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| L - R Alberto Virgen, Jared Ross, Talmage A. Tidwell, Amelia Yokel |
By Joe Straw
From Dictionary.com
bliss [blis] noun
2. Theology. the joy of heaven.
3. heaven; paradise: the road to
eternal bliss.
4. Archaic. a cause of great joy or happiness.
So bliss point must
be the point at which one achieves bliss.
And, how does one recognize when that happens? Recognizing bliss is no small feat, because bliss
is a culmination of events played out in motion to form that moment. Sometimes that recognition comes long after
the moment has passed.
Cornerstone Theater Company presents Bliss Point, a guest production at The
Odyssey Theatre, written by Shishir Kurup, and directed by Juliette
Carrillo. The Executive Producers are
Margaret Leong Checca, Jon Neustadter, Jennifer & Matthew Rowland through
June 22, 2014.
Bliss Point is
Cornerstone’s fifth play in the Hunger Cycle and a collaboration with the addiction
and recovery communities in Los Angeles. Community Partners for Bliss Point
include: Beit T’Shuvah, The Hills
Treatment Center, and the United States Veteran’s Artists Alliance.
Things are bouncing
at the Odyssey Theatre. Every time I go
these days the lobby is crowded with avid theatregoers waiting to get into one
of its three theatres. The Odyssey is much
more of an intimate space for Cornerstone whose works I have seen at larger
venues such as LATC, the Los Angeles Mission (downtown off San Pedro), and the
Chuco’s Justice Center. This production has been pared down with a sharper focus
on the story and the acting.
As always with
Cornerstone, the cast is a creative blend of people and richly diverse. Collectively, this exciting cast represents a
swath of Americana, of its people of of its traditions.
As the show started,
a man with a tattoo entered the upstage left door and collapsed on the floor.
An audience member said, “Look, that poor man just fell down.” (Acting!) The tenebrous dark shadowy figure stayed on
the floor, not moving one muscle, a lone figure on top of the deplorably filthy
green and yellow tiles in his vary sparse apartment. Above him the walls were highlighted by an
almost translucent whirling and coiling wallpaper representing a somnolent, battered
Van Gogh-esque vision of a man in trouble. (Incredible work by Scenic Designer
Nephelie Andonyadis)
And yes, the man on
the floor was in trouble. But, he is only
one of many. Men and women now appearing
out of nowhere are wrapped in blankets sitting on the floor as they survive one
more night of addiction.
But to get to the now,
we have to go back to the past. And we
do this with Seamus (pronounced shame us) (Talmage A. Tidwell) who is on the
floor, an entangled mass of humanity, impotent from drugs, and senseless from
being struck in the head one too many times.
His friend Billy (Jared
Ross), an artist wearing and 80’s style mohawk, and loaded with various piercings
on his being, enters his non-palatial abode.
And in his benign vigilance, Billy sees him and examines the bruises and
cuts around his eyes. His affection for this man appears to be far more than for
his well being, but, as forethought, he mentions Lara (Amelia Yokel) a friend who
has her eyes on him with more than a casual passing fancy.
“She loves you.” – Billy
Meanwhile, in another
place, Jay (Sunkrish Bala) is writing on his Mac when his mother Aya (KT
Thangavelu) moves nearer to him with her large bag of prescription drugs and with
a purpose in mind. She takes three
Tylenol with codeine and God knows what else to get her to a comfortable place.
To break the ice, Aya
wants to know what her son is writing, and whether he is getting paid for this
job. Jay assures her that it is a paying
job writing about drug addiction for a national magazine.
A physically troubled
Aya is seeing the end of her life and wants to make sure that Jay is
emotionally taken care of, and is financially stable when she moves on. All this because she has an implacable desire
to have her ashes dumped in a river in India. But Jay can’t even get the name of the river
right calling it the Ganges instead of the Hindi name Ganga. Aya is not totally comfortable leaving her
ashes in the hands of her incompetent son.
Naytheless what Aya really
wants is for Jay, while he is in India to disperse her ashes, to call his
father.
“They have phones in India.”- Aya
Jay doesn’t like that
idea.
Finished with his
mother, Jay picks up the phone and calls Adelina (Page Leong) for directions to
a lockup where he will conduct interviews for his drug addiction article. But when he gets there, the three hardened criminals
are three young women, Celina (Michelle Farivar), Alicia (Tricia Nykin), and Summer
(Melissa Ann Kestin). They are barely beyond
their teens and hardly hardened criminals. This story is not looking all that great.
The interview doesn’t
go so well and Jay really wants to speak to Adelina’s husband about overcoming
addiction. Her husband is busy doing
other things, but she will try to arrange a meeting.
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| David Bard |
Meanwhile in another location, Earl (David Bard), inadvertent in his ways, sits at home watching TV with a bottle of vodka and some pills and is about to do himself in when he hears a Godlike voice from the TV telling him what he is doing is wrong.
Oh, the snarling
irony of it all!
Back in Seamus’
apartment, there’s a frantic knocking at the door. It’s the neighbor Wiley (K. J. Rasheed)
wanting to find a place to stash some recently stolen stereo equipment. Wiley is not going to take no for an answer even
if it means pulling out his gun in a friendly gesture.
Later, Jay is now
interviewing Arif (JoDyRaY) about his addiction problems and how that all came
to be. Arif takes him through his sexual
exploitations at the tender age of six or seven years. And after his mom died,
he started using drugs to combat his depression. Now he questions his gender
and sexual identity, which at the present time are ambiguous.
Seamus is sorting out
the details of the stereo when he hears a knock at the door. It is Lara and Rey
(Alberto Virgen) who’ve come to party after scoring some coke for their
pleasure. And with Billy all four of
them have formed a close-knit bond. Their
relationship, an entangled mass, has gotten too close when later we discover a
truth of their journey.
Notwithstanding, Jay
is trying to take care of his mother, which includes getting a prescription for
medical marijuana. Aya wants to go to Peru, to try a certain drug, and to see
Krishna.
But now in another
location, Officer Friendly (Stuart O’Donnell), enters Seamus apartment and
arrests Seamus for the brawl he participated in.
Cornerstone brings a
lot of diversity to the cast. Some actors
have a lot of experience and others have hardly any experience at all. But Juliette
Carrillo, the director, manages to get the best from all of them. The looks
are perfect for the characters chosen for these roles.
And yet, Carrillo’s
through line is slightly out of focus.
The characters are not moving seamlessly to get to the bliss point,
which must be the whole point of the story. We get to the end but the emotional
catharsis is uninvolving when some really great and emotionally engaging events
are taking place. More can be made of that moment.
Shishir Kurup, the writer, gives us an unusual look
of humans trying to survive. Each
distinct in their own way, trying to find their own bliss point. Maybe it’s that simple. These are very different people in very engaging
situations. Some scenes need restructuring.
The scene introducing the girls lacked conflict and an objective. Also, it is unclear why Arif is in Peru with
Jay and his mother, Aya.
Sunkrish Bala plays Jay a very likeable guy who has
problems with his mother and her health.
Bala, the actor, doesn’t allow himself to step beyond of what he truly
wants. One could argue that Jay wants
what all writers want, a Pulitzer or great recognition for a body of work that
lives on long after he is gone. But,
what get’s in his way? Well first his
mother, then the people he has to interview and who are not co-operative, and
the one person he cannot get in to see. (I believe this to be the most
important.) And Jay would do well to recognize and overcome these conflicts.
David Bard has some fine moments as Earl, a man of
the bottle, who discovers God speaking to him through his TV.
Sheela Bhongir plays Krishna and appears in the second
act much to the delight of the one needing her.
Michelle Farvar plays Celina, a young woman
incarcerated for her involvement in drugs and having a story to tell to the
writer. But what is her story? Having a stronger objective will help with
her conflict, whether it is internal or external, and give us a clearer picture
of the makeup of this person.
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| L - R Sunkrish Bala, JoDyRaY |
JoDyRaY walks in with a thin frame and raspy voice and never lets up with his creativity on stage as the character Arif. Dressed up in an aging rock star with sexually ambivalent garb, one could either be excited or confused by his appearance. Arif appears to know who he is, excepting his sexuality, and is willing to share his history with anyone who wants to listen to the sorted details of his current predicament. But it is not without danger as Arif has a need to carry a gun in order to fulfill sexual desire or warn off an unwanted predator.
Melissa Ann Kestin plays Sumer one of the incarcerated
girls and, without saying a word, gives us a breathless moment of a truth
buried deep within her. She is a very fine actor with expressive eyes.
Page Leong is Adelina, the counselor to the
girls. Leong is one of the finest actors
working in Los Angeles today. She makes
use of her being with the minimalist of props and always manages to create the
place in her space on stage. But, what
does Adelina want? What gets in her way?
And how is she able to resolve the conflicts? More is needed to give life to this three
dimensional character.
Tricia Nykin plays Alicia, one of the girls that are
incarcerated.
Stuart O’Donnell plays Friendly (probably a misnomer), an
Irish cop that likes to take things into his own hand by being friendly at
first and then finding a way ruthlessly arrest his criminal.
K. J. Rasheed plays Wiley the unscrupulous next-door
neighbor who needs a place to hide stolen goods. Rasheed does a fine job with
characterization.
Probably the best
thing not to put in your bio is that you’re a “semi-experienced” actor as Jared Ross put in his bio. Ross has got a few things going for him; one
of them is a nice presence on stage, intelligence, and the ability to stay
connected. One thing missing is his
relationship with his friend, Seamus, which need defining and direction. On
stage, a character is not there to “hang”; he must have a purpose and an
objective to being there. Also, there must
be a conflict that prevents him from getting what he wants and that conflict
needs to be discovered.
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| KT Thangavelu |
KT Thangavelu is fantastic as Aya, the mother to Jay. From the moment she appears to the moment she leaves, she has a character that is richly defined, funny, and sardonic all in one breath. Aya has a path that is splendidly filled during the course of her journey with bumps along the way that Thangavelu captures in a wonderful performance.
Talmage A. Tidwell plays Seamus and has a very powerful
voice. Seamus gets himself into a lot of
trouble with his fists as well as getting into trouble with drugs. He is a lost soul trying to find his way. Tidwell’s voice is his asset and finding a
way to use the voice in accomplishing his objective would be a good thing. Seamus
is trying to find his way but Tidwell doesn’t question the things that are
going on around him until it is too late. He doesn’t absorb the information,
things just happen. The actions on stage put him in a deeper hole without that
hole being acknowledged.
Alberto Virgen plays Rey and has a very good look and
does a very fine job in his presentation.
Amelia Yokel is Lara, lover to Seamus, addict, and a
rich socialite who has ventured into this gothic world and doesn’t know how to
get out. When the money runs out, she has no place to turn. Yokel is stunning,
intelligent, has an incredible presence, and brings a very nice sincerity to
this role.
Raquel M. Marreto did a fine job with the Costume Design. Andrew
D. Smith was the Lighting Designer.
The sound Designer is Veronika
Vorel. Ash Nichols was responsible
for the Production Stage Management.
Nicely produced by
Executive Producers Margaret Leong
Checca, Jon Neustadter, Jennifer & Matthew Rowland.
Other members of the
production team are as follows:
Production Manager –
Lester P. Grant
Technical Directors –
Alec Cyganowski, Jeff Williams
Production
Coordinator – Doug Rosenberg
Assistant Stage
manager – Julia Colbert
Production Assistant
– Lizzie Cantey
Props Artisan –
Zachary March
Master Electrician –
Philip Powers
Light Board Operator
– Ronnie Dunmore
Sound Board Operator
– Gloria Gonzalez
Assistant Costume
Designer/Wardrobe Supervisor – Rachel Clinkscales
Wardrobe Assistant –
Nijel Martinez
Fight Choreographer –
Edgar Landa
Scholar in Residence
– Michelle Farivar
Dramaturge – Tom
Jacobson
Community Audience
Liason – Nikki Hyde
Public Relations
Assistant – Jacqueline Rosas
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