In The Unlikely Event of an Actual Emergency by John Mullican

 

L - R Jason Leon-Baptista, Amoni West and John Mullican - photos by Robin Randolph Photography

By Joe Straw 

There are several reasons why I ventured out on this night to see this play. The first is my experiences on aircrafts, and the second are dreams that take me on harrowing flights where the unlikely becomes the likely.

The Hudson Theatres are always beautiful venues to see intimate theatre and what a grand immersive night of theatre! Across the board, writing, directing, acting, sound, and producing was top notched for this totally engrossing experience.

In The Unlikely Event of an Actual Emergency – A New Play by Mullican, directed by Rickie Peete, and produced by Andrea Meshel is now playing at the Hudson Theatres in Hollywood through October 26, 2024.

 Sunrise Airlines takes pleasure in welcoming you on a flight.  The Flight Attendant (Stacy Aung) greets everyone as they enter the fuselage. (The theater patrons are regarded as passengers as well.) Incidental music is performed by The DJ (Amoni West) with a placard that says “God is a DJ” on her table. All airlines must have something that soothes the senses before takeoff.   And all must feel comfortable before they step on a plane and continue to feel that way until they reach their destination.

Arturo (John Mullican) gingerly enters the plane reveling in the fact that he has the perfect front row seat. Anything to make his journey less hectic.  There is a purpose to this excursion.  He carries his mother’s ashes from Los Angeles, California safely to be released in the proximity of Cape Cod. 

Arturo carefully lifts a colorful blanket out of his mochila. He unwraps the urn and sets it on the floor of the aircraft.  He then places his colorful blanket on his seat and sits to watch the makeup of passengers entering the plane.

Not to be so obvious, Arturo takes delight noticing the men and women entering the plane, their faults of wear, and their physical good points finding men more alluring in his description of said men. And he does this through an inner dialogue that never sojourns not even for a moment. Once he is nearly settled a stewardess asks him if he could move to another seat to make room for an incapacitated grandfather and his grandson. Reluctantly, he acquiesces and moves to a seat next to the handsome man he has been ogling.

But now Arturo can’t get himself to say anything intelligent to that man, and muses about his own outerwear, and being better dressed for the occasion.  

It is apparent that Arturo is a nervous flyer, and every noise is a crisis within himself.  And did he hear the attendants make outrageous statements in their official announcements? Or was that Arturo’s highly active imagination, premonition, or faulty hearing?

Takeoffs are particularly harrowing, and turbulence can be a hand sweating residue of fear, albeit imperceptible at first followed by the implacable shaking that never ends until the plane meets its outrageous end and gracious resolution.  

In The Unlikely Event Of An Actual Emergency by John Mullican is a wonderful event for many reasons. Although based on a true incident in which John Mullican was a survivor of a plane crash, the events and characters in this play are fictionalized.  The play reaches extraordinary heights in the way that Arturo is lifted from his seat after the crash and then searches for answers in his life. Those, that he has called, have arrived to help. They don’t have the complete answers, often getting information from a special data base in the nether region until he suddenly finds himself in into the horrific real-life moments, resulting in impotent despair, and a self-imposed silence until he catches that sublime moment of recovery.

There is a lot of coordination in this type of production, with so many elements, including the performances, everything must and did go perfectly, sound, visuals, and Director Rickie Peete coordinated those elements to create a visually stunning production including the takeoff and the crash landing where one feels that you are a participant on that flight.

Fritz Davis, Video Production Design, has the audience at the boarding gate, taking off from Los Angeles, and onto the snowy runway in Boston.  The projection works throughout the night and his work is excellent.

There is a moment of dread somewhere after takeoff, during the flight, an unexpected noise that rumbled underneath our seats and sent Arturo (and me) into a panic. Chris Moscatiello, Sound Designer, created those sounds that played havoc with our senses throughout the night. His work is one more reason to run and see this show.

John Mullican is Arturo, a man who has just gotten over the death of his mother and like a good son he honors her wishes to take her ashes across the country despite his fear of flying. He makes every opportunity to take his mind off flying before things go awry. Mullican is a terrific actor in which an inner dialogue takes him places that he finds amusing and terrifying within the plane. He gathers enough strength and wisdom to become a hero of sorts in the end. One observes the man throughout learning a huge life lesson and Mullican captures the humanitarian passions in that character.

Dolores Aguanno is Arturo’s mother Lucinda, an artist from Venezuela, a loving Latina mother, dressed to the colorful Latina tees in a mauve camisa, a scarf, skirts and boots. She does her best to provide answers to her son, unfortunately some answers are not readily available. Aguanno gives a masterclass in this production, and this is a perfect role for her.

Glenn Ratcliff plays Liam, Arturo’s Dad complete with diamond studs in his earlobes, red suspenders, and a red kerchief in his left back pocket. An artist from the past still searching for his moment. Arturo has passed away long ago. Coming back, he knows that he hasn’t been the best father but still he was a good provider, if not the second-best artist in their home.  Maybe that doesn’t sit too well with him. No matter, being in the place he’s in, he is willing to forgive with love. Another role that was perfectly cast.

Jason Leon-Baptista plays Bill, the one person that can help Arturo out of his predicament. Bill dances back into life giving purpose or meaning when hope is lost. He has a purpose in this rompecabezas, a man that brings forth life in dance complete with jazz shoes. Leon-Baptista is wonderful in the role. (One can’t give too much away as he appears late in the performance.)

Stacy Aung

 

 

Stacy Aung is also perfect as the Flight Attendant managing a friendly persona while being very placid in her manner until the fireworks happen showcasing her humanity and her ability to forcefully do her job with superhuman strengths that go beyond her capabilities. Her other roles include Panicked Woman and Phoebe. Great work.

Katheryn Peña is the Flight Purser and did well on this night. This is an interesting role because of the duty of purser which is to keep the passengers happy and the administrative duties to a minimum which doesn’t leave a lot of room for conflict and resolution.  There may be more to add to this character and to the way she successfully overcomes problems she may be having on board the aircraft whether it is internal or external.  

John Mullican and Amoni West

 

There’s music in this play and Amoni West displays a beautiful voice in the song she performs. She plays the DJ and seems to play the sound cues for the aircraft. Her work was seamless and beautiful. One gets the impressions that this woman wearing a gold camisa, red skirt, Ugg boots and cream-colored tights is God.

There are a lot of elements that make up the whole in this production and Andrea Meshel, Producer, puts it all together to make the night faultless down to the program which was produced as an inside sleeve with buckling, falling masks, and emergency exit seating instructions.  

Kiana Moattari, Choreographer, adds another grand element to this production giving us dance in life, art in space, and joy in the darkest of spaces.

Other members of this delightful crew are as follows:

Steven Pope – Lighting Designer

Dayanara Williams – Stage Manager

Kangi Downing – Marketing Promotion Project Manager

If “life is just a dream,” then theatre is a place in heaven where dreams do come true. Great work by all.

Run! Run! Run!  

 

ONLINE TICKETING: https://www.onstage411.com/newsite/boxoffice/cart.asp?show_id=6436&orgin=guest

A Woman Named Gloria by Josefina López

L to R Karla Ojeda and Celeste Lanuza - photos by Rudy Torres

 

By Joe Straw 

“Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever, about that.  The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it; and Scrooge’s name was as good upon ‘change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead as a doornail.” – A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

There was one word in this production that personified Gloria, and for the life of a secured conscious, one couldn't recall the exact word, but nevertheless it rang a truth, a bold sincerity, and represented the dramatic through line of this production.

But what was that word?

Casa 0101 Theater presents the world premiere of A Woman Named Gloria written by Josefina López, directed by Corky Dominguez, and produced by Emmanuel Deleage in the Gloria Molina Theatre through October 6th, 2024, at Casa 0101 Theater in Boyle Heights.

To start, Gloria Molina (Karla Ojeda) has died. A funeral was being held to say one last goodbye. A sad event, to be sure, attended by her daughter Valentina (Micaela Martinez), Gloria’s brother Mingo (Oscar González), and presiding over the services is an emotional Monsignor John Moretta (Martin Morales).

But death doesn’t sway Gloria who still feels that her work was not finished and although coaxed by the Virgen De Guadalupe (Celeste Lanuza) with her ethereal smile to step into the light she declines and asks for a moment, to help one more person in need and that person is Jessica Contreras (Lauren Curet).

Jessica, running for political office, has gotten herself into a lot of trouble. She has been stopped for driving under the influence and she is waiting for the press to arrive at her home, destroy her career, and her life while awaiting her expiation. 

Gloria has come back to help Jessica (the ghost of Christmas Past and Present) if only she could tear down the wall of inevitability that every politician must feel once they have stepped across the line of the moral ethical bonds of righteousness. To do this Gloria must convince Jessica that she is human, that she must rise above her faults, to move on with her life, and she offers her life as an example of how to negotiate a political life or any life for that matter.  

One really didn’t like the name of this play “A Woman Named Gloria”. Her name is still Gloria and will be for the sake of historical context. However, one is sure there is a reason behind the title of the play that cannot be grasped at this time and the one “word” that still escapes me.  

That said, Josefina López has written a remarkable play that plays on the emotion of looking back at one’s life and wondering if that life has been one of giving beyond the heart’s content. One can look back on Josefina’s career to know that her motives were just and inspiring, while providing another richly satisfying work of art.  

In short, “A Woman Named Gloria” is a terrific body of work with eighty-six characters that is an emotional roller-coaster ride. There is a lot to be said about this play and the current political climate of a woman running for the highest office in the land and what that can mean. When the world is governed by mostly rich white men who are in it only for themselves, selfless would be that word that describes the intentions of this woman, the play, and particularly the work of Gloria Molina.

Corky Dominguez, the director, infuses the audience with a remarkable dance sequence with chairs during the play that is both inspiring and creative that possibly represents the revolving world of politics. This is by far Dominguez’s finest work as a director as he moves the entire cast of characters through to the embattled end.  

 

Martin Morales and Karla Ojeda

 

Karla Ojeda is Gloria Molina and does a fine job as the strong-willed character.  Her voice is strong, and the manner of her objective is clear. It was a very fine performance by a very capable actor.

Lauren Curet is Jessica, a woman who is caught up in self-doubt, a “childless cat lady” who holds herself responsible for the wrongs she has committed in her life. She must find a way out whether it is in her chosen profession or another alternative in life.

The men come off as antagonists in this play throughout including the non-existent husband to Molina. Possibly a guilty antagonist simply by omission or a shadow of days past.

Alejandro Bravo does well throughout the night playing 11 different characters including the not so reputable Antonio Villaraigosa.

Oscar González needs more work, coming off as frail and without purpose in each of his 8 characters, particularly Papa Leonardo almost saying his lines upstage with a Latino machismo that comes off harsh and without love trying to teach his daughter a lesson.  

Martin Morales has some fine moments in each of his 12 characters.  There is not enough time to develop the characters but each were different, slightly forced, and funny most times including the pension man that appeared to be like a standing frustrated pencil. And although this character has a very limited time on stage, the character was supremely defined and funny.  

Edward Navarrete plays 8 different characters and displays truth in each role. More could be made with a little more creativity in each role.

L to R Celeste Lanuza, Karla Ojeda, Tricia Cruz, Micaela Martinez, Amy Melendrez, and Laura Vega

 

 

Tricia Cruz has her moments in nine different characters, but she comes off best as Doctor Yeon.

Natalie Heredia is terrific as a very young Gloria and an inspiring young actor dedicated to her craft. She has a very nice presence on stage.

Celeste Lanuza covers each role with a dynamic character. Her choices are both subtle and inspirational and she is a joy to watch.

Micaela Martinez is an actor that eyes immediately gravitate to in all seven characters. Her choices are creative and her manner on stage is excellent. Given a small push she should do well in television and in film.

Amy Melendrez is another actor with a strong presence and center on stage. Playing the Young Gloria, she manages to infuse the characters of Child Gloria and Older Gloria into the character she plays.  Her work is outstanding!

Laura Vega is also an outstanding actor and adds a different light to each of her 10 characters.  They are each creative and warm as she negotiates her way on stage.  She is a complete joy to watch, and she is outstanding in her craft.

Anthony Storniolo, Video Designer, does some incredible work displaying quilts throughout the production. One supposes they represented the designs of the quilting group Gloria Molina belonged to. The videos were superb.

One can bet that coming to a Casa 0101 production the costumes would once again be outstanding and colorful.  Patricia Tripp "Mama J", Costume Designer, does not let us down. 

Other members of the crew are as follows:

Rigo Tejeda – Production Stage Manager

Joaquín Madrid Larrañaga – Stage Manager

Alejandro Parra – Lighting Designer

Doreen Sanchez – Assistant Stage Manager

Angelica Ornelas – Sound Designer

César Retana-Holguín – Scenic Designer

Margaret Garcia – Muralist

Steve Moyer Public Relations

Mark Kraus – Development Director

Lorena Marisol Ortega – Director of Outreach and Productions

Miguel Delgado – Technical Director

Itzel Ocampo – Marketing and Operations Manager

Oscar Basulto – Box Office Manager

Jorge Villanueva – Facilities Manager

In the Jean Deleage Gallery, there is an art exhibit: Gloria Molina: Madrina of the Eastside as an extra bonus for your theatre going night. Street parking is free after 8:00 pm and there is free parking behind City Hall.

For tickets:323-263-7684 or visit www.casa0101.org.