Theater

4Play: Sex in a Series at Actors Company

Posted on March 5, 2018 by Diversions LA

Through March 17th at the Actors Company in West Hollywood, the immersive experience of 4Play: Sex in a Series is not to be missed.

This bittersweet comedy/drama traces the relationship ups and downs of three couples: two gay men struggling to say the word “love;” two lesbian women, one of whom has just “discovered” she likes women, and has now fallen in love; and one heterosexual couple – the male half of which is casting and producing and performing a play, whose lines we see rewritten, and whose production performance also in seen. Into this lively mix on stage we have a note-taking assistant director/narrator; a vibrant musical performance, and the arrival of an all-too-knowing kid-sister.

Stage is loosely said: we were excited to see the concept, which premiered on Valentine’s Day, took place on the primarily imagined set, on a series of riders and on the main floor among the audience members. A series of tables and stools are set up in the center of the room, which doubles as bar and disco and restaurant for the performers as well as seating for the audience; other audience seating is set up on benches along one wall. It’s exciting to be so intimately involved in the production – and the characters’ lives. During a climactic dinner party, hors d’oeuvres and drinks were handed to members of the audience.

In short, this is truly theater as experience; but in no way does that experiential nature diminish the sharpness of writing, performance, and direction.

The acting is terrific, featuring Ariana Anderson, Graham Brown, Bevin Bru, Eve Danzeisen, Zoe Simpson Dean, Marian Frizelle, Dustyn Gulledge, Lara Helena, Kailin Large, Zoquera Milburn, Cameron J. Oro, Christi Pedigo, Krisin Racicot, Kelsey Risher, Robert Walters, and Dan Wilson. Presented by the new York theater ensemble trip, the play had hit runs in NYC and in Chicago before coming here. The smart, savvy, funny, and perfectly paced, edgy dialog was written by Graham Brown (who also directs) with Nathan Faudree and Lisa Roth.

Touching, heartfelt, and exuberant, this is the story of love in the city, with sex just the excuse love needs to get under your skin.

4PLAY: SEX IN A SERIES at The Actor’s Company located at 916 A North Formosa Avenue in Los Angeles; performances run Thursdays and Saturdays. For reservations, call (800) 838-3006 or visit http://www.theactorscompanyla.com/

Two Hander for the Ages: Freud’s Last Session at the Odyssey

Posted on February 20, 2018 by Diversions LA

Through March 4th at the Odyssey Theatre, Mark St. Germain’s two- character play, Freud’s Last Session sets two iconic figures side by side. And once so positioned, they debate, spar, agree, disagree, and passionately digress in a strong acting tour de force.

Martin Rayner as Sigmund Freud and Martyn Stanbridge as C.S. Lewis both convey their characters needs, wants, desires, and beliefs, bringing to life a profound 90 minutes of dialog that takes place on the day that England enters World War II.

Set in Freud’s convivial study, Lewis is a guest, invited to debate the existence of God with Freud. Just who has the more twisty and tenacious psychological profile, or the more defiant view of life, death, and war is the shifting point of the dialogue.

Rayner’s Freud is charming and witty, and a touch explosive. But then who wouldn’t be, contemplating suicide as a way to escape the ravages of oral cancer. Stanbridge’s Lewis is more even keel, but falls into a rhythm of sparring with Freud, enjoying the music of language as much as the arguments themselves may frustrate him.

The central crux of their disagreements arise around Lewis’ recent conversion to the Anglican faith, while Freud, as the father of psychoanalysis, is adamant that such a conversion is foolishness and blissfully unaware of his own psychological foibles. The debate is interrupted by radio announcements and music, the threat of German bombs, an off-stage barking dog, and the death-rattle coughs of Freud.

Mostly they talk, and under lesser hands the dialogue might lag. With Rayner and Stanbridge, however, there is so much life and vibrance to the performances – they simply embody their characters and make them into people we want to meet and get to know – that we’re compelled to listen and keep doing so.

Tense and insightful, no matters debated here are resolved neatly; rather the human condition, and a very human stubborn adherence to ones beliefs, are the meaty heart of this two-man play.

The Odyssey is located at 2055 S Sepulveda Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90025. For more information visit www.odysseytheatre.com or call (310) 477-2055

The Merchant of Venice at Theatricum Botanicum: Timely Truths

Posted on September 19, 2017September 19, 2017 by Diversions LA

Take a beautiful outdoor setting, terrific acting, and a comedy/drama by William Shakespeare, and what do you have? A late season treat at Theatricum Botanicum with the artfully staged, politically potent The Merchant of Venice.

The theater itself is always an experience, and it fits the play perfectly here, the outdoor setting perhaps not that dissimilar to theaters of Shakespeare’s time. Certainly viewing a stellar performance such as this in such an intimate and outdoor setting enhances the play’s power.

It’s worth noting that in this political climate, the topic of anti-semitism, a key element of the play, is certainly worth examining. If Shakespeare did so with an unflinching eye then so can we.

With intensely quotable lines, and enough twists and turns to be a telenovela, The Merchant of Venice may be most memorable for the controversy it continues to stir in its characterization of Shylock, the Jewish money lender.

Alan Blumenfeld makes a compelling Shylock, one whose demand for a pound of flesh from a defaulting merchant debtor is grounded in his own desire for vengeance, retaliation at least in part for the prejudice and humiliation he experiences from Christians. An added opening scene actually reveals Shylock being mocked by others in the community, creating a nice little backstory to his reprehensible demand for payment in the flesh. In short, Blumenfeld makes Shylock as sympathetic as possible, particularly in regard to his poignant relationship to his daughter.

So where’s the comedy mined from? Besides the clown Launcelot, there’s a musical addition to this production in a riff on the discouragement of unwanted would-be suitors, and of course, artfully woven in the dialog are a variety of pithy Shakespearean comebacks. But this is a dark comedy indeed, particularly when one considers the role of Portia, played here by Willow Geer. Disguised as a lawyer, she succeeds in getting the debtor merchant off the hook, but she also utterly humiliates Shylock, taking away his property and very identity.

With Shakespeare himself unable to comment, there is no way to determine if the anti-semitism depicted were something he agreed with or denounced. But perhaps that begs the question – is the play timely? Does it still present a raw truth, however we wish to ignore it? Is the pound of flesh to be exacted justifiable in the face of continued abuse? Just the fact that these questions come up make the play itself one valuable viewing experience these days. And an entertaining one.

Take in the production through October 1^st in the perfect sylvan setting of the Botanicum.

Genie Davis; photos provided by the theater

WeHo Artes Starts “In West Hollywood”

Posted on August 22, 2017August 22, 2017 by Diversions LA

The City of West Hollywood is celebrating the Getty Foundation initiative Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA with WeHo Artes. This special program encompasses exhibitions funded by The Getty, and additional original projects featuring Latin American and Latino art presented by the city of West Hollywood. Celebrated throughout West Hollywood, WeHo Artes events are about to start soaring. With an exciting exhibition of works by Ramiro Gomez and David Feldman, presented in association with the Charlie James Gallery, and an interactive, site-specific theater piece, Señor Plummer’s Final Fiesta, as centerpieces, there’s no lack of fantastic arts events in the program, which is presented with the support of the City of West Hollywood’s WeHo Arts program.

On Wednesday the 23rd, WeHo Artes events kick off with the opening reception for In West Hollywood, the work of Gomez and Feldman.

In West Hollywood is not Gomez’ first project with the city of West Hollywood. In 2012, the artist worked on Install: WeHo, an LGBTQ pop-up art village that included the artist’s creation of large cardboard cut-outs that included movers, a couch, and a valet. Even before his official collaboration with the city, Gomez had made visual waves placing cardboard cut-out figures around West Hollywood, art focusing on the “invisible” workers such as gardeners. After installation, Gomez left the pieces where they were placed, symbols of the forgotten work of domestic laborers. A West Hollywood resident, the artist is well known for addressing immigration issues, and illuminating the domestic labor forces around Los Angeles. Photographic artist and filmmaker Feldman, his collaborator on the upcoming In West Hollywood, documented the cutouts, and these unique photos are a part of the new exhibition. Feldman’s short film Los Olvidades covered Ramiro Gomez’s creation and installation of a work in Arizona’s Sonoran desert, and was the winner of the Oxford Film Festival in 2015.

With Gomez and Feldman’s work presented together in this new exhibition, the installation serves as a powerful and impactful statement on the influence of Latin America in the culture and art of Los Angeles. Included in the exhibition will be a never-before-seen commissioned painting from Gomez. Adding to the reception celebration is the live music of Mariachi Arcoiris de Los Angeles, the world’s first LGBTQ mariachi group. The reception and exhibition will be held at the West Hollywood Library.

Photo credit: Otis Woods

Another WeHo Artes highlight is the commissioned performance of the Rogue Artists Ensemble’s interactive, site-specific theater performance, Señor Plummer’s Final Fiesta. Using a heady mix of tall-tales, puppets, masks, and music, the play celebrates the 75^th anniversary of the 1942 book Señor Plummer: The Life and Laughter of an Old-Californian. Written by former Los Angeles Times writer John Preston Buschlen, the book documents interviews with Eugene Plummer, or Don Eugenio, a Spanish-American pioneer whose family once owned 942 acres of land in the area. Considered West Hollywood’s first resident, Don Eugenio is a fascinating, larger than life figure. Rogue Artists will workshop the play with an open rehearsal on August 19, and offer performances with full readings, sets and costumes August 24-26th in Plummer Park, the site of Don Eugenio’s last residence.

Of course, WeHo Artes offers other stellar programming as well, with PST LA/LA Getty Foundation-Funded Projects sited in West Hollywood presented by LAND, LAXART, ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, and MAK Center for Art and Architecture.

Photo credit: Sense of Place Artist Render, Estudio Jose Dávila, 2017

Jose Dávila’s Sense of Place presented by LAND, the Los Angeles Nomadic Division, is a commissioned work by the Guadalajara-based artist, a multi-site, large-scale, public sculpture exhibition which invites viewers into an experiential view of LA’s diverse urban landscape. The work paints a portrait of the city’s experiences, geographies, and histories. A nine-foot square interactive sculpture made up of 40 unique modular forms will be installed in West Hollywood Park, with an opening on September 16th. The sculptural work will be disassembled and reconfigured at three different public sites during the exhibition, which runs through May 2018. With each reimagining, scheduled for November, January, and March, the piece will take on a changed functional shape. It will return to both its original whole cube shape and the West Hollywood Park location in April 2018. The piece is Dávila’s largest public work, and his first major exhibition in Los Angeles.

Pável Aguilar, Retransmisión (Retransmission), 2011. Color video. Courtesy Pável Aguilar

LAXART presents Video Art in Latin America, the first substantive U.S. survey on this subject, moving from the late 1960s to the present. The exhibition will be held at LAXART’s Santa Monica Blvd. location. The show moves from early video experiments in South America expressing dissent in an era of repressive military regimes, to the ways in which contemporary video artists discuss subjects such as labor, ecology, migration, and issues of identity and the consequences of social inequality. These single-channel video programs will be accompanied by a selection of dimensional environmental video installations.

Photo credit: ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives Gallery

Also on tap for WeHo Artes will be Axis Mundo: Queer Networks in Chicano LA, presented by ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives Gallery at the USC Libraries and exhibited at the ONE Gallery, West Hollywood and the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles’ Pacific Design Center September 9 to December 31, 2017. Co-curated by C. Ondine Chavoya, professor of art and Latina/o studies at Williams College, and David Evans Frantz, curator at ONE Archives, the exhibition features over 40 LGBTQ and Chicano artists with experimental works in a variety of mediums. Pieces created between the 1960s and early 1990s include works by LGBTQ and Chicano artists, many of whom passed away due to the AIDS crisis. Artist Edmundo “Mundo” Meza (1955-1985), who collaborated with many of the featured artists, will be a focal point of the exhibition.

Photo credit: MAK Center for Art and Architecture

And at the Mak Center for Art and Architecture’s Schindler House, How to Read El Pato Pascual: Disney’s Latin America and Latin America’s Disney will be presented by MAK Center for Art and Architecture and Luckman Gallery at Cal State L.A. Over 150 works by 48 Latin American artists challenge nearly 100 years of cultural influence between Latin America and Disney. The exhibition, curated by writer and filmmaker Jesse Lerner and artist Rubén Ortiz-Torres explores the idea that there are no clean boundaries between art, culture, and geography. The large scale exhibition will have its reception at Schindler House September 9th, and will be split between that location and the Luckman Gallery on the Cal State LA campus.

Photo credit: MAK Center for Art and Architecture

The Chase, a large-scale multi-piece sculpture is created by Los Angeles-based artist HACER, and will be installed on Santa Monica Boulevard east of Doheny Drive; and later in the year, Queer Califas: LA Latinx Art, will open in November at Plummer Park’s Long Hall. Both projects are part of the City’s Art of the Outside public art program.

For more information on WeHo Artes: http://weho.org/residents/weho-arts-and-culture/west-hollywood-celebrates-pacific-standard-time-2017

For more information on PST LA/LA, an inclusive and wide-ranging exploration of Latin American and Latino art in Los Angeles held throughout Southern California, and supported by the Getty Foundation, visit: http://www.pacificstandardtime.org/

In West Hollywood, an exhibition of works by West Hollywood-based artists Ramiro Gomez and David Feldman will be shown at the West Hollywood Library (625 N. San Vicente Blvd., 90069) The opening reception will be August 23 from 7-9PM; the event is free and open to the public, but RSVPs are required; to RSVP, contact: nschonwetter@weho.org.

Señor Plummer’s Final Fiesta will be performed at an open rehearsal August 19, (drop in anytime between 1-4PM), and performances with full readings, sets and costumes on August 24, 25 and 26 at 7PM in Plummer Park(7377 Santa Monica Blvd., 90046) – the site of Don Eugenio’s last residence. Seating is limited; to reserve tickets RSVP at https://www.rogueartists.org/senor-plummers-final-fiesta – guests are asked to pay what they can to join the fiesta, with a suggested minimum donation of $5.00.

Genie Davis; photos courtesy of the city of West Hollywood