Boiled Horse Productions to Bring STROKE OF GENIUS to New York City Fringe Festival

Boiled Horse Productions will bring five performances of its provocative creation to the New York City Fringe Festival with FRIGID New York in April.

Stroke of Genius: Pantomime Masturbation Throughout Performing Arts History is a live comedy performance that takes the form of an academic lecture…with a twist. The stage show– fully scripted with some elements of improvisation– centers around a polished multi-media video/slide lecture. This impassioned presentation is given by a (fictional) career academic whose field of specialized research is best described as “bizarre.”

Recently, the Stroke team was excited to again be selected by Orlando Fringe (the United States’ largest Fringe organization, with annual attendance of 50,000 - 75,000) for its prestigious curated winter festival. Soon, they will delight and confuse New York audiences with their careful artisanal blend of cultured and juvenile humor. In addition to familiar offerings like stickers, their merch table features “Intellectual Masturbation lotion.”

The plot is described as follows:

“This professor takes ‘jacking around’ very seriously! Dr. Winkworth-Pérez has devoted the past decade of his academic career to the preservation of a highly specialized art form: he is the world's foremost expert on pantomime masturbation conventions dating back to ancient Greece. Attendees of this prestigious multi-media lecture series will become familiar with regional styles of comedic simulated self-pleasure in their correct historical contexts.

Following last semester's workshop, ‘All in the Wrist: Vaudeville Jack Practicum,’ this syllabus expands its focus on early cinema. Experience an in-depth study of that mysterious genius of the 1920s silver screen: the legendary Spankin' Shyster.”

In his overly serious college professor persona, Boiled Horse founder Shane Mayforth maintains an impenetrable “straight man” deadpan. But offstage, he is franker: “Stroke of Genius is exactly the story we have been wanting to tell,” said Mayforth. “Is it a story that needed to be told? That’s going to depend on how easily offended you are. To me, it’s about three things: one, the futility of looking for hidden subtext where none was intended. Two, the absurdity of people who fixate on inherently stupid subject matter. And, most importantly: three, the opportunity to make d!ck jokes. So many d!ck jokes.” 
Stroke of Genius features nine professionally shot and edited “silent film” segments, historically accurate points of interest, and– as previously stated– dozens upon dozens of d!ck jokes. It also has an interesting tie-in to the LGBTQ+ community, as the 1920s Spankin’ Shyster is played by genderqueer/trans-identifying performer/head writer Vulva Va-Voom in impressive male makeup.

The two writer/actors on the Stroke project (Mayforth and Va-Voom) have previously toured their collaboration Hollywood Psychic of the Golden Age and will tour Stroke to four states this year.

Photo credit: Gonchran Durocher

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