A Small Village for Big Bullies: Theatre Commentary

“Lonesome West,” currently in its San Diego premiere during Triad Productions's temporary residence at the 10^th Ave Theatre, refers to the desolate village of Leenane on the Emerald Island’s west coast. The violence of familiarity’s contempt is the substance of Martin McDonagh’s return to the Leenane, a location for a trilogy of plays set in inconsolable detachment. The village community serves as a de facto way dysfunctional family.

Mr. McDonagh has boosted a career writing a trio of plays set over the course of a century in Leenane. The emotional and physical violence of the terrain and the village people serve this disturbing study of a rural community’s isolation governed by its own morality code. For example, dropping a sibling’s bag of crisps is tantamount to throwing down the gauntlet and prompts brother bashing. Murdering a parent is held as a reasonable solution to family conflict. The play’s violence may serve as a faint reminder to some audience’s familial boxing and wrestling.

We meet the Connor brothers as they return home from their father’s funeral: his death occurred under questionable circumstances. The plot unfolds involving the parish priest and the village tart-in-training. Played by Ryan Ross (Coleman) and Bobby Schiefer (Valene) the brothers go head to head with volatile unpredictability without a dusty finish. Both actors bring Leenane’s vocabulary of sociopath dispassionate violence and homicide to the story in a series of combats. The guys rip up the stage, yet never chew the scenery. Brendan Cavalier plays the perpetually frustrated and conflicted Father Welsh and Claire Kaplan as Girleen, the Brother’s object of obsession, balance the youngish cast with torrid portraits.

Director Adam Park’s grueling attention to detail gives “Lonesome West” a healthy ham-fisted punch of Irish linguistic-psychotic comedy that molds the characters in authenticity. The appropriately accurately wrought dialects are difficult to understand, but this works. Hard listening is required to keep up with the play, which pulls the audience further into the work.

Mr. McDonagh places his contemporary black comedy in a 19^th century (at least) cottage which supplies the image of Leenane’s stunted social progress. The cottage’s carbuncled lime washed walls also serve the brother’s fist fights and chair throwing by placing their action in relief. Better yet, this set’s stone walls do not have the look of crudely carved Styrofoam. Kris Kerr’s beautifully distressed cottage design is realistic, even down to its stained sooting for the gritty realism required for the production’s plausibility.

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Fresh-faced Triad continues emerging on the San Diego theatre scene in noteworthy progression. To this end, attendance at the Monday “industry night-off” performance included; Theatre critics Charlene Baldridge, Jeff Smith, Marty Westlin; Compass Theatre’s Founder & Executive Director, Dale Morris; former Globe Education Director turned consultant Raul Moncada and Write Out Loud’s Executive Director and actor Walter Ritter. Whew!

Yep, get the buzz at Triad with your guard down and at Recession prices, too.

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“Lonesome West”

By Martin McDonagh

Director, Adam Park

Triad Productions

10th Avenue Theatre

Downtown San Diego (between Broadway and E St.)

Opened Saturday June 6th, 2009 at 8:00 p.m.
Thursday-Saturday at 8:00 p.m. and Sundays at 5:00 p.m. through July 6th.
$15 General Admission $10 for Students and Military.

With Ryan Ross, Bobby Schiefer, Brendan Cavalier, and Clair Kaplan

http://www.triadprod.com/

Patrick Page Inteview by Thom Vegh

http://www.theatermania.com/san-diego/news/06-2009/patrick-page-knows-cyrano_19511.html

"Bad Night" Premieres at Compass

"Bad Night in a Men’s Room off Sunset Boulevard," per the Compass Theatre media release, "is a funny, gritty and moving exposé of characters struggling with issues of self-acceptance, authenticity and identity."

The yoke of Hollywood celebrity, gender dysphoria and our decade’s popular realization that the roles played by Mom and Dad were, in reality, tragically failed performances are some of the themes explored in "Bad Night," penned by elusive local playwright Ira Bateman-Gold.

JMarcus Newman helms this world premier commissioned by Compass to salute San Diego’s Gay Pride activities. I first met JMarcus when he went by the name of Nonnie Vishner. I cast Nonnie in the rough and tumble first production, "Lunch and Dessert," that sprung Diversionary Theatre into the San Diego Theatre scene, over 20 years ago. Nonnie turned in a strong reliable performance then and he has since continued to fortify San Diego’s small theatre scene over the years and served as a popular photographer for actors. He also wrote, directed and produced his play “MOMS in AMERICA.”

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Espresso Refill: Why did you change your name?

JMarcus Newman: In about 1997 I decided to give it one more "good college try". In order to avoid rejections letters that read "Dear MS. Vishner we have CAREFULLY reviewed your resume."

ER: What is the play about?

JMN: “Bad Night” is a multi-layered exploration of personal truths. For those of us who do theatre, it asks the very daring question, "am I more honest on stage than I am in real life?" Bateman-Gold uses a play within a play construct to explore love and sexuality, familial dysfunction, gorilla and wartime murder, forgotten incest and how these factors influence how we live in the world.

ER: Which was the most difficult role to cast?

JMN: Jake. No, wait, that was pre-cast with the producer, Dale Morris. But that worked out very well because Dale turns in a wide-ranging and committed performance that fans of his will admire.

Each of the characters had his/her unique challenges in casting. There was of course the bottom line difficulty of finding actors who would be willing to appear nude on stage and make love to another man. I think, given the extremely small number of actors who auditioned for this play, that we have put together an incredible ensemble. I don't know whether it is due to this particular company, my approach to directing, or a combination of the two, but these actors have been so great in their exploration of their characters, the homework they have done and the truths on stage that they have committed to. Each of them has taken a giant leap forward in their growth as an actor.

ER: Yes, that is a given. What do you expect an actor to bring rehearsals; the homework that is the practical work, which gives dimension and enriches the character’s stage life in the overall scheme of the play?

JMN: Once an actor understands who the character is, then the only things he can bring to a line, using the actor's equipment of voice and body, is honesty. Respond to the line you've just heard in a way that makes you, the actor, feel as the character would.

ER: Was the playwright participating in the rehearsal process?

JMN: Yes. We got numerous changes. And we accepted them with good humor and professionalism and a great deal of good-natured grumbling.

ER: Opening night can be difficult. Watching a play I wrote or directed, I usually start off standing at the back of the house and slowly move to the street, even when audience is getting it, when the silences and laughs occur at the appropriate times. How do you handle opening nights?

JMN: If there is a seat available I will sit in it and watch. I'm too old to pace. If there are no empty seats, which would be a good thing. I will probably go home (I live nearby) and come back for the Opening Night reception and ask how it went.

When I dabbled in painting during my high school and college years, I decided that once I signed the painting I could no longer work on it and would just have to accept it for what it was. Just before opening night of “Bad Night,” I have a few notes about a script change to give the actors tonight and a suggestion or two about costuming and make-up. Then I am signing off! It is theirs to enjoy and share with our audiences. But I have spies who will tell me whether they change things on their own, something paintings cannot do.

ES: Some new works remain "in process" during their run as a playwright and director continue work on the piece evolving with an audience. You have no plans to continue work on "Bad Night" with rewrites, structure and such?

JMN: To my knowledge there are no plans to continue rewriting "Bad Night" during the run.

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Photos: JMarcus Newman; Eduardo Cao (left) Douglas Myers (right), courtesy of Compass Theatre

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"Bad Night in a Men’s Room off Sunset Boulevard"
By Ira Bateman-Gold
Compass Theatre
June 5 - June 28, 2009 through Fri Sat 8pm, Sun 2pm
Penn and 6th Ave, San Diego
$18 - $15
619-688-9210
http://www.compasstheatre.com/bad_night_in_a_men.html

Night Calls & The Sudden, Unexpected Sweetness of the Orange

I often think of Write Out Loud as the company that snags the San Diego's middle brow literati's attention despite the seduction of a sunny San Diego weekend afternoon. Some of the best shows in town find that task daunting. After a quiet, a devoted audience quietly enters Cygnet's

Rolando Theatre. A slightly yet charmingly flustered Veronica Murphy takes the stage for the precurtain speech (a sniggley tradition that appears to be a unique San Diego phenomenon). Ms. Murphy works the front of house, directs, performs and serves as dramaturge for Write Out Loud's, at times uncommon, readings. She is WOL's Artistic Director.

In 1986, I experienced a similar routine as an Artistic-Producing Director when we opened Diversionary Theatre at the notorious W.C.P.C. disco: assisting in setting-up scenery, giving actor notes, "cashing in" the box office, selling tickets, handling the press, house managing, giving the "go" for the curtain and such. We also had an actor that occasionally drank before the show and needed to check-up on his sobriety. Ms. Murphy's touch of frazzle is not unseemly; rather, it endears her audience.

Walter Ritter, Executive Director and Ms. Murphy update us on their company's program, "What in the World," a global quilt of disenfranchised voices and the company's enterprising expansion.

Note: Besides their producing association, Walter and Veronica are "life partners." They responded to questions in intermittent "dove tailed" style, subsequently, answers are designated by company name.

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Espresso Refill: How did the for your upcoming program subject come about?

Write Out Loud: We wanted to include stories from diverse cultures and decided that putting them in one program would force us to do it. As it turns out, the voices are not as unfamiliar as we had expected.

ER: What led you to choose the particular voices for the pieces?

WOL: We knew from the minute we read the (Isabel) Allende piece ("The Little Heidelberg") from her collection ("The Stories of Eva Luna"). This particular story is also about a collection of displaced people in another part of the world.

I fell in love with Lara Vapnyar's stories about Russia and Jewish immigrants. Tess Link, who ran a similar program at Fairfield University, also introduced us to "Night Calls" by Lisa Fugard (daughter of South Africa playwright Athol Fugard) and was instrumental in Lisa agreeing to read for us.

The (Isaac Bashevis) Singer story is also about a collection of displaced people in another part of the world. There were so many other stories that we wanted to include, especially two from India, but they got bumped for various reasons, one being that we don't have an Indian reader in our pocket.

ER: So, it was imperative you cast a cultural native per each country's representative work?

WOL: We did not have an actor in-hand who had good command of an Indian dialect. I am also not certain that was the biggest issue that led to cutting the Indian stories. We also needed to keep the program under 2 hours.

ER: Is WOL expanding its programming?

WOL: In April we did a program for the Grossmont College Literary Arts Festival, they have invited us to return next year, an all Irish program in association with Ion Theatre, a reading of the play "Mary & Myra" for the League of Women's voters, "Poems from Guantanamo" for International Museum of Human Rights. a program for the Moonlight Cultural Foundation, a program about Nancy Drew at UCSD library.

ER: What is your process for choosing the readings?

WOL: We read and read and read. We have literary advisor's who suggest stories/authors and we turn to them when we are looking for a specific theme or idea. As I mentioned, we also have friends who suggest stories, themes, etc. The final decision is mine.

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The line-up of stories is still in process for this Saturday's program. Letting go of possibilities for WOL is troublesome. And that is a good thing.

NORCO-S GET LIT

North County (NorCo) Vistites continue their singular literary foray with WOL's engagement at the Avo Playhouse on June 22 at the Recession price of free. Included is the story "The Sudden, Unexpected Sweetness of the Orange" by poet, arts writer and theatre critic Charlene Baldridge.

Ms. Baldridge's work is reprised for this Moonlight Cultural Foundation program. Out of the total 84 stories performed over two years, Baldridge's story is the only piece renewed for performance. "The story is set in San Diego and it's a beautiful story and the right length." More specifically, the story's Balboa Park elicits further interest.

Following is an excerpt from the curiously titled creative­nonfiction inspired by the writer's encounters with a psychotic and ulcerous crack addict.

"The Sudden, Unexpected Sweetness of the Orange"

By Charlene Baldridge

All are homeless these days. We who are older search for purpose beyond procreation, beyond relationship, beyond love as we have known it. The common sight of people less fortunate affects all who feel deeply. Some are unable to turn away from hunger and need.

Robert is a tall black man who wears an afghan around his waist. He looks somehow noble, like a Masai warrior, even when he's standing outside the theater with a paper cup, begging passersby for money.

I've talked with him. That's how I know his name. He has soft brown eyes and an engaging smile. He wears his hair in dreadlocks. His feet are bare, dry and dusty.

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Photos (top to bottom): Veronica Murphy, Artistic Director, WOL; Walter Ritter, Executive Director, WOL; Lisa Fugard, Writer; Charlene Baldridge, arts writer-poet

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"What in the World"

June 6, 2009 at 2:00 pm

Cygnet Theatre/Rolando Stage 6663 El Cajon Blvd

Tickets: $12, $10 for Seniors & Students

Reservations 619-297-8953

writeoutloudsd@gmail.com

Write Out Loud at the Avo Playhouse

Wordswork's "Right Here, Right Now"

June 22, 2009, 7:30 p.m.

Tickets: Free

Avo Playhouse

303 Main St., Vista, CA

760-630-7650

Lisa Fugard information is available at http://lisafugard.com/

For more information on Ms. Baldridge go to http://sdtheatrescene.com/

For her poetry, http://newolderwoman.blogspot.com/