{"id":876,"date":"2023-06-11T23:37:26","date_gmt":"2023-06-11T23:37:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stageraw.com\/remake\/?p=876"},"modified":"2023-06-12T00:32:07","modified_gmt":"2023-06-12T00:32:07","slug":"caligaris-cabinet-of-curiosities-workshopping-new-theater-with-youth-in-the-age-of-ab5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stageraw.com\/remake\/caligaris-cabinet-of-curiosities-workshopping-new-theater-with-youth-in-the-age-of-ab5\/","title":{"rendered":"Workshopping New Theater with Youth in the Age of AB5"},"content":{"rendered":"[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overflow=”visible” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” column_element_direction_desktop=”default” column_element_spacing=”default” desktop_text_alignment=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_backdrop_filter=”none” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” column_position=”default” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1\/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” animation_type=”default” bg_image_animation=”none” border_type=”simple” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]\n

Caligari\u2019s Cabinet of Curiosities: Workshopping New Theater with Youth in the Age of AB5<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

by Socks Whitmore and Steven Leigh Morris<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ram\u00f3n C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Through March 19<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][image_with_animation image_url=”880″ image_size=”full” animation_type=”entrance” animation=”None” animation_movement_type=”transform_y” hover_animation=”none” alignment=”” border_radius=”none” box_shadow=”none” image_loading=”default” max_width=”100%” max_width_mobile=”default”][vc_column_text]\n

So why would Stewart opt to entrust her new script\u2019s first staging to such an under-experienced group? The answer can be boiled down to three characters: AB5.<\/em><\/h4>\n

It\u2019s not often that Stage Raw is invited to a high school production, but that\u2019s precisely what happened on the opening weekend of\u00a0Caligari\u2019s Cabinet of Curiosities<\/em>, a new jukebox musical that had its workshop premiere at the Ram\u00f3n C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts (unofficially known as VAPA by its students). Inspired by the infamous 1920 silent film\u00a0The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari<\/em>, the full-length show tells the story of the \u201cmayhem, murder, magic and mystery\u201d that follows a group of carnival performers struggling to survive in the back country of 1920s Louisiana, and the sinister hypnotist who turns them against each other.<\/p>\n

The show was written by the established LA musical theater writer, Vanessa Claire Stewart, who is no stranger to musicals of her own making. In 2008, she premiered her\u00a0Louis & Keely: Live at the Sahara<\/em>, at Sacred Fools Theatre Company on a $7,500 budget under the stage actors\u2019 union\u2019s Los Angeles 99-Seat Plan. With the same actors (herself and Jake Broker, plus a five-piece band), the show transferred to the Geffen Playhouse with union contracts, and then played in Chicago. Four years later, Stewart\u2019s play\u00a0Stoneface<\/em>\u00a0was also birthed under the 99-Seat Theatre Plan, and transferred to the Pasadena Playhouse, with union contracts. (Her next musical to be workshopped,\u00a0Deadly<\/em>, ended its premiere run at Sacred Fools just months before the COVID-19 pandemic forced theaters to close their doors and transformed the show\u2019s subsequent phase of development into a digital experiment at Webster Conservatory.)<\/p>\n

Now live theater is back, and with professional level set design, choreography, and a concert hall boasting 927 seats for its enthusiastic audience, this workshop production of\u00a0Caligari<\/em>\u00a0(directed and designed by veteran designer Joel Daavid) is far from the typical workshop\u00a0or<\/em>\u00a0high school theater experience. But the educational environment is not entirely unnoticeable; the process of admitting guests is cumbersome and heavily delays the start time, some roles have been gender-swapped in order to accommodate the lack of lower voices in the school\u2019s population, and the supporting ensemble of singer-dancers (in typical high school fashion) is where the weaker performers have been shoehorned\u2014a significant issue for a show like\u00a0Caligari<\/em>\u00a0that is heavily built on ensemble vocals and choreography. Because VAPA students are admitted via a lottery process, and no prior training or auditions are required to be considered, the pool of stage-ready talent available to this workshop production was clearly limited. So why would Stewart opt to entrust her new script\u2019s first staging to such an under-experienced group? The answer can be boiled down to three characters: AB5.[\/vc_column_text][image_with_animation image_url=”882″ image_size=”full” animation_type=”entrance” animation=”None” animation_movement_type=”transform_y” hover_animation=”none” alignment=”” border_radius=”none” box_shadow=”none” image_loading=”default” max_width=”100%” max_width_mobile=”default”][vc_column_text]\n

Assembly Bill 5 concerns the classification and re-classification of workers across the state, and it\u2019s unlikely that Gonzalez was even considering her bill\u2019s impact on non-profit arts organizations.<\/strong><\/em><\/h4>\n

AB5 is the moniker for California State Assembly Bill 5, which went into effect on January 1, 2020. The legislation was authored by Assemblyperson Lorena Gonzalez (who has since left the Assembly to work for the American Federation of Labor). Though the rideshare industry, spearheaded by the multibillion dollar companies Uber and Lyft, was not named in the draft legislation, the companies were clearly among its targets. California\u2019s State Attorney General filed a lawsuit against the companies in 2020 within months of a company\u2019s breach of new legislation, an uncharacteristically fast and proactive move for State and local government authorities, and a fair indicator of how the rideshare industry was in the State\u2019s rifle-scope. The case was never adjudicated because Uber and Lyft responded with a $90 million referendum on the November, 2020 ballot, asking Californians for an exemption from the legislation. A majority of voters took their side and the State was compelled to back off.<\/p>\n

What does any of this have to do with developing a musical in a high school? Assembly Bill 5 concerns the classification and re-classification of workers across the state, and it\u2019s unlikely that Gonzalez was even considering her bill\u2019s impact on non-profit arts organizations. Until AB5\u2019s implementation, that classification was made by hiring entities according to a murky 11-point\u00a0\u00a0Borello Test<\/a>\u00a0that determined whether a worker was an \u201cemployee\u201d or an \u201cindependent contractor.\u201d If actors\u2019 work met the majority of these points, the producer could legitimately classify them as \u201cvolunteers\u201d or \u201cindependent contractors.\u201d This is how producers classified all actors working in theaters of 99-seats or fewer from 1972 to 2016 (until the union, Actors\u2019 Equity Association, dissolved its Los Angeles 99-Seat Theatre Plan); and\u00a0all\u00a0<\/em>actors in those same theaters from 1972 to 2020 (until California dissolved the Borello test, replacing it with a streamlined \u201cABC\u201d test in accordance with the new Assembly Bill 5).<\/p>\n

The general idea, even under the Borello Test, was that actors working in larger theaters were under contract and therefore responsible for showing up on time to rehearsals and performances. They were and remain unambiguously \u201cemployees,\u201d and their employers are therefore subject to federal, state, and local minimum wage laws, taxes, unemployment insurance, etc.<\/p>\n

But in theaters of 99-seats-or-less, in harmony with the Union\u2019s Equity Waiver Code (1972-1989) and then its replacement, the Los Angeles 99-Seat Theatre Plan (1989-2016), actors, as volunteers or independent contractors were\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0under contract and, in theory, had the liberty to attend or not attend rehearsals or performances according to their own availability. They could also, in theory, leave a production at any time for any reason.<\/p>\n

It was under these Union codes and former State law that Stewart was able to present\u00a0Louis & Keely<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Stoneface \u2014<\/em>\u00a0like hundreds of other playwrights seeking to launch a new project with the aim of rare but potentially more lucrative opportunities for both the playwright and performers. Countless shows transferred from Union codes in LA to Union contracts: Deaf West\u2019s productions of\u00a0Big River<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Spring Awakening<\/em>\u00a0both transferred to Broadway; John Pollono\u2019s\u00a0Small Engine Repair\u00a0<\/em>transferred from Rogue Machine to off-Broadway; and Oliver Goldstick\u2019s\u00a0Dinah Was\u00a0<\/em>transferred from the Coast Playhouse to off-Broadway.<\/p>\n

Assembly Bill 5 has knocked out all of those opportunities by mandating that\u00a0all<\/em>\u00a0actors be classified as \u201cemployees\u201d with the consequence of small-theater producers absorbing a 30-50% spike in their annual budgets because of the attendant taxes and benefits they must now bankroll. And though venues such as The Fountain Theatre, with its $600,000 annual budget, report\u00a0that they will meet the new financial challenges, the effects of this mandate are hitting theaters with annual budgets of under $300,000 particularly hard. Playwrights\u2019 Arena and Skylight Theatre have merged, cutting productions from a combined eight per season to three. Pasadena\u2019s Boston Court used 43 actors in its four-play 2015 season. For 2022, it\u2019s using five actors for two plays. Before AB5, Sacred Fools Theater Company regularly used 40 to 50 actors for a four-five play season, but in 2022, the company\u2019s announced season has only one play with four actors thus far.<\/p>\n

Stewart says she can\u2019t afford to develop a new musical with professional actors under AB5, which is why she turned to a high school. On the one hand, the idea to use youth performers to develop new works is an innovative strategy for emerging playwrights who don\u2019t have the financial or logistic resources to pursue traditional development spaces. But when it comes to using footage of the play to shop it around, the cost of such a full-scale production doesn\u2019t make sense for the quality of the archival product, which could potentially hurt the show\u2019s chances for future opportunities. And with reduced operational capacity for small theaters due to the spike in their budgets, less spaces are available overall for the development of new work. Stewart says that she\u2019s contemplating leaving California if there isn\u2019t some legislative remedy to assist small theaters in meeting the financial burdens of AB5.<\/p>\n

(One potential remedy \u2014 the second legislative attempt to redress the effects of AB5 on California\u2019s smaller theaters \u2014 is Senate Bill 116, sponsored by Senator Anthony Portantino and endorsed by Actors\u2019 Equity Association. The bill, still in the early stages, is otherwise known as the\u00a0Equitable Payroll Fund<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

And yet, perhaps there is a silver lining: The chance to work with developing scripts is a unique opportunity for emerging thespians and their peers to gain experience in the world of new theater. There was something extraordinarily sweet about watching Stewart\u2019s sometimes macabre musical in the hands of teenagers \u2013 not only the actors but the audience, which screamed in both fear and delight with each plot twist. Perhaps these young people can help show the importance of theater to our elected representatives.<\/p>\n

CALIGARI\u2019S CABINET OF CURIOSITIES is being performed at\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Grand Arts Concert Hall, 450 N Grand Ave, Los Angeles; Thurs.-Sat., 6 pm, thru March 19.\u00a0https:\/\/www.onstage411.com\/newsite\/show\/play_info.asp?show_id=6166<\/a><\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Running time: two hours and 30 minutes with one 30-minute intermission.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Note: This article has been updated to reflect the history of producers working in LA\u2019s 99-seats-or-fewer seats , from 1972-2020, classifying actors as either \u201cvolunteers\u201d or \u201cindependent contractors,\u201d rather than just \u201cindependent contractors\u201d as originally stated.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overflow=”visible” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” column_element_direction_desktop=”default” column_element_spacing=”default” desktop_text_alignment=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_backdrop_filter=”none” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” column_position=”default” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1\/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” animation_type=”default” bg_image_animation=”none” border_type=”simple” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][image_with_animation image_url=”902″ image_size=”full” animation_type=”entrance” animation=”None” animation_movement_type=”transform_y” hover_animation=”none” alignment=”center” border_radius=”none” box_shadow=”none” image_loading=”default” max_width=”100%” max_width_mobile=”default”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overflow=”visible” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” column_element_direction_desktop=”default” column_element_spacing=”default” desktop_text_alignment=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_backdrop_filter=”none” column_shadow=”none”…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":877,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-876","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-around-town"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stageraw.com\/remake\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stageraw.com\/remake\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stageraw.com\/remake\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stageraw.com\/remake\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stageraw.com\/remake\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=876"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/stageraw.com\/remake\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":903,"href":"https:\/\/stageraw.com\/remake\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876\/revisions\/903"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stageraw.com\/remake\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stageraw.com\/remake\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stageraw.com\/remake\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stageraw.com\/remake\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}