Monday, April 1, 2019

Plays I'd Like to See - April 2019

I've been asked to list plays that I'd like to see produced in Los Angeles.  Trying to do such.  Maybe some dramaturgs or directors out there will be impressed/inspired.  We'll see.


Perfect Arrangement by Topher Payne.  A friend of mine was recently in a production of this in Tampa, Florida and won rave reviews.  I found the photos from the production intriguing and finally looked up the script--which really looks fantastic.  Set in the 1950s, it tells the story of an official and his secretary in the State Department given the job of rooting out homosexuals.  But, both are in fact gay, and have married each others' partner as a way to hide in plain sight.  The result apparently combines farce, social commentary, and drama.  I really want to see this play.  And I so hope one of the amazing theatre companies here in Los Angeles will decide this matches their plans and mission statement.



A Shadow Over Innsmouth by Scott T. Barsotti (Visceral Company did his Kill Me some years ago) premiered in 2013 at the Wildclaw Theatre in Chicago.  This was a theatrical adaptation of H.P.Lovecraft's almost-last work, one of the most easily adapted in many ways, and when I first learned of the production I abandoned plans to adapt the story myself.  What solidified my feelings was learning the lead/narrator had been changed into a woman rather than a man.  That frankly feels inspired to me.   And it created a fierce desire to see this play in performance.  Certainly makes a change from the usual Halloween fair of Dracula, The Woman in Black, Turn of the Screw, or horror mazes.  Mind you, I like all of those, but every Lovecraft show I"ve seen here has been splendid! 


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