Announcing: Wasatch Theatrical Ventures Presents “Our House” by Theresa Rebeck, Opening 6/30 at the Lounge Theatre

WASATCH THEATRICAL VENTURES ANNOUNCES
WEST COAST PREMIERE OF
OUR HOUSE
BY THERESA REBECK
DIRECTED BY KIFF SCHOLL

DARKLY COMIC LOOK AT AMERICA’S OBSESSION
WITH REALITY TELEVISION
OPENS JUNE 30, 2012 AT THE LOUNGE THEATRE
FOR SIX WEEKS ONLY

Wasatch Theatrical Ventures has announced the West Coast premiere of Theresa Rebeck’s Our House, helmed by award-winning director Kiff Scholl, for a limited engagement at the Lounge Theatre in Hollywood. There will be one preview performance on June 29, with opening night set for Saturday, June 30, 2012 at 8:00. Our House will play through August 5.

Are news and entertainment interchangeable? In Our House, a cocksure TV big shot faced with dwindling ratings installs America’s favorite news anchor as host of a popular reality show. Meanwhile, in Middle America, a houseful of roommates bickers over high-stakes real-world conflicts: Merv doesn’t clean the bathroom. Someone ate Alice’s yogurt. And the rent is long past due. When reality collides with reality TV, we find ourselves front and center in a drama that holds the nation riveted. Our House is a deliciously scathing new comedy that takes on a media-obsessed culture intent on turning even the most sobering crisis into sexy entertainment.

Theresa Rebeck is a widely produced playwright throughout the United States and abroad whose work also includes The Scene, The Water’s Edge, Loose Knit, The Family of Mann, Spike Heels, Bad Dates, Poor Behavior, View of the Dome, Omnium Gatherum (co-written with Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros and a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2004) and The Understudy. She has written two novels, Three Girls and Their Brother and Twelve Rooms with a View. She is also an award-winning writer and producer for television, including the shows Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Brooklyn Bridge, Dream On, L.A. Law and NYPD Blue, and she is the creator of NBC’s Smash, among others.

Award-winning director Kiff Scholl most recently served as director of Hyper-Chondriac at the Asylum Lab and Expecting to Fly at the Elephant Space. Other Los Angeles directing credits include Kill Me, Deadly and Shake at Theatre of Note, and Don Giovanni Tonight, Don Carlo Tomorrow at Sacred Fools, about which the LA Times said, “Director Kiff Scholl has few peers at keeping us intrigued.”

The cast of Our House will feature (in alphabetical order) Mark Belnick, Ajarae Coleman, Patrick Hancock, Rachel Germaine, Kyle Ingleman, Jennifer Kenyon, and JB Waterman. The set design is by Dan Mailley, lighting design is by Matt Richter, costume design is by Sharell Martin, and sound and video design is by Corwin Evans. The stage manager is Stephaine Boltjes, and Our House is produced for Wasatch Theatrical Ventures by Racquel Lehrman and Theatre Planners.

There will be one preview performance of Our House on Friday, June 29 at 8pm. Opening night is set for Saturday, June 30 at 8:00. General seating admission is $12.50 for the preview, and $25 for regular performances. The running schedule is Friday and Saturday at 8pm, and Sunday at 7pm, through August 5 only. Tickets are on sale now, and may be purchased online at www.plays411.com/ourhouse or by calling (323) 960-7773.

The Lounge Theatre is located at 6201 Santa Monica Boulevard (just east of Vine, at El Centro), in Hollywood. Street parking is available.

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06-04-12

Review: Expecting to Fly

Expecting to Fly

Theatre Planners at the Elephant Space

Reviewed by Neal Weaver
January 31, 2012

Photo by Mark Barnes

Michael Hyman’s long one-act takes its title from the Neil Young song. It’s set in late evening in a spectacularly cluttered NYC loft apartment (artfully designed by Keith Mitchell). A young man, Jared (Justin Mortelliti), comes barreling in drunk, high, angry, and exhausted. As he disrobes and prepares for bed, he talks and complains nonstop to someone we can’t see. Eventually, Sean (Casey Kringlen) emerges, and it seems that the men are estranged former lovers. Yet unanswered questions lurk: If the two have had a breakup, why are they still cohabiting? And why is there no bed, only a small sofa?

Jared is exhausted and wants only to sleep, but Sean insistently berates him for his self-destructive vodka swilling and promiscuity and suggests that they’re an attempt to escape the love and closeness he fears. To which Jared can only reply, “You don’t understand me.” Sean sets to work to re-create the happy moments they’ve shared in the past (“I want to remind you what it’s like to be happy,” he says). Jared alternately allows and repulses Sean’s attempts to close the gap between them.

At first they seem merely a pair of ex-lovers playing the blame game, but gradually we realize that more is going on than we’ve been told. It’s a tale of passionate love and loss, touching on issues of faith and trust, with elements of the supernatural, metaphysics, and exorcism. Hyman brings us a taut, convincing, carefully calibrated anatomy of a close yet stormy relationship. And director Kiff Scholl gives the piece a faithful if surprisingly athletic production, with the actors frequently leaping from platforms, climbing the furniture, or tumbling on the floor. It’s a little disconcerting at first, but it serves to underline the oddity and subjectivity of the tale. Still, I’d gladly have traded the gymnastics for clarity of diction. The words aren’t inaudible, but sometimes they’re muffled or swallowed.

The actors are deeply committed to their roles and play off each other in a subtle and intriguing symbiosis. Mortelliti is masculine and volatile, flinging himself around violently in his inarticulate pain. Kringlen is more purposeful and feline, determined in his attempts to make his partner admit the strength of his love.

Sound designer Corwin Evans provides a soundtrack of big-city ambience, and Matt Richter’s lighting cleverly draws us into the strangeness of the tale.

Presented by Theatre Planners at the Elephant Space, 6322 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. Jan. 28–March 4. Fri. and Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m. (323) 960-5772 or www.plays411.com.

Announcing: “Expecting to Fly” Begins Performances Jan. 21

WORLD PREMIERE OF
EXPECTING TO FLY BY MICHAEL HYMAN
BEGINS PERFORMANCES JANUARY 21

OPENS SATURDAY, JANUARY 28 AT THE ELEPHANT SPACE
FOR SIX WEEKS ONLY

The world premiere of Expecting to Fly by Michael Hyman, directed by Kiff Scholl, is set to begin preview performances on January 21 at the Elephant Space in Hollywood. There will be two additional previews on January 22 and 27, with opening night on Saturday, January 28 at 8:00. Expecting to Fly will play through March 4.

Expecting to Fly is a dark and sometimes humorous journey through the young minds and memories of Jared and his former lover, Sean. As the two men look back on their time together, they try to come to terms with what they lost, and experience that one last perfect kiss, to set each other free. Playwright Michael Hyman’s credits include Love Will Tear Us Apart at he Hudson Guild Theatre in Los Angeles, Ice In A Hot World at Bank Street Theatre in New York City, a workshop production of Happiness at Manhattan Theatre Club, and Jaye Sits at the Harold Clurman Theatre, among others.

Award-winning director Kiff Scholl most recently served as director of Hyper-Chondriac at the Asylum Lab. Other Los Angeles directing credits include Kill Me, Deadly and Shake at Theatre of Note, and Don Giovanni Tonight, Don Carlo Tomorrow at Sacred Fools, about which the LA Times said, “Director Kiff Scholl has few peers at keeping us intrigued.” The cast of Expecting to Fly, in alphabetical order, will feature Casey Kringlen (as Sean) and Justin Mortelliti (as Jared). The set design is by Keith Mitchell, lighting design is by Matt Richter, costume design is by Shannon Kennedy, and sound design is by Corwin Evans. The stage manager is Victoria Watson, and Expecting to Fly is produced by Racquel Lehrman and Theatre Planners. Expecting to Fly is a guest production at the Elephant Space.

General seating admission is $10 for previews, and $20 for regular performances. The regular running schedule is Friday and Saturday at 8pm, and Sunday at 7pm, through March 4 only. Tickets are on sale now, and may be purchased online at www.plays411.com/fly, or by calling (323) 960-5772.

The Elephant Space is located at 6322 Santa Monica Boulevard (one block west of Vine), in Hollywood. Street parking is available.

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01-09-11