A Night of Outstanding Content & Performances at Playhouse West
Updated: Aug 7
Wednesday, August 7, Los Angeles, CA
Written by Entertainment Editor, Dan Ruth
Attending a showcase of original one-acts might not be everyone’s idea of a rollicking good time, but when I was invited to one said evening at Playhouse West in Noho a few nights ago, I fought like mad with the traffic around the Hollywood Bowl to get there on time and I’m really glad I made the effort. In a nut-shell, I was extremely impressed with what I saw. Playhouse West was founded by Robert Carnegie and Jeff Goldblum in 1981, modeled after Sanford Meisner’s Group Theatre. The evening, entitled, Originals +1 featured four original works and one that had been produced by the group in the past. Under the supervision of Playhouse West’s Wolfgang Bodison, this very talented group of actors was in very good hands. Each piece was crafted by using multiple genres of theatre; from slap-stick to Western-style melodrama, black comedy and everything in between, Originals +1 was often riveting and very funny.
Opening the showcase was Natalia Montgomery and Sophie Steele’s The Rat Race, a large piece that’s loaded with physical humor and murder. Landing somewhere between Three’s Company and 9 to 5, The Rat Race is set in a very aggressive office, where two coworkers have uncovered unfair business practices being perpetrated by their misogynistic boss who’s “right behind that door.” Well, it’s pretty much a rule that where there's doors, there’s comedy, and the show’s stars come out swinging. We go from "how to not murder your boss," to Baby Ella, a demented soap opera involving a still-borne child, Oh, a film writing team pitting jealousy with a chance at a distribution deal, to the haunted ranch and murder of Cold Blooded, and finally to It’s Not You It’s Me, a bittersweet and compelling vintage hippie love story beautifully played by its stars, Drue Delio and Lynette Garcia-Argueta. Everything you need for a fine evening of theatre was on the stage at Playhouse West. Each piece was well-crafted and structured, there was a pressing sense of urgency to many of the pieces, high energy, commitment and one of my litmus tests for good theatre, each piece transports in its use of sound and light design. If you don’t see a through-line here, there is one - each piece is suitable for expansion, as Originals +1, above all else, was a night of outstanding “content.”
These plays are far from slap-dash, and although not each piece lands in a perfect dismount, there is room here for all of the creatives involved to keep honing and crafting. Nowhere was this more evident than in the play, Oh, a two-hander that ended Act One with deafening, disturbing focus. Written by its stars, Abraham Arias and Kyle Tran, Oh was a master class, albeit a short one, in laser focus and building tension to a riveting climax. Arias, Tran and their creepy, modern urban play possess all that one would need to catapult this work of deception, lies and hate into a full 60 minute one-act, suitable not only for the festival circuit, but for film as well. In fact, every play could more than work in genres of television, film and theatre, so my hat’s off to this incredible group of performers and to Wolfgang Bodison, who is showing the content world why Los Angeles so often rises to the occasion.
For mor information of Playhouse West and its offerings, visit their website. https://www.playhousewest.com/
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