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Death and Coffee by Annie Lesser

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There’s complexity in what appears to be simple. Annie Lesser’s Death and Coffee showcases that by unpacking the cross-generational relationship she had with her grandfather and examines it beyond her own experience.

This piece is beautifully cathartic without causing the audience to feel like a therapist. Lesser didn’t force any emotion nor added any dramatics to merely evoke emotion from the audience - it was simply a conversation that is guided by Lesser’s story. Lesser’s exploration of loss and memories leaves the audience to ponder their own life, but more importantly the lives of those around them.

This experience is a See It LA, it is especially good for those who have lost someone (not just by death) and have lingering questions, thoughts, or feel; but it is definitely not limited to that.

For more tickets and info visit the Hollywood Fringe site. (At the time of writing this review, there was a ticket left for one of the performances on 6/22).

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Last Christmas is one man’s journey through grief and the holidays after the death of his father the previous Christmas. To say that he isn’t handling it well, is an understatement. To quote the character himself, he is a, “bit of a cunt.” After the first ten minutes, I was prepared to hate this show. I was in no mood to sit and listen to someone complain about everything for an hour. However, the pay off at the end was well worth the journey.

Evan McNamara’s characterizations of the people in his life were on point, and he was able to maintain the fast-pace of what felt like a train about to derail through to the end. McNamara’s performance is truly impressive. Aiding in this performance is a brilliant script by Matthew Bulgo. Between Bulgo’s words and McNamara’s performance a bare black-box theater was transported into an office party, an English pub and a lonely, snowy Christmas eve night.

For as much as I hated the beginning, I loved the end, and any play that can bring about that kind of shift is worth the ticket price. The only thing that didn’t work for me, was that an obviously British play with a British character was done in an American accent. Which is a small quibble, but definitely took me out of the moment whenever specifically British sayings would pop up. 

For tickets and more information visit the HFF website. 

See It or Skip It LA sat down with Olivia Fischer, the creator and director of Still, which has gotten the only #MustSeeLA of the Hollywood Fringe Festival so far this year.

SISI: Tell me a little about where you’re from and how this show came about.

OF: I am a South African female theatre maker that recently graduated from the University of Cape Town. I technically grew up in Johannesburg but I’ve always said I did more growing up in my four years in Cape Town than in the seventeen years in Johannesburg. The play itself was created for my final practical exam for my honors degree in theatre making, but the impulse behind the need to create a play about rape culture comes from my own sexual assault.

SISI: Why do you think it is important to openly talk about rape culture?

OF: I was in kindergarten when a boy my age lifted my skirt and the entire playground laughed at me. I was in grade 7 when my class posted lists on Facebook in which I was always “awarded” best breasts, best body, and worst face. I was a senior in high school when another senior boy told me that if a girl was blackout drunk on the side of a road, she had what was coming to her. That it is always the woman’s responsibility to not be raped. Our female teacher did not disagree with him. I was in first year university when I was raped by a boy a few years older than me and I was so embarrassed that I told my friends for the first two days afterwards that it was just really rough sex until one of them noticed the finger marks on my neck. It’s painful to remember all of these experiences, so painful. But it is more painful to think that the same thing or similar things will statistically happen to my own daughter. She’s not even two and I’m already worried for her. If I, as someone who has an opportunity through theater, don’t tell these stories to possibly make the world a safer and happier place for my daughter, then I feel as if I’ve failed her and the generations to come. That’s why I tell these kind of stories, that’s why I’m compelled as a theater maker to make theater about such realities.

SISI: Sexual assault and harassment has recently come into the main stream media here in the US with the #MeToo movement. What is it like in South Africa? Is this a topic that is addressed/discussed?

OF: I can only speak from my own position as a white heterosexual cis gendered woman and with that position comes a privileged lived experience. That means that no matter how toxic I perceive the patriarchal structures in place in South Africa, I only experience a small fraction of that daily trauma. And in addition to the trauma of our own patriarchy, we have colonial and apartheid structures that further silence and disenfranchise those that are not awarded the same benefit of the doubt I am. South Africa is a violent place for women. You regularly hear stories from people we know about women getting into Ubers or cabs and being sexually assaulted by the drivers. You hear statistics over and over again about how one in every three women in South Africa will be sexually assaulted at least once in their lifetime. And even though this is happening day in and day out, for the most part, we don’t talk about sexual assault or even vilify the perpetrators. In my third year at university, there was an art student who was regularly following other art and drama students into the bathroom, me being one of them, and would sexually harass and/or assault them. After two public demonstrations and vocal protests, UCT failed to censure him let alone suspend him. It’s difficult to be a part of a conversation like this and feel as if there is no change. Having said that, seeing movements like #MeToo, being a part of conversations with people from all different positionalities about this topic, seeing mass rapists in South Africa being put behind bars for multiple life sentences, even Harvey Weinstein being arrested (no matter how late I thought it was) are all things that do make me somewhat hopeful. And you have to be hopeful in times like these. Because for so long, notions of consent or safe spaces were only happening in academic hypothetical conversations. Now they are being engaged with on much bigger scales. And I have to believe in that progress. No matter how small or how late it has come, because you don’t know who it might help. So I do, I remain hopeful. I have to.

SISI: What is the one thing you hope audiences get out of this play?

OF: I’m never good at answering questions about audiences because audience members are always so different and after speaking to people after the shows, you realize how truly different they really are. But it’s in that speaking, in those asking and answering of questions with audience members, that the real power of the play exists because most audience members, no matter what they come into the theater with, want to engage with the play and it’s subject matter, whether or not they thought the play itself was good or not. I’ve never wanted to make work that was fine. An audience member must either hate it or love it, there can be no in between for me. It must have some sort of impact.

SISI: What’s next?

OF: Immediately after Hollywood Fringe, I’m going on a week long road trip with my mom and daughter to see the beautiful California coastline. At the moment, I’m writing two other plays that deal with very different subject matters, namely assisted suicide and unrecognized pregnancy. Hopefully they will be as engaging and successful as STILL. As for STILL I intend to take it to other fringe festivals around the globe and possibly, to high schools. It would be a very interesting experience to gauge the response from a younger audience. But you never know what’s truly to come. I just hope that whatever is next is as exciting and rewarding as this Hollywood Fringe experience has been.

Still is playing at the Hollywood Fringe Festival with shows at the Actors Company through June 24th. For tickets or more info visit the HFF website. 

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In the world of cell phones, emancipated women, and loosened family loyalty, can the story of Hamlet still work?  Laertes Loves Hamlet Loves Ophelia, takes on that premise and delivers a truly intriguing look at one of the classics.

Katelyn Schiller, as Hamlet, commands the stage, drawing the more submissive Ophelia, played by Kelley Pierre, and Laertes, played by Payden Ackerman, into her madness/machinations. But unlike the original text, Ophelia has the sense to realize when a love-affair needs to take a step back, and doesn’t have a dolt of a father controlling her every move. With that freedom, Pierre lends her Ophelia the agency to question the actions of those around her and investigate. It was truly refreshing to see an Ophelia who thought for herself. Which leaves the ‘blinded by love’ story line to Laertes and Ackerman walks the perilous line of friend/brother/lover without a single miss-step. Even with only three actors, this is truly an ensemble piece. They give and take the spotlight beautifully, which is remarkable given that Hamlet is only a tiara short of being a drama queen. 

Despite the excellent work of the ensemble, the script itself has left me with a number of questions and I can’t decide if that is a bad or a good thing. The one thing that I am absolutely sure about, is that when the lights went down at the end, I wanted a second act. The play was at a natural stopping-point, but I had been pulled into this new telling of a well-known story and I wanted more. This is where my indecision about the questions I was left with comes from. I believe that good theater should leave you with questions, but I also feel that a good number of the ones I have, would be answered had the play continued. So is it good theater, or half a play? I honestly think it’s a little bit of both, which is my biggest complaint about this piece - there needs to be more.

As that truly is my only complaint - aside from some lighting issues that I’m hoping they fixed after the preview - I highly recommend checking this one out. 

For tickets or more info visit the HFF website.

The Guest & The Host’s Make Music

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As one reads the description of The Guest and The Host’s Make Music on the Hollywood Fringe site, it can be interpreted as a very intimate immersive show that’s going to be about the creative process. To an extent the preconceived notion that this is a show is true, but at the same time way off the mark.

This isn’t a show about the creative process, this is an experience of the creative process.

It begins with an online questionnaire, filled out at the time of purchasing ticket(s), to help get to know the audience member(s) and potentially to help guide them through the experience.

On the day itself, the experience starts with the Guest (the audience member) jumping into a white van with essentially two strangers in it, while in view of the Capitol Records Building - if that isn’t a rock n’ roll experience, then I don’t know what is.

These “strangers” are Spencer Williams (Director/Producer) and Andrew Heringer (Performer and former member of Milo Greene); after 5 minutes of sitting in traffic with them, it is clear that this isn’t a show and these aren’t characters - this is just a moment in time with two fellow humans.

The conversation while driving will be different for each person - as for my time with them in the car, we talked about:

Traffic (How else do people in LA break the ice?)

Near death experiences

A playlist I sent them in my questionnaire

Tree climbing ducks (Muscovy ducks)

Plus, I learned there’s a Matterhorn (Peak) in California outside of Disneyland.

From there, we arrived at the Mirror Wall Studio: it is a warm and welcoming place, swirling with the feeling of creativity in the air, and filled with a buffet of instruments. It looks like a living room and leaves one to wonder if Euterpe or one of the other Muses live there.

This is where Spencer awkwardly departs to go into the other room to monitor the audio recording, this was not explained well and is one of my few complaints.

Then it is only the Guest and Andrew (the Host) left in the space, he talks about the process and technical items - but, very little about himself (unless the Guest asks questions). He definitely remembers the Guest’s answers from the questionnaire. For example, despite going to concerts, my ears are super sensitive to the volume of headphones - he made sure to cover how I could control the volume before we jumped on to anything else. The Host asks questions and establishes a connection, or at the very least a level of comfort, with the Guest.

Then from here, I can only talk about my own experience, which will vary depending on a participate’s needs and willingness to explore. I could tell Andrew is prepared to guide people through the instruments (he originally pulled tuning forks for us to start with) and build up their playing comfort level, if need be. But, thinking I only had an hour and feeling like we spent 20 mins in traffic and talking - I jumped up and grabbed the violin.

So, if you need more time to build up to playing with instruments - don’t worry, you’re in good hands. If you’re someone who is not afraid to make noise - you won’t be held back.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the Mirror Wall Studio, while there I felt like a child who was given permission to play and was given access to instruments I never touched before. I don’t think I’ve ever used the word “fun” more in my life. Also, this was a chance to truly collaborate: don’t like something, have a suggestion, or an idea for something, but don’t have the musical ability to create it? Tell Andrew and he’ll work with you. Remember that collaboration goes both ways, he’ll also suggest things for you to musically do or try.

After playing, and recording different sounds - you’ll sit down and work with Andrew to build your song. Full disclosure, there were times during the editing process that lulled for me, but that could have been because I was there for almost 2 hours - as time stands still while one creates music. But, in reality, time moves on - so let them know if you have a hard stop and they’ll respect that.

By the end of all this, there is a full song. The Guest is asked to send a photo that they think represents the song and it will be posted online. The Hosts, take their Guest back to where they were picked up, in view of the Capital Records Building. Left alone to imagine when that newly created single will go platinum - no, not really, but there is a newly gained perspective of the musician’s process.

One thing that wasn’t revealed to me until the editing stage, was that The Guest and The Host is actually the name of Andrew Heringer’s solo alias and Make Music is part of an ongoing process. This process started before the Fringe and will continue on after, something which I’m excited to see grow.

Tickets can be found at the Hollywood Fringe site here.

Baby Boy by Adrian Eli

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Adrian Eli combines dance, humor and stark confession in this one-man show about coming out. He portrays a number of different characters beautifully, jumping from one to another with ease, sometimes at a frenetic speed. Eli leverages comedy to balance out some of his more dire and depressing moments in order to keep the over all feeling of the piece upbeat.

My only complaint with this piece is that after the fantastic open, the pacing at the beginning was slow and there was an entire section that was amusing, but contributed nothing to the overall message of the piece. Eli is much more comfortable as one of his characters than as himself, and throughout the play the pacing often dropped off when he spoke to the audience as modern-day Adrian. Not that I blame him for the reticence, as this is a highly personal piece, but I would have liked to see the director of the piece refine these spots as much as the rest of the show.

But even with this drawback, Baby Boy is a highly enjoyable play by an exquisite performer.

For tickets or more information visit the HFF website.

Still by Olivia Fischer

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“I’m the drunk girl, and he’s the victim.”

This play pulled me in from the start and held my attention until the lights went out at the end. It’s the type of play that the audience needs a moment at the end to absorb what just happened before they can clap. My suggestion is that you stop reading this now and just go see it for yourself, because the less you know going in the better. But if you want to hear more, read on.

Playwright Olivia Fischer wastes no preamble by thrusting the audience directly into police interrogations. However, you never see or hear the police officer, you only hear the answers given by Chloe the suspect, Aaron her friend, and the victim’s girlfriend, Julia - all of whom are teenagers. From there the interrogation continues for Chloe, but Aaron and Julia continue their story ten years later.

The script is sparse, but contains all of the pieces necessary for the audience to fill in the gaps. What makes it so brilliant is that as the pieces of the puzzle are revealed they fit exactly where you assumed they would ... until the end. It’s only at the end that you realize that your assumptions blinded you to the possibility of an alternative storyline. 

The cast of three is stellar, and keep their performances subtle and nuanced to fit the mood and feel of the play. They are able to move seamlessly from one vignette to another to keep the pacing steady, driving straight to the end. My only complaint is with the lighting design. Several scenes between Aaron and Julia were too dark, yet when the action switched to Chloe’s side of the stage Aaron and Julia’s side wasn’t dark enough to hide them prepping for their next scene which at times was distracting. However, with the limitations of lighting that come with a Fringe Festival, that is a minor foible.

All in all, Still is a poignant look at rape culture and the assumptions we make about the victims. This play will leave you with plenty to talk about on the way home.

For tickets and more info visit the HFF website.

Easy Targets: Artists and Heroes by Burglars of Hamm

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Actors intentionally acting badly is one of my biggest pet peeves. It drives me insane. It legit makes me angry. It’s probably something I should discuss with my therapist. OR, I can just start attending all productions with pairs of rolled up socks. There is something truly cathartic about seeing a groan-worthy performer pelted with socks. Some of the best moments of this play were courtesy of a perfectly timed/aimed throw to accentuate a beat. The actors themselves capitalized on those moments and were quite brilliant in their roles, trudging through their material despite the dozens of socks hurtling towards them. So grab some cash to buy your ammunition, and enjoy a unique theater experience that will have you laughing out loud.

For tickets or more information visit the HFF website.