August | 2012 | Intimate Excellent

7 Oct 2022

by Stephen Sachs

After opening the US Premiere of Athol Fugard’s new play The Blue Iris at the Fountain last Friday, I flew to New York on personal and professional business. As it turns out, Athol had just left New York on Sunday after directing the NY debut of his play The Train Driver at the Signature Theatre. Athol and I had just missed each other, our two east/west flights crossing each other as we switched coasts.

Monday, I was taking one of those New York City walks. You know the kind. A fast-paced trek on foot through the city. To sort the mind, ease the heart, sifting and sorting through mental debris. I traveled dozens of blocks, miles it seems. Pushing through crowds, I walked everywhere and nowhere. No destination, no ending point, thinking about everything and nothing.

The Signature Theatre

Pushing east on 42nd Street, lost in thought, I crossed 10th Avenue, oblivious to where I was. I happened to glance up. And there was Athol Fugard, peering down at me. From a big poster advertising The Train Driver. Without knowing it or meaning to, I had stumbled upon the Signature Theatre. How did this happen?

Manhattan is two miles wide and thirteen miles long. How is it my rudderless course through a city containing twenty-three square miles led me to the doorstep where Athol’s play was now opening? What mysterious GPS had magically navigated me there? How could this possibly be? It was impossible to believe. And then —

My cell phone rang. I glanced at the name displayed as the caller. I was stunned. Of all people, guess who?

“Stephen!” cheered the familiar South African voice, calling from across the country in Los Angeles.

“Athol!” I shouted. “I can’t believe it’s you calling! You’ll never guess where I am right now. In New York! Standing outside the Signature Theatre at this very moment, staring at you and the Train Driver poster!”

Athol was delighted. I was astounded. What the hell is going on? Standing at the door of the Signature with Athol on the phone from the west coast, I felt like a note-bottle that had somehow miraculously washed up on shore at exactly the spot of shoreline where it needed to be to deliver the message inside. But the Signature lobby was empty, with only the box office gentleman telling me that the building was closed on Monday.

Athol made a quick phone call. The door opened. Soon I was inside. A surprise to everyone and completely unannounced. Jim Houghton, the Founder and Artistic Director, was there to meet me and I was given a tour of their glorious new 3-theatre complex that also includes a spacious lobby, bookstore, cafe, warrens of office cubicles, pristine rehearsal rooms and a maze of dressing rooms backstage.

Set for “The Train Driver”, Signature Theatre

Their production of The Train Driver (directed by Athol) was currently in previews on The Linney stage. Their set was similar in feel to ours at the Fountain last year, but much wider and included the rusted relic of a demolished old car in the corner. The Linney seats approximately 200 people and has a wonderful catwalk above that wraps around the entire space which can be used as an elevated acting area or for audience seating.

The magnificent new multi-million dollar venue for the Signature Theatre is big, glorious and state-of-the-art. Whenever I visit new theatres like these I envy the size, the pristine open space, the eye-popping technology and design. In addition to The Train Driver, the world premiere of Sam Shepard’s new play, Heartless was opening that night on the larger Diamond stage. A buzz of excitement in the building.

It was a pleasure meeting Jim Houghton as he shared his pride in the dazzling new building and his deep enthusiasm for Athol’s work and legacy as a playwright.

My visit done, I stepped back outside onto the bustling New York City street. After a quick glance of warm goodbye to Athol on the front poster outside, I ambled up 10th Avenue shaking my head in bemusement at my good fortune and grateful to the forces — seen and unseen — that guided my steps and brought me here.

Sometimes the uncharted course, the path without purpose, leads you exactly where you’re meant to be.

Stephen Sachs is the Co-Artistic Director of the Fountain Theatre.

Posted in actors, Arts, Fountain Theatre, new plays, performing arts, plays, playwright, theatre

Tagged Athol Fugard, Fountain Theatre, Heartless, James Houghton, Los Angeles, Manhattan, New York, Sam Shepard, Signature Theatre Company, Stephen Sachs, The Blue Iris, The Train Driver, West Coast Premiere, world premiere

Morlan Higgins and Julanne Chidi Hill in “The Blue Iris”

Back in the year 2000, legendary South African playwright Athol Fugard was residing in Del Mar, teaching playwriting, acting and directing at UC San Diego — while continuing to turn out the prolific body of work that had earned him worldwide acclaim.

He heard from friends of his, whose opinions he respected, that the Fountain Theatre in LA had mounted a very good production of his 1984 play, The Road to Mecca. With trepidation, Fugard traveled to the Fountain to see what this director named Stephen Sachs had done to his work.

Six Fugard/Fountain Theatre collaborations later, the Fountain is now presenting the US premiere of Fugard’s latest work. The Blue Iris, helmed by Sachs, opens Friday, in celebration of the master playwright’s 80th birthday and his ongoing collaboration with the Fountain.

Athol Fugard

In a telephone interview from New York, Fugard admits, “I’ve always been wary of seeing plays of mine that I myself hadn’t directed. Eventually I went to the Fountain and saw this marvelous production, staged by Stephen. I met Stephen and I met the cast of that production and found myself saying to Stephen, ‘I want my next play to be done in your theater.’ I loved the feel of it. Everything about it felt right — the theater, the size of the space, the atmosphere. It was perfect for my sorts of plays. So, when my next play was ready, I brought it to Stephen.”

Sachs has his own memory of his first encounter with Fugard in 2000. “I was told he never goes to see productions of his plays that other people do. Well, I learned he was coming. Of course, I was excited and terrified. I didn’t tell the actors that Athol was there. After the performance, during the applause, I want backstage quickly and told the actors, ‘There’s someone I want you to meet.’ The actors came out and I said, ‘I would like you all to meet Athol Fugard.’ And they all screamed. Of course, we were all so happy when he told us he loved our production. We all went out afterwards. And we just kept corresponding after that. When Fugard was directing Sorrows and Rejoicings at the Mark Taper [in 2002], I kept saying to him, ‘If you’re ever looking for a small, intimate, artistic home to develop a new work, away from a larger theatrical institution, where you can just work quietly in a nurturing environment, the Fountain is yours’.”

One day in 2004, Fugard sent Sachs an e-mail with a file attached to it. The e-mail message read, “Attached to this file is my new play and I want you to direct it.” The play was Exits and Entrances, which went on to garner three Ovation Awards and a slew of LADCC, LA Weekly and Backstage honors.

Julanne Chidi Hill and Morlan Higgins

Fugard’s newest work, The Blue Iris, recently premiered in Cape Town and has since moved to Johannesburg. It is a three-character play in one act, which Fugard takes time to carefully explain.

“The inspiration for this play came from two directions. It is set in the Karoo, a semi-desert area in the heart of South Africa, where several of my plays have been set. One of the features of this rather small area is a very beautiful mountain. I’ve climbed that mountain several times, often with a friend. It is quite a stiff climb but a good one, not dangerous really. We always used to park our car at the foot of the mountain at a lovely old farmhouse, which was owned by a very cordial farmer. He became a friend of ours. When we would come down from our climb, he was always there waiting for us with something to drink or to eat. It was a great relationship. But on this one occasion when I went with my friend to climb the mountain, we arrived at this farmhouse to find it had been totally destroyed by a fire, which was started by a lightning strike. This wonderful man and his wife were living in a little tent outside the house, just trying to salvage what they could.

Jacqueline Schultz and Julanne Chidi Hill

“The second image which inspired this play came from a farmer’s wife, totally unrelated to the first farmer I mentioned. She was a wonderful painter of wild flowers, of botanically accurate wild flowers. These weren’t only pretty paintings, these were botanical drawings that helped you identify the flower — the seed capsule, the root structure, everything. It was a fusion of those two images that finally brought me to writing The Blue Iris. There were a lot of complex personal issues that came into the play as well. I had a sense of how we men can get so absorbed in our own egos, our own personalities, never fully realizing what damage we do to others on the way.”

Fugard pauses in his discourse and chuckles. “I don’t think I properly understand the play yet, myself. I mean that. We writers quite often don’t know what we’ve written about. There have been many times that I haven’t known what the full resonances are of the story that I’ve told. It has often been only when I have been in the rehearsal room directing actors, helping them to understand the characters that they in turn helped me to understand what I had written.”

Stephen Sachs and Morlan Higgins.

“I received The Blue Iris a few months ago,” Sachs continues. “I knew about the play for a few years. I know that Athol was working on it, developing it. I knew that he was going to present the world premiere in South Africa, which is pretty much his way of working now. They’ve named a theater after him, the Fugard Theatre. I am honored to be doing it here at the Fountain. My cast includes two Fugard regulars here at the Fountain, Morlan Higgins and Jacqueline Schultz. Julanne Chidi Hill is new to the Fountain. She’s a discovery.

“This work has some classic Fugard themes in it – the search for hope, the struggle with loss and the fight for dignity. It is a love story and very much about finding the courage and strength to move forward in what sometimes can seem like bleak and painful circumstances. It is a profoundly human story about these three individuals who live together in this house: this man Robert, who was a farmer, his wife Sally, who is deceased, and their housekeeper Rita.

“The play begins after the house has been burned to the ground by a fire and Robert and Rita are sifting through the debris. She wants to move on and take Robert with her. While going through the debris, they discover a painting of a blue iris that his wife Sally had done. Finding that painting triggers memory and forces Robert to look at the truth of the reality of his marriage to Sally.”

Fugard will not be at the Fountain for its debut. “I’ve been here in New York for a whole year directing plays, currently The Train Driver. This is also a play that Stephen Sachs has done. This is its New York premiere. I will be coming to see Blue Iris. I am leaving New York this coming Sunday and flying down to San Diego. I’m going to give myself a bit of a rest first and then come up to Los Angeles to see Stephen’s production. I am not going to tell him the date because I don’t want any fuss or bother when I come to see it. I am just going to quietly slip into the theater.”

Julanne Chidi Hill and Morlan Higgins

As for the future, Fugard wants to keep it simple. “I do not multi-track. I work on one play at a time, like a good alcoholic goes one day at a time. My home now is in Del Mar. My plans for the immediate future are to go back to South Africa in September to direct a new play that I haven’t got a title for yet, because I am still putting the finishing touches to it. I’ll decide on a title a little bit later on. I will always premiere my work in South Africa. And I’ll probably always think of the Fountain as the next possibility.”

— Julio Martinez, writes for LA Stage Times

The Blue Iris, Fountain Theatre, 5060 Fountain Ave, LA 90029. Opens Aug 24. Plays Thu-Sat 8 pm, Sun 2 pm. Through Sep 16. 323-663-1525.www.fountaintheatre.com/perform.html

***All photos by Ed Krieger

Posted in actors, Arts, Fountain Theatre, new plays, performing arts, plays, playwright, theatre

Tagged apartheid, Athol Fugard, Exits and Entrances, Fountain Theatre, Jacqueline Schultz, Julanne Chidi Hill, Julio Martinez, Los Angeles, Mark Taper Forum, Morlan Higgins, Sorrows and Rejoicings, South Africa, Stephen Sachs, The Blue Iris, The Road to Mecca, The Train Driver

by Jessica Broutt

Let me start my last blog post of the summer by saying that I am not a big fan of change. I love re-reading books, seeing movies over and over, and staying friends with people who I have known a long time. I find sameness very comforting. And now, after sitting at the same desk and showing up to work at the same time for the last ten weeks, tomorrow will be my last day at The Fountain.

Obviously, this being my last day makes me very sad because I love everything about this theatre. I love driving to The Fountain on the 101 and passing Capitol Records because I always feel like I’m in a movie about living in Los Angeles. I love the fact that The Fountain Theatre is not only on Fountain Avenue but there is an actual fountain in the parking lot. I love knowing that no matter what time I come in Scott will always be in the office before me. I love sitting at my pink desk and waiting for my computer to load. I love that when Stephen comes in he always comes to my desk to say hello. I love that Diana thinks I’m a computer genius because I know how to hit the refresh button. I love that our bathroom has a bathtub. I love that after 10 weeks I finally know how to use our printer. I love that James pretended like I wasn’t a complete idiot when it took me a considerable amount of time to figure out how to use the printer in question. I love saying hello to Deborah as she comes in and saying goodbye to Simon when I leave. And I really love writing grants and blogs and e-mails, and whatever else I’m asked to do. But what these little things really mean when you put them all together is that I just love working at The Fountain.

I know I have said this in most all of my blog posts, but being an intern here really has been incredible. And while I was partly surprised that it has been so wonderful, a part of me knew that it would be from the moment I got the job. After a phone interview with Stephen, I was asked to come in for a face to face interview with Simon, Stephen, and Deborah. I came in and thought it went really well and was waiting to hear Stephen offer me the job. But that didn’t happen. I drove away thinking that it must have not gone as well as I’d thought. Then, about 5 minutes after I had pulled out of the lot I got a call from Stephen, first chastising me for answering the phone while I was driving, and after clarifying that I had blue tooth, he said, “We talked it over and decided that you’re hired.” Right then I knew that any person that would call me five minutes after I left and then question why I would answer the phone while I was driving, was the kind of person I would be happy to work with. And I’ve been so happy these past 10 weeks. I have been spoiled for any other organization because now I know what being an intern should be like, and I can’t wait for my next opportunity to come back.

So while change is not something I’ve ever been too fond of, starting at the Fountain was the best change I’ve ever experienced. And now I can tell you first hand that not only is the Fountain Theatre intimate and excellent because of its space and the theatre produced here, but because of the people who work here as well.

Jessica Broutt is our summer intern from UC San Diego. We thank the LA County Arts Commission and its Arts Internship Program for its support.

Posted in Arts, Fountain Theatre, grants, performing arts, plays, theatre

Tagged Capitol Records, Deborah Lawlor, Fountain Avenue, Fountain Theatre, intern, Jessica Broutt, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, Simon Levy, Stephen Sachs, summer internship

Athol Fugard

South African playwright, actor and director Athol Fugard describes the time Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990 as “a period of euphoria that was the most extraordinary experience of my life.”

He says he was also convinced he would be the country’s “first literary redundancy.”

“My life had been defined by the apartheid years,” he says. “Now we were going into an era of democracy … and I believed that I didn’t really have a function as a useful artist in that anymore.”

But as President Mandela gave way to Thabo Mbeki and later Jacob Zuma, Fugard’s disappointment set in, and it did not take him long to realize his voice was still needed. He says he isn’t sure his comments will be welcomed though, “because amongst armchair liberals, the notion that South Africa is now a happy democracy and that Nelson Mandela did it all, is very widespread.”

On his plays:

Continuing its 12-year relationship with Athol Fugard, The Fountain Theatre celebrates the master playwright’s 80th birthday with the U.S. premiere of his newest play. Directed by Stephen Sachs and starring Morlan Higgins, Julanne Chidi Hill and Jacqueline Schultz, The Blue Iris opens at the Fountain on August 24.

“The Blue Iris” (US Premiere, 2012, Fountain Theatre)

The Blue Iris is set in Fugard’s beloved and desolate South African desert, the Karoo. In a burnt-out farmhouse, a widowed farmer, Robert Hannay (Higgins) and his housekeeper, Rieta (Hill) sort through the fire-ravaged debris of their lives. The discovery of a miraculously undamaged painting of a flower – a blue iris – created by Hannay’s deceased wife (Schultz) unlocks long-forgotten memories and hidden secrets. Fugard digs deep into the human heart, and the result is a love story full of tender, soul-touching and surprising revelations.

Fugard started writing plays in his mid-20s, and this year, five decades later, at least six are being performed in the U.S. and U.K. He says he’s surprised to see there’s still so much interest in his work.

Described by Time magazine as “the greatest active playwright in the English-speaking world,” Athol Fugard celebrated his 80th birthday on June 11, but the prolific writer shows no signs of slowing down.

“The Train Driver” (US Premiere, Fountain Theatre, 2010)

This year, the Signature Theatre in New York is hosting Fugard as its first international residency playwright and showing three plays from various periods of his career. He says it’s given him a chance to look back over the 50 years that span the writing of the first play he directed, Blood Knot, and the last play he says he will direct, The Train Driver, which had its US Premiere at the Fountain in 2010 and just opened in NY Aug. 14.

Fugard describes the two plays as “the bookends of an arc that essentially defines myself as a playwright,” though he assures his fans this does not mean he’s stopped writing.

On the people who shaped him:

As a child, Fugard says that “society was trying to make me conform to a set of very rigid, racist ideas,” and he credits his mother for making him challenge them. He says she was “endowed with a natural sense of justice and decency” and was “a simple Afrikaans woman (who) gave me my soul.” He thanks her for prompting him to “break the conditioning that was taking place on school playgrounds, in classrooms, everywhere.”

He describes his father as “a gentle man and a very beautiful man,” and also, like himself for a period of time, an alcoholic. This family dynamic shaped his plays.

“You’ll see that the strong, the affirmative, the positive voice in any of the plays I’ve written is that of a woman,” he says. “My men are, well not quite worthless, but they are certainly weak, and that reflects the reality I grew up with and what I think has in a sense shaped me.”

Athol Fugard (center) with actors John Kani (left) and Winston Ntshona at the Royal Court Theatre in London in 1973.

On working with a multiracial theater group:

In the 1950s, when so much of South African life was regulated to keep the races separate, Fugard worked with a multiracial group of actors.

“It was foolhardy and we paid prices, but it was a gesture of defiance,” he says.

He learned enough about the laws to work out situations that would allow him to work with his black colleagues.

“It raised a very, very serious issue of conscience,” he explains as he acknowledges that his punishments were relatively minor compared to what those colleagues would eventually endure at Robben Island with Mandela.

On racial prejudice:

As an observer from outside looking at the American scene, Fugard says he believes that racial prejudice and profiling is flourishing, and that underlying all the opposition that President Obama is encountering is actually “the problem is that there’s a black man in the White House.”

He says South Africa has also not overcome its apartheid legacy, and explains that the real intention of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, set up after the end of the apartheid regime, was not achieved.

“You can’t legislate into existence an act of forgiveness and a true confession, those are mysteries of the human heart and they occur between one individual and another individual, not a panel of judges sitting asking questions, trying to test your truth,” he says.

When asked what wisdom he would like to impart to listeners, Fugard directed his comments to fellow 80-year-olds. He says “it’s supposed to be the age when you stop, but that is such nonsense. … I have a greater sense of adventure at this moment in my life than I ever had in the past.

“There are most probably five or six more years left in my case, but I’m going to live them up to the hilt.”

And does that mean he’ll keep writing? Of course.

“The act of witnessing is important to me, somebody’s got to tell the truth, you know what I mean?” he says.

The Blue Iris Aug 24 – Sept 16 (323) 663-1525 More Info Buy Tickets

Posted in actors, Arts, director, Fountain Theatre, performing arts, plays, playwright, theatre

Tagged Afrikaans, apartheid, Athol Fugard, Blood Knot, Jacob Zuma, Jacqueline Schultz, John Kani, Julanne Chidi Hill, Karoo, London, Morlan Higgins, Nelson Mandela, Obama, racial prejudice, Robben Island, Royal Court Theatre, South Africa, Stephen Sachs, Thabo Mbeki, The Blue Iris, The Train Driver, Truth and Reconciliation Commission, White House, Winston Ntshona

Jessica Broutt

by Jessica Broutt

As the development intern at the Fountain Theatre, I knew it would only be a matter of time before I was asked to write a grant. Sure, I had done research. Written a few letters of intent. But last week marked the first time I was really on my own.

With everyone else in the office getting ready for previews of our newest play, the US Premiere of Athol Fugard’s The Blue Iris, I was spending my week looking at old grants, a new project proposal, and a very tricky computer program I like to call Adobe.

Now, the first thing you have to understand about filling out a grant is that the most challenging part is figuring out how to use the required computer software. After downloading the latest version of Adobe, I spent quite a few hours filling in tiny little boxes. While this was annoying and terrifying, seeing as how I never trusted my hard work to be saved upon every return visit, it was nothing compared to writing the narratives.

In the narrative part of the grant, it gives the organization an opportunity to talk about its artistic mission, the history of its organization, what new project they propose to embark on if they do receive the grant. This was the difficult part. As much as I love this theatre and feel at home here, I haven’t been around long enough to know a lot about its history. However, my ten weeks here has been enough time for me to see the type of patrons who come here, the kind of theatre we produce, and our artistic mission in practice. I spent days not only trying to articulate how I saw our theatre, but reading up on how we had described our organization in previous grants. And while there was a lot of regurgitating of previous data, there was also a lot of room for me to explain why I felt we deserved this grant and why this proposal was right for the organization to which we were applying.

I know the idea of sitting down and writing a grant may seem tedious and awful. I assume that most creative types would rather do just about anything else than sit at a desk for hours on end, proving that your non-profit arts organization is worthy of funding. But just like I love hearing the mundane details of other people’s lives or re-reading books, I can now add grant-writing to my list of strange fascinations.

It’s kind of wonderful to be a part of the creation of a grant at The Fountain. Think about it. I was able to have this amazing experience as an intern at the Fountain because someone else wrote a grant for it. Now I can pay it forward by writing a grant of my own and ensure that the Fountain gets more funding. Seems too good to be true.

I have spent 10 weeks learning about every part of this theatre. There is no better final exam than writing my own grant, showing what I have learned.

I felt so emotionally attached to this grant. In fact, when it was finally finished, I felt it necessary to hand deliver it despite the assurance from Stephen that it “just had to be postmarked by the 17th”. The idea of putting our possible grant money in the hands of the US Postal Service made me cringe. I have never been more happy to drive to Downtown L.A. in my life.

As I rode the elevator at the Department of Cultural Affairs and approached the desk to hand in my grant, I felt a little sad. But mostly wonderful. I came out with a weight literally lifted out of my arms, and a new passion for grant-writing. Filling in those little boxes may not be the most exciting thing in the world, but the prospect of doing something as wonderful for The Fountain as it has done for me made it well worth it.

Jessica Broutt is our summer intern from UC San Diego. Our thanks for the support of the Arts Internship Program at the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.

Posted in actors, Arts, Fountain Theatre, grants, new plays, performing arts, plays, theatre

Tagged artistic mission, Arts Internship Program, arts organizations, Athol Fugard, Department of Cultural Affairs, Fountain Theatre, funding, grant writing, intern, Jessica Broutt, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, new plays, performing arts, Stephen Sachs, summer internship, The Blue Iris, UC San Diego, United States Premiere

The Fountain Theatre is dedicated to producing new plays that reflect the cultural diversity of Los Angeles and the the nation. To serve Latino/a audiences, we launched our 2012-13 season earlier this year with the West Coast Premiere of El Nogalar by Latina playwright Tanya Saracho.

“El Nogalar” (2012, Fountain Theatre)

Playwright Anne Garcia-Romero reports on the current state of Latino/a theater and the dream of creating a Latino/a Theatre Commons:

by Anne Garcia-Romero

Anne Garcia-Romero

In May 2012, Karen Zacarías, a playwright in residence at Arena Stage asked the Center for the Theater Commons to host an intimate conversation about the state of theater for U.S. Latino/a artists. A group of us met in D.C. It was a small gathering of theater artists from across the country representing diverse voices, but in no way intended to be representative of the breadth of the Latino/a theater scene. In the twenty-four stretch of the gathering, we talked about community, history, and action. We dreamed up a plan.

Celebrating Contemporary Latino/a Theater
Theater can function as a reflection of our contemporary national narrative. The character journeys on a stage often help us better understand the complexities of our society. U.S. culture in the twenty-first century continues to move from a mono-cultural to a multi-cultural experience. However, U.S. theater currently does not always reflect this reality and therefore can perpetuate an outdated narrative. Contemporary Latino/a theater updates the U.S. narrative through presenting diverse cultural worlds that allow theater audiences to more fully understand the U.S. experience in the twenty-first century.

In 2012, Latino/a is a heterogeneous term that includes the diversity of all Spanish-speaking and indigenous cultures existing in the U.S. from Mexico, the Caribbean, Spain, Central and Latin America, in addition to the complexities which arise from the intersections of these cultures with non-Latino/a cultures. This definition highlights the globalization of the U.S. Latino/a community and mirrors the fact that life in the U.S. is now an intercultural reality. According to the 2010 U.S. census, 308.7 million people resided in the United States, of which 50.5 million (or 16 percent) were Latino/a. The Latino/a population hails from over twenty-two Latino/a cultural groups and was the fastest growing population from 2000 to 2010. U.S. theater production historically has only reflected a fraction of this diversity. Twenty-first century Latino/a theater artists are creating works that amply reflect this complexity. By embracing the current landscape of Latino/a theater, U.S. theaters not only present a view of contemporary Latino/a culture, they also provide their audiences with ways in which to more fully understand our multi-cultural U.S. experience.

Playwright Tanya Saracho

Creating a Commons
A Latino/a Theater Commons acknowledges the gifts that Latino/a theater artists can share with each other by connecting Latino/a theater artists from across the U.S. to create a platform and promote the latest developments in the field of Latino/a theater. From artists who began their professional careers in the 1970s to those who recently completed their MFA training, a commons facilitates a vibrant, intergenerational conversation that reflects contemporary U.S. Latino/a theater. Building upon the foundation of the past and highlighting the realities of the present, a Latino/a Theater Commons creates new models of engagement and presentation of Latino/a theater that will not only illuminate the wide expanse of the field but will allow audiences to update the U.S. narrative by experiencing multi-cultural worlds on stage that reflect an ever-diversifying national reality.

Highlighting our History
From the success of Luis Valdez’ 1978 production of Zoot Suit in Los Angeles to Maria Irene Fornes’ Obie-Award winning New York City production of Fefu and Her Friends in 1977, U.S. Latino/a theater continues to grow and thrive from coast to coast. Through the support of organizations such as the Ford Foundation and the Lila Wallace–Reader’s Digest Fund, several U.S. regional theaters have provided platforms for the continued development of Latino/a theater artists. The INTAR Playwrights Workshop in New York City, South Coast Repertory’s Hispanic Playwrights Project in Costa Mesa, California and The Mark Taper Forum’s Latino Theatre Initiative in Los Angeles became centers of training, collaboration and conversation from 1978 to 2005. These programs helped launch the careers of a generation of Latino/a theater artists including Pulitzer prize winners Nilo Cruz and Quiara Alegría Hudes, Academy-Award nominee José Rivera, Obie award winners Caridad Svich and Kristoffer Diaz and MacArthur Genius grant winner Luis Alfaro.

INTAR, founded in 1972 by Max Ferrá, is one of the longest-running companies producing Latino/a theater in the United States. Maria Irene Fornes created the INTAR Hispanic Playwrights-in-Residence Laboratory (1978-1991) and trained some of the most widely produced Latino/a playwrights in the U.S. including Cruz, Svich, Alfaro, Cherrie Moraga, Migdalia Cruz and Octavio Solis. Svich states,

Fornes, leading by example, did not require that the playwrights in the Lab address any ethnically specific subject matter or theme. Through daily visualization exercises, the writers were asked to discover the work within them, to create the forms that suited their visions, and under Fornes’ rigorous, watchful eye, to speak the truth about their worlds.

Under the current leadership of Lou Moreno, INTAR continues to produce new work by Latino/a playwrights.

José Cruz Gonzalez

Hispanic Playwrights Project (HPP), 1985-2004, created by José Cruz Gonzalez and later directed by Juliette Carrillo, featured a yearly summer festival of new works at South Coast Repertory bringing together new plays written by Latino/a playwrights. For many playwrights, HPP provided a first professional theater development opportunity. The annual gathering launched the careers of many Latino/a theater artists including Octavio Solis, Rogelio Martinez, Karen Zacarías, Kristoffer Diaz, Quiara Alegría Hudes and Anne García-Romero.

The Latino Theatre Initiative (LTI), 1992-2005, at the Mark Taper Forum, was designed to diversify the Taper’s audience base by offering theatrical programming relevant to the Latino/a community while also providing access to emerging Latino/a artists who reflected the diversity of the city of Los Angeles. Founded by José Luis Valenzuela and later co-directed by Luis Alfaro and Diane Rodriguez, LTI developed new works through in-house readings, festivals and yearly writers’ retreats.

Playwright Luis Alfaro

An Action Plan: Generating New Models
In our dream for a Latino/a Theater Commons, we build upon the foundation of the past and the momentum of the present to create four initiatives that will continue to advance the field of U.S. Latino/a theater.

1. The Los Angeles Theatre Center, under the direction of José Luis Valenzuela, will produce a festival of ten Latino/a plays over the course of the 2014-15 season. This festival seeks to present ten diverse plays that will mirror the complexity of the U.S. Latino/a community.

2. Latino/a Theater Commons will pilot a bi-annual conference of new Latino/a work hosted by the Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago. The Festival will honor and be inspired by previous programs such as the Hispanic Playwrights Project, but be reconceived for the twenty-first century to allow for live and online participation and new methods of collaboration through workshops and focus groups on specific theatrical disciplines.

3. Latino/a Theater Commons will launch an online platform, Cafe Onda (Wave Cafe). This platform will be created as an online community and conversation about the current state of the Latino/a theater in the twenty-first century. Cafe Onda will contain articles, blogs and live streaming of theater events and will be linked to HowlRound, an online journal of the Theater Commons.

4. Latino/a Theater Commons will broaden the conversation by working with an expanded national cohort of Latino/a theater artists to convene in 2013 and solidify our efforts in implementing these plans that will generate a new national narrative for U.S. theater. Members of the Steering Committee who will be involved in planning this meeting include as of this publication:

Christopher Acebo (Designer; Associate Artistic Director, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ashland OR)
Luis Alfaro (Playwright, Assistant Professor, USC, Los Angeles CA)
Juliette Carrillo (Stage Director; Former Artistic Associate, South Coast Repertory; Ensemble Member, Cornerstone Theater Company, Los Angeles, CA)
Sandra Delgado (Actor; Company Member, Collaboraction Theater Company; Company Member, Teatro Vista, Chicago IL)
Kristoffer Diaz (Playwright, New York NY)
Michael John Garcés (Playwright; Artistic Director, Cornerstone Theater Company,Los Angeles CA)
Ricky J. Martinez (Artistic Director, The New Theatre, Coral Gables FL)
Anne García-Romero (Playwright; Assistant Professor of Theater, University of Notre Dame, South Bend IN)
Lisa Portes (Stage Director; Head of MFA in Directing, DePaul University, Chicago IL)
Tlaloc Rivas (Stage Director; Assistant Professor of Theater, The University of Iowa, Iowa City IA)
Anthony Rodriguez (Artistic Director, Aurora Theater Company, Atlanta GA)
Diane Rodriguez (Playwright; Associate Artistic Director, Center Theater Group, Los Angeles CA)
Olga Sanchez (Artistic Director, Miracle Mainstage, Miracle Theater Group, Portland OR)
Tanya Saracho (Playwright, Chicago IL / Los Angeles CA)
Octavio Solis (Playwright, San Francisco CA)
Antonio Sonera (Stage Director; Producing Artistic Director, Badass Theatre Company, Portland OR)
Enrique Urueta (Playwright, Minneapolis MN)
Kinan Valdez (Stage Director; Producing Artistic Director, El Teatro Campesino, San Juan Bautista, CA)
José Luis Valenzuela (Stage Director; Artistic Director, Los Angeles Theater Center, Professor of Theater, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles CA)
Patricia Ybarra (Theatre Studies Scholar; Assistant Professor of Theatre, Brown University, Providence RI)
Karen Zacarías (Playwright; Resident Playwright–Arena Stage, Washington DC)

These projects will provide a multifaceted view of contemporary Latino/a theater. Through exploring, developing and advocating for new Latino/a plays, all four initiatives generate necessary conversations about the diverse make-up of U.S. society. We respectfully share this plan in the hopes that a Latino/a Theater Commons will advance the state of Latino/a theater while also allowing audiences to update the U.S. narrative at the start of the twenty-first century.

Onward!

Anne Garcia-Romero’s plays have been developed and produced most notably at the NYSF/Public Theater, Summer Play Festival (Off-Broadway), The Mark Taper Forum, Hartford Stage, Borderlands Theater, and South Coast Repertory. Her newest play, Provenance, was part of the 2012 Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference. She is currently writing a book on contemporary Latina playwrights. She’s an Assistant Professor of Theater at the University of Notre Dame and an alumna of New Dramatists.

Posted in actors, Arts, Fountain Theatre, new plays, performing arts, plays, playwright, theatre

Tagged Anne Garcia-Romero, Anthony Rodriguez, Arena Stage, Borderlands Theater, Caridad Svich, Cherrie Moraga, Christopher Acebo, community, Cornerstone Theatre Company, Diane Rodriguez, El Nogalar, Enrique Urueta, Fefu and Her Friends, Fountain Theatre, Hartford Stage, Hispanic, Hispanic Playwrights Project, HowlRound, INTAR, José Cruz Gonzalez, José Rivera, Juliette Carrillo, Karen Zacarías, Kinan Valdez, Kristoffer Diaz, Latina, Latino, Latino Theatre Initiative, Latino/a Theatre Commons, Los Angeles, Lou Moreno, Luis Alfaro, Luis Valdez, Maria Irene Fornes, Mark Taper Forum, Max Ferrá, Michael John Garcés, Migdalia Cruz, New Dramatists, new plays, Nilo Cruz, Octavio Solis, Olga Sanchez, Patricia Ybarra, plays, playwriting, Quiara Alegría Hudes, Ricky J. Martinez, Rogelio Martinez, Sandra Delgado, South Coast Repertory, Tanya Saracho, theater, theatre artists, Theatre School at DePaul University, Tlaloc Rivas, West Coast Premiere, world premiere, Zoot Suit

The Fountain Theatre, an Artistic Home to many for twenty-two years.

by Curt Columbus

What makes an artistic home?
An artistic home is a place where an artist can find nurture and take risk. It is a place where one can receive blunt, intense, but constructive critique, as well as new and generative ideas, generously given, wonderfully liberating, and immensely creative. Artistic home does not develop over a matter of weeks but takes years and years to take root inside the artists involved. Therefore, institutions must commit to making an artistic home a lasting place with multiple returns. This development requires casual and random contact over food, in hallways, or sometimes on the playing field (softball, anyone?). An artistic home, a true one, is always made richer and livelier by the presence of children and their incredible, life-affirming chaos. These can and should be the children of the artists involved, as well as the local community’s children, who are inevitably and inexorably drawn to any place that explores artistic potential. Like all homes, an artistic home can be filled with conflict, but at the end of the day, love is the overriding and overarching quality. (We may argue passionately, but we all kiss good night).

How can one create and/or build an artistic home for others?

Well, the real answer to that question is surprisingly simple. You create an artistic home by putting the needs of your artist collaborators ahead of your own needs or the needs of your institution, and you and your institution have to keep doing it over a long stretch of time. You commit to artists, you support their failures as well as their successes, and you put the people first, not their fame, nor their prestige, nor any other passing fad. Like family members, you love your artists for their flaws, as well as for their talents, encouraging the latter and addressing the former. You create an artistic home by playing the long game, not the short bet.

What is the artistic home of the future?
As artistic director of one of the last, long-standing resident acting companies in the American Theater, of course I am going to say a resident company! But, actually, I fervently and absolutely believe that it is true—I feel that we are returning to the resident company model in this country, for the same reason that the local foods movement and the locally made movement are starting to take hold in the United States. Resident artists feel the commitment of a community, which makes them more deeply connected to that community, which produces better art for the people in that community, and therefore, for the entire world. Resident artists are teachers, community organizers, fundraisers, and political advocates—all things that hired guns cannot do on any deeply felt or deeply understood level. I have several resident artists in my company who have been here for over forty years, and their impact in our community is profound. In fact, with one exception, all of our resident artists have been here for over a decade.

Carbon footprint is smaller if people live where they make art; larger institutional investment goes directly to artists over time, not just to administrators and support businesses; artists can make work that speaks directly to their communities, which deepens the democratic urge and its expression; and communities will have a passionately held belief in the artists in their midst, making them better places to work, to invest, and to live.

Curt Columbus joined Trinity Rep in Rhode Island as artistic director in January 2006. His directing credits for Trinity include Merchant of Venice, His Girl Friday, Camelot, Cabaret, The Odd Couple, The Secret Rapture, The Receptionist, A Christmas Carol, Memory House, Blithe Spirit, Cherry Orchard, and the world premiere of Stephen Thorne’s …Poe. His plays Paris by Night, The Dreams of Antigone, and Sparrow Grass premiered at Trinity. His adaptation of Crime and Punishment (with Marilyn Campbell) is published by Dramatists’ Play Service. Curt’s translations of Chekhov’s plays are published by Ivan R. Dee, Chekhov: The Four Major Plays. The Dreams of Antigone is published by Broadway Play Publishing. Curt lives in Pawtucket with his partner, Nathan Watson.

Posted in actors, Arts, Fountain Theatre, new plays, performing arts, plays, playwright, theatre

Tagged actors, American Theater, Anton Chekhov, artistic director, artistic home, artists, arts organizations, Cherry Orcchard, Curt Columbus, Merchant of Venice, Paris by Night, resident acting company, Rhode Island, Sparrow Grass, The Dreams of Antigone, Trinity Rep

by Jessica Broutt

The more time I spend at the Fountain, I’m not entirely convinced being an intern here is an internship experience that most college students are having.

This summer, when I heard about the L. A. County Arts Internships (which any college student interested in the arts should apply to), I was determined to get one. I didn’t care if I was working at a ballet, or a theater, or an art school. I just wanted to be near the arts. I wrote cover letter after cover letter, hoping for the best. But when I saw The Fountain’s description for an intern, I kept thinking, “This is the one. I’m perfect for this.”

I was interviewed and, much to my surprise and delight, hired. I still didn’t really know what it was going to be like. I pictured myself maybe doing some copying and coffee-making (prerequisite skills all interns are expected to have). Or I imagined myself writing grants and sitting on the sidelines as an already assembled team worked. I didn’t ever think I would really be a part of this theatre. A summer is hardly long enough to get a decent tan, let alone feel at home in a new place. Yet, in seven weeks I feel just as much a part of this team as I’ve ever felt as part of anything.

Simon Levy, Deborah Lawlor and Stephen Sachs

I realized I was really a part of the team at our first staff meeting. The Fountain staff consists of just enough people to fit around a kitchen table. It feels like less of a staff and more like of a family. Stephen would bring up each matter of business, and it seemed like everyone had something to say about it. These people valued my opinion and wanted to know how I felt about things. And just like everyone else at The Fountain, with many different job titles and responsibilities, I learned that I was no different as the Development Intern. Yes, I have definitely learned a lot about grant-writing and what being on the development side of things means. But that is just one of the many experiences I’ve had here. I have compiled press packets, organized auditions, worked the box office, read scripts, and even written a few blog posts. For a good portion of my time here I was doing something I had never done before. Maybe that’s what an intern is supposed to do. Experience a little bit of everything.

So far, this internship has been more than internship. I always thought of internship as trying on an outfit. You try something on for a few weeks and see if it fits. If it doesn’t, you move on to the next outfit. But if it fits, you can stop looking.

As a writing major, I don’t really know what I’m going to do with myself. There’s no clear job I know I’ll have. But this internship has given me some direction. It has shown me what working in a theatre is really like and made me realize it’s something that I want to do.

I know it’s only week seven. I’m only half-way through college. I could change my mind. But I’m fairly certain that it’s a good fit. And while other interns may be spending their summers finding the perfect cream-to-sugar ratio, I’ve been really spoiled working here and being a part of The Fountain.

I may just be their summer intern. But ever since that first staff meeting, I’ve really felt like a part of the family.

Jessica Broutt is a summer intern from UC San Diego. Funded by the LA County Arts Internship Program.

Posted in Arts, Fountain Theatre, new plays, performing arts, plays, theatre

Tagged Deborah Lawlor, family, Fountain Family, Fountain Theatre, intern, Jessica Broutt, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, performing arts, Simon Levy, Stephen Sachs, summer internship, theater, theatre, UC San Diego

Snapshots from our party celebrating the magical sold-out run of the world premiere of Cyrano after the final performance on Sunday, July 29th.

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Posted in actors, Arts, Fountain Theatre, new plays, performing arts, plays, theatre

Tagged American Sign Language, ASL, Bob Hiltermann, Chip Bent, Cyrano, Cyrano de Bergerac, Daniel Durant, David Kurs, deaf, Deaf West Theatre, Deborah Lawlor, Ed Waterstreet, Eddie Buck, Erinn Anova, Fountain Theatre, Ipek D. Mehlum, Linda Bove, Los Angeles, Maleni Chaitoo, new plays, Paul Raci, plays, sign language, Simon Levy, Stephen Sachs, theater, Troy Kotsur, Victor Warren, Victoria Platt, world premiere