BACK STAGE WEST
February 28, 2002
by Rob Kendt
Another coup for
Evidence Room, which, until the Taper opens its Culver City second stage, may
be L.A.'s de facto alternative regional theatre: After the acclaimed run of
John Steppling's Dog Mouth, closing this weekend, the folks there wil begin work on David
Edgar's Pentecost, in
its local premiere. An ambitious 17-hander with 11 languages spoken onstage,
its themes--about how the post-Cold War vacuum has been filled all too quickly
by reactionary forces on all sides--couldn't be more timely. In the lead is
smart, nervy Leo Marks, so moving in last year's Three Days of Rain at the same space.
¥ Genius director
David Schweizer pulls a one-two punch with David Hare's The Blue Room opening Mar. 8 at the Pasadena Playhouse
and He Hunts, Philip
Littell's new translation of Feydeau's Monsieur Chasse (with Megan Mullally in talks to star),
opening Apr. 9 at the Geffen. Schweizer, who has a kinetic imagination and
impeccably bold tastes, has worked in L.A. mostly at 99-seaters like Evidence
Room, Actors' Gang, and the Tiffany. When two offers from major LORT houses at
either end of L.A. came in at the same, he reportedly felt he couldn't turn
them down. When it rains it pours.
¥ Another
adaptation of a classic, Luis Alfaro's Electricidad--billed as a "Chicano take on
Sophocles' Electra"--will
receive a reading as a fundraiser for Playwrights' Arena, Jon Lawrence Rivera's
scribe-championing company, at the Los Angeles Theatre Center, where last year
Rivera staged a memorable local premiere of Alfaro's Bitter Homes and
Gardens. That's Mar. 10
at 5 p.m.; you can call (213) 485-1631.
¥ Another
double-booked artist: The versatile Ron Campbell is currently rehearsing two
Shylocks at San Diego Rep: One for The Merchant of Venice and one for Mark Leiren-Young's solo play
Shylock, which
envisions a contentious post-play discussion after a production of Merchant that's been cancelled due to controversy
about its portrayal of the bitter moneylender who demands a pound of flesh.
Cumulatively, Campbell should deliver tons of soulful, hilarious work in this
diptych, which will play in rep. Merchant opens Mar. 1, Shylock Mar. 19.
¥ Finally, the
radio players of L.A. TheatreWorks switch to KPCC, the Pasadena-based
public-radio mainstay, on Mar. 2 with a production of True West featuring Alfred Molina, Frances Guinan,
and Charlotte Rae, after years of airing on Santa Monica-based KCRW. As an
inveterate Eastsider myself, I couldn't be happier.