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Paul Birchall’s Got It Covered:

This Week’s Roundup: Rogue Machine Moves to East Hollywood; Sheldon Epps Steps Down; Diane Rodriguez Appointed to the National Arts Council; Justin Tanner Says Reefer No Longer a Laughing Matter

By Paul Birchall

Rogue to Met

Theatre/Theater (photo courtesy of Rogue Machine)

By now, you will have heard about the plans to move Rogue Machine Theater to new digs — essentially transferring the troupe from their home on Pico, across from Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles (I’m sorry, one of my quirks is that I always think of theater companies in terms of restaurants that are within walking distance) to their “new” space on the top floor of the MET at Oxford Street and Santa Monica Blvd. 

It is funny to think of all the companies that have shambled through that space and then moved on, from the odd little company started by Holly Hunter and friends back in the early 90s, to the showcase-y spot where a casting director staged a large set of HBO one-acts to, more recently, DOMA, which has been producing musicals there since 2011.

In his interview with Julio Martinez for LA Stage Insider Rogue Machine artistic director John Flynn framed the move as an idyll en route to an even more promising venue now being readied at the old Angstrom Lighting building on Cahuenga.  According to Martinez’s report, Flynn was approached by Open Fist board member Richard Polak who, having purchased the Angstrom building, offered Rogue Machine the opportunity to rent the space in a year’s time, when its multimedia renovation would be ready for use.  

Flynn explains that they were hoping to remain at the old Pico Theatre/Theater building for the year, but the owners raised the rent to the point where it just made sense to move out early.  “By the end of the year, even with the rentals, we realized the amount we were paying for rent was just too much for us to be able to make work,” Flynn notes. 

Yes, it is the same old story of rising rent causing the exodus of a theater company — except it isn’t quite the same, as Rogue already had been making plans to move on and up to Theater Row.  So when MET owner Paul Koslo approached Flynn and offered him a year’s lease at a substantially lower rent, it allowed the company to create an “interim” season before moving to the space on Cahuenga. 

“The price is affordable, about half of what we would have had to pay at our current location, since the Pico landlord had intended to raise the rent again this year. Koslo is only renting us the large space upstairs at the MET. We’ll have to size down a little in terms of our normal production over the year. It seemed like the right thing to do. I would rather be producing than not producing,” says Flynn

And almost as an act of staking their territory, on Friday night the company held a one-night reading of Christian Levantino’s play “King Dick,” about the meeting between Richard Nixon and Elvis Presley. 

Once the theater company has sat on the furniture, you might say, it’s theirs.

Meanwhile, in news that is sad if not absolutely unexpected, Jeff Murray and Nicolette Chaffey, the producers of Theatre/Theater and the prime tenants at the former Rogue Theater space on Pico, have decided to call it quits. In a farewell letter posted on Big Cheap Theatre and now circulated widely, Murray writes, “We thank EVERYONE (and especially you) for the past three and a half decades of support! How LA is that?” Murray went on to celebrate “the most extraordinary parade of individuals, projects, audience members, hustlers, and artists’ launched “from our well-trod boards” over the last 34 years.

I was also curious about what was going on with DOMA, which is no longer housed at the MET, so I reached out to the company for a comment. Lucy Pollak, their press rep, replied that DOMA’s lease had expired and they’d decided not to renew it.  “They are currently exploring options to open the next show in a space that is better suited for the kind of work they do.” 

So, in the year ahead, we will see Rogue Machine taking over the MET while Sacred Fools moves into the Elephant.  We will be following not just the heroes who are evolving to bigger and better places, but also those who are withering on the vine.

Sheldon Epps Out

Sheldon Epps (photo courtesy Pasadena Playhouse)

The year is starting with a big shakeup at the Pasadena Playhouse, with Sheldon Epps leaving his position as artistic director after having been at the theater for 20 years. 

A Los Angeles Times story last Thursday lauded Epps’ two-decade tenure at the theater and accomplishments that included literally turning the institution’s finances around with agile fundraising and major outreach to craft more diverse audiences.  Epps, who will become “Artistic Director Emeritus,” was instrumental in the creation of several productions that went on to major Broadway fame, including “Sister Act The Musical,” “A Night With Janis Joplin” and ”Baby It’s You.” He can also be credited for the Equity upgrade of some local shows, including Stoneface, reprised at the Playhouse as recently as last year. 

According to Playhouse chairman David DiChristafero, “When he first got here, the theater was coming out of a dark period, and he’s done an amazing job and taken the theater to heights of success that we couldn’t have imagined.”

In a press release announcing the departure, Epps cited his accomplishments in transforming the makeup of the Pasadena Playhouse audience. “I am especially proud of our success in the area of audience diversity, as well as diversity on stage. Our efforts have become a model for addressing these important issues for our field,” he says. 

The Times article also hinted that the front runner candidates to succeed Epps include current associate artistic director Seema Sueko, though DiCristofaro notes, “We’ll be happy to talk to any and all folks qualified and interested, and certainly Seema would be considered that if she applies.”

As for Epps, he’s a little cagey about what is next.  “I think I have an interesting book in me,” he says in the Times article.  “Perhaps about my experiences in the worlds of theater and television — and some interesting things to say as a black man in America who has had success in those fields and also faced significant challenges. I also love teaching, and then whatever else is around the corner.

Ms. Rodriguez Goes to Washington

Center Theater Group’s Diane Rodriguez (photo courtesy of CTG)

The Center Theater Group has announced that CTG’s associate artistic director Diane Rodriguez has been appointed to the National Council on the Arts, which is the advisory body to the National Endowment for the Arts. 

Rodriguez is a longtime mainstay of the Los Angeles creative scene, and she produces for all the Center Theater Group stages, including the Taper and the Kirk Douglas.  She also served for some time as the director of the Latino Theater Initiative which, along with several other parallel diverse subsets of the Taper Too organization, were folded up a few years back, to much consternation. I have reviewed her shows on several occasions over the years — from her charming and rather melancholy Christmas tale “La Posada Magica,” to Erik Patterson’s incredibly moving “Sick.” 

In her new position, Rodriguez will be on the committee that evaluates grant applications, agency budget levels, and policy recommendations.  She was appointed by President Obama and approved by Congress, making her one of the most important people I’ve ever sat across from at the theater, — even though, as I recall, she sort of glared at me. (I really did not like some of her Taper Too shows very much, so I can understand that.).

Justin Swears Off the Pot, Mom

Justin Tanner (photo by Bill Raden)

The New Year began with a rather startling admission by one of Los Angeles’s finest residing playwrights, Justin Tanner, which he made a few days ago on his Facebook page. I reached out to Tanner, who graciously agreed to allow me to quote him, so I am not invading his privacy or speaking out of school.

Tanner reveals that for the past 20 years, many of his plays were written under the influence of marijuana.  “It didn’t used to be that way.  When I wrote my first plays (from 1987 to 1994), I understood the need to be clearheaded while writing. That’s why my early work has a light, flowing stream-of-consciousness feel,” Tanner explains.

“Then, in 1994, I wrote Pot Mom, and I figured since pretty much everyone in the play was stoned, it would help the writing if the writer was stoned as well. And when that play turned into my biggest hit ever, I thought, what the hell, maybe the marijuana had actually helped me write that play. And with one exception (Heartbreak Help in 1996) I have been using dope as a tool (or to be honest, a crutch) ever since.”

Tanner feels his writing during this period was “choppier, jokier, less human” than any of his earlier efforts.  “I still wrote decent enough plays, but they never achieved the kind of lift off that my earlier work did.” In a gradual self analysis, Tanner came to some arresting conclusions: “I began to ask myself: If I hate writing so much that I have to get myself obliterated in order to do it, then why the hell am I writing?” 

And then, after a computer snafu obliterated the first scenes of a play that he had been laboring over, inspiring him to rewrite them on an old school typewriter stored for years in his basement, Tanner discovered that the process of writing was flowing better.  “Three hours and twenty pages later, I had finished the first scene. For the first time since 1996 I had actually worked on a play in a totally sober, clearheaded state of mind. And the writing was good. Flawed, overwritten at places, off-point occasionally, sometimes totally inappropriate for the piece. But I didn’t stop to change or correct anything. I simply kept moving. And since then I’ve written every day. Never looking back, only looking forward to the finished product,” writes Tanner. 

Tanner is one of our most talented and important writers, and I think it’s fair to say that, among our local authors, he is almost irreplaceable as a craftsman of the “LA Voice.”  His happiness over his rebirthed creativity — even while using an ancient Smith Corona typewriter of the sort that’s so ancient even libraries don’t carry them anymore — is a wonderful thing.

The discussion made me think a bit about the counter-social skills that are often thought necessary for the creation of art.  Does the road of excess truly lead to the palace of wisdom, or does it just drop to rock bottom?  I’ve heard both sides, but I firmly come down on the side of keeping oneself healthy and happy so you can write the sequel to whatever it is you’re working on.  That said, I have to drink about four double shot cappuccinos before I write anything myself.