Astroglyde 2013 (review)

Spoilers ahoy!
 

Zombie Joe's Underground Theater's latest, but very short-run, offering is their annual Astroglyde evening. For those unfamiliar with the series, this consists of monologues written by the actors--usually (as in this case) some new-comers as well as faces seen before at ZJU. Each emerges as a deeply personal glimpse at someone's life, the whole scale of it. The theatrical equivalent of a haiku.

Remember My Name performed by Ann Hurd easily ranks as the funniest piece of the night. Giving the details why would be a real pity but let us say it has to do with sex. And Star Wars. 'Nuff said. The narrator simply explains to someone what happened. Like many funny tales, it contains all the elements of tragedy. Yet we laugh. A lot. And while the costume helps, pink tights and a tutu do not a full ten minutes of giggles and sympathies make. Not now, nor ever. On a stage the size of a coffee table we see exactly what went wrong, at least from one person's point of view. When you really think about it, one feels this person's life went off the rails long before walking down the aisle.


Morning Jo by Courtney Bandeko proves more...ambiguous. Because despite our narrator says, she doesn't reveal much detail about her past nor hints about what the future might hold. Yet we do get a sense of what this person's present tends to be, with an ever-strengthening suggestion that ultimately is more important. Not in a New Age kind of way, but as a template by which she's going to face every day remaining. It seems sweet. Friendly. Nice. But one wonders if anything other than searing tragedy can await her in the end? Unless some Luck Angel literally takes her under wing?

Whistling For Goats, despite its title, seems almost mundane by comparison. But also, closer to home for exactly that reason. Olga O'Farrell plays a woman very uncomfortable in an subpar evening gown about to compete in a whistling competition. The reasons she's wearing the gown, getting ready to whistle classical music for ten minutes, and how goats figure into all this emerge over the course

of her nervous monologue. Like what she did to end up in this women's prison.
Again, given how short the piece is we're left most often wondering about the unchronicled details. Her exact relationship with her cellmate for example.Or whether she wins!

The aptly named Rock Bottom by Caitlin Carleton captures a moment when someone ends up caught and tries to justify themselves. Bit of a tour-de-force, actually, as she recounts events both funny and skin-crawling. But what makes the whole thing more funny is her reaction to her own words. This is no planned speech on her character's part, but what comes out of her mouth under the circumstances.

The Monster in Me on the other hand, performed by Chelsea Rose, creeped me out the most--in part because

I'm not sure exactly what is happening. She seems prisoner, and the identity (or presence) of her jailer remains ambiguous. Is she playing two characters, or is she practicing for when this psychopath comes back to do God-knows-what? Or is she herself her tormentor, a case of fissioned
personality? Worse, is it some combination of all of the above? I don't know. For that I'm almost grateful, but her eyes very nearly gave me nightmares.

Interestingly, Nightmare by Frannie Morrison was next. And that is precisely what it seems to be--a straightforward experience of a personal terror wrapped in the narrative form of a dream. So simple, so easy to get wrong by not committing to the full truth of your character's personal terror. Not a problem here. I was left feeling maybe, just maybe I was glimpsing a few moments of a soul trapped in hell.

15 by Jahel Corban Caldera is unique in this  year's presentation. He's the only male presenter this year. Make of

that what you will. He also wears the least clothes. Fortunately he has the body for it, and it make sense he should be almost naked since that essentially is what his character becomes. Emotionally naked. Realizing some hint in his stream of consciousness ramble of why precisely he's done what he has to all fifteen of those people.

Pitch by Cimcie Nichols on the other hand is the only performer who doesn't seem to be playing a human being at all. Rather she's an avatar, an icon, an incarnation as much as Uncle Sam. And she's trying to sell you (or anyone) something (herself) of great power. What? Suffice to say her costume is a brilliant little visual pun, and makes for a kind of almost SNL-esque humor.

Tsunami is done by Ellen Burr, and again breaks the mold of what one expects by this time. Imagine if you will a woman at the beach who experiences (as the title suggests) a tsunami. What would she think? What would she feel or notice? Not in terms of her life flashing before her eyes, nor any imminent ghost-like regrets, but the fear and pain and then the eerily beautiful details. More than any other as well, this piece is physical,
with the actress showing us as she reacts to the huge, unforgiving wave.

Finally Not Your Style by Anne Westcott builds around an idea I suspect doesn't really exist--but I'm not at all convinced happen. It focuses on that most simple, challenging and potentially most heart-wrenching idea of a grotesque metaphor for ourselves. Who of us has not longed to find someone just right? And felt nothing but impatience at a world that doesn't fulfill that aching desire A.S.A.P.! Or what we think of as possible, anyway. So we try to become someone new, something new. Which can be growth, after all, but can also mean turning yourself into a preztel about as natural as a moebius strip. And in the moment of struggle, of disappointment and focus, might not we have an epiphany?
Astroglyde 2013 I'm sorry to say has only two more performances--at 8:30pm Fridays December 13 and 20. Given the SRO status of opening night, I recommend folks hurry. Performances are at Zombie Joe's 4850 Lankershim (across the street from KFC). You can order tickets at (818) 202-4120

Zombie Joe's A Christmas Carol (review)

Spoilers ahoy!

December ushers in many things, including lots of different versions of the perennial fave A Christmas Carol. So many versions one might rightly wonder how else might one do the story? We've seen musical versions, all female versions, US modern versions, Great Depression versions, various styles of animated (including Mr. Magoo), the Muppets, a one man stage play (with Sir Patrick Stewart no less), even Doctor Who did a version!

Now Zombie Joe takes a shot, and finds yet another way to act out Dickens' most beloved story. It should surprise no one this production never once forgets this remains a ghost story!

Perhaps the average theater-goer might suspect ZJU would transmogrify this classic into something fascinating and grotesque but not really the tale people love. Well, no. At least not this time. What we experience instead fully meshes with the spirit of Christmas, but through a Halloween lens. In fact the whole show begins with a "Steampunk Chorus" singing Christmas Carols--but with a spooky edge. The effect often proves

Photo credit: Adam Neubauer

hilarious! Not least for the sense of character each performer brings--not simple nice people who barely know life contains shadows. Rather this chorus might, just might have been composed of family and friends of the Addams Family!

Once they've set the mood, the story commences--and at what seems like a breakneck pace! Almost everyone plays multiple roles, all save Sebastian Munoz as that most famous miser of all time, Ebeneezer Scrooge. Which makes perfect sense. This remains his story after all. In fact, the whole production rests squarely on his performance. If we don't believe in Scrooge, then at best we're distracted by the other characters and their antics. The heart of the tale lies in his redemption, in our seeing him as a human being who was not always the nasty old man we meet, and who might yet find again the power of compassion and joy. Because here lies the secret of A Christmas Carol's power--we all are Ebeneezer Scrooge. Or so we fear in the deepest part of our hearts. None of us retain the hopeful innocence of childhood. We all feel ourselves warped by life's pains and disappointments. No one

Photo credit: Adam Neubauer

reaching adulthood doesn't feel regret for choices made, paths taken, a word or action we'd take back if only we could!

Munoz succeeds bringing that very truth to life on stage. No small feat since he only rarely leaves it! The trap with Scrooge is to play the miser as a nothing more than a caricature. Easy to see why--the meaty scenes all come later as the worst aspects of the man begin to shed away. One of the hallmarks of the best Scrooges is that one feels the emotional truth of him from the start. Not someone playing at being a miserable old man, but who actually is exactly that. Munoz (who did such a marvelous job in The Raven earlier this year) gives us both.

A word here as well about pace. This production proceeds at a breakneck speed. It fairly zooms along. Yet it retains a natural rhythm, including moments of pause and reflection. Indeed, those moments become more powerful simply because they stand out in sharp relief from the rest. Amidst the roller coaster ride of young Ebeneezer coming home from school, Mr. Fezziwig's party and the like, the simple pause that lets Scrooge react as he sees his younger self make a titantic, stupid error--one that ripped all chance of happiness from his life for decades--stands out very much indeed. Like

Photo credit: Adam Neubauer

a lighthouse in darkest night.

Let us not forget the rest of the cast as well, who do a fine job in a virtual blitzkrieg series of performances. A few stand out most--top of the list being Zombie Joe himself! Never having seen him perform before now, let me note he almost steals the show as the Ghost of Marley, as Mr. Fezziwig and as the venal Undertaker (treat in and of itself that left me wanting more). Likewise Vanessa Cate did a lovely job in her roles, including the relatively straightforward one of Belle, the woman Scrooge loved and let slip away. She created a lot of depth with that tiny part. Annalee Scott played guitar for the Steampunk Chorus as well as playing several other parts, changing a lot with each role (including a waiter that stuck in my mind for some reason, as well as Scrooge's beloved sister Elizabeth). Jason Britt made a fine Bob Cratchit yet managed to keep the seemingly similar roles he played also distinct (kudos for that!). Redetha Deason was his Mrs. Cratchit, with Corey Zicari as a strangely attractive Tiny Tim (not her fault--she's a very pretty young woman, and helped add that tiny touch of weirdness one expects at Zombie Joe's!)

Denise Devin follows up her Witch of Endor in Whore's Bath with all three Ghosts of Christmas in this one. Honestly this seems such a good idea I'm a tad startled never having seen it done before! Given the speed at which this show proceeds, it also serves as a nice anchor point for the audience to not loose track of things along the way. Just as having David Wyn Harris play not only young Scrooge but his nephew Fred serves the same function (and helps on a visceral level explain his intense dislike of the young man).

Is this a perfect production without a flaw or hiccup? No. Hardly any theatrical performance I've ever seen qualifies for that! Frankly, I'd call that an unrealistic standard. One can spot a stumbled line here, a beat missing or a (very few) ones unneeded. But this show, it flows. It works. We understand the story and emotionally respond. Not to mention we laugh as well as cry, just a bit. More than once the audience (at last this member) spend long periods fascinated. Kudos to the entire cast and crew for that achievement--include Gloria Galvan and Sandra Saad.

A Christmas Carol shows at 8:30pm on Saturdays and 7pm on Sundays until December 22, 2013 at Zombie Joe's Underground Theater 4850 Lankershim, North Hollywood 91601 (just south of the NoHo sign, across the street from KFC) 818-202-4120

Breaking & Entering (review)

Spoilers ahoy!

Breaking & Entering is the latest original production at Zombie Joe's in North Hollywood. Honestly I didn't quite know what to expect. For one thing, there was the startlingly well-stocked set--complete with desk as well as sofa and screen. Given the black box nature of ZJU I'm more used to minimalist sets.

The reason became clear soon enough.

W.J.Trumbull (Matthew Sklar) lives here, a recluse novelist who wrote a bestseller decades ago. Not just his home, this place is his fortress against a world that he doesn't want or like or trust or...something. Therein lives one the many mysteries. Mysteries that may (or may not) be solved by evening's end.

Trumbull is trying to listen to a baseball game, which (to his intense annoyance) includes a commentator (Jerry Chapell) who quotes him over and over. There's a small power outage. Hence enter a girl (Catherine Canipe). She, as per the title, breaks and enters into the author's home. She introduces herself as Milly Smith and demands he read her novel.

Cue the groans and laughter.

Credit: Sebastian Munoz

But...we proceed from there to something far more interesting, and only a little less funny. Trumbull predictably enough rolls his eyes, but also engages in conversation. He listens to some of what Milly has to say. Asks a couple of questions. Offers her a drink. And little secrets, confessions, possibilities begin rearing their heads. Why hasn't Trumbull written anything in fifty years? Or has he? What happened to the man's wife? Milly insists her novel tells the story of what is happening between them right now. How can that be? Meanwhile, every now and then, the sports announcers come back and tell more about what must surely be the longest baseball game in history (Jason Britt portrays the second announcer).

In effect, what we're seeing is a journey inside a human mind, complete with metaphorical commentary. This sort of thing can crash and burn real easy. Done with preciousness or self-consciousness, plays like this fail. What they need to work are actors who commit totally to the emotional truth of what happens, the moment-by-moment interplay. Given the leads recently appeared together in the delightful (but campy) Captain Dan Dixon Vs. The Moth Sluts from the 5th Dimension, one might halfway expect/suspect a similarly campy approach. But...no. Canipe and Skar never avoid the humor of their scenes, yet they remain deep inside the story, reacting not as actors but as characters. The result is something like a cross between Sleuth and Six Characters In Search of an Author. I find myself not wanting explain what that means too much. Far better for audience members to experience the reality shift for themselves.

To offer a clue, at one point I genuinely asked myself if only one of these two lead characters--the tetchy old novelist or the young fervent one--might in

Credit: Sebastian Munoz

fact be real? But if so, should one of these two be only a figment of the other's fertile imagination, what I couldn't decide was which was which? Is this a fantasy on the part of Milly, her novel as she sees it playing out? Or is a sequel by Trumbull to his long-ago best-seller, delving into the weird world of his imagination. Or, her imagination?

You know what? I'm still not sure. About any of it. But like the end of The Usual Suspects or The Turn of the Screw I'm still pondering.

Colin Mitchell wrote this play, a lovely tour-de-force of character and language which I for one enjoyed thoroughly! Sebastien Munoz directed, whose skills in that position I've watched with growing appreciation. The whole production showed more focus, as well as the energy and fun which usually go with his plays. Makes me look forward to his next directorial effort that much more. Likewise, I'll now keep an eye out for any more plays written by Mitchell!


Zombie Joe's Underground Theatre Group, 4850 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, CA 91601.  Performances run on Fridays & Saturdays @ 8:30pm, NOV 8 - 29.

Bob Hope's Birthday (review)

Spoilers Ahoy!

Sunday evenings at Zombie Joe's Underground Theater make for more "family friendly" fare. For November this means Bob Hope's Birthday, a dramedy having to do with one family coping with Alzheimer's.

The writer/director is Jeri Batzdorff, and she notes in the program she drew upon experiences with her aunt, Cynthia Goldstone. The play comes across as a labor of love, with a portion of the proceeds going to several charities involved with this dreadful condition.

So how is it?

I'm at a bit of a disadvantage here. This type of story isn't really to my taste. Honestly, the subject matter lacks the kind of meatiness I prefer. Please note (to belabor the metaphor) I'm not claiming this is the theatrical version of a plum tart or some other desert. Here we do see some of the meat of the human experience--sometimes quite raw. But because this isn't quite to my taste, the fear of misjudging the piece rears its head. Likewise this play falls into what is sometimes called "the well made play" namely it proceed along a completely logical emotional structure towards its target. Honestly, I prefer more surprise.

Having admitted that up front, let me also note the most important part of this entire review. I was emotionally moved. Everything else is detail. In fact, you can quite easily stop reading now, having gotten the heart of what this play is all about, how the performance impacted me.

I was unfamiliar with the cast overall, and to be honest they seemed a tad under-rehearsed. But that is a nuance. A lot of dialogue was more "on the nose" than I particularly like, yet it worked. One thing I've always liked about soap operas is how characters end up showing lots more facets than we sometimes come to expect. Very rarely do we meet anyone in such (just as in life) purely virtuous or innately evil. But everyone has flaws, miscommunications abound, issues and tensions rarely resolve themselves totally but at the same time people do undergo continuous change. All this is real! If feels true! In that sense Bob Hope's Birthday captures exactly that kind of sometimes-fascinating mundane reality we too often ignore in favor of car chases, gun fights and exploding space ships. That latter makes for spice and sugar coating, while the thousand tiny tragedies and triumphs of everyday life is where heroism often pervades.

Ayo Majek has a dual role, initially as a hired caretaker for one Jane Grady (Georgan George) who's recovering from a broken hip and dealing with Alzheimer's. This caretaker has to leave because her own mother is very sick, so Jane's own family have to pitch in. Majek later shows up as a social worker doing a monthly visit.

The first helper to show up isn't family per se, but Billy (Christopher Crabb), a friend of Jane's grandson. He's known Jane since his childhood and loves the old lady. Next up is the grandson, Dylan (Daniel Kuhlman) who has a new band and a new girlfriend we eventually get to meet. His grandmother, given her condition, keeps telling him the same stories and forgets nearly everything he says to her. But remains interested and kind. More problematical is Lydia (Sylvia Bush), a highstrung workaholic who warns people she's really stressed, proving the point by snapping at everyone. At least at first. Later we meet Dylan's sister Jessica (Genya Royfman) as well as Betsy aka Bittersweet aka Bitsy, Dylan's new girlfriend and member of his band (Alison Stolpa).

I'll fess up--I found Billy, Jessica and Bitsy the most interesting characters. Really wanted to get to know them more. But that is a digression.

Ultimately, this play tells of how a circle of family and friends find a point of unity amidst a very personal crisis--caring for someone with Alzheimer's Disease. Not exactly the defeat of Lord Voldemort, but exactly the kind of crisis we often face in real life. It works that way. Towards the end I felt  choked up and some moisture in my eye. This, from someone who does not as a rule watch this kind of show! So what can that mean save that it achieves precisely the emotional chord at which it aimed? An achievement, that. No small one!

Bob Hope's Birthday plays at Zombie Joe's 4850 Lankershim Blvd. North Hollywood 800-202-4120 Sunday nights at 7pm until November 24, 2013. It really is the kind of play very many people like in the holiday season.