Long Beach Opera

Van Gogh

By Greggory Moore
Van Gogh and The Tell-Tale Heart
Long Beach Opera
May 19, 2013
The epistolary life chronicle may be a thing of the past. Who writes letters these days, let alone eloquent, forthcoming revelations of the psyche and soul? We're lucky Vincent Van Gogh did. We are able to match one of the most compelling painters in history with his experience in his own words. Most of those letters were to his brother Theo and basically provide the libretto for Michael Gordon's Van Gogh, a short opera in six parts, the first four of which shift between a quietly aggressive angularity (I was reminded of mid-period Fishbone, believe it or not) and a spare bleakness that evokes the great artist's profound loneliness, times in which (as he tells his brother) he would go days without speaking to another person, except to order his dinner. Gordon has some nice moments here, such as a sequence of letter fragments, each begun with a "Dear Theo" motif, each with some minor detail that personalizes the voice: "I was on the dunes"; "I spent my last penny on this stamp."

See Also: Stewart Copeland Talks About His Opera Adaptation of 'The Tell-Tale Heart'

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ocimprovfest.com

How big a deal is the inaugural Orange County Improv Festival, which began last night at Stages Theatre in Fullerton and runs the next two nights?
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Kirk Schenck Huff

Life X3
Stages Theatre
March 18, 2013

Yasmina Reza is the kind of playwright that makes other playwrights green with envy. Her 1995 play, Art, has been produced in more than 30 languages, and her 2007 play, God of Carnage, was turned into a film in 2012 by Roman Polanski. So, I asked a Facebook friend of mine, a stellar playwright in his own right, what he thought of her.

"It's easy theatre designed to make middle-class white people feel good about themselves," came the response from said FB friend, whose name will not be revealed in case Reza ever sneezes in his general direction and offers him her handkerchief laced with gold dust.

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People can change, and the truth is, Mike Tyson is a changed man. His life embodies what legends are made of: making something out of nothing; becoming one of the most feared boxers in the ring; emerging as the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world; then spiraling down with jail time, money woes, lawsuits and, in his 1997 comeback bout, even biting off a piece of Evander Holyfield's ear. Tyson's life has no doubt been a whirlwind of highs and lows, but these days, it has leveled out, and he has changed for the better.

Just when you think you know everything about "Iron Mike," you realize you don't even know the half of it. His one-man show, "Undisputed Truth," is coming to the City National Grove of Anaheim for one night on Wednesday, March 6, and is as hard-hitting as the man himself. It gives you the unusual chance to get your own ringside seats for a personal look into the mind of Mike Tyson, delivered in his own words.

Before this knockout performance, we just couldn't let the opportunity pass to find out how this show has changed his life, to get his thoughts on boxing these days, and to learn what could possibly be next for the man, the myth, the legend.

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What hasn't been written about "Wicked?" Since opening in New York City in 2003, the show has appeared on four continents and has generated more press than any theater production ever. (Actually, it's hard to prove that, but with the interwebz around, it seems a safe bet...)More »

Henry DiRocco/SCR

Motherfuckers without the hat

In a little more than a year, Orange County lost two of its edgiest, longest-established storefront theaters: The Monkey Wrench Collective, which closed in December 2011, and the Hunger Artists Theatre Co., which closed in November. Both announcements were disheartening because, together (if you count the Monkey Wrench's original incarnation as the Rude Guerrilla Theatre Ensemble), they shared a collective 30 years of producing (16 for Hunger Artists, 14 for Monkey Wrench) and offered scores of plays ranging from Sarah Kane and Mark Ravenhill to Samuel Beckett and Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
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Latino theater is returning to the city Santa Ana thanks to the awarding of a grant earlier this month from the James Irvine Foundation. As recipient, South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa is partnering up with acclaimed non-profit Latino Health Access to launch a community-based theater initiative called Dialogue/Diálogos SCR.

The two-year, $600,000 project can, in part, fill the artistic void that's been left in the wake of Breath of Fire Latina Theater's closure in downtown Santa Ana last year. Naturally, the partnership found an asset in the company's Artistic Director Sara Guerrero. "I'm really proud to be a part of this and helping to put it together," Guerrero says as Engagement Project Director of Dialogue/Diálogos SCR.

"Knowing my community, I'm happy to have a voice such as mine involved in the process from the beginning."
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Going on 20 years, the growth of Stages Theatre into Orange County's longest established storefront theater is a testament to the dedication and commitment to the hundreds of people who have worked there.More »

Cast members of "8"

A new theater entity opens Friday in Long Beach and rarely has a producing organization exploded from the box with a more emotionally charged subject or with such a familiar cast. The entity is the Public Theatre of Long Beach. The play is 8, which dramatizes the courtroom battle that resulted in the overturning of Proposition 8 (the ballot proposition passed by California voters in November, 2008 that banned same-sex couples the right to marriage) On Aug., 4, 2010, a U.S. District Court overturned Prop 8 on the grounds that it was unconstitutional. That 12-day trial is the basis of 8. 

 See Also: *OC Centric Puts the Spotlight on Local Playwrights

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A pair of thespians rehearsing for the OC-Centric festival

See Also:
*John Kraus and the Goers Bring Sea Shanties into the 21st Century
*Hopscotch: Downtown Fullerton's New Beer and Whiskey Joint Also Serves Hillbilly Tunes
*Kids in the Hall's Scott Thompson Talks Hockey, His Sexy Legs, and His Love for Irvine.

It's said that every bad decision results in a good story. That may be why there is  a theme to the five plays that are part of the second annual installment of Orange County's original play festival, OC-Centric, which concludes this weekend at Chapman University.


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