Spotlight on Christian Prentice

The Road Theatre Company proudly presents Michael Perlman's At the Table at the Lankershim Arts Center May 17 through July 7. This riveting play deals with six so called liberal friends who realize on a weekend retreat that they are not as enlightened or diverse as they thought. Every week we will spotlight a member of the cast. This week the light shines on Christian Prentice.

Who do you play and what purpose does this character serve?

I play Nate, the host for the weekend and one of the "Core Four" friends. Nate is the guy that likes to have a good time. He provides the booze and the weed and the cabin. He also likes to stir the pot a little bit, he will say something or do something to get people riled up and then sit back and watch and he usually gets away with it because he is just charming or funny enough to get by. But he is also very loyal and protective of his friends and he loves them all very deeply.

Thematically he serves the purpose of the rich, straight, white male that truly believes he is an ally to minorities and marginalized groups and is doing the right things but in reality doesn't recognize how much his privilege has given him.

What are your challenges as an actor?

Wow. Um... In this show the biggest challenge is listening. There are a lot of scenes where everyone is talking at once and if someone misses a cue the whole theater can feel the energy drop. This is a show where, as an actor, you have to be "in it" the entire time because if you tune out for a second you've missed a lot and then you're playing catch up.

Also, learning when to time eating food in between lines can be tricky.

How are you preparing?

I've been drinking a lot. Smoking weed. Hanging out with the cast a lot outside of rehearsal. I think the entire cast realized early on that these friendships need to feel authentic for this play to really resonate with people and we've done a lot of work to build those relationships off stage. So hopefully that translates to the work. If not, it was still fun to party with these people.

I look over my lines a lot. This play is very naturalistic. The writing has a lot of "likes" and "ya knows" and trains of thought that jump tracks and then come back fairly quickly. It helps me because as an actor I have to finish the thought internally even if I don't say it out loud. And I have to know why it's connected to the next thing I'm saying in order for it to sound real and to maintain any emotional builds. It's challenging but it forces me to really think about what is this character thinking? What is he feeling? Why? What is the history? What has happened to these friendships in the year between Act 1 and Act 2? Which only leads to deeper, more rewarding work.

I've also been reading a lot about social justice and equal rights and racism and relationships. I read some Chekhov this play feels very Chekhovian to me. It's funny and sad and heartbreaking and absurd but very real all at once.

What is the theme or message of the play?

There are a lot of themes and issues this play addresses: privilege, equality, friendship, racism.
But I think the core of this play is what happens to lifelong friendships when people begin to grow into their truest self. Can we grow together or do we grow apart? Who am I? What is important to me now? And do the people that I surround myself with serve my journey of becoming the best version of myself or are they friendships of habit and history?

Talk about your fellow castmates and your director.

Ugh. The cast is the worst. Kidding! The cast is great. They are funny and talented and messy and complicated and giving and perfectly cast.

There was a night that the cast was out to dinner and it was right in the sweet spot of everyone was drinking and feeling loose and laughing and everyone was talking at once and it hit me that we were doing the play in real life. The rhythm, and the battle to be heard, and the teasing, and the love was all there. I saw the characters in each of us and understood why each person was cast. Credit to Judy for seeing that in us.

Judy (Moreland) is one of my favorite directors that I've every worked with. I've never trusted a director like I trust her. She is smart and funny and generous and curious and I think a lot of her strengths as a director come from her being a really good actor. She was so masterful in getting us where we needed to go as an ensemble. She gently guided us, she was patient, she asked great questions. This is a play that could become one-sided very easily and she did a great job of making sure that everyone was heard, everyone was fighting for what they believed.

The heartbreaking thing about this play is that everyone is hurting and speaking their truth and the other people in the room are having trouble hearing it. They want to help; they just don't know how. Or they are so hurt themselves that they can't see how. Judy did a great job of calibrating all the arguments so at the end of the play the audience will have a lot of things to think and talk about.


At the Table will play at the Lankershim Arts Center 5108 Lankershim Blvd. North Hollywood, CA, opening this Friday through July 7. There is street parking but arrive early. For tickets call 818 766-8838.

Interview with Grace Jasmine

Grace Jasmine writes in a variety of genres. With 47 nonfiction books in print, she decided to return to her first love, writing for theater. She sat down to talk with us about her work The Masher about to open as part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival.
I love your logo. It looks so eerie, like the child from Les Mis turned inside out. I love bizarre tales. How did you get started writing in this style? Is this your first play for the Fringe Festival?

Thank you! I appreciate the compliment. I told the artist, Summer Rue, and she loved your comment. And you are right, I did look at the Les Mis art for the poster and I can see that this art we have for The Masher is the surreal horror version of that. As a writer, I think that I see the tragedies and bad things in the world and try to make sense of them with black comedy. I tend to use broad comedy to deliver (what I believe are) important underlying themes. I have been told by an editor that I write “hysterical tragedy” –I think that is an apt description of my work.

I love bizarre tales too—and in this case the characters in The Masher are in a truly bizarre world— surreal, and really in many ways horrifying, but this is their reality and they live in it as real people. I think that is how bizarre tales really work the best! Regarding how I got started writing like this: I think it’s a combination of my reaction to horrible events and my need to use humor to cope. The link between comedy and tragedy is a very close one. I think that is how I see my work—and the world.

This is my first straight play for the festival. I was part of the festival in 2017 when I got a chance to bring two of my short musicals to the Fringe premiering at Sacred Fools Theatre (now the Broadwater.) F**ked Up Fairy Tales (David Anthony, Composer)– a tale of disenfranchised fairy tale characters who can’t wait to get out of their books every night and into the “Magic Bean,” their favorite bar owned by gay couple – Jack and the Giant. The dysfunctional pals come together to help overthrow a new tyrant who has come to town—a megalomaniac orange king. Everybody wins in the end. My second musical in the 2017 Hollywood Fringe was the story of a kleptomaniac senior, her pious sister, their pastor, and the drag queen next door. Everyone and everything comes out of the closet over a game of bridge. (Ross Plotkin, composer.) Both were a lot of fun and gave me a real sense of the artistic collective that Fringe always is for writers, directors, producers, and actors. I am excited to be back again this year producing and directing my own full-length straight play.

I think theatre is a wonderful place to write the huge and bizarre ideas that you have lurking around in your mind as a writer. I think that may be why even though I have written in a variety of genres this is the home I love the most. I love the freedom of theatre.

Is the story about the three women based on a real-life situation? If not, where did the idea come from?

The situation is surreal but a world that could exist.

Like most writers I get an idea from here, a character from there, a situation from somewhere else. Writers are always staring at their friends funny, not waiting to get into the conversation with something appropriate to say but seeing if their friend’s comments would make a good script or if that story about their grandmother would make a good plot. We are notorious for pulling subject matter from anyone who looks interesting.

In the case of these women they are totally fictional but portray aspects of things that are either life experience or close to my heart and soul as issues. For example, the #MeToo issues that form part of their personalities are subject matter that are personally important to me. it is written as my reaction to the #MeToo movement. I think that most of us, women especially, feel a real connection to the topics about #MeToo.

Without giving away the plot twists, what can you tell that will treat our readers? Just a tiny example of the horror and the humor in it.

Well, it’s interesting how humor and horror come together—but in the plot of The Masher they do. Doris, as audience members will find out, is that family member we all have who we love but they infuriate us. We can’t believe the things they say, and they frustrate the hell out of us. She’s that lost aunt or nutty grandmother that makes us reach for that second drink at the thanksgiving dinner table. Her insensitivity is actually very naive. She doesn’t mean to be as damaging as she is—so we have this constant love and hate for this lady. It makes for some wild moments of humor. Tae and Doris are constantly butting heads and Cassandra ends up an unwitting peacekeeper.

Regarding horror, there is something very odd happening at this factory. Without giving too much away, the factory uses music in an unusual and disturbing way—and interestingly an object at the factory becomes almost a living entity with its own distinct character.

Who are your favorite writers? Did you like Rod Serling of The Twilight Zone fame? If so, in what way? Who else would you care to mention...someone who inspired you to write?

I love the Twilight Zone. I must have watched every original episode. I love the normal people in bizarre situations story lines that make you on edge, that heighten our enjoyment by hooking into our tension and fear as well as a sense of edgy discomfiture.  I think it’s fun to be in an audience where you don’t know what the hell is going to happen next. Or when you are confronted with an emotional rollercoaster ride of action and story, where you don’t know if you should laugh or cry or be disgusted, so you do all three at the same time.

There are so many writers and playwrights who I respect. Some of the ones who have inspired my work recently are Robert Askins, who wrote the very bizarre and amazing Hand to God. Lisa Kron who wrote the book for the musical Fun Home and Hugh Wheeler who wrote the book for the musical Sweeney Todd. I also love the work of Lynn Nottage who wrote Sweat for which she earned the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. I think the edgy, real people in often surreal situations that are mastered by each of these playwrights makes me love their work. I also appreciate the three dimensionality of their characters and the fearlessness with which all of these playwrights write.

How do you expect audiences to react? What do you hope they will take away with them after having seen the play?

Like all theatre I enjoy, I am hoping for an emotional reaction to my work. I hope to move my audience on an emotional level. I would love it if they laugh and cry, if they are engaged. If they feel sympathy for the characters and care about what happens to them. If they “lean forward” the way I do when I am really enjoying a moment in the theatre.

As far as a take-away. The underlying theme of this work is about violence against women. Both the sexual violence that #MeToo centers on and domestic violence. I want audience members to think about what happens to women and how it's largely ignored. I would like this play to draw attention to these subjects. And because of this underlying theme, I have decided to give a portion of the house each night to a different women’s charity—some that support victims of domestic violence and sexual assault but others that empower women, women in the arts, women writers and girls who want a creative career.  I would like to change the conversation about how women are treated in this country—not only nationally but globally. I think as an artist (and a person!) these issues concern me, and I want to bring attention to them.

Is this your only play or have you written others of this genre? Others of a different nature?

Well, I love over-the-top theatre, that is, theatre that takes risks--whatever they are. I have two shows now that I am currently working on—one, a straight play with music, called The Rage of Ordinary People that will touch on women from all walks of life, including those who are disenfranchised for any reason and what their lives are like now. Additionally, I am working on a musical based on the story of Frankenstein called Skin Deep. This one is another creepy, larger- than-life show, based on the classic tale, but featuring a woman who wants to make herself over through plastic surgery to look like her favorite doll. So, what pulls my work together are a couple of things: digging deeply into emotion, pushing boundaries, and sympathetic characters. In this way I have written comedy, black comedy, musical comedy, dramedy and drama/thrillers.

In your mind, what should a play do for those who watch besides entertain them?

I think a play should make people feel, it should provide a heightened emotional experience. There is something amazing about a heightened emotional experience in real time provided by real people in the same space you are in – as opposed to the thrill of watching something on the screen. There is a group synergy in live theatre.

Can you point to a recent mystery type play that you feel is really well written? Or do you feel that this genre is a dying art form doomed to special effects and poor character development?

Well, my feeling on genre is this: Any play about anything and any genre has the chance of being well written if the characters are well-drawn and three dimensional and if the audience cares about them. If they are sympathetic. Those characters have to have well defined character arcs-that is, they have to change and grow through the story. They have to fight their own dragons, so to speak, and let us watch. That more than a specific genre is how I think any genre succeeds.

What about TV and film? Should a play's suspense outweigh that of a film, or are they the same in your opinion?

Well, I love film and TV, but I do think that immediacy of theatre is quite simply one of the best ways to heighten emotion, especially suspense. I think suspense operates through making an audience member feel uncertain, edgy, a sense of foreboding, or a sense of feeling for a character whose outlook looks grim—and I think all of this can happen in all of these mediums in an exciting way.

What do you hope will happen to The Masher through its contact with the Fringe?

Well, one great thing about Fringe is it is sort of a play incubator. I think my goals with this play are to explore it here at Fringe with a first run and then move forward to a regional and then Equity run and eventually Off-Broadway. I believe that the Hollywood Fringe Festival is a first crucial step in all this. One thing about Fringe, it absolutely increases your contacts and professional friendships, your network and your skill. Everything about it works toward the ultimate creative good of all those involved.

Add anything you care to mention that I did not ask.

Well, of course, I really want to encourage your readership to come and see The Masher. I think it’s going to be a really interesting, intense, and fun night of theatre. I would like to mention the link to our page on the Hollywood Fringe site at https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/5726. I would also like to invite readers to use our discount code "CARD" for 4 dollars off their tickets when they buy them on the Hollywood Fringe site! And thank you so much for these awesome questions and the chance to chat with you!

Grace :
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Produced by Loud Karma Productions, directed and written by Grace Jasmine. Starring: Morgan Aiken, Cindy Lopez, Allana Mathies, Megan Rees, Blake McCormack, with understudies, Amanda Wagner and Megan Rees. 

WHERE: Theatre Asylum’s Studio C–6448 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90038


PERFORMANCE DATES: (Running time 55 minutes)
June 7, 2019 @6:00 PM
June 9, 2019 @7:00 PM
June 15, 2019 @ 2:00 PM
June 19, 2019 @10:00 PM
June 23, 2019 @8:00 PM
June 29, 2019 @4:00 PM


TICKET PRICE: General Admission: $14.00 - https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/5726
HFF Participants and card or code holders: $10.00




**Admission age: Not appropriate for children under 16.

2019 Interview with Will Holbrook

Actor Will Holbrook made a big splash as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet when he first arrived in Los Angeles in 2016 at the Archway Theatre Company. The grandson of Hal Holbrook, Will is ambitious with two plays scheduled to perform this summer - Henry IV Parts 1 and 2 and The Skin of Our Teeth - and the presentation of his new production company dedicated to film. In our conversation, Will talks with candor and enthusiasm about his plans for this summer and beyond.

I saw The Skin of Our Teeth several years ago at Theatricum. It's bizarre in structure and insanely hilarious. Describe the Antrobus family and your character son Henry in detail.

WH: The play follows the Antrobus family as they claw through external and internal disasters during the ice age, the great flood, and war. Some characters are representative of the bible, Mr. and Mrs. Antrobus as Adam and Eve, and their son Henry was re-named from Cain after he killed his brother. There is also a play-within-a-play aspect when the actors playing the characters occasionally break the fourth wall to make personal commentary on, or criticize, the production. 

Through all the chaos, the family’s relationships evolve to an explosive third act. Henry is a little boy when the play begins and has already killed his older brother. He strives to please his father and family and be “good”, but his instincts drive him to violence. I think as the story progresses, Henry observes the best way for him to get attention is to be “bad”. But the cost of that transformation is heavy. The play is unusual in its structure and themes, but at the heart it’s about a family trying to survive and cling together, which all of us can relate to on some level.

How are you going to prepare to play Henry? Use lots of imagination, to be sure.

WH: I first read the play before the audition a couple months ago and closely connected with Henry right away. Since then I’ve been preparing for the start of rehearsals. I'm looking forward to exploring being in the mind of a little boy, because young children don’t edit themselves and they go after what they want with zest and no second guessing. I enjoy using a combination of different acting techniques. At the end of the day, it’s whatever is most effective for given moments, stories, relationships. Preparation is the most fun part of acting to me because it’s when you can really learn things and tell a story. I do a lot of script analysis and character development beforehand so that once a production begins I can just be in the moment at rehearsal and in performance. 

On every project my process evolves. Sometimes I’ll prefer a couple months to focus on a character, sometimes just weeks. I also get really excited about entering different worlds and perspectives. Extremes fascinate me, and once I feel I “get” something, my mind starts wanting to move on. Extremes are risky but rewarding, and I seem to find myself in those scenarios over and over. They do make eventual balance more satisfying. Henry faces the dilemma of extremes as well in his pursuit of attention and adoration. Working with great acting veterans like Melora Marshall and Willow Geer, you always get so much from your fellow actors, which brings you to a fuller life. We have a really good team on this production, and I can't wait to start.

Dark comedy is a challenge for most actors, as you tread a thin line between fantasy and reality. Is this new for your repertoire or have you done one before?

WH: I tend to prefer comedies darker. I think a lot of our lives are dark comedy. It’s in the darkest moments we most need to laugh, and laughter is the closet emotional release to crying. The only reason we accept the craziness of life is because we are partaking in it and not observing it. Dark comedy relates us to our human gift of self-consciousness, every moment is so dear and important, yet we are also aware of the world and universe we exist in and that we are but a part of it. Only when we can’t laugh at the darkness does it become too dark. Comedy is tragedy that happens to someone else. If you can observe the dark comedy happening in life, you can understand it in the script.

Is this your first time at Theatricum? Use lots of insect repellant and be prepared to sweat...a lot. Tell us anything else you wish to regarding this character and play. Have you ever read Our Town? Thornton Wilder moves 360 degrees from this for  the satyrical Skin of Our Teeth, but they're both about family life.

WH: This is my second season with Theatricum. Last year I graduated their artist internship program and had ensemble and understudy roles in three of their plays. I’m continually struck by the beauty and community of Theatricum. In a big city going out into nature settles me down and brings peace. Performing classical work to an audience of not just people-but critters and birds is magical. Working on a stage surrounded by trees older than the stage itself brings perspective to what we do: attempt to perceive and relate to the life around us. Nature is the greatest of all storytellers, and humans are it’s most triumphant symphony. Sometimes on stage there I feel like we actors are the ones watching a story unfold around us.

A couple years ago I watched the 1977 production of Our Town that my grandpa Hal was in. I love stories that take place over generations, those two plays being good examples.

Prince Hal in Henry IV has to be one of Shakespeare's most difficult characters to carry off. The speeches are terribly long and immersed in historical content. Describe the dilemma or conflict and how you will attack it as an actor.

WH: Hal’s arc was what first attracted me to the idea of the show a couple years back. He is stuck between two worlds and has to find a way to balance the good from both to become the great king he dreams of being. His arc ends in seeming opposites and we get to see what makes him change. Finding personal meaning in the history is key, as is understanding the scene by scene evolution of Hal. Mining for historical context gives a better idea of relationships. It’s one thing to know Henry Bolingbroke had been banished by Richard II, returned, and won the throne, but another to put this into context for Hal; that his mother passed away in childbirth when he was six, his father was banished when he was nine, and Richard II took Hal under his wing until his father came back at eleven and deposed Richard. 

Hal had several different lifestyles growing up, shifting to fit into each, and I think that shapes him into the heroic king he becomes in Henry V for better and worse. As he predicts, his ability to see different perspectives serves him well as king. To me there is a deep longing in Hal, longing that leads him all the way to the castles of France in conquest. Hal had a king for a father, and was raised in politics and celebrity, what he missed was love and trust. He has to find which people he can surround himself with when it comes time to “pay the debt” of being king. As an actor, understanding and communicating both the boy and the man, the drunkard and the king is a chief challenge. It’s a daunting transformation for Hal to make as well.

Archway did a terrific job with R and J. Are fellow actors returning to do this project as well? Talk a bit about the artistic director and how he manages to mount superior Shakespeare in such a small space.

WH: Archway moves on the blood, sweat, and tears of Steven Sabel. His passion and direction attract good energies to the company. Many of those energies are a part of this production, including John Eddings (Falstaff) who designs our company sets and returns as Falstaff after playing him in Merry Wives of Windsor. Another frequent Archway collaborator, Ron Milts, is directing. His last show with the Archway was Night of The Living Dead in 2017, which won a Valley Theatre Award. It’s a hard working group and that extra detail pays off and keeps the team rolling.

What have you been working on since Romeo? Film projects? Tell me about your production company.

WH: After Romeo I went through a transition period. I put everything into the show, and was so satisfied, that it took a few months to regain my fire. I’ve been booked continuously since October 2017 and am now full to the brim for all of 2019. I am doing now on a small scale what I want to do on a big scale in the future. I’m able to be selective with what projects I do now because I take full ownership of my career and recognize it will be what I make it and what I earn. It’s all about growing and learning, inch by inch. I mostly work in film, which is my preferred medium because it can take you anywhere and it is compact and stand alone. The next release, scheduled for June, is A Shore, a film dealing with the complexities of friendship and regret between two best friends when they meet at their sacred beach spot to reflect on their adolescence and face the reality of being carried on different currents by life.

I am debuting my production company Deep End Productions LLC with the short film Ride Home, being released mid-June. As a boy, my goal was not only to act, but also to write, direct, and produce my own projects. I started doing production work on feature films when I was 16, but after my first few months in LA at 18 I chose to focus on acting because it is the one of those I need in order to exist. With so many inspiring creators out there I feel now is the time to embrace my natural instinct and begin expressing my vision as a director as well. 

Opportunity is now truly in the hands of the artist in our industry. For long I had said "someday", but the time is now to make the art I want, as opposed to what I've been shown. As artists we have to trust our hearts and see where our crazy takes us. My goal is to be more catalyst than observer in my acting projects. We only get so many days, and I want to fill mine with projects that pass the ‘pace test’, if the script makes me pace around my room.

Our second release later this summer will be Way of the Wind. I took a 22 day long solo road trip sleeping in my Toyota Camry from LA to the arctic circle in Alaska, and back, in November 2018. I let my iPhone roll for 33 hours of footage, unsure if it would be anything interesting, but it turned out to be one of the climactic lessons of my life thus far. It was the culmination of adventures I began undertaking last year, days or weeks long unplanned driving trips around North America. I observed how much more I had to bring as an actor and person when I let my instinct take full control and stopped judging myself. I am editing alone so it’s been a bear (wink) of a post-production, but I believe what I learned will inspire and move audiences.

Our next three projects are on tap for late 2019 and the first half of 2020. Next up is a 15-minute short about an artist’s attempt to control his art titled To Eat A Slice of Pizza. There’s heartbreak, shoot-outs, and a film within the film. The script is beginning to look like someone ran over the rule book with a lawn mower. It’s gonna be outright chaos. I’m excited.

Deep End Productions will begin to produce and invest in other artist’s projects as we build it. We say “Stay away from the shallows”.

Getting back to Henry IV and its challenges, how do you approach the actual speeches in your preparation?

WH: One of the primary challenges of this play is tackling the monologue scenes. I’ve prioritized my time by workshopping scenes at Ivana Chubbuck studio, where I've studied for three years, giving me extra opportunity to work on them. Specificity in intention and the meaning attached to the historical facts are essential in this play. On the prose side at the tavern, it's understanding the jokes and references and finding the comedy of them for us the actors. I would argue some of Shakespeare’s best comedic scenes take place at the tavern in Eastcheap with Falstaff, Hal, and Poins.

For updates on the projects mentioned above, follow me on Instagram @willholbrookactor or Facebook at Will Holbrook

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The Skin of Our Teeth plays at the Theatricum Botanicum from July 13 through September 29 for 12 performances, TheTheatricum Botanicum  is located at 1419 North Topanga Canyon Boulevard, Topanga, California 90290
For tix, call:

Main Office 1-310-455-2322
Box Office 1-310-455-3723

Fringe Festival Interview: Composer Terri Weiss

Monkey Mind is a family rock musical about a bright, precocious teen driven to thoughts of suicide because of an over active mind. This lesson of life becomes an uplifting and fun experience. Monkey Mind opens June 8th for the Hollywood Fringe Festival at The McCadden Place Theatre at 1157 N. McCadden Place in Hollywood. WriterTerri Weiss sat down recently to discuss the show.

Terri’s career spans decades from appearing on Broadway in FADE OUT FADE IN with Carol Burnett to understudying Betsy Palmer in SOUTH PACIFIC at Carnegie's Judsen Hall, to film where she worked with luminaries such as Jack Benny, Toni Randall and Jane Fonda. She studied voice with all the majors of her day and studied dance with Martha Graham and Matt Mattox. Terri also sang, on the road, for 7 years working at times with the famous Lionel Hampton orchestra.

Tell our readers about yourself.

Well, I’m 33 years sober and I’ve taught myself to live in the now, to control my mind. I am a singing teacher, a former singer/actress/dancer with Broadway, Off broadway and singing on the road experience I thought that it was just alcoholics who had crazy out of control minds but I have found that too many of my students have the same problem with their minds alway going into the dark spots of future and past. I have taught quite a few to “stay in the now’ as I taught myself.

So this is the basis of your play, correct?

Yes. This is a story, based on truth, about a teen girl whose lost her mother and her father’s having financial problems. She wants to win a singing contest and give the money to her father to get him out of his depression. She goes to a singing teacher who tells her she has a monkey mind. And the girl doesn’t want to hear it, but, near suicide she finally learns that staying in the now can save her life.

How long did it take you to write this?

I worked on it for ten years. We had a very successful workshop of it at New Musical Inc but I was never truly happy with the music and didn’t really get along too well with my composer. After letting it sit for about 4 years, I' d had a bad accident, got hit by a truck j-walking. I decided I had to get it done the way I wanted it done so I asked the composer if I could pay to have an arranger come in and make it more contemporary. He said absolutely not. If I got a producer who wanted changes, then he’d let me change. Well that was the last straw for me. I hired a lawyer to send him a very legal letter saying he was off the project.

I like your strength and determination.

I am one who thanks God all day a lot for the blessings in my life, but hardly ever get on my knees, I got on my knees and prayed for God to let me find the right composer. I rent rooms in my home and have never had to advertise, usually students or friends of friends rent from me but this time I had to advertise. A young man shows up from Peru and rents a room. He tell me he’s a composer but I think little about it figuring he wants to be a rock and roll star like so many boys I teach. A couple of weeks later, we’re in the kitchen and I ask him what kind of stuff he writes. He’s done movies in Peru and background to a play. I listen and am impressed. I ask if he’s ever written to lyrics. NO. Is he willing to try. Yes.

And he became your composer!?

Yes, Gerardo Herrera. He’s 26 years old, he studied to be a priest, and I love him.

So, what happened next?

Then I decided to do the Fringe and everything has fallen into line so spectacularly that I feel like I’m in the palm of God’s hand. And I’m NOT religious!. The first theatre I looked at I loved. Asked the guy if he knew a director, he suggested John Coppola, who read my script and loved it. We had audtions and out of 33 people. John picked two girls to star that are past students which thrilled me no end.

What is most exciting for you?

The most amazing thing about the whole thing is that, for years, everybody around me rolled their eyes at my references to spirits and my terms of spirituality. Now, not only does the director believe as I do, so do most of the cast and the energy in the rehearsals is electric!

What really stands out in the show?

Lacy's Monkey Mind is played by characters who sing and dance around her on stage. Because the interaction of the Monkeys with Lacy is funny, this show never gets too serious except for the climax.The lyrics are filled with a great sense of humor!


Written by Terri Weiss, Directed and Choreograph by John Coppola, Music Director: Ron Burnett, Costumes: Rob Saduski, Composer: Gerardo E. Herrera Benavides, Lyrics: Bill Berry.


Cast: Darcy Rose Byrnes, Cameron Gilliam, Karla Kelly, Corey Page, JD Mata, Fernando Christopher, and Tori Cott


PERFORMANCES: 90 minutes

Saturday June 8 2019, 5:00 PM

Friday June 14 2019, 5:00 PM

Sunday June 16 2019, 7:00 PM

Saturday June 22 2019, 8:00 PM

Sunday June 23 2019, 11:00 AM

Saturday June 29 2019, 6:30 PM

Sunday June 30 2019, 1:00 PM


WHERE: McCadden Place Theatre - 1157 N McCadden Pl., Los Angeles, CA 90038


TICKETS: $10.00 - https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/4954


Admission: All ages, however, parents who have strict rules about any profanity or the subject of suicide should not bring their children.


my webpage http://terriweiss.com,

Fringe Festival Interview: Composer Brooke deRosa

Trial Run Productions presents the world premiere of Gunfight at the Not-So-OK Saloon  a new musical comedy by Brooke deRosa. Gunfight at the Not-So-OK Saloon is a Gilbert and Sullivan-styled musical comedy set in the Old Wild West with a modern spin. The show opens as part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival on  Saturday June 8th at the McCadden Place Theatre, 1157 N. McCadden Place in Hollywood., Brooke deRosa sat down to talk about the show and here's what she said.  

Describe the show for our readers.

So this is a western comedy, it's written almost like a cross between Gilbert & Sullivan and :"Blazing Saddles".

Tell us the basic storyline.  

When a clueless man named Chance wanders into town searching for his first love named Hope he discovers more than he bargained for.  Hope has taken a job in the local brothel where she spends time with the tyrannical Sheriff Sunday. Hijinks ensue as Chance, Hope, and the Sheriff get entangled in a hilarious web of truth, lies and love.  Who will win the girl?  You'll have to come see the result of the showdown between Chance and the Sheriff to find out.

It sounds really funny.

It's a pretty funny show, but I may be biased.  Our creative team is all female, so I suppose that's something. We have a lot of funny dialogue and double entendres, several dance numbers and the show runs about 50 minutes.  

What for you is the most exciting element of your show?

       

I've spent the majority of my professional life to date on stage as a performer.   Moving to the other side is such a thrill!  I get to collaborate with my favorite co-stars in the opera and musical theatre world that I have performed with many times but in a new way.

What about your cast? Who makes up the ensemble?

Our cast is comprised of: opera performers, operetta folks - who do a lot of Gilbert & Sullivan, and musical theater performers.

Is this your first show as a writer?

This is the third show I've written.

Fill us in with more detail on your background.

My background was originally as a musical theater performer and then an opera singer.  I've been composing music and film scores alongside performing my whole life but around 2016 I started combining both passions into writing opera and musicals.  My first opera, The Monkey's Paw premiered with Pacific Opera Project in 2017. I have several commissions coming up along with shows I am writing to produce.  While I am not performing in this, I am producing it through my new company, Trial Run Productions.

Talk with candor and more detail about what you feel is exciting about this new venture.

As a performer, my favorite shows have been operettas such as Pirates of Penzance, Candide and The Merry Widow.  Operetta is a fun genre that features both singing and dialogue, much like musical theatre. 

I wanted to write something that would be witty, in a more "traditional" style but give it a fresh and modern take, and that's how Gunfight came about.  I feel that having a performing background in both opera and musical theatre definitely helps in the writing process.  I try to envision what I would like to see as an audience and who I would like to portray as an actor.

What are other newer accomplishments?

In 2018 I was hired to orchestrate, re-compose and conduct the famous “missing quintet” from Rossini’s opera “La Gazzetta”. I have also conducted on TV’s "Scandal". " Luke Cage" season 2 and produced albums for Amazon Music, Linear Labs, and most recently, Snoop Dogg.

If you had to sum up Gunfight in a couple of sentences, what would you say?

The whole thing is very tongue in cheek.  It's very funny, and the cast laughs a TON.  

Directed by: Jennifer Clymer, Choreography by: Julie Barnett

Stage Managed by: Jenna Jacobson

Starring: Phil Meyer, Jade Bates, Jonathan Matthews, Nandani Sinha, Christopher Anderson-West, Monica Allan, Jessie Massoudi, Rosa Beltran, Jason Chacon, Spencer Frankeburger, Anthony Moresi

Where: McCadden Place Theatre, 1157 N. McCadden Place, Los Angeles, CA 90038

Performance Dates:

Saturday, June 8th @7pm - Preview

Saturday, June 15th @3:30pm

Friday, June 21st @10pm

Sunday, June 23rd @8:30pm

Saturday, June 29th @5pm – Closing Night

Running Time: 50 minutes  - Admission age: 13+

Ticket Price: $20 - http://hff19.org/5852

Spotlight on Justin Okin

The Road Theatre Company proudly presents Michael Perlman's At the Table at the Lankershim Arts Center May 17 through July 7. This riveting play deals with the problems of social media and how far we have grown apart as human beings. Every week we will spotlight a member of the cast. This week the light shines on Justin Okin.

Who do you play in At the Table and what purpose does this character serve?

Stuart, who is the embodiment of white privilege. He loves provoking his
friends with ideas that he knows they will find outrageous simply to
see how they will respond. He’d probably tell you that he is liberal
and openminded but his humor is not appropriate and shows just how
little he understands about his privilege vs. the struggles of just
about anyone who has ever been oppressed. This privilege allows him
to feel entitled to say pretty much anything he feels like saying and his
charm allows lets him to get away with it, at least at first.

What are your challenges as an actor?

This play is very wordy, very fast and involves a tremendous amount of
people talking over one another, so getting word perfect on lines has
taken up a lot of the work. There is also the challenge of listening
to the right conversations at the right times when several are
happening at once. For me personally, the biggest challenge in terms
of playing Stuart has been figuring out how to make him sympathetic.
He represents so many white men in this country who think they are
woke but really don’t have the first clue about what they are talking
about when it comes to oppression, and rather than cast these men
aside as people who will just never get it, it is important to me that
people walk away from this play thinking that there is a chance that
they eventually will if they can find it within themselves to just
pull a chair up to the table and simply listen, rather than try to
command the room.

How are you preparing?

Among many other things, this play is about a group of people who get
together, get intoxicated, talk, play, laugh, and have fun. This cast
has been really amazing about embracing that in our work, not just in
rehearsal, but on our days off. We have gotten together at
restaurants, bars, and in one-another’s homes, simply to get to know
one another and get a sense of the rhythm of our conversations and how
they change after those first few drinks. It has been a lot of fun.
Other than that, we all just listen to Judy (Moreland), our director, and do just
about everything she asks us to because we all adore and trust her so
much.

What do you feel is the theme or message of the play?

While it is not said overtly, I believe the play is telling us that
the more privileged we are, the more of a responsibility we have to
stop talking and start hearing more from those who have not had it so
lucky simply because of how they were born. White liberals especially
need to stop being so proud of themselves for being “openminded” and
“accepting” and really start accepting that there is a tremendous
amount of work to do in this country when it comes to equality.

Talk about your fellow castmates and your director.

It is rare to get to work with a cast that is stacked from top to
bottom with actors who you can turn to in any moment and have a
spontaneous and honest moment with. I have tremendous respect for each
and every person on that stage, and I strive every night to return the
favors they do me with their vulnerability, humility and a sense of
play. Judy Moreland is one of those directors you work with whenever
you have the chance. She is incredibly smart, interesting, curious,
and most importantly, a phenomenal leader. Her instincts are spot on, and she communicates them in such an effective way. You look forward
to notes from her because you know they will always propel you towards
a more 3 dimensional take on the character and a more honest telling
of the story.


At the Table will play at the Lankershim Arts Center 5108 Lankershim Blvd. North Hollywood, CA, opening this Friday through July 7. There is street parking but arrive early. For tickets call 818 766-8838.

Whitefire Monday Night Musical Series Part 2

Erin Stegeman is thrilled to be back as Cersei for the encore LA run of Shame of Thrones: The Musical, a role she originated Off Broadway. In real life, she’s married to Khal Drogo, has a spanking new son, and is (barely) functioning between matcha lattes. Erin is known for the cult hit musical feature she created and starred in,Once Upon a Time: The Rock Opera, and the award-winning Hulu anthology, “Fun Size Horror” (writer/director/actor). She has a comedy feature in development with Panther Films and is working on producing the music for her third show, a rock opera about Beethoven, debuting Off Broadway this fall.

What challenges does it take to bring Shame of Thrones to such a small space?

Stegeman: Going from a 200 seat off Broadway house to a 99 seat black box without losing the spectacle is definitely a challenge. Luckily our show has always had a minimalist POV with regards to set and design. It’s all about the characters and performances, so relying on our choreographer, Mandie Hittleman (who also plays Daenerys),
to make it more dance-heavy, adding some audience interactive elements, and utilizing projections (which we’ve never done before)has been key. The show is definitely much more of a workout now!

I understand the cast is large with many returning from the original. Is the production the same or have there been changes?

Stegeman: When we had to transfer venues for our extension in New York, we had to share a set with another show in production, which looked like an apartment. We tried to make our castle set work with the space,but it was proving impossible, and with just 2 days to get the show up,
we decided to do some quick rewrites and set our show in (Game of Thrones author) George RR Martin’s home. It ended up being the happiest accident and added a whole new comedic device that we could play with visually. Having a little more time to incorporate that element into this run, that was our primary focus. We also opened up some of the roles to all genders, which has been a lot of fun and just goes to show that’s it’s ultimately about the energy and talent an actor brings.

Game of Thrones ha been such a hit on TV. Did the original stage musical provoke a feverish reaction?

Stegeman: I would compare our show to all of those “Top 21 Tweets from Last Night’s Episode” articles you see pop up on Monday. We are the meme response to the show, and the audience totally gets that and loves it. We take some
liberties with the characters, timelines, and plot points, but there’s so much campy fun nobody seems to mind. We’ve had a lot of non musical theater fans attend our show simply because they love GOT and really enjoyed it.
HBO even came and loved it! There’s a reason most of our cast has continued to be a part of our show - we have a blast doing it and the audience can feel that.

What is the music like? It was a rock opera. Is it still in that style or does it have new and varied music?

Stegeman: Since our original run, we’ve added a fun “Magic Mike-Esque” solo for Cersei. Peter Frintrup and I had written it as a demo and snuck it on the original album
as a bonus track. People seemed to respond to that one, so it was added. Plus Cersei’s become the show’s “big bad”, so it makes sense. Stylistically, my music producer, Martin Blasick, and I decided to tonally shift some tracks more rock as opposed to “musical theater with some rock” for NYC, and we’ve kept that for this run.

I understand LOST: The Musical is up after SHAME OF THRONES: The Musical. You should also consider doing something with Bates Motel.It would make a very ghoulish rock opera. Did you see that with Vera Farmiga and Freddie Highmore? They made it great, very watchable and entertaining.

Stegeman: Um....i wrote and directed a Bates Motel parody called “Normero’s First Date” that Vera and Nestor retweeted. It was the best day of my life. Then I met them in person and they both mentioned the sketch, and I’m pretty sure I died a little that day. And even more bizarre, our SOT writer/producer Steven Parker was in it - it was the first time we worked together. I can’t believe this question right now. Jaw. On. The. Floor. I’m a massive, probably unhealthy, Bates Motel fan. Writing a musical for that show may just do me in.

Anything else you care to add?

Stegeman: We’ve also been releasing a bunch of GOT parody content for outube.com/EpicRobotTV, including a sketch series about the characters in therapy called “GOT THERAPY?” and several Hamilton and Disney GOT musical mash up vids.


www.whitefiretheatre.com