Thank you to all who purchased or otherwise acquired a limited edition copy of our recording. At the time of this posting, there are about ten copies left for sale at mayvanoskan.bandcamp.com tied up with ribbons and waiting for you. Credits are as follows:

The Ape Woman: Live at The Berkshire Fringe was recorded at the Daniel Arts Center, Bard College at Simon’s Rock. Recording and all technical post-production wizardry by Dave Rice. 

The Ape Woman: A Rock Opera was written and composed by May van Oskan. All rights reserved. 

Arranged and performed by:

May van Oskan – lead vocals, ukulele

Nina Violet – viola, violin, clarinet, vocals

Marciana Jones – autoharp, vocals

Adam Lipsky – keyboards

Michele Jones – guitar

Ashley Clayton – bass

Leo Suarez – percussion

Narrated by:

Justin Taylor – The Sideshow Barker

Adam Petkus – The Doctor

Bernard Vash* – Hermann Otto

Christopher Kann* – Theodore Lent

*appearing courtesy Actors Equity Association.

The Ape Woman was just featured in Berkshire On Stage: Best Theatre of 2013! Gail M. Burns writes: “At the 2013 Berkshire Fringe Festival (BFF) my favorite was May van Oskan’s remarkable rock opera The Ape Woman… Even in death she was used and abused by the patriarchal world that saw her as less than human. While the story is tragic, van Oskan’s distinctive music and lyrics reached to the heart of the tale and made it visceral and poignant.”

A link to the full article is on the Gallery&Press page. Happy new year, and thank you to everyone — press, cast, band, production, tech– who made 2013 the most remarkable year yet for The Ape Woman family. 

The long awaited LIVE ALBUM, recorded at The Berkshire Fringe! Listen to the show in its entirety, share it with your friends, corporeal and otherwise. Feliz Dia de los Muertos!

Get it here: https://mayvanoskan.bandcamp.com/album/the-ape-woman-live-at-the-berkshire-fringe

Just in time for Dia de los Muertos, The Ape Woman LIVE at The Berkshire Fringe is finally set to drop on November 2nd! This beautifully recorded album of the entire live show as it was performed in August will be available at mayvanoskan.bandcamp.com and while you’re there, you can check out some recent live solo recordings by May van Oskan. Thank you again to the folks at the Fringe, and especially to our amazing sound guy and recording engineer Dave Rice for making it happen.

We did it! HUGE thank you to Sara Katzoff, Peter Wise, Ryan Olson, Tim Cryan, and all the outstanding interns at The Berkshire Fringe. They made it easy and delightful for us to bring a very tricky show to a whole new audience. Thanks also to Willy Mason for letting us borrow the coolest tour bus ever. I didn’t want to go home, and indeed that sentiment prevailed over many in our ensemble. 

So what’s next? Well we’ve got an amazing live recording by the immeasurable engineer Dave Rice (pictured far right, looking pensive and mysterious as ever) that will soon become our new live album! That’s what. I’m setting up a preorder, so watch this space! And if you’d like said album to arrive in your ears sooner, that donate button is still working. 

Oh, one more thing, for our fans on Martha’s Vineyard: some of the ensemble will be presenting a cabaret-style version of the show at the Oak Bluffs Arts District gallery walk on August 10th, please stop by for a song or stay for the whole shebang!

Our first run in a major city was a SMASH! Thank you to everyone who came out and supported us at The Exit Theatre. Time to rest up, fly across the country, and do it all again. Oh, and wash those costumes…

The rest of the company arrives from the East Coast in just under a week. Ape Woman headquarters (aka my kitchen) is already turning into a sideshow.

Kicking it at the studio.

What a nice way to start a Monday. Ash Clayton and I stopped by FCC Free Radio this morning as the musical guest for Stage Time with Steven Alan Green. We played a special version of Glass Coffin, featuring ukulele and theremin. You can listen to the podcast here.

Thank you very much to Steven for having us on his show, and to his lovely co-host Justine for inviting us. We had a wonderful time.

Time to get your smock on.

I had the enviable pleasure of working with artist Alisa Javits at her home studio all afternoon, getting some paint and a lot of imagination on canvas for the set of The Ape Woman. The idea is to keep it light and portable so that, in the spirit of the circus, we can roll it all up and take the show on the road.

I am amazed at how many artists, like Alisa, have chosen to get involved with the show on such a bareknuckle, all-day-long level. In honor of these hardworking ape appreciators, I’ll be adding a new feature to the website to host their bios and links to their work. Stay tuned for that. If great art is an opportunity for generosity, collaboration, and co-creation, then I guess this is it.