ACTORS LOOKING FOR WORK:
GOD BLESS THEM, EVERYONE!
La Jolla Playhouse is presenting the world premiere of a play for the holiday season, and beyond, with the extensively titled Your Local Theater Presents: A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, Again. The playwright is Anna Ouyang Moench, an MFA graduate of the UC San Diego’s Department of Theatre and Dance. The play is flavored by references to the Dickens classic, but it’s more about backstage life, both professionally and personally, in the modern American regional theater.
Miles G. Jackson and Marco Barricelli
Your Local Theater Presents… is set among a group of actors in the green room of a local theater rehearsing A Christmas Carol in 1997, 2001, 2010, and 2023. The core characters are a pair of young actors named Eddie and Oliver. In the opening scene, Eddie is just out of the eminent Juilliard acting school. He is ready to make his mark on the American theater, starting with a minor role in a regional production of A Christmas Carol. However, as the years pass, Eddie finds himself reappearing at the same local theater, in the same Dickens play, only in different costumes worn by older characters as he ages. Time is moving on, but career-wise he is standing still.
Juliet Brett, Maria Elena Ramírez and Marco Barricelli
Moench surveys with both humor and sympathy the stresses of trying to make it as an actor in a hugely competitive field. A performer’s career is drenched in insecurity. Every job lasts only a finite number of weeks and actors audition constantly for the next show. The stress on the ego is brutal, and so is trying to sustain an intimate personal life with all the traveling to the next show. Yet the lure of the theater is constant. Some are talented or lucky or passionate enough to stay in the theater, or they compromise by settling for a lesser place in the theater world. Many finally give up and decide to seek elsewhere for a livelihood.
Miles G. Jackson and Xavier J. Bush
The Moench play uses six actors to entertain us in multiple roles. Their stage ages range from 10 years old to senior citizens, but they are all dedicated to seeking success on the stage. Along the way, an older married couple are constantly at each other’s throats; a teenage girl sees herself as a star dancer; and a gay couple ponders adopting a baby. The dialogue is frequently bitchy and sometimes dramatic, as one might expect among high-strung characters who use language for a living.
Miles G. Jackson, Maria Elena Ramírez and Marco Barricelli
This is a small play, running barely 90 minutes without an intermission, using a single set with stagehands changing props during brief blackouts. Players change identities during the various scenes, and I occasionally had a bit of difficulty identifying the changes with their physical alterations. But that is a quibble compared to the rapport among the versatile performers, the honor roll consisting of Marco Barricelli, Juliet Brett, Xavier J. Bush, Miles G. Jackson, Tony Larkin, and Maria Elena Ramírez. Director Les Waters orchestrates the personalities of many characters with wit and pace.
Juliet Brett, Miles G. Jackson and Xavier J. Bush
The technical production is first rate by Dots for the authentic scenic design, Annie Smart for the colorful topical and historical costumes, Yi Zhao for the lights, and Ryan Rumery as composer and sound designer. A special cheer goes to Alberto “Albee” Alvarado for his transformational hair, wig, and makeup designs.
The play has its roots in A Christmas Carol but I found it equally enjoyable as an inside look at the challenges facing anyone who commits to a theater career. The disappointments are many but how wonderful it must be to win an acting award or score in a hit show!
photos by Rich Soublet II
Your Local Theater Presents: A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, Again
La Jolla Playhouse
Hughes and Sheila Potiker Theatre, 2910 La Jolla Village Drive in La Jolla
Tues-Fri at 7:30; Sat at 2 & 8; Sun at 1 & 7
for tickets $30-$91), call 858.550.1010 or visit LJP
