REAL THEATER
Ron Returns to the Stage

I mentioned a few posts back how I expect my commentary (but not my daily posts and links) to slow down a bit as the play I'm in approaches its opening. I noticed that the theater company that's producing the play, Infernal Bridegroom Productions, has a website. Sure enough, they've got a nice little write-up on the show, Wallace Shawn's The Hotel Play.

I thought Real Art's loyal readers might like to know what I'm up to in the world of real art, so here's an excerpt:

Written by Wallace Shawn and first performed in 1981 at La Mama Experimental Theatre Club, the first cast to tackle this massive theatrical undertaking was made up of actors and non-actors alike, including the playwright himself. To commit to Shawn’s plan of a seemingly unending stream of strange characters all passing through the same hotel in the course of a single day, each role was played by one person, with most characters appearing onstage for just a few minutes.

It is in this spirit that Houston’s leading avant-garde theater company has assembled its own cast. In addition to actors who regularly appear in IBP productions, it includes young children of IBP supporters, local musicians, staff members, and parents of company members.

“My plays have been strange from the beginning, and they never got unstrange.”
– Wallace Shawn

Infernal Bridegroom Productions has always produced adventurous contemporary plays not normally seen in Houston. The Hotel Play is such a work. Showcasing the best of Shawn’s verbal humor and ability to create really memorable characters, The Hotel Play focuses on a clerk as he moves seamlessly in and out of the lives of many guests. Sometimes he toys with them, sometimes he ignores them, and sometimes he just sits back and watches.

There’s the hate-filled husband in pink and the wife who wants to go home. There’s the florist, and there’s the man who gets bad coffee. We meet them for a moment, and then they’re gone.

Click here for more.

This is actually a pretty good production. I've never worked with IBP before, and I wasn't really sure of what to expect--I've only seen two of their shows, which didn't quite live up to the company's hot-shit reputation, but was interested in working with them because they take on challenging material. Because the cast is so huge, the role dropped in my lap; a friend recommended me to the director who then gave me a phone call--after a brief audition, I was cast in a small part, the man who gets bad coffee.

The play works well because of the army of actors. (In fact, I keep thinking this is like a massive super-hero crossover, you know, like Marvel's Secret Wars or DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths.) There are manic actors and mellow actors, over-actors and subtle actors, old actors and child actors, novice actors and experienced actors, amateur actors and professional actors, tall actors and short actors, fat actors and skinny actors...I'm sure you get the idea. Given the surrealism of Shawn's script, given the lack of firm story, somehow this gumbo of theater all comes together into a coherent whole. Kudos to the director for riding herd on this weird and fun circus.

(One small criticism I want to make: as far as I can tell, the cast is all white; to be fair, this is a problem that seems to be shared by the entire underground theater scene in Houston, but that's not a very good excuse for shunning diversity, if you ask me.

UPDATE: At rehearsal today I did count a single Asian actor. It also occurred to me that ethnicity, as opposed to race, knows no color; there may be some actors in the cast who do not think of themselves as Caucasian, but appear to my Anglo eyes to be white. Maybe my criticism is too harsh. Or not. It's a great show, at any rate.)

I haven't had this much fun in years. If you're in Houston in the next month, try to come see it.

Wallace Shawn





You do all realize, I hope, that Shawn plays the Grand Nagus of the Ferengi on Star Trek. He gets my admiration and respect for that work alone. His writing is, in my opinion, just as good as his acting. I mean, this guy's, like, a total genius!

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