Zombies From The Beyond

Reviewed by Terry Morgan
The Visceral Company
Through July 20.

Visceral Company’s latest rendition of their ‘50s sci-fi-flick musical parody has several virtues and one major shortcoming. The cast is energetic and talented, Anna Safar’s choreography is ambitious and effective, and the subject matter is rife with possibilities for amusement. Unfortunately, it just isn’t very funny.

In 1950s Milwaukee, Mary (Amelia Gotham) works with her father on a military base, where they’re doing experiments in deep outer-space filming. She’s dating her dad’s assistant, Rick (Eric Sand), but she’s instantly attracted to the new scientist attached to the project, Trenton (Daniel Jimenez). When a flying saucer is spotted and then lands in town, Mary is alarmed to suddenly find all the men acting strangely. She’s horrified to discover they’ve been turned into slaves by the alien Zombina (Alison England), and Mary realizes she has to save the day.

Gotham is terrific as Mary with a stylized gem of a performance, a spot-on fluttery-earnest personification of Eisenhower-era B-movie heroines, and her singing voice is lovely. Jimenez is less strong as a singer but just right as the nerdy scientist hero Trenton, with a portrayal that eerily channels David Lynch. Sand makes the most of his role, particularly when Rick’s true identity is revealed in the song “Big Wig.” England is amusingly over-the-top as Zombina (full disclosure: She sat on my lap and judged me “hideous”), and her opera background serves her well. Alex Taber is charming as delivery boy Billy, and his tap dancing in “Atomic Feet” is impressive.

Director Dan Spurgeon has some fun with low-budget effects, including a neat black-light “credits” sequence and a flying saucer dutifully trotted onstage hanging from a fishing line. The problem is with James Valcq’s writing, which at best provokes only mild chuckles. His songs are also rather bland and unmemorable. There’s a lot of talent at work in this production, but regrettably this play isn’t a great showcase.

The Visceral Company at The Lex Theatre, 6760 Lexington Ave., Hlywd.; Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 3 p.m. through July 20. thevisceralcompany.com

Harold & Stella: Love Letters

Bliss Art House Café
Through June 28

Courtesy: Stella! Productions

Before they were giants of the American theater, future acting coach Stella Adler and prospective theater critic Harold Clurman resided on opposite coasts of the United States, penning stylish letters as they sorted out professional and personal troubles, and as the country was fixated on World War II. Directed by Sydney Walsh and produced by Sheana Ochoa, author of Adler’s first biography, this costumed reading offers an astonishingly intimate window into the pair’s courtship throughout the spring and fall of 1942. Unedited transcripts of their correspondence reveal Adler’s dissatisfaction with New York’s artistic opportunities, Clurman’s anxiety over pulling down a steady income, his distaste for Hollywood, her concern that Clurman provide for her material needs, and his fervent wish that Adler learn to live within his means.

Arianna Ratner captures Adler’s highbrow sense of entitlement and charming vanities, while Clurman (understudy Clay Wilcox in the performance reviewed) displays a proletariat humor accompanied by a consuming passion for his beloved. The piece needs far more development to evolve into a full-blooded staged production, but the personages here provide a rich starting point.—Jenny Lower

Bliss Art House Café, 1249 Vine St., https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/1654?tab=tickets

21^st Century Marilyn

The Complex
Through June 29

This one-woman show, starring Sandy Mansson as an aged Marilyn Monroe who awakens one day to discover she’s wrinkly, washed-up and forgotten, takes aim at the dearth of opportunities for mature actresses — and presents 40 tedious minutes of giggling in the mirror, applying makeup, sipping champagne and sashaying through failed auditions.

Marilyn’s determined sex-kitten act doesn’t age well, and so her professional frustrations become pathetic rather than an indictment of Hollywood’s sexist caste system, or the show a vindication of the talents of older actresses. (The polyester dress and low-quality wig don’t help.) Mansson does a credible version of Marilyn’s breathy, girlish voice, along with renditions of “I Wanna Be Loved By You” and “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” before the show hurtles toward a dark, unexpected ending. Women in Hollywood unquestionably need better parts, but Mansson could have made her case more effectively by writing the kind of substantial, complex, age-appropriate role the industry lacks. –Jenny Lower

The Complex, 6476 Santa Monica Blvd., https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/1707?tab=tickets

These reviews are offered via a partnership between L.A. Weekly and Stage Raw. To maximize coverage of the Hollywood Fringe Festival, the two publications are sharing reviews and funding responsibilities. Stage Raw is an Emerge Project of the Pasadena Arts Council, with other funding coming from a combination of advertising and individual donors.  For the L.A. Weekly, please visit www.laweekly.com

Million Dollar Hair

Hudson Backstage
Through June 28

RECOMMENDED:  

Courtesy: Lost Moon Radio

So who is Bernie Schonfeld? Apart from being a music mogul, philanthropist, amateur homeopath, and terminal philanderer (eight marriages!), he is the fictional character being honored in this outrageously funny “tribute,” by the folks at Lost Moon Radio. Narrating Bernie’s inspiring life story is his talentless, brain dead daughter January (Leslie Korein), whose droll commentary and endless malapropisms (“we have a suppository of talent”) throughout is almost as funny as some of the facts she reveals about her dear, departed daddy: his death from a bad hair do (not the one he spent $12,000 on); his numerous amorous conquests; and sadly, his ouster as CEO of Million Dollar Records by the same spoiled, sniveling brats he trained to be industry cutthroats.

No gala tribute would be complete without music, here provided by Dylan Ris and his superb four-piece band. The songsters are all worthy of the moment: Ryan Harrison sings a lively ditty about living with lockjaw; Lauren Flans rocks with a rap number about teen pregnancy; and nothing is quite as funny as Bartok’s Caravan (Flans, Harrison and Dan Oster), who look—and sing— as if they were resurrected from some ancient Moravian castle. Director Lauren Ludwig could pace this a bit better; notwithstanding, it’s a ton of laughs.—Lovell Estell III

Lost Moon Radio at the Hudson Backstage, 6539 Santa Monica Blvd., https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/1911

Romeo and Juliet in Hell

The Complex
Through June 28

RECOMMENDED:

Matt Richey’s knee-slapper of a comedy places the Bard’s star crossed lovers in the infernal domain for some devilish punishment and laughs. Romeo (Luke Wesley Baldridge) and Juliet (Gail Friedland, cum protruding dagger), are initially quite happy to find themselves in each other’s company, and to bask in the familiar visages of Tybalt (Michael Onofri) and Mercutio (Andy Kenareki). The rapture doesn’t last long, however. Hell’s other tenants include Desdemona (Tamara Rhoads), Macbeth (Chairman Barnes), his howling mad wife, Lady M (Rebecca Lane); unhinged, mumbling Hamlet (Schoen Hodges), Othello (Wisam Mubasher), who always has “moor” to say; Laertes (Tim Astor), a gray bearded Lear, looking more like Noah, and odd-man-out Tony (Eusebio Hernandez), from West Side Story.

What to do with all this infamous star power? Well, Faustus (Nick Ley) provides some entertainment via a grand scale play about Romeo and Juliet’s life that quickly morphs into something of a free-for-all, which even includes a segment patterned after Family Feud. The script is spiced with enough in-house gags, jokes and one-liners to make any Bardologist cringe with laughter. And what of Romeo and Juliet? Well, they do share in a happy ending of sorts. An hour plus of solid fun and laughs.—Lovell Estell III

MDR Players at The Complex, 6476 Santa Monica Blvd., https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/1793

These reviews are offered via a partnership between L.A. Weekly and Stage Raw. To maximize coverage of the Hollywood Fringe Festival, the two publications are sharing reviews and funding responsibilities. Stage Raw is an Emerge Project of the Pasadena Arts Council, with other funding coming from a combination of advertising and individual donors.  For the L.A. Weekly, please visit www.laweekly.com

Linden Arden Stole the Highlights

Theatre Asylum
Through June 27

RECOMMENDED:

Say “yes” to the whisky. Colin Mitchell has resurrected a one-person play he first staged in 1996 and has dusted off for a remount at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. Written and performed by Mitchell, and directed by Christian Levatino, Linden Arden Stole the Highlights tells the fanciful first-person tale of a man now pushing 50 who, for a handful of years, became enmeshed in the street drug trafficking scene in post-Hippie San Francisco. After helping himself to some of the drug money, sticky fingered Linden fled retribution by holing up in Arklow — a remote country village in Scotland.

The American interloper is ostracized by its native inhabitants. What happens when past nemeses catch up with this anti-hero — some 20- years in hiding — is the stuff of minor legend. In 1974 Northern Irish folk singer-songwriter Van Morrison released a song about the character he later claimed was fictional, and Mitchell took that title, fleshing out the bones of the fable for his self-starring play.

Mitchell’s show begins with Linden yawning, wiping the sleep from his eyes, then settling down to a shave with a straight razor. Suddenly he notices the audience. He appears unsure as to whether or not we are figments of his imagination, but addresses us anyway, regaling us with a portion of his life’s story in a mostly rhetorical and rambling fashion. A lightly sketched portrait of a smart-mouthed opportunist eventually emerges, amidst shaggy dog digressions and bouts of bellowed antagonism towards the pesky local kids. One such interruption brings a soccer ball to his door, which prompts a bit of fancy footwork that then segues into a vivid yet random story about a memorable soccer moment our central character once observed.

Unfortunately, there’s a layer of extreme staginess to this play, as well as in Mitchell’s performance, to the extent that the whole piece feels shrouded by a fog of phoniness. There’s Mitchell as Linden “suddenly” noticing the audience’s presence. Mitchell pretends to shave, but only actually shaves his neck; his beard remains. Linden irons a shirt and dresses for Sunday church, but the shirt is already pressed and the iron is cold. On the numerous occasions that Linden becomes distracted and annoyed by the neighborhood kids at his door, Mitchell never actually hears or registers their presence, he simply reacts. Perhaps they are also figments of Linden’s imagination, yet the soccer ball is real. Mitchell has altered Van Morrison’s celebration of “an Irish American living in San Francisco” to give his character Scottish origins, to suit Mitchell’s nostalgia for his own lineage. Clever lines such as “I am the Boo Radley of Arklow,” ring hollow; Boo Radley didn’t attend church every Sunday.

Despite his mannerisms, Mitchell gives an entertaining performance and the story itself, while scattered, is vividly told. Interestingly, as Linden’s demeanor becomes increasingly unhinged, we begin to doubt his reliability as a narrator. The character also sips from a whisky glass for the entire show and, early on, offers to share his Glenlivet with anyone who wants some. So yeah, say ‘yes’ to the whisky. It’s damn fine.—Pauline Adamek

Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights and Interarts, Inc. at Theatre Asylum, 6320 Santa Monica Blvd., https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/1589

Sex, Lies, and Social Media

Theatre Asylum
Through June 29

A mostly dull collection featuring corny humor, Sex, Lies, and Social Media is a loosely connected evening of five 10-minute short plays by different writers; Dan Berkowitz, Ron Burch, Elin Hampton, Lorin Howard and Mary Steelsmith. Live tweeting is encouraged between each play by the evening’s sultry hostess, Mariah Bonner, who introduces each play and appears as a succubus in the final one. These five were selected for presentation after a competition staged by the Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights (ALAP).

Common themes in each include sexual inclination, relationships and an examination of the effect of social media on daily interaction. Regrettably only two of the five have any merit.

In Mary Steelsmith’s “Happy and Gay, two drippy women, Betty (AnnaLisa Erickson) and Veronica (Steelsmith), are decorating a church hall for a pending gay wedding reception. The acting is atrocious and their nervous conversion is fake and overly cute. Additionally, the emotional payoff feels forced and unearned.

“Casey229”by Elin Hampton is funny and an improvement on the first play. After annoyingly talking around the issue, Pam (Elin Hampton) indicates she has tracked down the person whom she’s certain is conducting a cyber love affair with her husband. After confronting a portly, middle-aged shut-in named Ken (David Fury), she realizes her husband has been duped into thinking he was corresponding with a young woman. Hampton’s play maximizes the humor when we see the lengths Ken has gone to in creating his fake identity. Pam’s act of compassion by the play’s overly saccharine conclusion, however, is unconvincing.

Ron Burch’s “Rebecca’s Broken Less Than Sign Number 3” is a cute play that’s really well done; definitely the best of the bunch. Two commiserating friends, Rebecca (Diana Romo) and Megan (Oriko Ikeda), are communicating via Facebook’s messaging feed. Both are shown at their computers but we hear them speaking their writing aloud, articulating all the codes that people commonly use. Hence we hear terms such as “smiley face” and “exclamation point, exclamation point” and even “less than sign number 3” which turns into a heart symbol when entered on Facebook. The dialogue is rapid and odd, but if you’re familiar enough with this kind of coded communication on social media, you’ll soon clue in to their hilarious conversation. Producer Rose Desena directs it brilliantly, especially when an interested party, Bill (Dan Heber), interrupts their chat by popping up on Rebecca’s page.

The remaining two plays are duds. Lorin Howard’s “Uncomfortable Sex” has a young woman (Kristen Gull) arranging an in-person date for her grandmother (Joanna Miles) with hopeful suitor Marty (TJ Castronovo) via the online dating world. In “The Devil Made Me Do It”by Dan Berkowtiz, a succubus (Mariah Bonner) hopes to seduce a sleeping man (Berkowtiz), until he spoils everything by waking up.—Pauline Adamek

Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights at Theatre Asylum,   6329 Santa Monica Blvd., https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/1583

These reviews are offered via a partnership between L.A. Weekly and Stage Raw. To maximize coverage of the Hollywood Fringe Festival, the two publications are sharing reviews and funding responsibilities. Stage Raw is an Emerge Project of the Pasadena Arts Council, with other funding coming from a combination of advertising and individual donors.  For the L.A. Weekly, please visit www.laweekly.com

Gam3rs: The Play

Theatre Asylum
Closed

Courtesy: Steve Smolinski

Imagine every gamer tech-nerd stereotype and put them into a fast-paced, hour-long play. The only thing missing from Brian Archer’s one-man show Gam3rs (co-written with Walter G. Meyer) is Doritos.

Steve, an MIT drop-out tech support guy, sits in his cubicle surrounded by Buffy, comic book heroes, action figures and bottles of Mountain dew, answering inane calls as he’s trying to lead an army of 10,000 in the largest MMORPG (that’s a massive multiplayer online role-playing game for the uninitiated) raid against the Elvin region who have taken their relic. You guys, he’s about to make gaming history but no one understands – his daft co-worker Bob, the overbearing boss Ms. Krakower, his mom who keeps pestering him to re-apply to MIT, and his girlfriend Jenny (who surprises him for their two-year anniversary – but hey, at least he has a girlfriend).

Steve’s genius plan for the World of Warcraft-esque game is to launch a surprise attack on a Tuesday afternoon when all the elves (that is, players) would be at work or at school, however his demanding boss wouldn’t let him take the day off. Thus he juggles between customer calls (like explaining to customers what the CD/DVD drive is), calls to fellow gamers on his cell, make excuses to Ms. Krakower and throw together/steal an anniversary present all while leading his army of knights, gnomes, and dwarves into battle.

Archer manages to take all the negative stereotypes of an obsessive gamer more concerned with his online persona than his actual real life and turn them into an endearing performance. Because this raid is so important to him, we can’t help but laugh at the constant real-life interruptions he must surpass in order to prevail. The script packs in so many gamer, tech, comic book, web, and fandom references ranging from typical MMORPG fare to South Park, Star Trek, and even Shakespeare that anyone is bound to get at least one reference. However, this show is definitely geared towards a niche audience. If you’ve ever play World of Warcraft or any other MMORPG then you’ll definitely appreciate this show. If the name Leeroy Jenkins means nothing to you, then most jokes may go over your head. –Ashley Steed

 Theatre Asylum, 6320 Santa Monica Blvd., https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/1921

Simon Coronel: Glitches In Reality

Theatre Asylum
Closed

RECOMMENDED:

Australian illusionist Simon Coronel had a dream where he was given an Escher impossible cube and reveled in the sensation of holding something impossible; thus his aim is to create something impossible for us to behold.

He says there are different types of reactions when it comes to magic: those who try to figure it out, and those who want to be amazed. Pulling someone on stage from the “amazed” category, he shows the rest of us how he does a simple “is this your card?” trick. Even in the breaking down of the trick, the simplicity and execution of it is still amazing, as is the skill required to pull it off.

There’s a variety of elements to the performance – simple sleight-of-hand-tricks, jokes, stories, an act done in Mandarin and even a website trick where he has us pull out our smartphones for a “holy crap” moment. Coronel is an understated performer – his unassuming charisma is exactly what makes him so engaging as a performer and illusionist. This cerebral show makes us rethink the art of illusion while simultaneously keeping us in awe.

Although he removes the overdone spectacle of magic, it is apparent he’s going for a softer, yet still theatrical approach. If he truly wants to create glitches in reality, this area still needs more nuanced work. The transitions need more fluidity, as the lights down/lights up between sets are slightly awkward and slow things down. The various acts, however, piece together nicely, showcasing not only his theme of the seemingly impossible but also his range as a performer.

Coronel’s strengths (next to his sleight-of-hand) are his wit and controlled demeanor. He shows us that magic isn’t about trickery – it is about skill, control and execution. Whether you’re the type to be amazed or the type trying to figure out the illusion, you’ll find Simon Coronel a refreshingly entertaining and gripping magician to watch.—Ashley Steed

Theatre Asylum, 6320 Santa Monica Blvd., https://hff14.org/1914

These reviews are offered via a partnership between L.A. Weekly and Stage Raw. To maximize coverage of the Hollywood Fringe Festival, the two publications are sharing reviews and funding responsibilities. Stage Raw is an Emerge Project of the Pasadena Arts Council, with other funding coming from a combination of advertising and individual donors.  For the L.A. Weekly, please visit www.laweekly.com

The Abridged History of Modern Day India

The Complex
Through June 22

Courtesy: Stray Factory

This freewheeling 45-minute journey through over 400 years of Indian history feels a bit like a college improv show. There’s a manic energy to the performers, Mohit Gautam and Naren Weiss (who also wrote the show), as they alternate between winking cheekiness and an earnest desire to educate and break stereotypes. In recounting India’s history since the advent of British rule, they employ a literal timeline of placards, each turned over in sequence to reveal the date of a major event in the country’s history. The two also employ a host of creative props and costume elements, which are scattered seemingly haphazardly about the stage. It’s not tidy, and things seem chaotic, but somehow everything winds up where it needs to be . . . just as in India.

Charming as performers, Gautam and Weiss frequently break the fourth wall, co-opting audience volunteers to aid in sketches, and providing cookies and beer to those who answer correctly during a recap quiz late in the show. The characters they create, however, are not fully developed enough for the comedy to consistently land, and transitions between bits could use polishing. Still, it’s an amusing way to gain a little knowledge of India’s rich and often underpublicized history.—Mayank Keshaviah

Stray Factory at The Complex, 6476 Santa Monica Blvd., www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/1650

Toddler Bangs America

Schkapf
Through June 27

Courtesy Ed Goodman

If a corporation were actually a person (much as that may not be a stretch these days), it might resemble the title character of Ed Goodman’s outlandish satire of corporate influence in America. Playing Toddler Bangs, Goodman struts around in his suit and combat boots, sporting a red, white, and blue tie while wreaking havoc with a spray can of whipped cream. He freely and sexually dispenses his “Bangoo” into the mouths of anyone who might oppose or question him. That includes our “everywoman” Amy Erika (Cj Merriman), environmental activist Buddy Green (Robbie Winston), The Judge (Brendan Broms) in the case against Toddler’s oil company, and Jinx Bladow (David Mayes), the slick lawyer hired to prosecute the oil company.

While the premise of the show, which was developed through Sacred Fools’ competition Serial Killers, is timely and on point, the execution of it remains rough and seemingly unfinished. The allegories are a bit too obvious, and even if Brechtian alienation is the intent, the overall narrative and connective tissue between scenes need strengthening. The cast, especially Goodman and Merriman, energetically attacks the material, and director Jeremy Aldridge’s use of audience volunteers to play secondary roles is thematically clever. However, with a stronger storyline, Toddler might actually bang.—Mayank Keshaviah

Schkapf, 6567-6585 Santa Monica Blvd., www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/1762

These reviews are offered via a partnership between L.A. Weekly and Stage Raw. To maximize coverage of the Hollywood Fringe Festival, the two publications are sharing reviews and funding responsibilities. Stage Raw is an Emerge Project of the Pasadena Arts Council, with other funding coming from a combination of advertising and individual donors.  For the L.A. Weekly, please visit www.laweekly.com

Vengeance Can Wait

Underground Theatre
Through June 29

Photo by Yukari Black

One doesn’t need a degree in Japanese studies to recognize the absurdities at work in Tokyo playwright Yukiko Motoya’s 2000 comic probing of one of the darker cultural polarities of Japan’s national psyche. A passing acquaintance with the films of Ozu, Kurosawa or Oshima, or some of the more transgressive strains of contemporary manga will do.

On the one hand, there is the uniquely Japanese horror at giving offense; on the other, a near-sadistic capacity for bullying. Together they help to explain both the estimably high level of civility as well as some of the more extreme unpleasantness of the Shōwa period. In Motoya’s dysfunctional romance, they produce a comic powder keg.

When he isn’t working his day job as a state executioner (like the U.S., Japan remains a proud member of that dubious club of nations), dour and taciturn Hidenori Yamana (a hilariously spot-on Joseph Lee) returns to the cramped apartment he shares with his exasperatingly hairsplitting and servile roommate Nanase Ogawa (the fine Shiori Ideta).

Though they sleep in the same room, albeit in separate bunks, and Nanase calls him “daddy,” the two are related only in the sense of both surviving the same car accident when they were children that claimed their respective families. Since then, they have been bound together by Hidenori’s vow to enact a terrible revenge on Nanase over the accident — and her eagerness to accept the retribution in order to please him — regardless of the fact that neither can even recall the alleged offense.

Subplots involving Nanase’s attempts to learn joke-telling and the cockeyed romantic complications introduced by Hidenori’s sexual-provocateur coworker (Takumi Bansho) and Nanase’s brassy and intolerant comedy partner (Yukiyo Komura) help ramp up the uneasy laughs — whose quotient should improve as director Yukari Black’s tentative staging finds its timing in performance.—Bill Raden

Underground Theater, 1312-1314 N. Wilton Place, Hlywd.; through June 29. https://www.Hollywoodfringe.org/projects/1725

Seven Seductions of Taylor Swift

Cupcake Theatre
Through June 29

Courtesy Thaddeus Shafer

Though the elderly are loathe to admit it, certain cultural phenomena exist as undeniable and indelible generational markers — conceptual divides as impossible to cross as they are to fathom by the aged. Above-the-neck fashion tattoos are one. Below-the-crotch low riding pants are another.

And then there are millennial pop sensations the likes of saccharine-sweet crossover country artist Taylor Swift.

Speaking for myself — a pre-Millennial former grunge-rocker — prior to seeing Thaddeus Shafer’s warm-hearted, one-man send-up of Swift’s tabloid-plastered, celebrity-saturated love life, neither the tween idol nor her vast output of insidiously bouncy and hook-happy bubblegum mega-hits were familiar beyond having once listened to Walk Off the Earth’s witty a cappella cover of “I Knew You Were Trouble” on YouTube. (I don’t get out much, okay?)

But solid satire has never demanded a priori experience for laughs, and writers Caitlin Bower, Nadia Vazquez, Joanna Horowitz, Joanna Bateman, Kit Steinkellner and Kari Lee manage to make their points in director Amin El Gamal’s sturdy staging without unduly stretching any frontiers of sketch comedy.

For anyone who’s seen Shafer soar in sterling studio revivals of Caryl Churchill and Paula Vogel mounted by L.A.’s Illyrian Players, however, the actor’s antic impersonations of the seven Swiftian ex-heartthrobs — Joe Jonas, Taylor Lautner, John Mayer, Corey Monteith, Jake Gyllenhaal, Connor Kennedy and Harry Styles — simply pale beside his more deeply rooted engagement with language and character offered by Illyrian’s platinum roster of high-performance playwrights.

Which is to say that when one is accustomed to seeing Shafer riding racehorses, it can be disconcerting to suddenly see him saddled on a milk-wagon plug, even for laughs. Not that the concept of a tongue-in-cheek Swift portrait constructed solely out of portrayals of the callow, TMZ-grade boyfriends doesn’t have merit, just that in order to run, a thoroughbred of Shafer’s caliber requires material not so literal-minded in the turns, and with far less interstitial furniture rearranging on the track.—Bill raden

Cupcake Theater, 6520 Hollywood Blvd., Hlywd.; through June 29. https://www.Hollywoodfringe.org/projects/1878

These reviews are offered via a partnership between L.A. Weekly and Stage Raw. To maximize coverage of the Hollywood Fringe Festival, the two publications are sharing reviews and funding responsibilities. Stage Raw is an Emerge Project of the Pasadena Arts Council, with other funding coming from a combination of advertising and individual donors.  For the L.A. Weekly, please visit www.laweekly.com

The Wake

Theatre Asylum
Through June 28

RECOMMENDED:

In Ben Moroski’s mesmerizing solo show, it’s not so much the story he spins as the manner in which he spins it that grips your attention. Moroski’s mercurial narrator Peter is a novice actor, whose workshop performance under the tutelage of a therapeutic instructor recounts an ego-shattering breakup with a woman he adored and depended on. Peter’s pretense of a “scripted” delivery is soon discarded, however, as — his urge to confide aroused — he begins to tell us about his background: He’s a kid from a small town who arrived in the big city looking for where life really happens, only to find that beneath the glitter it’s all pretty much the same.

Alternately funny and painful, his narrative takes a stygian turn when he spots a beautiful woman on a disco dance floor; later he finds her prostrate beside his car and takes her home, falling just as desperately in love with this cryptic creature as the love object who preceded her – but with a twist. Notwithstanding its clever central conceit, Moroski’s themes – unrequited love and the search for a world stage bigger and better than the one we’re born into – are common enough. What’s uncommon is the raw and riveting texture of his performance: the exacting physicality he uses to express hurt, disappointment, desolation and love, under Nick Massouh’s direction. It’s rare to see such vulnerability portrayed by a male artist in so unguarded and accomplished a way. It’s a coup.—Deborah Klugman

Feelthelove at Theatre Asylum, 6320 Santa Monica Blvd., https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/1637

This review is offered via a partnership between L.A. Weekly and Stage Raw. To maximize coverage of the Hollywood Fringe Festival, the two publications are sharing reviews and funding responsibilities. Stage Raw is an Emerge Project of the Pasadena Arts Council, with other funding coming from a combination of advertising and individual donors.  For the L.A. Weekly, please visit www.laweekly.com

Death by Powerpoint

Actors Company

Through June 29

RECOMMENDED:

There are no actual deaths in this sly and clever satire by playwright-director James F. Robinson, but one character experiences near-death.

Four motivational speakers are finalists in the National Global Influencers contest. Lucy (Scarlet Bermingham) begins by telling us they’re here to destroy all our most cherished beliefs. She tells us the secret of success is to ignore depressing facts and to practice self-delusion: Just tell yourself, “You are freakin’ Awesome.” Mark (Eric Pierce) assures us that the way to achieve the Inevitability of Cosmic Bliss is to concentrate on the pushed-in face of an endearing pug-dog. Joan (Emilly Thomas) is so distracted by her chocolate addiction that she loses track of her message, crying out, “My free will was roofied and raped by a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.” Matthew insists that we are less concerned with the crimes of Stalin and Hitler than with getting laid, and direct action is futile, since all real change occurs sideways. He then goes on to perform a bit of grand-standing, to impress the contest judges, that nearly does him in. The script is scatter-shot but funny, and the actors are sharp and stylish.—Neal Weaver

ZapPictures at Actors Company, 916 N. Formosa Ave., https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/1624

Into the Fog

Schkapf

Through June 27

This enigmatic, abstract movement piece, directed by Sam Szabo and Samantha Shay, was, we’re told, inspired by the Soviet animated short Hedgehog in the Fog, but for those who don’t know the film, that’s hardly enlightening. We can only judge it by what happens on the stage: seven barefoot, unidentified actors (two males and five females) appear from the semi-darkness wearing coats. To a dense musical accompaniment, they move downstage in slow motion, shed their coats and drop them off the stage. They seem to have ambiguous feelings about books, first seeming to cherish them. Then it seems the books are moaning and crying out in pain. Later one of the women becomes destructive, ripping out pages from a book, and flinging them aside till the stage is engulfed by a paper storm.

There are many striking images, as the performers toss powder in the air, brandish illuminated branches and are enveloped by an enormous parachute as one of the men attempts to restrain the destroying woman. There is much anger, with stamping feet and beating on the walls, as the intense and dedicated cast performs its actions.

The friendly and highly vociferous audience thundered its approval.—Neal Weaver

Source Materials in Association with Schkapf, 6567 Santa Monica Blvd., https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/1880

These reviews are offered via a partnership between L.A. Weekly and Stage Raw. To maximize coverage of the Hollywood Fringe Festival, the two publications are sharing reviews and funding responsibilities. Stage Raw is an Emerge Project of the Pasadena Arts Council, with other funding coming from a combination of advertising and individual donors.  For the L.A. Weekly, please visit www.laweekly.com