Center Theatre Group News & Blogs

A British Play Set in the Netherlands Comes to Los Angeles

Center Theatre Group — Thu, 21 Mar 2019 10:46:00 -0700

Taking place in (unsurprisingly) Rotterdam, the multicultural port city in the Netherlands, the play follows Alice and Fiona, UK expats whose relationships with each other and their friends and family are rocked when Fiona reveals that she has always identified as a man and now wants to live as one. Written by Jon Brittain, the play first premiered in the UK in 2015, where it won a 2017 Olivier Award, and had a limited run in New York in 2017 before its West Coast premiere at Skylight.

For the last 10 years, Skylight Theatre Company has built a reputation as a leader in developing and producing new and relevant works from L.A. as well as around the world. Our mission has been really kind of like a newspaper theatre—what’s going on out there, let’s talk about that, explained Co-Artistic Director Tony Abatemarco. In fact, Rotterdam was so relevant that things had already progressed politically and in terms of the trans community—terminology was ready to be updated between the play’s premiere and Skylight’s production. Literary manager Joshua Gershick, who is also serving as engagement facilitator on the Block Party production, helped in that regard.

Rotterdam is also a cross-continental collaboration. Producing Artistic Director Gary Grossman explained that the opportunity came from a relationship between Skylight and London-based Hartshorn-Hook Productions. They were discussing collaborating on a production in L.A., and Hartshorn-Hook proposed Rotterdam as an option. On the train from London to Paris, I’m reading [the play], and I can’t wait to get off and call them and say ‘I’m in,’ remembered Grossman.

Skylight audiences shared his enthusiasm. Unlike talkbacks [for other shows] in the past where some people were interested and a lot of people weren’t, the whole audience would stay because they wanted to be engaged, recalled Abatemarco. Skylight created further opportunities for audiences to engage with a series of panel discussions related to the play’s themes called Beyond Conversations.

That’s what this story does for me: it takes away the fear of what trans is.

This story comes at a time where it is so needed right now because we need to see a love story that shows that it doesn’t matter whether you’re gay, straight, bisexual, trans, queer—love is love, said director Michael A. Shepperd. You have to fight for love, you have to fight to keep a relationship alive, and that’s something we all do.

For Shepperd, the universal struggle of the story helps take something unknown and make it familiar. That’s what this story does for me: it takes away the fear of what trans is, explained Shepperd. Anyone who’s ever been in a relationship—whether it’s been for a year or 30 years or 50 years—they see it, and they recognize it, and it affects them.

For Shepperd, Rotterdam provides a unique opportunity to reach transphobic theatregoers or those who don’t know much about the trans experience. A lot of times in theatre, we’re preaching to the choir. So this time I’m asking the choir to bring one of their fallen flock members to see this show, and hopefully help create change in them, he explained. Even though this is a small step, it is a step, and I need this message to be put out there.

Staging the Sounds of Blues

Center Theatre Group — Tue, 19 Mar 2019 15:33:00 -0700

That upbringing is chronicled in Lackawanna Blues (onstage at the Mark Taper Forum March 5 – April 21, 2019), which follows the people who lived in the boarding house Santiago-Hudson called home as a child in 1960s Lackawanna, New York. Santiago-Hudson—who also wrote and directed the show—embodies over 20 characters, from lost souls to the boarding house owner, Nanny, who ultimately raised him.

The jukebox in the boarding house was on from when I woke up in the morning to when I went to bed, remembered Santiago-Hudson. At times that jukebox was putting groceries on our table because people were putting quarters in it all day long.

When Lackawanna Blues first premiered at The Public Theater in 2001, blues legend Bill Sims Jr. performed the music he’d composed alongside Santiago-Hudson. Over 15 years later, Grammy Award-winning blues guitarist and composer Chris Thomas King (who has scored music for films like O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Ray) steps into the musician role at the Taper, with the help of Santiago-Hudson on harmonica. The music not only captures the essence of Santiago-Hudson’s youth but also highlights a significant period in our nation’s history.

The music in Lackawanna Blues is a major character in the play, explained King, who never leaves the stage during the show’s 80-minute duration. Nearly every character that Ruben conjures has his or her own musical theme. The blues guitar symbolizes and provides the soundtrack of the great Negro migration from the rural South to urban industrialization of Northern cities such as Chicago, Detroit, and Lackawanna. The score gets energized and urban—as the Delta Blues did in the 1950s—during a bawdy foot-stomping scene. Then, in the third act, it becomes reflective and hopeful.

Initially, King was brought on as an understudy but was suddenly thrust into the full role of music performer, he said, when Sims passed away on the same day King arrived in New York for rehearsals. Together, Santiago-Hudson and King explored Sims’ brilliant score in-depth, finding moments where King could intertwine his own creative voice via additional compositions.

Although I’ve scored movies and documentaries, this is my first foray into major live theatre, said King. What has been most striking to me, however, is Ruben’s harmonica playing. I’ve performed and recorded with some of the great harp players such as James Cotton of the legendary Muddy Waters band. Ruben can hold his own on just about any juke joint stage, which adds another layer of authenticity. Ruben’s harmonica soloing adds an exclamation point to the blues of Lackawanna Blues!

The end result is a true melding of three great artists/musicians. When Ruben and I perform the bittersweet closing number, added King, Bill Sims’ spirit is there along with all the colorful characters from Nanny’s boarding house.

In honor of Sims’ life and legacy, Santiago-Hudson has dedicated his performance of Lackawanna Blues to the original composer. But he also welcomes the opportunity for a new collaboration. King has an opportunity to show me something I haven’t seen before, said Santiago-Hudson. Plus, audiences get to experience the combined brilliance of Bill Sims and the brilliance of Chris Thomas King.

Getting a Derby Rink on the Douglas Stage

Center Theatre Group — Tue, 12 Mar 2019 10:46:00 -0700

It was deep in the MeToo movement, remembered Theatre of NOTE’s Sierra Marcks. We really wanted to celebrate female roles, female directors, female playwrights—and this play was kind of perfect for that... It ticked all the boxes. And on top of that, it was a lot of fun.

Founded in 1981, Theatre of NOTE—originally shorthand for New One-Act Theatre Ensemble—is a democratically run nonprofit focused on premiere productions in L.A. Marcks sits on its Artistic Management Committee (AMC), a governing body unlike those in most theatre companies around the country. Rather than having one presiding artistic director, Theatre of NOTE is led by five ensemble members who make up the AMC and lead the company’s artistic and management decisions. The five AMC members (plus one alternate) are elected by the larger ensemble of local member actors to serve two-year terms on the AMC.

We’re the only democratic [theatre] company in all of L.A., noted Lynn Odell, who currently serves on the AMC and plays Hot Flash in For the Love Of. We have always focused on new, original works. I think what makes us different in so many ways are the plays that we do. We just have a brand. We do some very interesting theatre that other people might be afraid of.

That’s led to some notable productions, including the World premiere staging of Bertolt Brecht’s adaptation of The Duchess of Malfi in 1998 and the L.A. premiere of Tony Kushner’s A Bright Room Called Day in 2000. Being led by actors has other advantages as well, explained Marcks. Our members are doing shows around L.A. all the time, so we have flavors of many theatre companies coming together in our theatre, she affirmed. In that way, we have a pretty good finger on the pulse of L.A. theatre. We really try to pull from all of the different influences.

This was particularly helpful during rehearsals for For The Love Of. Long-time Theatre of NOTE member David Bickford—who also serves as producer, company archivist, and roller derby enthusiast—brought in a player from the L.A. Derby Dolls to help train the actors in the proper body movements, to help audiences be fully immersed in the play’s setting and story.

What I’m so proud of is how much the derby players who came to see the show liked it, Bickford said. There were a lot of them in tears in the end—they identified.

Amidst an enthusiastic response from audiences, Theatre of NOTE unanimously selected For The Love Of as their submission for this year’s Block Party—an initiative that brings shows from intimate L.A. theatres to the Kirk Douglas Theatre stage. In the past, producers from their different productions would duke it out when it came time to choosing shows to be considered, Marcks explained, but all agreed that For The Love Of was magic onstage.

This is a show that can really benefit from an expansive space, Bickford added. We are depicting a roller derby track and a team and stands. More space might just give the show more room to breathe and let the choreography live even larger. I think the possibilities are exciting.

Theatre of NOTE members are hoping to connect For The Love Of with a broader audience at Block Party while raising awareness for their company and overall mission. We really treasure the diversity of the cast that was written into the script, said Marcks. We are really striving inwardly to make sure that we represent L.A. at large. I think this cast definitely does that. We want to make it theatre for everyone.

Ultimately, you don’t have to be a roller derby super fan or even understand the sport to enjoy For The Love Of. At its heart, it’s a very universal story, added Odell. It’s about finding out who you truly are instead of letting other people tell you who you are. I think that’s something anyone can relate to.

Meet Center Theatre Group August Wilson Program Advisor Andi Chapman

Center Theatre Group — Mon, 11 Mar 2019 14:33:00 -0700

Chapman, a director, actor, and educator, holds the title Program Advisor on the August Wilson Program Faculty at Center Theatre Group. But as so many young people and their families know, she is much more than that. Since the program’s inception in 2011—when she also helped create the curriculum for the August Wilson In-School Residency—she has trained, taught, and supported every single Regional Finalist to come through the Los Angeles August Wilson Monologue Competition.

The Competition is an educational journey for local 10^TH, 11^TH, and 12^TH grade students, who hone their acting skills while receiving an introduction to Wilson’s work. Each year, approximately a dozen advance from Preliminary and Semifinal Auditions to the Regional Finals at the Mark Taper Forum, at which point they work closely with Chapman as a group.

“I have a passion for education and students and storytelling,” said Chapman. “I know what it feels like when your voice is heard. It was important to me to pass that on.” Chapman also passes on her experience and training as a professional director (who directs the Antaeus Theatre Company production of Native Son at Center Theatre Group’s Kirk Douglas Theatre April 18–28, 2019) and actor. “The confidence a teacher gave me in the seventh grade to have my own voice, to know my voice mattered in the world, also gave me the confidence to do something as fearless as Native Son and all the work I’ve done,” she said. “If I can somehow, some way, pass that on, somebody else will have the same experience.”

The win is for a student to feel as if they have fulfilled the telling of the story—and they used themselves to do so. That’s the great beauty of this program.

Andi Chapman

This is the goal of the 20 hours of training and rehearsals she leads the Regional Finalists through in the weeks leading up to their performances at the Taper. “The first thing I ask them in the workshops I do is what drew them to the monologue they selected,” said Chapman. “They’ll say, ‘I identify with Booster,’ ‘I identify with Bertha.’ I ask them why. There was something in their song, in these characters’ voices, that spoke to them. And then I encourage them to tell it within the context that August Wilson has set up. That’s what’s most important: their voice is heard, but it’s heard through the lines of August Wilson. The challenge is to ensure that the authenticity of the monologues is honored and the voices of the students are honored.”

In all of the activities the students do, Wilson is at the center. “I show them who he is, show them his work, let them hear his voice in different interviews and things so they can see the kind of man he was,” she said. She helps the students see the context in which their monologue lives, ultimately preparing them to perform the entire play rather than just one piece of it. “We keep building so the characters shine through—they have different colors, different levels of emotion, so the characters aren’t all angry or sad or crying. We give them humanity,” she said.

Also at the core of the students’ learnings is that “working together is key and ensemble is key. I know it says ‘August Wilson Monologue Competition,’ but it’s really ensemble,” said Chapman. “We’re one voice trying to tell a story of this particular artist.” That feeling carries through the Regional Finals and beyond, including the National Finals in New York. Chapman travels there with two Regional Finalists, who perform their monologues on Broadway.

“Every group we’ve had has been very supportive of each other. Backstage when we’re doing the show, they’re all hugging, they’re right there with each other. Whoever’s going to go on to New York, the whole village goes along. We all go with them.” She added, “The win is not so much the trip to New York. The win is for a student to feel as if they have fulfilled the telling of the story—and they used themselves to do so. That’s the great beauty of this program.”

In Memoriam: 'Lackawanna Blues' Composer Bill Sims Jr.

Ruben Santiago-Hudson — Fri, 08 Mar 2019 15:48:00 -0800

L-R: Ruben Santiago-Hudson and Bill Sims Jr. Photo by Benedict Evans.

For over 20 years and dozens of projects, Bill Sims Jr. and I have stood shoulder to shoulder. Whether in cafes, arenas, living rooms, or on Broadway, Bill’s music, spirit, intellect, and passion saturated everything he touched. His music has been the bedrock, the foundation, the warm blanket that engulfed everything we’ve done. Every note Bill played had to be the truth. Everything he wrote was life itself…his life, his story…our lives and history…clearly, profoundly, dignified, and authentic.

Bill loved Lackawanna Blues as much and maybe even more than I did. I once said to him, I don’t know if I could do Lackawanna Blues if you aren’t there. And in his classic Bill Sims Jr. cool he responded, I’ll be there. You might not see me, but I’ll be there.

Watch and listen closely—that soothing touch you feel…that warm embrace…Bill and Nanny spreading some love our way.

Well Done.