"...greatly enhanced by clever video projections and about the most irreverent costumes (by newcomer Christina Wright) the company has ever displayed."

Read the entire review here.

The design team — Christina Wright (costumes) as well as Broadway veterans David Zinn (sets), Darrel Maloney (lights and projections) and Ryan Rumery (sound and music) — create a vivid performance environment where scene changes are sometimes effected by shifts in lighting or the use of simple curtains and drops.

Wright’s work is most memorable with her wild, green, tentlike outfit for the three-headed Troll King (Moreno, assisted by Roberts and Zes). The Troll King, in fact, provides some of the most memorable images and biggest laughs of the evening.

    - excerpt from the 5/1/11 Kansas City Star review of the Kansas City Repertory Theatre's "Peer Gynt"

read full review here

As good as the actors are, it's the Rep's usual perfect harmony of gifted backstage contributors that make this production — as much reverie as spectacle — so memorable. Darrel Maloney's lighting design and Ryan Rumery's sound and musical composition work beautifully against David Zinn's wonky, rustic background. Christina Wright's costumes are done well, with the troll king's design bordering on comedic brilliance.

- excerpt from The Pitch's 5/3/11 review

read full review here

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posted on Tuesday, 21 September 2010

Add a quart of Commedia dell’ Arte masks, an epic cup of Brechtian alienation effects, a pint of Vsevolod Meyerhold’s biomechanics, a dash of Indonesian shadow puppetry, a tablespoon of Eugene Ionesco-esque Theatre of the Absurd, an ounce of African Djembe drumming, a soupcon of slide whistles and slapstick plus a gallon of radical politics, sprinkle liberally with Howard Zinn and Yogi Bear, stir vigorously over a high flame until boiling, and what do you get? A spicy recipe for theatrical gumbo and agitprop that only the Actors’ Gang chefs could whip up and serve — and boy is this avant-garde troupe cooking with its new production, Break The Whip. 

Writer/director Tim Robbins’ new play is a theatrically rendered people’s history of what is now the United States, told from the point of view of the oppressed, of the not-so-wellborn common folk, of the indigenous, enslaved and indentured, instead of from the top down perspective of the hoity-toity high and mighty. Nowadays there’s lots of anxiety among reactionaries that whites may become outnumbered by nonwhites in America, and Robbins’ sizzling story is set in a period when this was indeed the case: Shortly after the founding of the Jamestown settlement in Virginia, when Europeans were indeed a minority in a “New World” largely populated by indigenous tribal peoples, along with African slaves imported before the Mayflower. This combustible ethnic combination could be called “when worlds collide.” (Set on the East Coast in the early 17^th century, Whip doesn’t get into the Latino demographics of the Southwest – that is another story.)

According to the press notes by Robbins, “I had for many years believed that there was rich material in Mr. Zinn’s landmark book and had dreamed of a theatrical realization of his [people’s history].” The Gang’s guru and Artistic Director realized that the “biggest challenge in presenting this story was to remain in the realm of theatrical entertainment and not make the mistake of creating a humdrum, precious history.” Ah, the old conundrum: How to mix mass entertainment with educational, political content aimed at raising consciousness and conscience? The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum recently wrassled with this creative dilemma during the summer with its similarly themed, if stylistically different musical people’s history, Carry It On!

Whip’s plot is fairly complex, especially as there are so many characters, and difficult to summarize. Suffice it to say that Whip explores the class divisions between the English settlers, racial clashes between the Africans, Europeans and indigenous people, as well as tribalism among the latter. Quino (Chris Schultz) is an indentured servant who may have a same sex relationship with a lad who perishes during a famine sweeping Jamestown. Quino (which in Russian is spelled “Kino” and means “movie”) is outraged when the grave dug for the stricken boy is, instead, given to an upper class Englishwoman. In the second act Quino’s interracial romance with an African woman, Lumbine (the superb Giselle Jones), upends the racist colony and despite torture, leads to a desperate act of defiance that crowns the play, moving it along to its inexorable conclusion.

So how successful is the show, with its cast of 23 actors (many in multiple roles) in dramatizing history and making it entertaining instead of pedantic? The various special effects deployed by the Gang certainly enliven the production, which takes place on a bare stage, minus curtains or even dressing rooms, as cast members dress and undress on the side in the dark. The costumes designed by Christina Wright, from deer to bears, braves to slaves, highborn Englishmen to indentured servants, are eye catching. Creation myths are cleverly, amusingly depicted via wayang kulit (Indonesian shadow puppets projected on a screen, which the Gang also used to great effect a few years ago in its adaptation of Gulliver’s Travels). Fabrics of cloth denoting rivers are deftly deployed. The appearance of a spectral bear (Pierre Adeli) during Abooksigun’s (Jean-Louis Darville) vision quest is more Yogi Bear than spiritual talisman – although, to be fair, while the clawed creature is cartoonish, he is indeed smarter than the average bear.

The chase scene in the second act, which is when the action picks up and the story really comes alive (the first act has lots of exposition), is extremely cinematically rendered, and one of the most exciting escape sequences seen onstage since Eliza fled slaver Simon Legree and his baying bloodhounds on the ice floes in productions of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

But the use of masks – a Commedia Dell’ Arte convention — by the entire ensemble throughout the production is eyebrow raising. These masks worked perfectly in the Gang’s 2003 anti-Iraq War gem Embedded, but then Robbins’ was, in part, depicting public figures, such as war criminals Condoleezza Rice and Donald Rumsfeld, whose faces were well known to audiences. However, in Whip, fictional and obscure characters (by the way, Jamestown’s Pocahontas and John Smith don’t make special appearances here) are portrayed, and the masks deny the thespians much of their innate dramatic power, as spectators can’t see their faces, facial expressions and in many cases, even their eyes.

An Academy Award winning actor, Robbins has a cinematic sensibility, as well as a theatrical aesthetic, which he overall skillfully combines in Whip. Above all, in this parable about colonial America, Robbins’ well known progressive politics win the day, with a rare depiction of a maroon community of escaped slaves and Natives, plus indentured whites, as the prototype of a “better future” for all Americans. But this elusive “Beloved Community” of equal rights for all is yet to be. Among other profound things, the 29-year-old Actors’ Gang’s do not miss Whipreminds us that same sex marriage is to 21^st century America what interracial marriage was to 17^th century Jamestown.

Photo: Lauren Lovett, right, portrays Shen Te, whose kindness eases the fears of three gods played by Katherine Griffith, Alexander Wright and Robert George. Credit: Tom Burruss.The pulse of the tango insinuates itself into a Chinese opera. A British comedy erupts in the midst of a bunraku performance. Guatemalan cloth brushes up against Oriental silk.

These are but a few of the cultural mash-ups on view in Open Fist's presentation of "The Good Woman of Setzuan," complementing the source material in wondrous ways. Bertolt Brecht's play is, after all, its own mash-up: a parable in the guise of a Chinese folk tale, written while Brecht, a German Marxist, hopscotched the globe in exile from the Nazis.

A moral dilemma bubbles at the play's core: Can a person do good in the world -- assisting others clearly in need -- while also safeguarding one's personal comfort?  That question loomed in collective consciousness when the play was written between 1939 and 1941, and hovers there still.

If that seems strong stuff, fear not. Director Charles Otte and his cohorts keep us engaged and, yes, entertained, even if that seems somewhat counter to Brecht's belief in distancing.

Movement and performance vocabularies -- a global tour of cultures and techniques -- overlap in Otte's theatrically polyglot presentation. He uses a recently revised translation by Eric Bentley as well as a smattering of songs that Elizabeth Swados once wrote for the play. The music, itself a mini-world-tour, is made all the more transporting by Dean Mora and his musicians.

A raw-lumber set and monumental projections make Setzuan seem industrious, if austere. Among its citizens is the bubbling, sparkling Shen Te (Lauren Lovett, leading a cast of 20), whose kindness convinces three worried gods that at least one good person still inhabits the Earth. Once she has a bit of money, however, she finds it necessary to disguise herself as a brusque male cousin to shoo away the needy. And so the great moral divide is made visible.

-- Daryl H. Miller

by Eva Thomas

LOS ANGELES – Native Voices at the Autry kicked off its 10th Anniversary Season with the world premiere of “Carbon Black,” a suspenseful psychological drama by Terry Gomez, Comanche. Native Voices, established in 1999, is a Native Theater Company housed at the Autry National Center of the American West in Los Angeles. It is the country’s only Equity theater company dedicated to producing new works by Native American playwrights.

In November, Native Voices launched the 2009 – 2010 Play Series with “Carbon Black,” directed by Native Voices Founder/Producing Artistic Director Randy Reinholz, Choctaw. The play tells the story of a mother-son relationship held hostage by agoraphobia and media-inspired fear. The play ran through Nov. 22.

Gomez is a playwright, writer, director, actor, educator and painter, and member of the Advisory Committee for the Native Theater Festival at The Public Theater in New York City, where her play “Inter-Tribal” was produced. She has been a director for the Two Worlds Native Theater Festival and the Cool Side of Hell Theater Troupe at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, N.M.

“I wanted to write a play about the ongoing problem of women and children being attacked around the world,” Gomez said. “I wanted to address it and I wanted to say that it needs to stop.”

The cast of “Carbon Black” included award-winning actress Tonantzín Carmelo, Tongva, Kumeyaay; Sheila Tousey, Menominee, Stockbridge Munsee; Stephan Wolfert and Michael Drummond.

In March, Native Voices will present “Tales of an Urban Indian,” a one-man show by Canadian playwright-actor Darrell Dennis, Shuswap. The play, directed by Herbie Barnes, Ojibway, tells the tale of the often hilarious situations and challenges faced by the urban Indian. The show, which is being presented in association with The Public Theater in New York, runs March 13 – 28.

Native Voices at the Autry is led by Reinholz and Founder/Producing Executive Director Jean Bruce Scott. Native Voices has maintained successful long-term relationships with New York’s The Public Theater, Native American Public Telecommunications, Washington’s Kennedy Center and La Jolla Playhouse near San Diego.

“This is our 10th anniversary,” Reinholz said. “We have developed about 70 scripts and produced a dozen shows here at the Autry. Native Voices produces plays about the Native experience told by Native writers for both Native and non-Native audiences.”

Throughout the year, Native Voices also hosts several developmental projects in addition to its main-stage productions. The “First Look Series” provides opportunities for Los Angeles audiences to see readings of Native American plays directed by professional directors and featuring Native actors.

Native Voices’ “Playwrights Retreat and Festival of New Plays” provides the opportunity during a week-long retreat for beginning, emerging and established Native playwrights to develop new works with professional directors, dramaturgs, designers and actors at San Diego State University, the La Jolla Playhouse and the Autry National Center. Many plays developed during the Playwright Retreat, including “Carbon Black,” have gone on to enjoy successful runs on the Autry main stage, and elsewhere.

“It was about 10 years ago that I started submitting my work to Native Voices,” Gomez said. “‘Carbon Black’ was accepted into the Playwrights’ Retreat and we started to develop the script. I trusted the people I was working with and the changes really made the play better.”

“Terry Gomez was very tenacious about developing ‘Carbon Black,’” Reinholz said. “It was fascinating to see the play come together and we had two stunning Native actresses (Carmelo and Tousey) to build the show on.”

Carmelo was involved in Native Voices’ first production “Jump Kiss,” and returned to work in “Carbon Black.” “What Native Voices does is very unique,” she said. “They develop Native plays and playwrights as well as create professional opportunities for Native actors.”

Native Voices also sponsors the Young Native Voices Theater Education Project, which is designed specifically to train the next generation of theater artists and provide opportunities for young writers to explore their culture through theater. The project pairs Native youth with professional mentors for intensive playwriting and theater workshops, culminating in a public reading of their plays. The project has produced dozens of new plays written by Native youth.

“Natives are not very visible in theater, film or television,” Gomez said. “The stories that are told are often not told from our point of view. I realized early on that we have to write our own stories. We have a lot to share with the world. Our stories need to be told and it needs to come from us. We need to represent ourselves”

Reviewed by Hoyt Hilsman

JUNE 09, 2010

Bertolt Brecht's powerful parable of morality and human society, set in a fanciful version of the city of Szechuan, is marvelously realized by director Charles Otte and his talented ensemble of actors, musicians, and designers. Otte evokes the mysterious whimsy of Brecht's world while capturing the darkly political edge of Brecht's message.

The story is chock full of myth and metaphor, as three gods arrive in Szechuan in search of honesty and goodness, but find only evil, dishonesty, and greed. The one exception is Shen Te (Lauren Lovett), a prostitute who gives the gods shelter for the night. Recognizing her goodness, they give her money to buy a tobacco shop. But, in the world of Brecht, Shen Te's good fortune only makes her a target for the greed and selfishness of others—including the police, her customers, her landlady, and a host of others. Shen Te's solution is to reinvent herself as a forceful male cousin, Shui Ta, who can play the tough guy in the face on an onslaught of evil. However, Shen Te's problems are compounded when she falls in love with an unemployed mail pilot, Yang Sun (Benny Wills), who exploits her for his selfish ends.

Brecht was a firmly convinced Marxist, but the play relies more on metaphor than dogma, and provides many more questions than answers about the nature of evil in human society. At the play's end, Brecht asks the tough question: Can humans be both good and rich? Or, as he puts it on a grander scale: Can we change human nature, or must we change human society? 

Otte blends the performances, sets, costumes, and music into a richly textured pattern that brings this difficult piece into full bloom. Stellar performances by Lovett and Wills, along with Phillip William Brock, Katherine Griffith, Jan Monroe, Michael Franco, Becca Cousineau, Beth Robbins, Sarah Buster, Robert George, and the rest of the cast capture the essence of Brecht's character portraits. Sets by Richard Hoover, costumes by Christina Wright, and music direction by Dean Mora are wonderful additions to this intelligent, inspiring production.

Presented by and at the Open Fist Theatre, 6209 Santa Monica Blvd., L.A. June 4-July 17. Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m. (323) 882-6912. www.openfist.org.

It's unmistakably Horton Foote country where the people are conventional, the dialogue is everyday and yet you're spellbound by the intensity with which they live, the importance that permeates their trivial conversation. Debuting at The Open Fist Theater, "Getting Frankie Married-and Afterwards" is a masterpiece.

The Willis home in 1990 is comfortable but tasteless, home to Fred (John Lacy), the middle-aged son of Mrs. Willis (Judith Scarpone) whose father died when he was seven. It also houses Mae (Algerita Lewis), who tends Mrs. Willis with one eye on the bible and most of the time Frankie (Martha Demson) is there, the sweet 39-year-old girl who has been Fred's sweetheart since they were teen-agers.

The plot unwinds through the gossip of the three fates, Constance (Stephanie Erb), Laverne (Laura Richardson) and Isabel (Teresa Willis) — conventional married ladies who contrast vividly with Georgia Dale (Maia Madison) and husband S.P. (Jim Haynie). Georgia Dale is the marrying kind. S.P. is her third husband and she keeps an eye on him in a sharp acerbic way, timing his medications, taking him home when he starts to complain.

Fred is a stay-at-home son and protects Frankie, though she doesn't realize it, from the imperious Mrs. Willis. Everybody in the small town whispers that Frankie is Fred's common-law wife. Eveybody, too, gossips when Carlton Gleason (Bjorn Johnson) comes back to town, because Carlton is reputed to be Fred's daddy's son. Fred's daddy married Fred's mama hastily to avoid marryin' Carleton's mama. Now history repeats itself, as Fred is slapped by a breach of promise suit by young and lovely Helen Vaught (Laetitia Leon) and begs Frankie to marry him the next day.

She agrees in a dripping lace dress that's to die for, but the first act ends with Frankie screaming for Fred in the living room while his mother screams for him in the bedroom. It's a great first act curtain!

Act II, also a three-scener, whisks along to its climax. Fred has a middle-aged man's passion for Helen, two babies are born and the end is drenched in tears.

The beauty of Foote's plays is that he never condescends to his people. Fred, hogtied to his imperious mother, maintains through his stupidity a dignity and sweetness. He's forthright in his talks with Frankie. Frankie, a small-town conventional woman, also never loses her dignity. Mrs. Willis, an irascible old curmudgeon, is vulnerable in her fear of illness: "I don't want to lie in that bed helpless."

Martha Demson is lovable as Frankie and her outraged impassioned screams when Fred deserts her on her wedding day have all the power of received truth. John Lacy is an exasperating Fred, but understandable. Judith Scarpone is superb as Mrs. Willis, imperious one minute, childlike the next. It's a part that plays all the ends, one of the few Foote has written, and Scarpone makes the most of it. Jim Haynie as old S. P. is every inch the old man, bent, crippled and complaining. Let's hope someday Mr. Haynie gets a part with more range. He's partnered by an acerbic Maia Madison, dripping in jewels and well on her way to trap Carlton til Frankie stops her in her tracks.

Scott Paulin directs with a keen and sensitive eye to the nuances in Foote's plays. He never lets his fine cast go over the top and they're cast with care. James Spencer's scenic design catches Mrs. Willis's small town Texas living room with all its pomposity, complemented by Dan Reed's lighting design. Getting Frankie Married is another sometimes hilarious, sometimes tragic instance of Mr. Foote finding the humanity in ordinary lives.