Photo by Halei Parker
Reviewed by Vanessa Cate
Chalk Rep.
Through Oct. 25
RECOMMENDED
You enter an upscale high-rise apartment in Downtown L.A. and are ushered into a lobby with futuristic chairs, a piano, and echoing acoustics. You wait for the show to begin, not knowing exactly what it will be, but already you’re able to watch and see the conversations of everyone else in attendance. Perhaps this makes you uncomfortable, at first, until you realize that this super-imposed intimacy combined with voyeurism is very much what you’re in store for.
You are lead through the apartment building, from the lobby to the 22nd floor to the community room to the swimming pool, and at each destination there is a new original work being staged.
The experience is different for everyone, being broken into groups and seeing the five performances in varying orders. Some are comedic, some serious, some scary, but all of the new works are inspired directly by the location itself. And that’s really the beauty of this festival.
The quality varied — of the performances, writing, and directing, but none of the pieces were a disappointment. Because how can it be, when a lover looks out over the city lights as she recalls her past? When someone enters from the busy street itself and says that it’s scary out there? When there’s actual caution tape around a real living area as lines are blurred, and we see that there is probably art going on around us all the time – we just forget to look for it.
Each weekend offers a new set of original plays, so you have the chance to come back and discover more of what this single setting can inspire in Chalk Rep’s artists.
Stand-out direction from the past weekend belonged to Kate Motzenbacker for “Them.” Playing with light in a way that seemed to embody a noir mentality, the chiaroscuro of the room drew dynamic shadows from creative choices. At times a single lamp was the only source of light, sometimes the refrigerator, and sometimes only the city itself, shining alive from outside the window.
The organic quality of the venue added to the experience. Real people on their way home, a passing police siren, or search lights in the foggy sky. This is a 4D experience that offers some astounding work from many talented artists.
The evening culminates with a chance to reflect on the rooftop, overlooking buildings, freeways, and the night itself. This is sure to be a great evening with a date, a friend, or for the solo voyeur.
Chalk Rep. at 8th + Hope, 801 S. Hope Street, Dwntwn.; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; through Oct. 25., chalkrep.com
