“Fresh Meat” — but not Sirloin

By Ernest Kearney  —  Fresh Meat is set in a dystopian future where the world order seems to have fused into three distinct classes: cannibals, furries and butchers.

Now the only category of that trio which may need some explanation is “furries.”

 

fur·ry

fərē/noun

plural noun: furries

  1. An enthusiast for animal characters with human characteristics, in particular a person who dresses up in costume as such a character or uses one as an avatar online.

 

The origin, of the Furry craze, is debated but it has developed into a world-wide subculture of cosplay which originated in Japan. (Of course!) There’s even an offshoot of right-wing furries obsessed with merging the cosplay with Nazism, termed aptly “alt-furry.

“Fresh Meat” Playwright/Producer Karen Casady (HFF18)

Today there are online societies – Furcadia, FurryMUCK and even a community within the virtual environment of Second Life, as well as conventions held globally, such as Califur held in San Diego.** writer's hand **

I imagine playwright Karen Bram Cassidy had some seed of an idea involving the perverse appetites of humankind; however, whatever that seed might have been, it received no nurturing by either her or director Eric White and the concept took no root.

bronze ribbon - Fringe FestivalThough the cast rants and hoots, prances about in cat masks, waves around plastic meat cleavers and gnaws on rubber hands (all of which looks to have been purchased from Hollywood’s Largest Toy Store), there is not much play to this play, and the whole evening is merely “full of sound and furries, signifying nothing.”

An apology for the pun, and a low-grade Bronze Medal.

♦     ♦     ♦

 

**  writer's hand **  Once going to review a play in San Diego, my wife Marlene and I ran into a crowd attending Califur; a smirking bow-tied coyote began flirting with Marlene.  I had to chase his furry ass off with an over-sized mallet from Acme Rents.

♦     ♦     ♦

Fresh Meat

Played During the Hollywood Fringe Festival 2018

 

 

 

To Learn More about Fresh Meat Go To: hff18.org/5097

 

 


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An award-winning L.A. playwright and rabble-rouser of note who has hoisted glasses with Orson Welles, been arrested on three continents and once beat up Charlie Manson. His first play, "Among the Vipers" was a semi-finalist in the Julie Harris Playwriting Competition and was featured in the Carnegie-Mellon Showcase of New Plays. It was produced at the NPT Theater in Ashland, Oregon and Los Angeles’ celebrated Odyssey Ensemble Theatre. His following play, “The Little Boy Who Loved Monsters” was produced at The Hollywood Actors Theater, where he earned praise from the Los Angeles Times for his “…inordinately creative writing.” The play went on to numerous other productions including Berlin’s The Black Theatre under the direction of Rainer Fassbinder who wrote in his program notes of Kearney, “He is a skilled playwright, but more importantly he is a dangerous one.” Ernest Kearney has worked as literary manager or as dramaturge for among others The Hudson Theater Guild, Nova Diem and the Odyssey Ensemble Theatre, where he still serves on the play selection committee. He has been the recipient of two Dramalogue Awards and a finalist or semi-finalist, three times, in the Julie Harris Playwriting Competition. His work has been performed by Michael Dunn, Sandra Tsing Loh, Jack Colvin and Billy Bob Thornton, and to date, either as playwright or director, he has upwards of a hundred and thirty productions under his belt, including a few at the Bob Baker Marionette Theater as puppeteer. Kearney remains focused on his writing, as well as living happily ever after with his lovely wife Marlene. His stage reviews and social essays can be found at TheTVolution.com and workingauthor.com. Follow him on Facebook.

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