Charlayne Woodard
SEASONAL…The hard hats are gone and A Noise Within (ANW) is finally moving into its 33,000-square-feet venue in Pasadena, launching the 2011-12 20th season October 29 with Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, helmed by co-founder/co-artistic director Julia Rodriguez-Elliot, set in pre-revolutionary Cuba, playing out against a backdrop of Caribbean carnival. The complete six-play season includes: Desire Under the Elms by Eugene O’Neill, directed by Dámaso Rodriguez (Nov. 19); Michael Frayn’s Noises Off, co-helmed by Rodriguez-Elliott and her hubby, co-founder/co-artistic director Geoff Elliott (Jan. 6, 2012); Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, also co-directed by Rodriguez-Elliott and Elliott (Mar. 3); The Illusion by 17th century playwright Pierre Corneille, adapted by Tony Kushner, director to be announced (Mar. 17); and The Bungler by Molière, translated by Richard Wilbur, helmed by Rodriguez-Elliott and Elliott (Apr. 17). To introduce the community at large to ANW’s new facility, including its 281-seat thrust stage, the company is opening its doors to the general public in the days leading up to its gala debut with a series of free events, including tours, readings and special education programs (TBA), reflecting “ANW’s commitment to bringing the classics to the broadest possible audience and to expanding the deep community roots sown during its 19 years in Glendale.”…And Center Theatre Group is finally ready to reveal its full 2011-12 season at Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City, running Sep. 17 through June 2012. Leading off is the premiere of the one-hander The Night Watcher, scripted and performed by Charlayne Woodard (Nov. 20). The acclaimed Ebony Repertory Theatre revival of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, helmed by Phylicia Rashad, follows (Jan. 22, 2012). Next up is American Night: The Ballad of Juan José, by Richard Montoya, developed by Culture Clash and Jo Bonney, helmed by Bonney, a co-production with La Jolla Playhouse (Mar. 11). The season concludes with the premiere of Danai Gurira’s The Convert, commissioned by CTG, a co-production with McCarter Theatre Center and Goodman Theatre, helmed by Emily Mann (Apr. 19). An added subscription incentive is the chance for discounts on DouglasPlus programming, which includes a reading of LA-based comic ensemble Burglars of Hamm’s The Behavior of Broadus (Sep. 17) and the premiere of the Austin-based Rude Mechs tuner, I’ve Never Been So Happy, book/lyrics by Kirk Lynn, music/lyrics by Peter Stopschinski, curated and helmed by Thomas Graves and Lana Lesley (Oct. 8)…CTG also announced that Bruce Norris’s Clybourne Park, winner of both this year’s Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Olivier Award for Best New Play, will join the 2012 Mark Taper Forum season, opening Mar. 21. It explores what happens 50 years later in the same house that the Younger family is buying in A Raisin in the Sun, so CTG’s production will serve as a handy sequel to the Ebony Rep’s revival of Hansberry’s play, which will be seen two months earlier at the Douglas…
ANTAEUS CHANGES…The Antaeus Company in NoHo is undergoing some inner turmoil, as artistic director Jeanie Hackett has been ousted by a company vote, replaced by associate artistic director Kitty Swink and Bill Brochtrup. For more on the issues and some of the members’ reactions, see the Back Stage article by Dany Margolies. Meanwhile, the company’s annual summertime ClassicsFest 2011 is getting downright cerebral. As a precursor to its July 23 presentation of Aristophanes’ Lysistrata, there will be a 4:30 pm symposium titled, Can a plunging neckline lay a soldier low?, moderated by Michael M. Chemers, Carnegie Mellon assistant professor of dramatic literature and founding director of the Production Dramaturgy Program. Impressive indeed! The actual play will be offered up at 8 pm, helmed by Dana Friedman, at Deaf West Theatre in NoHo…
Robert Wilson
NEWSWORTHY…Some Serious Business (SSB) is back in the live theater business in LA, having received a grant from the Getty Foundation to produce a reinvention of Robert Wilson’s I Was Sitting On My Patio This Guy Appeared I Thought I Was Hallucinating. From 1977 to 1980 SSB produced more than fifty performances throughout LA, the most ambitious of which was a 1977 preview of Patio (prior to its NY premiere) co-directed and performed by Wilson and choreographer Lucinda Childs, presented for one performance only at the Wilshire Ebell Theater. Once again co-directed by Wilson and Childs, the production has its official West Coast premiere Jan. 26, 2012 at the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater as part of Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945–1980, a collaboration of more than 60 cultural institutions across Southern California, coming together for six months beginning in October 2011 “to tell the story of the birth of the Los Angeles art scene and how it became a major new force in the art world”…
Greg Boyle
SCRIPTER FESTIVAL FARE…The Ojai Playwrights Conference (OPC) is ready to unleash its 14th annual Summer New Works Festival, beginning Aug. 9. Making their debut will be: thirty. three. a play for three actors in their 30’s by Bill Cain (Aug. 13), Rick and Dick by Rick Cleveland (Aug. 14), When We Were Young and Unafraid by Sarah Treem (Aug. 14), Fallow by Ken Lin (Aug. 13), Red Flamboyant by Don Nguyen (Aug 12) and The Zimbabwe Project by Danai Gurira (Aug. 12). The festival kicks off with two special events: a theatrical presentation by East LA-based priest Greg Boyle (founder of Homeboy Industries) from his national best selling book of urban parables, Tattoos of the Heart, distilled from Boyle’s 20 years working in a neighborhood with the highest concentration of murderous gang activity in LA (Aug. 9); and a reading of a new tuner, Black Sun, a collaboration between Stephen Belber (The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later) and Counting Crows lead singer Adam Duritz (Aug. 11)…Valley Village-based Eclectic Company Theatre is launching Hurricane Season 2011, its eighth annual festival/competition of short plays, July 15-August 7. Each of the first three weekends features a new program of new one-acts. Audience favorites from each week are invited back for a finals weekend of three more performances. The schedule includes: Rollercoaster of Love by Joe Musso; Things That Go Hump in the Night by Peggy Dougherty; Sex and Money and Money and Sex by Jack Karp; Damien by Dean Bruggeman; Stalking Pollyanna by Hal Corley; Holey Smokes by Ellen Elizabeth Steves; Out of Order by Michael Wolfson; Lobster Man by Jonathan Cook; and The Ballad of Bertha and Clyde by Diane Sampson…And there is still time to catch a plethora of new works being showcased at NoHo-based Road Theatre Company’s currently running Summer Playwrights Festival, through July 17. The impressive lineup of internationally acclaimed scripters includes: Wendy Macleod (The House of Yes), Keith Huff (A Steady Rain, Pursued by Happiness, The Bird and Mr. Banks), Ruth McKee (Hell Money), Brett Neveu (Old Glory, American Dead), John Orlock (Indulgences In The Louisville Harem), Marisa Wegrzyn (The Butcher of Baraboo), and young English playwright Penny Gunter. Road Company playwrights include Cynthia Glucksman, Lauren Clark and TJ Marchbank.
Orson Welles
QUICK TAKES…Whitmore Eclectic is launching a three-play Second Season at Lyric Theatre in Hollywood, with the seldom produced Moby Dick-Rehearsed, scripted by Orson Welles in 1965, helmed by Aliah Whitmore, focusing on a 19th century theater company’s efforts to rehearse a stage version of Herman Melville’s classic 1851 novel. The production opens Aug. 4, featuring an ensemble that includes Aliah’s dad James Whitmore Jr., son of the late film and stage legend, James Whitmore. The season continues with Betrayed by George Packer (Sep. 29) and The Book of Liz by Amy and David Sedaris (Dec. 1), directors TBA…Celebration Theatre (CT) is offering a workshop staging of the onehander Hay Days, scripted by Rob Rosiello, created by Rosiello and Jim Halloran, helmed by Efrain Schuniorm, starring Thomas James O’Leary, July 19 and 26. Spotlighting activist Harry Hay, who in 1948 organized America’s first gay-rights group, the Mattachine Society, from his apartment in Silver Lake, the production is presented in conjunction with CT Tuesdays, a forum where new works are developed…
THE THING IS…”My company is dedicated to the advancement of experimental and non-traditional contemporary dance while preserving and cultivating the cultural and classical forms of India. Passionately translating dance into enduring societal contributions, we dispel cultural stereotypes and connect diverse communities through cross-genre and multicultural classes, workshops and live performances that inspire global unity and togetherness. Prior premiere productions the company has presented at the Ford Amphitheatre include: Karishma, PAHELYIAN: The Story of Alice and KHEL! A Bollywood Bedtime Story. The company has also performed at the Los Angeles Music Center, Royce Hall, the Levitt Pavilion of Pasadena, Broad Stage, and Symphony Space in New York City, as well as in Morocco, Paris, Fez and Geneva. Our upcoming show is a spectacular Indian dance and music fairy tale filled with magical beans, princes charming, wicked witches and a Bollywood-dancing world of intertwined tales inspired by classics like Jai (Jack) and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Rapunzel, Hansel & Gretel and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and a special cameo appearance by The Three Little Pigs. The show will feature original music by composer Tej Gill, who brought Punjabi folk music to Los Angeles dance floors, as well as Bollywood crowd-pleasing songs. The courtyard of the Amphitheatre will be transformed into an enchanted and mystical Bollywood Forest with all the requisite Indian trimmings, including exotic creatures of the night, performers, music, food, drinks, games, and vendors displaying and selling their wares.”…Achinta S. McDaniel is artistic director, choreographer of blue13 dance company, which is performing the premiere of Into The Bollywoods, July 22 and 23, 2011 at Ford Amphitheatre…
The Pilgrimage Play
INSIDE LA STAGE HISTORY…In 1912, legendary stage/film actor John Barrymore is enduring a summer repertory tour that includes Rochester, Manhattan and Los Angeles. During the LA phase, the 30-year-old actor is enjoying motoring about the town when his Packard breaks down in the wilds of the Cahuenga Pass. His two car companions decide to hike the few miles back to town, but Barrymore insists on staying with the motorcar. When they return a few hours later with help they can’t see their friend but they can certainly hear him bellowing Hamlet soliloquies from nearly a quarter mile into a canyon. Following his voice, they find the actor projecting from atop a large boulder. “What phenomenal acoustics,” he declares. “They should build a theater here.” In 1920, that is exactly what local heiress Christine Wetherill Stevenson does. Wanting a theater specifically for religious pageants, she purchases 29 acres of land across the street from the Hollywood Bowl and builds the Pilgrimage Theater, a relatively crude structure designed by Ellis Reed. After journeying to the Holy Land to obtain authentic fabric, utensils and props, Stevenson scripts The Pilgrimage Play, based entirely on her adaptation of the four gospels according to the King James version of the Bible. The first performance is held on June 27, 1920, with noted actor Henry Herbert portraying Jesus. Performances are given every summer in the original structure until it is destroyed by fire on October 24, 1924. A new theater, with seating capacity of 1,312, is built of concrete replicating ancient Judean architecture, and the play reopens in 1931, continuing until 1940. On October 17, 1941, the Pilgrimage Play Association deeds the property to the County of Los Angeles, and the performances resume after the war. But in 1964, a lawsuit brought against the county for using a county facility exclusively for a religious performance puts an end to Stevenson’s desire to put religion on stage. In 1976 the theater is renamed for former county supervisor John Anson Ford and is currently operated by the LA County Arts Commission. The tale of Barrymore in the Cahuenga Pass is related to this writer by the late character actor King Donovan who, as a 20-year-old aspiring actor in 1938 is forewarned by “The Great Profile” on the dangers of going to Hollywood…
**Photo Credit for Robert Wilson: Horst P. Horst
- The Julio Martinez-hosted ARTS IN REVIEW, broadcast Fridays (2 to 2:30 pm) on KPFK (90.7 FM), spotlights the best in live theater and cabaret in the Greater LA area. Upcoming on July 15, a spotlight on blue13 dance company, its artistic director Achinta S. McDaniel and members of her troupe…
