living in the barrel. Most beautiful spirit one could ever see. His ancestors had supplied the saffron for Cleopatra’s baths from the same barrel. I wanted to tell him I knew that was bullshit but I couldn’t. It took me three days before I could utter a sound and when I found my voice again, I cried because I didn’t sound like me. But then me crying sounded exactly like me crying so I was fine.

Picking up the receiver again she says

I’ve got to run, Mo. I spent 20 minutes looking for a handkerchief for my purse. I had a drawer full from your father at one point but now I’m down to my last one. I’m always giving them away. It’s more dignified to cry into a handkerchief than a tissue. Crying voices all sound the same.

Best if read on Wednesday, any Wednesday, but it should be a Wednesday

2009-01-28T10:29:00.004-06:00

...The assembly line at the Danziger Lachs factory

The assembly line at the Danziger Lachs factory was made up almost entirely of women. When the Russians took control of Poland at the end of the second world war, the company's owners fled with their secret liqueur recipe and turned a Berlin factory into the sole producer of Daniger Lachs Goldwasser. This "Gold Water" was said to help arthritis and heartache, being especially effective on those who suffered from both. Machines filled the bottles but the women were needed to put in the final ingredient, a 2x2 sheet of gold leaf that would break apart so that when you shook the bottle specks of gold float like snow in a snow globe.

The women stole as many bottles as they could. I'm sorry, liberated as many bottles as they could and what they did not sell they drank at Saturday night parties in my grandmother's apartment. She was the only one with a large enough living room and enough glasses to accommodate them all. She had 9 liqueur glasses each with a tiny white mermaid blown into the stem, found in another apartment whose owners were not expected to returned. When the women started drinking the men, those few that were left, would say, "The queens are taking their baths."At the end of the night the women slid drunk down the banister and land loudly and hardly on their butts near the door. The skinniest among them preferred to walk down the stairs. "The war has made my ass too small."
***

...What's a Wednesday Story?

It's a gift, a small gift, 5 minutes away from reality.

If You Put It On.

2009-01-28T09:27:00.004-06:00

If You Put it On is a piece I performed at Stage Left Studio's New Year's Eve Extravaganza!
Everything comes across better in a red dress.

Watch it now on YouTube.

www.youtube.com

Stove Top: The Photo Novella Series (Part 1)

2009-01-28T09:25:00.008-06:00

Wednesday's Story

2009-01-28T09:10:00.005-06:00

....in Memphis

I visit a Mrs. Dorothy Wharton, retired sales lady from Mary Ellen's Couture. We chat in the living room of her faux villa on Tishamingo road as I admire her collection of coral on the mantel.

"Don't you just love them? I love 'em so much that I won't let anyone touch them, not even to dust. They're from a world beyond that's why they're loaded. With dust, I mean, because I never get to it. Who has time for dust. Too much else to do. Or I'm just too toooo-dely. A tooo-dely old lady. Well who do I know that you know? Do you know Ursula and Louise? Carissa's daughters? They're about your age. God, I miss Carissa. She could make a party out of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She was always so dear. I used to go out and buy her lipsticks after she took to her bed. I'd have to go all the way downtown to Goldsmith to get the Erno Laszlo creams she wanted but I never had a bad thought about it because she could make a party out of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Lucky for all of us she had enough money not to have to. Peanut butter sticks to my teeth. If she liked you she was by your side for life, if she didn't you were snap of the fingers gone, out of existence. Wait I was talking about her daughters, Ursula and Louise. Anyway, they're about your age and Ursula needed a kidney. Really a horrible situation to find yourself in, needing a kidney, so her sister Louise offered her one of hers. Now, Ursula has straight hair and Louise's got curly hair. Well, don't you know that after the operation Ursula's hair started to curl? And she eats sour pickles now which is something Louise has been doing since she was a toddler. Ursula always had more refined taste for food but now she eats those sour pickles by the jar just like Louise. Seems as if now that they share an organ they're becoming twins. From some world beyond."

...WHAT'S A WEDNESDAY STORY???

Growing up my mother had Wednesday's off work. Me, I had to trudge off to school in my god damn green plaid uniform where I had to play nice on the playground and suffer being the last one at the blackboard to finish my math problems. She, SHE, got to stay home and do unimaginable things like listen to her records, sing and dance while mopping the floor, have all her own thoughts all day long. The only way she could convince me to stop pretending to be sick was to promise me a story when I got home. I remember they were strange little concoctions, memories mixed with overheard gossip and sometimes (I realized later) characters she'd lifted from the latest book on her nightstand. Always made up especially for me.

I hope you'll accept these little stories as gifts, a few moments away from reality.

Save Me-Date Me: SEEING VOICES Oct 20th @ 8pm

2008-10-06T11:37:00.005-05:00

A one night stand you won't forget...

WOMEN @ WORK FESTIVAL showcases...

SEEING VOICES
written and performed by Marlene Nichols
directed by Theresa Gambacorta

What's it about?
A woman wakes up one morning to find her long-time lover packing his bag. Her ego tells her to have revenge sex. Her free spirit tells her to cash in the 401K and climb the Himalayas. Her mother tells her to finally do something with her hair. With everyone talking at once just who should she listen to? Solo artist and storyteller Marlene Nichols cranks up the voices in her head for a funny poignant look at love and sex after the breakup.

The Location:
Stage Left Studios
438 W 37th St., Studio 5A
(bet 9th and 10th Ave)
New York City, NY

Money dealings:
$18 at the door
$15 in advance on www.smarttix.com with the code 30FF
(212) 868-4444, Smarttix

www.stageleftstudio.com

First look at JUST BACK FROM DREAMING

2008-10-03T10:29:00.019-05:00

New Tales
New Characters
New Show!

JUST BACK FROM DREAMING

a one woman show

Written & Performed by Marlene Nichols

Directed by Theresa Gambacorta

Premieres in NYC early 2009!

Wait for it...

Hello my friends,

I recently returned from an artist residency with the Field at White Oak Plantation in Florida. Amazing! Interacting with world class artists, rehearsing in the Baryshnikov Dance Studio, deer cavorting on the grounds in "rut" (aka "heat") and me sleeping in a twin bed. Let's just say I had lots of energy to funnel into artistic endeavors which means a new show JUST BACK FROM DREAMING is in the works and will premiere in early 2009!!! Oh...the anticipation... you will laugh and you will cry, promise.

"I hope you're not writing anything illegal."
-my mother

Back by popular demand SEEING VOICES @ Stage Left Studio

2008-05-20T11:25:00.004-05:00

After two sold out shows in March, Stage Left Studio has invited me to perform my solo show SEEING VOICES for a run starting May 29th. It's streamline, svelte, and ready to make you laugh. Wine will flow after the performances and music to inspire dancing on stage. Hell, I'm dancing on stage during the show, you can boogie after. Hope to see you there!
***

SEEING VOICES

written by Marlene Nichols
directed by Theresa Gambacorta

Thursday & Friday May 29th and 30th
Friday & Saturday, June 6th and 7th

ALL SHOWS AT 8PM!!!

The Story:
A woman wakes up one morning to find her long-time lover packing his bag.
Her ego tells her to have revenge sex. Her free spirit tells her to cash in the 401K and climb the Himalayas. Her mother tells her to finally do
something with her hair. With everyone talking at once just who should she
listen to? Solo artist and storyteller Marlene Nichols cranks up the voices
in her head for a funny poignant look at love and sex after the breakup.

Stage Left Studio
(The prettiest jewel box theater in town!)
438 W. 37th St, Suite 5A between 9th and 10th ave
(212) 838-2134
www.stageleftstudio.com

The Money:
$15 in advance with the code MAR
At www.smarttix.com or call (212) 868-4444
$20 at the door

Advanced tickets recommended

2008-03-11T12:43:00.003-05:00

My one woman show SEEING VOICES will have two performances, Thursday, March 27th & Friday, March 28th @ 8pm.

Now you may be asking yourself, "Which performance should you attend?"

Thursday if you love the anticipation and uncertainty of an opening night or the chance to say “I was f**cking there, man” when everyone else is scrambling to get a ticket.

Friday if the electric energy of a closing night when nothing is held in back gets you excited, or you have to restrict all fun to weekends because of your day job.

Can't decide? Come to both. It’s live theater, kids, no two shows are ever the same. A wine reception will follow each performance and rumor has it Friday's show will have an added pre-party. If you choose Friday, email me after you've bought your ticket and I'll send you the pre-show venue info.

FYI: Stage Left Studio is an intimate jewel-box theater on W. 37th St Tickets are best bought in advance at www.smartix.com with the discount code MAR. Use the search words "Seeing Voices' or "Stage Left Studio" to be taken to the appropriate page

Seeing Voices

2007-08-15T15:29:00.001-05:00

Hello Friends!
An excerpt of my new solo show Seeing Voices has been accepted into the Women @ Work festival here in New York City on September 15th!!!

The show is about all the voices in our heads. You know what I'm talking about. There's the one that keeps telling you to cash in your 401K and move to Bali; another keeps reminding you your biological clock is ticking. Oh, and then there's your mother begging you to do something with your hair. What happens to a girl the day her world falls apart and the all those little voices jump in to give her advice? Chaos and humor.

Saturday, September 15th at 8pm.

@Stage Left Studios on 438 W 37th St., Suite 5A

(bet 9th and 10th)

Advanced tickets are suggested as Stage Left is a petite boutique theater. I'll be performing as part of the bill along with work by Richard Ballon.

Stick around after the show for wine and carousing with the performers.

See you there!