Theater Reviews

Including this week's picks The Car Plays, San Francisco Mime Troupe and the Second Annual Latino New Works Festival

Comments (0) By L.A. Weekly Theater Critics Wednesday, Sep 13 2006

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PICK SAN FRANCISCO MIME TROUPE Man Bites Dogma is the theme of the S.F. Mime Troupe’s latest farce, Godfellas , which skewers the religious right as well as those progressives who idolize ideas. In this loopy fable written by Michael Gene Sullivan, Jon Brooks, Christian Cagigal and Eugenie Chan, a Mafia-like Ecumenical Syndicate, while wrapping itself in the memory of 9/11, pushes for a mandatory day of national prayer — and the insertion of God into the Constitution, “where he belongs.” The syndicate has ulterior motives besides seeking a peaceable kingdom, however, and those are exposed by a pair of fumbling secular humanists. Aided by the ghost of Tom Paine, our heroine and hero try to stem the evangelical tide with only reason on their side. More than a mere nostalgic connection to lefty street theater, the 47-year-old troupe is proof that politics and art can mix, and on a shoestring budget. This show, with music and lyrics by Bruce Barthol, Amos Glick and Pat Moran, marks a rare Southland appearance for the company. The Actors’ Gang at Ivy Substation, 9070 Venice Blvd., Culver City; Wed.-Fri., Sept. 20-22, 8 p.m.; Sat., Sept. 23, 2 & 8 p.m.; Sun., Sept. 24, 2 p.m. (Thurs. pay-what-you-can student/senior single tickets). (415) 285-1717 or www.sfmt.org. (Steven Mikulan)

PICK SECOND ANNUAL LATINO NEW WORKS FESTIVAL “A lot of mythologies that used to be projected toward Mexicans in the past have shifted and are now being projected toward the Arab, the brown man as violent, as primitive, as hateful of progress,” explains performance artist Guillermo Gómez-Peña. “More and more, the war on terror overlaps with the war on immigrants, and that worries me profoundly.” Gómez-Peña and his troupe, La Pocha Nostra, are among the few creative forces exploring the intersections between Latinos and the Middle East. This week, Gómez-Peña presents a new piece exploring this theme at Highways, as part of the Second Annual Latino New Works Festival. Created with collaborators Roberto Sifuentes, Violeta Luna and Rene Garcia, the piece, Mapa-Corpo: Therapis Violentis VJ Mix , is the second part of a trilogy. It involves an interactive process Gómez-Peña calls “occu-puncture.” The performance is a homecoming of sorts for Gómez-Peña, one of the founders of Highways. The festival also includes new works by Richard Coca, contra-tiempo, Sergia Perez and Emanuel Loarca. In the exhibition space, Hector Silva presents his exquisite and erotically charged portraits of muscular cholos. HIGHWAYS PERFORMANCE SPACE, 1651 18th St., Santa Monica; Fri.-Sat., Sept. 15-16, 8:30 p.m.; Sun., Sept. 17, 7:30 p.m.; $20 Fri.-Sat. ($15 students), $15 Sun. ($10 students). (310) 315-1459. (Daniel Hernandez)

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A STILL, SMALL VOICE It’s not a backhanded compliment to say that Mitch Hale’s character study of four alcoholics trapped in a church basement closely recalls a hard-luck adaptation of The Breakfast Club. Both share a sincere interest in their mixed bag of misfits that accords their fights, hugs and stalemates a commendable degree of honesty. Their A.A. meeting has been washed out by a freak L.A. thunderstorm, allowing homeless wretch Aaron (a wonderfully grimy Kenny Johnston) as much time as he needs to bait Ray (Jason McNeil), Joe (Jay Laisne) and Judy (Steffanie Thomas) into wringing his neck. (“This is not good for my serenity,” Ray sighs.) To Aaron, a weaselly, hobbled ex-vet, he’s stuck with a meathead, a liar and a princess who can’t fathom his misery. Hale suggests that what substance abusers need in addition to acceptance and rules is a big smack upside the head when they start trying to one-up each other’s self-victimization. The play’s insights into the climb out of destruction don’t dig much deeper than that, and Hale expresses them mostly through speeches and cyclical arguments. Yet the cast — particularly Johnston and Laisne — is so good, and director John Ferraro’s attention to character detail is well complemented by a thoughtful production design that includes David Parke’s sound and Scott Ramirez’s set. 4th Dimension Theatre Company at THE COMPLEX, 6476 Santa Monica Blvd., Hlywd.; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m.; thru Oct. 8 (no perf Sept. 21). (323) 960-1055. (Amy Nicholson)

THEY SHOOT MEXICANS, DON’T THEY? Based loosely on her family history, director/co-writer Teresa Chavez offers a glimpse at how Hollywood stereotyped Mexicans and other Latinos in this ambitious yet rather listless production that mixes dance, music, video images and live action. In 1927, dance instructor La Maestra (co-writer Rose Portillo) provided performers for The Mission Play, a highly romanticized and whitewashed portrayal of the Spaniards’ “civilizing” of California’s native population that was popular with L.A.’s white denizens. When a producer (Michael Manuel) plans to film the play, conflicts emerge between La Maestra’s commitment to traditional choreography and her nephew Raoul’s (Manuel again) penchant for the modern, as well as between the producer’s vision of Mexican society and that of La Maestra. While entertaining and enlightening, the play contains a convoluted story that gets further bogged down with subplots. One depicts the comical efforts of Raoul’s sister, Rosita (Portillo), to become the next Dolores del Rio; another follows the modern-day descendant of La Maestra, Gloria (Portillo again), a film historian who screens vintage bigoted film clips. The evocative musical interludes from the band Orquesta California, composed by members Martha Gonzalez and Quetzal Flores, and Francisco Martinez’s diverting choreography are added pluses for this well-intentioned presentation. AUTRY NATIONAL CENTER, 4700 Western Heritage Way, Griffith Park; Sat., 2 & 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; thru Oct. 1. (323) 667-7000. (Martín Hernández)