THEATRE PREVIEW
FEBRUARY 2002
Published in Décor & Style Magazine
Ahhhh,
V-Day. A time for hearts and flowers and chocolates… and vaginas. Okay,
hold on a minute, before you jump to any conclusions. There are two V-Days this month -- the traditional
Hallmark-inspired one, and the one that relates to The Vagina Monologues.
.
Every February, playwright Eve Ensler makes
available to colleges and theaters, at no cost whatsoever, her acclaimed,
provocative theater piece, The Vagina
Monologues, the show based on her interviews with hundreds of women of
different ages and nationalities, about body image and body parts. It started
three years ago as a one-woman performance piece and expanded to multiple,
3-person international productions, with ever-changing celeb casts in New York,
L.A. and London. Ensler has reshaped her frequently funny, direct, often brutal
and harrowing piece into a V-Day Worldwide Campaign to raise awareness and
funding for the prevention of violence against women and children.
There are professional, for-profit touring
companies, two of which have come to San Diego, and last year, Sledgehammer
Theatre mounted the first local production of the Vagina Monologues. Ensler's once-yearly gratis offering to the
world theater community is for non-profits only, and it comes with several
stipulations: the piece can include any number of women, but none can be paid;
it must be played in 90-100 minutes, without intermission; there can only be
one performance, some time between February 8 and March 8; and all proceeds
must go to organizations that help women in crisis. This time, she's added the
strong suggestion that productions give a percentage of their take to the cause
of the Women of Afghanistan. She's also added a new monologue from an Afghani woman.
So, well-respected local actors Linda Castro and
Linda Libby jumped at the opportunity. They're producing and directing the
show, which appears at the Lyceum Theatre in Horton Plaza on February 19 only
(619-544-1000). The wide-ranging cast of 20 includes several actors, a costume
designer, a theater managing director, a restaurant owner, a writer, a
professor, a pre-adolescent and a critic (that would be me). Castro and Libby
felt that more women onstage would more graphically demonstrate the full spectrum
of age, culture and opinion about gender, sex and violence against women.
Proceeds will go to the YWCA Domestic Abuse Shelter, the Rape Crisis Center,
the Sexual Assault Response Team, and the Worldwide V-Day Campaign, in support
of the women of Afghanistan.
Still
female but a lot less provocative and political, the long-running, girl-group
musical, Beehive, makes a return
visit to the Theatre in Old Town (beginning 2/1, with an open-ended run; 619-688-2494). A little like a feminine Forever Plaid, this '60s musical revue
is, however, less nerdy and makes no attempt at a plotline. Basically, it
celebrates a decade of gal-rock and female harmony (of musical and other
varieties).
Moving
on from hairdos to more heady concerns… the Globe is mounting Harold Pinter's Betrayal, which probes the depths of a
love relationship, though the lovers are married to other people.
Groundbreaking when it first appeared, the incisive, disturbing play moves
backward in time, exploring how the couple came together and came apart (on the
Cassius Carter Centre Stage, February 3-March 16; 619-239-2255).
Next
door, in the Globe itself, is the California premiere of the plucky,
award-winning, two-person comedy, Stones
in His Pockets. The Marie Jones play is set in a small Irish village which
is overrun by a Hollywood film crew; dozens of locals (all played by two
performers) try to get in on the act (February 3-March 16; 619-239-2255). We're
pretty lucky to get the current London cast, Bronson Pinchot and Christopher
Burns, guided by the show's original director, Ian McElhinney. Nice little coup (and season opener) for the
Globe.
From
Brits getting a handle on Americans, we move to San Diegans getting a handle on
Handel. The San Diego Opera is presenting its first-ever opera by George
Frederic Handel, most familiar for his oratorio, Messiah. But the prolific 18th century composer wrote 46
operas, including Ariodante, a
Baroque spectacle about love on the rocks. It's a rather international affair
-- written by a German, sung in Italian, with English supertitles -- that
features elaborate arias and an elaborate setting, a fairy-tale medieval
Scottish kingdom. The title character is a prince in love with the princess of
Scotland. A jealous rival plots to besmirch her reputation, and after a
neck-snapping series of plot-twists, duels, feigned assignations and mistaken
identities, the princess' honor is reinstated and love blooms eternal. Playing
the title (male) role is acclaimed mezzo-soprano Vivica Genaux, who last wowed
local audiences in The Barber of Seville
and The Italian Girl in Algiers..
Fresh from Covent Garden and the Met, John Copley directs (February 9-17; 619-232-7636).
Speaking
of extravaganzas, Sledgehammer Theatre is mounting another of its
monstrously
huge, world premiere collaborative creations, its fourth in as many years. The Universal Monster Show was conceived
by designer David Lee Cuthbert, written by Tim West and directed by Kirsten
Brandt. It takes us back to Hartford, 1944, when 10,000 people were crowded
into a circus tent (Ringling Bros was, at that time, called the United Monster
Show). The tent, which was waterproofed with an unfortunate concoction of
paraffin and gasoline, caught fire and burned to the ground in less than ten
minutes. The exits were blocked by chutes for the lions, trapping thousands of
people. Miraculously, only 167 were killed, but it was a horrific event which
prompted the country's first class action lawsuit. The event seems more
relevant than ever, a portrait of heroism during disaster. Non-linear and
presentational in its structure (the actors are obviously telling a story to
the audience), the piece jumps forward and backward ("in and out of
time," as the writer puts it) and will challenge viewers with its
"progressive esthetic." Sledgehammer productions are ever-inventive,
always unpredictable, and definitely worth a look-see (February 16-March 17;
619-544-1484).
Also
worth considering are the theater events on college campuses.
Last
year, UCSD had some of the strongest offerings of any company. This month,
the
Department of Theatre and Dance has a prodigious schedule, including three
productions: 2 By Shepard, a pair of
early one-acts by the prolific actor/writer Sam Shepard (Icarus' Mother and Action,), whose imaginative work has mapped the
interior and exterior landscape of American society (February 6-16;
858-534-4574). Director Les Waters is, thankfully, back after his knockout
productions of bash [NOTE: typically written in lower case] last
year and Big Love, which went on to a
successful New York run. The Marriage of
Figaro is a contemporary adaptation
(by humorous playwright Richard Nelson) of Pierre Beaumarchais' 18th
century comic masterpiece about love, lust, jealousy, masters and servants,
disguises and happily-ever-after. New York Public Theatre associate artist
Loretta Greco directs what the Village Voice called "…a pleasure to see,
to talk about, to remember" (February 13-23). On the dark side, there's
John Webster's 17th century revenge tragedy, The Duchess of Malfi (February 20-March 2), a suspenseful tale of
obsession, love, deceit and death.
SDSU
is staying on the sunny side of the street this month, with Anything Goes, a hugely popular and
entertaining boy meets/loses/gets girl 1930s musical, replete with unforgettable
music and lyrics by Cole Porter. You'll surely recognize terrific tunes like
"You're the Top," "I Get a Kick Out of You,"
"Friendship," "It's De-Lovely" and the title song. Mishaps,
mayhem and romance aboard the SS American; goofy but lovable (February 22-March
1; 619-594-6884).
While
we're on the subject of love (this is
February, after all), you might want to wallow in Lovesickness at Sushi Performance & Visual Art, a heartfelt
dance theater work inspired by the parallel beginnings of psychoanalysis and
cinema. Under the direction of Rosanna Gamson, ten dancers, actors, musicians
and visual artists create what the L.A. Times called "a neat little
valentine to desire -- to constantly thwarted desire…inventive and
rhapsodic." (February 14-16; 619-235-8468).
I
recently gave my own little valentine to the theater community, with the 5th
annual KPBS Patté [Note: accent over the
'e'] Awards for Theater Excellence "cause you ain't chopped
liver"). It's my payback to local theatermakers for their year-long labor
of love. At a gala event on January 14, in the KPBS Shiley studios, I presented
my Best of the Best, a total of 27 awards in 8 categories, culled from the 120
productions I'd seen in San Diego in 2001.
Herewith
are some of the highlights of a memorable year of theater.
2001 KPBS Patté Awards
Outstanding Ensemble
The Beauty Queen of Leenane
San Diego Repertory
Theatre
The Laramie Project
La Jolla Playhouse
Jeffrey
Diversionary Theatre
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
San Diego Repertory
Theatre
Outstanding Performance
Ron Choularton
Breaking the Code
Diversionary Theatre
Robert Dahey
Amelia Earhart, Lost and Found
6th @ Penn
Theatre
Jefferson Mays
I Am My Own Wife
La Jolla Playhouse
Sean Murray
Man of La Mancha
North Coast Repertory
Theatre
Rosina Reynolds
Long Day's Journey into Night
Renaissance Theatre
Company
Outstanding Direction
Suzanne Agins
Life's a Dream
UCSD Theatre & Dance
Tim Irving
Jeffrey
Diversionary Theatre
Des McAnuff & Kate
Whoriskey
The Collected Works of Billy the Kid
La Jolla Playhouse
Charlie Oates
10 Human Beings
UCSD Theatre & Dance
Outstanding Production
Bash
UCSD
Theatre & Dance
Lot's Daughters
Diversionary Theatre
The Mad Dancers
San Diego Repertory
Theatre
Twelfth Night
The Globe Theatres
I also presented three well-deserved Special
Awards:
Theater Angel Award: Judith Harris & Robert
Singer
McDonald Playwriting Award: Annie Weisman (whose
funny and wildly inventive Be Aggressive
premiered at the La Jolla Playhouse)
Shiley Lifetime Achievement Award: Jack O'Brien,
who recently celebrated his 20th year at the Globe Theatres
Here's hoping 2002 is as wide-ranging and
entertaining. Let's compare notes at the end of the year!
______________
©2002 Patté Productions
Inc.