June 6- June 29th, 2003
The Elephant Asylum Theatre
6322 Santa Monica Blvd (west of Vine)

World Premiere One Acts written by
Tanya Barfield, Neena Beber, Paula Cizmar, Padraic Duffy,
Napoleon Ellsworth, Jessica Goldberg, Paul Grellong, Quincy Long,
and Adam Rapp

Directed by
Matt Almos, Lauren Bass, Chris Fields, Jessica Goldberg,
Cheryl E. Grant, Tara Karsian, and Jf Pryor

with
Carolyn Almos, Jamela Asha, Bill Bolener, Jenica Bergere, Tim Brown,
Susan Dalian, Christine Estabrook, Lucas Fleischer, Christopher Gerson, Andrea Grano, Jay Harik, Brad Henson, Rob Helms, Chris Hogan,
Tara Karsian, Emily Kosloski, Meredith Lieber, Koco Limbevski, Marc Lynn,
Jeremy Maxwell, Tricia O'Kelley, Jf Pryor, Victor Raider-Wexler,
Richard Ruyle, and Mandy Siegfried

set design Cathia Pagotto	light design Cathia Pagotto
costume design Pathia Pagotto	sound design Drew Dalzell
stage manager Seth Chandler	production stage mgr Katie Ailinger
produced by Lauren Bass & Chris Fields

Mistral (Chris Hogan)


Mistral (Emily Kosloski, Chris Hogan)


Mistral (Koco Limbevski, Chris Hogan)


Wanting North (Susan Dalian, Jamela Asha)


The New Fire (Marc Lynn, Lucas Fleischer)


The New Fire (Lucas Fleischer, Tim Brown)


The New Fire (Marc Lynn, Tim Brown, Lucas Fleischer)


Boodaboy (Jenica Bergere, Rob Helms)


Boodaboy (Rob Helms)


Old Hat (Tara Karsian)


Brecht..


Brecht...(Richard Ruyle, Chris Gerson, Carolyn Almos, Brad Henson)


Brecht...(Chris Gerson, Richard Ruyle, Carolyn Almos, Brad Henson)


Affair Play (Tricia O'Kelley, Jf Pryor)


Affair Play (Jf Pryor, Tricia O'Kelley)


Wide Angle (Andrea Grano, Jay Harik)


Wide Angle (Meredith Lieber, Jeremy Maxwell)


Tiny Little (Bill Bolender, Mandy Siegfried)


Tiny Little (Bill Bolender, Mandy Siegfried)


Tiny Little (Bill Bolender, Mandy Siegfried)




June 12, 2003

These five brief one-act plays are cracklingly written and bracingly paced — but, at the same time, they’re so narratively slim, they come across as spicy appetizers for a main dish that never arrives. In Adam Rapp’s charming Mistral, an aspiring novelist (Chris Hogan) who has lost his manuscript in a freak accident is consoled by a helpful dream girl (Emily Kosloski). In director Jf Pryor’s playfully bouncy staging, Hogan’s heroic protagonist is intensely likable. Tanya Barfield’s Wanting North — in which two 1840 Southern slaves (Susan Dalian and Jamela Asha) share experiences over who is actually the most free — is an emotionally nuanced and intimate...vignette, with Dalian and Asha offering haunting performances that sensitively capture Southern slave plantation patois. The comic terrain mined in Paul Grellong’s ..., The New Fire, is more conventional: A recently laid-off office worker (Lucas Fleischer) confronts his boss (Marc Lynn) for a second chance. Lynn’s snarling, glaring boss is a delight, but the piece sputters to an inconsequential and perfunctory conclusion. Finally, in Padraic Duffy’s Old Hat, Tara Karsian, as a recently fired schoolteacher, offers wonderfully deadpan reactions to Victor Raider-Wexler, hilarious as a madman who accosts her in the park. Duffy’s dialogue sparkles in Chris Fields’ nuanced and atmospheric production, but the play is essentially all talk and no substance. Elephant Asylum, 6320 Santa Monica Blvd., Hlywd.; in rep with Evening B, call for schedule; thru June 29.

-Paul Birchall