barton

Top Ten Productions

"My Married Friends"
Cal State Fullerton
dir. Todd Kulczyk

It's particularly grievous that this outstanding world premiere about a gay man whose close friendship with a married couple is split asunder by the husband's infidelity only played for one weekend. Perfectly directed by Kulczyk [who will be directing " 'night, Mother" at Barton's Rude Guerrilla Theater Company later this year], it also boasted endearing performances by Jim Shine's lead and Kristina Leach as the female half of the couple.

The script is honest and sad, even heartbreakingly so, but very funny. If you hear of a production going up in the big cities outside of OC, drive, drive, drive to see it.

"Importance of Being Earnest"
Hunger Artists
dir. Kelly Flynn

I re-read Oscar Wilde's classic before I saw the Hunger Artist's all-male production in Santa Ana and just couldn't see the concept working. Flynn's particularly cogent staging and inspired queer reading of the script was so good, though, that it's now impossible for me to imagine the play was intended to be played "straight."

In the same way that "Monty Python and The Holy Grail" has poisoned all sword and sorcery epics for me, Flynn opened up the play so much, that it is now forever frozen in my memory as a definitive version.

The highest compliment I can come up with is that I wish I'd directed the damn thing...

"Eleemosynary"
Vanguard Theatre Ensemble
dir. Jill Cary Martin

A fine example of theater that requires more from its audience than keeping the seat warm, Lee Blessing's brain-teasing glossary of a play was sure to make you pore over your dictionary after seeing it. That you'd have to view it a couple of times to get all of it was an added bonus; the only play on stages this past year -- aside from South Coast Repertory's production of Tom Stoppard's pretentious "Arcadia" -- that was just as smart the second time around.

The Vanguard, more than any other theater in the area, consistently shows off its great taste in material. While not always the case in their coming season -- they've scheduled a Neil Simon play, for god's sake-- the VTE is a theater that takes chances on material that may or may not always sell tickets. That alone deserves your kudos and pocket money.

"Clown's Labor Lost"
Troubadour Theater Company

If clowns remind you of John Wayne Gacy and Pennywise from Stephen King's novel "It," then this clever, energetic and surreal circus clown version of the Bard's "Love's Labour's Lost" wouldn't have kept the uneasy nightmares at bay, but at least you'll bust a gut laughing.

Pie fights (Yay!), big shoes, rubber noses and acrobatic thrills and spills. What more could you want from your Shakespeare?

Yet another victim of the "GREAT SHOW-SHORT RUN" syndrome that afflicted several of the plays on my list. Just as word gets out, the show's gone and all you get is word of mouth detailing what you missed.

"Suburbia"
UCI
dir. Dudley Knight

Like most of Bogosian's work, this play is much more interesting than it is thoughtful. Misanthrope that he is, the playwright doesn't much like the people that he's writing about, preferring to skate by on cliches and take the easy way out by ridiculing stereotypes.

Kick-out-the-jams, motherfucker music and a creepy/cool set by Ellen C. King are the first clues that this production was going to be better than its source material. Knight's even-handed, realistic staging and his young Gen X cast worked some real magic here, imbuing the slim material with so much heartfelt emotion that you might even think that the play was deeper than it was.

2/2>>>