As we all know it’s almost All Hallows Eve and this year the holiday happens to fall on a Saturday night…which means everyone and their brother will be having a party…and that includes The Elephant Theatre Company.
If you happen to be out that night, stuck in traffic near Vine and Fountain because you didn’t realize that trying to drive anywhere in Hollywood on Halloween is near impossible, then find a spot to leave your car and walk on over to M Bar and join us.
We promise it will be better than sitting in traffic.
For the longest time I’ve had the urge to learn the Thriller dance but never found a good enough online tutorial nor put the time and energy into a thorough internet search. Then one day a few weeks ago, as I was driving home from yoga of all things, I heard an advert on the radio promoting the Worldwide Thriller Event Thrill the World whereby there would be an attempt at breaking the world record for most # of people simultaneously dancing to Thriller. Viola!So I immediately went home, looked up the info and reposted to Facebook thinking I’d surely have a ton of friends interested in joining me in this adventure. How many takers did I get?One. But she’s a feisty one that little Marisa…
The deal was that you register, then learn the dance which was broken down into sections and available in video format, and perform it at the allotted time. They also highly suggested that you attend at least one of the organized dance rehearsals that they held around town prior to the day of the event.
Numerous times during that last busy week prior I thought that I’d just learn the dance on my own and maybe bow out of going, simply because I really was packing in the activities and didn’t think I’d have the energy to carry everything out. Thankfully I had Marisa there every step of the way, clearly much more eager about this event than even I had been originally.So I pressed on and we went to the Thursday night rehearsal which cemented the dance in my brain and allowed Marisa to learn what she hadn’t at the previous rehearsal she went to the week before. We then got together on our own on Friday night to go over everything again for about an hour and a half. Professionals, we are.
Then Saturday October 24thcame.I went to spin class, stopped by Union Station quickly to be on standby for a possible Family Tour (thankfully no one showed), went home, took a disco nap (spinning in the morning makes me tired) and then got ready to Thrill the World.
We met up at LA Live in the 3 o’clock hour and prepped, rehearsed, ate, had a drink and then danced; one rehearsal, 2 actual dances and a 3rd (just because).Andrew, Marisa’s man, came with her to record the event for posterity and to be our own little cheering section. He was in a word, awesome.Got great photos and video and was probably even more excited than we were.
I had a great time with truly good friends and made history in the process. Done and done.
Tracers, written by a group of Vietnam veterans, portrays the reality of ground warfare and its aftermath, avoiding Hollywood glorification of the fighting experience. Told in a series of interconnected vignettes, it's the story of six soldiers, their medic, and their drill instructor -- members of the same fighting unit -- whose lives are forever altered by their wartime experiences.
Tracersis one of those shows that usually gets produced, at some point, in most college theatres around the country since it’s inception in the mid 1980’s. In my 6 year tenure at Cal State Long Beach we did it, twice. It’s the perfect showcase for young men as they are around the same age as those who were shipped off to the war so many years ago.
However when Tracers is performed by older actors the show takes on a somewhat different tone. Perhaps it’s me, but it seems more grounded. Since the show’s timeline skips around from basic training to many years post-war, having older actors portray the characters lends weight to the later scenes. The after-effects of the war can be expressed, and believed, more readily from a veteran actor versus a 20 year old kid.
These thoughts became evident to me last night after watching the opening at The Elephant Theatre; produced by 881 Entertainment in association with Elephant StageWorks. The last time I worked on this show was about 17 years ago, during my aforementioned college years. However the group of actors that have assembled for this piece aren’t your angst ridden college types, they are just a bit older, wiser and have created a moving piece of theatre as guided by their fearless and award winning Director, David Fofi.
Tracers at The Elephant Theatre 4322 Santa Monica Blvd. (between Cahuenga & Vine) Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday’s at 8pm October 21 – November 12, 2009 Sunday October 25; Benefit for Disabled American Veterans (by Donation) Tickets are $20 http://plays411.com/tracers (323) 960-4410 Limited amount of ½ price tickets available at GoldStar Events