Joe Hernandez-Kolski's Awake and Jed Mills' Choices

Comments (0) By Steven Leigh Morris Thursday, Aug 4 2011

I saw writer-performer Jed Mills' Choices in previews at Theatre/Theater, where it's been in development for a while. It opens next week, playing on Tuesday nights. Mills could be Hernandez-Kolski's dad, a now-graying child of the '60s. He presents his show in the context of a 12-step Narcotics Anonymous meeting at "Manny's Gym." Compared to Hernandez-Kolski, Mills is neither nimble on his feet nor wry in his delivery. Under Renny Temple's direction, it's a show-and-retell version of an autobiographical past

After somewhat gratuitously rolling through his history with improv companies of yore, Mills details his arrest at LAX, with a suitcase full of cocaine smuggled in from Miami. Particularly striking are the details that emerge from the arrest, to the booking, to the months waiting for sentencing, to the details of life in a holding cell, and the transfer to prison, the inspections, the strip searches, the unutterable degradation and sadism and lunacy simply making the blood run cold.

PHOTO BY DAVID ZAUGH

Joe Hernandez-Kolski certainly looks Awake.

Location Info

Map

Theatre/Theater

5041 W. Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90019

Category: Performing Arts Venues

Region: Mid-Wilshire/ Hancock Park

0 user reviews	Write A Review

Bootleg Theater

2200 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90057

Category: Bars/Clubs

Region: Out of Town

More About

Mills is as raw as Hernandez-Kolski is slick, like an eccentric uncle with a tawdry past and a glint in his eye. You're glad you're not him, and you want to hear more.

Click here for theater reviews on Steven Leigh Morris' Stage Raw blog.