Hillbilly hilarity: Less teeth - More cartwheels. Easy targets flattened like roadkill that have nowhere to hide.

The ‘play within a play’ can be an inventive canvas, albeit, when the former has something relevant to convey that impacts the latter. Not the case here. There is nothing to be learned, revealed or pondered. It’s just a hick sitcom for hick-sake.

As the playbill states, ‘It’s an intimate look at clashing egos on and off-stage, as a cast of misfits prepare to mount the story of small-town boy’s attempt to win a cheerleader’s heart.’ The boy, being the playwright, directing his upbringing for the stage.

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The Rubicon Theater on Main Street in downtown Ventura has outdone itself for this season, promising to renew its fabulous International Theater Festival again next summer. If you missed it this time, start marking your summer calendar for 2009 now. The festival offered twenty-three striking events in sixteen days, most at moderate prices. The two that I attended were among four sessions offered absolutely free. Bi-lingual Spanish romantic comedy, Ivory Coast political intrigue, Israeli “Spanish Inquisition” drama, scholarly Beckett interpretation, soul-searching cabaret sing-out in the round, a former Cirque du Soleil French mime, and much more grace a variety of Ventura’s most delightful settings. This festival is for lovers of seaside towns, charming architecture, quality theater, and international flavor.

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Somewhere inside of me I hear a voice warning “ Respect your elders!” I have to ignore that voice because all the actors playing in Long Day’s Journey into Night are elder than I. Maybe I can go about this in a respectful way
But I’ve heard that the truth shall set me free
Argh! What to do?

The set for this piece was astonishing. I was so overwhelmed by the stage and set design that I took several pictures on my phone. I wanted to revisit these later like a handful of shells collected during a day at the beach. These pictures of the beautiful set would be a nice reminder of a wonderful experience. I was so excited by the scenery and set that my expectations jumped even higher than they already were. I mean this is an American classic; a heartbreaking look into a family’s struggle to deal with substance addiction. I’ve been looking for someone to bring the pain. Here it was; the perfect play for some pain to be brought. Sadly the set was the most painful (astonishingly good) part of this production.

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Love Hurts: May I have another? Love Hurts: May I have another?

Suicide- Abortion- Homosexuality: Aaahh youth!
Like a stiff salesman traveling thru Tulsa: Teens needs sex no matter what the face of fate.

This highly imaginative production paints a moral space as an illuminated womb where the only way out is by kicking and screaming. Is there anything more sensual than curiosity? A trio of youths rage to find romance hoping to conquer what their parents feared most: Satisfaction.

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Celebrate the power of the individual this weekend with a slew of original and traditional shows that show how it can take only one person to tell a story or make an impact. It may sound cheesy, but in theater, one actor can tell a more effective story than a stage of twenty. Read below for more information about It’s Great 2B_N American, Happy Hour, Assassins, and Shift Happens: A (Piece of) Work in Progress!

It’s Great 2B_N_American - Living as a minority in America can be tough, but returning to one’s home country as an American can be even tougher. In a one-man show, Dan Kwong tells the story of his travels in Asia and how his identity as an Asian-American shaped not only his perspectives upon Asia, but the perspectives Asians had of him. Chock full of props, video, and sound effects, this show’s 21st century intentions create a universally appealing show.

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Celebrate the power of the individual this weekend with a slew of original and traditional shows that show how it can take only one person to tell a story or make an impact. It may sound cheesy, but in theater, one actor can tell a more effective story than a stage of twenty. Read below for more information about It’s Great 2B_N American, Happy Hour, Assassins, and Shift Happens: A (Piece of) Work in Progress!

It’s Great 2B_N_American - Living as a minority in America can be tough, but returning to one’s home country as an American can be even tougher. In a one-man show, Dan Kwong tells the story of his travels in Asia and how his identity as an Asian-American shaped not only his perspectives upon Asia, but the perspectives Asians had of him. Chock full of props, video, and sound effects, this show’s 21st century intentions create a universally appealing show.

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Opening night bumps made for a stormy journey for “Refuge from the Storm,” but it is an easy and interesting ride overall. The play seems simple enough. Bert (Austin Graham) and Martha (Barbara Keegan) work at a tavern on the sea cliffs of Maine. Todd (Seth Caskey), sitting on a bar stool beside his friend Joe (Rod Davidson), is mourning over his father’s recent death. The bar closes for the night and into the empty tavern enters Doris (Gretchen Koerner) and Tom (Michael Harrity), an unhappily married couple. Their boat has crashed on the rocks and they are lucky to have made it to shore. Throughout the night a series of characters come into the bar: Michael (Dane Bowman), a seaman; Eileen (Kassandra Woodley-Connolly), daughter of the owner of the bar; Jim (David Love), an accountant, together with Candy (Chase McKenna), a cheerful prostitute; and Father Gray (Steve Gunning), a priest.

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I went to review The Sweepers, at the International City Theater in Long Beach and my first thought came about fifteen minutes into the play. “Why does this play exist?” It was a miracle my mind was quiet for that long. But I realized later it was hard at work for those fifteen minutes. It was searching for something while I was dumbly enjoying the pretty set. I dismissed the buzzing fly that was my mind several times before I began to swat at it (internally of course). Another part of my mind said “Listen to the part the you’re about to swat.” I swear all this went on in my head. I thought I better listen to both of these thoughts because maybe my mind was trying to communicate with me (duh). Like a game. It asks a question and I have to find the answer. The cumulative effect of this game would be that I had an interesting experience. Some doctor’s might categorize that as schizophrenic or something else along the lines of mental illness. I like my mind so doctor’s be damned, I decided to trust it and play the game.

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It’s always interesting to be reminded of what you ignore everyday. It’s also interesting to look at how in a world full of revolving technology, humans have not changed. It appears that everyone is searching for their own way to live a “normal” life. As such, there are many comforts in life that allow people to trust the powers at be, but at what point are our own “comforts” detrimental to us? Tim Robbin’s version of George Orwell’s, 1984, currently playing at the REDCAT, is unshakably relevant. Days after seeing the play adapted from George Orwell’s “1984″ by Micheal Gene Sullivan, it continues to creep under my skin.

From the word play, the coercion, and blind faith - you can see how this work was relevant in 1948, is relevant today, and unless something huge happens, for our foreseeable future. For those of you who may not know, 1984 is where the idea “ignorance is strength” or rather “ignorance is bliss” was capitalized. Where “Happiness can exist only in acceptance.” Think you’re not a victim of this? Think again. It is used every single day in our vocabulary.

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What’s the best way to pound pelvis? In Heat doesn’t answer that question but rather hints that that specific part of the body needs a lot of pounding. That joke is the only common thread between the four, one-acts that comprise this light hearted play. Call me overly passionate or whatever you want to call me but I like a thread of something meaty in a play. Even in comedy there has to be something crackling under the cheap one liners and quirky situations for it to stick with us. This play and it’s all star cast kind of crackle for me. But despite my laughter it was missing something


Carbs features Robin Thomas and Rebecca Klingler. Like the rest of the cast these two have impressive credits. So impressive that I stopped reading their bio’s because it made me feel inadequate as an actor. Call me another name, but I never really understood why one would include a bio in a play they’re doing. I like the feeling of not knowing who someone is outside the distilled experience of watching them in front of my own two eyes. That way as an actor you can never rely on your past work, you’re forced to bring the pain to each and every audience member. Not that these two phoned in their performances, that wasn’t the case at all. I just like figures appearing from the dark for my eyes and ears to feast on without wondering if I saw them in the movie that’s listed in their credits.

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In December 1948, George Orwell completed a novel that would be recognized as one of the masterpieces of dystopian literature. In the decades that followed, “1984″ has been translated into sixty-two languages. Its prescience and language are at the center of an ongoing debate over the role of government in our privacy, our security, and our freedom.

In 2006, Tim Robbins and the L.A. based theatre company The Actors’ Gang debuted a stage adaptation of Orwell’s groundbreaking work by Michael Gene Sullivan. The show has seen productions worldwide and on June 17^th it returns to the West Coast for a limited three-week engagement at REDCAT.

Robbins is a stand-out performer in drama (The Shawshank Redemption, Mystic River) and comedy (Bull Durham, The Hudsucker Proxy, and recently Noise), with critically acclaimed turns as writer-director (Bob Roberts, Dead Man Walking), but his career began onstage. He was one of the founding members of The Actors’ Gang and currently serves on the board as Artistic Director.

Now Mr. Robbins talks with LA.CityZine about the challenge of translating “1984″ live, his role in the process, and why Orwell’s message is as critical now as when it was first printed nearly 60 years ago.

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Gordon James has a captivating presence from the moment he walks out on stage. His booming voice proclaims, “Life is Love. Love is Universal. This could be anyone. Outbursts me. Outbursts you.” And so begins our journey as James is embodied by seventeen different “spirits” that use his body, voice, movement and expressions to share with us a “burst” of their life. A moment in which the universal theme is the search for love…a love the could be a yearning for sex, friendship, trust, lust, companionship and even perhaps just being the preferred cab fare.

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