Solo Shows
Love Me FOrever Billy H. Tender
Enter Billy H. Tender, Canadian teen pop idol. Billy is about to play new music for a raging audience in Toronto, but his family is elsewhere. His theatre theorist mother, Stella, has absconded from her research and is secretly soliciting phone sex with strangers. Hal, Billy’s adoring younger brother, hasn’t left his room… and no one is answering his calls.
Following a sold-out premiere at Toronto’s Videofag, this one-man tragicomedy played Kingston, ON and New York City to rave reviews and must-see endorsements from The New York Times, NY Theatre Guide, Huffington Post, City Guide NY, Stage Buddy, Broadway World, and more.
Reviews:
The New York Times
"...charming, bittersweet... a treasure... [a] comedy about a pop star in crisis, his adoring little brother and their theater-theorist mother -- all played by Mr. LaVercombe."
New York Theatre Guide
"...a sucker punch to the diaphragm that makes you acknowledge what parts of yourself have been shut down... labyrinthine, psychological, tragicomedy masterpiece."
Jose Solis - Stage Buddy, New York
"Billy H. Tender was funny, energetic & punch-in-the-gut moving. Jesse LaVercombe gives three astonishing performances. A real NYC gem!"
Broadway World / Maxamoo Podcast, New York
"Absolutely amazing. [LaVercombe] seems possessed by these characters... he doesn't have any costume changes, he just changes his mannerisms and the tone of his voice, and then he's someone completely different... I was really moved."
Time Out, New York
"He resembles a young Meryl Streep… it’s enough to make you wonder where LaVercombe might be in five years."
Theater in the Now, New York
“Hyper-ambitious… visceral… Love Me Forever Billy H. Tender thrives on precision.”
Theatre is Easy, New York
"Love Me Forever [Billy H. Tender] trades on pop culture riffs and self-conscious millennial humor but quickly detours into sensual and disturbing terrain… probing, sincere, and highly entertaining... has clearly benefited from polished direction and dramaturgy... Adrian Shepherd has not only produced an album’s worth of original pop music, but also a whole universe of perfectly timed digitized blips, swipes, and pulses. It's stunning work."
Ilana Simons, New York Theatre Guide Interview
"What a mind on fire—he lets us in on his play with his own electric genius."
Show Score, Collected Results, New York
Production History:
Kick & Push Festival, Kingston, Ontario, 2017
The New York International Fringe Festival, 2016
Videofag, Toronto, 2016
Directed by Adam Lazarus
Dramaturgy by Guillermo Verdecchia
Music by Adrian Shepherd-Gawinski and Jesse LaVercombe
Sound Design by Adrian Shepherd-Gawinski
Design by Beth Kates (Kingston), Shannon Lea Doyle (Toronto, NYC)
Choreography by Neeky Dalir
Stage Managed by Meghan Maguire (Kingston), Laura Malseed (NYC), Alexa Polenz (Toronto)
Produced by Curtis te Brinke, William Ellis and Jordan Tannahill (Toronto), Ned Moore and Jana Fredericks (NYC), Liam Karry (Kingston)
Interviews:
StageBuddy, New York:
Theater in the Now, New York:
http://www.theaterinthenow.com/2016/08/spotlight-onjesse-lavercombe.html
PREACHER MAN
A man tied to an electric chair tells his audience what it feels like to lead a fulfilled life. A short solo play.
**BEST SHORT SOLO AWARD** - UNITED SOLO FESTIVAL, NYC
**BEST SCRIPT** + **BEST PERFORMANCE** + **BEST PRODUCTION** - RED CURTAIN INTERNATIONAL, KOLKATA, INDIA
REVIEWS:
BLOGTO, TORONTO
"It sure challenged my assumptions of what I thought clowns were all about... Well paced and chillingly told."
NASTY SHADOWS, FREDERICTON, NEW BRUNSWICK
"Both hilarious and uncomfortable."
PLANK MAGAZINE, VANCOUVER
"Cuts to the bone... There are tons of laughs, well, laughs that make you uncomfortable... LaVercombe is chilling and expert in his delivery."
PRODUCTION HISTORY:
The National Theatre School of Canada, Montreal, 2012
Toronto Festival of Clowns, 2012
St. Thomas University, Fredericton, New Brunswick, 2012
Vancouver Fringe Festival, 2013
United Solo Theatre Festival, New York City, 2013
The Red Curtain International Theater Festival (digital), Kolkata, India, 2021
Directed by Adam Lazarus
Dramaturgy by Adam Lazarus and Jodi Essery
Assistant Directed by Ben Wheelwright (Fredericton)
Technical Direction by Mark Bye (Montreal), Chris Saad (Fredericton), Lilla Goettler (New York City)
Staged Managed by Rachel Dawn Woods (Fredericton), Step Taylor (Vancouver), Alexis Wilcock (New York City), Andrew Chown (Red Curtain Festival)