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Friday, February 10, 2023

DO YOU FEEL ANGER REDUX.. @ Circle X

 Rarely do I get the opportunity  or even take the time to see a play that I have written a review for  more than one time.  "DO YOU FEEL ANGER"  by Mara Nelson-Greenberg comes up again because I was so knocked out by the show the firest time, that I wanted to see if it held up. 

This is a link to my first review. 

http://onstagelosangeles.blogspot.com/2023/01/do-you-feel-anger-at-circle-x.html

It may show up over to the right of this page.. 

That director, Halena Keys, keeps these excellent actors cranked up to eleven is truly a credit to her and the strong ensemble.  I might have said "Pirandello meets Monty Python.." because this play is a modern example of Theatre of the Absurd.  Some jokes are played so beautifully, that we might miss them.  There is still a lot.. a whole lot.. of yelling and information delivered in such a machine gun fashion  that it takes a second for it to sink in.  I still love defining the term 'empathy' as a bird!  See the show and you  might get it.  The full house responding was fun for us all.  

François-Pierre Couture's perfectly executed set and lighting hold up with mad interstitial scene changes and a warning about strobe lights that add to the disorienting clamor of the play. I still think that the white board markers need to be wider to share the information that empathy facilitator, Sofia (Paula Rebelo),  uses to attempt to bring her loopy bill collector charges into understanding 'empathy'.. The energy in this full length one act never lets up.

Rose Portillo as Sofia's  mom, attempting to connect with her daughter on the phone, is at  counterpoint to the riot act antics of the office manager,  Jon (Casey Smith), Howie (Rich Liccardo:), Jordan (Napoleon Tavale) and Eva (Tasha Ames), leaving us to wonder whose reality is the real reality?  Have we .. perhaps .. just been a party to a dream... or a nightmare?

Jan Munroe is the guest 130 year old man who rolls into the conference room prepared to blow the place to smithereens.  Evidenly, he's been the love interest for Eva who shoos him out of the building.  He interrupts himself needing to tell the story of his childhood on the playground at the age of five.   It works. Munroe is internally frantic with cans of dog food as bombs. 

Circle X is back with a strong opener.  It's refreshing to see an great script excellently executed!

Cast:

Tasha Ames : EVA
Charlotte Gulezian : JANIE:
Rich Liccardo: HOWIE
Rose Portillo: SOFIA’S MOTHER
Paula Rebelo: SOFIA
Casey Smith : JON:
Napoleon Tavale
: JORDAN:
Cameo appearance by

Jan Munroe  as The Old Man 

Producers – Kat Haan, Jen Kays, and Tim Wright
Assistant Director – Lee Hannah Conrads

Set and Lighting Design – François-Pierre Couture

Lighting Design – Stephen Azua

Costume Design – Dianne K. Graebner

Sound Design – Jesse Mandapat

Prop Master – Kat Haan

Specialty Prop Design – Richard Maher

Production Stage Manager – Roella Dellosa

Assistant Stage Manager – Yaesol Jeong

Box Office Manager and Front of House Manager – Jasmine Leung

Publicist – Lucy Pollak

Graphic Design – Christopher Komuro

Program Design – Rita Ikerd

Video Design – Dustin Hughes

Social Media Manager – Brandon Ganske
 
 
Do You Feel Anger? 
by
 Mara Nelson-Greenberg
Directed by 
Halena Keys

Saturday, January 21 @ 8 p.m.
or 
Sunday, January 22 @ 2 p.m. through Feb. 25: 

Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays @ 8 p.m. / Sundays @ 2 p.m. 

Cameo appearance schedule:

♦ Jan. 26-Jan. 29: William Salyers

♦ Feb. 2-Feb. 5: John Getz

♦ Feb. 9-Feb. 12: Jan Munroe 

♦ Feb. 16-Feb. 19: Tony Amendola

♦ Feb. 23-Feb. 25: Silas Weir Mitchell 


Atwater Village Theatre

3269 Casitas Ave
.
Los Angeles, CA  90039

(Free parking in the Atwater Xing lot one block south of the theater)

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