Center Theatre Group Blog

Mike Sablone is CTG’s Literary Associate, starting left fielder and third-string shortstop for Dark Monday, the CTG softball team.

I told myself like I always do: it will be a quick weekend of shows in New York. I’ll go in, catch BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON at the Public, see two more shows, then fly back, refreshed.

Per usual, that plan got thrown out immediately once I looked at what else was playing.

The thought process went something like this:

“Jesus! CORALINE is in previews?!?! David Greenspan, Stephin Merritt, Neil Gaiman AND Leigh Silverman? Did they design this show specifically for me? I have to see this. Right away. In fact I’ll land Friday at 5, go directly to the theater and then my trip will be off to a great start (which proved to be true)…”

And then it’s:

“Jenny Mudge! I’ve got to see her in THE PHILANTHROPIST! I’ve known her forever! We go way back! I can catch a Saturday matinee of that show…”

Which was then chased by:

“Wait, I can see all three of Tarell McCraney’s plays at the McCarter under the title THE BROTHER/SISTER PLAYS on Sunday? His plays are hauntingly beautiful and I can only hope that the productions do his vision justice (I was not let down. They are gorgeous productions of stunning plays, especially IN THE RED AND BROWN WATER.)…”

Which was quickly followed by:

“Wait, they added a Monday evening performance for 33 VARIATIONS? Written and directed by Moisés Kaufman, featuring much of the design team for our BENGAL TIGER AT THE BAGHDAD ZOO? Regardless of all of that (which was enough for me to see the show), it has an old friend of mine, Scott Barrow, in an ensemble track. I mean he was my roommate for two years in New York. We shared a one bedroom apartment that had a shower in the living room which was also the kitchen. And two years earlier I had to go on for him in a show I was stage managing when he sliced his knee open on tour. Why would I not see this show? Plus if I go on Monday I can tell them about the (justifiably) good reviews for BENGAL TIGER AT THE BAGHDAD ZOO…”

And then it’s Tuesday and I’m seeing JACKSON for the second time. Five days. 8 shows. Not sleeping. But seeing talented people in wonderful shows back to back to back to back to…well you get it.

Which equals me arriving back in Los Angeles this past Wednesday. Satiated, but frigging exhausted.

It was completely worth it.

Next week I devote an entire blog entry to BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON: THE CONCERT VERSION.

Here’s a sneak preview: it’s frigging awesome.

Actor Glenn Davis plays Tom, an American soldier, in the upcoming Kirk Douglas Theatre world premiere production of Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo by Rajiv Joseph and directed by Moisés Kaufman. He will be contributing to the CTG blog periodically as the show gets ready for the stage.

So we are in the stretch run now. We finished tech (which was a BEAST to say the LEAST) and we are now rehearsing during the day and previewing at night. Every night, the show gets stronger it seems.

We’re finding the nuance in our performances now, which is great. It’s like the final phase of the show just before you open. It feels great to just run the show after such a long tech. We open on Sunday so we still have a few more performances to get it right. We have also been flirting with different endings. With a new play, especially one this profound, it’s fairly common for the writer to give the actors rewrites all the way up until opening, in some cases beyond. I was lucky enough to sit in on the rehearsal process for August Wilson’s King Hedley II at the Goodman when I was in Theatre School. He would give actors rewrites the day of opening. It was funny in a way, but I remember thinking that those actors were brave. Now I think to myself, “it’s what we do”. It’s actually kinda fun for me. It adds a sense of danger. What makes theatre so thrilling, essentially, is the notion that something can go wrong. It’s like walking a tight rope. 

Of course you don’t want the person to fall, but the mere possibility that they could, is why you watch them in the first place. THE MOMENT is something artists talk about often. It’s what we live for. So, that said, I like getting new pages. It’s a challenge to find the structure of the scene, the character, the MOMENTS as quickly as possible. Deadlines make the world go round. So Rajiv has one, Moisés has one, and we have one. We all know it’s there but we rarely talk about it in those terms. And when it’s fast approaching, you see what you are really made of, as well as the artists around you. It’s supremely scary and thrilling all at once.

So yeah… we open on Sunday and we are in a great place with the show. The previewing audiences seem to really enjoy it. Sometimes it’s alarming how well they take it. There are moments in the play that one does not see as funny when reading or even rehearsing, for example. But those are things you don’t count on as an actor; or at least you try not to. I find that it does not help me to presume an audience will laugh at something that I may think is funny. Once I do, I’m dead. Moisés is waaay better at detecting funny moments in the play. He will say, “they will laugh at this”, and I go, “really, u think so?” I may even think to myself, “they are NOT gonna laugh at that”. Sure enough, they laugh. Needless to say, that is why Moisés is a director and I’m not.

The audiences have been really great thus far and I’m excited every night as we negotiate the storytelling with them. It’s a dance between us and them. We are all extremely excited to be a part of this world premiere and looking forward to opening night. As Brad would say, “It’s gonna be rad”. He also uses the word, “narly” from time to time. I know what you’re thinking. I don’t get it either. But, that’s my boy.

Arian Moayed portrays Musa in the upcoming Kirk Douglas Theatre world premiere production of Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. He will be blogging for CTG periodically and tweeting as well: you can follow him at twitter.com/ArianMoayed.

About to go into a rehearsal before Preview #4. Boy oh boy. It’s been a roller coaster. I’ve been so excited with all the re-writes. Last night we got rewrites at 4:30pm…that had to be implemented into last nights performance. We had to do it with a script in hand. That is the first time that’s happened to me but the audience really seemed to enjoy last nights performance and weren’t thrown by the new pages.

Some nice lady came up to me and started crying after the performance. It had really moved her and I didn’t really know what to say. I just said thank you and thank you and thank you. Theater can really be powerful. This play has that ability.

This is a wonderful play. I can’t say enough about it. I’m truly blessed to be working with such great designers, crew members and actors. CTG is wonderful.

Who knows what will happen for tonights performance? Maybe we’ll have more new pages…

Arian

PS: I’m still TWEETING at my account. Check me out at twitter.com/arianmoayed

Mike Sablone is CTG’s Literary Associate, starting left fielder and third-string shortstop for Dark Monday, the CTG softball team.

I was working on a blog posting of the favorite rap and hip-hop tracks/videos from the creative team of VENICE, but along that way got distracted by various YouTube videos. I mean, how could I not watch the extended “Fight The Power” video over and over again?

But it wasn’t just old Public Enemy videos that got me excited. It was a handful of remixes. That I shall share with you.

Just because. Stop asking so many questions. Jeez.

I start, first, with the Auto-Tune The News guys, Michael and Andrew Gregory. Their newest: Obama Flashback, is pretty great, but to me nothing matches “Auto-Tune the News 2: Pirates. Drugs. Gay Marriage.” Good god I love this video.

Before you watch, a warning: It’s insanely catchy. Seriously, I’ve had it in my head for the past two weeks. Mostly because Katie Couric is a genius. The other parts are great, but better once you understand the lyrics. Helpful hint: download the mp3, specifically for that Angry Gorilla section which is unintelligible in the video.

I’m thinking about telling the guys for VENICE that if we need more laughs, we kick up the auto-tune. Because, frankly, everything does sound funnier with auto-tune.

Case in point. Who doesn’t love Vince Shlomi? Who is Vince Shlomi, you ask? Do the words ShamWow and Slap-Chop mean anything to you? They don’t to me. But you know what does mean something to me? Rap Chop.

Side note, if anyone knows where the kid is that shows up 1:18 into the video wearing the Nike sweatshirt, please tell me. I need him to teach me his sick dance moves.

You know what the songs in VENICE are not like? This Domino’s Pasta commercial:

Dominos Pasta DUDE!

The best thing about this is not the terrible, terrible “rapping pasta” but the families justifiably frightened response to a rapping piece of pasta. It’s like the ad execs had an idea, then were so mortified by it that they had two of the people in the ad revolt. Good work Domino’s, good work.

This last one isn’t auto-tuned, or rap, but the spirit of cutting and pasting and remixing is brought to another level with “Thru You: Mother of All Funk Chords”:

What Kutiman (the artist) does here and in seven or so other videos available on YouTube is phenomenal. Sampling, remixing, cutting and mashing-up these video and audio snippets to make not only his own song, but a clever video as well, is a rare talent.

I’ll have more hip-hop postings soon, but those will have to wait a bit. I’m heading to New York next weekend to see BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON and need my brain to switch from hip-hop to post-punk power-pop.

I’m hoping this mashup will help me put the nail in the coffin of the bastardization of the rap/rock genre by creating JUDGEMENT NIGHT: THE MUSICAL.

Caitie Hannon is the Grants Associate for Center Theatre Group

Three exciting things happened last Thursday - I got to hang out in the Douglas lobby with a group of young professionals talking about what kind of theatre they love; I got to see a really exciting and promising workshop of a hip-hop musical; and I ate dinner at Chipotle.  All in all, a very exciting evening.  Let me break it down for you.

We’re planning to start a Young Professionals group at CTG and thought we’d talk to people from our target age range (22-35) to get feedback.  So we told some of our corporate donors to spread the word that we were looking for young professionals to survey, expecting 25 or so to show up.  We ended up getting 50 RSVPs, which is how I became involved - we had only been planning on having two staff members, and since that wasn’t going to be sufficient, I was asked to come along.  I was thrilled, as much of what I do involves sitting at a computer and writing grant applications … I definitely enjoy writing, but human to human contact is always a nice change.

The discussion was great - my group had a lot of good ideas, and was very excited about all of the possible benefits we discussed.  If I didn’t already work here, I’d totally join - who wouldn’t want to meet lots of young, fun L.A. folks and see some good theatre?

So after the discussion, the focus group members went to Rush Street for dinner and drinks, and I met up with my brother at Chipotle.  More on that in the last paragraph…

After dinner, we all met back at the Douglas to see a workshop of Venice, the aforementioned hip-hop musical.  Having seen Clay last season at the Douglas (which was written by the same folks that wrote Venice - Matt Sax and Eric Rosen), I was really looking forward to this sneak peek at their latest adventure.  They had invested a lot in this piece already, and their passion definitely showed.  The performance was a blast - the cast was incredibly talented, some of the music and lyrics were stuck in my head all night (in a good way - an “I want the soundtrack” way, not an “I can’t get that song from Annie out of my head” way), and it was great to see a new side of Matt and Eric’s writing.  The talkback with Matt and the cast afterward was fascinating and we got to hear all about their process (they learned their roles over a few weeks amidst constant re-writes - and yet most of the cast members were impressively off-book).

And finally, Chipotle was delicious, and I had leftovers that I wanted to save for later, so before the show started I went backstage to put them in the fridge - and ran into Matt in the hallway.  Man, I hate it when I get star struck.  It’s embarrassing, I mean, this is a normal guy who just happens to be incredibly talented.  I was too speechless to say or do anything other than smile shyly and look down while bee lining for the fridge.  After we left the green room, I nervously turned to my brother and asked, “Did I play it cool?  Was it totally obvious that I’m a ridiculous fan of his?”  He reassured me that Matt probably hadn’t even noticed I was there, and I breathed a sigh of relief … and, of course, after the show I completely forgot that my Chipotle was in the fridge and left without it.  Sigh.  Oh well, hopefully the cast got to eat it.

Kelly Karbacz and Bryan Terrell Clark (front) and the company of “Venice” by Matt Sax and Eric Rosen in a workshop presentation in DouglasPlus at the Kirk Douglas Theatre.  Photo by Craig Schwartz.

Actor Glenn Davis plays Tom, an American soldier, in the upcoming Kirk Douglas Theatre world premiere production of Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo by Rajiv Joseph and directed by Moisés Kaufman. He will be contributing to the CTG blog periodically as the show gets ready for the stage. 

Wussup,

So we are on lunch break from rehearsal.  It’s our first day of tech.

The rest of the cast went out to this Indian vegan restaurant.  I passed… I had a sandwich earlier and I just am not that excited about no meat/dairy, etc.  I am sitting in the dressing room on my laptop typing away. I don’t mind at all.  A few moments alone is never a bad idea in the midst of so much interaction with other artists… actors specifically.  Thats not a joke, btw.  Love my cast though… 

LOVE LOVE LOVE.

Moisés’ show got nominated for 5 Tony Awards yesterday.  It’s called 33 Variations and it’s starring Jane Fonda.  Go see it.  I hear it’s fantastic.  Anyway, he was pretty excited about that.  He himself was nominated for BEST PLAY.  Our lighting and scenic designers, David Lander and Derek McLane were nominated for BEST LIGHTING DESIGN of a PLAY and Best SCENIC DESIGN of a PLAY, respectively. Congrats to all 3 of them.  Where I’m from, when something like that happens, we say, “that’s wussup”.  So, in other words, I’m surrounded by genius.  We just started tech a few hours ago and things are coming together so quickly and rather seamlessly.

This morning I told Moisés something that I tell every director I work with on the first day of tech.  I say, “I love this part!”  They always go, “Tech?”, with a rather quizzical look on their face.  He did the same.  Yup… I love tech.  It’s my favorite part of any show.  

It’s when everything comes together, not because of destiny or some preordained assertion.  No, it does, simply because it has to.  It’s when you get to see what everyone has been working on the last month or so while you have been toiling away in the rehearsal hall, or the costume shop, or design shop (I guess?), or the actual theatre.  It’s when everyone says to everyone else, “this is what I’ve come up with… now how do we make it all work?”  That is the spectacular part of the theatre to me; that and the few seconds between the time the lights go down at the beginning of a show and when the lights go up on the stage and you get your first glimpse of what these artists have to offer you as an audience.  It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it.  I have to say, these are the moments that make it all worth it as an artist.  Give me a second to indulge myself in my own history as an artist.  Chris Jones, a Chicago Tribune theatre critic taught me that.  When I was in Theatre School at DePaul University, he was my History of Dramatic Literature teacher.  Every once in a while, he would take me to the opening night of a play.  One night, he took me to see a play and right when the lights when down, he leaned over to me and said, in a British accent of course, “This is the most exhilarating part of the theatre”.  We never talked about that moment, but all at once, it hit me that he was right.  It’s why we go - for that moment.  The hope that what we are about to see is going to change us, or at least conjure something in us, whether that be emotional, philosophical, or just pure laughter.  I love that moment.

So… where was I.  Thanks for regaling my digression, btw.  So I say that about tech every first day.  And I tell the director, as I told Moisés, to remind me of that on the 4th or fifth day of tech, when my head is ready to explode because of all the waiting and stop and go.  

Tech is always tough, and we have a few tricks in this show so I’m  assuming it will be tedious, as Moisés has warned.  But that said, the first part of rehearsal has gone pretty well.  The set looks great. 

The lighting of the top of the play looks fantastic as well.  You see why these guys are Tony nominees.  The costumes and the sound are both done quite well.  One feels inclined to “act” as well as one is being lit and costumed in a production like this.  It’s really great.

Rajiv was in NYC for something over the weekend so he is back with us now till opening I presume.  Good to have him back… the guy is something like a genius.  And Moisés is the mastermind (goes without saying that he is a genius).  Naaamean?  Moisés has to leave to NYC again today because of the Tony nomination.  Something to do with that, I think.  But fret not, he is only missing the second half of today.  He is back for the start of rehearsal tomorrow.  The guy is a beast!  TRUST!  From day one, you can just tell what he is doing.  And he has assembled a great cast for this show as well.  There is not a weak link in this show.  It’s just a superb cast across the board.  I love coming to work everyday.  Did I say work?  Cuz it never feels like it.  I love coming to “play” everyday.  This whole experience is a dream.  Maybe thats why they have me blogging about it.

Arian Moayed portrays Musa in the upcoming Kirk Douglas Theatre world premiere production of Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. He will be blogging for CTG periodically and tweeting as well: you can follow him at twitter.com/ArianMoayed.

Bengal Tiger: About to go into a pretty intense week of TECH. I’m pretty excited about the design of this show. When you enter the stage door of the Kirk Douglas, you have two ways to get to the rehearsal room, which is upstairs and actually above the main entrance of the theater. One way, is to go up the front stairs and the other is to go through the theater. Well, now that the Bengal Tiger stage has been built, I always go through the theater. Wait till you check out what Derek McLane has done to this space. It’s absolutely beautiful. The arch-way, the crumbling mud walls, the beauty and devastation of Baghdad will increase the haunting elements of this play.

Rest. Rest. Rest. Sleep. Sleep. Sleep. Because this will be a long week…

Also, I’ll be tweeting the entire tech, while on stage. Check me out at twitter.com/ArianMoayed. I’ll also tag this whole process, #BTATBZ. A new experience for all of us.

Actor Glenn Davis plays Tom, an American soldier, in the upcoming Kirk Douglas Theatre world premiere production of Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo by Rajiv Joseph and directed by Moisés Kaufman. He will be contributing to the CTG blog periodically as the show gets ready for the stage.

So we’re rehearsing on a Saturday afternoon and it is absolutely thrilling. Moisés just got back from NYC. He was there to speak at an event.  Jimmy, his asst., led rehearsal yesterday. We had a run- through of the show and it was great.

This play is extremely satisfying in every sense. It’s exhilarating for everyone in the room it seems. I was telling Arian, who plays Musa, just how pleasing it is to come to work every day and feel like you are a part of something. It never feels like work actually. Every once in a while, an actor is handed a script that you just can’t put down until you finish reading. I must have read it 5 times before we started.

We’re all ready to jump into tech. We just saw the set and the cage for the tiger. It’s pretty amazing. The lighting looks great. Everything is just coming together nicely. The more they tell us not to get onto the stage the more everyone wants to get up there. Moisés tells us his techs are notoriously brutal so I’m sure we will get our fix fairly quickly.

Mike Kindle, Facility Assistant, Kirk Douglas Theatre

What’s up with that house?

Visitors to the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Historic Downtown Culver City often wander past this quiet residence surrounded by a well manicured lawn right next door, and wonder, “What’s up with that house?”

Well, CTG owns it.  Sort of.  For now.

Built in 1928, the “Doctors’ House” at 9814 Washington Blvd. is a large distinctive Tudor Revival home with high ceilings, wood floors, and a roof with unique “rolled eaves”.  The house was first owned by a Dr. Hayes and his wife Edith.  Dr. Hayes practiced medicine there in the 1930’s.  The house later became the home and offices of Dr. Paskan, until it was acquired by the City of Culver City in 2003 when the restoration of the Douglas began.

Perhaps in 1928 or at least very soon after, the house was converted for use as an upstairs residence with ground floor doctors’ offices.  It remained mostly unchanged for the next 80 years.  During the renovation of the Douglas, the backyard area was divided from the House and that area is now our Production Yard and Scene Shop. 

Though currently unoccupied and with the power and water disconnected, the House remains in very good shape and sports most of its original historic fabric, including the original wooden kitchen cabinets, doors, windows, historic tile, interior woodwork, and quaint pushbutton light switches.  The original hardwood floors wait beneath later carpeting.  There are three rooms upstairs plus a full bath and small kitchen.  The downstairs has a large kitchen, three large open areas, a foyer, a half bath, and a garage.  There is a basement that stays bone dry even after heavy rains.

The rolled eaves of the roof indicate that originally it would have been shingled with wooden shakes, a characteristic of the historic neighborhood, in the style of the “Storybook House” on Dunn Drive, or the similar era home on the corner of Braddock and Lincoln, each a block away.  This type of roof would have lasted the first half-century, so at some point somebody made the esthetically unfortunate decision to reroof with asphalt shingles.  But that can be corrected. (more…)

So says Kirk Douglas, the star of our current sold-out hit, Before I Forget, running through this weekend at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City.  (A cancellation line begins forming one hour before each show…good luck.)

Mr. Douglas, 92, received universal praise for his performance in the one man-show, which he also wrote.   If you have been in theatre as long as some of us have, you will agree that it’s a very rare thing when critics come together like this.  Perhaps we should send Mr. Douglas to Capitol Hill…we’d have universal health care before you can say “Spartacus.”

Los Angeles Times review
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2009/03/before-i-forget.html

Los Angeles Times Culture Monster – Opening night coverage
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2009/03/catherine-zeta.html

Variety review
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117939826.html?categoryid=33&cs=1

Hollywood Reporter review
http://www.reuters.com/article/artsNews/idUSTRE52819J20090309

Orange County Register review
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/douglas-kirk-lancaster-2327857-burt-michael

L.A. Weekly review
http://blogs.laweekly.com/ladaily/stage-news/stage-raw-before-kirk-douglas

L.A. Splash – review
http://www.lasplash.com/publish/Los_Angeles_Performances_116/Kirk_Douglas_One_Man_Show_Review.php

E! Online – opening night coverage
http://www.etonline.com/news/2009/03/71568/index.html