Center Theatre Group News & Blogs

The 'Water by the Spoonful' Cast Spills

Center Theatre Group — Fri, 26 Jan 2018 15:22:00 -0800

BERNARD K. ADDISON, CHUTES&LADDERS

“It’s searching for the heart, the rhythm, and the soul of this person within me.”

Center Theatre Group: How have you prepared for the role of Chutes&Ladders?: Bernard K. Addison: I have a friend who has a family member dealing with crack cocaine addiction, so not only did she help me with the audition; she has been a tremendous source as someone who has a personal connection to what addiction does to a family. I also find the dramaturgical information from Center Theatre Group Literary Manager Joy Meads to be very informative. But ultimately, it’s searching for the heart, the rhythm, and the soul of this person within me. Once you do that and follow the guideposts in the text, you begin to find his voice, and then my job is to get out of the way and let him speak.
How does your work as a Teaching Artist (including at Center Theatre Group!) and educator inform your performances?: As a Teaching Artist, I get to dissect a script over and over, finding windows of entry that I can engage an audience in when we are discussing a production. Also, I have seen so many shows, and so many great performances—it makes you appreciate the work and share that appreciation with young audiences as well as the older, traditional evening audience.
What is it like to return to the Center Theatre Group stage?: To be back here, this time at the Taper, is very exciting and fulfilling. My first performance in L.A. was at the Ahmanson Theatre in Romeo and Juliet, directed by the late Sir Peter Hall in 2001, and thanks to last year’s Block Party at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, I was able to perform there in Citizen: An American Lyric. Now the Taper makes a perfect trifecta, and with a beautiful play and cast to boot.

JOSH BRAATEN, FOUNTAINHEAD

“I knew I had to do everything in my power to try to be a part of this production.”

Center Theatre Group: What was it like to read Water by the Spoonful for the first time?: Josh Braaten: I was at a hotel with my family, so I went into the bathroom after everyone had gone to sleep, shut the door, and read the play. When I finished reading around midnight, I knew I had to do everything in my power to try to be a part of this production.
How have you prepared for the role of Fountainhead?: I studied 12-step recovery for all forms of addiction, from food to narcotics. I tried to explore many types of people and their respective obsessions and compulsions and see what common denominators exist in addicts.
What inspires you?: It’s so beautiful to be in a rehearsal room and just sit in a piece of art for weeks. After the first day, I realized that I’ve been away from live theatre for far too long. And I’m inspired by this thoughtful story that can command my absolute attention and take me on an emotional journey.

SEAN CARVAJAL, ELLIOT

“When you get a cast that’s amazing like this, you’ve hit the jackpot.”

Center Theatre Group: What resonates with you about the role of Elliot?: Sean Carvajal: His struggle with family, and his relationship with Odessa—that struggle of trying to explore this messed-up relationship with his mother. Elliot is on a journey of trying to come to terms with who he is, and how to be real with himself. There’s this question of what kind of future we will have—if we’re able to change ourselves and confront ourselves versus if we choose not to face ourselves and our demons. There are a lot of themes in this play that I think are so important and really resonated with me.
You played Elliot in a 2016 production of Water by the Spoonful. How does it feel to come back to this show now?: That production had a very short process: two and a half weeks of rehearsals and a three-week run. So the biggest thing is having more time to explore the role. Two years ago I don’t think I really understood Elliot, and I didn’t understand his journey. I think that age and time are allowing me to be more open and empathetic to what he’s going through. I have a different set of eyes. And I’m learning from Lileana Blain-Cruz, our director. And of course when you have a cast that’s new, the play is so different.
What’s it like to be making your Los Angeles theatre debut?: I haven’t explored much of L.A. yet, but I’m excited to be here. This cast blew my mind, and I am so grateful to have the opportunity to play with them. It’s a cast that’s so open, they’re all heart, and it’s a great team. And the theatre’s wonderful, and it’s my first time in L.A. I’ve never been out West. I’m a New York City kid, so it’s a crazy change. The pace is different.

SYLVIA KWAN, ORANGUTAN

“I turn to my plants to remind myself of perseverance and how everything alive perseveres like the characters in the show.”

Center Theatre Group: How did you know you wanted to be in Water by the Spoonful?: Sylvia Kwan: I was struck by how unique the structure of the play was. Quiara Alegría Hudes has a way of writing that coaxes emotions out of her audience without their really knowing why. I think the way she writes is so honest and reflective of the human condition that we cannot help but identify ourselves in her characters. I loved the role of Orangutan because she is a character who used to operate and view life through her head, not her heart, and during this play she transitions to someone who operates and views her life through her heart and not her head. I’m so lucky to be playing a character that is going through her personal hero’s journey, if you will.
How have you prepared for the role of Orangutan?: A lot of my preparation has been exposing myself to her world visually—looking at the different places she inhabits and how those different environments affect who she is and where she is in her journey. I’ve been listening to the music found throughout the show, and I’ve also been listening to a lot of music that makes me feel more connected to Orangutan as a character. I daydream about what her life is like and what she thinks about. And I turn to my plants (I’m an avid gardener) to remind myself of perseverance and how everything alive perseveres like the characters in the show. It reminds me to continuously discover the different ways that my character perseveres, too.
What is your favorite thing about this cast and crew?: This cast and crew is so full of love and acceptance. From the first day you could sense that we were in a safe space for us to explore and create artistically while being true to ourselves, bringing our personal histories and experiences into creating the same world. I love how everyone brings their A game to every rehearsal while maintaining the playfulness and joy of creating and acting. I love that during this experience I’ve turned to my cast mates to exclaim how much I love acting and they agree, having rediscovered the same thing. I love how energetic and inspiring our director is.

KEREN LUGO, YAZMIN

“[Hudes] is one of the best writers out there, and I’m inspired by her beautiful, complex, and profound stories that center on the Latino experience.”

Center Theatre Group: What do you love most about the role of Yazmin and the work of Quiara Alegría Hudes?: Keren Lugo: I love Yazmin’s courage to finally accept the things that make her who she is and her courage to start over. Quiara’s work is LIFE. There is no other way to describe it. She is one of the best writers out there, and I’m inspired by her beautiful, complex, and profound stories that center on the Latino experience.
What is your favorite thing about this cast and crew?: The energy from everyone here is uplifting. Truly a dream. I love how lively everyone is. There is a lot of dancing and randomly bursting into song in the rehearsal room. It’s a fun group.
What inspires you?: Stories that are so infused with life that you wonder if the writer has been living her life next to you all along. Stories that explore the Latino experience in all its complexities. Stories about women.

NICK MASSOUH, PROFESSOR AMAN, GHOST, POLICEMAN

“I consider myself a storyteller, whether I’m acting, writing, or directing.”

Center Theatre Group: What resonates with you about this play and these roles?: Nick Massouh: I love the writing. As an actor, to be able to work on beautiful language is very inspiring and freeing. I also think that the material really resonates with me on a lot of levels, having recently experienced loss myself. And in terms of the characters that I play, I always love when there’s a nice Arab-American or Middle Eastern perspective in material today, and when it’s done with care and thoughtfulness.
What’s it like to move from stage to screen and back?: With theatre there’s such an opportunity to dig into the material and a space to discover your character and the story in a collaborative manner. Whereas with film and television, the time is so much more compressed that the collaboration is much less, and it’s much more upon you to just bring your performance to the table. To sit in a rehearsal room and do the work is why we do acting.
What inspires you?: Stories. I consider myself a storyteller, whether I’m acting, writing, or directing. The power of stories is something I love to create, share, watch, learn from.

LUNA LAUREN VÉLEZ, ODESSA

“I literally feel like a kid.”

Center Theatre Group: In 2014 you appeared in The Happiest Song Plays Last, the third play in the Elliot Trilogy. (Water by the Spoonful is the second.) What is it like to return to this story?: Luna Lauren Vélez: Odessa was mentioned in The Happiest Song Plays Last, but it really talks more about Ginny, and I played Yaz. So to come back and play this character just takes me deeper into this whole experience of Elliot’s world, and his journey through life with this incredibly complicated family.
What resonates with you about Odessa?: There’s something about a person who is seeking redemption for their past sins, and how they think that the entire world responds to them as this person who’s committed this act, so they see themselves through what they presume to be the judgment of others. I feel that her daily struggle to just get up and be her truest self and deal with everything that she’s done in the past that has led her up to this moment and to become this person who is committed to saving other people is extraordinary.
What excites you about returning to the Taper stage?: I did Intimate Apparel here with Viola Davis, and I have been wanting to return for such a long time. It’s really a beautiful theatre with theatre history, which in L.A. is I think kind of a big deal. Being back in rehearsal here, it feels like there’s really room to explore and to organically have these characters get to know each other and for the cast to get to know each other through actual play, and talking, and exploring, and really taking our time doing it. I literally feel like a kid.

One Playwright. Two L.A. Theatre Companies. Three Acclaimed Plays.

Center Theatre Group — Thu, 11 Jan 2018 13:03:00 -0800

Playwright Quiara Alegria Hudes. Photo by Joseph Moran.

"It’s really thrilling. You see one play, and you get that beginning, middle, end—you get that story. But you see two, three of the plays, you get that sense of family all of a sudden,” said Hudes. “You’ve gone through it over time with this family. So I think the ending of the entire trilogy lands in a deeper way. The laughs get deeper, the pain gets more pronounced. Hopefully the plays are resonating off of each other in ways that will yield rewards."

Center Theatre Group Artistic Director Michael Ritchie is confident that audiences will be rewarded by the opportunity to immerse themselves in Hudes’ trilogy. "This is a special moment for our patrons and for us—and really for anyone in Los Angeles who loves theatre," he said. "We’re taking advantage of the breadth and depth of our programming and of the rich theatre ecosystem of our city by joining forces with the Latino Theater Company to tell an epic story from start to finish."

Hudes wrote the first play in the trilogy, Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue (onstage at the Kirk Douglas Theatre January 27 – February 25, 2018), in isolation. But she realized that she had more to say about Elliot, a character based on her cousin, who enlisted in the Marines a few months before President George W. Bush declared war on Iraq. Elliot weaves together his story of going to war in the Middle East with the war stories of his father in Vietnam and his grandfather in Korea.

"I started to realize there’s this generation of kids fleeing the fallout of a domestic war—which was the war on drugs—and actually engaging in a war abroad," said Hudes. "And of course as the war raged on in Iraq, the story was not done. These young people started coming home and bringing a lot home with them. And so I decided, this story’s going to continue, and this is not just going to be the snippet of that story of lost innocence—it’s going to be an arc of, how does a child go from that to becoming an adult?"

A few years later, Hudes began interviewing a different cousin, who had been in recovery for decades, for the play that became Pulitzer Prize winner Water by the Spoonful (onstage at the Mark Taper Forum January 31 – March 11, 2018). In Water by the Spoonful, the story of Elliot—who has recently returned home from Iraq—collides with a group of recovering addicts in an online chatroom.

Hudes had modeled Elliot after the Bach preludes and fugues she grew up playing on the piano. "I realized I needed different music for each play," she said. "So Water by the Spoonful uses jazz. It’s about a moment in this young man's life when he's really battling with the internal demons from his childhood and also from his time on the battlefield. So I look at John Coltrane, and in particular I look at a moment in Coltrane’s musical life when he’s switching from a more recognizable, consonant jazz vocabulary to something called free jazz, when there’s much more dissonance at play."

The final act of the trilogy, The Happiest Song Plays Last (onstage at the Los Angeles Theatre Center in a Latino Theater Company production February 17 – March 19, 2018), finds Elliot "starting to forge his way toward an adulthood that he is choosing and also a life that has chosen him. I wanted to return to the roots, and I chose a very particular Puerto Rican tradition of music, which is called música jíbara, which is basically music from the mountains—folk music," explained Hudes.

"I really tried to write the three trilogy plays as a musical score, to feel triumphant at times, to feel pensive at times, to feel forte and piano, and to have all the dynamics you would want out of a great symphony piece or a great mix tape," she added. "The first play creates almost a prelude to the second and third, which are bigger and more epic and messier, and they deal with the fallout of the messiness of the individuals involved." But that doesn’t mean they have to be seen chronologically. "They are not written to necessarily be absorbed that way," said Hudes. She added with a laugh, "You could three-card-monte it, probably."

15 Things You Didn't Know About Forbidden Broadway

Center Theatre Group — Fri, 05 Jan 2018 16:46:00 -0800

Gerard Alessandrini founded Forbidden Broadway in 1981 when he was a struggling actor working as a waiter at Lincoln Center.
When it was first founded, Forbidden Broadway was financed as a nightclub act at Palsson's Supper Club.
Alessandrini was an original cast member of Forbidden Broadway and can be heard on five of the seven cast albums, as well as the soundtracks of Disney's Aladdin and Pocahontas.
Seinfeld's Jason Alexander is a Forbidden Broadway alum who eventually became a victim of parody himself. After he won a Tony Award^® in Jerome Robbins's Broadway, he was parodied in Jason Alexander's Broadway, billed as "the theater’s first $8 million rerun."
Forbidden Broadway only parodies the big hits because Alessandrini believes "you can kick somebody when they’re up." So if he spoofs you, you know you've made it.
Alessandrini likes to parody Broadway stars as well as shows—including Brooke Shields, Chita Rivera, and even The New York Times theatre critic Ben Brantley, with "I Hate Men" rewritten as "I Hate Ben."
Tony Award^®-winning composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim was one of the first and biggest fans of Forbidden Broadway. David Hibbard, a cast member of Forbidden Broadway Strikes Back!, remembered one time that Sondheim "could be seen laughing so hard and actually banging his head against the wall."
Forbidden Broadway has picked up nine Drama Desk Awards, a Special Tony^®, an Obie, a Lucille Lortel, and Drama League Award.
Alessandrini is rarely given free tickets to Broadway shows, so he has to buy them himself. "If it's not good, I’m very resentful."
After Volume 1, all of Forbidden Broadway's albums have a variation of the label The Unoriginal Cast Recording because they don’t feature all or any of the original cast.
In 1997, Forbidden Broadway moved the basement of Ellen's Stardust Diner, a '50s themed restaurant in the heart of the theatre district, during Forbidden Broadway Strikes Back!
Alessandrini came up with the hook for a Liza Minnelli-Cabaret number during a trip to Disneyland. Phillip George, director of Forbidden Broadway and longtime business partner of Alessandri, recalls: "We started talking about it while we were in line for the bobsled ride. By the time we got to the top of the first hill, Gerard shouted at the top of his lungs, 'Bye-bye, mein film career!'"
Tony Award^® winner Glenn Close starred in Sunset—a Sunset Boulevard parody sketch—in Forbidden Broadway in 1994.
In 1995, Alessandrini released Forbidden Hollywood, which parodied movies like Forrest Gump, Pulp Fiction, Casablanca, and Aladdin.
Actor Bryan Batt was part of the cast in Forbidden Broadway Strikes Back! and Forbidden Broadway Cleans Up Its Act.

From an Open Casting Call to the Douglas Stage

Center Theatre Group — Fri, 05 Jan 2018 15:15:00 -0800

I saw that the EPAs for Center Theatre Group were coming up, she said. I had gotten my first Broadway show, The Little Mermaid, also from an Equity Principal Audition in a similar situation. She prepared her three-minute performance and came to The Music Center Annex—along with nearly 200 other actors—to audition.

She was really great in the room and had leading lady-type qualities, said Center Theatre Group Casting Associate Andrew Lynford. She was really warm and really fun, and I knew I wanted to bring her back in.

Four months passed before Lynford was casting Spamilton, and when he asked Young to come back in, she was ill. Luckily, they managed to reschedule for the next day. She came in and she sang like a dream, said Lynford. More callbacks followed, and eventually an offer for the role. I love it when you have a hunch about someone, and they’re your favorite all along, you get them in front of the creatives, and they love her too—you feel kind of proud of yourself for trusting your instinct from the outset, said Lynford.

Lynford is grateful that Young took a chance at EPAs. I always thank the actors for coming to open casting calls; there are hundreds of people, and it’s easy to think nobody notices you, said Lynford. I’m so happy she was brave enough to come.

Young agreed. Open calls are a great opportunity to be seen. Even if you don’t get cast, you’re introducing yourself to a whole group of people who don’t even know you. I tell people, if you’re annoyed that your agent can’t get you in, go to the open call, she said. I can’t control whether or not I get cast, but I can control whether I get in the room. I’m very grateful EPAs happen. It felt great to be able to be proactive about my career. And as an added bonus, This show is showing Los Angeles all of my special skills.

We’re excited to see where those skills take Young next. She’s now got an agent, she’s done Spamilton, said Lynford. Won’t it be wonderful if she goes on to get some great TV parts, and we can feel like we had a small part in helping her L.A. career begin?

Center Theatre Group News & Blogs

The 'Water by the Spoonful' Cast Spills

BERNARD K. ADDISON, CHUTES&LADDERS

JOSH BRAATEN, FOUNTAINHEAD

SEAN CARVAJAL, ELLIOT

SYLVIA KWAN, ORANGUTAN

KEREN LUGO, YAZMIN

NICK MASSOUH, PROFESSOR AMAN, GHOST, POLICEMAN

LUNA LAUREN VÉLEZ, ODESSA

One Playwright. Two L.A. Theatre Companies. Three Acclaimed Plays.

15 Things You Didn't Know About Forbidden Broadway

Gerard Alessandrini founded Forbidden Broadway in 1981 when he was a struggling actor working as a waiter at Lincoln Center.

When it was first founded, Forbidden Broadway was financed as a nightclub act at Palsson's Supper Club.

Alessandrini was an original cast member of Forbidden Broadway and can be heard on five of the seven cast albums, as well as the soundtracks of Disney's Aladdin and Pocahontas.

Seinfeld's Jason Alexander is a Forbidden Broadway alum who eventually became a victim of parody himself. After he won a Tony Award^® in Jerome Robbins's Broadway, he was parodied in Jason Alexander's Broadway, billed as "the theater’s first $8 million rerun."

Forbidden Broadway only parodies the big hits because Alessandrini believes "you can kick somebody when they’re up." So if he spoofs you, you know you've made it.

Alessandrini likes to parody Broadway stars as well as shows—including Brooke Shields, Chita Rivera, and even The New York Times theatre critic Ben Brantley, with "I Hate Men" rewritten as "I Hate Ben."

Forbidden Broadway has picked up nine Drama Desk Awards, a Special Tony^®, an Obie, a Lucille Lortel, and Drama League Award.

Alessandrini is rarely given free tickets to Broadway shows, so he has to buy them himself. "If it's not good, I’m very resentful."

After Volume 1, all of Forbidden Broadway's albums have a variation of the label The Unoriginal Cast Recording because they don’t feature all or any of the original cast.

In 1997, Forbidden Broadway moved the basement of Ellen's Stardust Diner, a '50s themed restaurant in the heart of the theatre district, during Forbidden Broadway Strikes Back!

Tony Award^® winner Glenn Close starred in Sunset—a Sunset Boulevard parody sketch—in Forbidden Broadway in 1994.

In 1995, Alessandrini released Forbidden Hollywood, which parodied movies like Forrest Gump, Pulp Fiction, Casablanca, and Aladdin.

Actor Bryan Batt was part of the cast in Forbidden Broadway Strikes Back! and Forbidden Broadway Cleans Up Its Act.

From an Open Casting Call to the Douglas Stage

Center Theatre Group News & Blogs

The 'Water by the Spoonful' Cast Spills

BERNARD K. ADDISON, CHUTES&LADDERS

JOSH BRAATEN, FOUNTAINHEAD

SEAN CARVAJAL, ELLIOT

SYLVIA KWAN, ORANGUTAN

KEREN LUGO, YAZMIN

NICK MASSOUH, PROFESSOR AMAN, GHOST, POLICEMAN

LUNA LAUREN VÉLEZ, ODESSA

One Playwright. Two L.A. Theatre Companies. Three Acclaimed Plays.

15 Things You Didn't Know About Forbidden Broadway

Gerard Alessandrini founded Forbidden Broadway in 1981 when he was a struggling actor working as a waiter at Lincoln Center.

When it was first founded, Forbidden Broadway was financed as a nightclub act at Palsson's Supper Club.

Alessandrini was an original cast member of Forbidden Broadway and can be heard on five of the seven cast albums, as well as the soundtracks of Disney's Aladdin and Pocahontas.

Seinfeld's Jason Alexander is a Forbidden Broadway alum who eventually became a victim of parody himself. After he won a Tony Award® in Jerome Robbins's Broadway, he was parodied in Jason Alexander's Broadway, billed as "the theater’s first $8 million rerun."

Forbidden Broadway only parodies the big hits because Alessandrini believes "you can kick somebody when they’re up." So if he spoofs you, you know you've made it.

Alessandrini likes to parody Broadway stars as well as shows—including Brooke Shields, Chita Rivera, and even The New York Times theatre critic Ben Brantley, with "I Hate Men" rewritten as "I Hate Ben."

Forbidden Broadway has picked up nine Drama Desk Awards, a Special Tony®, an Obie, a Lucille Lortel, and Drama League Award.

Alessandrini is rarely given free tickets to Broadway shows, so he has to buy them himself. "If it's not good, I’m very resentful."

After Volume 1, all of Forbidden Broadway's albums have a variation of the label The Unoriginal Cast Recording because they don’t feature all or any of the original cast.

In 1997, Forbidden Broadway moved the basement of Ellen's Stardust Diner, a '50s themed restaurant in the heart of the theatre district, during Forbidden Broadway Strikes Back!

Tony Award® winner Glenn Close starred in Sunset—a Sunset Boulevard parody sketch—in Forbidden Broadway in 1994.

In 1995, Alessandrini released Forbidden Hollywood, which parodied movies like Forrest Gump, Pulp Fiction, Casablanca, and Aladdin.

Actor Bryan Batt was part of the cast in Forbidden Broadway Strikes Back! and Forbidden Broadway Cleans Up Its Act.

From an Open Casting Call to the Douglas Stage

Seinfeld's Jason Alexander is a Forbidden Broadway alum who eventually became a victim of parody himself. After he won a Tony Award^® in Jerome Robbins's Broadway, he was parodied in Jason Alexander's Broadway, billed as "the theater’s first $8 million rerun."

Forbidden Broadway has picked up nine Drama Desk Awards, a Special Tony^®, an Obie, a Lucille Lortel, and Drama League Award.

Tony Award^® winner Glenn Close starred in Sunset—a Sunset Boulevard parody sketch—in Forbidden Broadway in 1994.