Li’l Abner – Based on characters created by Al Capp

Book by Norman Panama and Melvin Frank

Lyrics by Johnny Mercer

Music by Gen de Paul

By Joe Straw

Li’l Abner, the musical, based on the characters created by Al Capp is presented by the Kentwood Players at the Westchester Playhouse through April 17, 2010. It is directed by Victoria Miller and produced by Susan Goldman Weisbarth.

Li’l Abner has something for everyone. Playing to sold out houses allows the Kentwood Players at the Westchester Playhouse to bring forth one production after another.

This 1956 Broadway musical is satire as was Andy Capp’s cartoon strip. And some of the ideas presented on stage make one quiver when one thinks of what the government was up to in those days. (For one: all the of the above air nuclear detonations in Nevada sending radioactive fallout all across the United States.)

That hilarity aside, this is a funny romp through countrified Dogpatch USA which has been declared “the most unnecessary town in the USA” by Senator Jack S. Phogbound (Ira Gewant) and because of that it is set to be nuked to the cheers of the town folk.

In the meantime, Mammy Yokum (Margie Bates) has been giving Li’l Abner (Derek Rubiano) Yokumberry Tonic. She has been feeding him his entire life. This makes him strong and handsome. (Couldn’t have it any other way, strong and ugly doesn’t work.) The tonic’s side effect makes Li’l Abner uninterested in sex. (Think Viagra in reverse and without the sinus headache.)

But, Daisy Mae (Meredith Sweeny) wants Li’l Abner and aims to claim him on Sadie Hawkins day. Appassionata von Climax (Minerva Schott) has other ideas and also wants Li’l Abner but for nefarious monetary and political reasons.

Daisy brings Stupefyin’ Jones (Janice Garcia) to help her nab Li’l Abner while von Climax hires Evil Eye Fleagle (Drew Fitzsimmons) to distract the men.

The men in town take part in the Yokumberry Tonic experiment to make them strong and good-looking. But after taking part in the experiment they wish for the day when they could once again be ugly and virile.

With all the men folk gone except Pappy Yokum (Jeff Asch), the women folk, lead by Daisy Mae make plans to get their men from the experiment laboratory, but there’s a catch, Daisy Mae needs muscle. She tells Earthquake McGoon (Marco Antonio Garcia) she needs him and if he helps her she will marry him.

Kentwood Players has managed to get some very fine performers for this production most notably Jeff Asch (Pappy), Leigh Golden (Moonbeam McSwine), Bruce Schroffel (General Bullmoose) Ira Gewant (Senator Jack S. Phogbound) Janice Garcia (Stupefyin’ Jones), and Meredith M. Sweeney (Daisy Mae).

This is a huge cast featuring Greg Abbott (Marryin’ Sam), Marcy Agreen (Wife), Nick Alspaugh (Government Man), Dylan Bailey (Government Man), Margie Bates (Mammy), Jordan Bland (Available Jones), Crystal Boyer (Ensemble), Kaitlan Brasuell (Wife), Sheldon Cohen (Clem Scragg), Diane Dooley (Esemble), Ron “Adam” Dunberger (Dr. Rasmussen), Dave Fulton (Alf Scragg), Marco Antonio Garcia (Earthquake McGoon), Slater Ross Garcia (Secretary), Greg Hardash (Secretary), Emma Hatton (Scarlet), Heidi Johnson (Wife), Mike La Stelley (Romeo Scraggs), Franesca Palermo (Wife), Dash Porter (Hairless Joe), Derek Rubiano (Abner), Robyn Rothstein (Ensemble) Valerie Ruel (Ensemble) Minerva Schott (Appassionata Von Climax), and Max Heldring Stormes (Mayor Dan’l Dawgmeat).

Victoria Miller, director and choreographer, has taken a cast the size of Laurence of Arabia, and has molded into a very workable production.

Dave Boyer, Musical Director, does a great job with his eight piece orchestra: Greg Lee on trombone, Anibal Seminario, sax and clarinet, Mark Shapiro, lead bass, Steve Fry, acoustic bass, Paul Alford, electric bass, Arthur Garrison, percussion, and Perry Shields also on percussion.

Hats off to the hardest working community theatre in the nation!

Westchester Playhouse

310-645-5156 for resvervations

Tales of An Urban Indian by Darrell Dennis

By Joe Straw

Tales of an Urban Indian written and performed by Darrell Dennis and directed by Herbie Barnes at the beautiful Autry Museum is a fascinating story of an adolescent boy growing up Native and trying to find his place in the world.

Darrell Dennis as Simon Douglas is from British Columbia, Canada and manages to paint a pretty picture of a not so pretty story. Dennis is engaging, funny, and filled with an indescribable life force. It is a fascinating play, with engaging sympathetic characters.

But, the focus of this play seems to be on the makeup of the characters and not the journey. And this particular journey is moderately convoluted and not focused on a specific objective. If there is an overall objective, it is subtle.

It’s not enough to get in a car; the traveler needs to know where they are going and then, the traveler needs to let go of the wheel and let imaginations soar. (Figuratively speaking, of course)

The images of these people conjured by Dennis reflects his take on family and friends: all impersonations with Barnes stamp of approval. They are unique, in their own right, but strangely (and I’ve been thinking about this for some time) very similar to any impoverished community.

Maybe this is what Barnes, the director, had in mind. There are the boys; pulling leaches off their bodies, looking to get laid, questioning their sexuality, and looking to get drunk, crashing their cars, and finally looking to get high.

If a character in any play needs to be shown the way, that character is Douglas. He needs a mentor; if you will, to give focus to his life, but he doesn’t have it in him, the ability to accept help nor is he willing to accept all that is offered him. He doesn’t learn from the tragedies around him but forges ahead on a path to near death and destruction.

They are all specific characterization, very inventive and sympathetic. When each one dies, a stone is placed in memory of the fallen. (Note: The stones were placed on stage that was not visible to a lot of the audience.)

It’s hard to have sympathy for a character that continuously gets himself into so much trouble and mostly of his own doing. He digs a hole so deep it’s hard to see the opening and almost impossible for him to climb out. Still, if that’s your thing, seeing someone fall so low that you feel on top of a mountain, then this play is for you!

Dennis has created characters from his life that are specific, inventive and sympathetic. And when they leave this earth a stone is placed in memory. It is a powerful testament to memory and the characters that make up his life.

Listen to the remarkable Sound Design by Matthew Hubbs. Go to the Autry. See another perspective of life. Bring someone you care about and talk about the play. Enjoy and count your blessings.

Brandon Oakes is the understudy. Recently seen in Palestine, NM. (The blog is below.)

As always, Randy Reinholz and Jean Bruce Scott, have done a remarkable job as executive producers in their 10^th season of bringing Native Voices at the Autry.

The parking is FREE and there is a Native American basket display in the museum part of the complex.

And everyone is friendly! Go!

March 13 – 28^th.

The Autry

4700 Western Heritage Way

Los Angeles, CA 90027-1462

www.theautry.org.

"I Didn't Get It"

by Joe Straw

I recently had a press person tell me about one of my reviews that, “I didn’t get it.” She also said that a lot of other audience members “didn’t get it either”. I’m delighted I was not the only one, but when a lot of people don’t get it then maybe it wasn’t there to be got.

I’m just a lone voice in a crowd of benevolent theatergoers. My question is: How many people have to tell you “it’s not working” before you believe a change needs to be made. I suggest that if it’s more than half then serious work still needs to be done.

I think it’s important to give you a perspective about my background so that when I see a show and review it you might think that I may have the experience to back up my thoughts.

I’ve studied acting over thirty years and in particular the works of Stanislavski, Strasberg, Hagen, Adler, and Clurman. Also, I have studied with some very fine acting teachers in Hollywood and have worked with world-renowned actors. I am a member of the Screen Actors Guild and AFTRA.

I’ve produced, directed and have acted in a number of equity waiver productions. I’ve worked in television and have worked on over a hundred films in various capacities. I’ve also directed and produced two independent feature films and produced and directed a number of short films.

And I have to be honest with you; it’s a pet peeve of mine to arrive to a show on time only to have the curtain delayed twenty minutes. This shows very little respect to the audience who has paid to see the performance. I try not to let those emotions interfere with the work going on stage. But, in the back of my mind, it does.

When I see a show that doesn’t work I try to figure out why it didn’t work. I read the play (if available) as many as 12 times to figure out why a successful play is not as successful at a particular venue. (And more often than not, I usually get it.) While I may not agree with the directors choices, a strong choice is better than choices with no imagination.

Anyone whose has ever taken a scene study class knows a good performance from a bad one and although the opinions vary they usually let you know that it didn’t work, but when it does work generally there is nothing but praise.

Praise is rewarded to those who take pride in their work. It is tangible. It is visible. And it is gratifying.

Fiction by J. Weller

By Joe Straw



Fiction is a story about a man whose life is ruined by the utterance of a simple word: “No.” This is a roller coaster night of an evening, a mind bending, and twisted tale of morality. The story of a life force that is savagely squeezed like an orange until the remains are like the drained pulp left in the empty orange hull. Run to catch this production, hold your breath, and tell yourself, screaming silently (if you must): “It’s fiction! It’s fiction! It’s fiction!”



Fiction is new world premier play written by J. Weller and directed by Michael Galloway and is playing at the beautiful Conquistador Playhouse in Hollywood.



Fiction starts innocently enough. Flame Ohn (Michael Staraton) is a 31-year-old highly successful profession basketball player. Flame is the quintessential boy next door by way of Myanmar and the son of a career military officer and a Burmese father. A man of unquestionable ability, he is a superstar in the sport. Flame also has a ten million dollar smile, and an eighty million dollar contract with endorsements galore. He is also fluent in seven languages.



Flame waits in his luxury hotel room for the next game voraciously squeezing the last drop out of an orange when he receives a call from a business associate, Radical Dave (Frederick Ongonyon).

“We’re probably not going to make your payroll this quarter and may not make it completely in the years to come.”



Getting to the point Radical Dave suggests Flame’s agent renegotiate his contract until the company gets back on its feet. But, “I need your help.”



“Why am I talking to you? My agent negotiates on my behalf. Tell me who asked you to call me."

“I can’t.”

“You can!”

“Take the deal. Times are tough. When we weather this storm we’ll all come out looking better. Do it for me, our friendship, please.”

“No.”



Flame gets back on the phone but is interrupted by a knock at the door. It is two ravishing buxom beauties Jennifer Righteous (Wanda McGreevy) and her friend Heather Simpleton (Mary Slate). Looking at his phone he finds himself in a dilemma: business or pleasure? He chooses the later and they waste no time taking off his clothes and hustling him off to bed.



The phone rings. It is is wife Eve (Michelle Fontura) who is sitting in the audience watching the action as she is carrying on the conversation. Flame is as non-chalant as anyone could be in this situation, taking the phone call while there is mayhem going on all around him. (This is so funny the audience died.) Eve leaves the theater as she is carrying on the conversation.



The phone beeps and “I’ve got to take this call. I’ll call you back.” Flame gets out of bed leaving the women to their own devices. Simpleton pulls out her video camera from her bag and starts production of the two of them in bed.



Flame in the meantime, talking to his agent Guy (Ernie Camaraderie), is seen in the video holding his privates walking back and forth shouting expletives. (Certainly not the picture of the boy next door.) Guy tells him it’s all a misunderstanding and he will set the course on the right track.



Finished, Flame throws the phone into bed and shouts his trademark “Flame on”.



A cat and mouse game ensues. As Flame is occupied with Righteous, Simpleton takes her camera and puts it into her bag. Righteous keeps one eye on Simpleton and one on Flame. When Simpleton goes to the bathroom Righteous takes the camera out of her bag and places it into hers. (Why does this always happen to celebrities!?)



Righteous then goes into the bathroom. Simpleton coming out asks Flame for a few dollars for carfare.

“No.”



Simpleton, slightly hurt, tells Righteous she’ll meet her down in the lobby.



Righteous walks over to Flame and apologizes for not finishing what she started. She says she’s getting married. “This is probably the last time you see me. Take care. I will always love you.”

Flame thows the empty orange half at her backside.



On his way to the game Flame chats on camera with sportswriter Carson Fearsom (Andrew Nurotie) about Andre “The Great ” (a European All Star Power Forward) Fearsome says, “Andre wants to put the Flame out tonight. And to show no hard feelings Andre has invited Flame to join him for chicken wings at his favorite restaurant, KFC.” Magnanimously Flame states Andre has used an unfortunate choice of words and that he will take the high road on this one, besides no one puts out “The Flame – Flame on, baby!”



In the meantime Radical Dave and Stuart Nengale (Arthur Sandbar) are having a conversation in a room very similar to Flames. Nengale tells Radical Dave that negotiations have stalled, lawyers are threatening to sue, fights for years to come. And it is here we find that Radical Dave has taken over “You’re First” a multibillion-dollar insurance company.



Radical Dave hands Nengale a packet of information and tells him to distribute the information to his sources. Nengale says the press will be notified; the sources are confirmed and the recipients are salivating.



Radical Dave laughs at the fact they will get Flame at bargain basement price. “If we decide we want him at all. It’s a short matter of time before the public is outraged and “ moral” clause will be invoked. “He’s had his piece of the pie. It’s time for somebody else to eat.”



Nengale walks out of the hotel room as Guy walks in, all smiles. Radical Dave passes an envelope to Guy. Guy smiles and leaves when Simpleton and Righteous arrive. Simpleton is carrying a baseball bat.

While talking to the girls, Radical puts a move on the girls and then pulls out a couple of more envelopes and hands it to the women. Righteous, counting it, tells Radical that he has shortchanged her. Simpleton throws the money back into his face and holds the bat on her shoulders.



Radical Dave takes the money and gives it back saying they are both in this already. “Short change? – Rough economy!” Besides Righteous will need it when she finds out her bi-sexual fiancé is cheating on her.



Simpleton swings her bat into the lampshade. Simpleton tells him that maybe he doesn’t want the “pudding proof” we have.



Righteous suggests Radical Dave he can have the video rights for twenty grand.



Simpleton informs Righteous to mind her own business and they subsequently fight over the camera in her purse. And as they are doing so Radical Dave shouts $5,000, $7,000, $9,000 etc., and as they are fighting Righteous falls over the bed and Simpleton takes her bag and start beating it with a bat.

Righteous composes herself and tells Simpleton, “It’s the wrong bag.” She hands Radical Dave the camera. Righteous takes the envelope splits the money in half.



Meanwhile, Flame is holding a bucket of KFC wings inside the bus. 6’ 11” Andre “The Great” (Darin Bell) walks in, looks at him, laughs, and takes a wing. Flame says “I know you don’t like it hot. Here’s a wet napkin. I got you 40 wings one for each point I scored on you tonight.” They sit and have a couple of wings discussing fame and fortune as they come to know it when Carson Fearsom interrupts Flame to tell him there’s a story out on him on the AP newswire.



Flame pulls out his iphone and finds the story as Carson is repeatedly asking questions: Is it true?

“It’s Fiction.” Flame says.



Flame takes his iphone and starts texting everyone he knows including his press people. The messages appear on the wall as he texts and sends. He runs to his hotel room to see Simpleton and Righteous coming out. He pushes them into the room, claiming “It’s Fiction! It’s Fiction!” and as he does this he looks at the big screen to see his body beaming out to the world as he is shouting obscenities! It’s Fiction!



This is an amazing cast. Flawless in execution and motion. They are always keeping you on your toes as to what they will do next. Morals are thrown out the window and objectives keep you guessing until the final twisting conclusion.



J. Weller has written a play that explains a core of the human condition. Explorations of a life maybe ripped off of the headlines of today. If fact chose your professional sport, those people are not hard to find or suspend when life choices take them in a direction they may not want to explore.



Galloway’s direction of this cast is pretty amazing. It’s not often you see this kinds of cast with raw sexual emotions displayed in full glory.



No one under 18 will be admitted (expect to be carded) and no one over 18 with strong moral convictions will be admitted as well. (Not sure how they are going to enforce this.)

It’s Fiction! Fiction.

Copyright 2010.

Why Torture is Wrong, And the People Who Love Them by Christopher Durang

The Wacky World of Christopher Durang

by Joe Straw

Probably the only person who will be held accountable for torture in the United States today is Christopher Durang. It’s only fitting given that in this west coast premier of his new play there are abductions, torture, assaults, mutilations and implied threats against the theatre going audience. It is an assault from Durang’s twisted and demented mind in this gun filled night at the theatre.

And clearly, Durang, should be prosecuted under theatre law article number, um well, I’m sure there is one. It shouldn’t be hard to get a memo from the Justice Department.

Why Torture is Wrong And The People Who Love Them at the Stellar Adler Theatre is presented at The Blank Theatre Company and directed by Daniel Henning. It is funny, disturbing, and wacky.

Torture is a disturbing concept that doesn’t have a lot of laughs attached to it. And, by the way, it’s only torture if you do it. It’s enhanced interrogation techniques if we do it. Also, it’s not really torture unless there’s organ failure (ask John Yoo about this one). What an awe inspiring and hilarious concept!

Also, it’s a known fact that when you attach a label to a group of people (Savages and terrorists come to mind.) you can kill them with little or no remorse. It’s true.

In this play, Felicity (Rhea Seehorn) awakens in a cheap hotel room in the arms of a man, Zamir (Sunil Malhotra). She has been drugged and raped. (Is this a terrorist act?) Ah, but Felicity discovers that she married Zamir the previous night, so, technically, this doesn’t fall under any known legal statutes. (Actually it is illegal, but why quibble about small details.) And, wanting an annulment, she discovers that Zamir (an admitted Irishman, eh hem) is demented and violent threatening to knock her teeth out. (Or maybe that’s the charming characteristic of another culture.)

Felicity enlists the help of her mother Luella (Christine Estabrook) who is a whacked out theatergoer who can only relate to the members of her family by way of scenes from the theatre and besides she is off in her own world. Zamir enters the pallor, and labels Felicity’s mother as Mrs. RazzyWazzy for reasons not quite entirely known.

Later, Felicity’s father, Leonard (Mike Genovese) a die-hard gun-toting conservative enters the room and finds out Felicity has married Zamir. Leonard pulls a gun, which leads to Zamir pulling his phone threatening to dial a number which would blow them all to smithereens. (Gun versus phone, which one is faster?)

Calmer notions prevail when Luella invites everyone into the breakfast nook for French toast.

At the breakfast nook Leonard talks about his butterfly collection. It is a hearty discussion of a man with a beautiful hobby about beautiful creatures that inhabit the earth. He also takes the sinister pleasure in sticking pins through their hearts because he says, “Butterflies don’t have hearts.” (Butterflies, in fact, have two hearts.) The discussions angrily turns to Jane Fonda and which leads Leonard to put a gun to Zamir's head and threatens to blow his brains out like “that picture from the Vietnam war.”

Luella gets him to eat his French toast instead.

Later, referring to Zamir, Leonard tells Felicity, “You let Daddy take care of this.”

Leonard calls Hildegarde (Catherine Hicks) his sidekick for help. Her code name is Scooby Do, because everyone knows if you’re going to torture someone it’s best to have a comic book code name. (And joyfully this makes the unpleasant, pleasant.)

Hildegarde comes into his butterfly office where we find that butterflies are his euphemism for assault rifles. Those rifles blanket the walls of his study. As Leonard holds his assault rifle Hildegarde caresses the barrel (another euphemism) and immediately looses her panties. Leonard, all business, can’t bear to look and tells her to pull them up because they have business to do. (“Make love not war” are the words implied in this distracting detail.)

Meanwhile, Felicity, is in a bar drowning her troubles served by the wacky voice/narrator/Looney Tunes (Alec Mapa) when she meets up with Reverend Mike (Nicholas Brendon). Mike notices her and tells her that he married her and Zamir. “You were nodding off,” he tells her about the wedding ceremony in response to whether she was a willing participant. Zamir enters the bar to find Felicity and Reverend together, slightly jealous, Felicity leaves.

Zamir and Mike speak about a porno films he wants to make. Reverend Mike is a porn-again Christian and thinks the relationship between church and sex is more than okay. Zamir, needing the money, agrees to star in his porno film “The Big Bang” but only if he wears a mask. (A man of impeccable scruples.) Unbeknownst to them Hildegarde is in the next booth getting the goods on both of them but misinterprets their conversation as a terrorist strike on eastern cities.

When the two men confront Hildegarde she falls tripping on her panties and fearing for her life maces them, reports back to Leonard, and the fun of abduction, torture, and mutilations begins.

Reading a lot about our current history and not forgetting finds this play uncomfortable and hard to laugh at.

This is an exceptional cast, albeit trying a little too hard at times, but nevertheless exceptional. Brendon, as the pornographer priest, gave this play a bundle of calm when events got completely out of hand.

Estabrook, as Luella, gives the impressions that because you are innocent you won’t need to worry about the events of the day, just let it go, ohmmm!

Genovese is just wonderfully scary noting there are a lot of Leonards out there just waiting to take over if need be. And when he turned the assault rifle toward the audience and threatened to wipe out the imaginary crowd (us), beads of perspiration fell.

Hicks is delightful as Hildegarde. It takes a real woman to play with panties down around her ankles for most of the play.

Malhotra is an exceptional actor. The core of his character does not change but in the end he is willing to try life another way.

Alec Mapa needs work on his imitations but is a very fine actor. Can’t figure out what he was doing in this play. He is a fine cabaret act in need of a cabaret.

Seehorn as Felicity, beautiful in her red evening dress, is quirky, and seems to absorb the madness around her. Her character has an extremely strong constitution. Not many women could stand the effects of the torturous people around, her father, her mother, her husband, and her priest. She seems to accept this life as relatively normal. If only she could call on a higher source.

Daniel Henning, the director, does a wonderful job keeping it all together and moving the action along. Durang’s seems to change direction near the end of the play and we discover that although we can change the circumstances of how things come about, we really can’t change the core of the human soul.

Wonderful Set Design by Jeff G. Rack and Property Master by Michael O’Hara in the Stellar Adler Theatre complex at Hollywood and Highland. And if you haven’t been to this theatre there is easy and inexpensive parking in the complex across the street for just two dollars. The show is playing through March 14.

“You don’t have to be your father.” It is a line in the play that rang wonderfully true. Change happens in a moment and if we don’t change we are doomed to repeat this ugly chapter.

Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

Godot Screams For Liberation

By Joe Straw

They sleep without resting, hunger without the pain, fight the insects that crawl through the crevices of their body, and laugh without smiling, all under globelike bowlers that are thrust upon their heads.

Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett and directed by Andrew J. Traister at A Noise Within Theatre in Glendale is a magnificent production about waiting for the inevitable that never comes.

It is an exhausting existential nightmare, a dream gone awry, a road nearly followed, and an entry into the sacred hall of nothingness until, at last, the journey comes to an end. Only to discover - the end - is the beginning.

On this journey, and at the end of the road, they find themselves in a vacuum of a non- sustaining relationship. They exist because they say they do and ultimately it is a quest to stop and find a moment of reason for their being.

It is a dream about having to make water and finding every little drain willing to accept the humanly excretions only to feel the pressure of needing to go again and again until you wake, and go. But they do not awaken. If indeed they are asleep. If life is without purpose they are as good as dead and waiting for someone, like GODot, to come and get them.

The characters in Waiting for Godot Vladimir (Robertson Dean) and Estragon (Joel Swetow) never wake up and live to replay the same events day after day. They have missed something in their lives and are never able to move on. For some odd reason they haven’t found their reason for being. Their dreams are not satisfied leaving them in this sorry predicament. Life is not much more than a catch phrase of passing time and living to push the living around in the cell they occupy.

The play tells us they’ve been together for a long time.

Vladimir: Hand in hand from the top of the Eiffel Tower, among the first. (That would be 1889.)

They are educated men but now they are the victims of hard times.

Vladimir has to constantly remind Estragon where he has been and why they can’t leave, while at the same time Estragon wants to move on thinking they would be better going off on their own separate ways. It is a relationship that gathers no ground and doesn’t move beyond the length of their waiting area.

To break up the monotony of two people going nowhere they think they encounter Godot.

Estragon: Is that him?

Vladimir: Who?

Estragon: (trying to remember the name). Er…

Vladimir: Godot?

Estragon: Yes.

Pozzo: I present myself: Pozzo.

Vladimir: (to Estragon). Not at all!

Estragon: He said Godot.

Vladimir: Not at all!

Pozzo (Mitchell Edmonds) and Lucky (Mark Bramhall) are bound together in a relationship which is much more wretched than those of our tragic heroes, Vladimir and Estragon.

And they seem to be longer along in their relationship. While Vladimir and Estragon have an unbreakable bond formed by an invisible force, a rope holds Pozzo and Lucky together.

The rope around Lucky’s neck has created unspeakable sores. The obese Pozzo holds the rope, calls Lucky a pig, and makes him wait on him hand and foot. Opening his chair, bringing his whip, putting on a coat, it is a degrading master-slave relationship that Lucky seems to accept, a fait acompli, but is saddened when this relationship breaks down around the other components – namely Vladimir and Estragon.

Pozzo, nearly at the end of his journey, starts loosing his materials things, which suddenly and mysteriously disappear: his vaporizer, and his pipe. Is it foreshadowing the end of his journey? And, indeed, he has lost a great deal more when he arrives in the second act, as a blind man and with a shorter rope. And Lucky has lost his ability to speak.

Owen Sholar plays the boy who apologizes to Vladimir that Godot won’t be coming today, “…but surely to-morrow” thereby giving hope to the hopeless.

Dean is magnificent as Vladimir. Last seen in Crimes and Punishment, Dean manages to respectively wear the costume of Vladimir with grace and dignity. Fighting hard to get his way he manages to stay the course that takes him into obliquity. Dean needs to find the rapture in this piece. But, nevertheless, it was a journey of unspeakable pleasure.

Swetow is an actor that grows on you. Slightly disingenuous by his actions in the beginning (taking off his boots) but Swetow becomes more warming as the moments pass on and this culminates into a very nice performance.

Edmonds as Pozzo was enjoyable to watch. Despicable and wonderfully irascible. He carries his rope of fame as long as someone is willing to pull him along and take his commands.

Bramhall as Lucky, with not much to say until he is asked, is a witness to his own demise. He floats with the weights of his master’s deeds until he falls. Bramhall plays the part beautifully dripping saliva on cue and watering the bare dry ground he inhabits.

Traister, as director, has moved the actors into cautious moments of irreverent beauty. It is a straight on interpretation. Unnatural at times in moving the relationships along and not really making his definitive mark in this existential play. But, nevertheless, a very nice job.

Scenic Design was by Michael C. Smith and it served its purpose. The Original Costume Design by Angela Balogh Calin was delightful.

A Noise Within run by Founders Julia Rodriguez-Elliott and Geoff Elliott is a grand theatre about to break ground on a new $15,000,000 theatre. For 18 years this theatre has had an unwavering commitment to the preservation of classical theatre and provided superior educational opportunities to students.

www.anoisewithin.org.

Contributions please call 818-265-7959

11, September by Paul Kampf

By Joe Straw

Chaos is a science that offers a way of seeing order and pattern where formerly only the random, the erratic, the unpredictable, in short the chaotic – had been observed. The San Francisco Chronicle.

Remembering the chaotic events of 9/11 is an emotional endeavor that takes you to places you may not want to go. You Tube can be a constant reminder of the events from that day if you are so inclined to view. For most of us, it remains clear, like it was yesterday. Those who don’t remember or have selective memories generally fall under the category of government officials as they pour out revisionist history like milk into a glass.

11, September written by Paul Kampf and produced by Breadline Productions is an exciting production with fantastic performances and is now playing at the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles through February 7, 2010.

This is the story about a divorced mathematician, Martin Healy (Paul Kampf) an American who is in town (from London) to give lectures at New York University. He lectures on the mathematical probability of three towers falling from fires created by the jets that slammed into two of the buildings. There are truths he wants to disclose.

Only he has a problem, he’s done this so many times he’s hesitant about discussing the events of the day. There are personal distractions that weigh heavily on him during the course of his lecture. He stops, apologizes, and leaves the podium.

Later that day he meets Angela Madison (Liz Rebert) who invites him up to her one room flat for a round of chaos under the sheets (pun intended). Her swagger in her comfortable surroundings begs for an immediate response from her willing accomplice. She starts taking off her clothes in front of this stranger, steps behind a sheer screen, and slides into something alluring, soft on the hands, and cool to the touch.

Healy, the mathematician and chaos lecturer, is taken aback. This has only happened to him once before. He is a little uncomfortable by the speed of this event.

Angela’s phone starts to ring. She doesn’t answer it and it is this moment Healy starts asking the questions. The answers are not yet provided.

They make it.

And as Martin sleeps, Angela is in the bathroom reading to someone on the phone part of a Martin’s journal or diary.

Later in the morning, Angela, in a foul mood, lights a cigarette, waits for Martin to get up and then tells him to get out. There is something really not quite right with this woman.

Puzzled by the current circumstances, Martin does not take her rejection, and instead invites Angela to breakfast. The phone starts ringing. Angela tells Martin it’s her crazy boyfriend (one bit of truth out) and he will hurt both of them if he doesn’t leave. Martin won’t take no for an answer and takes her out. They leave and when they come back we find that he’s gotten punched in the eye and has a couple of busted ribs. But, he has won the fight.

Angela said it turned her on.

They make it, again.

There are a lot of ways this indecorous couple become attracted to each other. One is fate the other is a point of reference. They share a similar past that cannot be revealed. A future that cannot be shared. It takes them both to hell and forever changes their lives.

The acting is strong. Kampf as Healy is quite good. Kind of dorky at times (check out the dance moves), but a strong character actor. His moments at the lecturn were brilliant.

Rebert, as Angela, is a remarkable actress. Moving in and out of the shadows of her own self-consciousness. She is flaky one minute, loving the next, demanding, supportive, gracious and hateful. She lives for a moment of truth, a dramatic action that eventually destroys her life and the lives around her.

Kampf, the writer, takes us on a pretty good journey. Although, somewhere in the middle, (the scene with her in the rocker and him on the bed) gets a little convoluted and gets confusing. There are a number of chaotic truths that lead to the perfect final resolution: or does it?

Each one of them has a secret truth that is revealed during the course of the play. There are a number of truths in the play. The play plays out like many mini episodes that demand a commercial break. Find out a truth, cut to a commercial, get some more truth. Still, the play is pretty good.

The Breadline Group has moved recently from Chicago to Los Angeles. Welcome.