"A GRIM LOOK INTO A FUTURE THAT'S ALREADY HERE"

Today comes a review of COKROACH from the O.C. Register's own Eric Marchese, Orange County's long-suffering theater critic and ragtime enthusiast (no relevance here, we just enjoy mentioning it):

[An] utter hopelessness is the most keenly tangible element of Cockroach, permeating its every scene while creating a bleak alternative reality of our own recent history. The script uses bursts of action, language and violence to tell its story, and director Christopher Basile’s staging accurately captures the noise, confusion, tension and chaos of a rowdy high-school classroom.

Tickets for this weekend's performance remain available for purchase online or by calling 1-800-838-3006. $21 general admission, $11 for students of Post-Orwellian British high schools and fine upstanding learning institutions of the United States alike.

--O.C. Register

WRINGING GOLD FROM THE PAGES OF A SCRIPT

O.C. Weekly's patron saint of local storefront theater Joel Beers took in COCKROACH last weekend, and as always he does, turned in a finely-observed review of the piece:

The Monkey Wrench Collective, which is producing the U.S. premiere of Cockroach, has mined yet another diamond in [playwright Sam] Holcroft. The small theater has done a yeoman's job at finding work by young, U.K. playwrights that are edgy and uncompromising in terms of politics and tone. Though not quite as jaw-dropping and assaulting as some of the work done by other Monkey Wrench favorites, such as Mark Ravenhill or Sarah Kane, Holcroft's voice is equally blistering and distinctive. She's a young, British playwright who, based on the deceptively dense waters she navigates in this play, already possesses a talent that any writer of any age would long for: the ability to say as much between her lines as her characters say in them.

Infected as we have been by the uncouth ways of the fictional characters who regularly traipse our stage, we find our baser instincts getting the better of us, compelling us through flooded hormonal pathways to remind you that tickets for the show remain available at the scant cost of but $21 for general admission, and $11 for students who seek a break from the cleaning of blood-caked boots. Those of you whose fear of the internet is not so severe as to prevent you from reading local theater blogs, but which remains enough of a fixture in your life as to scuttle any dream you might have had of utilizing an online order form, may also obtain tickets via the quaint old-timey ritual of dialing 1-800-838-3006 and entrusting your credit card information to the ear of an actual human being. The choice, as ever it is, remains yours alone.

--O.C. Weekly

"MORE THAN THAT YOU DON'T NEED TO KNOW"

Jordan Young, of the endearingly awkwardly named LA/OC Arts Examiner, saw last weekend's performance of the U.S. Premiere of COCKROACH by Sam Holcroft, and was good enough to write up his thoughts on the play in pleasingly easy-to-quote form:

Director Christopher Basile has tackled the play as though he were staging an opera or a ballet, resulting in a riveting, visceral piece of theatre that will have you riding the edge of your chair. His six-member cast turns in some of the best ensemble work you’re likely to see all year, a half dozen finely crafted performances.

As online guardians of the Monkey Wrench name, we remain honor-bound to remind you that performances of COCKROACH continue this weekend for the bargain-basement price of $21 for general admission, $11 for students. Tickets are available here, or by calling 1-800-838-3006.

--LA/OC Arts Examiner

AUDITIONS FOR "LEARN TO BE LATINA"

SORRY, AUDITIONS FOR THIS PRODUCTION ARE NOW CLOSED. 

Monkey Wrench Collective is accepting submissions for the following roles in its Southern California Premiere of Enrique Urueta’s hilarious comedy LEARN TO BE LATINA. Auditions will be Sunday night, August 28, by appointment only. Call backs will be Monday, August 29. 
Please contact Dave Barton at Rudegrrlla@aol.com to schedule your audtion.

The show opens Friday, October 21 and runs thru November 20th at Monkey Wrench Collective, 204 N. Harbor, Fullerton, CA. 92832. Fridays, Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday matinees at 2:00. Rehearsals begin between September 12th and September 18th. There is some pay.

Hanan Mashalani—Female, 24, actor-singer-dancer. Sexy but not plastic. Ethnically ambiguous. Stylish, but not cookie cutter. Comic timing and dance/movement skills a plus.

Jill—Female,white, late 20s-30s One of trio of Record Executives acting as Chorus. Comic timing and dance/movement skills a plus.

Blanca—Female, early-mid 20s, Chicana. A femme dyke. Comic timing and dance/movement skills a plus.

PDF scripts are available from Rudegrrlla@aol.com

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

Auditions for COCKROACH

SORRY, AUDITIONS FOR THIS PRODUCTION ARE NOW CLOSED. 

AUDITIONS FOR COCKROACH
Tuesday, July 12: 6-9pm
Auditions at the Theater.

Please come with a headshot and resume.
Sides will be available at the audition, but if you would like to read a copy of the full script beforehand you can email the director at ChristopherCBasile@gmail.com


STORY LINE: Five students and their teacher do their best to continue with normal life, while a bloody war gradually gets closer to closer to home.

[ BETH ]
Lead, Female, White, 27 - 38. Form tutor and Science teacher. Has the strength to hold a difficult classroom together, but vulnerable in her personal life. No-nonsense and can take control of a room.

[ MMOMA ]
Lead, Female, African-American, 18+ tly. Senior High School student. Her parents are Nigerian though she has never been there. Incredibly smart but feels the constant need to have a boyfriend, a need so strong that she would go after other girls' boyfriends (though she knows it is wrong).

[ LEE ]
Lead, Male, White, 18+ tly. Senior High School student. Alpha-male, emotional, prone to anger, rash. Not the smartest of the bunch. Dating Leah.

[ LEAH ]
Lead, Female, White, 18+ tly. Senior High School student. Tough but loving. Could fend for herself but really enjoys being someone's girlfriend. Her brother is in the war. Dating Lee.

[ DAVEY ]
Lead, Male, White, 18+ tly. Senior High School student. Has the capability to get incredibly angry, but generally kind and sweet. Feels as though he must live up to the expectations of his dad. Dates Danielle.

[ DANIELLE ]
Lead, Female, White, 18+ tly. Senior High School student. Delicate and bruised. The most typically girly of the bunch. Very pretty and shy, but has a sexual drive that comes out. Dates Davey.

*Note: This play is set in contemporary South England, therefore accents are a must. Some strong language used. No nudity but some sexual situations.

2011 Season Addendum

SEPT 9th - OCT 9th

Monkey Wrench Collective is pleased to announce the US premiere of Cockroach by Sam Holcroft set to open September 9, 2011, directed by Christopher Basile.

Cockroach is the first full-length play by Sam Holcroft, now one of the brightest rising stars in UK Theater. Cockroach tells the story of a biology teacher and five students surviving as best they can as a once far-off war gradually comes closer and closer to home.

PHYLLIS NAGY IN CONVERSATION

Jacqueline Lawton recently interviewed DISAPPEARED playwright Phyllis Nagy on her career and motivations:

I want to provoke a single thought that perhaps did not previously occur to someone sitting in the audience. And I truly believe that a few laughs along the way never hurt the journey. I don’t have an agenda to push in any of the plays. What they mean to me is never what they will mean to any other individual. I can see, though, from looking at the body of my work that my obsessions and fascinations have to do with things like duality, identity, loss of identity, synchronicity, the intersection of fate and will. 

Read the full thing over at Bosco Fullerton, and then head over to Brown Paper Tickets to buy your seat for this weekend's performance of DISAPPEARED.  

Post-performance discussions with Phyllis Nagy will follow our matinée showings on May 1 and May 8 at 2pm. These dates are expected to sell out quickly, so buy your tickets now!

THE ROAD OF THE HUMAN SOUL, ANONYMOUS AND UNMAPPED

Joel Beers, the much-loved/feared critic for the O.C. Weekly, has seen Monkey Wrench's production of DISAPPEARED, and finds within it much worth considering:

Much like The Wire, the best TV show ever, the dominant character in Disappeared is a city: New York. Nagy, who worked and lived there for years before moving to Los Angeles, obviously knows it well and realizes the crushing anonymity that life in a megalopolis can foster.
...
The real territory that Nagy is interested in exploring is the vast expanse between the human ears. And there is no road map for the human soul. The characters in Disappeared may long for one, something that might give them direction, but, when all is said and done, they're all traveling blind like the rest of us.

Let it be said: we at the Wrench will always welcome a comparison to The Wire (which really is the best TV show, like, ever) with open arms, flushed cheeks, and just the tiniest little heart-swells of unmitigated joy.

PLEASE NOTE: post-performance discussions with playwright Phyllis Nagy will follow our matinée showings on May 1 and May 8 at 2pm. These dates are expected to sell out quickly, so buy your tickets now!

--O.C. Weekly,
Joel Beers

EXCEEDING THE EXPECTED

The good people at the Bosco Fullerton blog have weighed in on Monkey Wrench's production of DISAPPEARED, and we're delighted to hear they found it satisfying:

There is a running theme in many of Los Angeles-based playwright Phyllis Nagy's plays of people losing their identities, feeling unfulfilled and wanting to just vanish. Her characters are frequently complicated souls. But mostly highly identifiable. We know these people. We may even be one of these people. The challenge when a company performs her work is bringing these complexities and nuances of the characters to light in a palatable way. 

The Monkey Wrench Collective's latest, Nagy's 1995 play Disappeared, meets and exceeds all expectations.

As always, duty and Objectivist-style rational self-interest requires us to note that tickets for the production are on sale now. $21 General Admission / $11 Students. Through May 22.


PLEASE NOTE: post-performance discussions with playwright Phyllis Nagy will follow our matinée showings on May 1 and May 8 at 2pm. These dates are expected to sell out quickly, so buy your tickets now!

--Bosco Fullerton,
Allen Bacon

And Backstage.com has its own words to speak about our production of DISAPPEARED:

With its story of a young woman who goes missing and the inability of the police to determine whether she left of her own volition or met with foul play, Phyllis Nagy's 1995 drama "Disappeared" joins the ranks of contemporary dramas such as Bryony Lavery's "Frozen," yet it's sui generis, meshing existential drama with black comedy. Director Dave Barton's staging is long on atmosphere yet sticks to the nitty-gritty of Nagy's text. The play's various New York City locales are boosted by Christopher Basile and Alexander Price's well-detailed scenic design. The real litmus test, though, lies with Barton's octet of actors and how well their work realizes a script in which characterization is everything.

PLEASE NOTE: post-performance discussions with playwright Phyllis Nagy will follow our matinée showings on May 1 and May 8 at 2pm. These dates are expected to sell out quickly, so buy your tickets now!

--Backstage.com

Eric Marchese

A RARE BIRD IN THE WORLD OF THEATER

Phyllis Nagy's Disappeared saw a sold-out opening weekend and gifted us with a review from the O.C. Register's resident theater critic Eric Marchese:

Not many plays can be said to function simultaneously as drama, character study and mystery, and that makes "Disappeared" a rare bird in the world of theater... Monkey Wrench Collective theater company's staging not only points up the strengths of Nagy's writing; her existentialist story, scenes, characters and dialogue put the talents of director Dave Barton and his cast of eight on display.

Tickets are, as always currently on sale, for the low price of $21/general, $10/students. Post-performance discussions with the playwright follow our matinée showings on May 1 and May 8 at 2pm.

--Eric Marchese

  O.C. Register

NO JOKE

postcard image by "Greg Adkins"

Monkey Wrench Collective is pleased to announce the official start of our 2011 season beginning April 15, with DISAPPEARED by Phyllis Nagy. 

Sarah Casey is a 25-year old travel agent who's never been outside of New York. When she goes missing after leaving a seedy bar in Hell's Kitchen, the last person to see her was a man who works in a thrift store and dresses in his client's clothes, assuming different identities. Was Sarah killed or did she merely 'disappear' to escape her anonymous existence? 

Directed by Dave Barton

Starring Christopher Basile, Karen Kahler, Jeffrey Kieviet, Rick Kopps, Stan Morrow, Robert Dean Nunez, Jennifer Pierce and Susan E. Taylor
 

Tickets are available by calling at Brown Paper Tickets 1-800-838-3006 or online at MonkeyWrenchCollective.org

The show opens Friday, April 15 and runs thru Sunday, May 22.

Showtimes are Fridays at 8:00 pm, Saturdays at 7:00 pm and Sunday matinees at 2:00 pm, (beginning May 1).

 
Prices are $21 general admission and $11 for students. 

MWC'S 2011 SEASON

The official start of our season begins in April 15: DISAPPEARED by Phyllis Nagy. Sarah Casey is a 25-year old travel agent who's never been outside of New York. When she goes missing after leaving a seedy bar in Hell's Kitchen, the last person to see her was a man who works in a thrift store and dresses in his client's clothes, assuming different identities. Was Sarah killed or did she merely 'disappear' to escape her anonymous existence? Directed by Dave Barton. 
 
Jun/July: DAMNEE MANON, SACREE SANDRA by Michael Tremblay. Two interweaving monologues on religion and sex, delivered by a drag queen and a religious zealot, that examines the sacred and the profane--their similarities and their differences--and how they merge and become one another. Directed by Rick Stein. 
 
Aug/Sept: BLANK SLATE by CTAG. This new work starts at the opposite end of the spectrum from most productions--just a production team and actors. Using an assortment of techniques and exercises developed by CTAG's creative team, the ensemble will discover character, conflicts and catharsis, creating and delivering ana original story and production over 12 weeks of rehearsal. Doorected by R. J. Romero. 
 
Oct/Nov.: TBA. Directed by Christopher Basile. 
 
Nov/Dec.: LEARN TO BE LATINA by Enrique Urueta. SO CAL PREMIERE. Hanan is a promising young pop singer, and she has a record label dying to record her...until they find out she's Lebanese. Not to worry, they say: Hanan can still be a star—as long as she learns to be Latina! In this fiercely funny production from San Francisco badass playwright Urueta, cultural identities and the music business are poked with some very, very sharp sticks.