(Not
that gold is as good as peace, love and understanding. But I
progress… )
A
funny thing happened at the Downtown Playhouse the other night.
It was called "The Red Line Chronicles," a slice of
commuter life type thing that was very well done and quite interesting.
The drama was written and directed by Michael Beubis,
who co-founded the company.
Tim
Keating's set design was beautiful in its bold simplicity,
representing a station along the Metro Red Line. The audience
was "on track," so to speak, and consisted of 4 rows
of about 10 seats, with a good view for everyone. The performance
I attended was extra seating room only, as chairs were placed
on the side.
Stretched
from one end of the stage to the other were flat overhead lights
that gave a great sense of longitudinal latitude. The coolest
thing was, the musicians were in the middle of the back of the
stage, behind a black fabric that made a great effect when the
light shone on them from behind it. Music was written and performed
by The Elliott Cane Trio (half of the sextet). The set
of six vignettes (off Vignes St.) showed some interesting interactions
that might happen in Los Angeles while people wait for a train.
Scenes
included: a high-maintenance woman wants to leave her ne'er-do-well
husband, an organized woman tries to set her hippie sister straight,
a wanna-be yuppie wants to go uptown but art doesn't get it,
an attentive father tries to get through to his kid before the
wife takes him away, former classmates meet again (What have
you been doing with your life? --Sabotaging it), and a religious
son-of-a-preacher man tries to restrain his profane mother.
The
casting was excellent or the acting was great. Maybe it was
both. The actors fit the characters so well, it was as if they
weren't even acting. And that's the idea, right? (Some of the
dialogue may have been a bit direct, but that didn't matter,
as it was earnest and honest.) My favorite characterization
was that of the father (Anthony Montes) trying to reach
his son. The youngster (Kevin Elias) was excellent in
his first role, and evidently he also contributed good dialogue
suggestions. (In that scene was also a brief appearance by Mayra
Rodriguez who did an excellent job as stage manager as everything
seemed to flow effortlessly. Lighting by Cecil Schmidt
and sound by Brad Ellis also worked well.) But all of
the scenes contained good acting and memorable portrayals.
Along with Michael Beubis, The Downtown
Playhouse was founded with Christine Lear in 1991 "with
the goal of creating a company of theater artists who could
combine their diverse talents to produce quality productions
in the downtown area." It has put on over 20 plays to acclaim
in the L.A. Times and other local papers, made an award-winning
feature film, Fault Lines, and is currently in preproduction
for its' second film, The Long Fall.
Cheers,
Tom
Minkler
coming
next time: Part II
of the North Side "Little Pedro's Blue Bongo"
notes:
The Playhouse also holds an ongoing acting workshop based
on the Meisner technique, including scene nights for invited
guests. The location includes facilities (including a darkroom
and full dance studio) used by City Hearts: Kids Say "Yes"
to the Arts. City Hearts is a non-profit organization that has
offered free visual and performing arts classes to children
in Los Angeles since 1985. It was founded by Sherry and Bob
Jason based on the belief that "…the discipline and
healing of classes, workshops and performance experiences in…the
Arts are the most powerful tools to communicate with and…provide
positive role models, enrichment and inspiration for our children…at
risk from…the cycle of poverty, neglect, abuse, homelessness,
delinquency and violence."
The Downtown Playhouse: 213.626.6906.
929 East 2nd Street, Suite 205 (on the corner with door on Vignes
St.)
City Hearts: 310.455.2898
Tom
Minkler Out and About Archives
