Working Barn Productions presents the West Coast premiere of A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney.

Walt Disney, as a creator and business man, was a controversial figure. His legacy, however, continues up to this day. What playwright Lucas Hnath tries to do here is give Walt Disney a human dimension that gets him closer to simple mortals like all of us. The play is written as a screenplay-within-a play, which works effectively to present Walt Disney as a storyteller worth turning his own life into a movie, directing his own narrative.

The audience is presented with a megalomaniac Walt Disney (Kevin Ashworth), in constant conflict with his brother Roy (Thomas Piper), who tries to bring Walt to his senses, with little success. There is so much contention between the two brothers that things get physical at some point. Of course, the conflict is not only with his brother, Walt also starts to butt heads with Disney’s board, his daughter Diane (Brittney Bertier), and Diane’s husband Ron (Cory Washington). Yes, the screenplay is all about Walt, whether he’s right or not. All of the scenes in this screenplay touch on the controversies during his lifetime: Employees and their demand for better pay, his expectations about continuing his legacy through Diane’s kids, his obsession with building a city instead of just a park, his conflict with his wife, his distrust toward his brother Roy, and ultimately, his extropian ideas about cryonics and the future.

The play is blocked with a minimalist set design and lighting, with most of the action coming from the script itself. Lucas Hnath’s writing and Peter Richard’s direction keeps the dynamics of story moving forward at an exciting pace. The humor, the conflict, and the sadness of Walt’s demise is so engaging that the 75 minutes duration of the play feels so much shorter.  The egocentric personality of Walt Disney, but also his extensive legacy, draws the audience into a fascinating journey to the epicenter of the magic kingdom, the happiest place on earth, if only we wouldn’t have to die so soon.

A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney

Written by Lucas Hnath

Directed by Peter Richards

Produced by Racquel Lehrman, Theatre Planners

Odyssey Theatre
2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90025

Performances: March 26 – May 1:
• Fridays at 8 p.m.: April 1, April 8, April 15, April 22, April 29
• Saturdays at 8 p.m.: March 26 (Opening Night), April 2, April 9, April 16, April 23, April 30
• Sundays at 2 p.m.: March 27, April 3, April 10, April 17, April 24, May 1

For tickets: https://www.onstage411.com/newsite/show/play_info.asp?show_id=6109

In Hooded or Being Black for Dummies, the fear of being arrested is a latent remainder of the pervasive view on race, no matter the social and economic status of a person of color.

Marquis (Jalen K. Stewart) is a black adopted child whose parents are white and live in a posh neighborhood identified in the play as Achievement Heights. Marquis attends a private school and his best friends are Fielder (Ezekiel Goodman) and Hunter (Vincent Doud), two white kids with unique views and family issues. In an incident where the three of them were trespassing, Marquis is the one who gets arrested and taken to the police station. When Marquis’ mom Debra (Tasha Ames), who is also a lawyer, gets to the station and confronts Officer Borzoi (Robert Hart) to set her son free, she sees Tru (Brent Grimes), a black kid who is also detained. After learning of Tru’s situation, she feels compelled to defend him and demands Officer Borzoi to let him go as well. She then takes Tru home so Marquis can have a black friend to teach him more of the black lifestyle.

As both start talking about their respective situation and their points of view, it becomes clear to Tru that because of Marquis’ white upbringing, he lacks of a black identity. They exchange opinions, and while Marquis is influenced by Nietzsche, Tru is influenced by 2Pac. It is here where the story turns even more intense, as Tru gets to meet Marquis friends Hunter and Fielder, not to mention their love interests Prairie (Tasha Ames), Meadow (Clare Margaret Donovan), and Clementine (Betsy Stewart, on Sunday’s performance, it was played by McKenna Slone), all of them with their own ideas on privilege and race. It is now Tru’s job to teach the boys how to get the girls.

Tru’s manual on how to be black is intended for Marquis to read, but instead, it lands on the hands of Hunter, who takes the material very seriously, so much that now he becomes a black kid trapped on a white body, much to Meadow’s confusion and amusement. The whole transformation is a hilarious representation of what many call cultural appropriation. In this play, however, the transformation ends in tragedy.

The play explores issues related to privilege, social disadvantage, racial identity, pop culture, love in the teenage years, and the good intentions of people wanting to understand their fellow human beings, no matter on what side they happen to be. Playwright Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm shows his stellar writing skills in dealing with deep subject matter, all while making things humorous and thoughtful. The direction of Ahmed Best makes it easy to translate the text and subtext into engaging actions that convey the powerful message of the story. This play is a highly entertaining gem not to be missed. The casting is a group of very talented actors with performances that will make you think, laugh, and appreciate the excellence of the local LA theatre scene.

Hooded or Being Black for Dummies

Atwater Village Theatre

3269 Casitas Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90039

March 12 – April 18, 2022

Tickets: https://www.echotheatercompany.com/hooded-or-being-black-for-dummies/

Apartment Living at the Skylight Theatre is a play that shows how the pandemic changed people’s lives and the challenges of the “stay at home” mandate.

Cassandra (Charrell Mack) and Alex (Gabriel Leyva) live together in an apartment and are about to get married, but soon realized that their goals might not be aligned. Dixon (Andrew Russel) works at a store and lives in an apartment with his mom Easter (Gigette Reyes), who is a nurse at a hospital. Mayisha (Geri-Nikole Love) is Cassandra’s friend and they’re in constant contact via video calls. As the pandemic intensifies, all of the characters’ endurance and relationships are stretched to the limits.

One of the main highlights of the story is the tremendous risks essential workers take to keep things running, oftentimes sacrificing their own safety, as in the case of Dixon’s mom Easter. The characters are forced to live together with others in small spaces for long periods of time, dealing with a disease in loneliness in a hospital where visits are not allowed, and probably one of the most scary sides of the pandemic, having enough time to question our own feelings, priorities, relationships, and face our own demons.

The play takes us on a roller coaster of emotions where dynamic relationships are tested through assumptions, race, love, the uncertainty of a pandemic with no end on sight, and riots in the background to heighten the racial tensions in today’s society. Cassandra questions and is questioned on her relationships with Alex and Mayisha. Dixon faces the new realities and questions his own priorities. A snapshot of the craziness of the pandemic can be reflected on the conversation Cassandra holds with the White Lady (Rachel Sorsa), where assumptions can take the right or the wrong direction, but at the end, it shows a more positive and unexpected result, bringing people together, bonding by the collective hope that better days lie ahead. As Easter assured Cassandra, “Everything will be OK”.

Details:

Apartment Living

Skylight Theatre

1816 1/2 N. Vermont Ave.

Los Angeles, CA 90027

Mar 12 – April 24

Playwright: Boni B. Alvarez

Director: Jon Lawrence Rivera

Tickets: https://ci.ovationtix.com/34914/production/1106744

Saturday Mar 5, 2022 was the world premiere of Celestial Events, a play written, directed, and performed by the IAMA Theatre Company at the Actors Company LA in Hollywood.

The sky has always amazed humans since the beginning of times, and Celestial Events reminds us that, from our perspective, the universe can influence our lives one way or another, specially if Mercury is in retrograde.

In this case, 12 Angelenos with apparently separate lives, are indeed related in different ways, all of this, in the eve of a meteor shower. Joy (Kacie Rogers) has written a thesis, part astronomy, part astrology, and her professor Ralph (Jamie Wollrab) although skeptic at first, becomes intrigued once he starts to read it. As the meteor shower approaches, we are introduced to the rest of the characters, all showing different kinds of conflicts in their lives, but all having a counterpart that serves as encouragement to overcome their fears, insecurities, and resentments. We see people trapped in an elevator, breast pumps, a mother turning into a Goth, a father in a motorcycle, a couple flying in a helicopter to celebrate their divorce to each other, doctors showing human emotions, etc. All in 1 hour and 20 minutes approximately, with creative lighting and chic wardrobe.

As the stories of each of the characters unfold, it’s clear that the meteor shower is a poetic metaphor to something humans have been searching for most of their lives: the meaning of life and the meaning of love. As Gina (Adriana Santos) declares in a poignant moment looking up to the sky as the meteor shower starts to light up the sky, we are light, dust, and magic.

Celestial Events
March 5 – March 14

Written by Deborah S. Craig, Christian Durso, Anna Rose Hopkins, John Lavelle, and Adriana Santos.
Co-Directed by Tom Amandes and Adrian Gonzalez
Starring: Alex Alcheh, Ryan W. Garcia, Tina Huang, Bailey Humiston, Andria Kozica, Melissa Jane Osborne, Kacie Rogers, Adriana Santos, Sonal Shah, Lexi Sloan, Margaux Susi, Jamie Wollrab

Actors Company LA
916 N Formosa Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90046

Tickets: https://iamatheatre.secure.force.com/ticket/#/events/a0O2I00000V3F75UAF

Celestial Events, Now playing

Relationship Killers is a short film that looks into the struggles of a couple once their initial infatuation is over.

The tension between Bravien (Assia Lau’ren) and her partner Bedegraine (Lexsy McKowen) creates many hilarious moments throughout the film. The humor is boosted by the flamboyant personality of the psychoanalyst assistant Too (E. Talley II), who soon will be found doing another job. What is supposed to be a regular therapy session, takes an unexpected turn, specially for the psychoanalyst (Jerry G. Angelo).

This the first installment of the universe called Lethal Ladies, so stay tuned, as there’s more to come. The film was premiered at The Golden State Film Festival at the TCL Chinese Theatres in Hollywood, CA on Feb 26, 2022.

Relationship Killers
Written and directed by Noah A. Waters III
Starring: Assia Lau’ren, Lexsy McKowen, E. Talley II, Jerry G. Angelo, Janet Lopez, and Kadrolsha Ona Carole.

Sometimes, an unrelated event can reflect so much of who we are as society. On The Other Hand, We’re Happy is a play where a couple delves into the options they have once they find out they’re unable to conceive a baby. As they choose to adopt, their own ideas of what’s acceptable or not, become a mirror of who they are and where they stand on many issues.

The stage of the Matrix Theatre allows the audience to get closer to the story and the characters. This is an intense play where playwright Daf James and director Cameron Watson make a great use of the stage to get a more active audience rather than just a passive one. The topics in the play related to gender, health, life experiences, and expectations resonate as rhetoric questions we have probably asked ourselves at some point in our lives and they’re even more pungent and uncomfortable in this era of political correctness. When we face important decisions that will affect the rest of our lives, we question many things to the point where we might get surprised how scared or insecure we are in life.

The intensity of the story is accentuated by the clever use of lighting, sound effects, and kinetics. The stage direction is remarkable, specially with bare minimum props on stage. This is a play where the performances take the story to another level. Rori Flynn playing Abbie/Emma and Christian Telesmar playing Josh/Liam, go from excitement, to insecurity, to sadness with ease, peppering their dialogue with humor to cover a wide spectrum of the conscious experience. Alexandra Hellquist, as Kelly, delivers a fierce and witty performance that feels raw and animalistic, and a subliminal take on the maternal instinct even on the verge of giving away her own daughter for adoption.

On The Other Hand, We’re Happy is a play where love, hope, and redemption intertwine to make us think and make us laugh, no matter what life throws at us.

On The Other Hand, We’re Happy
Playing at the Rogue Machine (in the Matrix Theatre)
7657 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046
(Street parking)
Opening: 8pm on Saturday, February 26, 2022
8pm Fridays, Saturdays, Mondays, 3pm Sundays
Closing: April 10, 2022
Tickets: www.roguemachinetheatre.net

Playwright: Daf James
Directed by: Cameron Watson
Produced by John Perrin Flynn and Justin Okin (A Rogue Machine Theatre Production)

Staring: Rori Flynn (Abbie/Emma), Alexandra Hellquist (Kelly/Tyler), and Christian Telesmar (Josh/Liam).

Detained is an exploration of the challenges some migrants face before, during, and after they’ve been detained by authorities. The play was written by 2021 Lorraine Hansberry Award-winning playwright France-Luce Benson and was conceived and co-created by immigration attorney Judy Rabinovitz. The play is directed by Mark Valdez, winner of the 2021 Zelda Fichandler Award.

The play is based on real life cases of immigrants awaiting deportation while being held at detention facilities. For these immigrants, any mistake, any breaking of the law, no matter how small, can lead to a nightmare. Not only would they be expelled from the US, but they would also come across many challenges once in their country of origin, as some of them were taken to the US in their childhood and the knowledge of their original country is little to none. The case of the foodie, played by Michael Uribes, is a good example.

The professions of these immigrants are as varied as their countries of origin. We hear of a roofer, a veteran, the aforementioned foodie, an immigrant with a mental disorder, etc. The particular cases of these immigrants can be heart-wrenching, but the immigration experience needs to be told in all of its spectrum to be fully understood. The American Dream can mean different things to different people. Even when someone might be living the dream, any past mistake can bring charges that could lead to deportation. In this case, the play stresses the constant fear of many immigrants with criminal records, even non-violent, no matter if they already paid for them.

One of the most striking cases is the veteran who was deployed and came back with post-traumatic stress disorder and other issues as a result not only of war but also of the medical treatment he received in the hands of military doctors. France-Luce Benson and Judy Rabinovitz made sure the excruciating details are not forgotten.

As for the technical details of the production, the set is a remainder of the walls, colors, and sounds of the whole ordeal these immigrants went through. The detention centers, the audiences to hear their fate, the knocking of the door, the voices of the ICE agents, all serve as painful memories that help the audience better understand the process of how the American Dream is shattered one immigrant at a time. The cleaver use of lighting, in some instances very intense, is a striking and powerful reflection of the intensity of the experience for these people. This play might not be for the faint of heart, but is a remainder of the vicissitudes of some immigrants in desperate need and the voice of those legal experts trying to help them.

Details:

Detained
The Fountain Theatre
5060 Fountain Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90029
(corner Fountain & Normandie)
Performances: February 19 – April 10
Fridays at 8 p.m.: Feb. 25; March 4, 11, 18, 25; April 1, 8
Saturdays at 8 p.m.: Feb. 19 (opening night), 26; March 5, 12, 19, 26; April 2, 9
Sundays at 2 p.m.: Feb. 20, 27; March 6, 13, 20, 27; April 3, 10
Mondays at 8 p.m.: Feb. 28; March 7, 14, 21, 28; April 4 (dark Feb. 21)

For tickets:
https://www.fountaintheatre.com/

Cast:
Camila Ascencio
Christine Avila
Liana Arauz
Will Dixon
Jan Munroe
Theodore Perkins
Marlo Su
Michael Uribes

Written by France-Luce Benson
Conceived and co-created by Judy Rabinovitz
Directed by Mark Valdez
Produced by Stephen Sachs, Simon Levy, James Bennett
Executive Producers Joni and Miles Benickes, Diana Buckhantz