OFF THE KING’S ROAD by Neil Koenigsberg

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Having recently seen LOVE AND MERCY, the film based on the life of Brian Wilson, seeing Neil Koenigsberg‘s OFF THE KING’S ROAD is at once charming as well as being the sort of thing that brings one to consider the business of aging in the world, especially in the United States and how each of us deals with the inevitable.  We must employ Love and we must absolutely employ Mercy in our dealings with one another.  Having a close friend in the throes of dementia right now and understanding more than I might like to understand about end of life issues, absorbing the message in what we usually call a ‘straight play’ takes on a life of its own.

For more than fifty years, actor Tom Bower (Matt Browne) has been a theatre person.  Though playing an older character, the energy of the guy is palpable. He weathers the weary efforts of a man whose wife has died and now, he is alone and lonely.  He has been in the care of psychiatrist Dr. Yablonsky (harried Thaddeus Shafer) for the past six months and is now in London in an attempt to find some happiness as a widowed person. He is dealing with major issues that have brought him all the way from California to this charming pension, Off The King's Road, the name and the location in question. 

Joel Daavid’s excellent set is put to excellent use with excellent effects, including really effective and excellent interstitial music by Joseph “Sloe” Slawinsky.  The matinee that I saw had a few glitches that will smooth out as the run gets fully on its feet, however, Amy Madigan’s smooth and sensitive direction keeps her diverse cast all on the same page and energetic. 

We meet Freddie (Michael Uribes) the perfectly enthusiastic concierge for the charming old Victorian turned guest hotel just off The King’s Road where casual guests and one resident call home.  The resident, Ellen Mellman (protean Casey Kramer), is the very model of a slightly lumpy yet very modern middle aged Brit who is also lonely. She brightens considerably at the arrival of Matt.  She has a cat, Christina, who factors eloquently into the plot.  Meanwhile, Matt is attempting to have some fun and with the shrink’s help (whom he calls in the middle of the day in London and the middle of the night in California) he employs a large blackboard to plot his London Adventures.  Matt has also factored in something that some might find unusual for a man in or approaching his seventies.  He calls her “Jenna.”  She’s inflatable and marginally cuddly.  We also meet Sheena, (gorgeous Maria Zyrianova) not the queen of the jungle, but an import from Zagreb, who firmly requests her fee in advance. 

The chemistry of the cast and the poignancy of this story makes me want to see it again after it’s been cooking for a little while.  One major issue, however, is with the conclusion of the play. To me, how much better it would be to bring the curtain down three minutes sooner.  We were ready for the end and for reasons that made no sense to me, it rather stumbled off into the dark.     

OFF THE KING’S ROAD by Neil Koenigsberg

The Odyssey Theatre

2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90025

Through August 2, 2015

Tickets and Information:

www.plays411.com/kingsroad

323 960 7712

PICNIC: Stuffed Peppers at Antaeus

William Inge’s 1953 Pulitzer Prize winning play, pre Feminist and post war, sweats into Labor Day with the sound of an inbound freight.  The Potts family and the Ownenses share a back yard. Robert Selander’s terrific set is a nice reproduction of a modest home complete with tree and sky and a swing.  Kitty Swink as Helen Potts, a single woman in her middle age who tends her aging mother, enters in curlers and a house dress.  The Potts and the Owens have been neighbors for a long time and convene with casual friendship. Labor Day is coming and with it, on that train that just blew through, some trouble and some changes.  The simplicity of the playwright’s message may not have seemed so simple sixty years ago when women of a certain age had expectations of them.  Matriarch Flo Owens, senses trouble when she sees Helen’s new helper.  Flo rents rooms to teachers and raises her two daughters. Millie (Conner Kelly-Eiding) is a feminist in waiting as she reads Carson McCullers’ Ballad of the Sad Café.  Elder, prettier sister Madge (Jordan Monaghan), becomes the eye of the hurricane coming closer as the picnic comes together.

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 Flo has her eye on the trouble that is brewing in the person of newly arrived Hal Carter (Daniel Bess).

It’s Hal, shirtless, with striking pecs that sets some hearts a flutter and it’s through Hal whom we see right off the bat that things are going to change.  Flo has high hopes for daughter Madge, who at eighteen is working at the five and dime and is being courted by a well to do townie, Alan Seymour (Ross Philips).  Their embers are not glowing brightly and dim even more the minute that Madge and Hal lay eyes on one another. 

Inge’s characters all have their pathways set and he manipulates them in not an unexpected way.  It’s the fifties and director Cameron Watson has taken care to steep the actors deeply in the times.  Haircuts and costumes by Terri A. Lewis are right on.  Opening night pace took time to percolate, but once things got rolling, the steam from Hal and Madge was palpable.  A well done B plot exposes the frustrations of  lonely school teacher, Rosemary Sydney (Gigi Bermingham), ‘the old maid school teacher.’ She becomes compromised with beau, Howard Bevans (John DeMita), whose introduction of a bottle of whiskey to the party expand the notion of In Vino Veritas far beyond the pale.  Rosemary hijacks the show briefly while in her cups.  To save face in local society, she must not be caught in an indiscretion and better yet, should really be married.

The driving force of the wild man, Hal Carter, former football star at the same college where he was in a fraternity with Alan Seymour, moves like a freight train through the play.  Alan is, at first, surprised and happy to see his old pal who tells him that he, Hal, was ‘one authentic hero!’  To which Hal in unexpected candor replies, “only between the goal posts…”  The double entendre of the statement takes a while to sink in.  Hal is a rake and ramblin’ boy.  Madge is ripe for the picking. The picnic is all checkered gingham with a dark underbelly that Antaes exposes with élan.  It’s a good production of a good play.  Dated. Classic. Inge’s clearly written characters work out their issues in unsurprising ways. The passions and the jealousies and the individual arcs of each of these simple folks make for an enjoyable evening in the Theatre!

PICNIC by William Inge

Antaeus Theatre Company

5112 Lankershim Boulevard

North Hollywood, CA 91601

Tuesdays through Sundays

June 26 through August 15, 2015

For tickets and information

818 506 1983 / www.Antaeus.com

  

 

MURDER BLOOD BEAR STORY

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Katelyn Schiller is a very interesting actress.  Very.  

 Her credits are substantial and her idea of a good time is to bring her Murder Blood Bear Story to the Hollywood Fringe Festival.  She’s in that tiny little Elephant studio at the Theatre Asylum at Lillian Way and Santa Monica Boulevard for only a couple of more performances. 

If she takes my suggestion, she’ll have a more appreciative audience and maybe have even more ‘happiness’ for the effort.  Schiller enters as the forty seat house fills up.  By this time, I’m guessing that not only is she getting a few more friends than the ones who loyally show up for the opening, but folks who have just heard that this story (goosed along nicely by a wonderful graphic by the ‘blonde’ in a submissive pose with the image of great brown bear right behind her) and are as curious as I was.  She enters with a rag tag suitcase and a few props including a tiny little bird on a string on a stick that she flits about the theatre with. She lands the bird on the shoulder of the lady in front of me.  Schiller’s eyes are wonderful pools of questions and possibly elusive answers.  After flirting with the little bird on the string, she comes nose to nose with me!  Undeniably beautiful, I think I may be kissed, but like a bunny in the woods, she turns and scampers to the stage zip zap. 

She speaks in the language of the twenty-somethings of the 21^st Century.  Sometimes incomprehensible (except to the millenials in the audience) and sometimes crystal clear.  She is full of energy and wants to be happy.  She tells stories and creates dialogue with other characters whom she also becomes. I was never too sure who was who but the energy is palpable and her quest, her never ending quest for joy and happiness is ongoing and going and going.  She sings. She dances. She is menaced by the bear.  I am unsure of the blood and the murder, but there is the feeling of the bear, for sure.  The audience loves her.   She is lovely.  I’m unsure of the platinum blonde approach and wonder if that was significant in some way?

The problem.  Sight lines.  Even in this tiny black box, Schiller lays her suitcase and her props on the floor.  If only she had a prop table that would allow us to easily see the props that are significant to her story.   A table would give her not only a place easily seen, but also another set piece that she might use for telling the story.  Perhaps it is her intention to keep part of the audience craning our necks to see the props and even her when she’s doing some  scenes literally on the floor.  I wanted to see everything.  Katelyn Schiller had moments of perfection preceded by and followed by moments of just okay.  She wrote this by herself and it’s all her own story.  Director Payden Ackerman must have made suggestions, but the flow of Murder Blood Bear Story seems to emanate from the heart and soul of this young actor.  Down the road, if she keeps the blonde, she may become Goldie Hawn or… Kate Hudson?  Or, even better, she’ll emerge as Katelyn Schiller and those of us who saw her quest for happiness will be able to say, “Oh.. I saw her when…”

Murder Blood Bear Story

Written and Performed by Katelyn Schiller

Theatre Asylum Elephant Studio

1078 Lillian Way

Hollywood, CA 90038

Only two more performances:

Monday June 22  @ 5:30PM

Thursday June 25 @ 10: 00PM

Tickets and Information:

http:/hff15.org/2122

WATERFALL AT THE PLAYHOUSE

 When the Pasadena Playhouse decides to go all in, the results are, by definition, spectacular.  With the new seats and the decision to employ not only a large company of mostly Asian actors, singers and dancers, but a complete orchestra in the pit, Southern California musical lovers are in for a treat. 

Richard Maltby Jr.’s WATERFALL explores artistic director Sheldon Epps’ goal of expanding diversity at the State Theater of California, doing it in a way that embraces Thai/Siamese culture as it was influenced by the Japanese in the years before World War II  and then. later into the war.  Thai newcomer, Bie Sukrit stars as Noppon, a Siamese kid who longs to be an American. He embraces the West with gusto and is encouraged by his pals.  Enter Katherine (Emily Padgett), a Carole Lombard/Ginger Rogers blonde, who falls immediately in the loving eye of Noppon.  Though she is married to an older man, Noppon, so smitten, finds himself  ironically, an escort for the beautiful woman.

(L-R) Emily Padgett and Bie Sukrit. Photo Credit: Jim Cox.

The love story that evolves is simple and sad.  Katherine confesses that her real love in life has been to paint.  Thus the beautiful image that sums up the play.  Given an afternoon to be alone, Noppon and Katherine explore a waterfall in the Thai countryside.  The practical waterfall is another coup for The Playhouse.  The orchestra could use a couple of umbrellas.  Sasavat Busayabandaht’s scenic design fills the stage with gorgeous surprises.

The cast and ensemble employ traditional Thai costumes by Wade Laboissonniere    as well as a beautiful display of kimonos which become problematic in the storyline.  Most impressive are the ensemble numbers, however none of the tunes by David Shire really leave one humming on the way out of the theatre. 

Co–director/choreographer Dan Knechiges and director Tak Viravan imbue the production with lively and intricate dance and musical numbers.  With the problems of the times advancing, there is never much of a feeling of danger beyond some cultural issues and the inappropriate connection between Katherine and Noppon. The show, however, is spectacular in scope and for those interested in the politics of the times and the interracial issues of Thai/Japanese connections, this is a must see, if for no other reason than to bask in the pageantry.

WATERFALL by Richard Maltby Jr.

The Pasadena Playhouse

39 South El Molino Avenue

Pasadena, California 91101

Plays through June 28, 2015

Tickets and Information:

PasadenaPlayhouse.org

626 356 7529

THE TROUBLE WE COME FROM at The Falcon

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Michael Weston and Scott Caan (Photo by Jill Mamey)

It is such a pleasure to see actors who ‘make it’ with a film career or a television series come back to the stage.  Kudos to Scott Caan (Dano Williams on the new Hawaii Five-0 ) who penned this swiftly moving two act piece.  As the ‘actor’ Vince, he also backs up the talented Michael Weston (Charlie).  The source of the title remains a mystery.  Charlie, is a playwright who has written a play that Vince is starring in. The theater is a small one right next to where Charlie lives. At rise we see him rush into his apartment finding remnants of an unwelcome visit.  The red string bikini can only belong to Joanna, the hot raven haired lover with whom he has enjoyed celestial erotica, though he has just found out that he is about to become a father with his current squeeze, Shelley.

Teri Reeves (photo by Jill Mamey)

  

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The amazing performances by Teri Reeves as four completely different women is noteworthy because even though we know from the program that Joanna, Samantha, The Blonde and Kelly are all played by Ms Reeves, her approach and delivery for each one is sexy and believable.  No stereotypes for her.  Her Kelly is especially moving.

Playwright Caan may be writing autobiographically.  It’s not hard to surmise that this handsome young actor has had a dalliance or two on the road to Honolulu.  The dialogue is snappy, funny and thoughtful.  Caan and Weston explore their  relationship with Caan’s character pumping Charlie for details of his sexual exploits. He  then has an exploit of his own on the couch, in the shower and elsewhere!  Charlie is emotionally at risk.  He is easily aroused and is attractive to and attracted to many women, including the four love interests whom we meet during the course of the play.  Toward the end, we meet the woman who dismissed him with an email, Kelly, after a three day quiet period.  It’s been three years and Kelly returns to rekindle what has become dead cold: Ms Reeves at her best.  

An odd twist brings Charlie’s babymomma, the Aussie, Shelley, (Claire van der Bloom) to the stage with an interesting conclusion  best left to the reader to figure out.  Have we been watching a play or is this an observation of the real lives of these interesting folks who, of course will go on with their lives after the curtain falls?

Director Matt August positions his actors comfortably. The dialogue moves apace with the feeling of Billy Wilder or Frank Capra blossoming crisply.  Beautiful multifunctional set by Stephen Gifford and appropriate lighting by Luke Moyer are all up to Garry Marshall’s Falcon standards.  Seeing this show will be a pleasure or maybe a problem for folks who have found themselves torn and distracted by too many love interests.  Playwright Caan rounds out his characters well, especially his own, who while playing an ‘actor’ transcends the acting possibly becoming a guy whom he may be observing in the mirror every day!

THE TROUBLE WE COME FROM by Scott Caan

The Falcon Theatre

4252 Riverside Drive

Burbank, CA 91505

Thursdays through Sundays

Closes July 12, 2015 (no show July 4^th)

Tickets and information

818 955 8101

or falcontheatre.com

ANTAEUS COMES TO GLENDALE

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Chuck Wike and Cindy Cleary

At a ‘groundbreaking’ ceremony on Broadway in Glendale today, it was announced that the critically acclaimed Antaeus Theatre Company will move operations from their tiny theater on Lankershim in NoHo to a brand new space in Glendale.  The new Antaeus will feature an eighty seat primary theater as well as a flexible forty seat Black Box.  In a gathering of about 150 well wishers, including City Manager Scott Ochoa and Library / Arts and Culture Director Cindy Cleary along with Council members Paula Divine and Laura Friedman, memorial scrolls were presented and the welcome mat was rolled out with red carpet on Broadway.

 Kurtwood Smith hosted. Smith was joined by company members including a moving speech by Chairman of the Antaeus Board, David Gindler, 

Board Chairman David Gindler

who made a promise that no one would ever be denied access to seeing a play for lack of funds.  Jokes were made about investing in an organization whose goal was not to make money.  Highlight of the gathering was a genuinely moving recitation by  Ramon de Ocampo… slightly altered from Shakespeare’s words from Henry V as the king stirs his troops to battle at Agincourt. 

"This day is called the feast of...  Groundbreaking: He that outives this day and comes safe home, will stand a tip-toe when the day is named .. and rouse him at the name of... Groundbreaking!" 

Ocampo raised the banner high and roused the troops… the troopers and supporters.  I shall remember this day, when Glendale embraced true art and pledged to move forward into making the Glendale’s Arts District and all the City friendly to all of the Arts that make us human beings. 

I  wax poetic as a citizen of Glendale, where the arts have struggled in the past, but with the renovation of The Alex Theater; the coming of the Museum of Neon Art just down the street on Brand, and now a professional theatre company of our own, there may be hope yet for our fair city. 

Photos by Geoffrey Wade

5 Sirens: Beware of Rocks! Hollywood Fringe

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My first foray into the land of the Hollywood Fringe Festival had me standing in line over on Lillian in the newly named Hollywood Theatre District with a whole bunch of very enthusiastic theatre goers in the middle of a Saturday afternoon.  Eventually, we filed into the space.  The Theatre Asylum Lab is a tiny venue with about forty seats, packed.   After the lovely producer, Laurel Wetzork, guides me to an aisle seat, a tall woman sits down in front of me. Five shows in fifty minutes.  I can tough it out.   

In the first short play, Kiera Nowacki’s SPOCK AT BAT, I could only see one of the actors, Jenny Curtis as Lacy the sports fan. I could not see Robert Seeley.  He’s a pal! (disclaimer.. um.. he’s an old pal) and I wanted to see both actors’ work.  I leaned way out into the aisle and caught most of what turns out to be a somewhat lame attempt to pair a woman baseball freak  and a geek who loves all of SciFi and Fantasy and knows the difference. Decent performances, but  tough sell.  Curtain, I slip to the front row where the air conditioning is blowing a light gale.

The second ten minute piece also featured Seeley as Charley, a guy who needs direction.  Turning on a Bondage and Discipline theme, Nya (Tora Kim) banters heavy dialogue by Caron Tate in WHATEVER WORKS. It’s a love story. It’s a tough dramatic turn.  Seeley is at a considerable disadvantage as he leaves his geeky kid behind from the first piece and quickly becomes the much older Subordinate to Nya’s believable Dominatrix.  The intense dedication to some aspects of B and D that I now cannot ‘unsee’ may be a bit much for this intimate setting.    

Juilana Robinson and Kara Ludke come next in a clever turn featuring the older sister, Paige on the phone from California to her level headed sis who is across the country.  Sarah Dzida’s DON’T PANIC takes a page from a sitcom with the younger sister ‘talking down’ the panicky Californian from her intense situation and then the tables turn and the roles reverse as the younger sister gets upset.  Cute and well presented, the least complicated of the Sirens’ Songs.

Autumn McAlpin wrote TEN YEARS LEFT which features again Kim, Seeley, Curtis and Ludke with a brisk addition of Bart Tangredi as a fast talking agent.  A nice change up for Ms Curtis as a writer with ten years to live.  A symbolic kitchen timer sits on the stage to remind us, as the years tick by for the writer.  Her husband, daughter, doctor and agent all plague her to get work done as she withers from a debilitating disease.  Ms Curtis as the writer struggles silently as the others circle like vultures.  McAlpin may have something here for a full length production.

OUT OF HERE by Laurel Wetzork is a double edged sword.  Her SciFi approach brings us a beautiful space alien, GRA (Tora Kim) armed with some gadgets that may have come from Men in Black as it becomes necessary to disarm a local good old Missouri boy, Bill (Henry Kemp), who has been implanted with devices to advance his intellect and prowess far beyond those of mortal men.   He begins to seduce the GRA whose response drew the best laughs of the afternoon.  Kemp must have been speaking English, but for the life of me understanding him was a major challenge. There might have been some great lines that I just missed.  Kim, then, was the sharp edge of my metaphor and Kemp was pretty dull.

It's ambitious for a group of women to issue a Siren Call in the form of five completely different short pieces. Given some seasoning each author may have material to expand.  

Check the Hollywood Fringe site for dates and times. 

http://www.hollywoodfringe.org/daily

Antaeus to open cultural center in Glendale!!

This just in from Lucy Pollak, public relations liaison for Antaeus Theatre Company.  

Good news for Glendale, California!   

Having reviewed many shows at the tiny Antaeus venue on Lankershim in NoHo, I am thrilled for this  band of professional artists and welcome them to Glendale.  That they will dedicate their entire space to two theaters and art gallery space  reflects the company's commitment to culture and Art!  

Onstagelosangeles applauds this important move forward for Glendale and for Antaeus.  Fund raising continues. An additional million dollars is needed.  At a tenth of the funds that our long lost A Noise Within raised, let's hope that the year of renovation for 110 E. Broadway will move forward apace!  This is a big step forward for Glendale.  Congratulations, Antaeus! 

Antaeus to open cultural center in Glendale
Groundbreaking set for June 11 at 10 a.m.

GLENDALE, Calif (June 3, 2015) – The Antaeus Theatre Company has announced that it will break ground for a new cultural arts center in Glendale on June 11 at 10 a.m. The City of Glendale has approved plans submitted by the company to transform a 7,600 square-foot retail building at 110 East Broadway into an intimate, yet comprehensive performing arts facility. Renovation is expected to take place over the course of a year.
The new Antaeus cultural arts center will be located in Glendale’s growing downtown Art and Entertainment District, east of Brand Blvd. and across from the Americana, which features ample parking, attractive outdoor spaces and pedestrian access. It will house an 80-seat theater and a 40-seat black box, as well as a lobby gallery and a classics library. Renowned theater designer John Sergio Fisher is the architect.
“The groundbreaking on June 11 launches the next chapter for one of the region’s theater gems,” says Antaeus board president David Gindler. “With its illustrious roster of ensemble members, its commitment to inspire audiences through the performance of great classical theater and the wide ranging impact of its educational programs, Antaeus now can look forward to a wonderful new space that will enable its family of actors and audiences to continue to explore stories with enduring themes for generations to come.”
The Antaeus board of directors and the company’s ensemble members, who together share a passion for Antaeus’ artistic mission and community engagement, have already raised a substantial portion of the funds required, in collaboration with local individual and institutional donors. A capital campaign (“Play On!”) is being launched to raise the $1,000,000 still needed for the renovation.
Antaeus is a multiple award-winning cooperative theater ensemble founded to empower the actor and to bring classical theater to the greater Los Angeles area. The company exists to create a family of artists and audiences and is dedicated to exploring stories with enduring themes. Renowned for its practice of “partner casting” all of its productions, audience members never see an understudy and frequently return to see the same play in the hands of an equally gifted but very different set of actors. Other signature programs include Antaeus’ tri-annual ClassicsFest reading series, and its acclaimed arts education and outreach programs for students, educators and audience members that connect the essentially human elements in classical texts to contemporary issues and ideas.
Speakers at the June 11 event will include City of Glendale Mayor Ara Najarian and Antaeus member Kurtwood Smith, as well as representatives from the Downtown Glendale Association, the Glendale Chamber of Commerce and the Armenian American Chamber of Commerce.
In the interim, Antaeus will continue to produce at its 49-seat theater on Lankershim Blvd. in North Hollywood that it has called home for nine years. Picnic by William Inge is scheduled to run June 25 through Aug. 16, with Uncle Vanya set to open on Oct. 15.