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tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21399217230205740362016-04-28T19:10:42.309-07:00Night-Tinted GlassesZahir Bluehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139921723020574036.post-90249291649326780712016-04-25T12:32:00.003-07:002016-04-28T19:10:42.334-07:00Weapons (review)

Spoilers ahoy!

First--the world premiere play by Chris Collins now playing at the Lounge on Theatre Row is Weapons. The program describes it as the third in a trilogy about a family in San Francisco. After watching this play, I want to see (or at least read) those other two plays.

Second--this fits into the genre of family tragedy very much in the vein of Eugene O'Neil. I felt reminded in some ways of A Long Day's Journey Into Night as well as maybe Mourning Becomes Electra. This is high praise. Higher praise is how the cast all managed to avoid the trap of such plays, at least for actors who haven't quite mastered some levels of craft. A temptation to simply "ride the emotion" of the action exists in these kinds of works, and must be avoided at all costs.

The cast of Weapons avoided that trap. What we see in every moment on stage are people trying--often desperately--to achieve goals, goals they long for with all their souls, but half the time have no real idea how to achieve it. Several don't even know precisely what they themselves desire. In other words, we see not actors performing roles but human beings struggling with life.

We see us.

The family in question consists essentially of five persons. Paul (Cris D'Annunzio) is a retired cop now running a bar in San Francisco. His wife died of cancer roughly a year past. His daughters are teenage Lara (Jodi Wofford) and adult, estranged Sarah (Paige Herschell). Living with Paul and Lara at the family home is May (Madelynn Fattibene), Paul's girfriend, when his brother Bill (Matt Kirkwood) comes for a visit at Lara's request.

Add to the brew Ellen (Katie May Porter), an old flame of Paul's from high school who recently showed up at his bar.

It made for a very harrowing night of theatre, watching this family tear itself apart, poking at open wounds often with what seemed like the very best of intentions. Sarah literally wants nothing more than to redeem herself and her father. From what? That is what people keep demanding of her. Just as Paul clearly feels utterly lost, sans wife and job and one of his children--who then shows up to start making incoherent demands. Poor Lara tries to somehow keep things together while still dealing with such a tender merciless event as First Love. Bill, at a crossroads in his acting career (he's really too old to be a leading man anymore) visits and dives into a what is clearly a sea of emotional poison--all the more deadly because he loves everyone else drowning there.

A dear friend asked me point blank what this play is about, and to my surprise a relatively straightforward answer came to mind. This play is about a family that have never learned to forgive themselves. Sounds simple does it not? But like all genuine emotional states, it rarely end up that way. Paul, Lara and Sarah in particular seem able (sometimes barely) to forgive others, but lash out in rage and self defense out of a stubborn refusal to let go and do the same for themselves. Doing that would mean surrender. Giving up what little power they might yet retain over their lives--losing the thorned crown of responsibility, i.e. guilt.

More, I must say the show's direction by Kiff Scholl helped achieve some real power, and the design--set by Pete Hickok, lights by Donny Jackson, sound by David B. Marling and costumes by Wendell C. Carmichael--helped enormously by creating a visceral sense of place. San Francisco is my home town, and there is something wildly attractive in its chilly gloom, just as it remains a place of emotional isolation. This play might take place somewhere else I suppose--Staten Island maybe, or from what some people have told me Montreal.

But if feels utterly right for San Francisco, and I felt the presence of that city from the moment I looked at the set.

Highly recommended for very good performances that get at the heart of tragedy without wallowing in the sentimental or superficial. This is the real thing.

Weapons plays Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 7pm until May 8, 2016 at the Lounge Theatre 6201 Santa Monica Blvd. (one block east of Vine).

Zahir Bluehttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139921723020574036.post-50403310750920413872016-04-24T11:49:00.001-07:002016-04-25T11:16:36.322-07:00The Devil's Bride (review)

Spoilers Ahoy!

Let me say right now I went into seeing The Devil's Bride at Theatre Unleashed utterly in love with the concept. Essentially this is a sequel to William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. At the end of that comedy, the villain of the piece--the bastard Don John--has been captured and the too-clever-for-his-own-good hero Benedick is given the power to decide his punishment. This play is all about that punishment. In effect it is sequel.

The result proved quite lovely!

Don John (Michael Cortez) we meet in a dungeon, under the auspices of Dogberry (Richard Abraham) and Verges (Cyanne McClairian), two of the funniest Shakespearean characters this side of Midsummer Night's Dream. Soon enough Benedick (Jim Martyka) arrives to order his relief under specific conditions--the bastard prince is to forfeit all lands, treasure and titles unless he can persuade Benedick's sister Allegra (Sammi Lappin) to marry him.

Understandably, pretty much everyone in the play who hears about this does a double take. What on Earth is Benedick up to? He explains all to his new wife/once and future antagonist Beatrice (Jenn Scuderi Crafts), even as Allegra herself arrives in Messina from Padua. Generations ago, a gypsy curse decreed any girl child born of their family would see all those who agreed to marry them die before their wedding day. Allegra, the first such child in generations, took the legend as exactly that--until she was betrothed three times in a row to men who died before the wedding. She has resolved to enter a convent. Benedick believes Don John might break her resolve and in the process she will temper his dark impulses. And as a royal prince with a substantial fortune she "could do worse."

When alone on stage, Allegra reveals this is not at all to her liking. She had dreamt of love, of marriage and children. But even though she liked none of her late fiancees, neither did she want any of them dead! The same is true of Don John!

Naturally enough, Don John's rather dark turn of mind makes him presume that any woman so offered to him will either prove a "whore or a harpy." Which makes good sense, as far as it goes. One of the best moments in the whole play, which you can almost see coming, happens when the two finally do meet. And yes, sparks fly. Allegra, wanting love so much and having renounced it for the most honorable motives, quickly finds her resolve challenged. John, a man bitter with the hatred hurled at him for being born out of wedlock (some openly insist he cannot possess a soul for just that reason), finds Allegra a young woman captivating almost beyond words. A meaty seed of a story!

But totally worthless unless the cast is equal to it.

Fortunately, all the leads in this play are well up to the challenge, up to an including Duke Leonato (Steve Peterson). All throughout what might easily have been nothing more than an intellectual exercise for Shakespeare geeks (like myself) rises to an actual drama. I will frankly say Lappin and Cortez steal the entire show, as it should be since they are the title characters and the pole around which everything turns. Lappin has turned in many a fine comedic performance before now, and I'm thrilled to see her (as I have longed for) do drama. The genuine torment of her Allegra proved fascinating to watch, as was Cortez's turn as a would-be villain who in fact turns out to be rather un-villainous at second or third or fourth glance. That he remains tormented by his late first wife Marisol (Molly Moran), so much so she appears to taunt him, could be cloying but remains instead a window into his man's soul.

Having said all this praise, I'll admit the secondary characters aren't really as well-served by Joan Silsby's the script as we might like, such as Conrade (Lee Pollero), Don Pedro (Matthew Martin), Margaret (Isabelle Gonlund) or Borachio (Carey Matthews). But then, we're comparing this to a play by Shakespeare after all! That said, I found myself a bit sorry the heightened language gradually seemed to vanish altogether by the second half of Act Two. Frankly, I will also say the sword fight needs lots more practice to achieve the kind of speed which makes a sword fight exciting!

Yet, those are quibbles. The Devil's Bride not only lived up overall to my hopes, but gave me lots of lovely surprises as well as compelling performances full of those contradictory impulses that make characters human. I want to see this show again.

The Devil's Bride plays Thursdays through Saturdays at 8pm until May 21, 2016 with special Monday shows May 2 and 9 also at 8pm, upstairs at the Belfry Stage 11031 Camarillo Street, North Hollywood CA 91602

Zahir Bluehttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139921723020574036.post-68719839840697051792016-04-24T08:01:00.000-07:002016-04-24T08:01:32.907-07:00Demonic Housewives (review)

Spoilers ahoy!

As I write this Demonic Housewives has only three performances to go, barring a revival (which I would not dismiss out of hand). Should you go see it?

Well, it depends on your taste. Do you have a somewhat dark sense of humor? Does a story of a small town secretly ruled by a cabal of satanist housewives sound like fun to you? What about a pair of goth girls trying to destroy an evil talisman? Did you enjoy the t.v. show Monsters? Tales from the Dark Side? How about Tales from the Crypt?

Because that is the kind of show this is. Silly, fun, oddly touching in a way, not taking itself too seriously. It all takes place in the town of Hobsville ("Hob" is an ancient name for the devil), where Wanda (Lee Quarrie) tries to work some dangerous ritual magic and ends up a pile of ashes for her trouble.

Hey, I did warn you about spoilers! I did!

Credit: Adam Neubauer

We soon meet the rest of cast, staring with a trio of gossips named Lucille (Anne Westcott), Ethel (Aubry Manning) and Bertha (Suzie Heaton). In a way, the whole play is about three sets of three, each a center of some kind of power.

The satanic coven consists of the local preacher's wife Millicent (Redetha Deason), her dim friend Peggy (Beth Fisher) and new recruit--naive, unemployed teacher Kim (Monet Hendricks). This latter has no idea what she's gotten into, nor how ruthless Millicent can be.

Finally there's an ersatz trio, of Wanda niece Darcy (Lara Fisher), the only member of the family who comes to settle the late occultist's things, with her in-your-face best friend RAE (Caitlin McCormick). Later these two are joined by the ghost of Wanda, in efforts to somehow destroy a magic talisman that could release a horde of demons held captive. Opposing them are Millicent's coven, who seek to help the demons escape!

Credit: Adam Neubauer

Amid all of this hilarity--and it is hilarity, taken with just about as much seriousness as the Ghostbusters--the show has a violinist (Elif Savas) and cellist (Jennifer Novak Chun) offering musical accompaniment to events. Don't know if that was in Thomas J. Misuraca's script or emerged from director Sebastian Munoz' mind, but it works!

Now, as you've hopefully gathered from this review Demonic Housewives is an entertaining comedy poking fun at religion and some of the tropes of the horror genre, well-acted and generally performed with a lot of energy. Well and good, because it is all that. Let me add however it is also an intensely clever work, in many ways. For one thing, how refreshing to see a play on this subject entirely about women! Consider the works of H.P.Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Bloch and Richard Matheson when you ask why that might be refreshing. Second, there's an underlying wit to the the whole story--the intersecting triads of power for example, which is too pervasive to be anything but deliberate, and also the clever way the play's ending remains deliciously, ominously "open." Tribute to the fact the best comedies are more than a string of punchlines strung together into something resembling a plot. Here, the plot and characters themselves are part of the humor, not least because one can easily see this same story told "straight" as a horror movie (probably on Lifetime).

A fine inaugural show for Force of Nature Productions--a wonderfully crafted blend of humor and horror, written cleverly and performed with comedic skill.

Demonic Housewives plays Thursdays at 8pm and Sundays at 7pm until May 1, 2016 at the Archway Theatre, 10509 Burbank Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 9160.

Zahir Bluehttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139921723020574036.post-71349902016812431962016-04-22T18:44:00.000-07:002016-04-22T18:44:08.325-07:00My Manana Comes (review)

Spoilers ahoy!

Here's an interesting detail. Until I saw My Manana Comes at the Fountain Theatre, it had been a long time for me since seeing a play entirely about what is a "male" world, a completely masculine POV. Please don't see this as a complaint one way or another. I just found it interesting, not least because the playwright in question is a woman--Elizabeth Irwin.

The play takes place in and around the kitchen of a Manhattan restaurant, focusing on the lives of four busboys one summer.

Credit: Ed Kreiger

Peter (Lawrence Stallings) is a no-nonsense African American focused on his job and providing for his family. Friendly, fun, but very highly strung when things get very tough--as they do. Jorge (Richard Azurdia) is a notoriously miserly worker, here illegally from Mexico. He is sending every penny he can home, building a house for his wife and children--a house he hopes Peter will one day visit and be treated as an honored guest! Whalid (Peter Pasco) is Mexican American but was born here--full of energy but not that much discipline, full of an ever changing number of plans and so insecure he boasts about every single one. Then there is young Pepe (Pablo Castelblanco), also "illegal" and too easily distracted, eager for the day when his brother can join them.

Now, parenthetically, I'd like to point out the really superb job these four did doing the job of busboy! For much of the play they are in constant motion, doing dozens of little tasks, some of them (like balancing three food-filled plates on one arm) anything but easy but they did it like it was second nature. Having played a waiter just once on stage, I have some inkling of just how much rehearsal that took!

Credit: Ed Kreiger

More, though, they did their jobs as actors. At first very little "action" happens, yet we are carried away by the forward momentum of these characters, their hopes and dreams and frustrations. No small feat, but vital because the real conflicts of the show grow a little slowly--and then detonate in a horrific slow motion. Maybe even more importantly, we continue to care about them. Yeah, Pepe is kind of stupid, Whalid arrogant jerk, Peter eaten away by envy and even Jorge can be both a prude and sometimes a bit of coward--but none of them are villains. All are just these guys trying to get by, imperfect but not cruel.

Which makes the drama so much more intense. Because when the sides break down--when the greed and foolishness of the restaurant owner fractures the world of the kitchen, none of these guys is wrong. They end up in genuinely deadly conflict, these four who were and should have been friends.

My Manana Comes plays Mondays and Saturdays at 8pm, Saturdays and Sundays at 3pm until June 26, 2016 at the Fountain Theatre 5060 Fountain Ave. (near Normandie) Los Angeles, CA 90029.Zahir Bluehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139921723020574036.post-29111609102972217662016-04-22T18:01:00.000-07:002016-04-26T16:07:14.087-07:00A Gulag Mouse (review)

Spoilers ahoy!

The word "Gulag" refers to the brutal forced labor prison camps of Siberia used by the former Soviet Union. Under the circumstances one might expect a play titled A Gulag Mouse to be quite grim. Nor would you be wrong! Playwright Arthur M. Jolly took one of the worse places human beings can exist and crafted an extraordinary story from that place. A tale of five women trapped, desperate, hungry, angry, terrified and also terribly alone--even when surrounded by others in the same situation.

Anastasia (Emily Goss) has had a relatively privileged life. Note that word "relatively." Because at the end of the second world war, faced with her war hero husband entering her life once more, she killed him.

Sentenced to the Gulag, she soon meets the other prisoners in a windy wooden shack. Masha (Kimberly Atkinson), big and tough and perfectly willing to hurt others out of spite--who weirdly (or not) feels she belongs here. Lubov (Heather L. Tyler), once much prettier than she is now but with enough looks to degrade herself with an officer, thus suffering less in some ways--an unforgivable offense in some eyes. Svetlana (Crystal Keith) has seemingly turned all her emotions 'off' in order to survive. No malice there, but no compassion. Or is there? Then there is Prushka (Dana DeRuyck), sentenced to ten years for telling a joke she refuses to repeat, who has the nickname "Mouse."

There's a clue there if you pick up on it. I did not. I usually do.

But picking up clues rapidly give way as the story unfolds, as the fierce, unofficial but merciless rules the Gulag play themselves out. There is never enough food. Weakness brings instant attention. They are trapped in a frozen wilderness dozens of miles from shelter, surrounded by guards and dogs. Only the strong survive here to be released. Few prove that strong.

And yet--what is strength? How do you measure power when everything conspires to keep you weak? How far might anyone go? How much will they risk?

I will frankly say this play surprised me throughout--which remains one of my favorite experiences in theatre. Everything made sense, though. As time went on, and new surprises emerged, the importance of so many tiny details became increasingly vivid. But the script is dead words without the actor. Every single person in the show proved a marvelous actor, up to and including Brandon Bales in the double role of Evgeny and Ivanov, both small yet utterly vital. Director Danielle Ozymandias likewise achieved marvels. First and foremost she cast the play! I know from experience that is three quarters of the job and she did that part magnificently!

But more--and this oddly enough is where many directors do sometimes fall--she clearly kept the pace right. Rhythm is weirdly important in life as well as art, and even the business of maintaining tension amid silence forms a huge part of that. It engages us on a visceral level, breathing life into what is frankly a truly extraordinary set of words strung together. This is a performance that will remain with you, I promise.

A Gulag Mouse plays Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm through May 21, 2016. Extra performances are Thursday April 28 at 8pm, Sundays May 8 and 15 at 7pm at the new Sacred Fools Theater Black Box, 6322 Santa Monica Blvd. (at Lillian).Zahir Bluehttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139921723020574036.post-59106323113243742582016-04-16T18:14:00.000-07:002016-04-16T18:14:06.354-07:00Dry Land (review)

Spoilers ahoy!

(Heh heh...give the title that is kinda funny)

Let me begin with the title. Dry Land by Ruby Rae Spiegel. Seems two ways to interpret that. The story deals with members of a high school girls' swim team. Specifically, between a friendship that grows between two of them -- a very close, powerful bond in the end, between two girls who in some fundamental way heal and soothe each others' loneliness. So is the dry land that sense of emotional isolation, with the water functioning (as it so often does) as emotional life? Or is dry land a haven from the currents and depths and unpredictable but heartless weather that waits out at sea?

One point of high praise I'd like offer this script is the suggestion the title means both.

We begin with Amy (Tegan Rose) chatting after school in the pool locker room with Ester (Conner Kelly-Eiding). The former seems a bright, pretty popular girl who for some reason has decided to hang out with the latter. At first we think they might already be friends. Soon that seems not really true. Not yet. Also, Amy keeps demanding Ester punch her in the stomach. Hard. No, hard! Harder!

Credit: Darrett Sanders

Doesn't take too long to figure out why. Or why she's insisting on asking a relative stranger to help. For that matter, Ester's willingness to help her out even in such an extreme act seems crystal clear from the start.

Now, at this point let me point out something else I adore about this script. Some have heralded it as "an abortion play" but to me that makes as much sense as calling Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? a "college play." Not exactly inaccurate, but doesn't get at the heart of what's going on. Abortion ends up one more factor some teenage girls have to handle, pretty much on their own. Along with peer pressure, fear of the future after high school, self esteem (or self loathing), sexuality, the temptations of power and so on. The issue of abortion never really gets mentioned directly but simply exists as part the characters' lives.

Credit: Darrett Sanders

Which would be pretty meaningless without a cast bringing honesty and humanity in massive doses to the stage. Between the two I suspect Kelly-Eiding has the harder task, simply because Ester turns out to be simply (or not so simply) good. She is not without issues or secrets or insecurities or a temper. But she comes across virtually from her first line as someone who in the pinch will try and do the right thing--i.e. to act with compassion, to help. This part of her heart frankly remains on her sleeve--making her an obvious choice for Amy.

Amy in turn pretty much embodies that old analogy of truth being like an onion. Layer after layer, most of them lying--often to others, often to herself, often (but not always) to both.

In essence there are only three other real characters in the play, at least whom we actually meet. A group of team members show up at one point, but they really are little more than the equivalent of spear carriers. Which is fine and they do a good job of it. But Jenny Soo as Reba--Amy's supposed best friend but from whom she conceals the truth fiercely--shines simply because she's given just enough to serve as an avatar for the shallowest part of high school society. She is present at the scene that made me genuinely squirm--an act of deliberate cruelty by Amy aimed with not a shred of good reason at Ester. Reba doesn't bat an eyelash. But then, even from her walk we knew she wouldn't.

Credit: Darrett Sanders

But the characters of Victor (Ben Horwitz) and the Janitor (Dan Hagen) also give their actors a chance to shine--and like the rest of the cast, they do so swimmingly.

Sorry, I literally could not resist!

Without going into too many details, Victor and the Janitor do a nice job of showing the world is not so hopeless as Amy clearly feels (or fears) it is. Whatever else they might be, including awkward, they prove the world is not high school. And maybe that subtle point is what is most needed for the audience. And most of all, for Amy. This work is an open ending. We do not really know what the future holds for these characters--no more than we can say for certain about ourselves. And I found myself praying a little bit for Amy, the popular one, the pretty one, the oh-so-desperate one.

Dry Land runs Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m., through May 15, 2016 at the Echo Theatre Company, Atwater Village Theatre 3269 Casitas Ave in Los Angeles, CA 90039. Zahir Bluehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139921723020574036.post-79480080735702200372016-04-07T12:29:00.001-07:002016-04-07T12:29:05.110-07:00Super Identity Crisis (review)

Spoilers ahoy!

Not ever show is for everyone. This goes beyond simply a question of genre or style, beyond individual preferences for comedy or drama or musicals, etc. ZJU's Super Identity Crisis by Magnus MacDomhnail brings this very much to mind.

The play is a parody of super heroes, more in terms of comic books than the movies so popular right now. More, it takes an almost Rocky Horror-esque twist on its tale of a confrontation between some (kinda sorta) familiar superheroes and supervillains in Singapore.

I should say right now this kind of stuff sounds absolutely fantastic to my ears! And yet--everyone else in the theatre seemed to be laughing a lot more than I was. Which means maybe you should take my reaction with a grain of salt. Or two.

Credit: Magnus MacDomhnaill

Personally, I found it hard to enter into the world of the play. Mostly this is because I still have zero notion what the first scene has to do with the rest of it, other than some of the same overall zaniness. Essentially the plot seems to involve semi-Spider-man clone Crawler (Patrick Beckstead) and generic uber-tough guy Fist (Joshua Dickinson) paired up against their will by the one-eyed Brigadier Rage (Joseph Jones). Their mission seems to investigate goings on around some invention by a Dr. Janus (Adam Poisal) desired for some reason by the nefarious Grim Reaper (Donna Jean Siegel). Rage doesn't think they'll succeed so he dispatches Cod Man (Edward Nyahay) and his sidekick Wonder Boy (Meedo Dapron) as backup.

Meanwhile the Grim Reaper recruits a few minions of his/her own--Dark Dwarf (David Wyn Harris) and Black Box (Isabel Espy).

Oh, and then there's Doctor Melinoe (Taylor C. Baker). I don't want to give away precisely who she is. In part because it is confusing.

Credit: Magnus MacDomhnaill

There's a lot to enjoy or applaud in this show. For one thing, there's some very subversive stuff here, like the truly disturbing "relationship" between Cod Man and Wonder Boy. Or the way Brigadier Rage really doesn't come across as much of a good guy at all. I should also say my personal favorite character was Black Box--and not only for the rather adult story behind her name! I just thought this one of the best acted characters in the show, but then she also got the best villain/hero battle in the play--between herself and Crawler (who gets a phone call from his wife mid-fight).

Much of the set-up was clever, often on many levels. Plenty of archetypes got played with, for example. While Crawler is a spin (sorry) on Spider-Man, Fist is a weird avatar of Wolverine + The Comedian + The Punisher + Lobo + Guy Gardner. A nice tough was giving Brigadier Rage Jedi powers (think about it for a minute).

On the other hand, there just wasn't enough set-up. More, the pace seemed too frantic, with hardly a pause to get acclimated or to allow us to recover from the previous explosion/scene full of yelling.

Credit: Magnus MacDomhnaill

But people laughed! They smiled a whole lot! And it isn't as if I didn't enjoy myself (just evidently not as much as everyone else in the audience)... I just think the show needs some work. Given some workshoping, I think this could end up as a very popular play, one earning a well-deserved niche as a cult favorite. But it isn't there yet. So what you get is something full of energy and good ideas, with three or four top-notch performances, and an enthusiasm which overcomes a fair number of problems.

Super Identity Crisis plays Fridays and Saturdays at 8:30pm until April 23, 2016 at Zombie Joes Underground Theatre Group, 4850 Lankershim Blvd. (just south of the NoHo sign) North Hollywood CA 91601.Zahir Bluehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139921723020574036.post-67775006252965769272016-03-29T21:14:00.000-07:002016-03-29T21:14:02.056-07:00Red Velvet (review)

Spoilers ahoy!

This is a play about an actor. A real one. His name was Ira Aldridge, and in the 1860s not only did he count as a theatrical superstar but he was the highest-paid artist in Russia. He was not Russian, however.

He was African American.

Paul Outlaw portrays Aldridge in Red Velvet, by Lolita Chakrabarti, set (mostly) in 1833 London when Aldridge became the first man of African descent to play Othello on the London stage. As you might expect, it caused a furor--not least because the British Parliament was debating to end slavery in all of England's territories. Like most of the cast of this show, Outlaw did a wonderful job in portraying the complexity of his character. What made it particularly outstanding is that we also get to see his Othello--not a modern Othello, but a Regency-Era Othello, with the elaborate poses and hand gestures. But also--and this must be crucial--this was a very good Othello.

But there's a lot more to the play than that, essential though it remains that we see how good Aldridge really is, understand just how viciously unfair the critics were to him. At least the London critics. In fact Aldridge toured Europe for almost three and a half decades afterwards, lauded and acclaimed. When he died in Poland in 1867, he was playing King Lear.

Yet he never returned to the West End. As successful as he was, beyond doubt, the past haunted him, ate at him. What Red Velvet does in re-telling this great actor's story is more than a character piece, more than a political tract made drama. At heart it captures a real sense of the human in history, the price imposed by injustice when we allow it take place.

Of the rest of the cast I want to single out three others, who gave us a vast amount of nuance, that sense of what makes story and character feel like truth.

Nicola Bertram portrays the great actress Ellen Tree, Desdemona in the London production and very much of the Old Classical School of the time (debate among styles of acting remain ongoing and evolving over the centuries). That she finds working with Aldridge exciting, and is willing to take his lead, could have made her no more than a stereotypical rebel. Neither the writing nor the performer allowed that to happen. She remained very real and complex, doing what mostly we all do, seeking to constantly thread a metaphorical needle without ending up losing some blood.

Colin Campbell plays Pierre Laporte, the manager of the Royal Theatre, whose idea it was to hire Aldridge, an old friend. Again, this could easily have ended up a hypocrite or coward, but instead we get a full blown human being caught in what turns into an impossible situation.

Likewise Erin Elizabeth Reed plays Margaret, Aldridge's English wife. The play gives a hint at what a remarkable woman she was--among other things, raising her husband's illegitimate children as her own--and that quiet strong patience is often under-represented in drama. It frankly is often harder to portray, but here--again, in terms of script and performance--we see it brought to life.

All of which comes across as a bit of a lecture on theatrical form, but I'm a nerd that way--and the way this play via word as well as deed brings this story to us impresses me mightily. Not a perfect production to be sure (the blocking was below average for example) but at its breathing heart is a subtle and powerful script the cast does indeed make real. We are left not with a piece of propaganda about racism, but instead the kind of contradictory truth of which human beings are made--which makes the racism so central to the plot so easily recognized. Yeah, I've seen that. Oh, yes, that too. From both sides, if we're brutally honest.

In the end, I"m going to keep the story of Ira Aldridge as part of me for the rest of days.

Red Velvet plays Fridays & Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 5pm until April 30, 2016 at the Atwater Playhouse 3191 Casitas Ave, Los Angeles, California 90039.Zahir Bluehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139921723020574036.post-50182248819228609212016-03-29T20:00:00.000-07:002016-03-29T20:00:03.451-07:00Stopping By (reveiw)

Spoilers ahoy!

The title of Barbara Tarbuck's Stopping By, a one woman show by the Echo Theatre Company, comes from a character she describes, an Irish barman. Upon a diagnosis of inoperable cancer, he closed his pub and headed back to Ireland. He tells a friend "We're all just stopping by, aren't we?"

Personally I find a vast, simple comfort in those words.

I found even more comfort, often unexpected, in her show. The publicity for it reads:

The world premiere of actress Barbara Tarbuck's loving, touching and often hilarious solo show about an older woman's encounter with the vast open space, violent dust storms, glowing night skies and uninhibited joy of thousands at Burning Man.
What interests me is how that doesn't describe the story to me at all. Yes, the character does go to Burning Man and indeed that makes up quite a bit of the show's time. Yet the opening moments set the tone, and set an indelible mark. To me, this was a story of an older woman seeking a way to endure, learn and grow from the sudden (but far from instant) death of her beloved husband.

That part of the tale is almost a horror story, as this man's mind shifts and twists under the pressure of a stroke, turning him into someone he absolutely loathes being. Naturally, he lashes out. Just as naturally, his soon-to-be widow resents it and mourns, seeks to find some way past events. She gently floats when she can in the memory of their lives together.

Burning Man comes after she's given the ashes, and decides to take them to that event of which their son told them.

And at Burning Man, other memories bubble to the surface as she takes part in that primal festival/party/celebration. Memories good and bad, innocent and guilty. She comes to her resolution, her acceptance and forgiveness of her Beloved's death. Yes, it was about Burning Man, but mostly it was about rhythm and cycles and patterns we come to understand not in our brains but in our very blood. It felt to be about death, about forgiving our loved ones for dying, and for the universe for killing them.

Along the way, forgiving ourselves.

I liked it very much as perhaps (hopefully) you can tell. And I recommend it highly.

Stopping By plays only Wednesday nights, 8pm, at the Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90039 until April 13, 2016.Zahir Bluehttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139921723020574036.post-38146299493860673572016-03-26T08:26:00.000-07:002016-03-26T10:27:43.283-07:00Blood Alley (review)

Spoilers ahoy!

I imagine when theatre goers hear the name "Zombie Joes" among the things coming to mind are words like "edgy" "dark" "disturbing". More than anything else, this demonstrates a success in marketing a brand. ZJU remains open and producing original works for decades. One reason is that very success in letting the audience know what to expect.

At the same time, Blood Alley offers us an example of taking that brand to the extreme. Even more than the company's (often brilliant, certainly wildly popular) signature show Urban Death, this one pushes boundaries. I've often called theatre at this venue "theatre of dreams" because it captures a sense of watching/participating in a dream. Sometimes those dreams are nightmares.

This one certainly qualifies as a nightmare. Lots of nightmares. So much so I feel trigger warnings might be appropriate. Anyone who has recently been the victim of any violence, especially sexual violence, might want to reconsider seeing this work. It aims to disturb, with all the power of a Dionysian ritual in Ancient Greece--and succeeds!

Credit: ZJU

Much of what the (fearless) cast produces under the direction of Zombie Joe gets under your skin. Sometimes for reasons obvious, but other times strangely covert. Distortion, fear, a sense of decadence or subtle madness permeate many of the vignettes making up the experience. In fact there's relatively little actual violence enacted during the hour-long performance. What we do see is often brief, but vivid.

Sometimes it is also very simple. Like the suitcase. You'll find out what I mean if you go.

Or just a turnabout in ways we don't expect--a weirdly un-erotic fully nude dance which involves distortion, first by a lovely woman then a fairly handsome young man.

Fortunately there's also some humor. A good thing, because some release from the tension was frankly needed. Part of the humor arose from musician Kevin Van Cott as a policeman (interestingly, outfitted as a London Bobby) who is freaking out over what he's seen or heard of this place--Blood Alley. As far as the title goes, I immediately thought of Harry Potter's Diagon Alley but where all the dark things go and fester, where fears and neuroses scuttle amid the shadows and debris, and hungers we don't like to admit we feel emerge.

Credit: ZJU

To give an example of what this show entails, it contained the most harrowing rape I've ever seen on stage. What made it most powerful was how Ian Heath in effect assaulted Charlotte Bjornbak via telekinesis or remote control. They never even touched! But my own flesh crawled.

And likewise it proved fascinating whenever the performance ventured into sexuality--be it lesbian make-out session or the strutting of some artfully posing streetwalkers (Daniel Palma, Elif Savas, Allison Fogarty, and Cassie Carpenter) that sexuality never ventures into the erotic. Sex without pleasure, or even the hint of pleasure!

Credit: ZJU

Theatre of Nightmares. As in waking up in a cold sweat...

I don't want to describe any more of what happens, since that might rob this amazing show of its impact, but let again praise the very brave performers--especially those not yet mentioned by name: Liliane Laborde-Edozien, Kelly Powers,  Adam Shows,  and Alex G-Smith. An excessively brave cast this!

Blood Alley plays at 11pm Fridays and Saturdays until April 9, 2016 at Zombie Joes, 4850 Lankershim Blvd. (just south of the NoHo sign) North Hollywood CA 91601.

Zahir Bluehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139921723020574036.post-69398397571775689472016-03-21T15:37:00.000-07:002016-03-21T15:37:52.739-07:00Shakespeare's Rose Queen (review)Spoilers ahoy!

The Ensemble Shakespeare Theatre recently completed a run of what strikes me as a very exciting project. Writer/director Brian Elerding looked at the four plays that comprise Shakespeare's cycle about the so-called Wars of the Roses (actually at the time they were simply called The Cousins War, but never mind--this isn't about literal history)--Henry VI Parts 1, 2 and 3, and Richard III--and decided to focus upon the one character they have in common. Margaret of Anjou, the "she wolf of France." Like several other French brides to weak English Kings, she earned a reputation for arrogance and cruelty that had quite a lot to do with her being a woman.

What Elerding did was to radically edit all four plays to create in effect a new work--Shakespeare's Rose Queen. It charts a young princess who finds love and comfort amid a faction-ridden foreign court, learning eventually to defend herself, becoming the leader in one side of a long Civil War. In the end, she loses. The tides of battle and human betrayal turn, her ever-rising rage and pride crashing against the rocks of history. She loses everything. Yet lives long enough to see the cycle start anew for her successor as Queen.

Now I want to make a point here. Of late the most exciting Shakespeare productions I've seen tend to perform the plays with some kind of twist, a stepping sideways in some way that somehow brings the whole thing into sharper relief. Be it Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, Othello--when it works we see them anew, more vividly and true to themselves.

In other words, exactly waht Elerding is trying to pull off here. Does he succeed? Almost. He has certainly created a fascinating piece of theatre, melding not only Shakespeare's language but also a sense of dance/movement very modern yet also timeless. The battles in particular--enacted as beautiful but grotesque dance far upstage, two lines of performers struggling with one another without really touching--grabbed my attention and stirred my reactions. So too did many performances, acting out scenes those of us who love Shakespeare rarely get to see. Natalie Fryman for example as the young Richard, who will one day be the terrible tyrant. John McCormick as Richard of York, perhaps the only person who ever loved Richard, the royal duke who gambled for the throne and just barely lost. Sonny Calvano as Warwick, the Kingmaker, in this production an almost spider-like figure with the manner of a fussy monk. Jay Blair as Henry VI, son of the brilliant war leader who came to the throne before his first birthday and clearly felt the burden of the crown with none of its pleasures.

Along the way, let me also praise Megan Rippey as the title character, who correspondingly shows us the arc of hopes dashed, victories stolen, frustrations stirred, revenges coming to nothing, until all she has turns to ashes. The whole cast really did a very fine job indeed.

So why do I say "almost"?

Nuance mostly. Shakespeare's Rose Queen works on very many levels, but the pace ultimately becomes too frantic in the second act. Small wonder, given the source material (and presents a major challenge for anyone producing the Henry VI plays). But that frantic pace interfered with character after a time.

At this point, as a playwright myself, I'm sorely tempted to start offering specific suggestions--which is not my place. This is Brian Elerding's vision, and my job here is only to point out what seems the weakest part of his work--while noting I believe he can fix this, not least because of the extraordinary results already achieved. As he himself notes in the program "There are battles ignored here, plot twists forgotten and entire subplots omitted." Of necessity! The result dazzled me in many ways.

I'd like to do a call out to the rest of the cast as well, including JR Davidson, Katie Peabody, Daniel Rivera and Brian White. The original score by John Guth also melded very well with Hilary Thomas' choreography. This particular show's run has ended. I saw the last performance. But I very much hope more productions follow.Zahir Bluehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139921723020574036.post-86403096754961087182016-03-18T17:09:00.000-07:002016-03-18T17:09:11.047-07:00Hot 'N' Throbbing (review)

Spoilers ahoy!

Paula Vogel has a reputation as one of the edgiest American playwrights writing today. Hot 'N' Throbbing, currently produced by the Illyrian Players in association with the Watts Village Theater Company, makes the case for just how disturbing--and moving--her creations can end up. In a word, extremely. On all counts.

This play, written in direct response to Senator Jesse Helms' 1989 amendment requiring those applying for NEA grants to forswear "obscene" art, actually explores exactly what in fact deserves that title. Obscene. What is that exactly? Is it like beauty, entirely in the eye of the beholder? Perhaps. But might we as citizens and simply human beings come to overall working consensus on the subject? Again, perhaps.

No easy answers here, folks. Although, in the end at least one act portrayed in this play certainly qualifies. Or should qualify. What may give Hot 'N' Throbbing its greatest power is that some will argue on that point.

Which frankly counts as far more disturbing than anything on stage.

The plot deals with a very troubled family. Single mom Charlene (Robyn Gabrielle Lee) writes erotica for a living, slipping into a trance as she pounds out scripts on her tabletop while dealing with issues involving her two children--rebellious teen "Layla" (Niki Mejia) and withdrawn bookish Calvin (Jason Caceres). Other than Charlene's job perhaps this seems in anything very ordinary, yes? No! For one thing, two other characters share the stage with Charlene, seemingly unseen by her offspring. Voice Over (My-Ishia Cason-Brown) and The Voice (Stephen Tyler Howell) appear at first to be Charlene's muses. They even look like avatars of glamorous danger laced with lust. As she composes, they provide the words, very nearly acting out the emotions described.

It cannot be that simple, though. For one thing, sometimes Layla and Calvin see or hear them--but when they do, no one else does. More, sometimes they offer advice--especially when Charlene's drunken ex-husband shows up in a rage over the restraining order she's had issued. Clyde (Thaddeus Shafer) frankly embodies almost ever single stereotype of what used to be called a Male Chauvinist Pig. He self-righteously proclaims the most crude of gender roles, feels entitled to his wife's respect after doing all he can to lose it, thinks his violence should be instantly forgiven because he apologizes and sees all women purely in terms of sex.

Except--he isn't just a set of stereotypes. Really. The man has issues, sure, but his pain is real. So too the connection with Charlene. It is there, we see it.

Honestly, that is almost the least disturbing of many threads of desire and complexity explored in this family, with hints of incestuous desires for example (from and in directions you might not expect) and also the kind of primal sexual feelings over which we have little enough control--yet for which our society alternately condemns and fetishizes.

At the end, however, The Voice and Voice Over reveal what they are in burning fuse of real horror. They appear to be the thoughts and fantasies of every single one of the characters in tandem. Some alas do not listen to them. Others, alas, do. Nor is it as simple as saying certain types of thoughts are wrong or bad or obscene, especially when it comes to what we're told qualifies. Yet one act is beyond any doubt in this play obscene. One act that is sickeningly common, although the perpetrator (in a not uncommon nuance from real life) knows it and cannot live with that act.

Then we are left with a hint of an aftermath no less complex and disturbing than the rest of the play--all brought to life by an amazingly truthful cast. Really, this kind of material involves the emotional equivalent of slicing open a vein to write a deeply held secret onto a placard. Director Carly D. Weckstein evidently excells at creating the kind of "safe" space for actors to unsheathe so bravely. She did it in the previous two plays of hers I've seen. And here was yet another example.

Hot 'N' Throbbing plays Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 7pm through April 10, 2016. Performances take place at Studio/Stage 520 North Western Avenue, Los Angeles CA 90004.

From the Production: Throughout the run of Hot 'N' Throbbing we will be collecting donations of tampons, pads, moving boxes, packing tape, coloring books, markers, crayons and colored pencils to bring to the The Good Shepherd Shelter for Battered Women with Children. Bring in items to donate and you can get a free beverage!Zahir Bluehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139921723020574036.post-32168819561977203522016-03-14T12:08:00.000-07:002016-03-14T12:08:16.096-07:00Cloud 9 (review)

Spoilers ahoy!

Caryl Churchill's Cloud 9 remains my favorite English language play of the 20th Century, so you can imagine how I reacted to news the Antaeus Company would be mounting a production of same. The play makes for delightfully weird mirror of both our modern world and the Victorian Era out of which it arose. Specifically, it deals with sex--not only in terms of sexuality (explored in a somewhat dizzying array) but more fundamentally in terms of gender as well as the troublesome/delightful fact sex even exists.

We begin in Africa, 1880, with an English family--Clive, his wife Betty, their daughter Vicky and son Edward--living on an estate, proudly striving to do their duty and save the natives from their savage natures. Act Two picks up with exactly this same family precisely ten years later--in London 1980.

Yeah, ten years and simultaneously one century later. Don't try and understand it, just go with the flow.

The layers in this play seem nearly infinite, to those of us lucky enough to have seen multiple productions of it, with each one revealing new insights into the situation, the characters, the ideas. Obviously, it hardly qualifies as "realism" but like dream or myth it is all about Truth. Not the easy truths, the comfortable truths, but the complex ones, the truths that challenge wrong (but extremely common) assumptions down to bedrock, and doesn't offer any kind of a neat solution to problems raised. Maybe that's one reason it is remains so funny. If it weren't the resulting disorientation might prove too much. Then again, the humor is part of the challenge, a vital part of the experience.

In a nutshell, for Act One we get an almost Monty Python-esque pastiche of the Victorian Era, including the fact wife and mother Betty (Bill Brochtrup) is played by a man. "I am a man's creation," she says, "and what a man wants is what I want to be." Likewise their son Eddy (Deborah Puette) is played by a woman, while the daughter is portrayed exactly the way we might imagine such a household sees a baby girl--a doll. Well, of course. Just as the black manservant Joshua (Chad Borden) is white. "What white man wants is what I long to be."

 Then the homosexuals show up, in the person of the explorer Harry (David DeSantos) and Vicky's governess (Abigail Marks). Hilarity, some of it very dark, ensues.

Act Two on the other shows what Britain has become in the next century, roughly contemporary to ourselves (one could assume the two acts take place in 1915 and 2015 without much of a stretch). And while almost everything has in some sense returned to what we think of as normal--men playing men, women playing women--we're still left with the disorienting thought this involves many of the same individuals.

However, the five year old bratty girl is played by a middle aged man. Just to help remind us of possibilities, and to offer comment (such as how very much she loves to play with guns).

But more than that--and here are very much in real spoiler territory--the stylization of all this makes for a ritual every bit as religious as Holy Communion. Or is that "mystical"? Grown up Eddy and his sister Vic each have relationship problems, then end up flabbergasted when their middle aged mother Betty leaves their father. Vic meanwhile begins a relationship with Lin, the mother of the aforementioned bratty little girl. A moment of contemplation between the siblings leads to a new arrangements--a bisexual incestuous triangle, sans jealousy but full of love. And then...it happens.

The three of them get drunk one night, and decide to have a ritual, an attempt to call up the Goddess of the most ancient times, she of many names who has been forgotten but is now again appearing in human memory. And they offer up that most brave and wonderful of prayers--Give Us What We Need!

What follows is a change in time and space, a series of genuine miracles that nudge all to where (in time) they each might come to be. Where? Cloud 9 of course. For now, as the play ends, only one of them seems to make it, but they all might be heading there. We end with hope.

Especially the closing moments of the play, oh that most splendid of tear-jerking moments, when the middle aged Betty remembers her mother and her husband, how they defined her. And the sweet pleasure of discovering she herself is real. More, she is free. Then she turns around to see...herself. From Act One.

Not going to tell you what happens next. See it for yourself. One amazing quality of this play is just how much every single production leads me to new insights, not simply in terms of my mind but in the gut. At least if the cast is good enough, and this one proves very good. Every character comes to life, and even the ones most appalling ultimately come across as very human, which in this context means lost and confused, trying to find their way to Cloud 9.

I'll also say this production handled the songs extremely well, turning them into simple but quite effective little musical numbers. Yeah, the play is a musical. Kinda/sorta. A little bit of one anyway.

Cloud 9 plays Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm as well as Saturdays and Sundays at 2pm until April 24, 2016 at the Antaeus Theatre Company, 5112 Lankershim Blvd (south of Magnolia) North Hollywood CA 91601.

NOTE: This production has two complete casts who rotate in repertory. I saw the play as done by The Blighters but the other cast are The Hotheads. I presume they are equal in quality to their fellows.

Zahir Bluehttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139921723020574036.post-84856832369001714952016-03-12T14:04:00.000-08:002016-03-12T15:07:08.792-08:00Blood (review)

Spoilers ahoy!

I didn't know much about Blood when showing up at the theatre. A musical involving Japan in some way. My hope? An enjoyable hour or so of theatre.

Blood proved to be all about how AIDS came to Japan back in the 1980s, when the disease remained far more mysterious. At first, no one even knew how it was transmitted! One of the first events chronicled on stage was the very first Japanese citizen to have died of this. An American doctor shows up to secretly perform an autopsy. The very distinguished Dr. Kazama (Toshi Toda) soon falsifies the death certificate, a practice we see continue for years. After all, Kazama insists, pureblood Japanese are absolutely immune to AIDS.

Yeah, that idea had predictable results.

The production happily did not shy away from the sheer scale of the subject matter. Named characters, for example, number in the dozens! Settings jump back and forth across the United States and Japan, mostly the latter from Tokyo to regional hospitals and even a small fishing village. But what most impressed me (out of very many things that did) remains how the entire show remained utterly theatrical. All too often plays I see shifting scenery or location for short scenes, stopping the action in favor of moving things around in half-light or some such. Not here! Three mobile screens constantly shift configuration, often with images projected onto them to suggest either actual locations (like a city street or Chinese restaurant) or sometimes events (the Hiroshima bombing) or thematic elements (red corpuscles floating in plasma). Not only does this make for rapid, smooth pace, it highlights sometimes difficult truths the story explores.

Credit: Ed Krieger

For example, Japan is indeed the only nation to suffer a nuclear attack. In the wake of that attack, as a country it had to give up the idea it was in a very sense divine. Except of course that kind of notion doesn't swiftly or easily die. Here are a people in a state of flux, and what they will become no one yet knows.

This idea--that of a people evolving, changing--shows up again and again in Blood, without however any character actually talking about it. Even the Narrator (Andrew Nakajima) changes, his songs and speeches initially done with Kabuki-esque make-up that vanishes in Act Two.

Honestly, this review could easily end up five times the length I will allow it to become, so brimming with ideas and nuance Blood seems to me. At heart it remains a kind of epic drama, told in a fusion of Western and Japanese styles--at times with great relish. Lawyers at one time assume stances from classic Japanese theatre to discuss the advisability of suing over thousands of innocent people knowingly given infected blood (until the late 1980s no had had ever sued the Japanese government). Elsewhere a chorus of ruthless businessmen and government officials sing a pastiche of Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado. A trial is presented, in part, as a stylized battle complete with swords and Samurai armour.

Credit: Ed Krieger

All of which serves to help us enter into this play's world, to understand better these events and their consequences. Make no mistake, this dazzling array of theatricality could--in theory--eclipse the drama. I say "in theory" because the combination of performances and structure of the piece instead throws the humanity into sharp focus. Standouts in the cast include Sohee Park as Yoji Kurosawa, the attorney who finally persuades those poisoned by their government to sue, Miho Ando as the child patient/plaintiff Koyo Ninomiya, and Kazumi Aihara as the Nurse Eiko Asami who secretly helps provide evidence of what has been happening. But to be fair the entire ensemble deserves plenty of credit for this amazing show, one that felt almost bursting at the seems for a larger stage, one to more comfortably contain the sheer scale of the show. With that in mind, I hope Takuma Anzai, Ash Ashina, Anthony Gros, Alexa Hamilton, Takaaki Hirakawa, Michael Joseph, Saki Miata, Daryl L. Padilla, Mika Santoh and Taishin Takibryashi all get to walk onto a Broadway stage and re-enact this fantastical, heart-piercingly truthful dream in song and dance, based on events all too easily proven as having happened.

Blood plays at The Complex, 6476 Santa Monica Blvd, Hollywood CA 90038 Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 3pm, until April 3, 2016.

Zahir Bluehttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139921723020574036.post-1345916793173233262016-03-12T07:25:00.000-08:002016-03-12T07:25:08.090-08:00Sex & Love in the Modern Age (review)

 Spoilers Ahoy!

This review has come late, and for that I do apologize. Sex & Love in the Modern Age is the latest exploration at ZJU of a given theme, in word (including both song and poem) as well as movement, including dance. It consists of a ten member troupe acting out a series of vignettes.

So what we experience is a kind of odyssey, an exploration of so many pitfalls and nuances of simple (and not nearly so so simple) human connection. Yes, the meeting of the two rare individuals in a crowd not staring into their iPhones. Yes, the fear of intimacy amid temptations of availability. Humor from the potential perverts might find in the internet here. A dash of lesbian bondage there. An almost surreal but potentially just real example of parents giving the "talk" to their gay son on prom night.

And if this sounds like the theatrical equivalent of paint-by-the-numbers, then I've given the wrong impression. Instead we get a kind of variety show which achieves more than mere entertainment. While exploring the pitfalls and even some dangers of human connection, the performers actually make one. With the audience. The show doesn't simply come up with one funny skit after another (for one thing, they aren't all funny--some even are a tiny bit heart-breaking). It hits the chord of deja vu. These are our hopes as well, and our fears.

 Photo Credit: Sebastian Munoz

In the end, we even make a connection not just with the content, but the cast themselves. And other members of the audience.

For the record, plenty of Zombie Joe regulars can be seen, including Nicole A. Craig, Jennifer Novak Chun (she of the cello), David Wyn Harris, Ian Heath (not naked once for a change) and Roger K. Weiss. Others in the cast are Lee Quarrie, John Santo, Jacquie Waldman and Julian Zambrano. I mention Callie Williams last simply because I want to praise her pipes--strong singers have their own special magic, like extremely fine dancers, and she is one.

Sex & Love in the Modern Age plays at ZJU 4850 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, CA 91601 (just south of the NoHo sign, north of Camarillo) Fridays and Saturdays at 8:30pm until March 26. Unless there is an extension. I hope there is.Zahir Bluehttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139921723020574036.post-70807358944334615222016-03-02T13:39:00.002-08:002016-03-02T13:39:51.415-08:00Brothel (review)

Spoilers ahoy!

Bit of a disclaimer: I in fact know a member of the cast of Brothel, now playing at the Eclectic Theatre in North Hollywood. Her name is Michelle Danyn and I thought she did a very good acting job. She was one of about a half dozen who did. Unfortunately, the cast is almost twice that size.

Okay, I'm going to quickly discuss three aspects of the production.

First, the cast. Some were very good, some were okay, and two could barely act at all. Nobody gave a great performance, but several gave ones well above average, which means better than one usually sees. My biggest praise goes jointly to Brittney Levine as Duchess, and to Terry Finn as Fanny Sweet. Taking the silver would be the afore-mentioned Michelle Danyn as Cindy St. James, Dennis Delsing as Windy Finn and Scott Pretty as Kid Twist. The rest were a mixed bag, in part frankly because of the writing.

Which brings us to the script. Now, Brothel tells the story of a 1920 New York...well, brothel (duh)...its regulars and denizens immediately before and after the Stock Market Crash. Now, that idea strikes me as full of potential. Some of that potential came through, but in general the script rambled quite a bit. That comprises my two complaints about the play itself--the need not so much to streamline but to focus, and the utterly saccharine ending that kicked me out of believing in these people, this story or this world.

Honestly, some of the relationships and scenes genuinely shone. Brightly even. I remember how powerful the 'opium den' scene came across, as well as the drunken scene between Cindy and Fanny Sweet (especially the former's deft playing of someone at different levels of drunkenness), the pleading between Madame Tremaine and Windy Finn. Honestly, this was good stuff. I was interested, and moved. My heart wondered what would become of these people, some of whom seem so clearly and inevitably doomed. But when the script veered into stereotype, as it did more than once, it lost me. So too when scenes meandered around--although that to some extent could also be the direction.

The ending, though, was like something out of the worst forumlaic sitcom. I am not one to turn my back on a happy ending, nor to reject a sudden explosion of good fortune in someone's life. But...

C'mon! Not one but two people go from almost broke to actually rich by a long-shot bet on a horse called Blind Faith? At the beginning of the Great Depression? While the broken down, near-penniless stock broker gets a call from John D. Rockefeller to give him a helping hand because he lent the billionaire an umbrella once? At the same time the cynic breaks down and agrees to marry her rumrunner boyfriend who's just decided to go straight after paying off a dangerous gangster and re-connecting with his son who's done good? At the same time the middle-aged hooker who's been saving her funds for years gets to take over the brothel and vows to turn it into a night club, so another hooker who really wants to be a singer can pursue her real passion? Just after the abusive boyfriend and crooked cop manage to kill each other, releasing the nice Christian girl who was only turning tricks for said abusive boyfriend?

Yeah, it sounds nice. What it doesn't sound, not even remotely, is truthful. One or two of such plot twists would not shatter my sense of reality. All of them together ground it into powder.

Given that, why even bother mentioning the lighting design (extremely poor--crank up those dimmers, so we can see people's faces!) or sound design (the cues were obviously "off")?

Too bad. Brothel has some genuinely effecting scenes, some nice characters, and is well served by some quite good performances. Performances run until April 3, 2016 Fridays & Saturday's at 8pm, Sunday's at 2pm with twowo Thursday performances: March 3 & 31 at 2pm (No show Easter Sunday: March 27) at 5312 Laurel Canyon Blvd, NoHo, CA 91607.Zahir Bluehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139921723020574036.post-34196267203015170782016-02-25T12:48:00.001-08:002016-04-09T12:52:08.880-07:00Tempest Redux (review)

Spoilers ahoy!

Tempest Redux is a re-imagining of one of Shakespeare's last plays (many believe Prospero is a stand-in for the Bard himself). For the most part, this re-imagining consists of a careful edit, streamlining the show with considerable skill. At least that takes up the most time in terms of changes.

But so much more awaits those who see this production.

Allow me to admit (as before) that as an audience member I'm very stingy when it comes to standing ovations. Many the time, after a very good performance, my applause has been sincere and long, yet my seat remained occupied while others rose. Just quality alone does not deserve a standing ovation. My standard for such is when I feel genuinely changed by a performance, when my world is rocked in a way and on so many levels the world itself seems a different place. Easily can I name really fantastic, wonderful, even trascendent works of theatre for which I did not rise. Yeah, I'm tough that way.

Photo by Enci Box

For Tempest Redux, I could not help but rise to my feet. In awe and gratitude, at the same time needing some time to recover from the power of this show.

I'll get to final revelation that felt like a slice into my soul in a little bit, but first -- the production overall. Shakespeare's plays have the fantastic power of allowing all kinds of styles and methods to tell their tale. This one, arising from the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble and the New American Theatre, startles in many ways. One is its physicality, including having no less than three actors (Shea Donovan, Briana Price, Emily Yetter) simultaneously portray Ariel, lipsyncing recorded words in a kind of dance with sound and movement and even lights. Likewise two actor together (Dash Pepin, William Long) were together Caliban, often entwined, sometimes hand-in-hand, or moving in complete unison. The effect proved dazzling, even magical, and appropriate for the non-human characters.

Photo by Jeannine Wisnosky Stehlin

Kudos to the entire cast, actually, up to and including Mimi Davila as a feisty, kind, obedient and unafraid Miranda (just think about trying to convey all of those qualities at the same time). Charles Hunter Paul likewise proved a refreshingly believable young prince, one capable of seeing in this strange girl all his heart might desire. Arguably these are the two most difficult roles in the play (much like Hero and Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing). Dennis Gersten likewise did wonders as Antonio, faithless brother to Prospero, as well as the cook Trinculo. Gildart Jackson shone in his double role as well--a grieving and sincere King Alonso, and as the delightfully supercillious Stephano, drunken butler to His Majesty (and would-be God King to the simple-minded Caliban).

But the star of any Tempest needs must be Prospero (Jack Stehlin), the aging father, exiled Duke, and powerful sorcerer. Here lies the most startling and vivid performance of all, which frankly took some doing! But then, this is the part to do it with. We halfway expect to see Prospero as a version of Gandalf from Lord of the Rings or maybe Dumbledore from Harry Potter. No. Here we meet a dying old man, one distracted by his musings and full of sorrows, but also capable of the most tender emotions imaginable. Indeed, at times he seems overwhelmed by his own heart, while increasingly surprised by events.

Photo by Enci Box

And here we get to the gut-wrenching spoiler. Outline the next paragraph is you want to learn it. You might prefer to wait and see the show.

Nothing we see is real, or very nearly nothing. Prospero's loneliness and tragedy have driven him mad, until at last waking dreams of a sublimely happy ending take form. I myself suspect Ariel is real, and has faithfully created these illusions for her Master all these years, and as he sets her free at last, harsh reality closes in. Prospero is wise, and good. We long for that happy ending this man deserves so very very much -- and in the end he has nothing but his wandering wits, and a tiny skeleton of the daughter who of course did not survive.  "Now all our revels are ended..."

I had the great good fortune to speak with the director/adaptor of this play, John Famanesh-Bocca, and can only say I will eagerly attend any show of his in the future. Just as I felt honored to meet the cast and tell them individually this was indeed the best version of The Tempest I have ever seen.

Tempest Redux plays at the Odyssey Theatre at 2055 South Sepulveda Boulevard Los Angeles, CA. 90025 until April 10, 2016 Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 2pm. NOTE: THIS SHOW HAD BEEN EXTENDED.  Zahir Bluehttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139921723020574036.post-54836687170237502562016-02-24T08:08:00.002-08:002016-02-24T08:08:16.317-08:00Only the Moon Howls (review)

Spoilers ahoy!

Only The Moon Howls by Dean Farell Fuggerman marks the latest production of Theatre Unleashed in North Hollywood. Directed by Eric Cire, it turns out to be an incredibly precise work, and in rather a lot of ways.

For one thing, here is a play that knows it is a play. In the modern era--partially fed by t.v. and motion pictures--we tend to expect plays in a "naturalistic' mode. We the audience fulfill the role of eavesdroppers on what pretends to be real life. Not so here. Incidentally, up until the 19th century that was normal for theatre--no concept of the fourth wall, overtly non-realistic style so taken for granted no one ever thought of it in those terms, details even of history reshaped for dramatic purposes. In fact so called "naturalistic' theatre is the same, just more subtle about it.

Only The Moon Howls focuses upon a married couple, upon their relationship as re-created and commented upon by a chorus of four, who speak not only to the audience but also to the characters. Indeed, one of the romantic pair Whitney (played on various nights by Kate Dyler or Julia Plostnicks) argues with the Guides (Margaret Glaccum, Sammi Lappin, Madeleine Miller, Graydon Schlicthter, Eric Stachura) about how they're telling the story!

No, that isn't how our first conversation went! What do you mean this version of 'our' song makes more thematic sense for the moment? Wait! What about our dogs?

She's not wrong. But of course she's also missing the point. They have an hour. Even hitting the highlights in that hour cannot but be a daunting task. More, as we rapidly realize, this love story ended with no real closure. How could it, under the circumstances.

Whitney's husband Jake (Carey Matthews and Michael Lutheran) is a writer, hoping quite literally to create the Great American Novel. He does get stuff published now and then, but is mostly a stay-at-home husband, given to moping about the decision made--too quickly, he comes to believe--of not having children. A dreamer, he ignores (we're told) how much he actually disliked (note the tense) noise and mess. Or maybe he would have changed, would have happily paid that price in the end. Or perhaps he's looking for some excuse for the life he doesn't have. It could easily be both.

As for Whitney, she loves Jake as he loves her. She rises to the Head of Human Resources for a major corporation, but the strain of what seems missing in their lives impacts her job. Her boss is not really sympathetic. Not at all.

How might they have resolved such issues? We will not--cannot--know any more than they. Such is the nature of their tragedy. In a way, that harkens to the kind of play this turns out to be--a classical Tragedy. A.R.Gurney in his play Another Antigone has a classics professor make a vital point about Classic Tragedy, as in the works of Sophocles. The Ancient Greeks did not really see Tragedy as (for example) Shakespeare did, learning about wrong choices. Instead they focused on the sadness and disaster in life about which we can do nothing. To love must mean to leave oneself open to being hurt. Expectation leads to disappointment, at least sometimes. Beginnings cannot exist without endings. Desire contains within it loss.

Facing that may be the most human thing we do. Bees have language. Beavers build damns. Ants have war. Dogs feel love. Even spiders create what certainly seems like art. Our species alone endures a sense of tragedy, because we know we're going to die.

I am quite a fan of Theatre Unleashed, and count this production among their best--not only because of the subject matter but because the cast and crew united to make it all work. A script is a blueprint, the playwright a collaborator. Mr. Bruggerman was very fortunate in having this group working with him on bringing those words off the page.

Only The Moon Howls plays Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm (with special performances on Mondays February 29 and March 7) at the Belfry Stage, upstairs at 11031 Camarillo Street, North Hollywood CA 91601. For more information call (818) 849-4039.Zahir Bluehttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139921723020574036.post-46414401627888842352016-02-22T15:55:00.002-08:002016-02-22T17:13:43.090-08:00How Love Lasts (review)

Spoilers ahoy!

The work How Love Lasts, staged at the Echo Theatre in Atwater Village, I can safely say surprised. Readers of this blog may well know I enjoy the edgy, the macabre, the fierce on stage. But other virtues deserve plenty of credit as well, which makes for an excellent reason to praise really funny comedies for instance.

Or, as in this case, to praise the qualities of gentleness. And kindness.

Angst is easier, because it is more conflicted. Harder is the examination of genuine emotions in which the positive ultimately shines like a light. Not impossible, certainly, but usually playwrights use tragedy as a counterpoint to make the light all the brighter, to give at least a few drops of the bitter to make the sweet less cloying.

Credit: Mandy Stoller

So with How Love Lasts, but with a remarkably gentle touch. Creators (i.e. writers, director, music composer, etc.) Brooke Bishop and Daniel Landberg interviewed dozens and dozens of couples, then sought to distill what they had experienced and learned into a piece of theatre. Six actors -- Claudia Crook, Eduardo Fernandez-Baumann, David Hartstone, Briana McLean, Samantha Smart, Paul Weinberg--perform ten characters, five couples who simply tell/enact their love stories.

Simply. How ironic to use that word for what they do. Both utterly correct and totally misleading.

Love at first sight. Love growing from friendship. Crushes turning into love. Love unlooked-for after losing the hope to find it. Love arriving with zero warning at a blind date that grows into something deeply real. Love challenged, almost destroyed, love that tempers and teaches and sometimes chastises. The stuff of individual stories we see around us all the time. Plenty of marriages and couples last for the long haul, we know this if we bother to take notice. Not without bumps and potholes along to road, nor lacking terrible mistakes and sometimes misunderstandings that lash and wound and bleed.

Credit: Mandy Stoller

But. It. Does. Happen. It isn't even particularly rare. We do sometimes need reminding of that, don't you think?

The show has one major disadvantage from the get-go, one they manage to work around pretty cleverly. How Love Lasts in fact runs on the same stage--more importantly on the same set--as the regular show Bed. It interferes with audience sight lines, so I do recommend you seat as close to the center and as high as one can manage. However, I will also note whole chunks of the play take place pretty much within the audience! A very clever solution! And one that increases the sense of intimacy, that visceral sense one is simply listening to real people recount some of the journey of their lives.

Childhood sweethearts. A man and woman who meet and click while dancing at a club. Two men, one closeted, hooked up by a friend. A housewife unhappy in her marriage finding more than she could imagine in the arms of another woman. Two people who simply meet, like each other, until like becomes more and more. Anger and loneliness, disappointment and acceptance, change welcome as well as resisted.

And not one moment of this would work without a cast willing to take it absolutely seriously. This remains key to almost any performance, but in such an almost quiet collection of human connection, the temptation for cloying saccharine must have hovered in the air. But this cast rejected it. We the audience got not a lecture or a bunch of simplistic mottoes. Rather we just felt as if these were real people, finding in each other more than just a warm body in the night. More than a hand to hold when things got shaky.

Something just more.

How Love Lasts has moved its venue since I saw the opening night. It runs Thursdays at 8pm through March 14 at the Red Gate Recorders,4440 York Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90041Zahir Bluehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139921723020574036.post-4702185887382455942016-02-16T13:40:00.001-08:002016-02-16T13:40:22.384-08:00Broken Fences (review)

Spoilers ahoy!

For the sake of honesty, let me note couple of the members of the cast of Broken Fences are friends. I'm also a fan of several other cast members.

I'm not familiar with the playwright, Steven Simoncic, nor director Andre Barron, and have only seen a reading or two at the Road Theatre Company before now.

The story as written reminded me of those "well made plays" of the 1950s and 1960s, albeit with an edgier more modern sensibility. A young white couple expecting their first baby, can afford to buy a house in an area once pretty much a ghetto but now changing. The play focuses on this couple, along with some of their friends, in contrast to the family next door--one who've called this area home for generations. Home. That idea pervades the story and characters. The search for a home, the fierce desire to preserve one, the tricky act of defining just what makes a home, plus the equally tricky question of what one does with it. Do you set down roots? Build a castle wall? Leave to find/create a new home?

One thing in particular seems most impressive about the play--that it never suggests some neat answer. Like life, such rarely exists. We do the best we can. This follow through even to the last moments, where Simoncic showed the great skill to allow events to give us the stopping point rather than words. The stopping point, not the end. Again, like life, doesn't seem like there really is an end.

Czar (Coronado Romero) and April (Mia Fraboni) begin this part of the story, moving in amidst hopes and a lot of intellectualized good will. They even look down a tiny bit at their friends Spence (Kris Frost) and Barb (Ivy Khan) who come along to help but clearly feel nervous in 'the hood.' Soon they come across Esto (Ben Theobald), friend of their new next-door-neighbors, who is calmly stealing from their moving van. When the neighbor--Hoody (Bruce A. Lemon) and his fiancee D (Donna Simone Johnson)--show up, the air grows thick with awkwardness, although Hoody makes sure Esto backs off. Adding to all this is Hoody's brother Marz (James Holloway), and the issues they have about home, family, obligation, etc.

Amid the characters, who all the while manage to avoid stereotype while partaking of many details of which stereotypes are made, what ultimately moved me most was when the play veered away from what we like to call "reality." When characters broke the fourth wall and spoke to us, the audience, outside of any specific time and place, that was when I found myself most entranced. But please note the word "most." Plenty of lovely moments and details shone through, times when uncomfortable (and sometimes startlingly hopeful) truths reared their heads. This makes for some very good theatre! More, the overall quality of the entire cast (often not the case, let us be honest) steps up the whole production a notch or two at least.

Broken Fences by the Road Theatre Company plays the Noho Senior Arts Colony, 10747 Magnolia Blvd, North Hollywood CA 91601 Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 2pm through April 3, 2016.Zahir Bluehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139921723020574036.post-39155238727157598502016-02-15T07:42:00.000-08:002016-02-15T07:42:04.607-08:00The Mountaintop (review)

Spoilers ahoy!

When reading about Katori Hall's The Mountaintop at the Matrix Theatre Company on Melrose, my initial impression was positive, but (as it turned out) a tad misleading. The idea seemed straightforward enough. The play tells of the last night spent by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in the Memphis Tennessee hotel room where he slept, and a conversation he had with a maid. Sounded interesting--the famous man, in the midst of the very society-shaking movement which lifted him to fame, in a private talk with a working young woman on whose behalf he in theory has been working. Lots of potential there! The famous discusses life with the unknown, the ordinary. A man hearing reactions from a woman. An ideal confronted with the most mundane and practical. I was hopeful of insight coupled with emotional impact.

For the record, that was the least of what I got.

Starting with the scenic design by John Iocovelli, a bare white space with a few specific pieces of (also white) furniture, I got the impression of something not-really-naturalistic. At first, I simply took this as a means of filling up the stage space and also focusing on the skin tones of the two member cast. Well, that certainly seems true, but then before the action started the tiny period t.v. set showed a race.

Immediately, my thoughts went to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, but it didn't look right. Wrong period. The quality of the film didn't match. Then when Dr. King (Larry Bates) first appears, we see only his shadow.

Soon enough, the attractive maid named "Camae" arrives (Danielle Truitt), bringing the Reverend his late night cup of coffee. The two begin to chat, to flirt, to share a cigarette and to talk about...well, life. Each discusses the issues of the day, how they approach their respective jobs, what each thinks of the other as well as what each thinks the other thinks. But then, in a stressful moment, Camae refers to Dr. King by his given name "Michael." Hardly anyone knows this fact, and the somewhat paranoid man (with good reason--we know the FBI followed him, treated him as a domestic enemy for stirring the pot and demanding social change) reacts as if he's discovered a spy. Then...he finds out he's wrong.

Camae is not a spy. She's not even a maid. Instead she's a young woman murdered just a night or two before, sent by God to usher Dr. King into the next life. His time has almost come, and God wants him ready. Camae is an angel--one in awe of King. Because even now she cannot forgive the white man, while he has. Despite all his faults--including the fairly industrial strength flirting, plus a demand to speak with God to try and talk his way out of this--King yet stands ready to forgive. What, Camae asked at one point, do white people and black people have in common. "They're both afraid," he answered.

King wants to stay. Wants desperately to make things right for the things he's done wrong, but more wants so very much to see his people to the promised land. He has dropped the baton sometimes, he admits, but he's always picked it up again. But God's message is clear--time to pass that baton on. His part of the race is done.

What perhaps makes all this most powerful--other than the rock-steady performances of the cast--is how the play ends, as King gets a glimpse of the future. The baton goes on being passed, he learns, amidst all the good and all the bad, the advances and setbacks, the triumphs and tragedies. We share his vision, not a linear history nor some set of questions answered, but kaleidoscope of images and sounds while Camae utters what sounds like prophecy--what will be, and what must be. Pass the baton. When it falls, pick it up. And again. And again. And again. Amen.

So the reluctant martyr faces his fate. "Will it hurt" he asks? "You won't suffer," she answers. "The whole world will cry, though."

The Mountaintop plays at the Matrix Theatre,  7657 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046 on Saturdays at 8pm, on Sundays at both 3pm and 8pm through April 10, 2016.Zahir Bluehttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139921723020574036.post-2398632702020742192016-02-14T06:24:00.004-08:002016-02-14T06:24:36.373-08:00"Playing Shakespeare"

Next weekend I'm conducing an acting workshop focusing on Shakespeare. For those of you who don't know, I have a BA in Theatre Arts and graduated the (now sadly no more) National Shakespeare Conservatory in NYC. Among the roles I've played are Jacques in As You Like It, the Fool in King Lear and Malvolio in Twelfth Night as well as a host of characters in an experimental production Off Off Broadway of Macbeth. I've directed plays and run workshops before--this one focusing on the fun of playing Shakespeare. Folks think his works difficult and hard work, but in fact once you learn a few simple things they are enormous fun!

So come on Saturday, February 20 from 10am to 1pm for Free at Zombie Joes Theatre Group, 4850 Lankershim Blvd (just south of the NoHo Sign), North Hollywood. Donations accepted on behalf of the Actaeon Players. I'll also hold a raffle to give away one free ticket to that evening's performance of Tempest Redux at the Odyssey.Zahir Bluehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139921723020574036.post-51387930291227723322016-02-11T14:32:00.001-08:002016-02-11T14:32:27.153-08:00BED (review)

Spoilers ahoy!

Okay, this is the kind of show I tend not to like. At all. The whole "look how messed up this person is" all too often comes across as self-indulgent and (worse) boring. Mostly due to generic issues explored in timid ways with neat solutions of one kind or another. At best one can sometimes see this explored in a vastly entertaining manner, usually comedy.

Then there's BED, by Sheila Callaghan and directed by Jennifer Chambers, staged by the Echo Theatre Company in Atwater Village.

I got a very nice press packet accompanying this play, but I'm not going to reference it. No, instead I want to focus totally upon my experience as an audience member. As my initial paragraph hinted, my expectations weren't high. A ten year relationship told in scenes with the characters in bed together. Sounds like a racier version of many a play I've seen in community theatres to be honest. But I said to myself--c'mon this is the Echo!

Credit: Darrett Sanders

Yeah I have a high opinion of this company. A high opinion based on productions like this. BED has characters who defy the words (and concepts) "generic" or "formula." Yes, we meet two people the night they spend together for the first time--Holly (Kate Morgan Chadwick) who seems a Dionysian rebel and Cliff (TW Leshner) a Romantic Apollonian if ever one breathed. Yet they confounded expectations, even though this seeming-formula is something a staple. But the contradictions almost immediately began to pile up. No, not contradictions. A better word is paradox. Because therein lies the heart of what we see in real human beings, genuinely fascinating characters. Holly is so nihilistic, yet accepts a marriage proposal with hardly any resistance--issuing a warning that hangs over the rest of the play. Likewise Cliff seems like such a rock of stability. He is not. He tries so very hard to make things right, to adapt, to support. In truth a part of him changes with the wind, and he cannot seem to find his way. Except, he doesn't dissolve into uselessness and impotence. Rather, he grows into a subtle and strange courage. Holly turns out to be a fantastic mother, despite her disdain of children. Still, her fire burns (in part maybe to try and sear away a bit of venom in her soul--the hints of which are chilling).

Adding to all this the play eschews strict naturalism, not content with the bed (and yeah, character names) as a metaphor but with the metaphors piling up and up. The final scene becomes totally surreal, as this couple do not (as we would expect) break up but instead enter into a new level together. A strange, disturbing, as-yet-unexplored place seemingly full of danger and hope.

None of which would work if the cast (including Johanathan McClain as JC, Cliff's brother), director, designers etc. didn't do their jobs! The major point I want to make is how nobody seemed to hold back. The commitment of everyone to explore this story, these people pushed a good (even excellent) script into something uniquely powerful in its own right.

BED plays at the Echo Theatre 3269 Casitas Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90039 Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 4pm and 7pm, until March 13, 2016.

Zahir Bluehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139921723020574036.post-11723166619908480572016-02-11T13:47:00.000-08:002016-02-11T13:47:02.003-08:00Year of the Monkey (review)

Spoilers ahoy!

Followers of my blog probably realize I see nearly everything produced by Zombie Joe's Underground Theatre Group. I'm proud to say several folks associated with this theatre call me friend.

But I try my best to be objective. This show, Year of the Monkey, however comes across as something deeply personal--a kind of theatrical Happy New Year card from ZJU to their audience. (For the record, Chinese astrology recognizes not only the 12 totems of the years, but also their association with five chinese elements--earth, air, fire, water and wood. 2016 is the year of the Fire Monkey). It comes across as another example of what I call "theatre of dreams" at which ZJU tends to excel. There is something resembling a plot--the triumph of the monkeys over the tyranny of the passing Dragon (2015 was year of the dragon). But in the hour-long show the cast of monkeys really take us on a journey/quest exploring what monkeys are, what monkeys do, what monkeys want.

And in case you haven't guessed ye, we are the monkeys.

So with music and dance, song and pantomime, the monkey tribe celebrates itself and seeks to over come the Dragon. They lack the raw power, the ferocity of their adversary--whom the cast becomes as they do everything else in the show. But they try--and fail. Then try again, to fail again.

But the cycle declares that eventually they will find a way--a way for monkeys to win (and therein lies the secret of their success--trying to be a dragon cannot help but fail, after all).

If this sounds weird, you're not wrong. But make no mistake, the show is also very fun indeed. Not just fun but at times tragic, moving, always startling and yet quietly logical according the logic of dreams. Heroes die, devoured by a monster, only to be resurrected to help fight again. Terror gives way to comfort, ritual to courage, experience to insight and wisdom. From thence, comes victory.

For a time.

Kudos to the entire ensemble, including several ZJU regulars: Jennifer Ashe, Jeannie Hudak, Gerald McGrory, Olivia M Powell, Dale Sandlin, Elif Savas, Anastasia Serada, Adam Shows, Kevin Van Cott and Roger D. Weiss. Their performances hint they had a blast putting this show together--and it shows, even overflowing into the audience.

Year of the Monkey plays Fridays and Saturdays at 8:30pm until February 27, 2016 at ZJU 4850 Lankershim Blvd (just south of the NoHo sign) North Hollywood CA 91601. You can get reservations by calling (818) 202-4120.Zahir Bluehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139921723020574036.post-61360048771399715622016-02-11T13:08:00.000-08:002016-02-11T13:08:03.175-08:00The Room (review)

Spoilers ahoy!

Initially I was going to write an elaborate kinda/sorta not-quite-review of this production by the esteemed Wooster Group of Harold Pinter's first major play, The Room. Samuel French, the play publisher, issued a strange demand regarding this production, evidently as a result of some feedback from the Pinter estate. Maybe. We don't really know. Their demand, weirdly enough, was that the show get no reviews.

Well, it really isn't up to Samuel French (nor the Wooster Group, nor the REDCAT theater where the show plays) to make that call.

Now that Samuel French has refused to authorize an extension of this production, it hardly matters. So here is my unabashed reaction.

Pinter rightly won a reputation as one of the English language's premiere playwrights of his era, the master of what some dubbed the "comedy of menace." The Room pretty much encapsulates this. A man and woman in a room they evidently rent putter about, chatting about pretty much nothing. Well, the woman does. The man remains resolutely silent. His wife(?) seems a pack of nerves, but fiercely trying to hide it by what might be called "reassuring" talk about how comfortable they are. Yet she's also afraid--overtly of the room below, evidently recently vacated.

What precisely anyone in the play is afraid of, or what makes them angry (or worried, cautious, excited, etc.) remains unstated and unexplained--deliberately so. Hence the menace, all the more vivid given the period in which the play first appeared, the 1950s when success and conformity were treated as gods.

Herein lies a bit of problem, which director Elizabeth LeCompte approached with an intriguing slant. We live in a world two generations past that of the play, one post 9/11 as well as the Cold War and dozens of other perception-altering events. How then, make The Room as vivid as in the past?

This production did not change the play as one might think from Samuel French's reaction. Rather it dove a bit deeper into the text, adding the occasional stylistic flourish. Stage directions, for example, were read aloud even as the cast performed them. The sound effects emerged not from a sound booth out of sight, but from technicians on stage. Instead of a traditional box set, we got a rather Eastern approach to the acting area. A few lines were even sung! So what we the audience experienced hardly resembled that audiences saw previously--yet remained utterly the same text, focusing upon the same issues and ideas, seeking to invoke the same emotions.

Not sure it completely succeeds, at least not directly. What this production and cast (including Kate Valk, Scott Renderer, Ari Fliakos, Suzy Roche and Philip Moore) did accomplish was forcing me to look at the play anew. In fact, getting it out of my mind has proven a tiny bit of a challenge. Honestly, for that alone they deserve plenty of applause!

The Room plays at the REDCAT in the Disney Center downtown 631 West 2nd Street, Los Angeles at 8:30pm until Saturday February 13 then at 3pm on Sunday February 14.

Zahir Bluehttp://email@example.com


text:
Bulgarian FinMin Snubs EC View on Social Benefits
The European Commission has issued a special statement informing that the decision on social benefits of retirees is an exclusive competence of Member States and does not depend on the amounts reimbursed by EC under the Cohesion and Structural Funds.
The statement came on the heels of words of Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Simeon Djankov, who explained at the end of 2012 that Bulgarian retirees will not receive the so-called Christmas bonuses because EC has delayed payments owed to Bulgaria.
The Minister counters now the EC opinion, firmly insisting there is a connection between social benefits and delayed payments because the delay increases the country's budget gap, which can lead to violations of the State Budget Act.
He reminded that at the end of 2012, Bulgaria expected payments from Brussels in the amount of BGN 800 M.
"In order to keep the fiscal frame as the law mandates we had to foresee the possibility this money could come in 2013," Djankov concluded.
- » Bulgarian Govt Debt Rises to EUR 13.35 B at End-March
- » Bulgaria Expects Budget Surplus to Exceed BGN 2.3 B at End of April
- » Bulgaria's End-February Gross Foreign Debt Falls 0.7% from End-2015
- » Bulgaria's Government Deficit, Debt Stood at 2.1 %, 26.7 % in 2015
- » Bulgarian Company Wins DFC Innovation Award
- » Jan-Feb FDI in Bulgaria Drops - C-bank
I always thought that payments that are not yet received should still be registered as income and counted as such when calculating profit/loss or budget gap/excess (just like the state should count VAT returns as expenses even if they haven't been paid yet). Is it me or Djankov who needs a lesson in accountancy?

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills were unchanged in Monday's auction with rates on six-month bills remaining at their highest level since late March.
Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills were unchanged in Monday's auction with rates on six-month bills remaining at their highest level since late March.
The Treasury Department auctioned $25 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.025 percent, the same as the last two weeks. Another $23 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 0.050 percent, unchanged from last week.
The six-month rate is the highest since those bills averaged 0.065 percent on March 31.
The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,999.37 while a six-month bill sold for $9,997.47. That would equal an annualized rate of 0.025 percent for the three-month bills and 0.051 percent for the six-month bills.
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- Seahawks' selection of Germain Ifedi in NFL draft has makings of a great fit
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Separately, the Federal Reserve said Monday that the average yield for one-year Treasury bills, a popular index for making changes in adjustable-rate mortgages, declined to 0.09 percent last week from 0.10 the previous week.