Moments before the inception of what has now become a full time job, we were just four actresses like anyone else living in LA with training under our belts and a desire to add something artistic to the rich Californian palate surrounding us. All it took was fortune to step in and our immediate futures changed beyond our wildest expectations.

The four of us met while attending the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Center in Connecticut. Years later we found each other in the same place at the same time. We started meeting and discussing our goals, first as friends, then as actors and writers and then as possible producers. And we found ourselves constantly talking about things like this:

An oft-cited 2002 study by the NY State Council on the Arts reported that only 17% of theater productions were directed by women and only 16% included a woman on the writing team. In 2009, Dr. Martha Lauzen at The Center for Study of Women in TV and Film at San Diego State University reported 22% of the films released in 2008 employed no women directors, producers, writers, cinematographers or editors.

We began working with a common goal: the creation of innovative work with an emphasis on providing opportunities for women. We met regularly trying to figure out how we could achieve this goal when Molly came to us with an interesting prospect. The small black box theater she was working at was looking for a resident company. Without thinking Molly offered our services and the rest of us agreed to mount a production in less than two months; a break-neck pace to say the least.

from the production of Paradise Street

Enter Ms. Constance Congdon, who Tony Kushner has called “one of the best playwrights our country and language has ever produced.” More importantly for us, however, she was a mentor to the lovely Jiehae Park and was more than willing to offer one of her works to be the first title3 production. Not just any work, mind you, but the world premiere of Paradise Street, which before had only been workshopped in New York for exclusive audiences. After her involvement the momentum shifted into high gear and everything seemed to fall in place. We found a talented and respected director in Courtney Munch, an amazing production manager in Emily Rebecca Norman, a cracker-jack design team in lighting designer Christopher Singleton, sound designer Ryan Shields, costumes by Rachel Weir and a god-send of a stage manager in Erin Albrect.

It seemed as if we were going to be able to pull this off without a hitch and then we felt the alarming lurch of one very big BUMP in the road. The theater that had asked us to be its resident company, and so graciously offered space and time, suddenly pulled out. We were left with all of the pieces to a beautiful play and nowhere to do it! Luckily, after a dark day or two, we were able to quickly find a home at the wonderful Attic Theatre and Film Center. We suddenly needed a much bigger budget and had no time to plan an elaborate fundraiser but even that was quickly and generously taken care of by friends and family after we reached out for help.

As a company, we at title3 have chosen to focus on what we can do to promote a change in the industry, starting with producing the kind of work we believe in. Paradise Street by Constance Congdon is just such a project: intelligent, daring and deeply moving. We see it as another piece in the ever evolving puzzle that is Los Angeles Theater where new works, adaptations and innovation abound. We hope to be welcomed into the arms of this community as we have ourselves embraced its bold spirit.

Paradise Street, presented by title3, continues Fri.-Sat., 8 pm; Sun., 2 pm; through Feb. 21. Tickets: $15. Attic Theatre & Film Center, 5429 W. Washington Blvd. (off the 10 Freeway between Fairfax and Hauser), Los Angeles; 323.525.0661 or attictheatre.org/tickets.

It’s 1945 and on a South Pacific island, a USO show is threatened with cancellation when a certain famous trio of singing sisters fails to show up. Three earnest and determined sailors, who happen to be brothers, decide the show must go on so they take their place.

“Cabrillo audiences will delight in the nostalgic music, slapstick comedy, and old-fashioned romance of The Andrews Brothers,” says Carole W. Nussbaum, President and Chief Executive Officer. “With classic songs from the 1940s, the show has something for everyone! And the show’s backdrop - entertaining the troops during wartime - couldn’t be more appropriate, given Cabrillo’s longstanding commitment to the military families of Southern California.”

The show continues the theatre’s longstanding relationship with the troops, which recently culminated with “A Salute to the Military” during the Cabrillo 2009 holiday special, Irving Berlin’s White Christmas. Nussbaum says, “That memorable performance, dedicated to our military, brought together nearly a thousand members of our armed forces and their families to enjoy the show free of charge.” Cabrillo’s Outreach program, Project Entertainment Troops, will continue in full force during this run.

The Andrews Brothers is filled with more than 25 songs made famous by the Andrews Sisters with a book by Roger Bean (The Marvelous Wonderettes and Life Could be a Dream). It features the Ovation Award-winning ensemble quartet who performed the show at Musical Theatre West two years ago: Stan Chandler, David Engel, Larry Raben and Darcie Roberts. It is directed by Nick DeGruccio and choreographed by Roger Castellano who were both previously Ovation nominated for their work. We asked the “boys,” who were in the original cast of Forever Plaid, what it is like to dress as “girls” when they don drag. For some, it isn’t the first time.

Stan Chandler

Stan Chandler: It’s amazing to think the three of us started working together with Forever Plaid 20 years ago. David and I had recently graduated and Larry was still sweating his way through high school calculus. Ahem. In the show, we were the essence of ’50s niceness. Regular, albeit nerdy, guys. We had heroes like Perry Como. We looked up to J. Edgar Hoover. Guys like us didn’t wear dresses. Plaids had no concept of “drag.”

In real life however, prior to Andrews Brothers, I was the only one who hadn’t performed in drag. It was quite a shock, then, to jump into a frock for the second act of The Andrews Brothers. Additionally, I’d never tap danced in a show so to do that for the first time, in heels and a dress, was a little stressful. Luckily, David Engel was there to help. As Southern California musical theater audiences know, he is the Queen of Drag.

Across the decades, Larry, David and I have remained good friends and I look forward to the next 20 years of work, an occasional glass of wine and buckets of laughter.

David Engel

David Engel: Well, the concept of “Plaid to Drag” is completely backwards to me. It seems my career never stops including high heels and gowns. My very first Broadway show was the original La Cage aux Folles. I was in it for its entire 4+ years and somehow never get too far away from it. I would say doing Plaids was the escape from drag…for a while.

I don’t know how to take it but whenever there is a drag role in a show, I am the first person thought of. Last year, every show I was in had me in drag at least once in the show (except for White Christmas but we did do “Sisters”). I have never been into drag or drag shows. After a while in La Cage it just became costume. Backstage it was a gaggle of screaming drag queens but I never got into it. Though I must say I took to it very easily and I am as comfortable in stilettos as is bedroom slippers.

The problem for me in The Andrews Brothers is to not be too adept in the drag. It is the acting role of a lifetime for me to not look perfectly at home in a wig, lashes, pumps and a frock! What we are doing in TAB is my favorite type of drag. It’s of the Milton Berle variety … sweaty, hairy men trying to pull it off. From the beginning of theatre men in dresses acting girly is a recipe for laughs and I love working that. I love just being a sight gag. It’s a kind of laugh you can’t get any other way.

Larry Raben

Larry Raben: It has been 20 years this year that Stan, David and I began working together in Forever Plaid. No one could have told me about the journey we would take together. The Andrews Brothers is a new and wild adventure in that journey. Playing a role in drag is coming full circle for me. The very first principal role I ever played was the Jack Lemmon role in Sugar, the musical version of Some Like It Hot.  It was very clowny drag and there is comedy in just putting on the frock and lipstick and acting girly that you can’t achieve without it.

I love finding the “funny” that comes from a regular guy stuck in a dress. Although we are all glammed up in The Andrews Brothers, as we are trying to pull off the charade, there is no denying the fact that we are men (except maybe for David). I don’t make a very pretty girl and that works just fine for me. I loved watching Jack Lemmon work his feminine wiles to hilarious effect and it is his work and of course the divine Patty Andrews that I base my character on in The Andrews Brothers.

And who knows in what incarnation I’ll next end up singing harmony with David and Stan. I just hope it doesn’t end.

Here’s my second report of Spelling Bee rehearsals. I actually got a critique on my first blog that it was funny, mostly, but it was a little exuberant about how good everybody was and maybe I could be a little more sarcastic and acerbic for the second one.

Me ??? Sarcastic and acerbic? Bite me!

Well after a few days in tech, that won’t be a problem. I am half the man I was on the first day of rehearsals. I’ve become defensive during note sessions. No Jeff, I didn’t misspell loues. (That’s director Jeff Maynard giving him the word louse.) And yes I should be able to say shit in my opening speech! OK, so the Book won a Tony Award but I won a Robby!

Techs have been hell. It’s in my contract that the other cast members are not allowed to speak to me but they keep forgetting and it’s really making me uncomfortable.

Daniel Tatar  de-pantses me in one song, revealing some very silly boxer shorts. We call it the Pantsing of Panch and at last night’s dress, in front of Tom McCoy, he got carried away, as he often does, and pulled my pants and boxers down, leaving me only in my thong. OK, my Calvin Klein briefs. I felt so… vulnerable.

It was really hot. Unless you happened to actually see it.

We had some interesting volunteers from our little audience join us as Spellers. One of the ladies refused to spell — that was fun — and another seemed a little loosey-goosey and I asked her if she’d been hitting the bottle and she had. Oops.

Another note from Jeff: Mustn’t be too mean to the audience.

Another lady’s name was Lucy Crabb. Laura Griffith, who plays Rona, and I did have fun with her.

I am so sick of everybody in Spelling Bee I could scream.

OK not really. I still think everyone is the Bee’s knees. I really do. We’re all pooped. Tonight’s our invited dress rehearsal. I have to go. I don’t have time for this Blog. I got a show to do Baby.

Remember?

OH BABYYYYY, I GOT A SHOOOOW TO DOOOOOO. (Lorelle in Dreamgirls, Act 2)

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, presented by La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts and McCoy Rigby Entertainment, plays Tues.-Thurs., 7:30 pm; Fri., 8 pm; Sat., 2 & 8 pm; Sun., 2 & 7 pm; through Feb. 21. Tickets: $35-$50. La Mirada Theatre, 14900 La Mirada Blvd., La Mirada; 562.944.9801, 714.994.6310 or lamiradatheatre.com

On the day of his death, President Franklin D. Roosevelt is in Warm Springs with his mistress, Lucy. When Eleanor learns the truth, her grief turns to shock and betrayal. “The First Lady” shows how she achieves personal growth while she—and the rest of the nation, still at war—suffer the loss of the beloved President. At the NPI Auditorium on the UCLA Campus. FREE admission to the public. Six performances: Feb. 19, 21, 26, 27, Mar. 3 at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday matinee on March 7 at 2 p.m. Reservations: (310) 794-3711, or online at www.thefirstladyopera.com

March 2- March 25
“The Event” by John Clancy and “The Interview” by Lawrence Bridges.
Two solo performances. “The Event” is a scripted one-hour performance in which a man narrates his and the audience’s experience of what is happening during the performance asking “What Is Illusion? What Is Real?”
“The Interview” is an unscripted World Premiere experience in which an anonymous interviewer prompts a different actor every performance to answer a series of questions. The actor responds truthfully and spontaneously, revealing story, character, and the common threads that bond us together. Because “The Interviewer” can only be done once by each actor, no two shows will ever be the same. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. “The Event” is at 8 p.m. “The Interview” is at 9:30 p.m. Tickets: “The Event”- $15; “The Interview”_ $10. SPECIAL: both for $20. At Son of Semele Theatre, 3301 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004. Reservations: (323) 472-0200, or online at www.needtheater.org

tempOdyssey
April 23- May 30
West Coast Premiere. Written by Dan Dietz. Directed by Emily Weisberg.  Fearful of commitment and running from  a traumatic childhood, Genny has carefully constructed a  life bereft of human connection. It’s a life defined by her bizarre and frequently terrifying temp work at IthacaTechnoSolutions, where Genny will soon discover that she must question her beliefs and confront her pastr. Part office satire, part coming-of-age story, “tempOdyssey” claws away at the surreal banalities of everyday life to reveal a center both heartbreaking and hilarious. Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets: $20. Students, and seniors, $17. At Art/Works Theater, 6569 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood 90038. Reservations; (323) 472-0200, or online at www.needtheater.org

The Web
September 10- October 17
World Premiere. Written by Michael John Garces. While testing out his new web browser, Chris Quinonez stumbles across some strange information—a person who is nearly identical to himself. Twelve hours later, two men take him to a warehouse to “answer a couple of questions”….and that’s just the start of his troubles. “The Web” is a gripping, fast-paced thriller that investigates the nature of identity, freedom and loss. Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets: $20. Students and seniors, $17. At Art/Works Theater. Reservations: (323) 472-0200, or go online at www.needtheater.org

Season passes are available for $55 by going online at www.needtheater.org or by mail at needtheater, 6214 Drexel Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90048. Matt Wells - Artistic Director.

Feature image photo from needtheater’s 2009 production of “Scarcity.” Photo credit: Stephanie Yee. Left to right: Wendy Johnson, Randy Irwin, Rebecca Jordan, Steve Walker.

To view images from the reception, click below:

1. Composer Jonathan Brielle with Geffen Playhouse Producing Director Gil Cates and Managing Director Ken Novice.

2. Playwrights Bill Cain and Donald Margulies.

3. Director Daniel Sullivan, Geffen Playhouse Producing Director Gil Cates and producer Bill Haber.

4. Tiger Martina and composer Lance Horne.

5. Geffen Playhouse’s Alex Rogals with The Story Pirates ensemble.

6. Playwright Donald Margulies with Geffen Playhouse Literary Manager and Dramaturge Amy Levinson.

7. Manhattan Theatre Club Artistic Director Lynne Meadow with Geffen Playhouse Producing Director Gil Cates.

8. Actors Chris Noth and Dan Bittner with friends and the complimentary gift bags.

9. Director Doug Hughes with actors Chris Noth and Dan Bittner.

All photos courtesy of the Geffen Playhouse by Allison Rawlings

Don Shirley - South Coast Rep’s Story - A Role Model?

Paul Hodgins - SCR Founders Benson, Emmes announce they’ll step down

Mike Boehm - South Coast Repertory leaders Martin Benson and David Emmes will step down after 46 years

COSTA MESA, Calif. (Feb. 4, 2010) - Forty-six years after founding South Coast Repertory, David Emmes and Martin Benson have decided it is time to begin the search for their successor. They have greenlighted a detailed leadership transition plan that is set to culminate later in the year with the naming of a new Artistic Director to join the leadership team.

This does not mean Emmes, the Producing Artistic Director, and Benson, the Artistic Director, are retiring. They will continue to serve in their current capacities until a new Artistic Director is in place, at which point they will assume the titles of
Founding Directors. In their new roles they will serve as counselors and advisers to their successor. They will continue to play an active role in assisting the new Artistic Director in the finding and development of plays, and they will continue to direct productions.

“We’re stepping back but not away,” said Emmes. “We think it’s incredibly important that SCR not lose artistic momentum. We believe we can help the next leader through the transition period as he or she becomes familiar with the particular needs of such a large and complex organization.”

Though Benson and Emmes will be involved in the hiring process, SCR’s Board of Trustees will choose the new leader: “We know in order to keep growing, the theatre needs new ideas, new blood, new chemistry,” Benson said. “SCR will need someone who is responsive to changing times and circumstances.”

SCR has always taken a deliberate, evolutionary approach to change, and the succession plan is no exception. It began to take shape at a board retreat in March of 2008 and has been continuously refined until the founders felt that it - and they - were ready to move forward.

David Emmes and Martin Benson with a model of SCR's theater, which opened in 1978

“David and Martin are visionaries,” said Wylie Aitken, president of SCR’s Board of Trustees. “They transformed SCR from a company with $17 and a station wagon into a three-theatre complex with a $9 million annual budget and numerous awards, including a Tony. Together with the Orange County community, they’ve created one of the most successful and stable arts institutions in the country. We consider ourselves incredibly fortunate they have led a process to ensure the continuity of SCR’s future artistic leadership. We are also grateful they are willing to stay on to share their wisdom and insight as we identify a strong artistic leader to partner with our Managing Director Paula Tomei to carry on SCR’s long history of service to Orange County and the national theatre community.”

Q&A with David Emmes and Martin Benson

Why now? Is something wrong?

Nothing’s wrong. We’re both healthy and the theatre is doing well artistically and financially. But we’re both in our 70s now and we know inevitably there comes a time for change. We wanted to begin this process before anything went wrong so that we can help to ensure the smoothest possible leadership transition to support SCR’s continued success well into the future. Our succession plan is built to suit SCR’s unique needs but it was inspired in part by the example of other artistic directors who remained at their theatres for a period of time to facilitate an effective transition with minimal disruption.

Why are you both stepping down at the same time?

We started the theatre together and we think it only makes sense for us to go out together.

Will you choose your replacement?

The board will choose our successor but we will be very involved in the process. Though we won’t be official members of the search committee, we will help screen and interview candidates and give our recommendations to the committee.

What kind of person are you looking for?

We’ve had numerous conversations with the board about this and we all agree the new artistic director must be someone whose values are consistent with SCR’s - someone who places a high importance on literature, stewardship, community and collaboration. The new leader must be someone who has shown his or her commitment to a collaborative
artistic process - that is something SCR has always prized. Of course, they also must have a history of artistic achievement. And they will need to be someone who can partner well with Managing Director Paula Tomei.

Is Paula’s role changing?

Yes. Once the new Artistic Director starts, Paula will rise to the level of Co-CEO, reporting directly to the board. Working in conjunction with the Artistic Director, she will continue to set programmatic assumptions to ensure that artistic and other programming is aligned with the mission and operating goals and meets board-approved budgetary guidelines. She will also continue to have primary responsibility for the Production, Marketing, Development and Business departments and will work with the board on major campaign fundraising, planning and recruitment of future leadership.

Once the new artistic director is in place, what will your roles be?

We will assume the titles of Founding Directors and we will serve as counselors and advisers to the new artistic director. We will continue to serve as board trustees. We’ll still be reading play submissions and attending rehearsals and readings and offering input to the new artistic director.

Will you still be in the office every day?

Not every day but often. We’ll share an office and be in and out, working there and from home, and sometimes, at the behest of the new Artistic Director, traveling to other theatres to scout productions that might be good fits for SCR.

Will you still direct plays at SCR?

Yes. We plan to each direct at least one show a year and we’ll work with the new artistic director to determine which shows those will be.

How long will you serve as Founding Directors?

As many as five years. Either of us can choose to retire sooner if we wish.

Will this change affect South Coast Repertory’s commitment to new work?

Absolutely not. Our mission and programs will remain intact. Our new leader will be someone who shares our values and believes in the importance of literature and the development of new plays.

What’s the timetable for all this?

The search committee will come together in April. After that, we expect the process to take about four to six months, with the new artistic director in place - we hope - by the start of the 2010-2011 season in September.

In the meantime, who is planning and producing the 2010-2011 season?

We are. We’ve already identified several projects we’re excited about, and we’ll be announcing preliminary titles for the new season in March.

Ed Harris sinks comfortably into a chair in a private room off the lobby of the Geffen Playhouse where he opens in Neil LaBute’s one-person, one-act play Wrecks on Super Bowl Sunday. It’s not his first visit to the land of LaBute. In 2005, he did the world premiere in Ireland at the Everyman Palace Theatre and in New York at the Public Theatre (2006). Are there any changes?

Harris in Wrecks

“Ask me that question after we open,” he replies, “because it’s still like…eh… The idea for me personally, when Neil and I were kinda discussing doing it here in LA, was looking at the text and really trying to get back to ground zero with it. With what this guy is saying, what he’s going through, it’s a little bit difficult not to hear these words. You can’t help but fall into the same rhythms and patterns if you’re doing a show every night for eight weeks even though you want it to be alive and new. And it’s fun going back to it because you realize oh, it makes more sense if this is where it’s coming from so it’s just kind of a re-exploration of the piece.

“We tickle it a little bit here and there, changing a few things, clarifying some moments. It’s that kind of thing you realize after you’ve done the show, there’s that one… I never quite… I did it and accepted it but I’m never quite clear what the hell’s exactly happening there. So we talk about some of those things and make adjustments textually that seem to work.”

He plays Edward Carr, a used-car salesman, whose wife of 30 years has died. Is he approaching this production of Wrecks as if it is a new work? “Yeah, I’m trying to except it’s not. I know the guy. Basically. And I’ve lived it. My relationship with the woman who was my wife that I talk about is very real to me. I mean it was established a couple years ago. And it’s deep and it’s real, so I’m not going to eviscerate that emotional contact I have with this imaginary person. If anything it’s deeper because it’s two years later. More the effort here is to just keep penetrating it. It’s a different feeling…and a different set.”

Harris is thoughtful as he puts his hand to his face. His navy blue turtleneck and dark green trousers are comfortable clothes for rehearsal which he has just finished for the day. His graying hair peeks out from under a baseball cap which he occasionally readjusts. He is more at ease doing an interview now, especially with someone he knows, than he was over 30 years ago when he first began acting in movies. In his first film, Coma (1978), he played “Pathology resident #2.”

He recalls, “Anjanette Comer and I did just one day on it. Michael Critchon directed. Then the first real part I had was the Charles Bronson film Borderline. Tom Kibbe was the casting director. When I read for him, he knew I had done theatre. He had seen me in something. And then he introduced me to George Romero for whom I did Knightriders in 1980. I saw Tom not too long ago. He lives in Ireland. He’s a horseman.”

During the late ’70s-early ’80s Ed Harris was a leading force in Equity Waiver theatre. So, will appearing in Wrecks be sort of a homecoming for him?

“Not really,” he shrugs. “Nobody in the movie industry knows I got out of CalArts in ‘75 and all I did was theatre for six years. Fourteen plays. That was a vital time. That was a very exciting time for me. For LA theatre.

“The first thing I did when I got out of school was in a little theatre in Pasadena. I did a new play with Elizabeth Hartman that was being directed by Gil Dennis, who was married to her at the time. After that was Kingdom of Earth, the Tennessee Williams play, where I played Lot who comes down and expires in his mother’s gown at the end of the play, which was a total trip for me. Then a year later I did A Streetcar Named Desire at The Odyssey. That was like maybe ‘77 or ‘78. I don’t remember.”

Following those were others, most of which garnered Harris Drama-Logue Awards including Murray Mednick’s Are You Looking? and a few at South Coast Repertory including The Time of Your Life and True West. His roles varied from Sam Shepard’s Cowboy Mouth at the Pilot to Shakespeare. “I also did a few things at The Globe on Kings Road,” he adds. One of his favorite stage directors was actor Darrell Larson who helmed Cowboy Mouth. “I think I did Are You Looking? first because that’s how I met Darrell. Then we did Cowboy Mouth a year later.”

I reminded him of a legendary story that is still remembered by the theatre community. At the 1979 Drama-Logue Awards, Harris was the only one of the three actors and director who received a certificate for Cowboy Mouth. When he went up on stage to receive it, he tore it into four pieces to share it with Larson and actors Robin Ginsberg and Jack Slater.

“I wasn’t trying to demean the award… not at all. I was trying to share it. I’d forgotten about that.” We laugh over the memory. I tell him I thought it showed a lot of originality.

Kondazian and Harris

Originality describes Harris the actor, whether on screen or stage. He displayed that and daring as Chance Wayne in Williams’ Sweet Bird of Youth opposite Karen Kondazian at the Dynarski Theatre in 1980. The sold-out houses made a considerable impact on LA theatre and gained both actors a lot of attention and excellent reviews. Soon after was Prairie Avenue at the Callboard, directed by Warner Shook.

“That’s where I met Amy,” he says. In 1983 he married actress Amy Madigan. Over 25 years later they are still together and have a daughter. With film roles being offered and beginning to be in the public eye, he lessened his stage work and hired John Springer and Associates to handle press requests for interviews. Basically, he did not want to do them, saying he preferred to stay out of the spotlight to concentrate on his acting.

“I think I probably expressed that,” he recalls. “I had a certain idea of purity and how to go about it at the time. When I got to know John, he understood and we didn’t do that much. Perhaps in hindsight, it didn’t make that much difference to tell you the truth. I just always felt funny about people always pumping you, in terms of publicity when you didn’t deserve it.

“I was always into the work. That’s really what I enjoy. Obviously as the years go by and you realize, hey if you want to have a career, people have got to be aware you’re doing what you’re doing, and obviously if people buy tickets that helps, too. Particularly if you’re doing a film because especially nowadays it’s like opening weekend, you know, or see you later. Over the years things develop and you realize, OK, this is my life and there are certain things I guess I got to do. I’d love to say, guess what? Phht! (makes noise) I’m never doing another interview in my life. Not because I don’t like interviews, I just don’t think they’re necessary.”

But he has done his share of print interviews and hitting the talk show circuit…

“Yeah, if you’ve got a film coming out, especially if it’s like Pollock or Appaloosa, something that’s about my own genesis that I really want people to see, you go do this stuff, man.”

Pollock, which he directed and played the title role, earned him a lead actor Oscar nomination in 2001. Also he was nominated three times for supporting roles in Apollo 13 (1996), The Truman Show (1997) and The Hours (2003). His list of nominations for other awards seems endless including five Golden Globes and a Tony for Precious Sons. He received an Obie Award in 1983 for his off-Broadway debut in Shepard’s Fool for Love. The role was especially written for him.

He accomplished pretty much what he wanted with his first directorial effort on film. “It took a long time. I was focused on that for really pretty much of the ’90s. Off and on when I wasn’t doing other things, I was working on this humongous script that Barbara Turner had written. The original script for Pollock was 265 pages alone.”

It was his father Robert who first made him aware of artist Jackson Pollock. “He sent me a book for my birthday in ‘85. Jeffrey Potter’s, To a Violent Grave. Then he sent me another one the following year. I wasn’t that familiar with Pollack’s work at the time. By the time I made the film, I was real familiar with it.”

His wife Amy joined the cast along with Jennifer Connolly and Marcia Gay Harden who received an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Lee Krasner. Then, it took several years to get his next directorial project, Appaloosa (2008), in production.

“That was pretty much intentional in terms of my daughter growing up. She was born in ‘93 and we shot Pollock in ‘99. From the time she could understand words, she was hearing nothing except about Pollock. I also know how consuming it had been and how preoccupied I’d been and I just didn’t want to disappear like that. But then I read the book by Robert Parker, who left us last week and was a really special guy. He treated me great. My buddy Robert Knott and I wrote the script; he said go with it. He didn’t charge us a nickel. He said I’ll get paid when you make the movie. I just really liked the guy. I was really sad when he left but at least he left doing something he loved, which was writing.” Parker died at his desk, from a massive heart attack.

“I read it and said, OK, it’s been seven or eight years since Pollock, so yeah, I’d like to direct again. And I want to tell this story because I really love this relationship between these two guys. I guess in Hollywood time, it didn’t take too long to get it together but it sure was an agonizing year trying to get it set up. To me, I think it’s quite a wonderful Western. I was really proud of it. I’m proud of the detail. I’m proud of the look of it, how it’s told. I’m proud of the intimate relationship between Viggo [Mortensen] and myself. It wasn’t meant to be Pollock. You know, Pollock was about…Pollock. This was about two lawmen in 1880.”

He wants to direct another film but doesn’t know what. “I don’t have anything planned. I’m kind of waiting for something to drop down and inspire me,” Harris says as he pulls his right leg up and hugs it as he sinks further into his chair, appearing even more relaxed.

What about directing a play?

Harris

“Maybe, eventually. I wouldn’t mind acting in some theater maybe in the next few years. It’s really more about doing one thing at a time. I don’t plan that far ahead. Sometimes you know you’re going to do a film several months in advance but… I know I got to do this for four weeks, then I got a gig to do in New Orleans. A film called Big Red, which is kind of an interesting indie. It’s really just a week of work but it’s something I thought would be fun to do.”

When asked about the possibility of Wrecks extending, Harris is clear.

“Four weeks. Boom. I don’t know, Lee. You know I could drop dead tomorrow, I’m not planning on it but I’m just trying to enjoy what I’m doing. I do things I enjoy and hopefully get inspired enough to direct another film, a play or whatever. I’ve never really considered myself a director for hire or anything but boy, I love doing it. I love the process of first of all developing a script, or writing a script. I love getting a crew together. The pre-production period of time is very intense but also kind of exciting and I really enjoy the filming. What I don’t enjoy is the fucking bullshit interference from money people telling you how to make your film. That drives me insane and it drives every other director insane but that’s just the way it is here.

“The wonderful thing about theatre is you don’t have some producer telling you how to cut your performance. I don’t mind giving up my performance to a director who I respect. So when that guy has to deal with the guys who finance the film and won’t let him cut the film the way he wants, including myself as a director, it gets very frustrating. This is very freeing to me.”

Harris almost directed Fool for Love for the Roundabout in New York in February 2005. “I actually auditioned people. I had a really cool idea for the set but some work came up or I couldn’t find an Eddie, the character I played. I don’t remember. I was really excited about somebody I thought I had then it kind of got weird. So it just petered out.”

Harris is thinking about doing more theatre, either in London, New York or here. “I literally haven’t acted on stage with another person in a long time,” he laughs, “which I’m looking forward to! It had been 15 years or so before Wrecks since I’ve actually been on stage. You know this is the first play I’ve done in LA since Murray Mednick’s Scar at the MET, which is like 20 years ago. We used to have that theater group at the MET on Oxford. But you know, it’s just the practicality of it. Getting to the damned theatre. It took me 45 minutes to get from 25^th and Wilshire to here the other day at 4:30 in the afternoon. Unless I want to be in the car for an hour and a half, I’ve got to get down here at probably 5:00. And to go downtown, you’re doing eight shows a week at the Taper or something, you know if I had a helicopter… If I was doing a run, I would just stay down there. That’s all I would be focused on so it would be fine.”

For a long time Harris wanted to work with Paul Newman and missed a couple of opportunities but finally got to co-star with him in HBO’s Empire Falls. “I’m really glad I did, too,” he says.

Are there any people he wants to work with but hasn’t? He exhales with a psssss sound, “I don’t know. Ask me on my deathbed and I may tell you a couple regrets but I don’t really have any at the moment.”

I tell him I read somewhere he wanted to work with Stanley Kubrick. “No. Kubrick wanted to work with me. I turned down the part of the sergeant in Full Metal Jacket. He couldn’t believe it. I remember talking on the phone. Kubrick was speechless. He was like… you’re kidding.”

Why did he turn him down? “I don’t remember. At the time, it was my ignorance. It was like I might have just finished… I might have been having some family thing… It was one of those things. I might not have been thinking straight. I don’t know. I mean Lee [Ermey] was great. He was perfect. He was the guy. So, there you go. It still would have been a great experience.”

Are there directors with whom he would like to work?

“Well, I haven’t worked with Scorsese. I’d love to work with Scorsese. I haven’t worked with the Coen Brothers. We were almost going to do something once that didn’t quite work out. There are a lot of young directors… Spike Jonze. I mean my favorite film of the year is Where the Wild Things Are. That film just knocked me out, man. I thought it was beautiful. It would be really fun to work with him. You know, a lot of different people.”

Harris has acted in two films ready for release: What’s Wrong with Virginia? and Peter Weir’s The Way Back. When asked whether he has developed a philosophy about acting, he snorts. “I don’t know if I have a philosophy about it or not. To me it’s a constant process, you know? It’s like living a life. To me, they’re one and the same in terms of the process of opening up; the process of getting larger instead of smaller as a human. It’s your own sense of tolerance and justice and love and whatever. Trying to not limit yourself to how you see the world and I think in the acting thing, it’s really just about being available. I’ve always had this image of just like unzip your chest and you’re basically ripping out your rib cage and going here I am.

“I mean that’s what your job is in some way. Whether you’re playing a person that’s scared to do that or closed up, you still have to have a certain… (he pauses to do a long inhale, then exhales slowly) …largeness of vision to play that guy to his capacity. The more you have in you, the more you feel, the more he’s not doing. It just enriches. It’s about trying to do justice to the one little life you’ve got. And trying to figure that out or not figure it out and let it be whatever it might be. I mean it amazes me, from day to day. How you wake up. How you feel when you get up. Your first conscious thought when you get up day to day. Some days you feel great. Other days you might have had a bad dream, you never know. The first 20-30 minutes of waking up, it’s like where are you at today? It just blows my mind. Fascinates me.

Harris in Wrecks

“I mean actually the last three or four days, I’ve been waking up going, OK, this is a good thing being alive.  I mean I usually do get there at some point during the day but sometimes it’s harder. You know you’ve got some shit in your head you’re thinking about or whatever problems that don’t even really matter, but they do.

“So, yeah, when I come here to do my work, whether it’s rehearsal or doing the show, I’m pretty good at getting that stuff out the window. I’m not thinking about that.”

LaBute directs as well as wrote Wrecks. Since Harris has written and directed film, how does he like working with a writer/director on stage?

“Very much so. It’s not like I can’t have a dialogue with him if I’ve got a question about something or whatever. Especially having done the piece before and knowing there are infinite variations on how this thing can go, a lot of my questions to him are, ‘You’ve seen it Neil. You’ve seen me do it this way, this way, that way…where do you feel it…what’s the most effective way for it to live for you as director? What would you like to see up there?’

“It helps to get some kind of general feeling for the tenor of the thing. I mean the guy’s wife is in the casket on the stage. He’s in his head. There’s another room where there is a viewing and there’s a bunch of people you don’t see but he’s in the midst of it and he leaves. Not physically but he just goes phoom. And he’s in this space and basically he’s talking to the audience. But it’s a theatrical conceit. It’s not somber, you know what I mean? The guy’s tripping out in his head. Reliving their whole life together. Talking about various facets of their life. Some of it’s very funny; hopefully some of it’s moving. It’s got a certain energy to it. A certain drive because he’s going somewhere with it. He’s kind of pursuing something.

“So my questions are just directorial because I could go out there and it could be a heavy duty drama; intense but it’s buoyant. That’s where it works best. That’s where it lives best. It’s great to be able to go out on stage and flow with it. It’s really fun. It’s really great!”

He laughs as we shake hands and he heads out into the Westwood traffic.

Feature image and story image of Harris by Andrew Southam

Story image of Sweet Bird of Youth courtesy of Karen Kondazian

Story image of Wrecks by Michael Lamont

Article by Lee Melville

Michael Michetti draws a line directly from Wilder’s Our Town (1938) to Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel (1945) in his Reprise revival of the latter, at Freud Playhouse.

In both plays, we’re in a small New England community. Carousel takes place in a coastal town with a factory, while Wilder’s play is set in an inland, rural village. The time frames are similar. Near the end of both plays, a newcomer to the afterlife is allowed to return briefly to the land of the living.

Of course all those similarities were already there in the texts. But Michetti also turns Carousel’s heavenly Starkeeper (M. Emmet Walsh) into an observer and narrator who’s very similar to the Stage Manager in Our Town. He reads from the stage directions in order to fill in missing scenic details. And he joins the action as the high school commencement speaker in the final scene, just as the Stage Manager becomes a soda fountain proprietor and a preacher in Our Town.

Alexandra Silber as Julie Jordan, Jane Noseworthy as Carrie

Tom Buderwitz’s scenic design is stripped down to simple New England woods. A rudimentary carousel emerges at its customary moment in the opening sequence - but it’s a pleasant surprise when it actually revolves. It looks as if it would be unable to muster enough centrifugal thrills for even an undemanding three-year-old.

Yes, Michetti’s asking us to exercise our imaginations. This should be easy for Reprise subscribers - the company is rooted in the principle of doing scenically simple versions of older musicals, after very little rehearsal time. But Michetti’s vision also jibes with Wilder’s emphasis on life’s basics, as well as with the austerity that’s prescribed (if not dictated) by today’s economy.

If all this rings a recent bell, it’s because director David Lee took the same approach to that other classic “Ca” musical, Camelot, at the Pasadena Playhouse. Buderwitz designed the sets for Camelot, too, using similar wooden structures, with none of the usual frills. Lee didn’t establish a particular Camelot character as a narrator, but he allowed several actors to directly address the audience with narration and a brief “story theater” framing device. He cut more of the script than Michetti did with Carousel, but then more of the Camelot script is obviously superfluous.

And so we have two classic musicals on L.A. stages, playing only through this weekend, in which bare-bones approaches not only fit today’s budgets but also bring satisfying aesthetic results. I’ve already discussed Camelot’s results. In the case of Carousel, the show’s universality grows as Michetti’s Our Town-like staging strips away much of the color palette and scenic particulars.

In fact, for those of us who are reminded of Our Town, that connection might even make the characters more sympathetic. A potential problem in Carousel is that the casually thoughtless wife-beater Billy Bigelow is not the kind of nice guy that, for example, George Gibbs is in Our Town. George and his mate Emily Webb probably resemble most theatergoers’ notions of themselves a lot more than Billy or even Julie do. Yet the audience weeps copious tears at the end of Michetti’s Carousel, perhaps more so than it would at the end of a comparable Our Town. The bond with these characters - at least as enacted by Robert Patteri’s Billy, Alexandra Silber’s Julie and their daughter (Kimberly Mikesell’s Louise) - is formidable.

I’d like to suggest that Reprise take a look at Allegro (1947), the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical that followed Carousel.  Although it isn’t set in New England, I’ve read that it was more consciously influenced by Our Town than was Carousel. I’ve seen it only once, in a 2002 concert reading by the Musical Theatre Guild (Reprise choreographer Lee Martino worked on it). Since then, Eric Schaeffer staged an Allegro at his Signature Theatre in Virginia, with a book adapted by Joe DiPietro and a cast cut to 14. It would be fascinating to see what Michetti or Lee or another creative director might do with it in an off-book production.

Allegro isn’t only a rarely seen experiment by America’s most famous musical theater team, but it also was the first professional production that Stephen Sondheim worked on, as a teenaged gofer. “I realize that I am trying to recreate Allegro all the time,” Sondheim later told biographer Meryle Secrest.

Maybe it’s considered too obscure to sell enough tickets, even within the length of one of Reprise’s short runs. Reprise presented a series of special events that were billed as a Rodgers celebration last fall, and I didn’t notice Allegro on the list.

The current Reprise season offers three oft-seen shows - Carousel, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. But Reprise occasionally offers a musical that’s truly seldom seen - I Love My Wife, Flora the Red Menace, No Strings. Dear Jason Alexander: If this part of Reprise’s mission hasn’t been forgotten, please add Allegro to the list of possibilities.

Carousel, Reprise at Freud Playhouse, UCLA, Westwood. Thurs-Fri, 8 p.m.; Sat, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sun, 2 and 7 p.m. www.reprise.org. 310-825-2101.

Also closing this weekend is The Pee-Wee Herman Show. It’s much like an elongated episode of Paul Reubens’ former TV show, and its goal seems to be snagging another chance for a TV series - or a movie. So I hesitate to consider its merits as theater.

Still, I want to urge any other producers who might consider Club Nokia as a theatrical venue to please think twice. It’s a nightclub, with most of the fixed seating in the balcony, presumably so that the area next to the stage can serve as a dance floor.  This is hardly a venue that honors the theatrical bond between performers and audience.

Club Nokia is in the L.A. Live area, once billed as our Times Square. The area needs at least one real theater if it’s going to live up to that nickname. Maybe when the economy is booming, someone might want to look again at the Variety Arts Center, a block away.

The Pee-Wee Herman Show, Club Nokia, 800 W. Olympic, L.A. Thurs, 8 p.m.; Fri, 7 p.m. and 10:15 p.m.; Sat, 4:30 and 8 p.m.; Sun, 4 and 7:30 p.m. www.ticketmaster.com, 800-745-3000.

Photo Credit: John Ganun

Closing:

Hellz Kitchen Ablaze
2/6/10, Elephant Stageworks, Hollywood
The Hit Production Returns!  Backstage West Critic’s Pick!  LA Weekly says “GO!”

In the Company of Jane Doe
2/6/10, Powerhouse Theatre, Beaches
An award-winning comedy about love, identity, and clones.

Camelot
2/7/10, Pasadena Playhouse, San Gabriel Valley
Eight Actors. Three lovers. One fresh look at the timeless tale of passion, desire and betrayal.

Carousel
2/7/10, Reprise Theatre Company, West Side
One of the greatest achievements in musical history - Rodgers and Hammerstein’s immortal CAROUSEL.

The Pee-wee Herman Show
2/7/10, AEG Live, Downtown
The Pee-wee Herman Show is the must see event of 2010.

Opening:

Celadine
2/3/10, The Colony Theatre Company, San Fernando Valley

Could I Have This Dance?
2/3/10, Theatre Forty, West Side
A romantic play about love & difficult choices & ultimately about cherishing what life we are given.

Twelfth Night @ Hollywood Forever Cemetery
2/3/10, Chalk Repertory Theatre, Hollywood
Shakespeare’s classic comedy performed with an indie rock flair and a high fashion sensibility.

A Prayer for My Daughter
2/4/10, Crown City Theatre Company, San Fernando Valley
A dark, funny and gritty, drama about two corrupt NYPD detectives interrogating two murder suspects!

Lobby Hero
2/4/10, Pacific Stages, Beaches
Loyalties are strained to the breaking point in Lonergan’ drama of a hapless NY security guard.

Merrily We Roll Along
2/4/10, The Chance Theatre, Outside Los Angeles
Sondheim’s rarely produced musical gem kicks off the Chance’s 12th Season!

Cool Negroes
2/5/10, Stella Adler Theatre, Hollywood
5 Black 60’s Revolunatries + 1 Yuppie + 2 Bubby teens = One Helluva Life Lesson

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
2/5/10, La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, East Side
The Tony Award Winning Musical comes to Southern California for a Limited Run! Hilarious!

The Andrews Brothers
2/5/10, Cabrillo Music Theatre, Outside Los Angeles
The new 1940s musical, with the Ovation Award-winning cast, directed by Nick Degruccio

Peacock Men
2/5/10, Company of Angels, Downtown
5 Black men explore contemporary American  culture, images &labels in this wacky, lyrical dark comedy

Titus Andronicus
2/5/10, Theatre of NOTE, Hollywood
War veteran T. Andronicus watches his enemies inflict horrors on his family, driving him to madness.

Cousin Bette
2/6/10, Antaeus Theatre Company, Hollywood
1840’s Paris: this darkly comic adaptation of Balzac’s novel is a thrill-ride of jealousy & passion.