Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Hollywood Fringe Festival 2011: 'Born to be on Stage,' 'Four Clowns,' and 'Next Best Thing,'
Alexis Jones, Raymond Lee, Zach Steel, and Kevin Klein in 'Four Clowns: Romeo & Juliet' (photo by Mustafa Sayed).
()
Hollywood Fringe Festival 2011 encompasses more than theatre and musicals -- it also features perverted and crass clowns in Four Clowns:Romeo and Juliet; a Moroccan mime in Born to be on Stage; and a narrative storytelling in Next Best Thing.
Through twisted humor, live music, and audience interaction Four Clowns gives clowning some much needed street cred with their very loose (loose in both the literary and promiscuous senses) adaptation of Romeo & Juliet. For this Hollywood Fringe Festival performance, clowns Hamper, Scooter, Biff, and Clementine take on all of the roles of Shakespeare's most famous classic to present the play in an abreviated and updated clown format "Where for art thou?" gets replaced with cut aways to boy-band spoofs and confused clown-style anal sex scenes. Alexis Jones, Kevin Klein, Zach Steel, and Raymond Lee are talented, crowd-pleasing, and hilarious, with Lee standing out as particularly engaging. Working through the comedically gifted and exceptionally well matched troupe, director Jeremy Aluma orchestrates the fast-paced and freaky Four Clowns: Romeo and Juliet with perfect comedic timing. Four Clowns: Romeo & Juliet is playing through June 25 at Art Works Theatre. Tickets are $10.
Another Hollywood Fringe Festival clown show, Born to be on Stage, is Momo Casablanca's coming-to-America biopic told through anecdotal humor and mimed scenes. While Born to be on Stage seems incomplete and more like a work-in-progress, Casablanca's narrative about his childhood in Morocco; culture-shocked immigration; and perspective opening description of the difficulties of being a Moroccan-American Jewish-Muslim-Krishna performer in modern day United States is interesting and magnetic. Born to be on Stage is playing through June 22 at Complex Theatres. Tickets are $12.
Next Best Thing is Antonio Sacre's mesmerizing exploration of the value of love, risk in retrospect, and healing the self through giving to community. Sacre's story-telling piece is NOT one of those typical Hollywood one man shows (you know, the kind where an actor gets up on a stage and tells their only-interesting-to-them, poorly directed, addiction and recovery in Hollywood cliches) -- instead it is beautifully poetic, well-constructed, warm, humorous, and uniquely provocative narrative born out of an authentic and unique literary voice. Sacre presents his work with no-frills, genuine simplicity and unmushy romantic charm. Director Paul Stein injects easily digestible timing and less-is-more into the pithy work. Next Best Thing is playing through June 26 at Theatre Asylum Lab or Theatre of NOTE. Tickets are $10.
Support for LAist comes from
Tickets, packages, schedules, and show information for all Hollywood Fringe Festival 2011 productions are available online.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
Censorship has long been controversial. But lately, the issue of who does and doesn’t have the right to restrict kids’ access to books has been heating up across the country in the so-called culture wars. -
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity.
-
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
-
With California voters facing a decision on redistricting this November, Surf City is poised to join the brewing battle over Congressional voting districts.
-
The drug dealer, the last of five defendants to plead guilty to federal charges linked to the 'Friends' actor’s death, will face a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.
Best of LAist