Last Friday I went to Access Theater in lower Manhattan to watch a play by Brandon Ramos, a friend through gf association but a friend none the less. This is the second play of Brandon’s I’ve seen, the first being the Sweet Room, and first I’ve been to at the small 4th floor theater.
This is a new play by Brandon Ramos about Lloyd, a career boxer in Philadelphia in the early 1950s. Waiting to escape the punishment and monotony of the ring, he meets an old friend with a new and dangerous angle. But along with the seduction of this opportunity, the boxer finds he must navigate in a world of vanishing loyalties and patent double-crosses.
I thoroughly enjoyed the play, especially the live boxing at the start of both acts. Gerry Goodstein (Ernie), Steve Kuhel (Lloyd) and Chris George (Val) all played their characters well, and I thought Karen Stanion (Renee) has some of the best lines of the full length script. From talking to Branson, some of the script was writen in notes and thoughts during long winded corporate conferences and the play was very well recieved at last years Summer Festival 56 in Illinois. The Palooka has since ended its run, however, I would keep on the look out for future spots by Brandon, a must watch playwrite.
Vote for the Palooka in the New York Innovative Theatre Awards
NYC Stories Blog on the play