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Home  ACE Stories Survival Camp
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Friday, 30 May 2008 |
Survival Camp
If biological warfare or deranged monarchs were not dangerous enough, try surviving as a theatre in a recession.
I Gelosi at LA Theatre Ensemble
There really was an I Gelosi commedia dell’ arte company, in the late 16th Century. From them playwright/director David Bridel has concocted a pastiche of history and entertainment that works on stage. The playing is passing rowdy and passionate, much of the commedia action is shadow play, well plotted and performed with gravity. Starlet Jacobs’ arched arcade serves well.
A vainglorious braggart and would be bully and despoiler (dashing Albert Meijer) meets his match, and learns about love, in his intelligent, true to her heart wife (Paige White). They thrive in a marriage of theatrical convenience which evolves into a love match. Lusty babes (devious Eleanor Van Hest, spunky Emily Rose), brawling buckos (whiny Michael Pappas, coin biting, trusty Isaac Wade, and willing Jon Redding) hustle for riches, fame and survival. A demented monarch (Luke Bailey) and his venomous mother (Danielle Katz) who deserves a silver spike in her heart, and a smug noblemen (Christopher Tillman) add political intrigue. What more could you want?
Through June 14 at Powerhouse Theatre, 3116 2nd in Santa Monica. Call (310) 396-3680 or browse PowerhouseTheatre.com.
Safe at Circus Theatricals
This is a crackling science fiction suspense thriller. While playwright Chuck Rose takes swipes at political-military propaganda, the suspense is based not only on a suspect military but the very real possibility of a world destroying itself. What we do see is a group of privileged moguls sequestered, or is it trapped, in an underground luxury haven. Their handlers, earnestly sadistic Tom Groenwald, and true believer convert Steve Coombs are suspiciously demonic. Finally two of them make a run for it. To what?
A wisecracking comic, John Kassir who romps with a drunk scene and his fuzzy-hearted agent (Ronald Hunter) are an odd pair. A studiously soft-mannered oligarch (Tony Pasqulini purring) snaps into power trips and his fouled-mouthed wife (Jade Sealy) uses what she has to get what she wants. There is a tendency to use cussing as a substitute for emotional intensity under Kappy Kilburn’s crisp direction.
Stately, plump Jordan Lund is a convincing technocrat, Brisk Cameron Meyer is a television newscaster out of her element. Kitty Rose’s set has high tech cachet, and Jeanine W Stehlin’s clever sound, including icky muzak, has potent purpose.
Through June 6 at 2511 /Wilshire in midtown LA. Call 323-969-1054 or browse CircusTheatricals.com.
Byplay
Relevant Stage opens a three day run of Over There / Over Here on May 29 at the Warner Grand. A man joins the Army to escape poverty and crime in Crown Heights (Brooklyn) but finds Iraq to be just as bad—if not worse. When he returns home, he searches for a way to justify the sacrifices he has made and move his life forward. Call (310) 929-8129 or browse theRelevantStage.com.
Dynamic producer Lisa Coffi looks forward to a new Shakespeare-By-The-Sea season, opening June 12 with Midsummer Night’s Dream (with Antony and Cleopatra, also known as “cover your asp,” to follow). Coffi has her own midsummer dream. These free performances rely entirely on public and corporate funding and private donations and so are even more vulnerable to recessions than most theatres. In the current Bush recession, funding is lower than ever, down at this point 25-50% from last year so far. Of course more will come in , but it is nail biting time along with most other theatres. But this theatre has built up a following over a decade., with attendance rising to 21,000. It is multi-generational institution with parents passing on the experience to their children. For a complete schedule, browse ShakespeareByTheSea.org.
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