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esis of an actors showcase. They virtually
erase the lines that separate
backstage and onstage. Members can
be actors, lighting and sound techs,
projection experts, set designers or
puppet makers.
“I started as an actor and now they
are letting me work with puppets—
it’s not as easy as it looks,” company
member Nina Silver adds. And independent
spirits are not only welcome
but required.
“While people come and go, we try
to keep one person from each craft
within the ensemble at all times,”
says Stamets. With all the emphasis
on multiple functions it’s not surprising
that most of the group hold day
jobs within the production industry.
If this sounds too Utopian to work,
the results speak for themselves. Last
season the Company scored critical
(three LA Drama Critics Circle Awards)
and box office success with The
Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy
of Mr. Punch establishing themselves
as a model for how theatre can work
outside a script-driven hierarchical
structure.
Location
As a nomadic group, they are
thrilled to be back at the Bootleg
Theatre located in historic
Filipinotown near downtown Los
Angeles. For a 99-seat Equity theatre
the space has an impressive
rig of ETC Source 4 fixtures, an ETC
Insight console and Meyer full-range
cabinets with a Yamaha digital console.
The original brick warehouse
walls are especially appealing to the
design team who will extend this
element with “flats that play tricks”
into a full street scene. The extreme
stage depth gives the set a forced
perspective. Cawelti says, “We have
a long history of going into small L.A.
theatres and retrofitting them for our
shows—many of them remain that
way after we leave.”
Rehearsals are interconnecting
cells. While Cawelti works with the
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