Theater
LA’s hidden gem- Fountain Theatre premieres its Outdoor Stage June 18
Tucked away in a quiet neighborhood is a hidden gem, one of the Los Angeles region’s premiere regional live theatres

EAST HOLLYWOOD – Tucked away in a quiet neighborhood on Fountain Avenue just off Normandie Avenue is a hidden gem, one of the Los Angeles region’s premiere regional live theatres. Founded in in 1990 by co-artistic directors Deborah Lawlor and Stephen Sachs the theatre has garnered an impressive resume and reputation in the theatre world for reflecting a unique cultural voice and serving the distinctive ethnic communities that make up the LA metroplex.
Over the past thirty-one years of its existence the theatre has staged over 35 world premieres; and also 31 U.S., West Coast, Southern California or Los Angeles premieres. On its website the Fountain points out that Fountain Theatre projects have been seen in New York City, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Seattle, Chicago, Massachusetts, Florida, New Jersey, Minneapolis, London and Edinburgh UK, among other cities and countries.
Like most of the region and certainly the entertainment world in LA, the House lights went dark at the Fountain as the coronavirus pandemic tore through Los Angeles and California. Undeterred, the artistic directors forged ahead and in January the theatre received approval from the City of Los Angeles to install a temporary outdoor stage for the purpose of presenting live performances and other events during the pandemic.
āPandemic permitting, we hope to open our first outdoor production by late spring or early summer,ā says Fountain artistic director Stephen Sachs. āWeāre planning an exciting Los Angeles premiere that dramatizes urgent social issues using the Fountainās signature bold and theatrical approach.ā
For the past several months work has progressed in installing a stage in what is now the theater parking lot. The new performance area will be able to accommodate 50 to 84 audience members. It will feature seven rows of chairs, each six feet apart, as well as 12 high-top tables positioned six feet apart for use by patrons from the same ābubbleā households. Every aspect of the outdoor performance area will meet COVID-19 safety guidelines.

The wait is now nearly over as the stage is complete and the final touches on the performance areas are being finalized. This past week the Fountain announced that casting is complete and rehearsals begin this week for the Los Angeles premiere of a radical, incendiary and subversively funny Obie award-winning play by MacArthur Foundation āGenius Grantā recipient, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, a playwright who identifies as a Black queer but whose plays arenāt chiefly about LGBTQ life.

Performances of ‘An Octoroon’ will inaugurate the new outdoor stage at The Fountain Theatre on June 18. Performances run June 18 through Sept.19, with performances on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays at 7 p.m., except Saturday, June 19, which will be at 5 p.m. and will be followed by a special Juneteenth event, and July 30 through Aug. 2 and Aug. 27 through Aug. 30 which will be dark.
Playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Photo courtesy
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Four preview performances will take place on June 11, June 12, June 13 and June 16 at 7 p.m. There will be one press preview on Thursday, June 17 at 7 p.m. Tickets range from $25ā$45; Pay-What-You-Want seating is available every Monday night in addition to regular seating (subject to availability).
The Fountain tells the Blade that it is proud to count L.A. City Councilmember Mitch OāFarrell, and Mayor Eric Garcetti as supporters, reflecting the companyās successful history of partnering with the City’s government.

In addition to being a Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs grant recipient for decades, the Fountain launched a groundbreaking program that brings celebrity actors to L.A. City Hall to perform one-night free public readings in the City Council chambers.
The Fountain Theatre is located at 5060 Fountain Avenue (at Normandie) in Los Angeles. For reservations and information, call (323) 663-1525 or go to www.FountainTheatre.com.
Construction of the Stage in a Time Lapsed video:
Theater
Oscar-winner Tarell McCraney, new Geffen Artistic Director
The Moonlight co-screenwriter says he wants the theatre to be artist-centered, while attracting top-name talent

By Rob Salerno | LOS ANGELES – Tarell Alvin McCraney has lofty plans for the Geffen Playhouse, which announced him as its new Artistic Director last week.Ā
The openly queer playwright who won an Oscar for co-writing the 2016 film Moonlight based on his own earlier play, In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue, says he wants the theatre to be a place that centers artistsā voices while building on the theatreās location in Los Angeles to attract big name talent. But he also wants the theatre to draw in more young audiences from neighboring UCLA and he promises to continue commissioning work by LGBTQ creators.
With a career that has included being a member of Chicagoās famed Steppenwolf Theatre, playwright-in-residence at the Royal Shakespeare Company, serving as Chair of playwrighting at the Yale School of Drama, and a Tony Award nomination for his Broadway debut Choir Boy (which was produced at the Geffen in 2014), the 43-year-old playwright has the deep connections across the national theatre scene as well as in Hollywood that just might help him pull this vision off.
The Los Angeles Blade sat down with McCraney to talk about how he sees the Geffen Playhouse fitting into the LA art scene, and why live performance remains so relevant to todayās audiences.
Blade: Why are you making the transition from playwrighting to artistic directing? What made you want to run a theatre?
McCraney: That kind of vision-setting is something that Iāve always done. I certainly will admit that doing it at a major theatre was not on my bucket list. But then something started to happen. A lot of the ways that we were creating theatre began to be corporatized and we started to think in corporate ways and business models. For art making, that can get convoluted. The moment we get into very strict rules about theatre and how it should get created, we get into trouble. We leave no room for expression. And that has been happening in part because leadership hasnāt been by artists.
And now I have a whole heap of friends and colleagues who are artists running theatres, saying we need to work in collaboration with each other, in order to make sure that the artists of the future are nourished and told that their voice is necessary. All of our companies, even in TV and film, are run by the imagination of the artists, and to put that at the center is really investing in our future.
What is your vision for the Geffen?
The Geffen already does something pretty amazing. It is that fulcrum in the entertainment industry. There are a lot of film and tv folks who make up our audience and the artists who are on our stage. That feels like we have a role to play in the ecosystem of the great many theatre artists who come out to LA to pursue film and television and also still deeply want the roots of live performance to be honored, and the skills that come with that to be sharpened.
We also have about 30-40,000 audience members across the street who may not have been inside of our playhouse or experienced their first live performance, and weād love to make sure that that is part of their education. Iām talking about UCLA. We want to make sure that we invite them in to experience what it is to have a live performance affect you and change you and make you think and anger you and call you into action. We also know that a good percentage of those folks are the artists of tomorrow. We want to make sure that they know that they have a space.
How is Los Angeles different from the places where youāve made theatre in the past?
Itās the center of the TV and film industry in our country specifically. And yes, there are certainly theatre actors who work in film and television in New York and Chicago.
In LA the majority of folks who are in our audience and on our stages work in the film and television industry in some way, shape or form. What that gives us as a playhouse is a place where we can say, hey, theatre is important to you. Itās the first thing you did in your life. Itās the first experience you had in dramatic storytelling. Itās the bad theatre games that led you to this moment playing this role on Wandavision. Now you want to get back on stage and you want to remind yourself what it means to be in Hamlet and why that story is important, in film and television, but also in live performance. What does that do? What part of your humanity is invigorated by doing it in front of people night to night?
Because we have so many people in our community who come from that tradition and background, it makes no sense to me to bifurcate that but to integrate it.
You obviously bring a certain star power to the theatre. Do you think thatās important for Los Angeles audiences?
Name recognition is important for sure. Someone could take that negatively. I hear, āOh, I like the way that person tells a story. Iāve followed them for a long time.ā
Iād love to make sure that there are a cadre of artists that folks can say, āOh yeah, theyāre at the Geffen pretty often. I love to see them there,ā or, āI saw their first play there, and itās really interesting to see what they do next. Iām coming back for that.ā I think itās important to audiences everywhere. We like to train up with people. Youāve seen that actor before that youāre like āhe was in that thing!ā You like to watch that versatility.
Samuel L. [Jackson] was in The Piano Lesson. One, I love The Piano Lesson. Two, I love Samuel L. And I was like, I have to see this, because this is one of my favorite people telling stories and in a way that I rarely get to see him do it.
I understand the guilt, because people can feel consumerist, but it really is an age-old tradition. You want to see that person tell the stories. It is exciting to say Iāve seen that actor on so many things, but Iād love to see them live.
Does the Geffen need to find new audiences?
So does every industry. Even in streaming, we know we gotta grow their audiences. What I donāt think we should be doing is chasing after the audiences whoāve said theyāre not going to sit in the theatre anymore. I think there are people whoāve gone through a very rough time the last three years, whoāve said, āYāknow what? One of my biggest things is going to be being outside, or travelling, or moving to that place that I didnāt think I could.ā
What we have to do is reinvest in the 60% of audiences that have come back and said, even during that limited capacity, āThe thing I wanted to get to most was this engagement here in the live theatre. Itās important to me, itās a part of the tapestry of my life, so Iām here.ā
Why is theatre relevant in 2023?
Itās the difference between [being there and] hearing, āOh, you had to be thereā¦ā
I tell this story all the time about Peter Brookās Hamlet in Chicago [in 2001] with Adrian Lester. Itās the first Shakespeare production Iāve seen at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Iām seeing this fly zipping around, and Adrian Lester, who is delivering the most eloquent Shakespeare Iāve ever seen, at some point in the middle of it, I think heās doing one of his great speeches, he [catches the fly in his hands, shows it to the audience and wipes it off], and continues going on as if nothing happened. I think it was during āTo be or not to be.ā Talk about timing. You just had to be there.
I remember my best friend Glenn Davis, the artistic director of Steppenwolf, and my friend AndrĆ© Holland who was in Moonlight, we all saw that production, that performance, and weāre all still saying, āYou had to be there,ā this performance 20 years ago, to see this fly driving Adrian Lester wild. I know thatās still relevant to folks.
We have a show right now at the Geffen called Every Brilliant Thing, and itās really interesting to see folks who are jostled by how interactive it is, and how much the audience talks to the performer. And those who really lean into it, who are like, āYeah, this is why I come. I canāt just lean back and eat Cheetos, while you divorce someone or run for president. I have to be here right with you as you work out this very complicated thing in your life.ā
What can queer audiences expect from the Geffen under your tenure?
Thankfully, the artistic leadership before did a pretty good job of forging ahead with queer stories in our space. I can speak to Choir Boy when we did it all those years ago. But since then, thereās been multiple plays and paradigm-breaking ways in which we engage our queer stories particularly. Iām speaking of The Inheritance, when we had that block party with community partners.
One of the things Iām challenging us to do is to make sure that when we do invite audiences ā queer, black, brown, Asian ā into our space, that they do know that we keep something on hand for them. That itās not just that in June we have this āoutā play, but that we have something year-round that⦠may not be specifically about a topic, but itāll have enough that itāll encourage, delight and engage everyone.
We canāt have a play in February for Black History Month and then be like, āOh, we got our Black audience in, but now what?ā We have to make sure that audiences feel like we program with you in mind. The play may not be about your particular home, but it is engaging the world you live in and wanna live in.
Do you think weāll see more commissioned queer works, or productions of queer-themed plays?
For sure, on our roster of people to commission there are same-sex loving folks, there are people who are transgender. We are absolutely leaning into that.
Are we going to see new Tarell Alvin McCraney plays at the Geffen?
Thatās an easy Yes. Selfishly, thatās why I took the job. Directors always take these jobs and go, āIām gonna direct the thing I never got to direct.ā Thereās a bunch of things I want to write for the theatre and I just need the time and space to do it. Maybe Iāve hoodwinked the Geffen into letting me do that. Iām very excited about it.
What are you excited to write about?
I definitely want to write about marriage and my weird feelings around it. If you just look at the things Iāve been writing about for twenty years, theyāre all the same: queer people, finding love, finding a voice. Thatās not going to change. Just different avenues.
Iām excited to see that as a 43-year-old man who keeps going, āShould I get married? Is marriage for me? Isnāt the point of being queer not to get married? Arenāt we revolutionary? Is it a tool of the state or whatever, or is it really a romantic thing that Iām missing out on?ā I want to grapple with those things. and I think the intimacy of our spaces is the place to do it.
As soon as I can get the time to write it.
(This interview has been edited for length and clarity.)
******************************************************************************************

Rob Salerno is a writer and journalist based in Los Angeles, California, and Toronto, Canada.
Theater
The spirit of Sondheim enchants sparkling āInto the Woodsā
For those who love that kind of thing there is no joy quite like watching or for that matter, merely listening to a Sondheim musical

Though the late Stephen Sondheim is now regarded as part of the highest pantheon of Broadway Musical icons, he had a surprisingly small number of hits. His longest running show was his first as both lyricist and composer, āA Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,ā which closed in 1964 after 964 performances, and even his most successful shows across the next five decades had comparatively short runs.
The reason, of course, is that Sondheim simply isnāt for everyone; his musicals were edgy, challenging, looking to push the boundaries of storytelling in musical theatre; his songs were as dense with layers of meaning as they were with his precocious wit, and not a word or note was wasted. For those who love that kind of thing, there is no joy quite like that to be found watching ā or for that matter, merely listening to ā a Sondheim musical; for those who donāt, it can feel a little too much like doing homework instead of spending an evening at the theatre.
Even if that sounds like you, āInto the Woodsā ā the late composerās classic musical now playing in a revival production at the Ahmanson ā might stand a chance of winning you over. The show itself, which originated in a 1986 production showcasing Bernadette Peters, reimagines a handful of (mostly) well-known fairy tales to explore what happens āafter the happily ever afterā; it also features some of Sondheimās most āaudience friendlyā music, framing the cleverness and insight of his lyrics with the kind of āhummable melodiesā he was often accused of omitting from his work, and that, coupled with the easy familiarity of the subject matter, makes it arguably the most accessible show in his canon.
The aesthetically stripped-down staging now at the Ahmanson wasĀ first mounted as part of the New York City Centerās āEncoresā series before transferring for a Broadway run in June of 2022 ā where it earned not only enthusiastic critical acclaim but six Tony nominations, to boot. Judging from what we saw at the Ahmanson, itās easy to understand why.
Forsaking an elaborate scenic design in favor of a highly stylized, fairy-tale-suggestive setting in which the orchestra occupies most of the upstage area, songs and scenes are played out with almost as much left to the imagination as if the show were one of the āstaged concertā renderings of Broadway musicals that have become popular within the last decade or so; yet in spite (or perhaps, because) of its emphasis on what is to be gained from the material rather than on the Grimm-Brothers-gone-camp trappings of storyās deceptively cute, gimmicky concept, it manages to deliver all the stealthy resonance of Sondheimās words and music while still preserving the tongue-in-cheek charm of its reimagined fairy tales with crystal clarity.
We wonāt spoil the fun for those unfamiliar with the show (and who havenāt seen the lukewarm movie version); suffice to say that it merges together some tales you know ā Cinderella (Diane Phelan), Little Red Ridinghood (Katy Geraghty), Jack (Cole Thompson) and the Beanstalk, and others ā and intertwines them with one you donāt, in which a childless baker (Sebastian Arcelus) and his wife (Stephanie J. Block) make a deal with the witch next door (Montego Glover) to gather ingredients for a mysterious potion in exchange for her granting their wish for a baby.Ā In James Lapineās astute, sharply honed script, these old tales are infused with adult perspective, diving deeper than their simplistic cautionary messages to explore a few of the more nuanced and subtle dangers that await us āin the woods,ā even as these somewhat fractured fables wind their way toward the happy endings we expect.
It doesnāt stop there, though. Act Two picks up where things left off, as the consequences of all the charactersā choices come back not only to disrupt their newfound happiness, but to turn their whole magic kingdom into a disaster zone. Itās here where Sondheim and Lapine hit us closest to the heart, sweeping aside the generational āwisdomā of the original tales to reveal a moral more suited to a modern age, in which the traditional bonds of kinship are often forged with the families we choose rather than the ones we were born with ā and in which the stories we tell, to our children and to ourselves, may well matter more than they ever have.
Along the way, there is lots of comedy ā of course, how can one resist poking fun at the conventions of fairy tales? ā and even more music, including now-classic songs like āChildren Will Listenā and āNo One Is Aloneā, the latter of which became an anthem of hope and comfort during the AIDS era that was in full bloom when the show originally debuted.
Thanks to concise staging and guidance from director Lear deBessonet, a uniformly superb cast (many of whom are continuing in their Broadway roles), and a perfectly balanced sound mix that brings out all the detail of the scoring while keeping every word spoken or sung onstage completely audible, it provides the ābrainyā fun we associate with Sondheim ā but itās also gleefully entertaining. It captures all the cheeky humor of the showās absurdist conceit, even enhancing it with surreal design touches ā most notably the use of onstage puppeteers to bestow life upon (among other things) a flock of friendly birds and āMilky White,ā the decrepit cow who becomes an audience favorite from her first appearance ā yet remains grounded enough to ensure that the emotional punch of the second half feels not only sincere, but earned.
Standout moments are plentiful, but some of the high points include āI Know Things Now,ā as sung by Geraghty, whose steamroller interpretation of Little Red overall garners plenty of audience chuckles; āGiants in the Sky,ā delivered by Thompsonās endearingly daft Jack; āIt Takes Two,ā which warms the mood though the easy chemistry of real-life-married-couple Arcelus and Block; āLast Midnight,ā in which Glover gives the Witch sheās made completely her own a showstopping final exit from the stage. Mention must inevitably made of Gavin Creel, whose double turn as both the Wolf and Cinderellaās Prince gives him a scene-stealing chance to show off his multiple talents, as well as Phelanās down-to-earth Cinderella, whose every-girl approach brings a refreshingly contemporary perspective into the forefront. A final nod should go to veteran actor David Patrick Kelly, a delight as the narrator with more of a connection to the story than it seems.
These are just the most prominent players among a cast with no weak links; the complete ensemble as a whole is more than enough reason to recommend āInto the Woods,ā on the strength of combined talent alone.
Thereās so much more to be appreciated, though ā there arenāt many musicals that can deliver giddy hilarity, heartbreaking tragedy, and unexpected epiphanies that jolt us into recognition, all without losing their warm and friendly charm ā so donāt miss your chance to see this one while itās still here.
Even if youāre not a Sondheim fan, it will be one of the highlights of your summer.
Theater
āA Transparent Musical,ā pioneering queer series for the stage
The show, now performing its world premiere run at LAās Mark Taper Forum through June 25, is a retelling of the story of the Pfefferman clan

LOS ANGELES – It might seem a little out of the ordinary to begin a review of a theatrical production by discussing a TV series ā but in the case of āA Transparent Musical,ā itās the logical place to start.
The show, now performing its world premiere run at LAās Mark Taper Forum through June 25, is a retelling of the story of the Pfefferman clan, the secret-laden, deeply dysfunctional and very Jewish LA family at the center of āTransparent,ā a now-iconic, pioneering Amazon series that premiered in 2014 and ran for 4 critically-acclaimed seasons before ending with a special feature-length āMusicale Finaleā in lieu of a fifth.
In its original form, the saga began with the coming out of Maura Pfefferman to her children as a trans woman ā a bombshell revelation that that sends the privileged, self-absorbed family reeling. From there, it charted Mauraās transition into the proud trans matriarch she always knew was inside her, as well as the struggles of her former spouse (Shelly) and their children (Josh, Sarah, and Ali) to navigate life ā both as a family and as individuals ā in the aftermath.
In later seasons, the focus shifted more to youngest child Ali and the search she undertakes for her own identity, and after the controversial departure of series star Jeffrey Tambor, the tale finally culminated with Aliās creation of a musical about her familyās history.
While the final episode won its share of critical praise and accolades and gave fans of the series some form of closure, many viewers couldnāt help but feel a sense of anti-climax; for them, the circumstances around Mauraās departure from the narrative (which we wonāt go into here, you can look it up if you donāt remember) left something of a bitter taste in the air, and while the renewed sense of hope and healing it delivered for Ali, her siblings and her mom were appreciated, the fact that Maura wasnāt allowed to get there with them felt, well, unfair.
While the actor who played her may no longer have been suitable to continue the journey, the character deserved a much better fate, and the audience who had rooted for her over the course of four seasons deserved her to have it, too.
With that in mind, one might go into āA Transparent Musicalā ā co-written by series creator Joey Soloway and MJ Kaufman, with music and lyrics by Solowayās sibling Faith ā with reserved expectations. Indeed, what would a musical adaptation of this sprawling narrative, with its complex social and cultural themes and its extended cast of intertwined characters, even look like? Could it even be possible for them to fit 41 episodes of television storytelling into a two-and-a-half-hour stage version?
As it turns out, they didnāt even have to try. Instead, āA Transparent Musicalā reimagines the entire story of the Pfeffermans into a streamlined, standalone experience that can be enjoyed and appreciated without any knowledge of the series whatsoever. Instead of placing Maura (played here by Daya Curley) at the center of the story, itās young Ali (Adina Verson) who becomes our point of entry; tasked with helping to mount a play for her Jewish Community Centerās Purim carnival, she finds herself drawn into a voyage of self-discovery, recalling key moments in her familyās past and drawing connections between their story and the multi-faceted cultural and ethnic heritage that sprawls out behind them.
Gone are most of the side trips taken by the series, along with many of the non-Pfefferman characters, and whatās left is a scaled-down retelling that manages to feel just as complete ā if not more so, given that Maura is now allowed to be included in the ending ā as the series that fans grew to love.
Of course, trimming things down to that extent inevitably means sacrificing a lot of nuance, and that has an impossible-to-ignore impact on the showās first act, which is lengthy to begin with but feels even lengthier because of it.
One of the challenges of āTransparentā was that its protagonists were all messy, self-centered, unreasonable, compartmentalized, dishonest, stubborn, spiteful, even sometimes deliberately cruel to each other ā in short, all of them, including Maura (sometimes especially her), were often difficult to like.
The saving grace was the showās ability to let us see into the deepest corners of each of their lives, where we could recognize and relate to the wounded humanity hiding behind all those walls of defense; here, without the luxury of such detailed exploration, their unpleasantness sometimes makes it tough to care whether they work things out for themselves or not.
But of course, one doesnāt have to like or even care about characters to find aspects of oneself reflected in them, and their relatability goes a long way toward keeping us invested enough to stick around after intermission ā and thatās fortunate, because itās in the second act that āA Transparent Musicalā blossoms into the fully realized manifestation of Solowayās story we never knew it needed to become.
Without giving spoilers, the second half employs flights of fancy ā devised and expanded from elements included in the series ā to bring together all the Pfeffermansā struggles and crystallize all the storyās themes into one cathartic bundle.
By the time itās over, the acceptance, forgiveness, and yes, transcendence that has happened on stage leaves us to ponder questions of our own identity, and how being seen for who we really are makes a big difference in our ability to see others that way, too.
As directed by Tina Landau, the production bursts with colorful, exciting imagery and inventive staging that helps us easily follow the jumps in time and place that occur within the showās immersive setting ā which, designed with tongue-in-cheek authenticity by Alan Rigg, puts the audience in the middle of a JCC auditorium.
Faith Solowayās songs may not linger melodically in your brain in the way typically expected of showtunes, but their lyrics are clever, insightful, funny, and successfully transmit complicated threads of language and ideas without letting us lose track of any of them; coupled with James Alsopās crisp, high-energy choreography, itās a combination that delivers a welcome injection of high-spirited musical theatre fun.
As for the cast, a diverse and talented ensemble that seems to be having the time of their lives, they are uniformly excellent. Verson deserves special mention for carrying the showās narrative responsibilities without distancing themself in the process, as does Curley for inhabiting Maura so completely that we easily forget any previous incarnation of her.
Liz Larsen has multiple show-stopping moments as āwhat about me?ā mom Shelly, as does Peppermint (in the dual role of Davina and Darlene), whose powerful vocal prowess brings down the house more than once ā a feat also accomplished by Kasper as Ezra. Standout moments aside, however, the entire company should truly be considered joint stars of the show.
It could go without saying, perhaps, that a show like āA Transparent Musicalā is highly important to be seen in a time like ours, as vicious backlash from extremist bigots grows ever more alarming and politicians pander to homophobia with regressive and harmful legislation.
There are moments in the show that address this growing volatility, an element which brings a fresh sense of urgency to its message of acceptance ā something it makes much easier to swallow by showing us that feeling comfortable in your own skin is an essential human need extending far beyond the importance of gender, sexuality, race, or any of the other external factors we use to divide ourselves from others.
Even so, and despite multiple themes that are bound to be uncomfortable ā even potentially triggering ā for many audiences, āA Transparent Musicalā is not a bleak show, nor does it dwell on the political terrors of the larger world, even if it acknowledges that they are there. It goes without saying that many of our readers will consider it a must-see piece of theatre, simply by virtue of its messaging and the need to be visible; rest assured that even if youāre going because you feel like you have to, youāre probably still going to enjoy it, too.
Theater
A queer Hollywood homage takes the stage for Pride month in āBack Porchā
If you are a fan of theatre, & you also happen to be a fan of classic movies, & you also happen to be queer, then Pride Month in LA holds a special treat for you

BURBANK, Calif. – If you are a fan of theatre, and you also happen to be a fan of classic movies, and you also happen to be queer, then Pride Month in LA holds a special treat for you.
From June 2 ā July 9, Burbankās Victory Theatre Center will be the venue for the world premiere of āBack Porch,ā a new play by Eric Anderson that uses an imaginary scenario within a real-life slice of moviemaking history to tell a very queer story ā one that pays delightful homage to a beloved Hollywood classic as well as the playwright behind the work that inspired it.
The setting is a small Kansas town and the year 1955, when a Hollywood movie crew descends upon the community to shoot scenes for the classic film, āPicnic.ā
According to the synopsis:
Barney Opat (Karl Maschek) is the widowed father of two boys: 18-year-old Gary (Isaac W. Jay), who yearns to escape small-town Kansas life for a more glamorous existence, and energetic 13-year-old Del Wayne (Cody Lemmon). The familyās life is upended when a handsome stranger working as William Holdenās stunt double (Jordan Morgan) blows into town alongside the all-star cast. Other characters include the Opatsā bachelor boarder, singing teacher Myron Uhrig (Eric Zak), and their neighbor, Millard Goff (Jonathan Fishman).
Needless to say, sparks start flying (in more ways than one) almost immediately.
Playwright Anderson ā who was himself born and bred in Kansas ā says he remembers being 4 years old when portions of āPicnicā were filmed near his home.
āMy family drove to the location one evening to take part in the āNeewollahā scene on the river. Iāve been crazy about movies ā and theater ā ever since. With āBack Porch,ā I wanted to pay tribute to a significant American playwright who was also significantly closeted. I hoped to write the kind of play that he himself might have written had he lived in another time and place.ā

The play is directed by Kelie McIver, another Kansas native, who goes as far as to call it a ālove letter to William Inge.ā She also calls it āa terrific ensemble piece in which each character has an interesting and beautiful arc. I love them all and want to hang out with them.ā
āBack Porchā is presented by Bluestem Productions. In addition to Anderson and McIver, the creative team includes set designer Kenny Klimak, lighting designer Carol Doehring, sound designer Cinthia Nava, costume designer Molly Martin, stunt/fight choreographer Brett Elliott and intimacy director Amanda Rose Villarreal. The stage manager is Margaret Magula. David Willis and Kelie McIver produce for Bluestem.
For information and to purchase tickets, call (818) 533-1611 or go to the productionās website.
Theater
Peppermint to shower LA in her brand of sweetness
Los Angeles, here is your chance to hear her & see her. āRuPaulās Drag Raceā finalist hits the stage at Mark Taper Forum May 20- June 25

HOLLYWOOD – Two years ago, Peppermint gave us a clear picture about who she is, making a point to tell us in her song āA Girl Like Me.ā
āSheās strong and doesnāt take it from nobody.ā
As a finalist in the ninth season of āRuPaulās Drag Race,ā Peppermint came in fourth and was eliminated during the actual filming of the show. The production company had a change of heart though, and put her back in for the finale cutting her elimination from the broadcasted version.
She may have lost that competition, but she won something bigger: history. She was the first out trans person to compete on āDrag Race.ā A year later, RuPaul came under fire for saying that only transgender queens who had not yet had surgery, as Peppermint had not at the time, could compete.
She was not amused. She tweeted an emoji with a big zipper across its mouth in response. The next day, RuPaul recanted and reversed his policy.
āA girl like me is not always seen as equal, and sometime not one at all⦠And when trouble comes sheās the first one to take the fall.ā
Recently she was trolled on social media after the horrible shooting at a Christian school. A rightwing nut craved to find and trash a real transgender person expressing compassion for the nonbinary Nashville shooter. He did not find one so instead, he created a fake tweet and attributed it to Peppermint to construct a ātrans people as unrepentant killersā narrative.
The fake tweet cautioned potential trans killers to wipe their social media clean before committing heinous acts, and thereby protect Peppermint and the community. The message was callous, and a fraud.
Peppermint locked down her Twitter account to āprivateā (no more Twitter post screenshots to doctor for you). She posted, āPeople are still photoshopping fake screenshots.ā She then took over the narrative: āAttacking my character with words I NEVER tweeted. I’m heartbroken about the terrible shooting in TN. I believe access to guns is a major factor in gun related attacks. anti-trans comments misgendering me don’t deter me from uplifting people from marginalized communities.ā
āA girl like me can light up any party.ā
The Peppermint party is coming to us, Los Angeles. Peppermint is lighting up the stage at the Mark Taper Forum where she will star in āA Transparent Musicalā from May 20 thru June 25. The musical is the comedic version of the Pfefferman family story, whose patriarch is finally allowing their true selves to emerge as Maura, the transgender matriarch she always knew she was. Based on the hit Amazon Prime original TV drama show āTransparentā by Joey Soloway, āA Transparent Musicalā takes the Los Angeles Jewish family in a funny and musical direction making them āUniversally relatable, imperfectly human, and startlingly familiar.ā
Peppermint is originating the role of Davina. The part in the series was first created by Alexandra Billings. As Davina, Peppermint runs programming at the local Jewish Community Center and is the confidant of the lead character Maura. Ultimately Peppermint helps tell the story of family secrets that unearth a story of self-discovery, acceptance, and celebration.
āAnd girls like me are scared and angry, but we always find a way to smileā¦ā
Not to be confined to live theatrical performances, Peppermint bursts onto the Netflix scene in the series, āSurvival of the Thickest,ā which centers on the character of Mavis Beaumont played by Michelle Buteau, who wrote the book on which the series is based.
Black, plus-sized and newly single, Mavis unexpectedly finds herself having to rebuild her life as a struggling stylist. Peppermint portrays a social media influencer and owner of the local drag restaurant. Funny, super sassy and caring, Peppermintās character acts as the āadoptedā drag mother of Mavis.
āA girl like me knows how to live her truth.ā
If those projects arenāt enough, Peppermint lays her truth out for us in āSO-SIGH-ETY Effects,ā her first stand-up comedy special available now on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play, YouTube, Vimeo, and cable providers worldwide. In the special, she takes the audience through an all-inclusive New York journey looking at what it’s like to be a single Black transgender woman in today’s society. Peppermint promises laughter and tears as she recounts tales of love and heartbreak from the stage to the bathroom stall.
āThe girl who strives for good but ends up so misunderstood.ā
Peppermint is not just here for the spotlight and the business of show however. She is the ACLUās first-ever Artist Ambassador for Trans Justice and has raised six-figure sums for prominent LGBT rights groups. She has partnered with MAC Cosmeticsā āM.A.C. AIDS Fundā and is involved in the HIV Vaccine trials network. She joined āRuPaulās Drag Raceā winner Sasha Velour for a college speaking tour that focused on the challenges faced by transgender and non-binary people in todayās political climate. She was nominated for a 2022 GLAAD Media Award in the Outstanding Online Journalism category for her contribution to the Discovery+ āLegendaryā series (an award won by the Los Angeles Blade in 2023). Previous honors include; GLAAD Media Award nomination alongside Lady Gaga & Kehlani for Outstanding Music Artist (2021), āBest Songwriterā by World of Wonderās Wowie Awards 2020, Conde Nastās āQueeroesā award (2018), Varietyās prestigious āNew Power of New Yorkā list, and was named one of Out magazineās āOUT100ā portfolio of the most influential LGBTQ people of the year.
At the end of āA Girl Like Me,ā Peppermint pleads:āI just need to be heard, to be seen, do you know what I mean? Would it hurt to try and see, if you could love a girl, love a girl like me, the girl who is fighting for her life?ā
Los Angeles, here is your chance to hear her, see her, laugh with her, cry with her and love her, and letās face it.
Peppermint is the exact flavor of sweet we need right now.
**************************************************************************

Rob Watson is the host of the popular Hollywood-based radio/podcast show RATED LGBT RADIO.
He is an established LGBTQ columnist and blogger having written for many top online publications including The Los Angeles Blade, The Washington Blade, Parents Magazine, the Huffington Post, LGBTQ Nation, Gay Star News, the New Civil Rights Movement, and more.
He served as Executive Editor for The Good Man Project, has appeared on MSNBC and been quoted in Business Week and Forbes Magazine.
He is CEO of Watson Writes, a marketing communications agency, and can be reached at [email protected] .
Theater
New LA production finds the trans heart of iconic āSpider Womanā
There are still discount tickets available through LA Theatre Week. āKiss of the Spider Womanā performs at A Noise Within

LOS ANGELES – Most of us are probably aware of āKiss of the Spider Womanā either as an acclaimed 1993 stage musical by āCabaretā and āChicagoā composers John Kander and Fred Ebb and queer playwright Terrence McNally, or as an acclaimed 1985 film starring Raul Julia and William Hurt ā the latter of whom became the first actor to win an Oscar for playing a queer character (and also the first of 8 straight-identifying actors to win for playing queer, but thatās another story).
Many of us also know that before any of that, it was a 1976 novel by Argentinian author Manuel Puig, who wrote it while living as an exile in Greenwich Village after a military coup dāetat placed his native country under the rule of a brutal and repressive military dictatorship.
What most of us DONāT know, perhaps, is that before the mainstream success of the novelās now-classic film and stage adaptations, there was another version of the story, adapted into a 1983 play by Puig himself and translated into English by Allan Baker for a 1985 London premiere starring Simon Callow and Mark Rylance.
It’s that adaptation of the work which is now onstage at LAās A Noise Within theatre company, and its timing couldnāt be better ā because while the bookās more famous adaptations, each a product of their time and limited by a lack of existing language in their efforts to fully explore its complex themes about sexuality and gender, might feel a little dated to many of us 2023, a fresh take from a more informed perspective is all thatās needed to do justice to the material and reveal the authentic queer voice that has been inside it all along.
For those who need a refresher, āSpider Womanā is an intimate, two-character drama set in a Buenos Aires prison cell, where Valentin ā a macho political prisoner whose commitment to the Marxist cause takes precedence over everything else ā is thrown together with Molina ā a queer, movie loving dreamer who escapes the harsh reality of prison life by retelling the stories of his favorite film noir classics and drawing inspiration from their glamorous leading ladies. The two cellmates are mismatched, to say the least, but they somehow manage to form an unlikely relationship.
In his press notes for the new production, Michael Michetti sees the dynamic between these two diametrically opposed characters ā who, stuck together in an oppressive environment, grow to understand, even to love each other ā as a crux which ātakes on new relevance in todayās polarized climate.ā He also points to the surprising amount of humor and playfulness contained in the story, as well as the importance of language in driving it.
Language is particularly crucial for a version that tells the story without the help of the kind of elaborate conceptual conceits and visual storytelling aids available to a big-budget film or Broadway musical ā and that means the burden of using it effectively falls on the two actors playing Valentin and Molina: Ed F. Martin and AdriĆ”n GonzĆ”lez, respectively.
The Blade spoke with both of them about the challenges they faced in tackling two roles already made famous in the public imagination by the novelās high-profile previous iterations, and their answers underscore all the reasons why āKiss of the Spider Womanā is still, perhaps more than ever, an essential touchstone for queer culture.
For Molina, it was all about finding the right understanding of Molina.
āPrevious versions did not affect me, or at least I didnāt borrow from them. I saw the film way back when, and I was even in a production of the musical — playing the Warden of all things. But I just kind of came in as myself ā and a little bit of my mother ā and dove into the rehearsals with whatever Adrian and Michael brought to the table. And the deeper we went, the more I fell in love with Molina as a person.ā
āI come into this as a Latino gay man,ā he explains. āI thought of Molina as a gay man, but in reading the novel and breaking down the play, I came to recognize that Molina could be a transgender woman ā itās hard to say definitively, today being so different from 1975, but I think Molina thinks of herself as a woman, and she emulates the glamorous women of the 40s and 50s from the films she loves so much.ā
As for GonzĆ”lez, he tells us he wasnāt familiar with either the musical or the film.
āIāll admit that when I was auditioning for the role and doing some research, I watched a few scenes from the film. I didnāt find anything special to hold on to ā I love Raul Julia, but we are different people, and honestly I think the story the film is telling is different from the story we are telling. For me, Valentin is a man who is passionate in his beliefs and would do anything to help change the world for the better. That was the thing that struck a chord with me.ā
Elaborating, he explains, āOur approach for the characters ā particularly Molina ā is what makes our story special and very relevant today. We treat her as a trans woman, in a time and world where there was no language or acceptance of her ā and she ends up finding it in an unlikely person like ValentĆn, which is what makes this story truly special.ā
Martin agrees. āThese two people are polar opposites in their views, but in an enclosed space they are forced to get to know each other, to hear a different point of view, to learn from each other and, finally, to find common ground or a connection. Looking at where we are today as a country ā politically, socially, culturally ā the play might teach us a thing or two about how to treat each other with respect as we go back and forth expressing ourselves and our opposing values, or philosophies, or whatever we call them. The thing that really makes it relevant is the need for listening.ā
GonzĆ”lez concurs, chiming in, āWe canāt seem to agree on issues that truly are basic human rights, and a willingness to have conversations and listen to each other is completely off the table, thereās just a lack of empathy for one another. And meanwhile, the rights of people within the LGBTQ+ community are being attacked.ā
The storyās potential as a catalyst for change even extends to the actors themselves. As Martin tells us, āI have loved getting to know and figure out Molina, letting that character be who they are without labels regarding sexual orientation, or gender identity, or anything. There are many reactions Molina has in the story that I have myself in real life ā for good and for bad ā and, interestingly enough, it made me wonder about myself. As I said, I identify as a gay man ā but thanks to this role, I am wondering now if I even need that label?ā
GonzĆ”lez, summing up, expresses his hope that audiences find their hearts and their minds equally opened by experiencing āSpider Womanā with them.
āI believe that theatre, and stories like this one, help shape the world we live in. Whether we agree or not on certain issues, if weāre able to face each other with empathy and an open heart, we can help change the world together.ā
āKiss of the Spider Womanā performs at A Noise Within, 3352 E Foothill Blvd, Pasadena, from April 1 ā 23.
Tickets and more information are available at the theatreās website.
Theater
āTwilight: Los Angeles, 1992ā is a uniquely āLAā play
āTwilightā features a multi-racial ensemble, each of whom endeavors to deliver honest portrayals of a dizzying array of characters

LOS ANGELES – āTwilight: Los Angeles, 1992ā is a uniquely āLAā play. That may seem an obvious assertion ā after all, itās right there in the title ā but in this case it designates far more than just setting.
Originally conceived, written, and performed by Anna Deavere Smith in 1993, itās a chronicle of the riots ā or the uprising, as it is now known by many ā that took place in Los Angeles following the acquittal of four LAPD officers accused of beating Rodney King during his arrest; it was a prolonged eruption of civil unrest that was national news, but for the people of LA it was a deeply traumatic experience that left lingering scars. For that reason alone, a performance of Smithās piece in Los Angeles feels a little more personal than it might if were taking place anywhere else.
When you factor in the additional significance that comes with the 30th anniversary of that seminal, culture-shaking disruption to our cityās sense of identity, itās clear to see why the production now onstage at the Mark Taper Forum ā the very venue where Smith originally mounted the work ā might strike a particularly resonant chord for Angelenos.
Directed by Gregg T. Daniel, the new āTwilightā ā adapted by Smith herself in the wake of the George Floyd murder to allow production as an ensemble piece rather than a solo performance ā is keenly aware of its home field advantage, which it supplements with a production design featuring imagery of familiar local sites on projection screens which frame and visually dominate the stage. Along with the scriptās frequent use of LA-centric street names, lingo, and cultural references, itās enough to make the experience feel as much like a town hall meeting as it does an evening of theatre.
Thatās built into the original material, of course. Created by Smith from transcriptions of approximately 300 interviews she personally conducted, it offers a daunting array of conflicting opinions and opposing perspectives from a wide, multi-ethnic swath of real-life individuals impacted ā either directly or indirectly ā by the riot, which gives its voice the unmistakable ring of authenticity and roots it inextricably in LAās shared cultural experience. Three decades later, it also amplifies echoes that have been reverberating louder ever since America watched a Black man being murdered on television in the middle of a pandemic.
Since a videotape ā one of the first to capture police brutality against a person of color (POC) and expose it to millions of pairs of American eyes via broadcast television ā was the catalyst that sparked the Rodney King riots, too, itās hard not to be struck by the obvious symmetry.Ā Ā
āThe resonance just doesnāt go away, says Daniel, speaking to the Blade about why reviving Smithās iconic piece feels so chillingly apt in 2023. āYou think, doing a play thatās thirty years old, āis this a museum piece?ā ā but unfortunately, this is a play that can never get old, as long as these atrocities keep happening.ā
He went on to explain, āThe last few years, thanks to cell phones and the internet, weāve been exposed to so much violence by law enforcement against Black and brown bodies. There was George Floyd, of course, but also Ahmaud Arbery, Breanna Taylor ā the names just keep on coming. Even as we were going into rehearsals, Tyre Nichols was murdered in Memphis.ā
It goes without saying that many of todayās audiences are coming to Smithās work with a renewed sense of ā at the risk of inviting pejorative corruption of the word (and the concept) from conservative nay-sayers ā āwokenessā and a firmly-held interpretation of the ārightā and āwrongā attitudes toward the acknowledgment of systemic racial inequality; but as Daniel points out, one of the defining features of the original piece is its refusal to resort to easy judgments.
āSheās not trying to āindictā one side or the other. She just presents LA as it is; these are verbatim accounts of a time we are still trying to come to grips with, theyāre not monologues or things that were composed, they are individual expressions of a real experience. Sheās not trying to take up sides, sheās just presenting the way things are. Your relationship with it as a community member, living in America ā this is what we have, and we have to deal with it.ā
That refusal to fall into an easy perspective is what raises āTwilightā above the level of pure emotional propaganda. Itās not difficult to frame the cultural upheaval over Rodney King or George Floyd in terms of literal Black-and-white simplicity, but to face the myriad underlying complexities that contributed to the way each of these incidents played out in the public consciousness requires a less dogmatic mindset than that.
Without implying the validity of such reactionary counter-points as āALL lives matterā or other such āwhat-about-ismsā that are often substituted for rational responses in the debate over anti-BIPOC police violence, the materialās measured dispensation of contradictory-yet-equally-authentic viewpoints from a multi-racial and often-diametrically-opposed sampling of LA voices makes a strong case for the argument that the use of excessive violent force against anyone, regardless of ethnic origin, is an issue that goes beyond race.
Thatās a key point, as far as Daniel is concerned, when it comes to recognizing the scope of the discussion āTwilightā invites. Yes, it centers on systemic violence against POC, and the complicated racial infighting ā particularly between the Korean American and Black communities, pitted against each other by circumstance and economic inequity in the communities they frequently co-habit ā that so often obscures the deeper problems that underlie it from our view; but ultimately, in the wider scope, the stigma of āothernessā that infests our social and cultural systems and extends far beyond our untenably divided stance on racial equality and institutional reinvention presents a threat to the well-being of any community ā whether defined by race, beliefs, gender, sexual orientation, or any of the other surface differences we use to separate ourselves from one another.
As Daniel puts it, āBigotry and hatred and violence, once itās perpetrated against African American bodies, can be perpetrated against any bodies. Itās not a big leap to say that violence perpetrated against Black and BIPOC communities is violence against all communities that they deem as not being āAmericanā ā itās not even a stoneās throw away for them to feel the same way about Asian Americans, or Pacific Islanders, or Jewish people, or LGBTQ+ people. I mean, theyāre trying to outlaw drag shows! Really? They think THAT is the problem?ā
In a pointed counterpoint to such sentiments, Danielās production of āTwilightā features a multi-racial five-person ensemble, each of whom endeavors to deliver honest portrayals of a dizzying array of characters ranging across the wide and diverse blend of ethnicity, gender, sexuality, ideology, and status that makes up the personality of Los Angeles itself. All of them have transcendent moments, in which the playās emphasis on humanity over tribalistic loyalty shines clearly in the forefront; even so, it canāt be denied that splitting the originalās one-person format into a concept that divides its dozens of roles among multiple players has the undoubtedly unintended effect of diffusing the materialās power; thereās something profound about a single voice giving expression to a multitude of individual experiences, and while the same feeling may be stirred when the number of voices expands, some audiences may find it is inevitably diminished in the process.
Still, the production at the Taper delivers a powerful punch, and itās no surprise that its single most electrifying and devastating moment comes when the videotape of Rodney King being savagely beaten is played silently for a shocked and palpably moved audience. Perhaps more importantly, it offers a comprehensive crash course on the facts around one of Americaās most significant cultural crises (and one of LAās darkest moments) of the last half-century, and fills in the blanks for those too young to remember the real-life event. Most of all, though, it confronts us with an unpleasant truth, and leaves us less sure of where we stand than when we entered the theatre.
As Daniel frames it, āIf weāre going to be a city that lives together, how do we relate to whatās on the stage? Our intention with āTwilightā is not to point fingers, or to chide, but to say, as an LA community member, an Angeleno, what is your relationship to these events?ā
Thatās more than enough reason to see it ā in fact, itās enough to make it essential for any Angeleno coming to grips with their own relationship to the so-called City of Angels.
āTwilight: Los Angeles, 1992ā continues through April 9.
Discounted tickets are available through April 2 as part of LA Theatre Week.
Tickets and more information can be found at theĀ Center Theatre Group website.
Theater
Latino Theater LA: Mexico Cityās Organización Secreta Teatro
Latino Theater Company presents Mexico Cityās interdisciplinary, experimental ensemble Organización Secreta Teatro in 2 new performance works

LOS ANGELES āĀ Latino Theater CompanyĀ presents Mexico Cityās interdisciplinary, experimental ensembleĀ Organización Secreta TeatroĀ in two new performance works. Each work,Ā Pueblo EspĆrituĀ andĀ Las Diosas SubterrĆ”neas,Ā will receive five performances during a limited two-week engagement,Ā May 3Ā throughĀ May 14, at theĀ Los Angeles Theatre CenterĀ in downtown L.A.
Pueblo EspĆrituĀ (āSpirit Townā)explores a post-pandemic dystopian society in which humans renew their faith in the spiritual world as a means of survival. Attempting to escape restrictions imposed by the Covid pandemic, five characters find themselves in a dense forest. Exhausted and thirsty, they are fearful and distrustful of one another. Their terror escalates when the last of their party to arrive is sick. Their only hope for survival is to re-connect with their mystical surroundings.
InĀ Las Diosas SubterrĆ”neasĀ (āSubterranean Goddessesā)Ā the Greek myth of Demeter and her daughter Persephone, kidnapped by Hades, god of the underworld,Ā is intertwined with the story of Luz GarcĆa, a character based on real-life women kidnapped by human traffickers, to tell the story of mothers looking for their missing daughters who find strength in community.
BothĀ piecesĀ wereĀ created collectively by ensemble membersĀ Beatriz Cabrera,Ā Alejandro Joan Carmarena,Ā Brisei Guerrero,Ā Stefanie Izquierdo,Ā Ernesto Lecuona,Ā Mercedes OleaĀ andĀ Jonathan RamosĀ from original ideas byĀ RocĆo Carrillo,Ā who directs.
Pueblo EspĆrituĀ is performed without dialogue.Ā Las Diosas SubterrĆ”neas features minimal dialogue byĀ Stefanie Izquierdo,Ā Ernesto Lecuona,Ā Mercedes OleaĀ andĀ RocĆo CarrilloĀ and will feature English supertitles.
Pueblo EspĆrituĀ will receive five performances, onĀ Wednesday,Ā May 3Ā atĀ 8 p.m.Ā (opening night);Ā Thursday,Ā May 4Ā atĀ 8 p.m.;Ā Friday,Ā May 5Ā atĀ 8 p.m.;Ā Saturday,Ā May 6Ā atĀ 8 p.m.; andĀ Sunday,Ā May 7Ā atĀ 4 p.m.
Las Diosas SubterrÔneas performs the following week, on Wednesday, May 10 at 8 p.m.; Thursday, May 11 at 8 p.m.; Friday, May 12 at 8 p.m.; Saturday, May 13 at 8 p.m.; and Sunday, May 14 at 4 p.m.
Tickets range fromĀ $22ā$48, except opening nightĀ (May 3), which isĀ $58Ā and includes both pre- and post-show receptions.Ā The Los Angeles Theatre CenterĀ is located atĀ 514 S. Spring St.,Ā Los Angeles,Ā CA 90013.
Parking is available forĀ $5Ā with box office validation at Joeās Parking structure, 530 S. Spring St. (immediately south of the theater).
PUEBLO ESPĆRITU trailer de la puesta en escena presentada en el Foro Polivalente 2022:
Theater
Echo Theater Company presentsĀ āThat Perfect Placeā
A beautiful imagining by writer/performerĀ Brent JenningsĀ of what his mentally challenged brother might have said, had he been able to speak

LOS ANGELES – The Echo Theater CompanyĀ presentsĀ That Perfect Place, a beautiful imagining by writer/performerĀ Brent JenningsĀ of what his mentally challenged brother might have said, had he been able to speak.

āI grew up a long, long time ago. In the ā60s to be exact,ā says Jennings. āA time that now seems like some sort of aberration, or invasion of inspiring aliens because thereās never been another time like it. A time of real and substantive change, a time of hope, a time of endless possibilities, all of our voices mattered. Encased in that reality were families struggling with the domestic or familial challenges of their households. Families like the one I grew up in. The stories presented inĀ That Perfect PlaceĀ are a representation, a musing, a meditation on the lives of the family I grew up a part of, presented by its most challenged member. A member that may have been the most soulful, wisest and compassionate one of us all. Thank you for allowing me to explore this, my passion project, with you.ā
Brent Jennings is a veteran stage, television and film actor based in Los Angeles with a career spanning almost 40 years. Most recently, he was seen on television in the lead role of Ernie Fontaine in the critically acclaimed television series Lodge 49, and he has appeared in the recurring role of Grandpa Willie in the hit CW drama All American for the past four seasons. Other credits include multiple episodes of All Rise; Snowfall and the new comedy How to Be A Bookie for HBO Max. Other recent credits include Insecure and Young Sheldon.
WHEN:
April 2 ā April 23
⢠Sundays at 7:30 p.m.: April 2, April 9, April 16, April 23
WHERE:
Echo Theater Company
Atwater Village Theatre
3269 Casitas Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90039
PARKING:
FREE in the Atwater Crossing (AXT) lot one block south of the theater
TICKET PRICES:
$10
For more information visit:
www.EchoTheaterCompany.com
(310) 307-3753
Theater
STAGE RAWĀ announces 2023 Theatre Awards Finalists
This year, Stage Raw is recognizing productions in venues of all sizes, rather than focusing entirely on venues of 99-seats or fewer

LOS ANGELES – The Stage Raw Theater Awards celebrate excellence on Los Angeles-area stages. This yearās Stage Raw āIām Still Hereā Theater Awards Party will recognize productions that opened in the calendar year 2022.
Stage Raw is a community funded professional journalism website that was launched in 2014, in response to the decline of arts coverage in local mainstream and alternative media.
The Awards party will be held Monday night, April 17, 2023 at the Sassafras Saloon, 1233 N. Vine Street in Hollywood.Ā Tickets are $20 for everybody, if purchased in advance. $25 at the door. (Capacity is limited and tickets will no longer be available once that capacity is reached.) Admission includes complimentary food, music, dancing and a cash bar.Ā Ā All proceeds will be used to support the professional journalists of Stage Raw, and their ability to continue covering Los Angeles-area theater.Ā Ā
Tickets can be purchased here: (Link)
Be sure to use the discount promo code āStageRawā to bypass the $2.50 ticketing fee.Ā (This is a service of ticketing agencyĀ onstage411.com).
CHANGES FROM PRIOR STAGE RAW AWARDS CEREMONIES:
This year, Stage Raw is recognizing productions in venues of all sizes, rather than focusing entirely on venues of 99-seats or fewer.Ā
Also, Stage Raw has changed its system of allocating recognition in response to the flaw in prior years of excluding excellent productions that were unable to attract a āquorumā of contributors. This year, each Stage Raw contributor has been allocated a number of votes, in proportion to the number of Stage Raw-reviewed shows they saw, and they have cast their votes to any person, production or in any category they choose.Ā

Explains Founding Editor Steven Leigh Morris: āThe hoped-for effect of this system is to diversify the number of companies receiving awards by honoring the generational, ethnic, gender and aesthetic diversity of our individual contributors, who will each be selecting award winners.ā
And finally, the entire feel of the event will be more of a party than an awards show. The actual ceremony will be 30-45 minutes dedicated to announcements, and the presentation of the āQueen of the Angelsā and āLifetime Achievementā awards. All of the other awards recipients will be named during this ceremony and can retrieve their awards at a table.
Ā
THE 2023 STAGE RAW AWARD FINALISTS/RECIPIENTS:
FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHY
Ahmed Best,Ā Hooded, or Being Black for Dummies, Echo Theater Company
SOUND DESIGN
Dean Harada,Ā Tea, Hero Theatre at Inner-City Arts
LIGHTING DESIGN
Lap Chi Chu,Ā The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe,Ā
Center Theatre Group, Mark Taper Forum
VIDEO/PROJECTION DESIGN
Hsuan-Kuang Hsieh,Ā The Great Jheri Curl Debate, East West Players
Nick Santiago,Ā Green Dayās American Idiot, Chance Theatre
SET DESIGN
Ann Beyersdorfer,Ā Afterglow, Midnight Theatricals at the Hudson Theatre
John Iacovelli,Ā The Brothers Paranormal, East West Players
Cindy Lin, Untitled Baby Play, IAMA Theatre Company
Rachel Myers,Ā Power of Sail, Geffen PlayhouseĀ Ā
SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE
Aimee Carrero,Ā Whoās Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Geffen Playhouse
Alexandra Hellquist,Ā On the Other Hand Weāre Happy, Rogue Machine Theatre
Michael Matts,Ā Angels in America: Perestroika, Foolish Production Company
Eileen TāKaye,Ā A Dollās House, Part II,Ā International City Theatre
COMEDY PERFORMANCE
Brent Grimes,Ā Hooded, or Being Black for Dummies, Echo Theater Company
SOLO PERFORMANCE
John Rubinstein,Ā Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground, New Los Angeles Repertory TheatreĀ Company, Theatre West and Hudson MainStage Theatre
SOLO WRITING-PERFORMANCE
Alex Alpharaoh,Ā Wet:Ā A DACAmented Journey, Greenway Court TheatreĀ Ā
Colin Campbell,Ā Grief: A One-ManĀ Shitshow, The Broadwater
Ben Moroski,Ā Dog, The Broadwater
JesĆŗs I. VallesĀ (Un)documents, Latino Theater Company
WRITING-PERFORMANCE
Judy Carter,Ā AĀ Death-Defying Escape!, Hudson Guild Theatre
LEAD PERFORMANCE
Hugo Armstrong,Ā Uncle Vanya, Pasadena Playhouse
Kevin Ashworth,Ā A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death ofĀ Walt Disney, Theatre Planners at the Odyssey Theatre
Ramón de Ocampo, Hamlet, Antaeus Theatre Company
Jenny OāHara,Ā Little Theatre, Rogue Machine Theatre
Zachary Quinto,Ā Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Geffen Playhouse
Jennifer Shelton,Ā A Doll’s House, Part II, International City Theatre
Michael A. Shepperd,Ā Valley Song, International City Theatre
Kalean Ung,Ā Macbeth,Ā Independent Shakespeare Co.
DIRECTION
Nancy Lantis,Ā The Sandman,Ā Eclipse Theatre LA and Santa Clarita Shakespeare Festival
COMEDY DIRECTION
Ahmed Best,Ā Hooded, or Being Black for Dummies, Echo Theater Company
DIRECTION/ENSEMBLE
Will Block and the ensemble ofĀ All is True or Henry VIII, The Porters of Hellsgate Theatre Company
Gregg T. Daniel and the ensemble ofĀ Radio Golf, A Noise Within
COMEDY ENSEMBLE
Canāt Pay? Donāt Pay!, The Actorsā Gang
ENSEMBLE
Anna in The Tropics,Ā A Noise Within
Blues for an Alabama Sky, Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum
The Colored Museum, Loft EnsembleĀ
Freestyle Love Supreme,Ā Pasadena Playhouse,
If Nobody Does Remarkable Things, Pandora Productions at the Garage TheatreĀ
The Inheritance,Ā Geffen Playhouse
Masao and the Bronze Nightingale, CASA 0101 and the Japanese AmericanĀ National Museum
ADAPTATION
James Fowler,Ā A Midsummer Nightās Dream,Ā Open Fist Theatre Company
PLAY WRITING
Carla Ching,Ā Revenge Porn, Ammunition Theatre Company
Bernardo Cubria,Ā The Play You Want, Road Theatre Company
Kelly McBurnette-Andronicos,Ā The House of Final Ruin, Opheliaās Jump
Murray Mednick,Ā Three Tables, Padua Playwrights at the Zephyr Theatre
PRODUCTION EXCELLENCE IN QUEER STORYTELLING
Interstate,Ā East West Players
DISTINGUISHED MUSICAL REVIVAL
Oklahoma!Ā Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre
DISTINGUISHED PRODUCTION
A Midsummer Nightās Dream, Open Fist Theatre
The Penelopiad, City Garage
Roe, Fountain Theatre
Uncle Vanya, Pasadena Playhouse
DISTINGUISHED SEASON
The Road Theatre Company (The Play You Want, Beloved, Bright Half Life, According to the Chorus)Ā
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
Maria Gobetti and Tom Ormeny (Victory Theatre Center)
Frédérique Michel and Charles Duncombe (City Garage)
QUEEN OF THE ANGELS
The SB116 Coalition (Teri Ball, Beatrice Casagran, Elina DeSantos, Emmanuel Deleage, Martha Demson, Christopher Maikish, Leo Marks, Marc Antonio Pritchett and Vanessa Stewart)
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The 2023 Stage Raw āIām Still Hereā Theater Awards Party is supported through the generous sponsorship of the following companies and individuals: Antaeus Theatre Company, Crimson Square Theatre, Dina Morrone, DEMAND PR, The Geffen Playhouse, The Hudson Theatres, IAMA Theatre Company, Lucy Pollak Public Relations, Macha Theatre Company, Opheliaās Jump, Road Theatre Company, Sandra Kuker Public Relations, Santa Monica Playhouse, Sierra Madre Playhouse, Theatre 40, Theatre of NOTE, and The Victory Theatre Center.
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