This MOVE IT show included some amazingly talented physical/variety performers.

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Starting the show off was a delightful “Oddotorium Puppet Freak Show”. Performed by J. E. Cross.

A pupppet  ’Coney Island’ type side show with the barker and the ‘main attraction.

J.E. Cross and The Cosmic Bicycle Theatre

J. E. Cross and his COSMIC BICYCLE THEATRE presented a beautiful “Puppet Freak Show”.

A very innovative puppet theatre company garnered with much attention which it surely deserves!

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The next act to perform was juggler/dancer Jen Slaw.

Combing the best movement with the grace of a beautiful juggler she made her work look effortless and charming.

Her act was simple, stunning, lyrical and and she is very talented.

Jen Slaw with Clubs

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One of producer Mark Lonergan’s favorite performers and  collaborator on some of Parallel Exit’s best shows is a charmingly gifted funny man Joel Jeske.

His stage presence is hysterical and he played the audience well with his JOEL JESKE TRIO.

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Book Kennison is one of my favorite unique comedic juggling acts.

He is a young man wit lots of talent and abilities.

Keep your eyes out for ‘Book Kennison‘. He is a rising star in the variety scene.

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Shana Solomon’s Phastasamic Physical Theatre

Performing their interpretation of Akira Kurosawa‘s film RAN

The six member company made use of corporeal talent and  unique physical discipline to interpret the essence of the film on stage without hardly any words and no scenery.

A great actor uses these skills before adding the voice.

I was very moved with the creative work that went into this piece.

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A playful duet James and JF came on stage walking cardboard dogs.

The piece was set in the future and included plenty of verbal banter and visual gags.

The comedy duet James and JF consist of  Emily James and Ishah Janssen-Faith.

Inventive, wild, sexy and off the wall funny!

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The Final performer for the evening was one of my favorite clowns. Chris Allison performing his wacky “CONEY ISLAND CHRIS“.

This act is so curious. He proclaims to have learned how to perform  ’sideshow’ feats in an online class.

What happens to him in front of the audience as he attempts to show off his new found skills can only be described as ‘hysterical’.

He was one of the finalist on “AMERICA’S GOT TALENT” and just returned from Germany where he performed in a revue of ‘Newcomers’ with all international artists.

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The evening would not be complete without a chat with the audience by Mark Lonergan.

SUPPORT THE VARIETY ARTS!

He knows how to make it happen. It is up to you…the audience to support it!

Watch out for the next MOVE IT show. They are SOLD OUT fast!

For additional information about Mark Longergan and/or Parallel Exit contact: Parallel Exit

(This is not a complete description of the show. Many of the performers did another turn.

I covered the parts I had room for!)

ALL PHOTOGRAPHS © 2010 Jim Moore

Paul Zaloom and I started working together on making pictures for his puppet shows in early 1978. The first of the shows we worked on was “The World of Plastic”. Paul has a very individual style to his work and it wasn’t difficult to carve photographs out of his shows that were very representative. His bulging eyes and expressive face lend themselves to very funny and theatrical images. It seems that the New York Times and other papers in NY were very appreciative of my style since they could use them in any way they wanted graphically on the pages of their paper.

Show titled WORLD OF PLASTIC. © 2009 Jim Moore

Our next project was for his show in 1981 titled ‘Zaloominations‘. We decided to be a little more playful and use some more drastic lighting to accentuate the event at hand. The piece is called Industrial Park. Here we have Paul with a semiglobe hat and plastic exhaust piping that has a puppet lobster claw with binoculars. A stunning image that was used many times in the media.

Show titled ZALOOMINATIONS © 2009 Jim Moore

The next show was titled CRAZY AS ZALOOM and the piece we did this photograph for was “In The News“. A few of the topical issues in the news in 1982 included pollution, internet and garbage. Paul was savvy in using found objects that reflected these issues in his shows. We wanted to get across the absurd and yet important issues by using these objects from the show in the photographs. A lot of times these visual images never appeared  in the show in the  same configuration as they did in the photographs. They were created custom for the photographs with Paul and I brainstorming for hours together to get the right look.

Paul Zaloom in his show CRAZY AS ZALOOM./© 2009 Jim Moore_All Rights Reserved

The following show Paul ask that we do a specific image for the flyer. He knew exactly what he wanted for the show and we set out to create a visual that worked for his concept. The show titled CREATURE FROM THE BLUE ZALOOM was presented in 1984. We set up a table top and seamless paper on top of it so Paul could ‘cross the desert’ in the studio. With pith helmet and the dehydrated look on his face we came up with this picture.

Paul Zaloom in his piece THE FUTURE from his one man show CREATURE FROM THE BLUE ZALOOM/© 2009 Jim Moore

At the same session we did another series of photographs for his piece titled BASIC INTELLIGENCE. Here Paul dressed up as a Russian soldier with cigar and moustache drinking a glass of ‘whoknowswhat’?

Paul Zaloom in his piece 'Basic Intelligence' from CREATURE FROM THE BLUE ZALOOM/© 2009 Jim Moore_All Rights Reserved

As we worked more and more together we really did get good at making wonderful potent images that sold the show and his ideas.

In 1986 we worked on his show THE THEATRE OF TRASH. This photograph was from his piece In America. I really liked this image as it had a feeling of horror mixed with scifi.

Paul Zaloom in his piece 'In America' from his show THEATRE OF TRASH / © 2009 Jim Moore

In 1991 we worked on his show MY CIVILIZATION. Here we used many different techniques to create the images. Backscreen projection, and other technical changes from our usual bag of tricks. Here is Paul with student learning and READING the ABC’S.

Paul Zaloom in his show MY CIVILIZATION/ ©2009 Jim Moore_All Rights Reserved

Paul moved to Los Angeles around 1998 and started working on a new TV show called BEAKMAN’S WORLD. It was a delightful cross between Mr. Science and Pee Wee Herman’s. Of course Paul was Beakman. Based on a very successful comic strip of the same name. It was very successful show and  there is a ‘Best of Beakman‘ on DVD.

Today Paul is creating more wonderful shows and hopefully we can work again on some inspired images. Here is a excerpt from one of his shows posted on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nj4mJtxl3Lg