NOT UNIVERSAL LOVE, BUT TO BE LOVED ALONE

THE NORMAL HEART by Larry Kramer.

A Benefit reading for AIDS Services Foundation Orange County.

WEDNESDAY, December 1st, 2010 at 8pm. All seats $20. First-come, first-served basis. Seating is limited. 204 N. Harbor Blvd., Fullerton, CA.

Featuring Peter Balgoyen, Jason Bannister, Christopher Basile, Erica Bennett, Danny Crisp, Bryan Jennings, Rick Kopps, Steven Lamprinos, Stephen Ludwig, Alexander Price, Chris Secor and Lee Waddel.

If you can't attend the reading, please consider donating directly to the ASF via their website.

AUDITIONS FOR "JESUS IS GAY"

SORRY, AUDITIONS FOR THIS PRODUCTION ARE LONG-SINCE CLOSED. THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST.

Monkey Wrench Collective will be holding auditions for the World Premiere of JESUS IS GAY by local playwright Chris Secor.

SYNOPSIS: A lonely housewife who sings to forest creatures + a gay Latino convenience store clerk + a dazed and confused, pot-smoking rapper + the hit TV show The Jewlyweds +  a vindictive bitch with too much time on her hands + a cheating husband + a power-hungry right-wing evangelist + a very unfortunate misunderstanding=Hell on Earth.

Directed by Dave Barton.

AUDITIONS:

This is an open casting call, beginning at 6:00 p.m., Monday, November 15. Rehearsals begin Nov. 22nd and the show opens January 28, 2011, running for eight weeks.

Where: Monkey Wrench Collective, 204 N. Harbor, Fullerton, CA. 92832

All roles are open, except the roles of Honey and Big Bird and all ethnicities are encouraged to audition. There is some pay.

ROLES:

Mona: Female, 30s, a lonely housewife who talks to imaginary animals and faces the wrath of a Fundamentalist Christian Inquisition over a stupid misunderstanding.

Steven/Fantasy Steven: Male, 30s, a callous jock douchebag whose last moment of glory was in high school, unhappy in his marriage/his sensitive, romantic alter-ego.

Anthony: Male, 20s.Latino convenience store worker who worries about everything, thick accent.

Marcus: Male, 20s, good-looking, wannabe rapper/model. Can talk to birds and is perpetually stoned.

Regina: Female, age open. Right-wing televangelist in the Jerry Falwell/ Robertson style, but worse.

Jewish Producer: Male, age open, reality show film producer/director stereotype.

King of the Gays: Male, 20s, good-looking, flamboyant activist stereotype.

2 Bodyguards/ Stage Hands/Puppeteers: age open.

PDF scripts are available from Rudegrrlla@aol.com

Please pass this on to anyone you think may be interested.

The O.C. Register's intrepid Eric Marchese stopped by the Wrench last week to do a little SHOPPING & FUCKING, and has subsequently rendered his review into print:

For "Shopping and F***ing," his first major full-length play, playwright Mark Ravenhill chose a simple theme that has wide-reaching ramifications: That, for good or bad, mass consumerism is the only thing that drives a Western civilization devoid of all other values.

For most Brits, Americans and Western Europeans, Ravenhill posits, spending money and enjoying life (sex, drugs etc.) are the only things that matter in life. That the Brit playwright is able to wring laughs from this premise is a testament to his skill, for whatever else, "Shopping" is basically a comedy, however dark its trappings.

Though most of Ravenhill's subsequent plays reiterate this theme, it's rampant in "Shopping," which opened in London in September 1996 and gets a notable workout from Monkey Wrench Collective theater company in Fullerton. ... The resulting show is a darkly comic warning sign for anyone caught up in shopping and – you know.

--O.C. Register
Review by Eric Marchese