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Notes from Arden
An American in Fiji
These honors recognize how individual artists and productions were affectionately remembered by individuals belonging to our team of generationally, ethnically and gender-diverse writers.
Featured Column
Dan Berkowitz Remembered
“Dan Berkowitz was a force of nature. There’s really no other way to describe him, and I’m not even sure that does him justice. When I was asked to write about Dan, with whom I co-chaired the Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights (ALAP) for 15 years, honestly, I was overwhelmed. How do you even start to describe someone who did so much for so many?” — Jonathan Dorf
Got It Covered
“Stage Raw was sorry to hear about the passing of the great local and Seattle theater designer Gary Smoot, who died in Seattle last May. Amongst his many contributions to shows at L.A.’s Circle X, Smoot served as production designer for productions of Love Loves a Pornographer, The American Book of the Dead, and for his extremely memorable set design in Great Men of Science, No 21 and 22. He’d been a multi-award winner of many LA Weekly, Garland, and LADCC accolades, and, in addition to frequent gigs with New York theaters, was a long time company member of Seattle’s Annex Theatre.” — BY PAUL BIRCHALL
Ask Corbett
Ask Corbett: Non-Profit Boards — New Times, Fresh Approaches
What would happen if you re-imagined your Board, removed the mandate to contribute or raise money and asked them to do something they might actually be good at, like say, audience development? I bet this is generally a more comfortable topic for most board members because it relates to earned income, marketing, and customer service. Now you’re talking business-y language and put them in their comfort zone. –BY CORBETT BARKLIE
Ask Corbett a Question!
Have a question about Los Angeles theater and don’t know who to ask? We are now accepting submissions for an upcoming new section aimed to answer you most burning theater-related questions.
Around Town
“Through the TeenTix Pass Program, teenagers, ages 13-19, can sign up for a free TeenTix Pass, which will allow them to purchase day-of-show tickets for just $5 from participating arts organizations, including concert venues, galleries, museums, and theaters. To help teens make the most of this program, and to make navigating LA’s abundant arts scene easier, the local chapter has created the LA.TeenTix.Org Calendar, which posts all listings available on a specific day.”
The Summer of our (Dis)Content
Our Town
A Q&A with Annie Saunders of The Day Shall Declare It
‘Movement and text is in equal parts. I mean we’re talking and moving pretty much the whole time. In terms of why people are excited, I mean, if we just say, “Okay. Why are people excited about making work and seeing work where there isn’t seating and a stage?” If we just take it as that. I think the answers are kind of exciting. I guess what I think first of all is that this is the screen age, and we are, I think, losing a bit of what it is to be human people with skin and muscles and sweat and tears and blood — the experience of having touch and proximity, really like an intimate experience among strangers with just human interchange: eye contact, touch, whispering, breath, and to be so close to a lot of heightened emotion and heightened physicality, really close. I feel like maybe in the digital age, there is a craving for that. I hope.’ — By Bill Raden
Decidedly Delin
Actors’ Equity Response: “Doesn’t Matter”
A “Matter”: Los Angeles actors clearly let Equity know what it thought of the new plan, providing a stunning defeat of it in a referendum by a 2-to-1 margin. Equity’s response: “Doesn’t Matter.” Equity decided instead to bring up the number of participants in the vote as an important metric.–BY KEVIN DELIN