As White as O, produced by The Other Side of the Hill Prods., producer Leon Russom; executive producers Taylor Gilbert and Sam Anderson, for The Road Theatre Company. Opens Oct. 16; plays Fri.-Sat., 8 pm; Sun., 2 pm; through Dec. 12. Tickets: $30. Lankershim Arts Center, 5108 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood; 866.811.4111 or roadtheatre.org

After Sam Anderson appeared as a guest artist in Napoli Millionaria (he received a 2003 Ovation Award) for the Road Theatre Company, he stayed on because he accepted a position on its Artistic Board. Then Taylor Gilbert asked him to be the Road’s Co-Artistic Director with her. “I kept saying no because of the immense responsibility,” Anderson says between rehearsals of Stacy Sims’ world premiere of As White as O which he is directing. “But after thinking about it, I realized it was something I would really like to try, to see if I could make a difference.”

Last season Anderson returned to the Road stage as the title role in The Bird and Mr. Banks (the latter, not the bird) which had a five-month run. “Small theatre in LA has been my passion for years,” he says. “Joining Taylor turned out to be a great decision as she and I are a very compatible team and the theatre is growing like crazy.”

Anderson plays Bernard on ABC’s megahit series Lost. How does he balance his TV shooting schedule with stage rehearsals? “Great question!” Anderson replies. “I’m constantly trying to figure that out. But the past two years for me have been so much about doing things I’ve always wanted to do–running a theatre, teaching (an ongoing Professional Scene Study workshop) as well as still having an acting career and helping parent my 17 year old twin sons.” He is married to psychotherapist Barbara Hancock. “It’s a juggling act but it’s a great one and it uses all parts of my brain and my heart. I find it makes me more productive as opposed to less because the time I spend on each part of my life means more.”

The Road was selected recently by Community Redevelopment Agency/LA Stage Alliance for its Arts Retention program. In that process, Gilbert and Anderson were introduced to the META Corporation, a developer specializing in residential complexes for active seniors. Its model is the Burbank Senior Artists Colony, which includes in its lease free classes to residents in all visual arts, writing and some theatre. The complex includes state of the art studios for those disciplines.

Anderson says, “META is coming into NoHo with a new complex and decided to take this concept one step further by building a state-of-the-art 86 seat theatre in the building and lease it to a theatre company. We submitted a proposal and we were chosen as resident company with a long-term lease. So the Road will program out of Lankershim Arts Center and the new theatre, giving us an incredible opportunity to develop more new work and run shows longer if the demand merits it. Our season and running of the theatre are separate from the development itself but we are mandated to create programming for the residents and to find ways to interact with them: test audiences, docents, possible backstage workers, all as needed. It’s a one of a kind project nationally.”

New members were added recently to the company. To apply, Anderson says, “An actor sends a picture and resume to the Road to my attention and we bring them in if interested to meet with Taylor and me. Very often, we add someone from word of mouth or from any of the many shows Taylor and I see in town. We look for people with an ensemble attitude, looking to find a theatrical home and to build a theatre like this one, largely based on the development of new plays and playwrights.”

Stacy Sims and Sam Anderson

Stacy Sims is The Road’s newest playwright and As White as O is her first play. Prior to it, she wrote Swimming Naked (Viking 2004), which was called “a brutally moving first novel” by the Chicago Tribune. This play started as a novel. Sims says. “I stopped writing after 100 or so pages. It wasn’t working. A friend who had read it suggested I turn it into a play so I decided to give it a go two years ago.” Sims is sitting with Anderson inside the Road Theatre during a tech rehearsal for her play.

How did the play reach the Road? Sims answers, “Michael Burnham, who directed a staged reading of it in Cincinnati, suggested I send it to a colleague of his.” Anderson continues, “He sent it to Che’Rae Adams, a playwriting teacher/actress. She thought of me, having seen my production of Shove here. I read it, was fascinated by it, staged a reading which Stacy flew out and attended. A year later, here we are, opening the Road’s 19th season with it. I fell in love with its originality and the exploration of art and artists, and I loved her voice.

“It’s been terrific having Stacy at rehearsals. She is a tremendous collaborative spirit and she has been put through the rewrite mill! She was a novelist first so is very literary and some of that we needed to translate into more theatrical terms without losing the uniqueness of her voice.”

Elizabeth Sampson

Sims finds the entire process of mounting her play “so fluid. You can’t get too attached to one thing or the other because you discover so much in every stage of the process. I am not sure when you place a story in living, moving bodies if it can ever really be complete. I enjoy listening and watching to see what the story really wants to be.

“I love watching it evolve. I am not sentimental about the text but I am committed to making it the best play it can be. I am in such competent hands with Sam that I trust his decisions. If I struggle, it is only because I want to see what he sees faster than my brain can allow sometimes.”

She loves the creative process, the collaboration. “So,” she acknowledges, “I am learning every single second about making a story work in a dramatic way in space and time. You can’t learn it from a book. You can’t really even learn it from reading or watching plays. You have to experience the process. Not just once but repeatedly. I look so forward to opportunities to learn more but I cannot imagine a better place to start than with Sam and this production. I am eternally grateful and likely very spoiled now.”

Anderson says the Road is “going all out with this production. Since the main character is a synaesthete, someone who sees certain words and concepts and letters in color, and tastes sounds and feelings, and since part of the play is about him coming to terms with his past, I felt it was important to use all the arts to deal with this very artistic and unique personality so I quickly hired Adam Flemming, who is a brilliant video designer, to add his talents to the mix of O.” Also on board are Desma Murphy (sets), Jeremy Pivnick (lighting), David B. Marling (sound) and Matt Kaiser (technical director). (Murphy is being honored by the Road with the arti (Artisan Award of Merit) on Sat., Oct. 24.)

Actors Vince Tula and Keelia Flinn

“And what talents they are!” Anderson exclaims. “The original concept is being realized almost exactly as I pictured it. It all looks like a huge constantly moving piece of art itself visually and adds to the story immensely.” The cast of 12 consists of all Road company members: Joe Calarco, Lauren Clark, Ramon de Ocampo, Keelia Flinn, TJ Marchbank, Kate Mines, Elizabeth Sampson, Mark St. Amant, Vince Tula, Jennings Turner, Bryna Weiss and Heather Williams.

Sims adds, “It is very truthful to the essence of the world I originally imagined. I think it is infinitely stronger now. And that is a thrill.” She has three ideas for future projects. “One is for a musical and two for plays. I am really eager for time to consider each more fully. I am also finishing a novel.”

For Anderson? “Next on my schedule is some rest! More episodes of Lost will follow and then with the regular teaching and running the theatre schedule in place, whatever else comes along.”

Planned next at the Road is the world premiere of Ann Noble’s new play Sidhe. Anderson says, “In my opinion it is her best work yet, a dark and disturbing piece about violence and loyalty, directed by Darin Anthony. Following that, Taylor Gilbert and I have been asked to appear together in a production of JT Rogers’ Madagascar which will run in rep with a big, big hit from the Road’s past by the same writer, White People, and for that one, JT has completely rewritten and updated it so it’s like a brand new version.”

Article by Lee Melville

Feature image of Joe Calarco, Mark St. Amant, TJ Marchbank & Vince Tula and photos by Matt Kaiser