| THEATER TIMES REVIEWS APRIL 2008 |
A Noise Within
Towne Street Theatre
South Coast Repertory
Towne Street Theatre
South Coast Repertory
Don Juan
by Moliere, directed by Michael Michetti
A Noise Within • March 22-May 24, 2008 (Opened, rev’d 3/29)
WITH Elijah Alexander, Abby Craden, JD Cullum, Apollo Dukakis, Mitch Edmonds, Sarah Green, Katrina
Mock, Issac Nippert, Kyle Nudo, Stephen Rockwell, Dale Sandlin, Libby West, and Lauren Hattaway, Dough
Newell, Matt Van Curen PRODUCTION Michael Michetti, set (Lena Garcia, associate); Rachel Myers,
costumes (Gina Rogers, associate); James P. Taylor, lights; Rachel Myles, sound; Greg Chun, music;
Kenneth R. Merckx Jr., fights; Sean T. Cawelti/Rogue Artists, puppet; Aaron Eaton, stage management
Molière is still engaging enough that his most popular plays – from ‘Tartuffe’ to ‘The
Miser’ to ‘The Misanthrope’ – are likely always in production somewhere. However,
screechingly unfunny, overwrought misinterpretations that would set the old
playwright spinning in his grave are common enough to keep him whirring like a lathe,
24/7. All the more reason why Michael Michetti’s funny yet flinty-eyed appraisal of
‘Don Juan’ (at A Noise Within through May 24) is welcome cause for playwright and
patron to stop, sit up and take notice. Assured performances by Elijah Alexander and
JD Cullum make this the rare production that lets the writer breathe again through his
words, while resisting the deadening effects of trying to over-enliven them
Michetti uses Richard Nelson’s 1979 adaptation, from his own translation, of a play written while Moliere
was struggling to get ‘Tartuffe’ past the censors. In fact, you can feel the thematic linkage with that
masterwork, like a fork pointing to ‘The Spiritual Birth of Tartuffe,’ in the passage where Don Juan rants,
“How many I know, who by this stratagem have decorously patched up the disorders of their youth, who
make themselves a buckler of the cloak of religion, and under that venerated dress are free to be the worst
men in the world.”
Despite being written during one of Moliere’s greatest creative bursts, scholars have considered ‘Don Juan’
the weakest, and worst constructed, of his hypocrisy trilogy (with ‘The School for Wives’ and ‘Tartuffe’).
Part of problem may have been his reliance on the public’s pre-existing familiarity with the story. The name
Don Juan was already well on its way to becoming a generic for Lothario when Molière adapted the 40-year-
old Spanish cautionary tale. Major and minor writers, in several European countries, had already written
versions of this folk tale of a libertine who is sent to Hell by the stone statue of the man he killed. Later, it
would fuel Mozart’s ‘Don Giovani’ and the famous third act of Shaw’ ‘Man and Superman’ among others.
But Moliere was under pressure to write fast and provide his troupe with much-needed work, and himself
with the flashy, sassy role of Sganarelle, the critical servant who comments on his boss’s every excessive
step while scurrying around to avoid the stamp of his commanding boots. Here, Michetti (in his second ANW
assignment following the equally successful ‘As You Like It’ two years back) has the wonderful JD Cullum
as Sganarelle. Cullum, like Alexander, is making his ANW debut and, following Freddy Douglas’ assignment
as Hal in ‘Henry IV,’ it’s a sign of movement in a
very good direction indeed.
Alexander is a determined, unequivocal Don, bare-chested or blouse-draped, he commands the stage
looking like Cat Stevens on steroids. He is well-supported, with particular credit to the women Libby West,
Sarah Green and Abby Craden, and to the elders Apollo Dukakis and Mitch Edmonds. It’s also another fine
showing for the versatile Stephen Rockwell. And, once more, Kenneth R. Merckx sparks earnest fisticuffs.
All of it takes place on Michetti’s own set design.
At least through May 24, Southern Californian theatergoers can honor the dead playwright, knowing he is
resting in peace, and laughing with relief.
by Moliere, directed by Michael Michetti
A Noise Within • March 22-May 24, 2008 (Opened, rev’d 3/29)
WITH Elijah Alexander, Abby Craden, JD Cullum, Apollo Dukakis, Mitch Edmonds, Sarah Green, Katrina
Mock, Issac Nippert, Kyle Nudo, Stephen Rockwell, Dale Sandlin, Libby West, and Lauren Hattaway, Dough
Newell, Matt Van Curen PRODUCTION Michael Michetti, set (Lena Garcia, associate); Rachel Myers,
costumes (Gina Rogers, associate); James P. Taylor, lights; Rachel Myles, sound; Greg Chun, music;
Kenneth R. Merckx Jr., fights; Sean T. Cawelti/Rogue Artists, puppet; Aaron Eaton, stage management
Molière is still engaging enough that his most popular plays – from ‘Tartuffe’ to ‘The
Miser’ to ‘The Misanthrope’ – are likely always in production somewhere. However,
screechingly unfunny, overwrought misinterpretations that would set the old
playwright spinning in his grave are common enough to keep him whirring like a lathe,
24/7. All the more reason why Michael Michetti’s funny yet flinty-eyed appraisal of
‘Don Juan’ (at A Noise Within through May 24) is welcome cause for playwright and
patron to stop, sit up and take notice. Assured performances by Elijah Alexander and
JD Cullum make this the rare production that lets the writer breathe again through his
words, while resisting the deadening effects of trying to over-enliven them
Michetti uses Richard Nelson’s 1979 adaptation, from his own translation, of a play written while Moliere
was struggling to get ‘Tartuffe’ past the censors. In fact, you can feel the thematic linkage with that
masterwork, like a fork pointing to ‘The Spiritual Birth of Tartuffe,’ in the passage where Don Juan rants,
“How many I know, who by this stratagem have decorously patched up the disorders of their youth, who
make themselves a buckler of the cloak of religion, and under that venerated dress are free to be the worst
men in the world.”
Despite being written during one of Moliere’s greatest creative bursts, scholars have considered ‘Don Juan’
the weakest, and worst constructed, of his hypocrisy trilogy (with ‘The School for Wives’ and ‘Tartuffe’).
Part of problem may have been his reliance on the public’s pre-existing familiarity with the story. The name
Don Juan was already well on its way to becoming a generic for Lothario when Molière adapted the 40-year-
old Spanish cautionary tale. Major and minor writers, in several European countries, had already written
versions of this folk tale of a libertine who is sent to Hell by the stone statue of the man he killed. Later, it
would fuel Mozart’s ‘Don Giovani’ and the famous third act of Shaw’ ‘Man and Superman’ among others.
But Moliere was under pressure to write fast and provide his troupe with much-needed work, and himself
with the flashy, sassy role of Sganarelle, the critical servant who comments on his boss’s every excessive
step while scurrying around to avoid the stamp of his commanding boots. Here, Michetti (in his second ANW
assignment following the equally successful ‘As You Like It’ two years back) has the wonderful JD Cullum
as Sganarelle. Cullum, like Alexander, is making his ANW debut and, following Freddy Douglas’ assignment
as Hal in ‘Henry IV,’ it’s a sign of movement in a
very good direction indeed.
Alexander is a determined, unequivocal Don, bare-chested or blouse-draped, he commands the stage
looking like Cat Stevens on steroids. He is well-supported, with particular credit to the women Libby West,
Sarah Green and Abby Craden, and to the elders Apollo Dukakis and Mitch Edmonds. It’s also another fine
showing for the versatile Stephen Rockwell. And, once more, Kenneth R. Merckx sparks earnest fisticuffs.
All of it takes place on Michetti’s own set design.
At least through May 24, Southern Californian theatergoers can honor the dead playwright, knowing he is
resting in peace, and laughing with relief.
Libby West
JD Cullum
Elijah Alexander
PHOTO CRAIG SCHWARTZ
JD Cullum
Elijah Alexander
PHOTO CRAIG SCHWARTZ
Nevi's Mountain Dew
by steve carter, directed by Nancy Cheryll Davis
Towne Street Theatre / Stella Adler Theatre • April 11-May 18, 2008 (Opened, rev’d 4/11)
WITH Freddie DeGrate (double cast with Mark V. Jones), Shon Fuller, Dan Martin (doubled cast with Sammie
Wayne IV), Michael C. Patterson, Nancy Renee, Teressa Taylor, Veronica Thompsonm PRODUCTION
Nathaniel Bellamy, production/set design (original design by Wynn Thomas); Erin McKenna, scenic design;
Nancy Renee, costumes; Sammie Wayne IV, lights; Leslie La’Raine, assistant direction; Vanja Schols, stage
management
For its 15th season, Towne Street Theatre is reviving steve carter’s [sic] ‘Nevis
Mountain Dew,’ as part of its Black Classics Series. It’s an appropriate choice. Not
only is carter a living playwright (he’ll 80 in November 2009) worthy of the study, his
play itself is about life, death and reviving those who become trapped in denial’s dead-
end. Producing/Artistic Director Nancy Cheryll Davis directs the uneven, seven-
member cast to what is ultimately a worthwhile production, thanks primarily to her
two strongest cast members, Dan Martin and Michael Craig Patterson.
carter’s world is nicely confined to one home, a two-story building owned by Everelda (Veronica
Thompson), in which her brother, Jared (Martin), is vegetating on an iron lung. Nathaniel Bellamy’s set
satisfies the challenge of compressing two floors into a level-and-a-half of stage platforms, and allows
Jared to remain both center stage and out of the playing area. The incapacitated Jared, once a vibrant and
powerful Alpha male, is married to Billie (Nancy Renee), who, understandably, seeks other avenues for
satisfying the challenge of being married to one so constricted. She is, however, conflicted, which
produces the strange relationship with Boise McCanles (Shon Fuller) that drives the play’s arc. McCanles
and his friend Lud Gaithers (Freddie DeGrate, alternating with Mark V. Jones) have arrived at the home to
deliver the new television Billie has purchased for Jared’s birthday present. Rounding out the group are
Everelda’s friend Zepora (Teressa Taylor) and her boyfriend, Ayton (Patterson).
A big appeal of ‘Nevi’s’ is the absence of white people and the enjoyment of seeing a dramatic environment
that is not reliant on racism for its backdrop. Written in the ‘80s and set in the ‘40s, that backdrop is
understood. The subtle intra-racial distinctions of African-Americans by way of slavery and those who
emigrated from the Caribbean (as carter’s own home was divided by an African-American father and
Caribbean mother), are quietly wrought. The drugs that claim Ayton’s sons are the evil. The play is about
life, loss and at what point our dedication to each becomes pointless.
Director Davis manages the tricky sightlines well, keeping the cast moving around the stationary iron lung (an
impressive piece of scenery on a theater budget, credited to Will Lidderdale’s Set Shop. However, her
decision to move a table-full of guests out in the dark during a touching Jared-Billie is unnecessary. Leaving
them motionless not only does not pull focus, it adds to the sense that the married couple are always in the
presence of others.
The other key role is that of Everelda. However, Thompson doesn’t seem to trust the material. Hers is
performance too tempted to drift into mugging and caricature. The play would have been another animal
entirely with an Everelda as grounded and nuanced as Martin and Patterson are in their roles. The other
actors are good enough, with Taylor’s Zepora a standout among. Certainly a careful and lovingly rendered
production of an interesting and rewarding play.
by steve carter, directed by Nancy Cheryll Davis
Towne Street Theatre / Stella Adler Theatre • April 11-May 18, 2008 (Opened, rev’d 4/11)
WITH Freddie DeGrate (double cast with Mark V. Jones), Shon Fuller, Dan Martin (doubled cast with Sammie
Wayne IV), Michael C. Patterson, Nancy Renee, Teressa Taylor, Veronica Thompsonm PRODUCTION
Nathaniel Bellamy, production/set design (original design by Wynn Thomas); Erin McKenna, scenic design;
Nancy Renee, costumes; Sammie Wayne IV, lights; Leslie La’Raine, assistant direction; Vanja Schols, stage
management
For its 15th season, Towne Street Theatre is reviving steve carter’s [sic] ‘Nevis
Mountain Dew,’ as part of its Black Classics Series. It’s an appropriate choice. Not
only is carter a living playwright (he’ll 80 in November 2009) worthy of the study, his
play itself is about life, death and reviving those who become trapped in denial’s dead-
end. Producing/Artistic Director Nancy Cheryll Davis directs the uneven, seven-
member cast to what is ultimately a worthwhile production, thanks primarily to her
two strongest cast members, Dan Martin and Michael Craig Patterson.
carter’s world is nicely confined to one home, a two-story building owned by Everelda (Veronica
Thompson), in which her brother, Jared (Martin), is vegetating on an iron lung. Nathaniel Bellamy’s set
satisfies the challenge of compressing two floors into a level-and-a-half of stage platforms, and allows
Jared to remain both center stage and out of the playing area. The incapacitated Jared, once a vibrant and
powerful Alpha male, is married to Billie (Nancy Renee), who, understandably, seeks other avenues for
satisfying the challenge of being married to one so constricted. She is, however, conflicted, which
produces the strange relationship with Boise McCanles (Shon Fuller) that drives the play’s arc. McCanles
and his friend Lud Gaithers (Freddie DeGrate, alternating with Mark V. Jones) have arrived at the home to
deliver the new television Billie has purchased for Jared’s birthday present. Rounding out the group are
Everelda’s friend Zepora (Teressa Taylor) and her boyfriend, Ayton (Patterson).
A big appeal of ‘Nevi’s’ is the absence of white people and the enjoyment of seeing a dramatic environment
that is not reliant on racism for its backdrop. Written in the ‘80s and set in the ‘40s, that backdrop is
understood. The subtle intra-racial distinctions of African-Americans by way of slavery and those who
emigrated from the Caribbean (as carter’s own home was divided by an African-American father and
Caribbean mother), are quietly wrought. The drugs that claim Ayton’s sons are the evil. The play is about
life, loss and at what point our dedication to each becomes pointless.
Director Davis manages the tricky sightlines well, keeping the cast moving around the stationary iron lung (an
impressive piece of scenery on a theater budget, credited to Will Lidderdale’s Set Shop. However, her
decision to move a table-full of guests out in the dark during a touching Jared-Billie is unnecessary. Leaving
them motionless not only does not pull focus, it adds to the sense that the married couple are always in the
presence of others.
The other key role is that of Everelda. However, Thompson doesn’t seem to trust the material. Hers is
performance too tempted to drift into mugging and caricature. The play would have been another animal
entirely with an Everelda as grounded and nuanced as Martin and Patterson are in their roles. The other
actors are good enough, with Taylor’s Zepora a standout among. Certainly a careful and lovingly rendered
production of an interesting and rewarding play.
Shon Fuller
Nancy Renee
Dan Martin
Nancy Renee
Dan Martin
What They Have
by Kate Robin, directed by Chris Fields World Premiere
South Coast Repertory • February 23-March 30, 2008 (Cassius Carter, Opened 3/8, rev’d 3/16)
WITH Nancy Bell, Marin Hinkle, Matt Letscher, Kevin Rahm PRODUCTION Christopher Barreca, set; Alex
Jaeger, costumes; Lap-Chi Chu, lights; Michael Roth, original music/musical direction; Isabel Bigelow, original
paintings; Jamie Tucker/Chrissy Church, stage management (Commissioned and developed by South Coast
Repertory)
Kate Robin’s ‘What They Have,’ making its world premiere on South Coast Repertory’s
larger stage as the leading edge of a seven-script new-play festival to reach full bloom
May 2-4, is a slick, superbly acted slice of contemporary narcissism that, like the most
attractively occupied couch at a cocktail party, may sizzle with ideas and insights, but
leave an eavesdropper stunned by how inwardly obsessive we have become.
Among the ‘haves’ that Robin sets her characters pursuing, attaining, rejecting and ignoring are wealth,
principles, fulfillment, hope and, with a pounding like we have not had since Lisa Loomer’s less engaging
‘Expecting Isabel,’ children. While plays by women about the ‘halving’ part of ‘having children’ are overdue,
what we have in ‘What They Have’ feels, at its heart, like the boutique relationship with children that only we
post-Pill generations could conceive. In the end, the couple that does bear a child, can’t bear the result,
while the still-barren couple seem reborn just by holding the other’s bundle.
Suzanne (Nancy Bell) and Matt (Kevin Rahm), and Connie (Marin Hinkle) and Jonas (Matt Letscher), take their
turns at pregnancy. While in the family way they proselytize like religious zealots, giddily unaware that
whatever heights of insanity they pushed their parents to are now headed their way. Those put-upon, pre-
Pill parents had children thrust on them simply for discovering sex. Most sold their freedom to pay punitive
damages for sex’s ‘you break it, you buy it’ commandment. By contrast, as representatives of the educated
contemporary middle-class, Robin's nesters have been allowed to approach it like window shoppers at a
discount jeweler.
This is not to say that their lives do not have real tragedy, enough in fact to justify the self-pity that is drawn
off as often as a frosty longneck. And, bless them, the actors under director Chris Fields’ steady hand give
Robin’s realities full-bodied dimension. Still, the persistent sense that we are in a stifling cocoon may squelch
what empathy begins to stir in the viewer.
Robin is wise and witty. Her navel-gazers reel off the chatter with as much animated invention as a modern
Shaw might. However, he’d steer them towards issues of armaments, charity, God and the Life Force.
Robin does take glancing swipes at big issues – the war, adoption as imperialism, artistic integrity – but none
are given the weight that the Oprah-promoted ‘Secret’ or the ‘Big Brother’ reality tv show get. (One
character calls ‘Big Brother’ “closer to Becket than anything I’ve seen maybe ever.”)
The ensemble has its work cut out for it making these folks as palatable as possible. Rahm, especially, must
deliver a human no-growth zone in Matt. To his credit, he rides the script as written, not adding charisma to
explain how Bell’s near-Pollyanna survies him. Letscher, as the other long-suffering dude, has more luck,
given the added latitude his Jonas exhibits.
Ultimately, however, it’s the women’s play. Bell, whose subtle comic gifts are showcased beautifully in her
final scenes, is also good as the dreamy Act I idealist who buys into the ‘Secret.’ She gets the biggest
double-casting assignment and provides definition there while keeping it simple and effective. She is less
successful with some of the heavy lifting when asked to go into the deep despair.
Hinkle, making her debut here after a couple appearances in readings, is one of the finer stage actresses
working today. Her performance, offering challenging summits that she scales easily, may be undercut by
Robin’s decision to make her the short-straw brunt of some couples humor in the opening scene. Connie’s
willingness to acquiesce to her husband’s constant over-riding may be hormonal (given that she is blissfully
pregnant), but given her professional reputation and successes, not to mention her husband’s ultimate
assessment of her, it’s unlikely she is so consistently yielding.
Act One drops several one-liners we hope will broaden into plotlines. But, by intermission – introduced by
one of Fields’ nicer touches, a beautifully drawn visual following Rahm’s sensitive performance of James
Taylor’s ‘Lo and Behold’ – it’s pretty clear this is going to remain a ‘talkie.’ Fields uses the turntable, eerily
evocative of the hamster-wheel cycling that the plot often gets stuck on, to advantage throughout this piece.
Fields gets great work his company. Rather than trying to hide the play’s few double-casting requirements,
he draws attention to them in a nice, and appreciated, twist.
Despite the stasis, this is an entertaining exposure to a talented writer. The ideas, while not particularly
new, are well scoured. With the kind of all-star cast that made ‘Four Dogs and a Bone’ a sensation, a
quartet of marquee actors could probably make this an off-Broadway must-see. It would solve the problem
of audiences not having enough character to care for, by allowing them to overlay celebrities onto the four.
Robin will need to hurry, however. Given the prevalence of cultural references like ‘Big Brother,’ the Bush
administration, etc., what ‘What They Have’ may not have is shelf-life.
by Kate Robin, directed by Chris Fields World Premiere
South Coast Repertory • February 23-March 30, 2008 (Cassius Carter, Opened 3/8, rev’d 3/16)
WITH Nancy Bell, Marin Hinkle, Matt Letscher, Kevin Rahm PRODUCTION Christopher Barreca, set; Alex
Jaeger, costumes; Lap-Chi Chu, lights; Michael Roth, original music/musical direction; Isabel Bigelow, original
paintings; Jamie Tucker/Chrissy Church, stage management (Commissioned and developed by South Coast
Repertory)
Kate Robin’s ‘What They Have,’ making its world premiere on South Coast Repertory’s
larger stage as the leading edge of a seven-script new-play festival to reach full bloom
May 2-4, is a slick, superbly acted slice of contemporary narcissism that, like the most
attractively occupied couch at a cocktail party, may sizzle with ideas and insights, but
leave an eavesdropper stunned by how inwardly obsessive we have become.
Among the ‘haves’ that Robin sets her characters pursuing, attaining, rejecting and ignoring are wealth,
principles, fulfillment, hope and, with a pounding like we have not had since Lisa Loomer’s less engaging
‘Expecting Isabel,’ children. While plays by women about the ‘halving’ part of ‘having children’ are overdue,
what we have in ‘What They Have’ feels, at its heart, like the boutique relationship with children that only we
post-Pill generations could conceive. In the end, the couple that does bear a child, can’t bear the result,
while the still-barren couple seem reborn just by holding the other’s bundle.
Suzanne (Nancy Bell) and Matt (Kevin Rahm), and Connie (Marin Hinkle) and Jonas (Matt Letscher), take their
turns at pregnancy. While in the family way they proselytize like religious zealots, giddily unaware that
whatever heights of insanity they pushed their parents to are now headed their way. Those put-upon, pre-
Pill parents had children thrust on them simply for discovering sex. Most sold their freedom to pay punitive
damages for sex’s ‘you break it, you buy it’ commandment. By contrast, as representatives of the educated
contemporary middle-class, Robin's nesters have been allowed to approach it like window shoppers at a
discount jeweler.
This is not to say that their lives do not have real tragedy, enough in fact to justify the self-pity that is drawn
off as often as a frosty longneck. And, bless them, the actors under director Chris Fields’ steady hand give
Robin’s realities full-bodied dimension. Still, the persistent sense that we are in a stifling cocoon may squelch
what empathy begins to stir in the viewer.
Robin is wise and witty. Her navel-gazers reel off the chatter with as much animated invention as a modern
Shaw might. However, he’d steer them towards issues of armaments, charity, God and the Life Force.
Robin does take glancing swipes at big issues – the war, adoption as imperialism, artistic integrity – but none
are given the weight that the Oprah-promoted ‘Secret’ or the ‘Big Brother’ reality tv show get. (One
character calls ‘Big Brother’ “closer to Becket than anything I’ve seen maybe ever.”)
The ensemble has its work cut out for it making these folks as palatable as possible. Rahm, especially, must
deliver a human no-growth zone in Matt. To his credit, he rides the script as written, not adding charisma to
explain how Bell’s near-Pollyanna survies him. Letscher, as the other long-suffering dude, has more luck,
given the added latitude his Jonas exhibits.
Ultimately, however, it’s the women’s play. Bell, whose subtle comic gifts are showcased beautifully in her
final scenes, is also good as the dreamy Act I idealist who buys into the ‘Secret.’ She gets the biggest
double-casting assignment and provides definition there while keeping it simple and effective. She is less
successful with some of the heavy lifting when asked to go into the deep despair.
Hinkle, making her debut here after a couple appearances in readings, is one of the finer stage actresses
working today. Her performance, offering challenging summits that she scales easily, may be undercut by
Robin’s decision to make her the short-straw brunt of some couples humor in the opening scene. Connie’s
willingness to acquiesce to her husband’s constant over-riding may be hormonal (given that she is blissfully
pregnant), but given her professional reputation and successes, not to mention her husband’s ultimate
assessment of her, it’s unlikely she is so consistently yielding.
Act One drops several one-liners we hope will broaden into plotlines. But, by intermission – introduced by
one of Fields’ nicer touches, a beautifully drawn visual following Rahm’s sensitive performance of James
Taylor’s ‘Lo and Behold’ – it’s pretty clear this is going to remain a ‘talkie.’ Fields uses the turntable, eerily
evocative of the hamster-wheel cycling that the plot often gets stuck on, to advantage throughout this piece.
Fields gets great work his company. Rather than trying to hide the play’s few double-casting requirements,
he draws attention to them in a nice, and appreciated, twist.
Despite the stasis, this is an entertaining exposure to a talented writer. The ideas, while not particularly
new, are well scoured. With the kind of all-star cast that made ‘Four Dogs and a Bone’ a sensation, a
quartet of marquee actors could probably make this an off-Broadway must-see. It would solve the problem
of audiences not having enough character to care for, by allowing them to overlay celebrities onto the four.
Robin will need to hurry, however. Given the prevalence of cultural references like ‘Big Brother,’ the Bush
administration, etc., what ‘What They Have’ may not have is shelf-life.
Kevin Rahm
PHOTO HENRY DiROCCO
PHOTO HENRY DiROCCO
