The reviews are coming in for ELEPHANT IN EVERY ROOM I ENTER

Critics are raving about Gardiner Comfort after the first week of performances for The Elephant in Every Room I Enter! Find out what people are saying about this high energy show about his week attending the Tourette Syndrome Association National Conference in Washington, DC! Gardiner Comfort shares his life as an actor with this neurological disorder and discovers, for the first time in his life, how he can be himself.

"Great For: Energetic people with or without Tourette syndrome

Gardiner Comfort takes on the realities of living with Tourette syndrome in this hyper-personal one-man show. Using a mix of experimental elements, including Tourette-inspired choreography, he recreates the experience of his condition, mapping out the textures of his world over a week-long conference. The most interesting aspect of the show is its implicit discomfort. As Comfort presents different tics with a comedic bent, he challenges his audience to laugh, while also forcing them to wonder whether they should."

"Like any savvy storyteller, Gardiner Comfort reaches his audience not by asking them to dispel their stereotypes toward Tourette Syndrome but instead by sharing with them his earnest and often comical anecdotes associated with his condition. All the more impressive is that Comfort presents this via his one-man show The Elephant in Every Room I Enter that he also co-created (alongside director Kel Haney). Most meaningful still is the fact that La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club is opening up dialogue surrounding this often misunderstood syndrome and how Comfort takes this opportunity and runs with it."

"There are moments of great beauty and humanity. Clumsy times when perhaps a better interstitial could be imagined and of course as in any life, the quiet waiting for something else to happen....All the elements knit together to create a piece that illuminates one of the most visible things that a person carries with him into his life, but it further made this reviewer ponder all the unseen tics and experiences that follow each and every one of us into every cranny we enter."

"This style allows the play to capture both the earnest, realistic experience of a person that one expects from an autobiographical one-man-show while simultaneously offering an expressionistic glimpse into the workings of an actor’s mind. Theatergoers get lost in his psyche just as he must become lost in the wheels of his chaotic mind on a regular basis. It’s a high-octane, radical experience of a solo drama, a refreshing piece of experimentation in a form so often filled with monotonous self-aggrandizement." 

"Co-creator and performer Gardiner Comfort leads a bold and captivating performance in this original piece and deftly toes the line between confidence and humility as he explores the exclusion and misunderstanding that accompanies a life burdened by Tourette Syndrome. Comfort and fellow creator and director Kel Haney escort audiences into his psyche, neither asking for pity nor promising false hope, in a sensitive comedy sure to educate and entertain."

La MaMa presents
THE ELEPHANT 
IN EVERY ROOM 
I ENTER
created by Gardiner Comfort & Kel Haney
featuring Gardiner Comfort
directed by Kel Haney

October 15 - 31, 2015

The First Floor Theatre
74A East 4th Street
(between Bowery and Second Avenue)
New York, NY 10003

Tickets: $18 Adults; $13 Students/Seniors
For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE

First Look: The Elephant in Every Room I Enter

Named one of the Off-Broadway shows to see 

this month by Huffington Post:

"Great For: Energetic people with or without Tourette syndrome"

"Gardiner Comfort takes on the realities of living with Tourette syndrome in this hyper-personal one-man show. Using a mix of experimental elements, including Tourette-inspired choreography, he recreates the experience of his condition, mapping out the textures of his world over a week-long conference. The most interesting aspect of the show is its implicit discomfort. As Comfort presents different tics with a comedic bent, he challenges his audience to laugh, while also forcing them to wonder whether they should."

Lauren Duca, Huffington Post

All photos by Jenny Anderson

Gardiner Comfort's solo play, The Elephant in Every Room I Enter is now running at The First Floor Theatre at La MaMa.  Created in collaboration with Kel Haney, in Elephant Gardiner uses his erratic and energetic performance style, and evocative details of his week attending the Tourette Syndrome Association National Conference in Washington, DC, to share his life as an actor with this neurological disorder and discovers, for the first time in his life, how he can be himself. 

"Comfort is a charming, versatile performer: He can dance, shift personas, inhabit multiple characters with dialects and physicality, and somehow exude a vulnerability wrapped in confidence.... a talented performer with TS sharing honest, touching stories."

- New York Theatre Review

La MaMa presents
THE ELEPHANT 
IN EVERY ROOM 
I ENTER
created by Gardiner Comfort & Kel Haney
featuring Gardiner Comfort
directed by Kel Haney

October 15 - 31, 2015

The First Floor Theatre
74A East 4th Street
(between Bowery and Second Avenue)
New York, NY 10003

Tickets: $18 Adults; $13 Students/Seniors
For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE

Playbill Goes Behind The Scenes with Gardnier Comfort

Playbill.com went behind the scenes with Gardiner Comfort for his one-man show, The Elephant In Every Room I Enter coming to The First Floor Theatre at La MaMa:

"In The Elephant in Every Room I Enter, Gardiner Comfort shares his life as an actor with a neurological disorder and discovers, for the first time in his life, how he can be himself after attending the Tourette Syndrome Association National Conference in Washington, DC. The show was created by Comfort and Kel Haney; Haney directs. Performances begin Oct. 15."

Read the full article: HERE  

La MaMa presents
The Elephant 
in Every Room 
I Enter
created by Gardiner Comfort & Kel Haney
featuring Gardiner Comfort
directed by Kel Haney

October 15 - 31, 2015

The First Floor Theatre
74A East 4th Street
(between Bowery and Second Avenue)
New York, NY 10003

Tickets: $18 Adults; $13 Students/Seniors; ten $10 tickets are available for every performance, in advance only, first come first served via web, phone or at the box office.

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE

Gardiner Comfort Video on BroadwayWorld

Check out the BroadwayWorld StageTube Exclusive video featuring Gardiner Comfort talking about his solo show, The Elephant in Every Room I Enter, coming to The First Floor Theatre at La MaMa - October 15 - 31, 2015.

La MaMa presents
The Elephant 
in Every Room 
I Enter

created by Gardiner Comfort & Kel Haney
featuring Gardiner Comfort
directed by Kel Haney

October 15 - 31, 2015

The First Floor Theatre
74A East 4th Street
(between Bowery and Second Avenue)
New York, NY 10003

Tickets: $18 Adults; $13 Students/Seniors; ten $10 tickets are available for every performance, in advance only, first come first served via web, phone or at the box office.

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE

6 Questions: GARDINER COMFORT

Gardiner Comfort's solo performance, The Elephant in Every Room I Enter, returns to La MaMa on October 15th!  Gardiner took time out from rehearsals to answer our 6 Questions about the show, downtown performance and who inspires him.

1. The Elephant in Every Room I Enter is about your going to the Tourette Syndrome Association National Conference in Washington DC. How and when did you realize that your experience there had the makings of a performance?
When I was down there and taking notice of all of the people (mainly kids) with Tourette's I became obsessed with them. When I returned from the conference to New York to continue working with (director and co-creator) Kel Haney -on a new show in the Mabou Mines Residency, I couldn't stop talking about all of the things that happened in DC and their theatrical nature. I'd describe all of the tics I'd hear and how emotionally dramatic it all was and Kel was very taken with the stories. We were having trouble coming up with a story to tell in our new show and Kel grinned and said, "this is our show."

2. The show is returning to La MaMa this Fall after a run in The Club at La MaMa last season. What did you learn from that initial run and will the show be different upon it's return?
We learned all about the trials and tribulations of production and marketing and how much we really had to learn. We learned a great deal from audience members who had never seen something quite like our show. Many people were noticeably riveted and showed us how unique our show is. I also learned how exhausting the show is, to be on stage, alone, for over an hour, running around, impersonating people and their tics and never wanting to slow down. It was quite a feat, especially since Kel and I had only just created the piece and I was barely off book! I look forward to going at it again with fresh legs. I think it'll be a lot more fun and less exhausting.

3. What do you want audiences to take away from the show with them?
I'd like audiences to come away feeling like a poodle in a washing machine, i.e. that they have never seen anything quite like our show and that the emotional, thematic experience leaves them reeling but excited. Also, that I am the greatest actor the world has ever seen and am available for Bar Mitzvah's.

4. If you weren't an actor, what would you be?
A hippopotamus.

5. Who or what inspires you?
People who do and say crazy things in public, without necessarily being crazy. People who simply want to express something without filtering themselves. And then when someone else responds, or joins in (often it's me, in either position) and something spontaneous and theatrical happens right there on the street or in the subway. And then it runs its course and the two excitedly high five or something and go on about their busy lives. Everyone is busy in New York. No matter how destitute or unimportant, everyone seems to have some game they are running, or somewhere to be. Which is actually positive, I think, because the frenzied nature of the city keeps us on our toes. I don't know if it would be the same if New York had more of a laid back, Portland or Austin vibe. Those exciting moments that can't be written but have always been characteristic of New York City. It's a special place that seems to have a blend of open mindedness, acceptance, and aggressive competition, which often comes across as intolerance. But I think it's actually exciting and provides inspiration for an exchange of ideas. I also believe that the two create a yin and yang that makes the city feel alive. I don't think I would feel as excited if I lived in like LA or somewhere where attitude is simply seen as negative. We need that darkness. 

Also, the wilderness inspires me. And playing sports. And children.

6. What does working at La MaMa mean to you?
It means that there is still a home for me downtown. It's meaningful to come back to a downtown institution when I grew up interning at PS 122 and HERE and going to see Richard Foreman and Mabou Mines and all types of crazy stuff downtown. It feels like home. I love downtown theater because it's the anti-Broadway. The only competition is in place to encourage new work, not to cut each other down. People are doing what they're doing because they love it, and they want to produce something new.

La MaMa presents
THE ELEPHANT 
IN EVERY ROOM 
I ENTER
Created by Gardiner Comfort & Kel Haney
Featuring Gardiner Comfort
Directed by Kel Haney

October 15 - November 01, 2015 
Thursday - Saturday at 7:30pm; Sunday at 2pm

The First Floor Theatre
@La MaMa
74A East 4th Street
(between Bowery and Second Avenue)
New York, NY 10003

Tickets: $18 Adults; $13 Students/Seniors; ten $10 tickets are available for every performance, in advance only, via web/phone/box office

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE

Howlround Series on Disability in Theater

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act on July 26th, our friends at Howlround recently ran a great series of articles focusing on issues of accessibility and visibility in theatre. With our productions of Medea by Dario D'Ambrosi/Teatro Patologico (from Italy) and The Elephant in Every Room I Enter by Gardner Comfort we wanted to share these important articles.

Theatre Access: Thinking Beyond the Ramp 
by Ruth Zamoyta

Ruth Zamoyta of New Jersey Theatre Alliance describes obstacles to theatre attendance faced by patrons with disabilities, and some programs in New Jersey that are working to overcome them.

Pause, Move Forward: Physicality and Inner Strength in Colossal  
by Spencer Shannon

Spencer Shannon on Colossal by Andrew Hinderaker, produced by Boston's Company One Theatre.

Bodies On The Line: Able-Bodied Actors, Disabled Roles, and Praise 
by Eli Van Sickel

Scholar Eli Van Sickel examines the casting of able-bodied performers to play disabled characters through the performances of Bradley Cooper, Daniel Radcliffe, and Kevin Spacey.

The Actor’s Body 
by Natalie Osborne
Actor Natalie Osborne discusses the misconception that an actor’s body needs to be “perfect” through the teachings of Jerzy Grotowski.

First Look: THE ELEPHANT IN EVERY ROOM I ENTER

Here's a first look at Gardiner Comfort in the world premier of his solo show,  

The Elephant in Every Room I Enter now at The Club @ La MaMa through October 19th.

 

A strikingly intimate solo show created by Comfort and his frequent collaborator, Kel Haney. Using an erratic and energetic performance style (a nod to Tourette’s itself), Comfort shares his life as an actor with Tourette Syndrome.

La MaMa presents

THE ELEPHANT 

IN EVERY ROOM 

I ENTER

Created by Gardiner Comfort & Kel Haney
Performed by Gardiner Comfort
Directed by Kel Haney

October 3, 2014 - October 19, 2014 
Friday & Saturday at 10pm / Sunday at 6pm

The Club @ La MaMa
74 A East 4th Street
(between Bowery and Second Avenue)
New York, NY 10003

Tickets: $18 Adults/$13 Students/Seniors; Ten tickets priced at $10 are available in advance only on a first come first served basis.  Not available day of show.

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE

6 QUESTIONS: Kel Haney

1. How did THE ELEPHANT IN EVERY ROOM I ENTER come about? 
In 2013, Gardiner [Comfort] hired me to direct a remounting of his first solo show, YOU'RE NOT TOUGH at Dixon Place. I immediately loved working with him--he's a phenomenal performer, generous collaborator, and he's got a brain full of beautiful, abstract, chaotic creativity that works very differently than mine.YOU'RE NOT TOUGH is a series of non-biographical monologues, in which Gardiner plays characters he's observed in NYC, but (in the version we presented last December) there was also a highly personal "Tourette's Dance," which Gardiner created with his mother, Jane Comfort. For me, the "Tourette's Dance" was a personal exploration that felt like a departure from the rest of the piece and deserved to be developed more fully. When Gardiner received a Mabou Mines residency in January '15 and asked me to come onboard as his collaborator, I suggested we use the time/resources to generate autobiographical material for him to perform and he was totally game. When Gardiner went to the National Tourette's Syndrome Association conference in DC in April '14, we were actually working on the structural skeleton of a different piece--but when he came back and started sharing with me his experiences of that week, we very quickly recognized that his 'week away at the conference' would be the framework for our piece. Our experience with Mabou Mines was exceptionally positive and fruitful--and we received extremely useful feedback from our showing in May. Within a week, Nicky Paraiso contacted Gardiner about performing at La MaMa and gave him the option to perform either YOU'RE NOT TOUGH or THE ELEPHANT IN EVERY ROOM I ENTER--we chose to keep developing the later. 

2. What have you learned during the making of this show? 
I've learned that that the reverence I've always had for playwrights was totally spot on--I've never created a piece from scratch before and it's just as crazy-making and isolating as I thought it would be. The way we've created this piece is by me interviewing Gardiner-- first jotting down stories/ideas on index cards, then storyboarding. We also record our conversations, and our stellar associate, Nora Ives transcribes it all. Then, I go through the transcriptions, cutting and pasting (and altering Gardiner's words as little as possible), then handing him a a text to read aloud and we edit together. Through my collaboration with Gardiner, I've learned to function on a higher, more intimate level of collaboration than I've ever worked on before--it requires a specific brand of trust, patience, compassion and humor from both of us.

3. What would you like audience to take away from the show? 
First and foremost, I want the audience to take a way a bit of awareness--this will totally sound trite, but I've found that even just a tiny bit of understanding of someone's differentness can go a long way. Yes, this pertains specifically to Tourette's Syndrome, and even more specifically to Gardiner's individual experience living with Tourette's, but I believe it's larger than that. In the piece, Gardiner very aptly articulates how he analyzes and judges the appearance and actions of the other people at the Tourette's conference--we all do this, all the time. Maybe, after spending time with Gardiner, as he describes what it's like to live with an neurological disorder, we'll all be a bit kinder/more aware, less likely to stare/judge when we encounter someone who appears to be differently-abled. Also, I hope that we dispel some of the stereotypes about Tourette's and that people walk away understanding that Gardiner's relationship to TS is extremely complicated and that his brilliant, energetically electric, artistic sensibilities are intricately connected to how his mind works. 

4. What was the last good book you read? 
I took ten days away in Maine and decided it was apropos for me to read Elizabeth Stout's OLIVE KITTERIDGE (which takes place in a Maine coastal town). I'd randomly picked it up in Charlottesville, VA thrift shop the month before. I'm a total sucker for fiction where the narrative point of view shifts from character to character--and the more quotidian, the better. These connected short stories really swept me up--I was simultaneously moved and disturbed...the people in that small town (above all, the title character), do some pretty amazing and pretty f-ed up things. I enjoyed it a whole lot. 

5. Who or what inspires you? 
Agh, everything and everyone with whom I come into contact?! That little girl I observed in the park this afternoon who I overheard lecturing her dad about how she hates losing control on her scooter and he shouldn't let go, the young woman who was so excited when I agreed to try her own concoction at the bagel shop this morning, the music I'm listening to right now, from our ELEPHANT sound designer, Elisheba Ittoop (I wish I knew what this track is called, because I want to marry it). I feel most inspired when I am exposed to the largest variety of experience: taking in high and low (and everything in between) culture, creating my own work, and having free time to be a real person. 

6. What does working at La MaMa mean to you? 
Working at La Mama means having the freedom and space to create what Gardiner & I feel compelled to create, right now. We've been greeted by nothing but support from Nicky, Mia, Bev, Amy, John and everyone at La MaMa--it's like they've been saying, "We trust you--go make what you need to make." And that feels awesome and rare and necessary. It's also quite an honor for me--I remember first reading about La MaMa in college--it's a wonderful feeling to be embraced by such a storied and beloved institution.



La MaMa presents
THE ELEPHANT 
IN EVERY ROOM 
I ENTER
Created by Gardiner Comfort & Kel Haney
Performed by Gardiner Comfort
Directed by Kel Haney

October 3, 2014 - October 19, 2014 
Friday & Saturday at 10pm / Sunday at 6pm 

The Club @ La MaMa
74 A East 4th Street
(between Bowery and Second Avenue)
New York, NY 10003

Tickets: $18 Adults/$13 Students/Seniors; Ten tickets priced at $10 are available in advance only on a first come first served basis.  Not available day of show.

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE