Shows I've Seen

I always get concerned when I see an invitation for a show in which the major draw is, "You can drink during the show!!" Ack. That can't be good.

Who's On First is a Groundhog Day-like play with four characters. Those characters were played by Edward Nattenberg (we met at the ACT Graduate School showcase (he graduated last year and was attending as an alumni supporter)--it was good to see his work, very Rat Pack in style, tone, and attitude), Stephanie Shelfer (a solid, Debra Messing type), David Kalamus (who way overacted), and my dear friend Lisa Lefevre (she's so cute and has great legs (as always), but needed to slow down and take her time with this work). The production was at the Hollywood Fight Club, 6767 W. Sunset Blvd., Ste. 6 (a small space with Internet cameras and mics all over the place, a consent sign posted at the door to warn the audience that they are a part of the Internet broadcast of all events that take place in this theatre). The house phone rang during the show, which was distracting, as was the constant flow of people in and out during the show to get more drinks.

Ran into Weston Walls, Terry Toncatins, and another friend of Lisa's (Michelle; whose last name I never recall). Cute enough. Glad to have gone into that space and know what to expect there. Recognized lots of actors from the headshots of company members on the wall. Cool deal.

Saw the amazingly brilliant Pamela Newlands with her class in Improv Anonymous at the American Renegade Theatre, 11136 Magnolia, No. Ho. There were two shows, and I could've stayed for the second and enjoyed it just as much, I'm sure, but Michael Mueller, Mitchell Fink, Eric Halasz and I headed from this show to the Fox & Hound, where we met up with Kevin E. West and listened to the musical stylings of Summer & Friends (The Jagermeisters). Much fun!

But that's not what this post is about. Let's dish about the Improv Show!

Pamela tells me this group worked together for three months (after having done another three months of the beginners workshop first), ending in this showcase of really funny improv comedy. This class comes from the Carolyne Barry group of classes. Got to meet her for the first time. She's quite charismatic.

Actors: Joel Berry is very experienced. Very good. Brian Girard is really funny. Man! So much fun to watch! Marissa Labog is cute and spunky. Both Meredith Kibbee and Will Morales are good. Alissa Moreno and Teresa Simmons look familiar to me (still haven't figured it out). Pamela Newlands, of course, was brilliantly confident (and she gave a shoutout to Dalt's Gang in her bio. Yes, you are Sassy McLassie, baby! It was great to see Wendy Taubin respond. We had met at a past Hollywood Happy Hour and to see her perform was a delight!

The group performed to a full house and they certainly know the fundamentals of TheatreSports butt need to sharpen their instincts so as not to rush to denial when in doubt of what "might work" in a scene. That's not the right mindset for good improv, but that's a muscle that will strengthen with time for these actors. I didn't love the instructor yelling "blackout" at the end of the scenes. If you want to decide when scenes go black, YOU run the lightboard. The yelling was distracting. Still, he's worked up some skills in this good group and I'm eager to see what else they can do. Really great evening!

I had heard a lot of industry buzz about this showcase and had received many, many invitations for past versions of the showcase, so I knew, once my schedule allowed for it, I'd like to check it out. The first place I heard of this showcase, in fact, was at Bob Morones' office back in January 2001. I had asked him in our interview for BSW where he liked to scout new talent. This was at the top of his list. And... sure enough, three and a half years later and he's at the showcase on closing night along with me, Keith Johnson, and another 80 people, including CD Jaki Brown, Kyle Lawrence from Media Artists, and Emily Cho.

We were all held out on the sidewalk until far past the official start time of the showcase as Gloria Gifford swirled among her helpers, barking out orders to them and then thanking us with a sugary sweet voice. Once we were brought inside ("Industry with black folders, you come in first. Your seats are marked. Then invited guests without the black folders, you may enter. We will seat you. Finally, family and friends, you may enter on a space-available basis. Wait for us to lead you in."), I saw a section of stools along the wall. Figuring these were to block off the area that could've been used for walking along the outside of the seats, I was surprised when the orders started coming, "You! Sit there! Yes, on the stool! You're young. You're healthy. You can take it!" Yikes. Twenty minutes late to start and I was not loving the vibe.

Once it began, the show opened with an all-male dance number. After that, we saw fully-staged (props, set pieces, and costumes) eight-minute scenes. Turns out the guys dancing at the beginning were part of the "Patron" crew, as listed in the back of the program (with headshots and everything). They get to move set pieces and props and work their way up to acting appearances in the showcases. The musical transitions were good, but the program was totally out of order. The scene marked as first was sixth, second was fourth, third was eighth, etc. Very confusing. And every headshot in the industry kit was a photocopied version on Gloria Gifford letterhead. Want to contact this actor? You know where to go. Wow. And every actor's bio in the program (where agency info was listed) ended with a tribute to the instructor and her ability to "raise [me] to another level" and such.

Now, on to actors and their work (the whole point of these things). Julie Berke could play Rosario's daughter on Will & Grace. Funny. Cute. Good job. Sylver M'bous and Jeff Feringa were miscast as lovers (25 year age difference that was never addressed) and their scene was all about the "business" and nothing else. Too bad. Benito Paje is highly watchable, though I couldn't tell why. Katy Jacoby and Paul McCarthy-Boyington were the best matched-duo of the night in the best-directed scene, and did the best acting job of the night. They were really listening to one another and very committed. That was nice to see. Pablo Santos and Angelo Perez did a cute scene, even though Angelo kept jumping the lines. Erin Cummings is cute and delicious (that's the only word I could come up with that really nailed how it felt to watch her). Didn't enjoy hearing Dante Basco do what sounded like an Asian Southern accent ("may-ee" is not how "me" is pronounced in ANY Southern state). And their number ended with a dance number... again, a weird choice, as was a lip-sync musical number (with music far too loud).

Overall, the material choice was very odd. Many violent overtones (especially sexual violence toward women and men getting slapped) and it became too much on top of too much for me. And of course, I want a warning in the program when there will be on-stage smoking. It's not too much to ask! The actors involved in this program certainly know the art of the follow-up. Got lots of postcards and thank yous. That's always nice.

This showcase is pretty regular (several times a year) and is part of the class services taught by Gloria and her son, Adam. The location is the GGC Theatre at the Complex, 6468 Santa Monica Blvd.

Laura Buckles invited me to see her work at The Reel World: A Showcase of Professional Actors at The Court Theatre, 722 N. La Cienega. This production, produced by Becky Meister and directed by Christine Brent, ran for four non-consecutive nights and is quite possibly the strongest independently produced showcase I've seen. I think the investment is well worth it, for working actors trying to get seen. I attended with Keith Johnson and Subhash Mandal, running into and hanging out with Bob Clendenin a bit as well. Good industry crowd. Didn't try the sushi or booze, but both were plentiful.

On to the talent!

Laura Buckles and Chris Cause did a scene together. It was so great to FINALLY meet Chris after all these years of knowing each other online. I observed that he plays a great "every man" and does a "bad attitude" very well. Laura is just so cute and has such a wonderful personality and physical build. She's really fun to watch!

Got to see Lissa Paalo work. It was good to see her again. I had brought her in on two feature film auditions last year. She's just so great. It's good to see her in more than a cold read situation. Anna Campbell showed good emotional control in her monologue, but I wasn't so sure I loved the material. It was a harsh adaptation of "Medea." The scene between Becky Meister (I really liked her) and Tom W. Chick was very well-played. He does "good-natured loser" really well and his choices were really committed. Great stuff.

Jonathan Brent did his "power monologue." You're sure he's done this a hundred times, and it still feels new. Great instincts and timing. I generally did not like the monologues as much as I liked the scenes in this showcase, but this guy could change my mind. Really great. Physically, he's Christopher Walken meets Ryan Seacrest, if you can imagine such a thing.

Cristina Cimellaro was quite good. I'd received her headshot in a kit for another show (one for which she was CREW... and I couldn't figure out why crew was including headshots in the packet, but whatever, right?) and it took me awhile to place her. Now I know why. As for her work, I wanted her to go quirkier with her choices. She's someone who could really benefit from a 15 Minutes of FEM performance. Yuri Lowenthal has great instincts and looks a little bit like Emelio Estevez. Pianist David H. Bickford was fun. He reminds me of Bill Murray and he's got great style. Very funny.

Overall, a great night of scenes (and a few monologues). This group was by far the most evenly-matched, in terms of talent. I'm so used to seeing a few really great people, a few non-great people, and a bunch of "only okay" or "just fine" actors. This night, we saw mostly really wonderful actors. Well done!

This was a lot of fun. I was a panelist with casting directors Billy DaMota, Chemin Barnard, and Pamela Staton at the Hollywood Black Film Festival. Our panel was called The Casting Process: How To Get Cast In Television, Film, and Commercials! and the crowd was small. I guess a 10am start-time is a little rough for Hollywood. LOL. But because there was a smaller group, I was able to really check out some actors whose vibes certainly made an impression.

Since they dropped off their headshots and resumés in the bin before our time together was through, I was able to come away with a short list of actors whose work I'd like to get to know. Those folks included Crescent Najeem, Randy Cohlmia (whose work I'd seen in Vise Grip a few months ago), Samantha Beaulieu, Elizabeth Goldstein (co-chair of the HBFF), Raymond Forchion (chair of the HBFF), Lanré, Pamela Shaddock, and Akim Black.

Good vibes from this group. Hope to be asked back again!

The first ever request I received to "review" a show led me to see our friend Molly Hawkey in 12 Short of a Dozen at the Attic Theatre. Molly shot me an email asking for "an honest/hard-core/brutal review" of her show and her work, as well as on its writing, marketing, the space. So, let's just start by saying I went into this show with a mission in mind. I'd been asked to "rip [me] to shreds" in the quest for ever-improving work. All righty then.

First, some backstory: I was a member of the Attic Theatre Company in 1999-2000. It was then in its original space on Theatre Row (Santa Monica Blvd.) and I spent a lot of time up those stairs, putting in work hours, doing tech, acting in the Christmas show, babysitting the theatre manager's 25-pound cat, reading scripts for the one act contest, participating in staged readings, converting much of their world to an electronic-based template on their archaic computer, etc. I LOVED being a part of the Attic. Still call a few of the members (who weathered the move to the new space and a year or more of a non-existant company) my dear friends (including Thia Stephan, TL Kolman, and Harlene Marshall). The Attic Theatre always did amazing work, groundbreaking staged readings and adaptations of classics and modern theatrical pieces, always well-received and well-reviewed in the trades. The company was 60 members, back when I was in the company, and from the wall of headshots at the new space, I'd say they're now a company of 30... and this particular show did not appear to be a "company" production. Not sure whether the 12 Short of a Dozen crew rented the space or worked there as a lab group, etc.

The new Attic Theatre space (at 5429 W. Washington Blvd.) is easy to drive past in this industrial area. After circling back around, we found ample street parking (no secure parking as advertised on the Attic's voicemail). It was odd walking into a space that isn't "an attic" as the old Attic space surely was, but there was a lot that was odd about this experience (from my history to the mindset I'd been asked to go into this show with). I did like the 32-seat space with GREAT legroom in the back row, lush burgandy walls and ceiling and the NICEST bathroom I've seen in a small theatre space like this (much better than the old Attic restrooms).

Okay, let's begin by saying that Molly Hawkey rocks. Sitting in the lobby, I looked through the cast profiles in the program and saw, among the cutsey bios (some--like Allison Kramer's bio--quite funny) the simple line beside Molly's photo: "Win with the chin!" Yep. She's that kooky, drawing attention to her Jay Leno-esque feature. Love it. Great tone-setter for the show we were about to see.

Two general notes about the show (13 sketch comedy pieces... 12 of which should've been shorter) are this: not every cast member needs to appear in each sketch (conserve your resources, leave us wanting more, etc.) and music that leads INTO the sketch should introduce the mood and theme, not the music that leads OUT of a sketch (a very Mike Sametz-like convention, from my six-month stint at The Next Stage). Not having every member of the cast in each sketch (or nearly every member) would cut down on the between-sketch downtime, which was too long. It would also allow for more complete costume/wig changes, which could've improved some of the overall feel of the show.

I realized, just a few moments into the show, that it was quite similar in tone to the many sketch shows I'd seen or worked on with The Next Stage (in 2000). I could visualize the writing, directing, brainstorming process, in which each performer was likely asked to create a sketch (rather than deferring to the BEST writers in the group to carry all of the writing duties) and each performer was represented in each sketch. I remember disliking that part of sketch comedy at The Next Stage, because I felt that strength was often in using the best writers to handle WRITING and having economy of resources in the casting and LENGTH of each sketch. So, while the whole show could've been more enjoyable for me with some tightening, more heavy-handed direction (not letting so much free-form stuff go on during the creation process), and slashing of jokes that weren't working, I generally enjoyed the experience, simply because it reminded me so much of my past lives with both the Attic and the Next Stage.

But that's not why I was asked to be there. So, now that ALL of that other stuff is out of the way, let's get to the performances.

Sara O'Hair is quite cute. Jason Boegh does the freak role very well but overuses a Yankee accent for some reason. John Parr, while good with impressions/impersonations, couldn't hold back his smile too often. And it wasn't fun like watching Harvey Korman and Tim Conway break up during old Carol Burnett Show sketches. We weren't laughing WITH John Parr. Mark Weiler does the nerd well. It's truly scary what a transformation he undergoes when trading hard-body stuff for the nerd role. Really great potential for a hotty "reveal" under a nerdy exterior, if he wanted to pursue that angle.

The strongest performers, by quite a big leap above the rest, were Ed Olandese (who could play Joey Slotnick's little brother) and Molly Hawkey (and no, it's not just because we went specifically to see her. She is REALLY good). Ed Olandese does physical comedy very well, has great timing, and is fun to watch. Molly Hawkey is really SNL/MadTV-ready. She just needs better material to showcase her strong instincts, great range of voices, and willingness to go for it, even at the expense of her own modesty. That's a recipe for sketch show success, generally. It was in the "Girls Night Out" sketch that I realized Molly is best when not relying on someone else to pick up what she's throwing down. Her own sense of timing is beautiful. She and Ed could really build up from what they've got here and conquer better material and work with performers more of their peer group.

The two strongest sketches were "Diet Dinner" and "Parking Enforcement." Had "Diet" been as brief as "Parking," I'd have liked it even better. But "Parking" was funny AND short, which really does sell it more for me. Best of all, I learned that Molly can SING WITH HER MOUTH CLOSED. Seriously. You HAVE to get her to do it for you. It's WILD.

Okay, Molly, I hope that served you well. I'm more than happy to do an in-depth review like this when I know someone really wants to know how to build forward on what they've got. You're at a point where you're ready to move up from this and do something really special. Showcase your work at 15 Minutes of FEM or collaborate with some much stronger performers who inspire YOU. It's great to be the BEST part of a bad show... for YOU. But it doesn't get people who are in the market to buy your talent OUT to see your great work. Move up, babe. Take Ed with you.

Keith Johnson and I attended the Drama Garage staged reading of The Mystic by Nathan Hong. The Drama Garage series is pretty cool. Its producer (the very hip and cool Maryam Dalan) introduced it as the "premier screenplay showcase," since it produces three mainstage events per year, free, and sponsored by folks who provide lots of swag, giveaways (Keith won the year's subscription to Hollywood Scriptwriter Magazine), food, and drink.

Learned from fellow attendee Joe Gold (who has just wrapped a show at Circle X and who was there with his girlfriend Tammy) that they charge $40 per entry into the "system" and three screenplays are chosen for this full staging. Those that don't make it to that point but are still considered good works are invited to workshop for $200, as having actors give voice to that material would be more of a service than a showcase. Interesting premise. I'm sure I'll go back again and see what else this group has in store.

This particular staged reading was produced by Emil Lin (who also performed), "directed" by Dottie Zold, and featured actors we know and love such as Subhash Mandal, Richard Tatum, and Robert Easton. Actors whose work was new to me, but that I truly enjoyed were Oliver Page, Sara Van Horn (who I brought in for an audition on The Moor, I believe), Jordan Roberts (who I think was once a performer at 15 Minutes of FEM, and April Hong (whose vocal range is brilliant). Highlights came from Subhash Mandal, who brought subtle and solid variances to each of the characters he voiced (which is hard to do), and delightfully talented Richard Tatum, who cracks me up pretty much every time he opens his mouth.

Folks we saw/schmoozed with included the above-mentioned, as well as Tracy Eliott (three times in one week!!), James Hong, and Deb Barylski. Gorgeous over-audience lighting design by someone other than Todd Alter and Twilight Lighting (they're credited in the program, but I'm assured they had NOTHING to do with the lovely lights above the audience that truly were a sight to behold... although candles suspended from fishing line do not like to stay hung. Please remember that, the next time you hang lights ABOVE AUDIENCE MEMBERS this way, whoever you were, who hung these lights--NOT Twilight). Oh, and one minor note: leave the AC on... please. It's June. It's the Woman's Club of Hollywood. It's hot. Poor actors under all those lights! And a major complaint which has absolutely nothing to do with the performance in any way, shape, or form: it was at this show that we witnessed the rudest display of cell phone use DURING a performance. This guy kept his phone on vibrate (yay) but answered it (boo) and spoke in a whisper into the phone from his seat in the audience for three and five minutes at a time FOUR TIMES during the show. Are you KIDDING me?

Okay, got that out of my system. Enjoyed the read more than the material. Really liked seeing some actors (new to me) whose work I will remember (it's ALWAYS good to learn which actors enjoy doing staged readings, since so many directors like doing them before casting their films). A good, hot night. Looking forward to the next Drama Garage reading.

Attended the lab show presentation of Laundry and Bourbon and Lonestar at the Ark Theatre in their new space at 1647 S. LaCienega Blvd.

Really pleased for them with this new space and I can imagine that this pair of shows--when fully-mounted later this summer--will really shine there. But I really want them to re-hang the lights. The whole audience was lit from behind, and I later learned that this was a "last-minute, gotta get it hung up for the mainstage show" choice (that sometimes results in blown fuses when an actor plugs in a cell phone for charging backstage). Okay... that's a work in progress. All is forgiven.

My arm candy du jour was brother Bill Lippincott. The shows were presented as the two one-acts they are, the first directed by fellow Atlantan Karen Tiegren, the latter by Erik Engman. Best performances came from Tracy Eliott, Shelley DeLayne, and Michael Holmes (who, quite frankly, I did not recognize from his headshot, which is a good three years old).

My main notes for Laundry and Bourbon have to do with pacing. All three actors could've taken more time, added more beats, held more moments to strengthen this piece. There was also a bit of in-and-out of accents going on, except for Shelley DeLayne, who just really did everything right with a hysterical role. She's just so great. Always is. Amazing. The "Girls Gone Wild"-style fight scene was one of the funniest things I've ever seen. As Tracy Eliott retells it, "I was coached thusly: 'Where you see a hole, stick an appendage.' It works." Amen!

As for Lonestar, the pacing was much better, but one actor (Fredric T. Rooney) was totally miscast. I've seen his work before and I generally like him (in a Kevin Smith sort of way). But we've heard so much about this character before he comes on stage (and frankly, we're all picturing an Ed Begley Jr. type) that it's a hard stretch. Michael Holmes' voice just booms with authority. Really good stuff. The fight scene was a little too "by heart," but really, this was a good one-act. Both were.

A night-sun helicopter chase on The 10 in the last five minutes of the last piece reminded us all (cast included) that this is an imperfect little space (as most LA theatre spots are) that could benefit from sound-proofing and better air circulation. But it's so early in the life of the Ark in its new space that I'm not worried at all.

Good job, all. I know it's only going to be better and better in the mainstage version!