MBS PRODUCTIONS

Bringing New Theatre into the World

Welcome

Tickets

Directions

Our Mission

Donations

Auditions

Past Shows

Comedy of Love

Kiss the Boys 2024

Vampire Bros

Adam & Eve 2023

Confession of Nat Turner

Theatre of Death 2022

5 Plays in 5 Days 2019

A Lovely Goodbye

Portrait of a Man

The King of Cage Street

7 Plays in 7 Days, 2018

Blood Feast

Conchita Zaragoza

The Soul Gatherer, 2017

Willa Dee Arvis

Love, Lust, & Lies

Slave Letters, 10/2016

Querolus

Kiss the Boys, 2016

Dante: Paradiso

Slave Letters

Theatre of Death 2015

BBBC Presents: Macbeth!

Dream Cafe 2015

Hotel California

Lovely Confessions

Dante: Purgatorio

The Straight Guy

John XII, 2014

Conchita Z. Tickets

Marianela

Persistence in Memory '14

Dante: Inferno 2013

Forever Lovely

Adam and Eve. 2013

The Futility of Hope

Triumph of Love

Theatre of Death, 2012

The Importance of Lovely

2 Couples 2

Fortune

The Game of Love & Chance

Octavia

7 Plays in 7 Days, 2011

Satyricon

Outrageous, Sexy....

The Soul Gatherer, 2011

Sex & War

Lucifer Descending

Kiss the Boys 2010

Dream Cafe

Persephone

24 hrs of Love

Theatre of Death 2009

John XII

Adam & Eve...

Oedipus Rex

A New Drama

Dream Awake

Pesistence in Memory

Homeland Insecurity

Dante:Inferno

The Lovers

Theatre of Death 2007

Vodka & Kisses

Kiss the Boys

The Soul Gatherer

Theatre of Love

Theatre of Death 2006

...a moment in the life

"Take a trip to Planet Lovely at Stone Cottage in Addison....
Yes, Lovely Uranus is back in all of his glittery, eye-lashed glory. Mark-Brian Sonna as Lovely amazed everyone last year in Alejandro de la Costa's “Outrageous, Sexy, Nekkid Romp”. Audiences were so amazed that they demanded more from Lovely this year. Playwright de la Costa heard the call and obliged...Charles Ballinger of Plano directed de la Costa's tome of semi-love with a deftness that puts everything in its proper place. The farce is properly farcical and he blends the emotionally-painful scenes with the farce skillfully"
Penny Rathbun, Star Newspapers.

"Hilarious, touching, sexy. This play has all these qualities and more. It was unexpectedly deep from a story perspective. I knew it would be funny, I knew it would be sexy...I had no idea that it would touch my heart the way it did. Be warned, it is not for the prudish!! There is explicit language galore and an occasionally naked (quite sexy) guy or two. Mark-Brian Sonna is a master (mistress?) at portraying a conflicted, truly Lovely drag queen who takes no crap from anyone. Run see this show!!"
Goldstar.com

July 19 - NOW EXTENDED till August 18, 2012!

Starring

Mark-Brian Sonna as Lovely
Richard S. Blake as Randy
Dylan Peck as Casey
 
Directed by Charles Ballinger

"Hell hath no fury like a Drag Queen Scorned." Everyone’s favorite 2nd rate Drag Queen is ready for her close up! Follow along with Lovely Uranus’ misadventures as she dispenses unsolicited advice and wrestles with her wigs, make-up, and men, while wearing 6 inch stilettos. This World Premiere promises to shock, titillate, and, of course, make you laugh. But then, what else would you expect from the demented mind of Alejandro de la Costa who penned last season’s Outrageous, Sexy, (nekkid) Romp, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Delights or Love,  2 Couples 2, and Dream Café?

The play is rated NC-17 due to fabulous drag, some bitchy and nasty language, and because of one of Lovely's friends seems to get drunk and find any kind of excuse to strip down.  So yes, thers is nudity in this show. If it bother's you, then this is not the show for you.

Image: 
Thank you to Hunky's Old FAshioned Hamburgers www.hunkys.com, Union Jack Clothing store www.unionjackdallas.com, The Minning Company www.TMCDallas.com, and TapeLenders www.tabelenders.com, for letting us photograph at your locations!
  

REVIEWS:

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING LOVELY

"Love is as messy as washing off mascara." So exclaims Lovely Uranus to her roommate Casey in The Importance of Being Lovely, now playing at MBS Productions.

More accurately, it's Larry Belacroix, the birth name of Lovely Uranus, the drag queen from Beulaville, Texas. In this play about "dating, relationships, sexuality, fidelity and orientation," the story is familiar. Boy meets boy, falls in love, discovers his new love is a lying, cheating louse using him as a one-night stand and boy (the first one) learns what's important about living in the modern age - being himself and finding someone who loves him for who he is. Well, it's close to familiar.

Mark-Brian Sonna plays Lovely Uranus, aka Larry Belacroix. The idea for the character was introduced in Outrageous, Sexy, (nekkid) Romp, also by Alejandro la Costa, although it's unknown that Larry Belacroix is actually the brother of Dickey in The Beulaville Baptist Book Club. The Importance of Being Lovely opens with the last scene of Outrageous as Lovely succumbs to a fling with his youthful roommate, Casey. This fling, which includes Keith, a third member of the triad we never see, is the kind of thing people have been claiming about gay couples for decades; promiscuous, uncontrolled, ready to find a fling without provocation. Nevertheless, if we're honest, this can be said for hetero-se*uals and anyone else who has urges. Even gay relationships grow and ebb, become strained, cause chaos and grief and occasionally become fulfilling. That makes this play a story for all audiences.

As Lovely Uranus, Mark-Brian Sonna continues development of his drag queen persona with class and style. Lovely is funny and pathetic, in the sense of sadness in how he is treated. He's inspiring and wise in the ways of the world. Moreover, though both he and his lovers have a difficult time deciding whether he's a HE or SHE at any moment, Lovely is becoming clear about who he is. Gender orientation issues are in the minds of others, not his. Sonna is a large man in height and girth and he occupies a woman's dress like a bushel of potatoes in a silk pillowcase, but he walks with the grace of one who's walked in heels all his life. He holds his head and body high, and his heavily made-up face and wigs are the epitome of every drag queen I've ever seen portrayed. More importantly, Sonna knows how to tell a story. He has perfect comedic timing, a voice that washes over you comfortably, and the kind of very real pathos and sadness about his life that each of us have experienced at some time. When he's not reminding you he's Lovely, it's easy to forget he's just a person going through a difficult time with relationships and self-worth.

Dylan Peck plays young Casey who seems like a regular housewife with the challenges trying to be a homemaker brings to him and Lovely. His anguish over losing his lover, the unseen third man, is quality acting. It's a quiet pain we see in women who live with empty marriages or abuse. Peck's performance is even more difficult because he performs much of it nude. Nudity onstage in front of a live audience is a special challenge for actors and Peck's work is funny, heartfelt, poignant, and courageous.

 A new excitement enters their relationship, a suitor for Lovely. Richard S. Blake plays Randy as a quiet, underhanded se*ual predator. Blake also plays most scenes in full nudity as he creates a demeanor in Randy that's initially saccharin sweet and romantic and then more like a stalker using Lovely to resolve his own inner demons. His physical and emotional prowess is so strong a woman told him later she didn't want him to come out for bows. As a villain and antagonist who must push the boundaries of what is acceptable to get Lovely to the breaking point, Blake nails it.

There's something to be said about nudity in live theater. You don't see it much and in the rare times you do, it often seems shocking, uncomfortable and distracting to a story. In The Importance of Being Lovely, this isn't the case. I wasn't shocked or uncomfortable. It momentarily surprised me when first unveiled but it quickly became a natural state of being in the story and I found myself seeing nudity as a costume rather than a shocking event.

Speaking of costumes, designs by Larry E. Groseclose are both challenging (how do you costume a nude actor?) and creative. The various outfits, wigs, makeup, and jewelry for Lovely are probably worth the admission. Both visually striking and offering many stage choices for Lovely to work with, these costumes are comic in their own right (she's not the most elegant diva) and really set a major theme in this play. Despite being undressed a lot, Peck and Blake do wear clothes before and after their nudity and their clothing become props during some hilarious scenes while they're nude.

Sonna takes credit for sound, probably because it's a wonderful mix of Diane Lane tunes. Dark, sultry, melancholic, they set the mood in pre-show and intermission but we discover they also have meaning for Lovely as she laments her life choices. One suspects Lane means a lot to Sonna as well.

Lighting and set design is done by Alejandro de la Costa, the playwright. The set is a modern apartment living room, timeless and placeless, which looks like it comes from IKEA, but it's supplemented by a collection of beautifully decorative bottles and a bookshelf with a table book about Barbara Streisand, a book about Frida, and The Secret Art of Dr. Seuss. Lighting is a simple bright wash of the stage. Turning this tiny theater space, a log cabin the city rents for events, into a stage is a creative achievement.

The Importance of Being Lovely is also de la Costa's creation. Originally from Ciudad de los Olivos, three hours from Mexico City, he writes mostly for MBS. His plays include Adam and Eve in the Garden of Delights or Love (Column nomination as Best New Play), Dream Cafe (Best Play of 2010 by critics), and Outrageous, Sexy, (nekkid) Romp. He also directs and has a Column nomination for set design.

De la Costa imagines timeless stories we all relate to, wraps them in a gay perspective, and entertains audiences, the majority of which are straight. His stories transfer to universal themes. His dialogs are comical and poignant, and the situations he creates between people are relevant and funny. He presents archetypes that play power games with each other and the consequences they experience and the lessons they learn teach us how to live.

One gets the idea MBS Productions is a true collaboration, but this show has a clear focus and unity of purpose which only comes from strong direction. Charles Ballinger creates a strong atmosphere of playfulness, interspersed with moments of threat and self-reflection. His use of the full acting area, a small meeting room rather than a stage, lets the audience seem to be in the living room with the actors. He translates de la Costa's work into a playful, playable story and then lets the actors translate his vision to the audience. It's a textbook of good direction.

There's much to see and experience with The Importance of Being Lovely, the latest installment for MBS. As a ballsy, edgy and courageous acting company, they push the boundaries of what's acceptable while finding new ways to tell stories with familiar themes. This is a fully adult show. Don't go if nudity makes you squeamish. However, if you can prove you're 18 and can relax into this charged atmosphere and let yourself get caught up in the story, it's a magnificent place to experience modern experimental theater and see a tasty intro to MBS Productions.

Reviewed by Charlie Bowles, Associate Critic for John Garcia's THE COLUMN


Take a trip to Planet Lovely at Stone Cottage in Addison
By Penny Rathbun

Published: Thursday, August 2, 2012 2:29 PM CDT
prathbun@starlocalnews.com


It's the blood red velvet, five-inch heels that it's impossible to stop looking at.

The rest of the costumes are rather amazing as well.

Yes, Lovely Uranus is back in all of his glittery, eye-lashed glory. Mark-Brian Sonna as Lovely amazed everyone last year in Alejandro de la Costa's “Outrageous, Sexy, Nekkid Romp”.

Audiences were so amazed that they demanded more from Lovely this year. Playwright de la Costa heard the call and obliged with “The Importance of Being Lovely” for this season of MBS Productions.

The comedy (well it would have to be wouldn't it?) begins where “Nekkid Romp” left off, with Lovely setting up housekeeping with his significant other of the moment, Casey, played by Dylan Peck.

Peck gives Casey a sad vulnerability as he constantly picks up after Lovely and waits for someone, preferably Lovely, to make a permanent commitment to him.

Lovely's and Casey's domestic life seems to be bobbing along on calm waves when in strides Randy played by Richard S. Blake.

Randy appears to be a social worker or psychologist or something at the Rainbow Nursing Home. Perhaps he shows up to discuss retirement plans with Lovely. He's really there to upset everybody's vanity case.

He puts the moves on Lovely who goes all atwitter at the attempt. While it's not clear why he goes all southern belle at a man making advances on him, the seduction scene between the two is great fun to watch. Blake sheds his Republican suit and tie with no problem at all.

The play becomes another “nekkid romp” while Randy repeatedly tries to put his clothes back on while hiding from Casey who is tidying up. Peck and Blake play these scenes with flawless timing.

Eventually it's Casey's turn for Blake's attentions. This is when the play becomes something more than a superficial sex farce.

Casey tries to resist Blake's advances, not because he wants to but because he thinks he should. He feels committed to Lovely.

Lovely seems to want to be committed to Casey, but nobody has made any declarations of undying love. A friend of mine would call this a “grow up or get therapy” kind of play. I kept wanting them to get therapy, but then thought better of it. If they did de la Costa would write a play about it and it would show up next season. I'm not ready to sit through Lovely's therapy session.

Time for these characters to emotionally graduate from junior high and learn to manage their sex lives like grownups. Oh dear, could this be a first step toward understanding de la Costa's writing?

A lovely moment comes when Sonna crosses the stage in heels, fully accessorized dress and an expansive picture hat. The man has gorgeous legs.

Another lovely moment is Sonna swanning about in a full-skirted, long-sleeved lace and satin wedding gown. Time for full disclosure, I provided the wedding gown and it couldn't have gone to a better home.

Charles Ballinger of Plano directed de la Costa's tome of semi-love with a deftness that puts everything in its proper place. The farce is properly farcical and he blends the emotionally-painful scenes with the farce skillfully enough that audience members have mostly enjoyed their trip to Planet Lovely.

The run of the show has been extended for a week. It runs at the Stone Cottage in Addison through August 18.

There is nudity and strong language in the show. Be advised. Visit www.MBSProductions.net for ticket information

Contact MBS Productons via email info@Mark-BrianSonna.com or via phone at 214-477-4942