January 7th, 2008
The Public Theatre Hosts Festival of New Works
By Jesse Schmitt
For playwrights all over the nation there is a great festival which anyone and everyone who is able should try to be a part of. The Summer Play Festival, which, this coming July, is celebrating its fifth anniversary, has recently went Public with its forthcoming information and with its locale.
Running for the first time this year at the legendary Joe Papp’s Public Theatre on Lafayette Street, the 2008 Summer Play Festival promises to be the most exciting event yet. Anyone who knows anything about the downtown theatre scene in New York City will tell you that The Public is one of those revered places which so many talented artists have passed through. Under the skilled direction of Mr. Papp and in his name since then you could say that The Public has shaped the landscape of plays, playwrights, and the theatre scene all over the world.
Bringing in challenging new works was a signature of The Public Theatre from it’s first production; the legendary musical “Hair” as well as the show which eclipsed anyone’s expectations, “A Chorus Line,” which went on to an uber-impressive fifteen year run on Broadway (and is currently back on the Rialto).
Papp is no longer alive and thus no longer running things day to day at the theatre; but his legend lives on. There have been a number of artistic and critical successes as of late including “Bring in ‘Da Noise; Bring in ‘Da Funk,” the critically praised but commercially unsuccessful “The Ride Down Mt. Morgan,” and one of the many riveting breakout works of Richard Greenberg “Take Me Out.”
So the fact that The Summer Play Festival is coming to The Public is a no-brainer pairing in many people’s eye. The Public Theatre has remained one of New York’s and the world’s preeminent cultural institutions; the pairing of The Summer Play Festival with the wide and varied selection of cutting edge writers and excellent new theatre only makes sense.
This year The Summer Play Festival will run from July 1 to July 27, 2008 in the East Village of Manhattan. While this year’s submissions have closed many people are getting very excited about the prospective lineup of new plays just due to the success of past participants in The Summer Play Festival. If you’d like more information about the upcoming festival or about other partnerships and events which are going on with The Summer Play Festival you should certainly check out their website. The site also offers you the ability to keep an eye out for their current and forthcoming news.
www.spfnyc.com
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
The Golden State by Dell'Arte Theatre Company Moves Downstate
There are many things which are not praised enough in the world of live performance; events which are rehearsed and seemingly pedestrian in their execution but which can alter the viewer’s perception, shift consciousness, alter reality. Some performance is so beautiful, so eye-opening, so original and inventive that people walk away from performance more aware and fundamentally changed. So it is for the Dell’Arte Company; their internationally recognized brand of physical, ensemble theatre has earned their reputation the world over.
The Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre was founded in the early 1970’s and has been offering training in acting, voice, movement, and related physical skills with particular attention paid to mask, tragedy, clown, as well as the legendary commedia dell’arte.
The group is heading south from their home in Northern California down to present their interpretation of Moliere’s “The Miser” entitled “The Golden State.” Their show series begins at Occidental College’s Keck Theatre (1600 Campus Rd Eagle Rock CA) February 1st & 2nd. Then the show will move into a temporary home at the 24th Street Theatre (1117 W 24th St Los Angeles CA) February 8th- 24th.
Even though this is the Dell’Arte companies first visit to Los Angeles in almost 19 years that will likely soon change. According to Dell’Arte’s producing artistic director and the director of this production, “We want to make 24th Street our Los Angeles base so we can come down every year and people will know where to look for us.”
The humor found in Moliere’s cannon is not lost on this production and their modern spin on this classic text is emblematic. First written in 1667, this “incarnation of greed was a rich old coot named Harpagon, whose love for his cashbox eclipsed all other loves, even that for his children.”
Without the least bit or irony Dell’Arte have taken their “The Golden State”, adaptation and turned this premise around to the mirror. The people in California are heady, the people in California are into themselves, and this is where the humor takes off. According to their press release, this piece gets steam from “hedonisticSouthern California (and) also draws its inspiration from humanity's blinding and passionate lust for money. The Dell’Arte Company have taken Moliere's comedy of profit-driven family relations and turned it on its head, re-inventing the miser as an elderly California widow with a fortune stuffed in her bra and whose adult children are the desperate products of her fanatical hoarding.”
Ticket prices vary and there are discounts for students at both venues with valid ID. If you are looking for something completely different than you should check out Dell’Arte Theatre Company and their presentation of “The Golden State."
http://www.24thstreet.org/
dellarte.com/
www.oxy.edu/MapsDirections.xml
The Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre was founded in the early 1970’s and has been offering training in acting, voice, movement, and related physical skills with particular attention paid to mask, tragedy, clown, as well as the legendary commedia dell’arte.
The group is heading south from their home in Northern California down to present their interpretation of Moliere’s “The Miser” entitled “The Golden State.” Their show series begins at Occidental College’s Keck Theatre (1600 Campus Rd Eagle Rock CA) February 1st & 2nd. Then the show will move into a temporary home at the 24th Street Theatre (1117 W 24th St Los Angeles CA) February 8th- 24th.
Even though this is the Dell’Arte companies first visit to Los Angeles in almost 19 years that will likely soon change. According to Dell’Arte’s producing artistic director and the director of this production, “We want to make 24th Street our Los Angeles base so we can come down every year and people will know where to look for us.”
The humor found in Moliere’s cannon is not lost on this production and their modern spin on this classic text is emblematic. First written in 1667, this “incarnation of greed was a rich old coot named Harpagon, whose love for his cashbox eclipsed all other loves, even that for his children.”
Without the least bit or irony Dell’Arte have taken their “The Golden State”, adaptation and turned this premise around to the mirror. The people in California are heady, the people in California are into themselves, and this is where the humor takes off. According to their press release, this piece gets steam from “hedonisticSouthern California (and) also draws its inspiration from humanity's blinding and passionate lust for money. The Dell’Arte Company have taken Moliere's comedy of profit-driven family relations and turned it on its head, re-inventing the miser as an elderly California widow with a fortune stuffed in her bra and whose adult children are the desperate products of her fanatical hoarding.”
Ticket prices vary and there are discounts for students at both venues with valid ID. If you are looking for something completely different than you should check out Dell’Arte Theatre Company and their presentation of “The Golden State."
http://www.24thstreet.org/
dellarte.com/
www.oxy.edu/MapsDirections.xml
Frankie & Johnny Return to Tinsel Town–Screen & Stage Collide in Hollywood in Terrance McNally’s Classic
January 4th, 2008
Frankie & Johnny In The Clair De Lune emerge from the vaults and make their move on the
Hudson Mainstage Theatre
By Jesse Schmitt
Who could forget Al Pacino and Michele Pfeiffer in the move of the same name? You don’t chose love, love chooses you; fuhugetaboutit! But the real truth remains still a mystery to many of those who were even familiar with the film. The fact remains that the 1987 play written by Terrance McNally originally starred not Michele Pfeiffer but Kathy Bates (!) in a dramatic departure from the film version and was much more stark than what Hollywood portrayed.
But as they say, everyone deserves a second chance and so under the associate production of renowned acting teacher to the stars, Larry Moss comes this exiting revival “Frankie & Johnny In The Clair De Lune.” Set to open in previews on January 17th & 18th with the official opening on January 19th for an impressive length run until March 1, 2008 at the Hudson Mainstage Theatre (6539 Santa Monica Blvd) in Hollywood, this production promises to be a gem.
Set around the adroit story of Johnny, a short order cook and ex-con who is able to con his way into the lonely life of drifter waitress Frankie, this is a timeless love story for our modern times. It would seem that all at once too many of us are too consumed by ourselves to see the bigger picture or too immersed in the day to day melodrama to not be able to see the next foot in front of the last or to even know where that next step may lead. This is the plight of Frankie and it takes a one night stand and a Romeo pose from Johnny to show her that the only thing stronger than her desire to be left alone is his will not to let that happen.
We are all asked in seeing this play to hold up the looking glass and peer inside of our own lives and try to piece together the missing links. Many times when people speak of “life imitating art” they are being trite and are ignoring the much larger point that all of life imitates all of art because art is created from life. But the characters in Frankie & Johnny In The Clair De Lune will still reach down to that most special, deepest part and the words of Mr. McNally will elicit both a laugh and a tear as you bring your hands together in applause.
If this restaging is anything like the recent revival on Broadway with Stanley Tucci and Edie Falco, then the Los Angeles theatre goers are in for quite a treat.
www.plays411.com/frankie
323-960-7863
Frankie & Johnny In The Clair De Lune emerge from the vaults and make their move on the
Hudson Mainstage Theatre
By Jesse Schmitt
Who could forget Al Pacino and Michele Pfeiffer in the move of the same name? You don’t chose love, love chooses you; fuhugetaboutit! But the real truth remains still a mystery to many of those who were even familiar with the film. The fact remains that the 1987 play written by Terrance McNally originally starred not Michele Pfeiffer but Kathy Bates (!) in a dramatic departure from the film version and was much more stark than what Hollywood portrayed.
But as they say, everyone deserves a second chance and so under the associate production of renowned acting teacher to the stars, Larry Moss comes this exiting revival “Frankie & Johnny In The Clair De Lune.” Set to open in previews on January 17th & 18th with the official opening on January 19th for an impressive length run until March 1, 2008 at the Hudson Mainstage Theatre (6539 Santa Monica Blvd) in Hollywood, this production promises to be a gem.
Set around the adroit story of Johnny, a short order cook and ex-con who is able to con his way into the lonely life of drifter waitress Frankie, this is a timeless love story for our modern times. It would seem that all at once too many of us are too consumed by ourselves to see the bigger picture or too immersed in the day to day melodrama to not be able to see the next foot in front of the last or to even know where that next step may lead. This is the plight of Frankie and it takes a one night stand and a Romeo pose from Johnny to show her that the only thing stronger than her desire to be left alone is his will not to let that happen.
We are all asked in seeing this play to hold up the looking glass and peer inside of our own lives and try to piece together the missing links. Many times when people speak of “life imitating art” they are being trite and are ignoring the much larger point that all of life imitates all of art because art is created from life. But the characters in Frankie & Johnny In The Clair De Lune will still reach down to that most special, deepest part and the words of Mr. McNally will elicit both a laugh and a tear as you bring your hands together in applause.
If this restaging is anything like the recent revival on Broadway with Stanley Tucci and Edie Falco, then the Los Angeles theatre goers are in for quite a treat.
www.plays411.com/frankie
323-960-7863
Big Baby Comes to The Lounge Theatre in Hollywood
January 3rd, 2008
Stick Your Head In Gravy
By Jesse Schmitt
Los Angeles likes to do things in high style and they are kicking off 2008 in such style with a number of exciting new theatrical openings which are taking shape as we speak.
One of these very exciting openings is “Big Baby,” which opens up January 10, 2008 and is slated to run through February 9, 2008. “Big Baby is playing at The Lounge Theatre (6201 Santa Monica Blvd; Hollywood).
This play was written by Joe Keyes, a playwright who has brought about such classics as “Bob’s Holiday Office Party” and “Pete’s Garage.” This show is one which has been cleverly directed by Matt Roth. Mr. Roth has a long and rich resume which includes his work as an actor, has appeared in many well respected circles such as Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago among others. Roth has also been a star of the stage and the small screen in a number of situations.
Big Baby is the story of Kile. A mentally ill grown adult man, Kile lives in the mid-west; he lives in an apartment; he lives in drudgery. But this is not a drudgery of his own design, really, because he still lives with his mother. As stern as the day he was a boy, the mother keeps Kile in a regimented, restricted, abusive routine. Kile sees no end to his dreary existence; no end until a new neighbor comes in next door. Nancy is not only mysterious and exciting; she’s also a dominatrix.
Big Baby is a play which should keep you in stitches in spite of yourself. A common story told in uncommon tenor, Big Baby is about the fight we all fight all our lives; the search for companionship, the struggle for understanding, the quest for love.
With searing, swooping, epic themes, Joe Keyes touches on many of our most primal, gut issues including the mother son relationship, religion, sex, shame, gluttony, fear, the sadomasochistic impulse inside of us all and an addiction to baloney which could have you cringing in your seat.
Touted as a “funny, frightening, brutal and sad” story; Big Baby seems to be as much about the playwrights search for answers as it is about his characters. And in this world as we all struggle for meaning and grapple with these larger questions which plague us every day, an understanding of self is about as close as any of us should be able to get before we make that last great ascent.
plays411.com/bigbaby
Stick Your Head In Gravy
By Jesse Schmitt
Los Angeles likes to do things in high style and they are kicking off 2008 in such style with a number of exciting new theatrical openings which are taking shape as we speak.
One of these very exciting openings is “Big Baby,” which opens up January 10, 2008 and is slated to run through February 9, 2008. “Big Baby is playing at The Lounge Theatre (6201 Santa Monica Blvd; Hollywood).
This play was written by Joe Keyes, a playwright who has brought about such classics as “Bob’s Holiday Office Party” and “Pete’s Garage.” This show is one which has been cleverly directed by Matt Roth. Mr. Roth has a long and rich resume which includes his work as an actor, has appeared in many well respected circles such as Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago among others. Roth has also been a star of the stage and the small screen in a number of situations.
Big Baby is the story of Kile. A mentally ill grown adult man, Kile lives in the mid-west; he lives in an apartment; he lives in drudgery. But this is not a drudgery of his own design, really, because he still lives with his mother. As stern as the day he was a boy, the mother keeps Kile in a regimented, restricted, abusive routine. Kile sees no end to his dreary existence; no end until a new neighbor comes in next door. Nancy is not only mysterious and exciting; she’s also a dominatrix.
Big Baby is a play which should keep you in stitches in spite of yourself. A common story told in uncommon tenor, Big Baby is about the fight we all fight all our lives; the search for companionship, the struggle for understanding, the quest for love.
With searing, swooping, epic themes, Joe Keyes touches on many of our most primal, gut issues including the mother son relationship, religion, sex, shame, gluttony, fear, the sadomasochistic impulse inside of us all and an addiction to baloney which could have you cringing in your seat.
Touted as a “funny, frightening, brutal and sad” story; Big Baby seems to be as much about the playwrights search for answers as it is about his characters. And in this world as we all struggle for meaning and grapple with these larger questions which plague us every day, an understanding of self is about as close as any of us should be able to get before we make that last great ascent.
plays411.com/bigbaby
Naked Yoga Bares All at the Unknown
January 4th, 2008
Show Yours Naked
By Jesse Schmitt
Many people have opinions on alternative lifestyles, alternative diets, and alternative exercise methods. It’s actually sort of silly; where did we get the idea to eat cow and not decide that we needed to scour the Pacific Ocean bottom for fish eggs? When did we decide that staying awake in the daytime was what we were supposed to do? A lot of it has to do with tradition and the fact that we had to make due with what we had. It’s true that today there are 24 hour cities all over the world, there are all manner of food we can eat, but the truth is that year and years ago there was decidedly less option, less ability to maneuver around, and we had to get all our work done before the sun sets or vampires would come out of the hills!
While many myths have been debunked (ever seen Myth Busters?) there are some things which have always worked and that’s the reason we keep doing them. Take for example, jogging. It raises the heart rate, gets the blood flowing, makes you sweat, and when done in handy enough fashion keeps you in shape.
But there are always alternatives! There has to be! Yoga has been around in the east for thousands of years; in some marketing department in the 80’s some marketing department came up with the idea that people in America would love Yoga! Women loved Jane Fonda videos but while the men were playing racquetball and talking about their Triple Crown picks at the club, the women didn’t need to leave their 13 channel VHS equipped LCD TV (ah, memories)
Fast foreword to today; men are trying to get back ahead as it’s increasingly becoming a woman’s world (listen to Jane Fonda tell it like it is) and thus came about “Naked Yoga.” This is a world premiere of a new play about sexual politics turned on it’s head, playing at The Unknown Theatre (1110 Seward St; Los Angeles) from writer/director Alex Carter.
Mr. Carter explores the world of Yoga politics in his debut turn as writer/director. Based on a true story, Naked Yoga takes comedy up a notch as there is a whole new rulebook for sexual politics in the modern world.
With a teaser like “She came! She saw! She kicked his butt! And he never knew what hit him.” You can’t help but be intrigued. Weak men are everywhere but the old dynamic of man in a constant position of power just doesn’t apply anymore. Naked Yoga hopes to explore, expose, and exploit this fact with humor and humanity.
Show Yours Naked
By Jesse Schmitt
Many people have opinions on alternative lifestyles, alternative diets, and alternative exercise methods. It’s actually sort of silly; where did we get the idea to eat cow and not decide that we needed to scour the Pacific Ocean bottom for fish eggs? When did we decide that staying awake in the daytime was what we were supposed to do? A lot of it has to do with tradition and the fact that we had to make due with what we had. It’s true that today there are 24 hour cities all over the world, there are all manner of food we can eat, but the truth is that year and years ago there was decidedly less option, less ability to maneuver around, and we had to get all our work done before the sun sets or vampires would come out of the hills!
While many myths have been debunked (ever seen Myth Busters?) there are some things which have always worked and that’s the reason we keep doing them. Take for example, jogging. It raises the heart rate, gets the blood flowing, makes you sweat, and when done in handy enough fashion keeps you in shape.
But there are always alternatives! There has to be! Yoga has been around in the east for thousands of years; in some marketing department in the 80’s some marketing department came up with the idea that people in America would love Yoga! Women loved Jane Fonda videos but while the men were playing racquetball and talking about their Triple Crown picks at the club, the women didn’t need to leave their 13 channel VHS equipped LCD TV (ah, memories)
Fast foreword to today; men are trying to get back ahead as it’s increasingly becoming a woman’s world (listen to Jane Fonda tell it like it is) and thus came about “Naked Yoga.” This is a world premiere of a new play about sexual politics turned on it’s head, playing at The Unknown Theatre (1110 Seward St; Los Angeles) from writer/director Alex Carter.
Mr. Carter explores the world of Yoga politics in his debut turn as writer/director. Based on a true story, Naked Yoga takes comedy up a notch as there is a whole new rulebook for sexual politics in the modern world.
With a teaser like “She came! She saw! She kicked his butt! And he never knew what hit him.” You can’t help but be intrigued. Weak men are everywhere but the old dynamic of man in a constant position of power just doesn’t apply anymore. Naked Yoga hopes to explore, expose, and exploit this fact with humor and humanity.
Monday, December 10, 2007
“…and to all a good night!” Why A Tuna Christmas May Be Just the Thing for Your Holiday Blues
I recently was able to catch the limited run of “A Tuna Christmas” (now through January 6, 2008) presented by Combined Art Form Entertainment (C.A.F.E.) at Theatre Asylum (6320 Santa Monica Blvd) in Hollywood. This was THE A Tuna Christmas; the woman who’d set me up with the tickets didn’t want me to confuse it with the other production of the same name going on elsewhere in the Los Angeles area. Not that there was anything wrong with the other production; she just wasn’t repping the other production (and she hadn’t gotten me tickets to the other production!)
This was “A Tuna Christmas,” with Mindy Sterling and Patrick Bristow both alumni of the famous Groundlings Comedy Troupe. The Groundlings of Will Ferrell, Cheri Oteri, Jon Lovitz, Chris Kattan, Ana Gasteyer, Maya Rudolph, Chris Parnell, Julia Sweeney, Phil Hartman!! Saturday Night Legends (not to dip too deep into the pool of SNL formers; Kathy Griffin, Topher Grace, Lisa Kudrow, and Pee Wee Herman all went to Groundlings as well, hah-ha!) …So these two had to be good!
Not that I should use the success of others from the same institution to judge how good someone or other would be. You need look no further than their own individual resumes to see that Ms. Sterling and Mr. Bristow are able to hold their own.
Mind Sterling may be best known and most easily recognized in a pop culture sense as “Frau Farbissina” the love interest and henchwoman of Mike Meyer’s Dr. Evil in the Austin Powers Trilogy. She has also done a number of other films including The Grinch, Drop Dead Gorgeous, and Reno 911 Miami.
Patrick Bristow has done a whole host of television appearances including Curb Your Enthusiasm, Seinfeld, Friends, Mad About You, Whose Line Is It Anyway, and he created the character “Peter” on the TV Sitcom Ellen.
So these two are not humble pie; they are surely able to hold their own in the comedy arena. And what a legend they are stepping into; this is A Tuna Christmas by Jaston Williams, Joe Sears, and Ed Howard! The first president Bush and Barbara had this show performed for them by the original company when he was in office! This show has been around for going on 20 years and has been performed time and time again to rave reviews. Enter two experienced comedy hands like Sterling and Bristow, insert some timely pop culture references, and you’ve got yourself a hit!
…sort of.
I had real issues with this production, at first, despite all the hooting and hollering around me. I couldn’t explain it; what did everyone think was so darn funny? I thought most of the humor was crude, explicit, and dated; I thought that the pacing was all off; in the 21st century when you make a joke about an all white cast of Raisin in the Sun…I didn’t even know what to say.
The story in this play centers around a variety of characters and situations; there is a competition going on for the best yard decorations; and a wily phantom is ripping out everyone’s displays; an earnest guy who just wants to get on with his life and get out of Tuna might be denied his ability to finish parole because the theatre where he’s got to go do his last bit of community service hasn’t paid their light bill and they can’t put on the show.
It wasn’t until these stories began to resolve themselves did I begin to chuckle, then chortle, then giggle, then laugh out loud. The thing about A Tuna Christmas that I started in on right away were the finer details, not waiting and allowing their delivery and their tempo to reveal itself to me in due course. What I’d failed to see and what everyone else was able to appreciate more than I was that this town is found in all of our squabbles and all of our fights. It’s one of those places that everyone knows yet no one will admit to. It's the place we grew up, grew out of, and left behind.
So if you are looking for a laugh and you want to revisit some of the repressed memories of your Holidays past, check out A Tuna Christmas at the Theatre Asylum.
This was “A Tuna Christmas,” with Mindy Sterling and Patrick Bristow both alumni of the famous Groundlings Comedy Troupe. The Groundlings of Will Ferrell, Cheri Oteri, Jon Lovitz, Chris Kattan, Ana Gasteyer, Maya Rudolph, Chris Parnell, Julia Sweeney, Phil Hartman!! Saturday Night Legends (not to dip too deep into the pool of SNL formers; Kathy Griffin, Topher Grace, Lisa Kudrow, and Pee Wee Herman all went to Groundlings as well, hah-ha!) …So these two had to be good!
Not that I should use the success of others from the same institution to judge how good someone or other would be. You need look no further than their own individual resumes to see that Ms. Sterling and Mr. Bristow are able to hold their own.
Mind Sterling may be best known and most easily recognized in a pop culture sense as “Frau Farbissina” the love interest and henchwoman of Mike Meyer’s Dr. Evil in the Austin Powers Trilogy. She has also done a number of other films including The Grinch, Drop Dead Gorgeous, and Reno 911 Miami.
Patrick Bristow has done a whole host of television appearances including Curb Your Enthusiasm, Seinfeld, Friends, Mad About You, Whose Line Is It Anyway, and he created the character “Peter” on the TV Sitcom Ellen.
So these two are not humble pie; they are surely able to hold their own in the comedy arena. And what a legend they are stepping into; this is A Tuna Christmas by Jaston Williams, Joe Sears, and Ed Howard! The first president Bush and Barbara had this show performed for them by the original company when he was in office! This show has been around for going on 20 years and has been performed time and time again to rave reviews. Enter two experienced comedy hands like Sterling and Bristow, insert some timely pop culture references, and you’ve got yourself a hit!
…sort of.
I had real issues with this production, at first, despite all the hooting and hollering around me. I couldn’t explain it; what did everyone think was so darn funny? I thought most of the humor was crude, explicit, and dated; I thought that the pacing was all off; in the 21st century when you make a joke about an all white cast of Raisin in the Sun…I didn’t even know what to say.
The story in this play centers around a variety of characters and situations; there is a competition going on for the best yard decorations; and a wily phantom is ripping out everyone’s displays; an earnest guy who just wants to get on with his life and get out of Tuna might be denied his ability to finish parole because the theatre where he’s got to go do his last bit of community service hasn’t paid their light bill and they can’t put on the show.
It wasn’t until these stories began to resolve themselves did I begin to chuckle, then chortle, then giggle, then laugh out loud. The thing about A Tuna Christmas that I started in on right away were the finer details, not waiting and allowing their delivery and their tempo to reveal itself to me in due course. What I’d failed to see and what everyone else was able to appreciate more than I was that this town is found in all of our squabbles and all of our fights. It’s one of those places that everyone knows yet no one will admit to. It's the place we grew up, grew out of, and left behind.
So if you are looking for a laugh and you want to revisit some of the repressed memories of your Holidays past, check out A Tuna Christmas at the Theatre Asylum.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Ripped From the Headlines: Mustang Sally Gives its All
While I’m always hesitant to be overly critical of any show just for the mere fact that I’ve been there myself and gotten a good slamming; it should be noted that the show that’s running at the Whitefire Theatre in Sherman Oaks, “Mustang Sally,” has a number of non-homogeneous factors, flying in from the cosmos which could have been slightly tweaked to make a more cohesive production.
Being a playwright, I always first blame the writer. The actors, directors, and everyone else live and die by the playwright’s pen and a playwright, no matter the deadline, production schedule, or timeliness of things should never rush something to production. This is what Mustang Sally seems to be suffering from; “propelled by insomnia, I stumble to my computer in the middle of the night to probe these events in depth. Then, with facts, imagination, and some passion, I build a play to share what I’ve discovered,” says Linda Felton Steinbaum in the Playwrights Notes section of the program. Ms. Felton-Steinbaum seems to have gotten the essence of this topical matter, but the devil is in the details and she has grossly misfired on a number of the details.
There were even moments where this whole piece may have redeemed itself; just before the curtain drops, one of the characters comes on and gives a startling, albeit predictable revelation which shifts the whole tenor of the piece. If this character had just left the stage and left us all with the horrific thought about people’s subtext or motives or underlying primary objective, I might have thought differently of it, in hindsight. However, much to my chagrin, this character then goes into excessive detail; we didn’t need to hear all of that
But let’s take this play from the start. To begin with, the audience is served a fair bit of staging from the second you take your seat in The Whitefire Theatre’s Ventura Blvd Stage. Made up of pastels; blues, pinks, yellows; the set looks like a child’s playpen. There is a prominent Justin Timberlake poster in the kitchen and there is a tiny patio table for a main kitchen centerpiece. The refrigerator (from which a steady stream of beer is produced for the adult, male characters in the show) is adorned with playful looking magnets and everywhere there are stuffed animals lying about. This is the protagonist’s world and when we first meet Kathy; the main character around which all the action in this show moves; we immediately understand why.
Kathy is a young teacher in her 20’s who is having a major crisis. While the urgency is apparent; she relents, talking about blasé non-events rather than digging in to the meat of the issue. While this is done, no doubt, to Raise The Stakes, the character Kathy seems disinterested. In everything! While some may blame the director or the actors choices, the words she says say it all.
There is an entire side story with the mother and sister; they don’t get along. While their catty bickering is entertaining, the subtext seems to be that this young woman’s broken home justifies her juvenile actions…Which they are just about to reveal. In a minute.
Apparently Kathy has dabbled in her young student’s lunch box and was caught out in it. Kathy has fallen in love and “you can’t control who you fall in love with.” Which is a very sweet sentiment but this is the whole problem with this fanatical character and her appeals.
Mary Kay Letourneau is one of the more infamous of the teacher/student relation episodes from 1996. Her sneaking around and sleeping with her student wasn’t at all a believable situation; just because what happened with her happened in real life doesn’t make this play any more viable. And she got pregnant; twice. And she went to jail and is still in jail. But this plays ending just makes the whole point moot; they seem to be leading to a dramatic arc for the teacher at the end; but it turns into a slap on the wrist much more reminiscent of the more recent Debra Lafave episode.
This Kathy seems a little too self aware and everyone around her does as well. You’d figure that with some of the warning signs fired off by this person, any real adults with any interest in their friend or family members well being would have intervened. Live and let live and all that but when it comes to entanglements with a teenager? You really need to step into the mix. For example, there is this art teacher friend of hers who plays the only sympathetic line in the whole show. When he comes on and talks with her sister about the situation he says, “She relates to kids even more than parents.” …!!!! While he gave a bravo performance, is that really the position that someone who cared about someone else would take? I’d think that no matter what kind of a pushover he was, he would be driven to action before this point.
Even sis says to her man, “Kathy always has had a vivid imagination.” The implication being that ‘maybe this whole thing didn’t even happen.’ Really? Is that the answer? Don blinders? Especially interesting is the older sisters assumption of the mother role; limiting contact that the real mother has with the daughter, plotting a course of action, sending the younger sister to her room; while some of these are interesting choices, her division seems to fall split down the middle. For example sis shares all sorts of complex details about the trial with her accused and yet she can’t even chose what to wear when she wants to leave the house!
Kathy seems to be played as a girl split in two; on the one hand she needs the bail process explained to her by sisters lawyer boyfriend but then in the same breath she is able to parse from their conversation, seemingly from nowhere, “Do they think I’m a FLIGHT RISK?”
Kathy’s behavior is also conspicuous towards her purple tights/leopard print wrap/bible thumping mother. The argument, towards the end of this play, has been going round and round when suddenly, from nowhere, Kathy gets up on her pulpit and quoth scripture (lines which have not been present elsewhere) shocking everyone in the room.
The real proof happens in the end. “Is everyone gossiping about me,” she asks her art teacher friend, to which he replies that they’ve been instructed not to talk about it. Kathy seems very let down about it. When news jumps across the wire that: 1) everything is going to be okay 2) there will be no trial and 3) Kathy won’t be listed as a sex predator, this is where the show turns hyper-real.
It would seem that if you were trying to write a real play “ripped from the headlines,” that you may want to lead your end to real consequences; not a fluff puff ending which ties together disparate ends yet leaves the only one who deserves it, not holding the bag of responsibility.
Being a playwright, I always first blame the writer. The actors, directors, and everyone else live and die by the playwright’s pen and a playwright, no matter the deadline, production schedule, or timeliness of things should never rush something to production. This is what Mustang Sally seems to be suffering from; “propelled by insomnia, I stumble to my computer in the middle of the night to probe these events in depth. Then, with facts, imagination, and some passion, I build a play to share what I’ve discovered,” says Linda Felton Steinbaum in the Playwrights Notes section of the program. Ms. Felton-Steinbaum seems to have gotten the essence of this topical matter, but the devil is in the details and she has grossly misfired on a number of the details.
There were even moments where this whole piece may have redeemed itself; just before the curtain drops, one of the characters comes on and gives a startling, albeit predictable revelation which shifts the whole tenor of the piece. If this character had just left the stage and left us all with the horrific thought about people’s subtext or motives or underlying primary objective, I might have thought differently of it, in hindsight. However, much to my chagrin, this character then goes into excessive detail; we didn’t need to hear all of that
But let’s take this play from the start. To begin with, the audience is served a fair bit of staging from the second you take your seat in The Whitefire Theatre’s Ventura Blvd Stage. Made up of pastels; blues, pinks, yellows; the set looks like a child’s playpen. There is a prominent Justin Timberlake poster in the kitchen and there is a tiny patio table for a main kitchen centerpiece. The refrigerator (from which a steady stream of beer is produced for the adult, male characters in the show) is adorned with playful looking magnets and everywhere there are stuffed animals lying about. This is the protagonist’s world and when we first meet Kathy; the main character around which all the action in this show moves; we immediately understand why.
Kathy is a young teacher in her 20’s who is having a major crisis. While the urgency is apparent; she relents, talking about blasé non-events rather than digging in to the meat of the issue. While this is done, no doubt, to Raise The Stakes, the character Kathy seems disinterested. In everything! While some may blame the director or the actors choices, the words she says say it all.
There is an entire side story with the mother and sister; they don’t get along. While their catty bickering is entertaining, the subtext seems to be that this young woman’s broken home justifies her juvenile actions…Which they are just about to reveal. In a minute.
Apparently Kathy has dabbled in her young student’s lunch box and was caught out in it. Kathy has fallen in love and “you can’t control who you fall in love with.” Which is a very sweet sentiment but this is the whole problem with this fanatical character and her appeals.
Mary Kay Letourneau is one of the more infamous of the teacher/student relation episodes from 1996. Her sneaking around and sleeping with her student wasn’t at all a believable situation; just because what happened with her happened in real life doesn’t make this play any more viable. And she got pregnant; twice. And she went to jail and is still in jail. But this plays ending just makes the whole point moot; they seem to be leading to a dramatic arc for the teacher at the end; but it turns into a slap on the wrist much more reminiscent of the more recent Debra Lafave episode.
This Kathy seems a little too self aware and everyone around her does as well. You’d figure that with some of the warning signs fired off by this person, any real adults with any interest in their friend or family members well being would have intervened. Live and let live and all that but when it comes to entanglements with a teenager? You really need to step into the mix. For example, there is this art teacher friend of hers who plays the only sympathetic line in the whole show. When he comes on and talks with her sister about the situation he says, “She relates to kids even more than parents.” …!!!! While he gave a bravo performance, is that really the position that someone who cared about someone else would take? I’d think that no matter what kind of a pushover he was, he would be driven to action before this point.
Even sis says to her man, “Kathy always has had a vivid imagination.” The implication being that ‘maybe this whole thing didn’t even happen.’ Really? Is that the answer? Don blinders? Especially interesting is the older sisters assumption of the mother role; limiting contact that the real mother has with the daughter, plotting a course of action, sending the younger sister to her room; while some of these are interesting choices, her division seems to fall split down the middle. For example sis shares all sorts of complex details about the trial with her accused and yet she can’t even chose what to wear when she wants to leave the house!
Kathy seems to be played as a girl split in two; on the one hand she needs the bail process explained to her by sisters lawyer boyfriend but then in the same breath she is able to parse from their conversation, seemingly from nowhere, “Do they think I’m a FLIGHT RISK?”
Kathy’s behavior is also conspicuous towards her purple tights/leopard print wrap/bible thumping mother. The argument, towards the end of this play, has been going round and round when suddenly, from nowhere, Kathy gets up on her pulpit and quoth scripture (lines which have not been present elsewhere) shocking everyone in the room.
The real proof happens in the end. “Is everyone gossiping about me,” she asks her art teacher friend, to which he replies that they’ve been instructed not to talk about it. Kathy seems very let down about it. When news jumps across the wire that: 1) everything is going to be okay 2) there will be no trial and 3) Kathy won’t be listed as a sex predator, this is where the show turns hyper-real.
It would seem that if you were trying to write a real play “ripped from the headlines,” that you may want to lead your end to real consequences; not a fluff puff ending which ties together disparate ends yet leaves the only one who deserves it, not holding the bag of responsibility.
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