Thomas Silcott | Intimate Excellent
Philip Solomon, Thomas Silcott “The Painted Rocks at revolver Creek”
The Fountain Theatre has been honored with 23 awards of excellence from StageSceneLA for productions in its 2015-16 season. Fountain productions awarded were the west coast premiere of Athol Fugard’s The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek, the world premiere of Dream Catcher by Stephen Sachs, the Los Angeles premiere of My Mañana Comes by Elizabeth Irwin, and the west coast premiere of Tennessee Williams’ Baby Doll.
Since 2007, Steven Stanley’s StageSceneLA.com has spotlighted the best in Southern California theater via reviews, interviews, and its annual StageSceneLA Awards.
The Fountain has been honored with the following awards this 2015-16 season:
YEAR’S BEST INTIMATE THEATERS
The Fountain Theatre
OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION, DRAMA (INTIMATE THEATER)
The Painted Rocks At Revolver Creek
OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION, COMEDY-DRAMA (INTIMATE THEATER)
My Mañana Comes
OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION, COMEDY (INTIMATE THEATER)
Baby Doll
Daniel Bess, Lindsay LaVanchy, John Prosky in “Baby Doll”
STAR-MAKING PERFORMANCE (Play)
Lindsay LaVanchy in Baby Doll
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE—DRAMA (INTIMATE THEATER)
Gilbert Glenn Brown, The Painted Rocks At Revolver Creek
Thomas Silcott, The Painted Rocks At Revolver Creek
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE—DRAMA (INTIMATE THEATER)
Suanne Spoke, The Painted Rocks At Revolver Creek
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE—COMEDY (INTIMATE THEATER)
John Prosky, Baby Doll
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE IN A TWO-HANDER (INTIMATE THEATER)
Elizabeth Frances and Brian Tichnell, Dream Catcher
Elizabeth Frances and Brian Tichnell in “Dream Catcher”
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A CHILD ACTOR
Philip Solomon, The Painted Rocks At Revolver Creek
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A FEATURED ROLE—COMEDY (INTIMATE THEATER)
Daniel Bess, Baby Doll
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A FEATURED ROLE—COMEDY (INTIMATE THEATER)
Karen Kondazian, Baby Doll
OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE CAST PERFORMANCE—COMEDY-DRAMA (INTIMATE THEATER)
Richard Azurdia, Pablo Castelblanco, Peter Pasco, and Lawrence Stallings, My Mañana Comes
Lawrence Stallings, Pablo Castelblanco, Richard Azurdia, Peter Pasco, “My Manana Comes”
OUTSTANDING DIRECTION (MULTIPLE PRODUCTIONS)
Simon Levy—Baby Doll, The Painted Rocks At Revolver Creek
OUTSTANDING DIRECTION, COMEDY-DRAMA (INTIMATE THEATER)
Armando Molina—My Mañana Comes
OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION DESIGN (INTIMATE THEATER)
Baby Doll , My Mañana Comes, The Painted Rocks At Revolver Creek
OUTSTANDING FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHY
Mike Mahaffey, Baby Doll
OUTSTANDING LIGHTING DESIGNER
Luke Moyer
COMPOSER OF THE YEAR Peter Bayne, Dream Catcher
SCENIC DESIGNER OF THE YEAR
Jeff McLaughlin
SOUND DESIGNER OF THE YEAR
Peter Bayne
Congratulations to all the winners. Full list here.
Posted in Acting, actors, Athol Fugard, designers, director, Drama, Fountain Theatre, Los Angeles, non-profit organization, performing arts, plays, stage, Theater, theatre
Tagged actor, arts organizations, Athol Fugard, award, baby doll, Best Production, Brian Tichnell, Daniel Bess, design, director, Dream Catcher, Elizabeth Frances, Elizabeth Irwin, Fountain Theatre, John Prosky, Lawrence Stallings, Lindsay LaVanchy, Los Angeles, My Manana Comes, new plays, Pablo Castelblanco, performing arts, Peter Pasco, Philip Solomon, plays, Richard Azurdia, Simon Levy, StageSceneLA, Stephen Sachs, Steven Stanley, Tennessee Williams, The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek, theater, theatre, Thomas Silcott
Gilbert Glenn Brown and Suanne Spoke in ‘The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek’.
The Fountain Theatre has been honored with 4 Stage Raw Awards for its 2015 productions of The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek and Citizen: An American Lyric.
The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek was the West Coast Premiere of Athol Fugard’s new play about South African artist Nukain Mabuza. The world premiere of Stephen Sachs’ stage adaptation of Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric dramatized racism in America.
The Fountain nominees are:
- Supporting Female Performance – Suanne Spoke, The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek
- Leading Male Performance – Thomas Silcott, The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek
- Adaptation – Stephen Sachs, Citizen: An American Lyric
- Ensemble – The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek
For the full list of nominees click here
‘Citizen: An American Lyric’ at the Fountain Theatre
Using multimedia and the written word, Stage Raw is a digital journal dedicated to discovering, discussing and honoring L.A.-based arts and culture. The Stage Raw Theater Awards are dedicated to honoring the swath of innovative works of theater in Los Angeles County, in venues of up-to-99-seats.
The STAGE RAW Celebration is Monday, April 25 at Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring Street (VIP reception 6 p.m.; doors Open at 6:30. Awards Program begins at 7:30pm), General Admission Tickets are $25, VIP Tickets $100, available at stageraw.com.
Posted in Acting, actors, African American, Arts, arts organizations, Athol Fugard, Drama, Fountain Theatre, Los Angeles, new plays, performing arts, plays, Theater, theatre
Tagged actor, Athol Fugard, awards, Citizen: An American Lyric, Claudia Rankine, Fountain Theatre, Gilbert Glenn Brown, performing arts, plays, Stage Raw, Stage Raw Awards, Stephen Sachs, Suanne Spoke, The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek, theater, theatre, Thomas Silcott, West Coast Premiere, world premiere
The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek
As the year draws to an end, the Fountain Theatre is delighted to be highlighted on many of the annual “Best of 2015” lists that are starting to appear.
Los Angeles Times theatre critic Charles McNulty selected our west coast premiere of Athol Fugard’s The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek to his Best Theater of 2015, hailing it as “Another in the Fountain Theatre’s series of expertly acted productions of the great South African playwright.”
The LA Theatre website Bitter Lemons named The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek as its Top Rated Production of 2015.
And critic Travis Michael Holder honored the Fountain Theatre with several of his TicketHolder Awards for 2015:
BEST PRODUCTION OF 2015
The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek
- RUNNERS-UP: Citizen: An American Lyric
BEST ENSEMBLE CAST IN A PLAY
Gilbert Glenn Brown, Thomas Silcott, Phillip Solomon, Suanne Spoke, The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek
- RUNNERS-UP: Bernard K. Addison, Leith Burke, Tina Lifford, Tony Maggio, Simone Missick, Lisa Pescia, Citizen: An American Lyric
Citizen: An American Lyric
NEW DISCOVERY 2015
Phillip Solomon, The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek
BEST PLAYWRIGHT
Athol Fugard, The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek
BEST ADAPTATION
RUNNERS-UP: Stephen Sachs, Citizen: An American Lyric
BEST DIRECTION OF A PLAY
Simon Levy, The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek
- RUNNERS-UP: Shirley Jo Finney, Citizen: An American Lyric
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
RUNNERS-UP: Naila Aladdin-Sanders, The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek
BEST SOUND DESIGN
RUNNERS-UP: Peter Bayne, Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek
BEST VIDEO DESIGN
RUNNERS-UP: Yee Eun Nam, Citizen: An American Lyric
SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Anastasia Coon, Movement, Citizen: An American Lyric
A marvelous end to a memorable year marking our 25th Anniversary season. More “best” lists will be appearing.
Posted in Fountain Theatre
Tagged Anastasia Coon, Athol Fugard, Bernard K. Addison, Charles McNulty, Citizen: An American Lyric, Fountain Theatre, Gilbert Glenn Brown, Leith Burke, Lisa Pescia, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Times, Naila Aladdin-Sanders, Peter Bayne, Philip Solomon, Shirley Jo Finney, Simon Levy, Simone Missick, Stephen Sachs, Suanne Spoke, The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek, theater, theatre, Thomas Silcott, Tina Lifford, Tony Maggio, Travis Michael Holder, West Coast Premiere, world premiere, Yee Eun Nam
Gilbert Glenn Brown and Suanne Spoke in ‘The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek’
by Darlene Donloe
The name Gilbert Glenn Brown has become synonymous with “good works” around the L.A. theater world.
A handsome gent with a bright, poetic smile, Brown enjoys a career that has spanned film, television and theater. His theatrical credits are extensive, and the list of directors and actors that he’s shared a stage with reads like a Who’s Who of Los Angeles theater.
On this particular day, as the sun is setting after an extremely warm afternoon, Brown is sitting on the upstairs patio of the Fountain Theater, dapper in a gray cap, blue-and-white rolled up checkered shirt and gray vest. He’s ready to talk about the actor’s life that he’s carved out.
Known for bringing all of himself—and none of himself—to his roles, Brown has delivered a number of stellar performances, playing vivid and memorable characters that have earned him the COLSAC Best Lead Performance Award, two Los Angeles Drama Critics Awards and an LA Weekly Award.
He made women swoon and men suck in their guts delivering an arousing performance as Shango, the neighborhood bad boy in Tarell Alvin McCraney’s original comedy/drama, In The Red and Brown Water, directed by Shirley Jo Finney. He was the intense and absorbing older brother Ogun Size in McCraney’s The Brothers Size, also directed by Finney. Most recently, he was probably the most sensually-charged Polyneices ever to grace a stage in the Ebony Repertory Theatre’s The Gospel At Colonus.
Now the Brooklyn native is set to play Jonathan in the West Coast premiere of Athol Fugard’s latest play, The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek, a drama directed by Simon Levy, now playing at the Fountain Theatre in Hollywood.
Gilbert Glenn Brown and Suanne Spoke
This production marks the Fountain Theatre’s 15-year relationship with the playwright that began in 2000 when Fountain Co-Artistic Director Stephen Sachs directed Fugard’s The Road to Mecca. It was then that Fugard, an Academy Award winner for Tsotsi (Best Foreign Language Film), recipient of the 2011 Tony for lifetime achievement—and a multiple Obie and Tony Award-winner best known for his plays rooted in the scars of South African apartheid—reportedly began to call the Fountain his “artistic home on the West Coast.”
The Play
Inspired by the work of real-life outsider artist Nukain Mabuza, The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek is set in South Africa in the 1980s. It tells the story of elderly Nukain, a farm worker and self-taught artist who has spent years painting the rocks and boulders at Revolver Creek, transforming them into a garden of flowers.
The play, which also stars Thomas Silcott, Philip Solomon and Suanne Spoke, begins when the final, most challenging unpainted stone and a young boy named Bokkie (Nukain’s assistant) “force Nukain to confront his legacy as both an artist and a black man in 1980s South Africa,” where the horrible injustices of apartheid still prevailed at the time—dividing the country into black and white.
The minute he read the script, Brown jumped at the chance to play Jonathan, the grown-up version of Bokkie, who returns to Revolver Creek to restore the faded rocks as a tribute to Nukain, the friend he loved.
“What I like about Jonathan is the need he feels to come back and stand up for someone he loves,” says Brown. “He comes back to stand up for someone who wasn’t able to stand up and say I’m a man, or say that he mattered.”
Although he’s a “huge fan” of the playwright, this is the first time that Brown has tackled an Athol Fugard play. “I am familiar with his activism,” Brown says, “and using theater as a means of activism. I was groomed, in a sense, to look at issues head on. It’s about telling the truth with the material. I read the play and I was blown away by it because of the honesty of the material.”
“What’s wonderful about Gilbert,” says Simon Levy, who is directing the show, “is that he’s this beautiful combination of sensitivity and danger,” says Levy. “He possesses a deep well of emotion that reveals itself in surprising ways so that the character always feels kinetic and honest.”
“I think I understand where Simon wants to go with this piece,” Brown says. “He’s very clear on making sure that the audience can connect with the story and with the living, breathing human beings—not in a superficial way. It’s a wonderfully written piece.”
Brown is working with a dialect coach to get Jonathan’s South African accent right. “I want to honor the person I’m portraying [and] the people who actually speak that language…and be so connected, that I don’t think it’s an accent, it’s just how I speak.”
Now that Brown has had several weeks to ingest the material, he’s gained more insight into the meaning and intent of Fugard’s words. Comments from a documentary on apartheid that Brown watched as research added to his understanding:
“An activist said apartheid not only jails the people that are oppressed,” Brown recalls, “but also the jailers because they are caught in a cycle. You become dehumanized when you think someone is not as much as you are. Until you can say this happened, and acknowledge that it happened, there will be no movement. The people affected are not going to let it go. I realize now that it’s an opportunity to see each other as human beings.
“That is what the play means to me,” Brown says. “I’m always looking for truth.” Continue reading
Posted in Acting, actors, African American, Art, artist, arts organizations, Athol Fugard, Drama, Fountain Theatre, performing arts, plays, Theater, theatre
Tagged acting, actors, Athol Fugard, Fountain Theatre, Gilbert Glenn Brown, In The Red and Brown Water, Los Angeles, new plays, performing arts, Philip Solomon, plays, Shirley Jo Finney, Simon Levy, Suanne Spoke, The Gospel At Colonus, The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek, Thomas Silcott, West Coast Premiere
Maya Lynn Robinson and Gilbert Glenn Brown
Cast, company and audience members swept into our upstairs cafe Saturday night to celebrate the opening night performance of our west coast premiere of Athol Fugard’s new play, The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek. Food, drink and joyfulness followed a marvelous performance that earned a standing ovation.
Internationally acclaimed playwright Athol Fugard returns to the Fountain Theatre with this beautifully heartfelt new drama. Directed by Simon Levy, it features Gilbert Glenn Brown, Thomas Silcott, Philip Solomon, and Suanne Spoke.
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The production runs to December 14th. Info/Get Tickets
Posted in actors, Art, artist, Arts, arts organizations, Athol Fugard, Drama, Fountain Theatre, new plays, non-profit organization, plays, Theater, theatre
Tagged actors, Athol Fugard, Barbara Goodhill, Deborah Lawlor, Fountain Theatre, Gilbert Glenn Brown, Henry Sanders, Jacqueline Schultz, Los Angeles, Maya Lynn Robinson, Naila Aladdin-Sanders, opening night, Philip Solomon, Simon Levy, Stephen Sachs, Suanne Spoke, The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek, theater, theatre, Thomas Silcott, West Coast Premiere
At last night’s preview performance of The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek, the theatre was packed with 80 students from Mission Viejo High School who came with energy, enthusiasm, and questions for the cast and director. A terrific Q&A discussion was held immediately after the performance and everyone — artists, students and teachers — had a wonderful time.
The students were from humanities classes and already familiar with the work of playwright Athol Fugard. One student shared that eight years ago she had actually visited the actual hillside in South Africa where Nukain Mabuza painted his famous rocks. She found the play — and seeing the set with its colorful, rocky landscape — very moving and meaningful. The students asked many interesting and insightful questions of cast members Gilbert Glenn Brown, Thomas Silcott, Philip Solomon, Suanne Spoke, and director Simon Levy. The discussion was moderated by Co-Artistic Director Stephen Sachs.
This special evening was part of Theatre as a Learning Tool, the Fountain Theatre’s educational outreach program making the live theatre experience accessible to students.
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The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek runs to December 14. More Info/Get Tickets
Posted in Fountain Theatre
Tagged acting, actors, arts organizations, Athol Fugard, educational outreach, Fountain Theatre, Gilbert Glenn Brown, Los Angeles, Mission Viejo High School, Nukain Mabuza, Philip Solomon, Simon Levy, South Africa, Stephen Sachs, students, Suanne Spoke, The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek, theater, theatre, Thomas Silcott, West Coast Premiere
Thomas Silcott and Philip Solomon
Previews begin this Friday night, October 30th, for our upcoming west coast premiere of Athol Fugard’s beautiful and heartfelt new play, The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek. We thought we’d grab this opportunity for you to meet the cast.
GILBERT GLENN BROWN plays the role of Jonathan Sejake. Gilbert received his BFA from Tisch School of the Arts. Theater credits include Gospel at Colonus (Ebony Repertory Theatre Company), The Brother Size, In the Red & Brown Water and Live From Death Row… The Scottsboro Boys (Fountain Theatre), Spunk, (True Colors Theatre Company), Rio, The Musical (2012 New York Musical Theatre Festival), Martin: Before the Dream (NEC), A Time to Love, Charleston Olio, Harriet Jacobs (Kansas City Rep), Civil War Christmas (Huntington Theater), Forgive Me (NY International Fringe Festival), TopDog/UnderDog, (Seattle Rep/Circle Theatre Group), Miss Evers Boys (The Complex), DWB in Beverly Hills (Matrix Theatre). Some of his film & TV credits include Dreamgirls, Rain, Children of the Struggle, recurring this Fall on The Inspectors, recurring on Mercy, ER, The O.C., Cold Case, Shark, CSI: Miami, The Shield. gilbertglennbrown.com
THOMAS SILCOTT plays the role of Nukain Mabuza. He is happy to be performing his second production at The Fountain Theatre and his second premiere of an Athol Fugard play with them. Happy 25th Anniversary! Past projects include Bring In Da Noise/ Bring In Da Funk (Broadway Tour), To Kill A Mockingbird (Alliance Theatre), As You Like It (Colorado Shakespeare Festival), Our Town (Gloucester Stage Company), Othello (Kingsmen Shakespeare Company), Master Harold and The Boys (The Colony Theatre), Coming Home (The Fountain Theatre & Berkeley Repertory Theatre), Paint Your Wagon (Geffen Playhouse). T.V. and Film credits include Gods and Generals, Girlfriends, Desperate Housewives, The Others, Entourage, Raising The Bar, Criminal Minds: Beyond Boarders, Rosewood. Tom is a recipient of an Ovation and an L.A. Weekly award and a nominee for two N.A.A.C.P. awards.
PHILIP SOLOMON plays the role of Bokkie. Philip lives in Santa Ana, California and is a seventh grader at Santiago Charter Middle School in Orange, CA. His credits include Sacrificing Simone by Aretha Thomas (Porticos Art Space in Pasadena), Sleeping Beauty and Her Winter Knight (Lithgow Family Productions at the Pasadena Playhouse), back-up dancer to Hannah Kirby on season 8 of NBC’s The Voice, a co-starring role on the “Fresno Girl” episode of Nickelodeon’s Sam and Cat and a national commercial for Hilton Homewood Suites. He is a member of St Mary’s Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in Culver City.
SUANNE SPOKE plays the role of Elmarie Kleynhans. Suanne is a multi-award winning actor who can currently be seen recurring on Switched at Birth and in the Academy Award winning film, Whiplash. TV credits include Criminal Minds, Happy Endings, Private Practice, and she appears in a very funny special feature on the DVD of Once Upon A Time. She will be seen in Christopher Guest’s new film Mascots and the upcoming indie feature Wild Prairie Rose. Having appeared on many local stages including Company of Angels, the Road, Deaf West, Inside the Ford with the wonderful Fountain Theatre, Suanne has won the Ovation Award for Best Actress in both David’s Mother and Napoli Milionaria and was also nominated for Streetcar Named Desire at Deaf West Theatre. She currently is on the faculty of California Institute of the Arts teaching acting in the Graduate Film Directing Program and is producing, along with her husband, K.C. Marsh, the documentary Warne Marsh: An Improvised Life. Thank you all here at the Fountain Theatre for this fantastic opportunity.
The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek is inspired by a real life story. Nukain Mabuza has spent his life transforming the rocks at Revolver Creek into a vibrant garden of painted flowers. One final rock remains. With his young pal Bokkie at his side, will he do it? Even in the new South Africa, can a person — and a nation — truly see inside the soul of another human being?
Posted in Fountain Theatre
Tagged actors, Athol Fugard, Fountain Theatre, Gilbert Glenn Brown, Los Angeles, new plays, Philip Solomon, Suanne Spoke, The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek, theater, theatre, Thomas Silcott, West Coast Premiere
The Fountain Theatre continues its 15-year relationship with master playwright Athol Fugard, presenting the West Coast premiere of his newest play. Directed by Simon Levy, The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek opens on November 7 at the Fountain Theatre in Hollywood.
Both Fugard and the Fountain come full circle with Painted Rocks, a play inspired by the work of real-life outsider artist Nukain Mabuza. In 1972, a personal encounter with outsider artist Helen Martins, a reclusive and ostracized figure in a small, ultra-conservative Afrikaans community who had created an extraordinary collection of statues in her back yard, led to Fugard’s celebrated play, The Road to Mecca. And it was the Fountain’s Los Angeles premiere of that play in 2000, directed by Fountain co-artistic director Stephen Sachs, that introduced the playwright to the theater he would come to call his “artistic home on the West Coast.”
“Forty years later [after my encounter with Helen Martins], I became aware of another outsider artist worthy of the same attention, working in completely different circumstances and also with a different medium,” wrote Fugard on the website of South Africa’s Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies, where he is currently an artist-in-residence. “The environment of present-day South Africa made me realize the true potential of Nukain’s story, and that, even though he worked on the fringes, it can in fact not be fully realized without taking on the realities of his existence in apartheid South Africa.”
In the play, the aging Nukain (Thomas Silcott) has spent his life transforming the rocks at Revolver Creek into a vibrant garden of painted flowers. Faced with the presence of the final unpainted rock — and at the insistence of his young companion, Bokkie (Philip Solomon) — he is forced to confront his legacy as an artist and a black man in 1980s South Africa. When the landowner’s wife (Suanne Spoke) arrives to demand he stop painting, the deep racial conflict of the country is viscerally exposed. Twenty years later, in what has become the new South Africa, the man called Bokkie as a child (Gilbert Glenn Brown) returns to restore Mabuza’s lifework.
“Possibly, at this moment in our history, the stories that need telling are more urgent than any of the stories that needed telling during the apartheid years,” Fugard said in an interview with NPR.
“At the heart of Athol’s beautiful new play is the issue of seeing and being seen – as an artist, as a man, especially as a black man,” says Levy. “It’s an on-going, universal problem that Athol has spent his life exploring and exposing and humanizing. To be seen for who you really are, and to be loved and honored for that. It’s a beautiful message, and one we need to hear over and over again.”
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The author of over 30 plays and recipient of countless accolades including an Academy Award, Obie and the 2011 Special Tony Award for Lifetime in the Theatre, Athol Fugard is best known for his plays about the frustrations of life in contemporary South Africa and the psychological barriers created by apartheid. Widely acclaimed around the world, his plays include Boesman and Lena (Obie Award, Best Foreign Play), Sizwe Bansi Is Dead (Tony Award, Best Play), A Lesson from Aloes (New York Drama Critics Circle Award, Best Play), the semiautobiographical Master Harold…and the Boys (Writers Guild Award, Outstanding Achievement) and The Road to Mecca(New York Drama Critics Circle Citation, Best Foreign Play, London Evening Standard Award, Best Play). The first white South African playwright to collaborate with black actors and workers, some of his works, such as Blood Knot, were initially banned in South Africa. In his first two post-apartheid plays, Valley Song (1995) and The Captain’s Tiger (1998), Fugard addressed more personal concerns, but in Sorrows and Rejoicings (2001) he focused on the complex racial dynamics of South Africa’s new era. In 2005 his novel, Tsotsi (1980), was adapted for the screen, winning the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
When Fugard saw the Fountain’s Los Angeles premiere of The Road to Mecca in 2000, he was so impressed that he offered the company world premiere rights to an as-yet-unwritten new work. In 2004, Stephen Sachs directed the world premiere of Exits and Entrances. The production garnered production and direction awards from both the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle and the Ovations, and Sachs went on to direct acclaimed regional productions around the country, including an off-Broadway production at Primary Stages and the UK premiere at the 2007 International Edinburgh Festival. Since then, the Fountain has produced four premieres of Fugard’s plays including the American premiere of Victory (two LADCC awards and four LA Weekly nominations, and named “Best of 2008” by the Los Angeles Times);the West Coast premiere of Coming Home (three LA Weekly awards including “Ensemble” and “Direction,” LADCC award for “Lead Performance”); the U.S. premiere of The Train Driver (three LA Weekly awards); and the U.S. premiere of The Blue Iris (LA Weekly Award nomination for best ensemble).
The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek premiered to critical acclaim at the Signature Theatre in New York City earlier this year. The New York Times called it “tender and ruminative” and Newsday wrote, “Fugard stamps indelible human faces on faraway reports of the world’s news.”
Set design for the Fountain Theatre production of The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek is by Jeffrey McLaughlin; lighting design is by Jennifer Edwards; sound design is by Peter Bayne; costume design is by Naila Aladdin Sanders; props are by Dillon Nelson; dialect coach is Nike Doukas; assistant stage manager is Terri Roberts; production stage manager is Rita Cofield; associate producer is James Bennett; and Stephen Sachs and Deborah Lawlor produce for the Fountain Theatre.
Currently celebrating its 25th anniversary, The Fountain Theatre is one of the most successful intimate theaters in Los Angeles, providing a creative home for multi-ethnic theater and dance artists. The Fountain has won over 225 awards, and Fountain projects have been seen across the U.S. and internationally. Recent highlights include being honored with the 2014 Ovation Award for Best Season and the 2014 BEST Award for overall excellence from the Biller Foundation; the Fountain play Bakersfield Mist in London’s West End starring Kathleen Turner and Ian McDiarmid; the sold-out Forever Flamenco gala concert at the 1200-seat John Anson Ford Amphitheatre; and the last six Fountain productions consecutively highlighted as Critic’s Choice in the Los Angeles Times. The Fountain has been honored with six Awards of Excellence from the Los Angeles City Council for “enhancing the cultural life of Los Angeles.”
More Info/Get Tickets
Posted in Acting, actors, arts organizations, Athol Fugard, Drama, South Africa, Theater, theatre
Tagged actors, apartheid, arts organizations, Athol Fugard, Deborah Lawlor, Dillon Nelson, Fountain Theatre, Gilbert Glenn Brown, James Bennett, Jeffrey McLaughlin, Jennifer Edwards, Los Angeles, Naila Aladdin-Sanders, Nike Doukas, Nukain Mabuza, Peter Bayne, Philip Solomon, Rita Cofield, Simon Levy, South Africa, Stephen Sachs, Suanne Spoke, Terri Roberts, The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek, The Road to Mecca, theater, theatre, Thomas Silcott, West Coast Premiere
Gilbert Glenn Brown, Suanne Spoke, Thomas Silcott, Philip Solomon
“Maybe one day you will also walk many roads.” Nukain Mabuza, The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek
Our company of theatre artists began their walk together on the road toward our upcoming west coast premiere of Athol Fugard’s beautiful new play, The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek . Actors Gilbert Glenn Brown, Thomas Silcott, Philip Solomon, and Suanne Spoke met with the production and design team under the eye of director Simon Levy. This marks Silcott’s second Fugard play at the Fountain, who co-starred in Coming Home in 2009.
The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek is the seventh Fugard play produced at the Fountain since 2000. Producer Stephen Sachs spoke about the Fountain’s longtime relationship with Fugard and its fifteen year history of producing his new work. Director Simon Levy shared his thoughts on the play. Also present at the first meeting were associate producer James Bennett, assistant stage manager Terri Roberts, set designer Jeff McLaughlin, costume designer Naila Aladdin-Sanders, props designer Dillon Nelson, dialect coach Nike Doukas, and publicist Lucy Pollak.
Nukkain Mabuza
This beautifully heartfelt new drama by Athol Fugard is inspired by the life of South African artist Nukain Mabuza. Aging South African farm worker Nukain has spent his life painting the rocks at Revolver Creek into a vibrant garden of flowers, the young orphan boy Bokkie now at his side. But when the landowner’s wife arrives with demands to stop his painting, the deep racial conflict of a country is viscerally exposed, and the seed of the painter’s legacy is planted to blossom in the rise of the next generation.
The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek opens November 7 (323) 663-1525 Get Tickets/More Info
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Posted in Acting, actors, arts organizations, Drama, Fountain Theatre, South Africa, Theater, theatre
Tagged actors, arts organizations, Athol Fugard, drama, Fountain Theatre, Gilbert Glenn Brown, James Bennett, Los Angeles, Lucy Pollak, Naila Aladdin-Sanders, Nike Doukas, Nukkain Mabuza, Philip Solomon, Simon Levy, South Africa, Stephen Sachs, Suanne Spoke, The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek, theater, theatre, Thomas Silcott, West Coast Premiere