Creating Controlled Mayhem

Six Questions with Fight Choreographer Edgar Landa

Edgar Landa

Edgar Landa likes the fact that he creates violence and mayhem for a living, and it’s all in the name of the theatrical arts. Landa, a fight choreographer, is working with the cast of Stephen Adly Guirgis’ The Motherf**ker with the Hat.

SCR: How do you prepare fight choreography before getting onstage with the actors?
 
Edgar Landa: I read the play multiple times—for story, for character information and for other small pieces of information that would affect how a particular character might approach a fight or react to violence. I also make notes of props, weapons and any blood or injury requirements. Whenever possible, I ask for a floor plan of the set design so that I have an idea of the space in which a particular fight or piece of violence will take place in. And finally, I talk to the director. I ask for his or her thoughts on the play, particular characters, and the fights or violence. Often I'll ask for descriptive key words or phrases for specific characters that sometimes can open up doors in how to approach certain fights.

Once rehearsal begins, how do you work with actors to create the illusion of a fight?
 
EL: I come into the first rehearsal with some ideas about what the fight/violence might look like, what I feel it may have to it, and how the story and given circumstances might motivate the fight. 

Sometimes I'll have worked out some fight bits with some of my graduate students [at the University of Southern California] before coming to rehearsal. Choreographing some possible fight moments beforehand allows me to explore and come into the first rehearsal better-prepared. These ideas will shift once I meet the actors and get input from them. I often find that we discover the fight/violence much more organically that way than if I come in with a prepared fight to impose on them.

In the rehearsal room I like to work collaboratively with the actors. I may start with some of my ideas just to get the actors moving and out of that they will often come up with good or better ideas that I can craft into safe and effective fight moves that tell a good story and support the overall story of the play. The choices made in the fight are determined by character and story and also by what can be done safely. That is always our first concern.  We are creating the illusion of violence.

How do the fights in this play differ from other plays?
 
EL: The fights in The Motherf**ker with the Hat are challenging to choreograph because they are "messy" fights. There is no particular style or elegance because the characters are not skilled fighters. Yet we have to choreograph it so that the actors always are safe and in control to create the illusion of the fight not being in control. Even a seemingly wild and chaotic fight must be controlled and choreographed so that the actors are safe, the story of the fight is clear and the audience remains engaged in the illusion of the world that the director, actors and designers have created.  The choreography is very much a dance with its own pace, rhythm and beats.

Tell us how you ensure actor safety.
 
EL: We work on mats in the rehearsal room and I encourage the actors to wear knee pads and elbow pads, if necessary. We work on fights slowly and methodically and build up slowly to "performance" speed. I remind the actors that "performance" speed is slower than reality because the audience has to be able to see the violence, and because intent and specificity in the fight is always better than speed.

Props and scenery pieces are custom-made to look like the real thing, but actually are made from soft materials. We choreograph the fights to avoid contact by found weapons and those items also are made from soft materials, which add a layer of safety. The breakaway furniture is made to consistently break as required. The rehearsal process allows the actor to be confident in the furniture functioning as intended.

I want to stress that the fight is a dance and the actors involved must look out for each other, must constantly breathe and create the violence from a place of relaxation in their body rather than from a place of tension.
  
What kind of fights will we see in The Motherf**ker with the Hat?

EL: The play calls for violent contact with "found" weapons, like a pistol whip, a stickball stick to the head, a coffee table/side table getting broken or broken on an actor during the fight. 
 
What makes your job fun?
 
EL: I love working with actors!  I’m an actor myself, so part of the fun for me is figuring out how to work with each actor, how much to lead and how much to listen. I also love the moment when actors take ownership of a fight or piece of violence. The moves are the moves—in and of themselves—so they’re not particularly exciting or fancy. It is the actors investing the moves in the fight with intention and specificity that makes for an exciting story telling moment.

Back to Basics: Karen Hensel Teaches "Acting III"

Karen Hensel with students.

In the world of actor training, Karen Hensel is renowned as the founding instructor of Actor’s Workshop, the most advanced class in SCR’s Adult Acting Program. And for good reason. A successful actor in her own right, Karen is the program’s director as well as a longtime member of the SCR company.

Karen with Richard Doyle in 
Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune.

Now there’s great news for students who are advancing through the program but are not yet ready for Actor’s Workshop. For the first time, Karen has put Acting III on her teaching schedule. A popular class for students with prior training, either at SCR or elsewhere, the class is a final step before they advance to Actors Workshop. Karen will be at the helm when winter classes begin on Jan. 14.
Among those already registered for Acting III are several repeat students.

Darren Nash probably holds the record as a frequent Karen Hensel student. He has taken—more than once—Acting III and Actors Workshop, and he’s a graduate of the Professional Intensive Program, an eight-week summer course for career-minded actors. According to Darren, “Anything I have achieved as an actor is directly due to the skills I acquired from Karen’s instruction.”

And, he will repeat Acting III this winter. Why again? “Just to be in the same room with her infectious joy for the art of acting—and to re-connect with why I decided to be an actor in the first place.” Darren has guest-starred on the Biography channel and appeared onstage at Shakespeare Orange County.

Acting III delves deeper into technique. But because she can’t know the newcomers to her class immediately, Karen begins with small steps. On the first day of class, students fill out a confidential questionaire, which allows her to understand them more completely and help with their specific problems and concerns.

Karen Hensel with Hal Landon Jr. in A Chrismas Carol

According to Karen, “They’ll have the option of choosing their own scenes and monlogues or taking suggestions from me. I’m very excited to be teaching at this level because it gives me the opportunity to work on the emotional connection to a script and gives my students a chance to think about where they feel the need for more work.”

Among Karen’s acting credits are major roles in SCR productions, including Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, with Founding Artist Richard Doyle, which went on to the Singapore Theatre Festival, and the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award-winning Top Girls. Karen appeared on Broadway in Zoot Suit, and her many television credits include 18 years and counting as Doris on “The Young and the Restless.” She was seen most recently in her annual role as Mrs. Fezziwig in SCR’s A Christmas Carol. Karen has taught acting at Santa Clara University and is a faculty member at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, where she teaches Acting Styles.

According to Founding Artistic Director David Emmes, “Karen has a distinguished career as an artist, but one of her greatest gifts is helping students discover their inner potential as actors.”

That about sums it up. And her students agree.

What’s in a Name?

by Kimberly Colburn

“The Hat Play.”
“The play with the unprintable name.”
“The one with the curse word in the title.”
“One funny mother of a play.”
“The cursing play.”
“The MotherMMMHHHMMM with the Hat.”
“The [Unpleasant Person] with the Hat.”

This is a report of a few of the monikers audience members have given to the box office in order to purchase tickets or ways the play has been referred to in the printed press. Shorthand names of Stephen Adly Guirgis’ newest play, The Motherf**ker with the Hat, are plentiful. It’s almost as though Guirgis is daring you to say it aloud. The title brilliantly captures the explosive dark humor in this play and whether you find the title titillating or a turn-off, the comedy and power of this piece cannot be denied. The Wall Street Journal called it a “tight, smart and splendidly well-made…a tough-minded, unromantically romantic comedy that keeps you laughing, then sends you home thinking.”

Set in New York City, the play opens on Veronica, “cleaning” up her single room in a residential hotel off of Time Square (including getting rid of a line of leftover coke) and giving dating advice to her mother. Veronica insists her mother’s current beau resembles a fish. “Take a real good look and ax yourself in all honesty—‘Do I wanna fuck him—or fry him up with a little adobo and paprika an’ feed him to fuckin’ Buster and Negrito, okay?!’” Veronica knows something about dating; she’s been dating Jackie on and off since the eighth grade.

Elisa Bocanegra as Victoria and Tony Sancho as Jackie.

Jackie is fresh from a two year stint in prison for selling drugs. He’s clean now, thanks to AA and the help of his sponsor, Ralph D.  He returns home to Veronica’s place with great news. He’s found a job. More than that, it’s a job with potential for advancement. For the first time in his life, they can plan for the future together. Jackie promises Veronica a night of celebration, but Veronica puts the plan on pause to go and take a quick shower. Jackie’s celebratory mood sours when he notices a seemingly innocuous object on the table. It’s a hat. It’s a man’s hat, but it sure ain’t Jackie’s hat. Who is the owner of that hat? And what was he doing with Veronica?

Jackie accuses Veronica of stepping out on him. She denies it, but he doesn’t believe her. How could he? Jackie asks her “Why the bed smells like Aqua Velva and dick?” Like Ralph D. says, you can’t trust an addict—and everyone is struggling with his or her demons in this play. From Jackie to his lonely cousin Julio, no one can quite manage to tell the cold, hard truth. It’s just not that simple when you live in desperate circumstances and the people around you solve problems with drugs or violence.

Jackie’s never been able to keep it together long enough to become what society might see as a functioning member, and now he’s so close he can taste it—but life keeps hitting him with one distracting revelation after another. Guirgis’ play explores the nature of addiction. Jackie is forced to wrestle with avenging his cuckold status while navigating the temptations that are luring him to indulge in his past bad behaviors, the only ways he has ever known.

Director Michael John Garcés, in his work as the artistic director of Cornerstone Theater Company, has personal connections to the themes in this play. He has worked with community members who have struggled with addiction. When asked what excites him about the play, Garces cites Guirgis’ ability “to use rough language to make deeply insightful statements about love and the human condition” and “tackle important issues—in this case alcoholism and the effects of addiction—in a way that makes for great, engrossing and entertaining storytelling.”  (Read an interview with Garcés.)

Artistic Director Marc Masterson calls this play “sharply funny and achingly honest” and is “thrilled to introduce this important American playwright to SCR audiences.” Guirgis has penned hit plays such as Our Lady of 121st Street, Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train and The Last Days of Judas Iscariot. He has also enjoyed success in television, working on shows such as "NYPD: Blue" and "The Sopranos."

The comedy in this play lies in Gurigis’ masterful manipulation of the extremity of the characters’ circumstances mixed with a dose of good old-fashioned romantic farce. Whose hat is it? Can Jackie manage to find the owner of the hat and bring him to justice, all while staying clean and out of jail? A play by any other name could surely not be this provocative—or this funny.

The Artistic and Stage Life of the Cast of "The Motherf**ker with the Hat"

Larry Bates, Elisa Bocanegra, Cristina Frias, Tony Sancho and Christian Barillas.

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The characters in The Motherf**ker with the Hat have relationships and connections that are deeply rooted in their shared past, which led them to the circumstances of the play. Jackie and Veronica, friends since eighth grade and lovers since high school, have their mutual trust put to the test when Jackie discovers another man’s hat in Veronica’s apartment. He turns to Ralph D, his AA sponsor, for help, but Jackie finds something out that he can’t forgive. Even Ralph D’s wife, Victoria, has had it with Ralph, so she tries to drag Jackie into the couple’s relationship problems. And Jackie turns to his Cousin Julio for help. The complex and riveting characters created by playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis are one reason that The Motherf**ker with the Hat has earned praise.

The show’s cast has past connections as well that tie them together. Christian Barillas, who plays the role of Cousin Julio, just appeared as Young Ebenezer in SCR’s production of A Christmas Carol. He also originated the role of Alvaro in Octavio Solis’ Lydia at Denver Center Theater Company. Coincidentally, actor Tony Sancho—who plays Jackie in The Motherf**ker with the Hat—appeared in Lydia at Center Theatre Group’s Mark Taper Forum in 2009.

Tony has a deep history with the role of Jackie in The Motherf**ker with the Hat: he read the role at the 2009 Ojai Playwrights Conference. At SCR, he’s working again with director Michael John Garcés, who directed Tony in a production of Need Theatre’s The Web. Tony isn’t the only actor to have worked with this show’s director. Garcés also directed Cristina Frias—who plays Ralph D’s wife Victoria—in a production of Placas: The Most Dangerous Tattoo at the San Francisco International Arts Festival in last September.

Speaking of Ralph D, he’s portrayed by longtime SCR actor Larry Bates. His most recent performances at SCR include the co-production with Pasadena Playhouse of August Wilson’s Jitney, Suzan-Lori Parks’ Topdog/Underdog, and the 2010 revival of Sideways Stories from Wayside School. This last production, for SCR’s Theatre for Young Audiences program in 2004, featured actress Elisa Bocanegra, who plays Jackie’s girlfriend Veronica in The Motherf**ker with the Hat.

Learn more about The Motherf**ker with the Hat and see this cast on the Julianne Argyros Stage, starting Jan. 6, 2013

Five (Plus) Questions with Michael John Garcés

THE CAST: Larry Bates, Cristina Frias, Christian Barillas, Elisa Bocanegra, Tony Sancho.

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Now that playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis has your attention with the title of his play, Michael John Garcés, who is directing South Coast Repertory’s production of The Motherf**ker with the Hat, shares a few thoughts about the play and SCR’s production.

Question: Some people can’t get beyond the title. What’s important for them to know about this play?

Michael John Garcés: I think it's a great title, because it lets people know, straight up, that the language is explosive and in-your-face. This is a play about people who are on the edge of really falling apart, and the desperation of their situation is expressed in the way they communicate. That said, this is also a play about people trying to be better human beings: better in their decisions, better to the people they love, better at being responsible. It's a play about addiction, and that affects people's lives and families regardless of background or economic situation. And it's really funny!

THE DIRECTOR:  Michael John Garcés

What gets you really excited about this play and this cast?

MJG: The language is really poetic; by that I don't mean that it is pretty or in rhyme, but that it really sings, and flows naturally, and is both very real and also heightened. Stephen, as a writer, is able to use rough language to make deeply insightful statements about love and the human condition, which is ultimately what great playwrights do. He is also able to tackle important issues—in this case alcoholism and the effects of addiction—in a way that makes for great, engrossing and entertaining storytelling.

Tell us about your work with playwright Stephen Adley Guirgis.

MJG: I have known and admired Stephen for many years. We both came up together in New York in the early ‘90s and worked together quite a bit back then. He acted in a couple of plays of mine (he's also a great performer), and we were both in the same theatre company. I think the connection between director and playwright helps because I have seen and read a lot of his work, and hear it in his voice, and it brings some understanding to how his characters interact and why they talk in the specific ways that they do.

When the actors sat down around a table in December and read through the play for the first time, what did you listen for? And how does that figure into what we’ll eventually see onstage?

MJG: I'm listening for connection. What parts of the play, of their characters, do they really, inherently, connect to? What surprises me in how they approach certain scenes, line or moments? What parts of the play read completely differently than I imagined? And, also, how do the people listening respond?

What do you want audience members to come away with after seeing the play?

MJG: I'm hoping that people are reminded of the need to empathize with those around us, whether they are strangers or members of our own families, who are having a really hard time, who are not able to easily solve their problems, who are not "successful." I'm hoping that the play makes the audience remember that we all have times when we hit bottom, and, though some of us are more able to cope than others, we are all worthy of compassion and love. And I'm hoping people will have had a good time!

How do you kick back after really intense rehearsals for this play?

MJG: After the intensity of rehearsal, I do welcome the commute to Los Angeles. A big part of what I do to unwind is music: mostly, I've found myself listening to jazz, Louis Armstrong and Dexter Gordon sides, things that are upbeat and fun, and funny. I also read a lot, like the new book by Julian Barnes and a book by a Colombian writer named Santiago Gamboa. And, more than anything else, I enjoy time when I can play with my son.

BAH! Humbug!

Your friends and their families have been to see SCR’s A Christmas Carol this year. Why haven’t you?

Here are four more ways to know that you’re a Scrooge:

• If you give bathroom fixtures as Christmas gifts.
• If your idea of Christmas dinner is a six pack of beer and a cheese log.
• If the only three spirits that visit you are gin, whiskey and rum.

Share some other ways to know if you’re a Scrooge on our Facebook page.




"Ameryka" Helps Artist Discover History

Keystone and Ameryka

Nancy Keystone rarely gives her Polish heritage much consideration.

"[My great-grandparents] came to the U.S. from Poland at the turn of the last century,” she relates, “But there are no family members there now, that I know of.”

But being in Poland helped her feel connected to her roots. “I got a vibe while I was there. There was a sense of familiarity.” Through the development of Ameryka, she is finding an appreciation for her own heritage.

Keystone wears many hats: director/playwright/choreographer/designer/filmmaker. She conceives productions as a whole, often designing her own sets. She founded Critical Mass Performance Group, the ensemble of actors and designers, with which she collaborates to create productions. She also has been a director or designer at numerous companies across the nation, including Portland Center Stage, Mark Taper Forum, Actor's Express, Theatre @ Boston Court, Georgia Shakespeare Festival and San Francisco Shakespeare Festival. She serves as resident director for The Continuum in Los Angeles.

Keystone earned an MFA in directing from Carnegie Mellon, and a BA in theatre arts from UCLA. In developing Ameryka, she is finding an appreciation for her own Polish heritage.

Nancy Keystone had a life-changing moment. It came during a trip to Poland nearly four years ago and led to a theatrical, soul-searching journey through history.

Keystone, an award-wining multi-disciplinary artist, is the founder and artistic director of Critical Mass Performance Group. In December, the group presents Keystone’s work-in-progress, Ameryka as part of the Studio SCR season.

The concept of Ameryka began in 2009 with an unintentional trip Keystone took to the Grotowski Festival in Poland.

“It was a total fluke that I went out there,” she says. Joanna Klass, founder of Arden2, an Orange County arts organization, was director of the festival and conference in Poland and brought approximately 70 Americans. “I fell in love with Poland,” she relates. “The theatre was amazing, eye-opening and revelatory.”

The festival took place during the 20th anniversary of the Solidarity election and what caught her eye was a Solidarity election poster that featured Gary Cooper in the 1952 western film High Noon. The poster read, “Solidarity. At High Noon, June 4, 1989.”

Solidarity
At High Noon
June 4, 1989

The poster—featuring the iconic American cowboy image—sparked Keystone’s curiosity and led her down a research path that revealed numerous connections between America and Poland over the course of history; links that Keystone found were at times surprising and at times unsettling.

In developing Ameryka, Keystone says she and the ensemble uncovered what she calls “unknown truths.”

“The stories we are taught in school are so mythical, and it’s a struggle to really learn what’s going on,” she says. “Ameryka is a critique of what America says it’s doing and what it actually is doing."

One such American story not included in school lesson plans concerns President Thomas Jefferson's relationship with Polish General Thaddeus Kosciuszko and Kosciuszko's challenge to Jefferson regarding American slavery.

"Jefferson was an amazing and brilliant human being—but just think of how much more he could have been. In what ways could our country be different if he'd had the courage of his convictions and succeeded in abolishing slavery at the beginning?”

On the other hand, Poland saw the United States as a sort of role model.

“For a long time after World War II, during the Cold War, Eastern Europe looked at the U.S. as a model for democracy. Not really a utopia, but something to strive for."

Keystone’s Ameryka includes a focus on the 1980s, particularly the United States' substantial support toward the formation of the Polish Solidarity trade union.

“The Solidarity movement helped create an independent trade union but when that was crushed, the movement went underground for eight years, and the U.S. was key in helping keep it alive. President Ronald Reagan is a real hero to the Polish people.”

“The history in Ameryka is really interesting,” she says. “The centuries-old connections we're discovering with different people and events in the U.S. and Poland are very surprising.”

The smaller stories that unfold in Ameryka are meant to explore a deeper personal connection. “Critical Mass Performance Group is trying to get underneath the stories and find the intimate human story that is involved. That’s the key. That’s what we’re working toward, to make it human. Explore the surprises.”

Ameryka kicks off the 2012-2013 Studio SCR season on Dec. 6-9. Get your tickets now!

Critical Mass performing Ameryka.

About Critical Mass Performance Group

Critical Mass Performance Group (CMPG) is committed to long-term collaborative development of new works, reinterpretations and adaptations of classic texts, and the use of alternative performance spaces. CMPG melds the physical, intuitive and intellectual angles into works that are politically charged, historically aware and theatrically inventive. Its most recent production, Apollo, won a Garland Award for Best Play and a Drammy Award for scenic design. The production was part of the U.S. exhibition at the 2011 Prague Quadrennial. CMPG’s The Akhmatova Project was named one of the Ten Best Productions in 2000 by Los Angeles Times, and received four L.A. Weekly nominations.

Richard Doyle: From Merry Ghost to Gritty Cowboy

Onstage, SCR Founding Artist Richard Doyle merrily dons Victorian garb to portray The Spirit of Christmas Past in the 33rd annual production of SCR’s A Christmas Carol. On the screen, a bearded Doyle rides hell-bent for leather through the Old West with guns blazing.  And he practically steals the movie.

Heathens and Thieves is his new indie release, a noir western crime drama that has a little bit of everything—post-Gold Rush mania, fallout from the Civil War and the impact of Chinese immigration and some big chunks of moral indecision.  But there’s no shilly-shallying for Bill, Doyle’s single-minded drifter, a crafty fellow with a lust for riches.

In the end, dead bodies are strewn across the plains.  Is Bill’s among them?  Find out at the upcoming local screening at Chapman University, Dodge College’s Folino Theater, Sunday, Dec. 16, at 4 pm.  It’s free!

Currently, the movie can be streamed On-Demand just about everywhere and will be available to buy at Walmart and Redbox in December.

Politicians, Poets, Playwrights, Pundits: Other Voices at Christmas

Hal Landon Jr. and Richard Doyle in A Christmas Carol.

“Avarice and happiness never saw each other, how then should they become acquainted?”

~ Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanac, 1734

“Dickens is a terrible writer. In the original, Scrooge was mean and stingy, but you never know why. We’re giving him a mother and father, an unhappy childhood, a whole background which will motivate him.”

~ John H. Mitchell, President, Screen Gems, 1968

Daniel Blinkoff, Jennifer Parsons, Phillip Swanson and Timothy Landfield

“The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.”

~ Isaiah, 9:2

“Remorse is memory awake.”

~ Emily Dickenson, Poems, Pt. I, No. 69

“I dreamt the past was never past redeeming;
But whether this was false or honest dreaming
I beg death’s pardon now. And mourn the dead.”

~ Richard Wilbur, The Pardon

“Create in me a clean heart, O God: and renew a right spirit within me.”

~ Psalms 51:10

“At Christmas I no more desire a rose
Than wish a snow in May’s new-fangled mirth;
But like each thing that in season grows.”

~ Shakespeare, Love’s Labour’s Lost

“Why should I sorrow for what was pain? A cherished grief is an iron chain.”

~ Stephen Vincent Benet, King David

“I believe in Michelangelo, Velasquez, and Rembrandt: in the might of design, the mystery of color, the redemption of all things by beauty everlasting and the message of Art that has made these hands blessed.”

~ George Bernard Shaw

Gregg Daniel and Hal Landon Jr.

“Dickens was a mythologist rather than a novelist; he was the last of the mythologists, and perhaps the greatest. He did not always manage to make his characters men, but he always managed, at the least, to make them gods.”

~ G.K. Chesterson 1906

Then there’s the story of a man who chaired the charity committee of his local hospital. He reviewed all the fund-raising records, and he discovered that the richest person in town had never made a donation. So he went to visit him. He said, “Our records show that you’re the richest person in town, but you’ve never contributed to the hospital.” And the rich man said, “Do your records also show that my widowed mother was left absolutely destitute? Do they show that my brother is totally disabled? Do they show that my sister was abandoned with four young children?” By now the chairperson felt really ashamed. He said, “Well no, our records don’t show that.” And the rich man said, “Well, I don’t do anything for them, so why should I do anything for you?”

~ Adapted from Malcolm Kushner, Humor Consultant

We’re looking forward to seeing you at one of the upcoming performances of OC’s own holiday tradition: SCR’s A Christmas Carol.

Scrooge Inspires Many Adaptations

Charles Dickens in his Study, 1859 by William Powell Frith, Victoria and Albert Museum

Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol was a bestseller when it was published in 1843, and it created an insatiable demand in the public for more Christmas stories. As a result, Dickens wrote one Christmas novella a year for four years:

• The Chimes 
• The Cricket on the Hearth
• The Battle of Life
• The Haunted Man

But, it’s the original Christmas Carol that people keep coming back; it’s a warm, fuzzy part of how many of us celebrate the holidays. But not just Dickens’ story in book form; there are film and cartoon adaptations inspired by this story that families love. Of course, we’re partial to SCR’s adaptation, done by Jerry Patch!

Here are some of the filmed versions of A Christmas Carol—how many have you seen?

• Scrooge (1935), starring Sir Seymour Hicks
• A Christmas Carol (1938), starring Reginald Owen
• Scrooge (1951), starring Alastair Sim
• A Christmas Carol (1954), a TV movie, starring Fredric March
• Scrooge (1970), a musical film adaptation, starring Albert Finney and Alec Guinness
• A Christmas Carol (1971), an Oscar-winning animated film, with the voice of Alastair Sim
• A Christmas Carol (1984), a TV movie, starring George C. Scott
• A Christmas Carol (1999), a TV movie, starring Patrick Stewart

Alastair Sim

George C. Scott

Patrick Stewart

Need more Ebenezer Scrooge in your life?  There are even more adaptations.

• Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol (1962)
• Rich Little’s Christmas Carol (1978)
• The Stingiest Man in Town (1979), animated, with the voices of Walter Matthau and Tom Bosley
• An American Christmas Carol (1979), starring Henry Winkler
• Bugs Bunny’s Christmas Carol (1979)
• Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983), starring Scrooge McDuck
• Scrooged (1988), starring Bill Murray
• Blackadder’s Christmas Carol (1988)
• The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), starring Michael Caine
• Ebbie (1995), the first version to imagine Scrooge as a woman, starring Susan Lucci
• Ebenezer (1997), a Canadian, western-themed adaptation, starring Jack Palance
• A Diva’s Christmas Carol (2000), starring Vanessa Williams
• A Sesame Street Christmas Carol (2006), featuring Oscar the Grouch, of course, as Scrooge

Bugs Bunny

Mickey Mouse

The Muppets

Want to find out more? The web is filled with A Christmas Carol information. Google the story title and you’ll find nearly 54-million links. We recommend a good starting point at the Online Literary Library.

We’re looking forward to seeing you at one of the upcoming performances of OC’s own holiday tradition: SCR’s A Christmas Carol.

Experience the Ride of Your Life

South Coast Repertory teams up with some of SoCal’s amazing theatre groups to bring you contemporary and multi-layered works. The Nicholas Studio lets you settle in, but you won’t sit back for long. Lean forward and expect the unexpected from:

Critical Mass Performance Group
Rogue Artists Ensemble
Theatre Movement Bazaar
Lost Moon Radio
Matthew McCray Productions
South Coast Repertory, Center Theatre Group and La Jolla Playhouse




The informal theme of this year’s Studio SCR is merging different mediums.  The featured companies use dance, video projections, singing, puppetry, stylized movement, historical characters, live music, radio and written text for stories that highlight key historical events or provide commentary on today’s society.

In addition, there’s a collaborative first: South Coast Repertory, Center Theatre Group and La Jolla Playhouse will co-produce the West Coast premiere of a new English translation of Guillermo Caledrón’s Neva.

The line-up also includes the popular SCRamble, a late-night cabaret featuring short pieces by eight to nine local acts.

Ticket prices vary by production, and range from $15 to $35. You can buy tickets and read more about the artists at www.scr.org/studioscr. Meanwhile, here’s a closer look at the line-up:

AMERYKA

Critical Mass Performance Group
 
December 6-9, 2012

Ameryka is a kaleidoscopic epic, detonating an astonishing universe of associations between the United States and Poland going back to the American Revolution. Thomas Jefferson, his runaway slave, Polish General Tadeusz Kościuszko, movie star Gary Cooper, jazz great John Coltrane, CIA agents, Solidarity leaders, rebels, criminals, presidents and lovers are among the famous, infamous and unsung people whose dreams and actions intersect in a breathtaking quest for freedom across continents and centuries. Movement, text, image and music come together to tell stories that turn history inside out, in this latest work-in-progress from Los Angeles' award-winning Critical Mass Performance Group.

Contains adult language.

SONGS OF BILITIS

by Katie Polebaum

Rogue Artists Ensemble
February 14-17, 2013

Rogue Artists Ensemble combines multimedia projections with puppetry, movement, sophisticated live audio-sampling and giant Greek masks in its production of Songs of Bilitis. The work explores how a flamboyant heterosexual avant-garde Parisian novelist—Pierre Louÿs—successfully impersonated a lesbian Greek poet in the most elaborate erotic literary hoax the world has ever known.  At the turn of the 20th-century, Louÿs captured the imagination and libido of the literary world when he penned an extensive collection of exquisite and sensuous poetry by a fabricated Greek courtesan named "Bilitis." The collection held a false place in the canon of classical Greek erotic literature for nearly 10 years, making Songs of Bilitis the world’s greatest work of counterfeit Greek erotica.

Contains nudity, adult themes and language.

TRACK 3

Theatre Movement Bazaar

February 21-24, 2013

Theatre Movement Bazaar, creators of last year's Anton's Uncles, investigates Chekhov's famous play, Three Sisters. In this new work, Track 3, the characters are stranded, waiting and wanting something outside of themselves to give them happiness. They are on the modern hero's journey, not to Moscow, as they hoped, but a journey within. Movement, dance, song and humor derail the play from its Victorian origins and set the itinerary for a 21st-century existential extravaganza.

LOST MOON RADIO: AMERICA

Lost Moon Radio 

May 2-5, 2013

DJ Jupiter Jack has hosted KTSH's Fourth of July broadcast for 28 years. Until now. Pushed out by two shock jocks and the increasing corporatization of his station, Jack finds himself examining the state of America and his career while he's on the air. As Jack spins tracks about the U.S. of A., we see each one as a sketch or song performed live onstage by actors and a band. The resulting collage is part comedy show, part rock concert, and part intimate journey through the mind of a man who is grappling with a changing America.

Contains adult language.

ETERNAL THOU

Matthew McCray 

June 6-9, 2013

Framed by the spiritual philosophies of the mystic Martin Buber, Eternal Thou is a high-tech science fiction drama about the future of the Internet and man's search for spiritual enlightenment. In Eternal Thou, the cast dives in and out of the unwieldy signals of the Internet to reprogram its central code and protect it from forces that threaten its survival. The Internet, presented as the central character of the play, is on a search for enlightenment that parallels our own. This critically acclaimed production was a 2012 Critic's Pick in Backstage and received rave reviews throughout Los Angeles. Learn more at www.insidethechannel.com

Contains adult language.

NEVA

by Guillermo Calderón

South Coast Repertory, Center Theatre Group and
   La Jolla Playhouse

June 19-23, 2013

Neva tells the story of Anton Chekhov's widow, the actress Olga Knipper, who arrives in a dimly lit rehearsal room in St. Petersburg in the winter of 1905. As Olga and two other actors await the rest of the cast, they huddle together, act out scenes from their lives and muse on their art form and love. Outside, unseen striking workers are being gunned down in the streets by the Tsarist regime. Guillermo Calderón savagely examines the relationship between theatre and historical context in this tightly crafted piece that allows a palpable terror to creep through the theatre walls.

SCRAMBLE

Various artists 

February 16, and May 4, 2013
Grab a drink and settle in for a bold new blend of alternative theatre, comedy, dance, music and interdisciplinary collaborations as some of SoCal's most interesting artists serve up unforgettable theatrical delights in 10-minute increments.

32 Years of "A Christmas Carol" and They Keep Coming Back

As A Christmas Carol approaches its 33rd season, Orange County’s favorite (and longest-running) holiday show has delighted audiences just over 1,000 times. That comes to approximately 455,500 seats filled with holiday theatre-goers, many of them new to the experience, but others so familiar with the show that they can recite the dialogue.

Why do they return year after year, bringing their growing families again and again—through generations?

Director John-David Keller believes he knows the answer: Because it stays the same. And because it changes. Let J.D. explain.

“It’s comforting,” he says, “to settle into your seat as the curtain rises on A Christmas Carol, knowing that in just a few moments Hal Landon, Jr. will stride across the stage as Ebenezer Scrooge, and that in the end he’ll turn a somersault, come up with top hat in place, and be as loveable as he was once curmudgeonly. That will not change.”

Nor will the director—J.D. takes the helm this season for the 33rd time, with enthusiasm that never wanes. Familiar actors inhabit the lead roles, and most of the designers have been with A Christmas Carol season after season. According to J.D., “They are the thread that keeps the tradition going.”

Then there are 16 little changes—the children. “Each season, we like to give new young actors from our Theatre Conservatory a chance to audition for the eight roles in which they alternate (divided into Red Team and Green Team). The children bring an added joy to the set, with their enthusiasm and sense of wonder. That’s invigorating for us old characters.”

There also are four adult roles that change each season, cast from among graduates of SCR’s Theatre Conservatory Professional Intensive Program who are not yet members of Actors Equity Association (the union of professional actors and stage mangers). For many of these grads, A Christmas Carol is their first professional show.

Finally, there are the subtle changes in A Christmas Carol. Artistic Director Marc Masterson, Playwright Jerry Patch and J.D. met earlier this season to go through each scene in the script, making small revisions to the dialogue and action—changes that might not be noticed by the audience, but that give extra dimension to the characters.

This year, J.D. has one more change. “I’m keeping it a secret,” he says slyly, “but here’s a hint: it has something to do with Marley (Scrooge’s long-dead partner).” More than that, J.D. won’t reveal.

But we’re happy to reveal fun facts for fans of A Christmas Carol:

1996 was the last time all the founding members appeared in A Christmas Carol together.  They are, from left to right, Don Took, Ron Boussom, Art Koustik, Richard Doyle, Hal Landon Jr., John-David Keller, John Ellington and Martha McFarland.

• SCR Founding Artists have appeared for a total of 142 seasons: Hal Landon Jr. – 32, Art Koustik – 31, Richard Doyle – 28, Don Took – 22, Martha McFarland – 21, Ron Boussom – 8. Hal, Richard and Art will all be back this season.

• The original set was designed by Cliff Faulkner with costumes by Richard Odle. The set has evolved over time, with the current design by Tom Buderwitz. Donna and Tom Ruzika have designed the lighting every season.

• Hal has missed only three shows. In 1997 he was cast in a pivotal role in Sidney Bechet Killed a Man, which didn’t close until Sunday, November 30. Hal stepped back into the role of Scrooge on December 2, missing one matinee and two evening previews. J.D. went on for him, and those who were there say he did a bang-up job. (No one demanded a refund!).

Hal Landon Jr as Scrooge and Richard Doyle as The Spirit of Christmas Past.

• Speaking of missing things, Hal missed one “hat trick.” He stopped the show long enough to try again—and succeed.

• Hal’s battle scars include two broken toes—the little toe on his left foot seven years ago when, in stocking feet, he ran into furniture backstage, the little toe on his right foot the next year, also in stocking feet, when he ran into the foot of his own (Scrooge’s) bed. A more cheerful Hal fact: his youngest daughter, Caroline, joined the cast in 1996-97 as Young Girl About Town.

• Richard Doyle has played The Spirit of Christmas Past too many times to count. He guesses 20. At one time or another, he also has played Solicitor, Joe, Mr. Fezziwig and Scrooge’s nephew Fred.

• Richard never portrayed Bob Cratchit. But he married one of Bob’s wives (the actress Jennifer Parsons, who has played Mrs. Cratchit since 2004).  By the way, Richard’s daughter, Sarah, joined her father onstage in 1996 as Martha Cratchit.

• Don Took had a near-striptease exit once during his 22 years as the Ghost of Jacob Marley. When the stage crew was wheeling him out the window (for his ghostly disappearance) his rotting shroud caught on the window latch, and it was a standoff to see which would give way first: Odle’s set or Faulkner’s costume. The crew rightly chose to save the set, leaving Don gyrating and screaming on the platform while his costume peeled away from his arm and down his torso until they managed to rip the material loose and close the window—the longest exit in history, which Don still wishes he had seen.

Daniel Blinkoff and Bob Cratchit and Angeliki Katya Harris as Tiny Tim in the 2009 production.

• Art Koustik missed only one season due to a motorcycle accident that left him incapacitated for the entire run and longer, but he bounced back and hasn’t missed a performance since. The young actors made the party scenes a real joy for Art during his years playing Fezziwig, and he continues to have a great time during the “scavenger” scene in which he and the other oldtimers adlib and then watch new cast members try to adjust. The scene is not Shakespeare, Art reminds them, but something near the other end of the acting spectrum!

• Howard Shangraw appeared the first season as Young Ebenezer and as he grew older he appeared as Scrooge’s nephew Fred, a role he played through 2006. Other adult roles that have necessitated cast changes as the actors grew up are Fred’s wife, Sally, and Young Eb’s sweetheart, Belle. Hisa Takakuwa and Richard Soto played Sally and Young Eb for nearly a decade, and although they never got together on the stage, they’re married in real life.

• Those Cratchits (Bob and “Mrs.”) are characters whom actors can play from their 20s into their 40s. Three actors have had very successful and long-running stints as Bob Cratchit—John Ellington from the first season until 1998, when he left the acting profession to become a minister; David Whalen took over for four years; and since then Bob has been played by SCR stalwart Daniel Blinkoff.

• Among the children’s roles are the young Cratchits—Belinda, Peter, Martha and Tiny Tim, as well as Boy on the Street, known affectionately as “Turkey Boy” because he’s singled out by Scrooge to deliver the Christmas turkey—and the Christmas joy.

• The children’s parents often spread cheer by supplying the cast with baked goods, a generous gesture that can add an extra ten pounds during the run!

• From their “half hour” call until their parents take them home after the show, the kids are never alone backstage. SCR supplies a fun-loving staff member with the western-sounding title of “Wrangler” to serve as baby-sitter, friend, mentor and sounding board.  SCR Theatre Conservatory grad Nicole Gross, who once appeared as Martha Cratchit, is this year’s wrangler.

• And, oh, yes, lest we forget—former SCR Dramaturg Jerry Patch, who adapted the Charles Dickens story for the stage, is now at New York’s Manhattan Theatre Club, but he’ll be back to have a look at 33.

RED TEAM (back row, left to right):  Graysen Airth, Sydney Lester, Taylor Serafin and Hartejas Dhindsa. Bottom row, left to right: Zacharias Harris, Ella Webb, Sebastian Naranjo and Louis Tonkovich

GREEN TEAM (back row, left to right): Blake Laszlo, Kiera Callahan, Bahaar Tadjbakhsh and Saul Richardson. Bottom row left to right: Lauren Dong, Hadley Belle Miller, Abby Matzke and Gage Larkin

As we update these facts throughout the run, we want to add stories about your own family’s experiences at A Christmas Carol. Just email us at theatre@scr.org.

SCR's Gala Ball: Wrapping Up and Moving On

It’s a wrap!  On November 1, 2012, the Gala Ball Committee thanked “Setting the Stage” Chair Beth Phelps with a luncheon hosted by The Center Club that included special gifts from Fresh.

Joining in were SCR Artistic Director Marc Masterson and Managing Director Paula Tomei.  The co-CEOs praised the committee, with Masterson saying that it seemed like the Gala just happened, adding, “But I know all the hard work that went into making the evening so much fun for all of us.”

Beth opened her gifts—a photo album of the Gala and a Bacarrat crystal orchid—as everyone enjoyed a delectable three-course luncheon underwritten by the Center Club.  It was a perfect ending to a perfect Gala, prompting Beth to add her thanks for the Committee’s hard work and to announce that it’s not too soon to start planning for 2013 Gala, set for Saturday, September 21, 2013 at a location yet to be named.

Th event continued with an exclusive shopping opportunity for the members of the Committee at the South Coast Plaza boutique of Fresh, hosted by store manager Yvonne White. 

If you’ve loved all the season-opening parties up until now, get set for the next one on September 21, 2013—SCR’s 50th Season Gala!  Details to come.



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Quick Takes With Four Clowns’ Jeremy Aluma

Robin Hood Director Talks Sets, Costumes and His First Encounter with Robin

Kevin Klein and Alexis Jones in Robin Hood.

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SCR: Think back and tell me how you first got introduced to the legend of Robin Hood.

Jeremy Aluma: Fittingly, my earliest memory of Robin Hood is Mel Brooks (Men in Tights, 1993)! I remember having a sleepover birthday party in middle school and watching it with my friends. Of course, I loved the gags, puns, large characters the actors played and of course the farce of all previous Robin Hoods, which I only slightly understood.

SCR: Describe the set and costumes for me. Do they have a “wow” factor?!

JA: We settled on the concept of a forest playground early in the discussion process and truly that is what has been created. Set designer Fred Kinney has created a set complete with climbable trees, large angled fallen logs and holes to pop in and out of.

Costume designer Leah Piehl had a challenge: six actors featured in roughly 25 different roles and jumping in and out of costumes sometimes in about 20 seconds. The overall feel is that of a traveling minstrel troupe of actors, which really helped shape the concepts, colors and appearance. We wanted to keep the colors bright and vibrant and make the costumes functional and easy to put on and take off. There're a lot of wonderful elements to play with, too: fat suits, five-inch platform-sole shoes for height, weapons, hats, crowns and cloaks.

Julia Davis, Raymond Lee
and Amir Levi in Robin Hood.

SCR: What are some fun moments in Greg Banks’ Robin Hood?

JA: The moments that I imagine are going to be the most fun are the interactive parts with the audience. The call and response, Much asking an audience member to help him. Also, I think dressing Robin as a lady so he can thwart the Sheriff's plan is just hilarious.

SCR: Not to get too deep, but what are some lessons that come out of Banks’ Robin Hood?

JA: There are a number of them. Helping humanity always should come before our personal need to amass wealth. Never cheer the death of any man, even your enemy. Learn from your failures, grow from them, change from them and proceed, never give up, every great success story came with a lot of failure. Take care of nature. Love, honor and respect your friends. Help those less fortunate than you.

SCR: What do you hope audiences—young and old—will come away with from seeing Four Clowns in this production?

JA: My first goal with Four Clowns always is to entertain an audience. So it's very important that they have a good time and laugh. It's also rewarding to work with a script that has so many opportunities to interact with the audience and, of course, we've added a few more! I'd like audiences to see the nature of theater as a living, vibrant art form, unique in its ability to respond to each audience member differently. Humanity also is an important theme for me in most productions that I direct and this play has some valuable lessons; it would be wonderful for those to impact audience members, too.

SCR: In your best Robin Hood-era language, how would you issue an invitation to folks to come the show?

JA: Forsooth, me lads and ladies of yesteryore and yoreyyore! "If you desire the spleen and will laugh yourselves into stitches, follow us."

Cheers (and a Few Tears) for "How to Write a New Book for the Bible"

The audience stood up when the curtain came down on First Night of How to Write a New Book for the Bible, Friday, October 26, fervently cheering the cast of the evocative memory play—before joining all the artists for the Cast Party.

Co-sponsored by the Center Club at its newly renovated site just across the street, the party was a time for everyone to reflect on the play (and maybe wipe away a few tears) as they discussed the experience of watching a family going through the same moments—both sad and happy—that most encounter as an elderly family member reaches the end of life.

During the evening, partygoers enjoyed the company of Director Kent Nicholson, playwright Bill Cain, actors Linda Gehringer, Jeff Biehl, Aaron Blakely and Tyler Pierce.  And everyone enjoyed the grand surroundings—an updated Center Club with crystal chandeliers lining the hallways and the Symphony Ballroom, which was accented in deep purples—and the scrumptious dining fare.



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Clowning Around In Sherwood Forest

Daniel Hopkins, Julia Davis, Kevin Klein, Alexis Jones, Raymond Lee in Robin Hood.

What happens when you take the classic story of Robin Hood—that famous, English outlaw who robbed from the rich to give to the poor—and add four clowns, two musicians and a lot of merriment?  We hope you’ll join us to find out, as South Coast Repertory presents Greg Banks’ imaginative new adaptation of Robin Hood for our Theatre for Young Audiences series November 2 – 18.

Robin Hood costume design
by Leah Piehl

With this production of Robin Hood, SCR is thrilled to introduce our TYA audience to the Los Angeles-based Four Clowns troupe—four actors and two musicians—who will play more than 20 characters.  The clowns use physical comedy, mime, improvisation and jokes to dramatize Banks’ Robin Hood—a high-energy look at the timeless tale of Robin and his band of Merry Men, with swashbuckling adventures and triumph against great odds.  We’ll see Robin fight against the evil King John and Sheriff of Nottingham, woo the beautiful Maid Marian, and strive to help the poor—as he teaches lessons about friendship, loyalty and the importance of helping those less fortunate than yourself.

Playwright Greg Banks has skillfully refreshed the tale of Robin Hood with interactive opportunities that invite the audience into the world of the play so that they can be part of the action, including jokes, fight scenes, jumps, tree climbing, flips, gags and maybe even the occasional red nose.

“Whether they’re reacting to a gag or a pratfall, you hear immediately how kids feel about something” says director Jeremy Aluma.. “Children bring out some great creativity in us as performers and that’s wonderful.”

The cast includes clowns Amir Levi, Raymond Lee, Alexis Jones, Kevin Klein and musicians Daniel Hopkins and Julia Davis.  The design team includes Fred Kinney, sets; Leah Piehl, costumes; Jeremy Pivnick, lights; Brian Danner, fight director; and Jennifer Ellen Butler, stage manager.

Set design by Fred Kinney.

Four Clowns won the coveted Best of Physical Theatre award at the inaugural Hollywood Fringe Festival three times in a row in 2010, 2011 and 2012. The troupe also earned top nods at the Minnesota and San Francisco Fringe festivals and became Ovation Recommended in Los Angeles. In February 2012, Four Clowns took part in South Coast Repertory’s Studio SCR Series, a program that partners with SoCal's most intriguing arts groups and presents a series of eclectic, contemporary theatre works.

Although Four Clowns’ work for adults has been edgy and sometimes risqué, this will be their second show for young audiences—and they’ve shown themselves to be quite adept at channeling their inner child.

The Four Clowns’ rollicking, fun and funny take on Robin Hood is not to be missed!

About the Playwright Greg Banks

Greg Banks

Playwright and director Greg Banks was commissioned to write Robin Hood by The Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis, where he directed the play’s premiere in 2011.  Since then, Robin Hood has been performed for children at theaters across the country including Philadelphia’s Arden Theatre Company and Seattle Children’s Theatre.

His work as a writer, actor and director has taken him all over the world from Singapore to Seattle. In the United Kingdom, he has directed for many companies including The Unicorn Children's Theatre London (The Wizard of Oz), The Birmingham Stage Company (Kenoukes Kingdom), The Bristol Old Vic (Endgame), Polka Children's Theatre, Traveling Light (Tir Na N'og; winner of the Samuel Beckett award), Plymouth Theatre, and Royal Theatre (Why the Whales Came).

He is a frequent collaborator at many U.S. theaters including Minneapolis’ The Children’s Theatre Company, Seattle Children's Theatre and The New York State Theatre (Tempest, King of Shadows). He wrote and directed an adaptation of Pinnochio for Taurus Voice, and Salaam for Fair Game Theatre. Other projects include a Native Canadian adaptation of his production of Tir Na N'og, Treasure Island for The Birmingham Stage, and his own adaptation of Huck Finn for The Children's Theatre Company. In addition to Robin Hood, Banks has directed Sleeping Beauty, Antigone, and John Glore’s adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time for CTC.