Fela! on Broadway

While watching one of my favorite shows, The Colbert Report, he ended his show with a performance by the new Broadway musical Fela!.  With producers like Jay-Z and Will and Jada Smith, not to mention Tony Award winner, director/choreographer Bill T. Jones, this musical features the Afrobeat music of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti to tell the story of his controversial life as artist, political activist and revolutionary musician.  From what I saw on the show, the music was captivating and the hybrid of dance and Broadway musical was refreshing.

Check out the video clips!  And if you are in New York, go see the show now playing at the Eugene O'Neill Theater located at 230 W 49th St!

Cuba and His Teddy Bear

I saw a relatively unknown, well played production of Reinaldo Pavod's Cuba and His Teddy Bear.  Performed at the Underground Theater off Wilton and Sunset by The Actors Collective as their first company production.  If you are unfamiliar with The Actors Collective, they are a group who connect actors directly with agents and some of Hollywood's top casting directors, producers and filmmakers.  Through workshops, the actor can present a scene and pass reels, postcards. ect... directly to established industry folks.  Establishing a relationship with the people who can ultimately get you work, will save you money in mass mailings and start a one on one relationship with them.

The play was explosive and one I still think about. Set in New York's Lower East Side in the 80's with typical father son themes in a not so typical situation.  Diving into the life of a small time drug dealer, his creative son and the battles they have with one other and their own selves.  Cuba played by Brian Burke counters his threatening aggressive tactics with a sincere tenderness toward the well being of his son, played by Dave Alfano.  The intensity of the play was relieved by Cuba's sidekick Jackie. Kyle T. Heffner as Jackie was superb, with all of his one liners repeated throughout the play, we would all have been on the floor crying if we didn't have his comedy.  With 2 pounds of pot on the line, Teddy joins the family business by wanting to distribute the pot through his new friend a Tony award winning playwright and well known heroin junkie.  The idea does not sit well with Cuba and through the transaction secrets are reviled and so is the shame.  Love for his son prevails and you are left with a feeling of compassion for this family.  It reminds us that we are all only human, but when you really love, it can do no wrong.

The play ran one weekend as a preview, but look forward to a five week run after the New Year.  I will keep you all posted, it is a must see.  Plus check out The Actors Collective if you want to get connected.

www.actorscollective.com

The Brilliant, Churchill

Born in London on September 3, 1938, Caryl Churchill grew up in England and Canada. In 1960, she received a BA in English from Oxford University where she wrote three plays: Downstairs, You've No Need to be Frightened, and Having a Wonderful Time. After graduation, she began to write radio plays for the BBC including The Ants (1962), Not, Not, Not, Not Enough Oxygen (1971), and Schreber's Nervous Illness (1972). This genre forced Churchill to develop a certain economy of style which would serve her well in her later work for the stage, but it also freed her from the limitations of the stage, allowing, for example, the freedom to write very short scenes or make great leaps in time and space.

In 1974, Churchill began her transition to the stage, serving as resident dramatist at the Royal Court Theatre from 1974-75. During the 1970's and 1980's, she also collaborated with theatre companies such as Joint Stock and Monstrous Regiment, both of which utilized an extended workshop period in their development of new plays and both of which are generally considered to have had a deep impact on Churchill's development as a playwright. She would later write, "This was a new way of working ... [I felt] stimulated by the discovery of shared ideas and the enormous energy and feeling of possibilities." While working with Joint Stock and Monstrous Regiment, Churchill wrote a number of successful plays including Light Shining on Buckinghamshire (1976), Vinegar Tom (1976), Cloud Nine (1979), and A Mouthful of Birds (1986).

Even after striking out on her own, Churchill continued to utilize an improvisational workshop setting in the development of some of her plays. Mad Forest: A Play from Romania (1990) was written after Churchill, the director and a group of student actors from London's Central School went to Romania to work with acting students there and find out more about the events surrounding the fall of Ceausescu. What finally emerged from this process was a play that revealed the dreadful damage done to people's lives by years of repression and the painful difficulties of lasting change.

As Churchill's remarkable career continues to develop, her plays seem to be growing more and more sparse and less and less inhibited by realism. In The Skriker (1994), she utilizes an associative dream logic which some critics found to be nonsensicle. The play, a visionary exploration of modern urban life, follows the Skriker, a kind of northern goblin, in its search for love and revenge as it pursues two young women to London, changing its shape at every new encounter.

Churchill married David Harter in 1961 and has three sons. Her awards include three Obie Award (1982, 1983 & 1988) and a Society of West End Theatre Award (1988).

We Are Not These Hands

In We Are Not These Hands, playwright Sheila Callaghan considers the effects of rampant capitalism on a country that is ill prepared to deal with its fallout.  The genesis of the play came to Ms. Callaghan during a trip to China, where in poor villages along the Yangtze, she noted illicit cyber-cafes hidden down side alleys. In news stories at home, she read of the death of 41 students, blown up while assembling firecrackers in their eastern China school [see photo, right], and of 24 people dying in Beijing when two teenagers set fire to an unlicensed cyber-cafe from which they'd been 86ed. Asked about the impulse behind the play, Callaghan said: "I wanted to write about the challenges facing third world countries but didn't know how. So instead, I wrote a love story."

We Are Not These Hands is set in a fictional landscape where a river divides a prosperous country from one where war, poverty, and dictatorship have destroyed the infrastructure - with the exception of ubiquitous Internet cafes. Ever since their school blew up, teenagers Belly and Moth have spent their time peering through the windows of an illegal Internet Café hoping to cross over into the mysterious realms they can only glimpse on the screen. When Leather, a pampered scholar from the other side of the river, arrives to do research on their culture, the girls take particular interest in this strange man with a secret. As their relationship develops, the encounter threatens to explode their understanding of history and forge a connection that will save them all.

PLAYS TO GO SEE

As White as O

Roadhouse Theater

5108 Lankershim Blvd.

N. Hollywood 91601

#866-811-4111

www.roadtheatre.org

RUNS: Oct 11-Dec 12

$15-30

What if your life were an uninvited work of art?  An onrushing riot of these senses.  And love is a perfect white "O" that smells of salt and gasoline?  That's Jack's life.  And he is in love.

Hamlet Shut Up

Sacred Fools Theater

660 N. Heliotrope Dr.

Hollywood 90004

#310-281-8337

www.sacredfools.org

RUNS: Nov 20-Dec 19

$16-20

Sacred Fools Theater is proud to quietly present the world premiere of Jonas Oppenheim's Hamlet Shut Up.  What this dialogue free adaptation lacks, it makes up for in slapstick, music, clowing, vaudville and sharks.  The physically gifted ensemble developed the piece beat by beat, scene by scene concocting the funniest most poignant way to present Shakespeare's masterpiece without the use of dialogue.

Celadine

555 N. Third Street

Burbank CA 91502

#818-558-7000

www.colonytheatre.org

RUNS: Feb 6-Mar 7 2010

A free spirited, rollicking romp involving a king indusguise, a mischievous maidservant, a tailor who can' speak and a mysterious actor who may be more dangerous than he seems.  Celadine, a fiercely intellignet woman ahead of her time, gets caught up in an uproarious story of espionage, mistaken identity and political intrige in the 17th century London.  This bawdy, sexy comedy comes complete with spyin, swordfighting and cross-dressing.

Cousin Bette

Deaf West Theater

5112 Lankershim Blvd.

N. Hollywood Ca 91601

#818-506-5436

www.antaeus.org

RUNS: Oct 30-Dec 20

Seductive, cunning and deliciously wicked, Jeffery Hatcher's adaptation of Honore de Balzac's 1846 masterpiece, Cousin Bette tells the sotry of the powerfull Julot family who inspire hate and loathing in the heart of their poor relative, a spinster named Bette.  Set in Paris in the mid 19th century, Bette, under the guise of concern and compassion, plots her families distruction with the aid of a beautiful, unhappy courtesan.  A tale of revenge, secual passion and the devistating effects of violent jealousy.

Enron. The play?

While working as a secretary, 29-year-old British playwrite Lucy Prebble wrote The Sugar Syndrome, about a friendship between a teen and a pedophile.  It opened at the Royal Court in 2003.  She also created Showtimes's Secret Diary of a Call Girl, based on the memoir of upscale London prostitute Belle de Jour.  In an interview for W magazine, she said, "Thematically, a lot of the things I write are similar, but people don't see it that way.  They think prostitution is very difference from buisness, but they're both about deception and compartmentalization."

Her newest play, Enron, is a tragicomedy about the 2001 scandal.  Directed by Rupert Goold, this play uses modern dance on a frazzled trading floor and analysts sing praises to Enron in a babershop trio.  London Evening Standard called it "a corporate Mcbeth".  The production will head to London's West End in January and to Broadway in the spring. 

Columbia Pictures has aquired to rights to Enron, and Prebble is now working on the screenplay.  I wonder if it will have dancing and singing in it?  If it doesn't...it should!

A View From the Bridge

Only Arthur Miller.  With a complicated performance history, it was originally a screenplay called The Hook, written by Miller with assistance from Elia Kazan, who had previously directed the playwrite's All My Sons and Death of a Salesmen.  Inspired now by the true story of a Brooklyn dockworker who informed on two illegal immigrants, Miller reconceived The Hook as A View From the Bridge.

In this play Arthur Miller confronts the audience with a situation in which we know the outcome, sounds kind of like Greek drama. The important questions then arise. How? Why? Alfieri, the lawyer who participates in but also narrates the story, serves as the Greek chorus. Miller chooses as his hero a semiarticulate Brooklyn longshoreman involved in a personal domestic dilemma. Eddie Carbone is a good man, a family man who is respected in his community, who cannot fathom the unbearable affection and passionate feeling he has for his niece, Catherine, who he has raised as his daughter. Eddie is confronted with a situation for which he is unprepared. Rodolpho, a recent illegal emigrant Sicilian, is handsome, sings, spends his money on clothes and makes dresses for Catherine. The two have fallen in love and intend to marry. Eddie’s jealousy and repressed sexuality are feelings he can’t understand or control. He is bewildered and desperately tries to stop Catherine from marrying or leaving. Catherine struggles to leave, but she cares deeply and feels sorry for Eddie and does not want to hurt him. In an intense, shocking confrontation, a drunken Eddie kisses Catherine and, when challenged by Rodolpho, Eddie kisses him as well. By challenging Rodolpho’s masculinity and sexuality, Eddie hopes to destroy Catherine’s love for him. Eddie does not stop the wedding, so he betrays Rodolpho to the Immigration Bureau and looses his Sicilian honor in his community. Marco, Rodolpho’s brother, requires blood revenge and the play rushes on to its tragic death scenes. Such themes as love, honor, ethics, jealousy, betrayal, justice and identity are woven throughout the play. Once again, an ordinary and decent person cannot face his confusion or stop his corruption.

Findng the Sun

Edward Albee, most famously known for Whose Afraid of Virginia Wolf, has a come back play in 83'.  This play was very fast, spuratic and full of life.  A character driven play, packed with information on each one in such a small amount of time.  The characters seem to be extreme, but it helps to develope the play.  All of them are troubled and it's great the way Albee has made them so many different ages.  It helps to see how different their perspectives are at differnt stages in life, and what you have to considered at those times.  I really like how this play doesn't have a lot of stage directions so I can use my own imagination.  Each characters love the sun.  The sun represents life, so when the sun hides behind the clouds at the end, Fergus is missing, Abigail tries to kill herself and Henden dies.  Then the sun comes back out.

Albee described his stylized drama as "pointillist in manner." This play counterbalances characters, in one example contrasting a young man's forthcoming freedom with an old man's awareness of his impending death.  The characters possess a false sense of security towards the relationships they find themselves in. These characters, in a fit of unforeseen brute honesty find that the safe, secure relationships they thought they had are pulled right from underneath their feet by unforeseen circumstances. It is at the end of this production that all the characters truly find out how utterly alone they actually are.

Six Characters in Search of an Author

Luigi Pirandello, what an interesting fellow.  Writing novels, short stories and plays.  Six Characters in Search of an Author  is the first in a trilogy of plays that question reality.  It was first performed in Rome in 1922 where a riot insued threatening Pirandello and his daughter.  A year later, in London, he had good reviews.  With the world views shifting due to WWI, machines and Fruedian theories, this play about a play changed what audiences were used to.  When audiences came to a show they expected to see the curtain is down awaiting the start of the play.  In Pirandello's play the curtain is up with an empty stage ready for rehearsal.  Director and actors interacting like there is no audience.  A family of "characters"  show up and want to have their story told.  The madness these characters feel, each one with different perceptions of reality, dramatizes drama and people didn't know what to do with it.  In 1925, Pirandello directed the original non-translated Italian version in London, and even though the audience didn't understand it's language,  It was a sold out show everynight.

Plays to go See

The End of Civilization
The Sidewalk Studio Theatre

4150 Riverside Drive
Burbank, CA 91505
Ticket Price: $10.00 pre-sale, $15.00 at the door and $5.00 for previews

Tickets by Phone: 800-838-3006
http://www.skypilottheatre.com/

The End of Civilization is a fictional tale of an ordinary middle class couple set against the backdrop of a country on the brink of financial ruin. The US economy seems to be in a permanent state of decline, monthly job losses number in the hundreds of thousands and otherwise good individuals are driven to re-define or cross legal and moral boundaries in order to survive and… oh, wait... did we say fictional?


Equivocation
Geffen Playhouse

University of California
10886 Le Conte Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Show Opens: November 10, 2009 Show Closes: December 20, 2009

Ticket Price: $35.00 - $75.00
Tickets by Phone: 310-208-5454
http://www.geffenplayhouse.com/



A witty historical fiction with Shakespeare as its protagonist, Equivocation is set in the early 1600's and focuses on what happens when a member of King James' court attempts to commission a play about the Gunpowder Plot, when Guy Fawkes attempted to blow up parliament

Comedy of Manners

Thats about all it is in some plays. If you don't understand what the manners of the time period should be, these plays won't seem funny to you on paper. You have to find the irony between the characters. Now, I will admit there are a couple of these plays I find funnier than others. I can't help but love Moliere's Tartuffe. I think the characters and situations are wonderfully played. Dorine ismy fav and it has nothing to do with the fact I played her!

I have yet to read School for Wives or School for Husbands by Moliere. Here is a little tid-bit, School for Wives was not well received by the audience, so he come back with The Critizism for School for Wives. I know, right? What is up with the school? Even a hundred years later, we have the play School for Scandal by Sheridan. I don't know. I have done a little research, not enough obviously. I have now idea. If anyone knows, please relieve me of long wondered question. I have my conclusions. I get it that school means to teach, so the playwrites are giving us a lesson on these subjects. But I have no proof.


In short, even if I don't think these are the funniest plays, I love the styles. I only wish they were done more. I hope I can find a show going up soon. Moliere's The Misanthrope has been done 1500 times from 1680-1960. I have yet to see it... I will keep you posted if I find one.

Moliere... Oui! Oui!

Oh how I love the story of this French man. Any struggling actor can draw inspiration from his life. Born in Paris on January 15, 1622 as Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, received every advantage a boy could wish for. His father tended to the king’s furniture and upholstery, so Moliere had access to the king’s court. But even as a child, he found it way more pleasing to poke fun at the aristocracy that to associate with them. Never showing much interest in his father’s craft, luckily his fathers shop was located near two important theatrical sites: the Pont-Neuf and the Hotel de Bourgogne. At the Pont-Neuf, they performed comedic farces in the street and a brought a smile to Moliere’s face on many an afternoon. At the Hotel de Bourgogne, which he attended with his grandfather, the King’s Players performed more traditional romantic tragedies and broad farces. Between the two different theatrical venues, we can see the impact it had on the young man. In 1643, at the age of twenty-one, he decided to dedicate his life to the theater, and thank god he did!

He started a theater company with a girl he had fallen in love with and a dozen well-to-do hopefuls. They called themselves The Illustrious Theater. To spare his father any embarrassment for having an actor in the family, he changed his name to Moliere. He and his company made their dramatic debut in a converted tennis court. With little experience and a lot of enthusiasm, they charged admission. It was a disaster! Over the next two years the little company appeared throughout Paris, each time failing miserably. Many dropped out of the company, so the remaining seven actors decided to leave Paris and go tour the provinces. For the next TWELVE YEARS, they would travel from town to town perfecting their craft.

During this time Moliere began to write plays for the company. His first important piece, L’Etourdi or The Blunderer, followed the escapades of Mascarille, a shrewd servant who goes about furthering his master’s love affair only to have his plans ruined when the blundering lover inadvertently interferes. The play was a success and a number of other works followed. By 1658, Moliere had improved his company and they decided to try Paris one more time. They learned the King’s brother, the Duke of Anjou, wanted to support a dramatic company which would bear his name; they immediately set out to gain an introduction to the Court.

He and his troupe performed for the first time before Louis XIV and his courtiers on October 24, 1658. They made a crucial mistake by performing a tragedy instead of one of their popular farces. The Court was not impressed, so Moliere approached the King about performing one of his own plays, The Love Sick Doctor. The King agreed and it was such a success that they were granted use of the Hotel de Petit Bourbon, one of the three most important theaters in Paris. The little troupe then became known as the Troupe de Monsieur.

Many of his plays scrutinized members of the King’s court but a success with the public. He made powerful enemies that managed to have performances of the play suspended for fourteen days and attempted to have him driven out of the city. They had the Petit Bourbon closed down completely, but the King immediately granted Moliere use of the Theatre du Palais Royal where he continued to perform for the rest of his life. Eventually they would be awarded the coveted title of “Troupe of the King”. Moliere directed and often played the leading role himself. On February 17, 1673, Moliere suffered a hemorrhage while playing the role of the hypochondriac Argan in The Imaginary Invalid. He had insisted on going through with the show saying, “There are fifty poor workers who have only their daily wage to lie on. What will become of them if the performance does not take place?” He passed away later that night at his home. Actors had no social standing and had been excommunicated by the church; therefore, no priest would take his confession and refused to bury him in holy ground. Four days later, the King interceded and Moliere was laid to rest in the Cemetery Saint Joseph.

Moliere changed the face of French classical comedy and has gone on to influence works all over the world.

Check these out:
The Miser (1668)
The Misanthrope (1666)
The Doctor in Spite of Himself (1666)
Tartuffe (1664)
The School for Husbands (1661)
The School for Wives (1662)

Mr. Williams

Suddenly Last Summer, a deeply poetic play by the brilliant Tennessee Williams.  In 1958 this one-act play opened off broadway as part of a double-bill with on of Williams' other one-act plays: Something Unspoken, but Suddenly Last Summer is more often performed alone now.  The play is basically made up of two long monologues, with themes of homosexualtiy, truth and falshood, using one another, madness and even cannibalism.

Set in New Orleans' wealthy district at the home of a widow Violet Venable, who once traveled the world with her son Sabastian, a poet.  She now wants to clense his memory from the niece of her late husband, Catherine, a poor girl who accompanied Sabastian on his final trip and witnessed his violent murder.  Between these two women is a young doctor who has been offered a generous research grant from Mrs Venable in return for his services, which are to give Catherine a lobotomy to keep her from tellng the truth about Sabastian and his sexual preferences.  Catherine has been put in one institution after another by her aunt Violet, given insulin and shock treatments.  She is now at her aunts to be evaluated for a lobotomy.  Her mother, Mrs Holly and her brother George try to convince her to change her story about Sabastian because of a hundred thousand dollars they are suppose to get when Violet dies.  The best part of this story is the end.  Catherine knows what she saw, and under a "truth serum" injection she begins to tell the story of the horrible death of Sabastian.  How he fed his fantasy with young boys on a European beach but suprisingly they end up feeding on him.  Literally.  An act that recalls the Dionysian ritual, sparagmos and omophagia,  in which a living animal or sometimes even a human would be sacrificed by being dismembered, by tearing apart of limbs from the body and eating the raw flesh.   

As in many of Williams plays, this one incorporates elements from his own life and of his idol, poet Hart Crane.  Williams' sister Rose was compelled to undergo a lobotomy at the instigation of their controling mother.  Read the play, it's short, or check out the 1959 movie version with Katharine Hepburn and Liz Taylor.  This screenplay was written by Gore Vidal!  A must see!

PLAYS TO GO SEE

I found some plays around L.A. that sound good!  Hope you find one you like!

Lie of the Mind by Sam Shepherd
Studio/Stage
520 N. Western Ave.
L.A. 90004
RUNS 11/13-12/20  $20
#888-534-6001
www.studiofiveproductions.org/

I have a special place in my heart for this play.  This was my grad play with one of the most amazing cast of people I have ever had the pleasure to work with.  I plan on seeing this production, and I may be a bit critical.  Shepherd shows us his humor through pain with the suprises played out between two families linked together by marriage, but set apart by lies.  Shepherd probes into the human heart and the destruction it can cause.  I can't wait!


Shining City by Conor McPherson
Fountain Theater
5060 Fountain Ave
Hollywood 90029
RUN now thru 12/30 $15-$30
#323-663-1525
www.fountiantheatre.com

I have not seen or read this play, but plan on doing both.  The synopsis reads, a middle aged man living in Dublin has seen the ghost of his recently deceased wife.  He reaches out to a former preist turned therapist who is fighting his own demons.  A huanting story of faith, love and loss.  oohhhh, good stuff.





Tracers by John DiFusco
Elephant Theatre

6322 Santa Monica Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90038
RUN 10/21-11/21 $20
#323-960-4410

I have seen this play and it is so powerful.  This play tracks the lives of six enlisted men through the Vietnam experience and it's after effects.  Interestingly, DiFusco created this play through workshops with a group of VietnamVet/actors.  Gary Senise directed this Steppenwolf production in 82'.

Is there such thing as a modern tragedy?

 Tragedy, tragedy and more, you guessed it. The dilemma of tragedy had been divided by the neoclassical view of the Greek tragedy and by the Elizabethan past in the Shakespearean tragedy. The argument is whether modern tragedies are just that, tragedies, by the Greek standard.

Strindberg's naturalistic tragedy, Miss Julie is a raw play. Set in the 1880’s, has all of the basic themes in Greek tragedy. Miss Julie is the daughter of a Count, who sleeps with her servant because of her desire for power over men. Here we see the Greek tragedy standard by which a person of noble birth has a problem that affects everyone and it has to be solved. The entire play happens within one night, another standard. She then in turn, faces her own fate when the obstacles against her become overwhelming, and she commits suicide, here is the recognition. Her servant is left with his job as a servant, with no one knowing they had an affair; this is the restoring of balance in the world with a grand sense of justice to remember later. Would the audience experience catharsis? I think so. Does this sound like a traditional Greek tragedy, YES!


So, can a modern tragedy be a tragedy? Yes it can. Though many critics will disagree, that is the beauty of the topic.


Have you read this play? If not, get on it, it’s amazing, intense and downright vulgar. I love it!

“People who keep dogs are cowards who haven't got the guts to bite people themselves.”

~August Strindberg

A Modern Surprise on a Classic American Passtime

Being a fan of playwright Richard Greenberg, I was excited to see the play, Take Me Out, at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.  I knew nothing of the play accept that a friend of mine who is in it said he drops his pants.  I was in.  Not what I anticipated.  The play is about Baseball.  All I was thinking is, how long can this stay interesting.  Well, it didn't STAY interesting...it GOT interesting.  The themes that spun through this web of drama kept you wondering whats next.

Opening the play with a slow start we learn that the Superstar Baseball player, Darren Lemming, played by Yjohnzail Mack, comes "out" about his homosexuality to the public.  We later find that one of his best friends on a rival team had encouraged him to be honest about life, not knowing his friends secret, and so Darren acts on it.  My mind goes straight to the prejuduce Darren will face in the locker room from his team mates.  Not the case.  Which shows us all how the understanding of this lifestyle is much more accepted by the mainstream.  Ok, so what can happen now?  Well, Darren's good friend and team mate, Kippy, played by Chance Havens, is the rough around the edges, tatooed, kindhearted narrator and adds a refreshing contradiction to what we expect of this kind of character.  And then we meet Shane Mungitt, played by Khris Feazell.  Shane is an unknown transfer pitcher, who is know a part of Darren's team.  Shane doesn't ever talk until Darren and Kippy approach him and pick his brain.  Through this conversation we find that the outstanding pitcher isn't much for words because he is shy, but because he is dumb.  Literally.  Coming from a childhood of foster care, and lack of education.  His Midwestern roots show us that he doesn't have the progressive mindset of the rest of the team, and most of a modern society.  Racism starts to shine through.  See, not only is Darren gay, but he is black.  And this professional baseball team has a mix of races.  Once Shane gets comfortable with his new fame, he starts to talk, and probably shouldn't.  In an Interview with the press, Shane exploits his racism and views about his multicultural team.  The man who never said a word. has said too much.  So much, that he is suspended from the team.

The play slowly progresses with themes dealing with levels of masculinity,  what baseball means to people and a great monologue by my favorite character, Mason played by Kevin Sanchez.  He compares baseball to hope in a Democratic society.  Talking about the game, Mason says "Equality, of opportunity.  Everyone is given exactly the same chance.  And the opportunity to exercise that chance at his own pace....In baseball there is no clock.  What would be more generous than to give everyone all these opportunities and the time to seize them in, as well."  This monologue puts this whole play into perspective.  He goes on to say, "I like to believe that something about being human is...good.  And I think what's best about us is manifested in or desire to show respect for one another.  For what we can do."  Isn't that what we assume?  Then what happens when there is a variable that changes that.  That's Shane.

Shane gets to come back to the team.  Darren is furious that he has to play with a blatant racist.  The two men have an altercation in the locker room before a game, and during the game when Shane is pitching, he throws a wild pitch that kills the batter, who happens to be Darren's good friend.  He too is black.

As the play ends, Khris Feazell does a captivating scene as Shane.  The best one in my opinion.  While at the police station he talks with Darren and Kippy. I actually feel sorry for this guy.  During his heart wrenching monologue he says,  "I'm not suppose to talk, I don't know how.  I am suppose to throw, and now they won't let me throw!"  This was one of those plays that is so relevant to today, how old ways of thinking in America have progressed away from racism to civil rights on all planes.  But unlike Democracy, baseball acknowledges loss.  Someone has to lose, even though we strive for equality in opportunity, other variables contribute to inequality in the outcome.

As one critic put it, this play is part essay on baseball and homosexuality in American masculinity, part contemporary Greek tragedy, with Darren as the hero whose overwhelming pride leads to his downfall, Kippy as the messenger, and Mason as the chorus. Betty Karlen directs a surprise, and what is left is thoughts about where our country has been, and where our culture is going.  

OFF THE SUBJECT

I found an old love.  The Libertine by Stephen Jeffreys, an acclaimed playwright.  Written in 1994, this raunchy play about the Earl of Rochester set in 1675, has it all; sexuality, whores, King Charles II, plays within the play, and a servent named Alcock.  Not to mention one of the best opening monologues eva!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMCYrqtmFpM

In addition to the opening monologue, there is scene I have been dying to do since I read this play.  Act 1 Sc 4.  The exchange between the Earl, John Wilmont, and actress Elizabeth Barry.  He is attempting to train her in acting with believability and truth.  She assumes, by his reputation, he wants to train her in something "else".  But her desires to be loved my her audience compels her to continue with the studies.  They end up having a love affair that changes the Earl's life, even though it does not end well.


The play was given its American premiere by the Steppenwolf Theatre Co., Chicago, Ill, April 7, 1996 with John Malkovich as the outrageous Earl.  It is also now a movie with Johnny Depp as the Earl and John Malkovich switching to Henry II.  The film is GREAT!  I own it and can't tell you how many times I have seen it.  Not only does the script stay close to the play, but come on, does Mr. Depp ever fail us!  He encompasses everything the Earl is, and more. 

Comparisons

Have you ever heard of the Oedipus Complex?  A subconscious desire in a child ages 3-5, perticularly a male, for the parent of the opposite sex.  Usually accompanied by hostility to the parent of the same sex. The thing with Oedipus is that he didn't choose his fate by willingly sleeping with his mother!  He didn't know.  There are a lot of examples out there of plays and films with themes of the Oedipus Complex.  A lot of Hitchcock films and in the O'Neill classic, Desire Under the Elms.  This play has some crazy Greek tragedy themes all in it!  A complex, meaty story that ends tragically, but justice prevails.
Fate VS. Free Will.  A lot of times you may think you have free will, but there are always other people contributing to the outcome.  Oedipus wants to avenge the old Kings death, not knowing it is his father.

Eben, in Desire Under the Elms, wants to avenge his mother death, yet willingly falls in love with his step-mother, Abbie, all the while loathing his father.  A little Oedipus Complex or what!  Undeniably an amazing play I plan on diving into this this week.  Very interesting how "desire" is seen in the definition of the Oedipus Complex, and in the title..ummm. 

Little tid bit:  the original broadway play was unsuccessful until it moved uptown, because of the content, police attempted to close it.  After the notoriety the play was a success.

"I am far from being a pessimist...On the contrary, in spite of my scars, I am tickled to death at life!"

Eugene O'Neill

Remembering Sophocles

Sophocles lived a long life.  Born in 496 B.C.E. in Colonus, a village outside of Athens, Greece, he is considered one of the three greatest playwrights of classical Greek theater.  Not only a playwright, but he held political and military offices in fifth-century B.C.E. Athens.  Only seven of his complete plays have are still around, but he wrote more than 100 and won first place in 24 contests.  He found his fame by defeating the playwright Aeschylus in 468 B.C.E.  He is the one known for changing Greek drama by adding a third actor, paying greater attention to the character development, and reducing the role of the chorus.  His best known plays are Antigone, Oedipus Rex, and Oedipus at Colonus.  These three Thebian plays were explained best by my Professor, they are a modern day Kennedy family.  I love it!  Sophocles's other complete works are Philoctetes, Electra, Ajax, and Trachinian Women.  This man shifted the way we are entertained as an audience, and how we as actors have a monologue!  Sophocles died 406 B.C.E.

Plays to go See

This is first entry excites me.  Its goes right along with my theme now.  Troubadour Theater Co. is putting up "Oedipus the King, Mama!"  The synopsis says it's a "Maternal Musical", mixing the classic tragedy with the music of Elvis Presley.  I guess he sings for the love of his Mama!  I gotta see this, so you'll have the low down soon.

Oedipus the King, Mama!
by Sophocles and Troubadour Theater Co.
~Falcon Theater~
4252 Riverside Dr.
Brubank, CA #818-955-8101
tix $27.50-40.00
*runs through Sept. 27 2009

This Play is a favorite of mine, and one I have wanted to do for a couple years now, "Boston Marriage" by David Mamet.  If you love Mamet's style, you have to see it or at least read it.  It is set at the turn of the 20th century, where we find two women in a relationship that may be both physical and emotional.  This play proves that Mamet can write for women!

Boston Marriage
by David Mamet
~Group Rep @ Lonny Chapman Theatre~
10900 Burbank Blvd.
North Hollywood, CA #866-811-4111
tix $22.00;  $17.00 for Students
*runs through Nov. 8 2009

"Manuscript" by Paul Grellong was one that I thought I might have watched a scene from at Beverl Hills Playhouse, but now that I have checked it out more, I guess not.  Still looks good to me.  Catchy, fast-paced dialoge between three young twenty something, struggling writers.  Reminds me of "This is our Youth",  without them being writers, ANYWAY another must read.  I digress.  I thought this would help bring some relevance to my selections.  It is only about four years old, with a young cast.

Manuscript
by Paul Grellong
~Elephant Theater~
6322 Santa Monica Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA #323-360-5774
tix $15.00
*runs through Oct. 3 2009

Hope this tickles your fancy.  Get out there, see some shows, and tell us what you think!

Making your life easier!

Theater Mania! This site has every kind of production now and to come in the L.A. area. Even DISCOUNT TICKETS! Check it out!
http://www.theatermania.com/los-angeles/shows/

ARTISTS! CALLING ALL ARTISTS!

All right people, you call yourself an artist.  I do to.  Then we need to start acting like it.  Most reading this can say that they once went to school for theatrical training, and some have not.  This blog is for all of you.  For those of you who are in L.A. working on film and commericals, becuase, well, that is where the money is, you may have forgotten about what started it all.  PLAYS!  There are some oldie's but goodies, and then there are some new stuff out there worth reading.  So I am going to get the process started for you.  Each week I will be giving you plays you may have and should read.  I will provide a lil' synopsis and analysis, if you likey, you should read.  If you have read it, well, what a great refresher!  

Not only will I post plays to read, I will also post plays in the L.A. area to see, and critiques of plays I have seen.

It's time to step it up as artist and stay true to the craft.  I know people are busy, and  it's easy to leave all the academia behind, but it is important to stay fresh with creativity and ideas.  Reading and seeing plays has to be a part of that.  

You might be wondering why I am choosing to do this blog.  Well, to be honest, I am officially a college student again.  With two small children at home, that leaves no time to audition the way I want, so school it is!  And I am excited to jump back into it!  Some of the plays I will be reviewing are from the class I am taking, Masterpiece Drama.  Exciting, right!?  

With that said, the first classic play I will be talking about this coming week is Sophocles Oedipus Rex.  This play is OLD, OLD school, where plays began...as an actor it is a must!

I know you will enjoy this blog, stick with it and return back to your true inner artist!