THE WICKED STAGE

by Rob Kendt

Postmortem from the Edge: Amy Edlin had a cold. The Edge of the World Theater Festival organizer had been to 20 EdgeFest shows and five special events in 11 days when I called to get her early post-fest impressions. "I think it went great" was her first response. What else would she say? But seriously, she said, "The work seemed stronger, attendance was up, we sold more [EdgeFest] passports this year," referring to the $15 discount cards that allowed patrons to see all EdgeFest shows for a mere $5 a pop. "It definitely seemed like a leaner, meaner festival." Her co-organizer Ray Simmons, who only made it to eight shows because his head was buried in administrative issues (someone's got to mind the store, right?), estimated that the festival sold 350-400 passports, compared to last year's 250. And he said "the biggest thing" he felt about this year's fest was that "we're now over that hurdle where people go, 'What is the Edge of the World Theater Festival?' We did an audience survey this year, and we're waiting to see how many people were first-time attendees, how many repeat attendees." Word from my critics--who collectively saw all but one of the festival's shows--was predictably mixed but friendly, and occasionally ecstatic. This is a far cry from last year's crop of shows, the reviews of which almost made me reconsider Back Stage West's commitment to seeing every EdgeFest show. This year the organizers took a more curatorial approach, rejecting some applicants that didn't seem sufficiently "edgy," and that seemed a good move. Both Edlin and Simmons suggested that they would continue the more selective programming and "maybe step up" the curating process. For his part, inveterate L.A. theatregoer Ravi Narasimhan, who saw about a dozen EdgeFest shows, enjoyed himself: "I don't know what the 'hit' rate for a festival is supposed to be. There were very high highs, and very low lows." The worst shows "made me want to suicide-bomb a cast party," but the stuff he loved--including La Giaconda, War Music, and Nancy Keystone's movement piece Apollo--he really, really loved. Keystone's work was part of the EdgeFest's L.A. History Project, which not only got raves for its program but for the large attendance and the buzz it seemed to be riding. "There was an energy there I had not seen before among audience members in L.A.," said Ravi. "Between shows we were standing around, looking at the EdgeFest brochure, recommending shows to each other." The EdgeFest roundtables may have been played out, Edlin admitted--one on playwrights with Luis Alfaro and Trey Nichols was well attended, but one about the aesthetics of "edgy" theatre was not. And Simmons lamented one perennial trend: "Despite our admonitions to the contrary, we had way too many shows on Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. It hurt their attendance. Shows that ran Friday at 5 p.m. or as late-night had good houses." Still, said Simmons, "We pulled off everything we wanted to, and were very happy with the end result."

Cathy Carlton, another EdgeFest organizer from the start, is moving back to New York. That just sucks; Cathy has been a longtime fixture at Theatre of NOTE, where I've loved her work in Middle Savage and Girl Under Grain and always found her a beacon of sanity and good humor. She has a good deal on an apartment in the Apple, believe it or not. One thing she said about the difference between L.A. and NY struck me: She had worked for 20 years, she said, in off-Off-Broadway theatre in Manhattan and "never got reviewed." In L.A., she worked with a great theatre company, and saw its houses grow and its profile raise in print and among audiences. You'll be missed, Cathy (and give my regards to Trace Turville and Peter Konerko).

Several shows I've wanted to see are closing this week, and I've got just one night--Thursday--to see them all (I'm in a show that runs Fri.-Sun. nights). Will it be Fedunn? I run hot and cold on Murray Mednick, but Cathy Carlton recommended it highly, and a neighbor, Dinah Lenney, who's responsible for finding one of my dogs, is in it. Will it be Richard III? I know and love most of that NOTE cast, especially the lead, Jacqueline Wright (no matter what our critic said). Betrayal? Reviews were good but buzz minimal. James and the Handless Maiden? Buzz was good about this new company, reviews not so. On earth as it is in heaven…? And that doesn't even count a few shows that don't have Thursday night performances I would have liked to see: Cloud 9 (I do love my Caryl Churchill), Day Dreaming (ditto Doris Day). I've got two words for theatre producers: Off nights. Think about it. My Mon.-Wed. schedule gapes wide open.