September 12, 2002
by Rob Kendt
GET A BUNCH OF L.A. THEATRE FOLKS TOGETHER and you're going to
hear the same old thing: Where are the audiences? Why aren't we
recognized/appreciated/reviewed? Why can't we get paid? Who are those new faces
across the room? I've been to many such meetings, and believe it or not I don't
tire of them as much you'd thinkÑthere are always good things to argue
aboutÑbut I couldn't make it to last weekend's "Town Hall," hosted by
the tireless Tamar Fortgang at Cornerstone's downtown offices. I wish I had,
because from the reports of my staff writer Laura "Scoop" Weinert,
L.A. theatregoer Ravi Narasimhan, and Fortgang herself, this discussion was
different. It came about because Fortgang had met recently with Tara Devine,
the Downtown economic representative for L.A. mayor James Hahn, and grilled her
about how to get L.A. theatre on the city's radar. The goal, simply put, is to
have Los Angeles recognized as the theatre town it already is, both to
residents and tourists, and to get City Hall on board aware of it as well. As
such, the discussion last Sunday focused on ways to combine forces for greater
visibility for theatre in general, with an audience ranging from veterans like
director/producer Ron Sossi of the Odyssey and Jon Lawrence Rivera of
Playwrights Arena to savvy newcomers from the Furious Theatre Company and the
Boston Court. The question that comes to my mind, of course, is: Aren't Theatre
LA and its head, Lee Wochner, already on the job of making the case both to the
public and to public servants? Fortgang agreed, but said, "It's a
community that's going to change it; Lee [Wochner] can't do it all by
himself." And why did she step up to the plate? "Because I've been in
L.A. for 10 years now, and I'm tired of being a part of extraordinary theatre
that doesn't get the recognition of its importance. The charm of 'just getting
by' has worn off." She hopes to bring together another meeting with
representatives of mid-sized and larger theatresÑand is hoping Wochner can
chair it. We'll be there.
¥ Gordy Hoffman is Philip Seymour Hoffman's brotherÑwhich he's not
shy about telling youÑand he hasn't been the most pleasant phone presence here
at the offices of Back Stage West (years ago, he reduced one staffer to
tears with a lengthy phone argument about why his play hadn't been reviewed).
So I have mixed feelings about giving him press here, except that this idea is
just too crazy-ambitious not to mention: his annual marathon reading of the
entire Shakespearean canon, for the second consecutive year at the Met Theatre
in Hollywood. Preceded by a short run of Hoffman's one-act play, A Table and
Two Chairs (opening Sept. 18), the Bard-athon begins on Wed. morning, Sept.
25, at 8 a.m., and is scheduled to run 85 hours, until Sat., Sept. 28 at
"around 9 p.m.," according to the press release. Admission is free.
Hoffman is hoping to keep up this annual reading until 2016, the 400th
anniversary of Shakespeare's deathÑat which point Hoffman hopes to
"oversee" full productions of the entire canon. (Even King John and Two
Noble Kinsmen?) Other fun facts about the read-a-thon (it's a slow news week,
all right?): The total amount of lines in Shakespeare's canon is 101,919; the
order of company's marathon changes every year, but always ends with Henry
VIII, perhaps because the last word of that history is
"clap"; a person always shaves his/her head during the marathon's
rendition Troilus and Cressida (say wha?). There are still openings
for readers; call (310) 967-7739 or go online at www.companysmarathon.com to
sign up.
¥ I write here to urge Bonita FriedericyÑabsent from L.A. stages
since her appearance in Bottom's Dream's superlative rendition of Erik Ehn's Chokecherry in 2000Ñto
audition/campaign for the lead in the Colony Theatre Company's L.A. premiere of
Fuddy Meers, David Lindsay-Abaire's quirky, Memento-esque comedy
about an eventful day in the life of an amnesiac, to open in February, 2003.
There are doubtless many other actors who could do the roleÑaren't there
always?Ñbut to my mind Bonnie was born to play the role, which J. Smith Cameron
definitively assayed in New York. Bonnie was once among the Colony's brightest
stars; I still recall fondly her turn in Our Country's Good and
especially her Ellie in Heartbreak House. Her husband, the excellent
thesp John Billingsley (who did the best Aguecheek I've ever seen at A Noise
Within in '96), is extremely busy these days playing a latex-covered guy on a
TV space showÑand attending the inevitable fan conventions that come with such
a gigÑand Bonnie has been doing well commercially, but I'm hoping she can find
the time to do this show. I also hope she forgives me for making a personal
casting wish public. Like I said, a slow news week.