RAT Two new plays in Los Angeles

["Jose Rivera" <paperrain@earthlink.net>]

To all concerned,


If you're in the Los Angeles area in January and February, please come to my
new plays.  These are world premieres.

The first, SONNETS FOR AN OLD CENTURY opens January 14 at a wonderful new
space in Hollywood.

The Greenway Court Theatre is run by Pierson Blaetz and Whitney Weston.
They run the Melrose Trading Post and have funneled money from that very
lucrative, community-level venture into the contruction of a new theatre and
into the opening of SONNETS, their debut production.  The building (which is
part of the Fairfax High School campus and was built in the 1930s) itself is
gorgeous -- and will soon be recognized, I predict, as one of the best
theatre-making spaces in the city.

As far as I know there's been very little corporate sponsorship -- most of
the money and all the labor has come from theatre people, high school kids,
and friends of the producers.

The cast is large and diverse -- 23 people -- the play consists of 23
monologues by dead people.  (I know, a ton of laughs)

The cast is wonderful -- a mixture of veteran stage actors and first-timers.
I'm thrilled to be working with all of them.  I know I'm prejudiced, but I
think this production, directed by James Eric, is lucid, moving, and timely.
The co-producers are Oscar Arguello and Maricela Ochoa.

The theatre is located at 544 N. Fairfax -- a block south of Melrose.
Please come -- if I'm around, please say hi.

SONNETS  runs Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8 PM, starting this
Friday and running, we hope, indefinitely.  Tickets are reasonable -- $15.
There's free parking right next to the theatre.  Call 323-655-7679 for more
info.

The second play is REFERENCES TO SALVADOR DALI MAKE ME HOT.  This one is
going up on the second stage at South Coast Rep in Costa Mesa, 45 miles
south of Los Angeles.  The play is directed by Juliette Carrillo, who runs
SCR's Hispanic Playwrights Program.  This is our fourth production together.
The cast is so good I can hardly believe it -- Ana Ortiz, Robert Montano,
Svetlana Efremova, Victor Mack, and Wells Rosaro.  This is my second world
premiere with Robert, who originated CLOUD TECTONICS at the Humana Festival
four years ago.  The design team -- drawn from all across the country and
Mexico -- is one of the best I've ever worked with.  I know it's a hassle
getting down to SCR from LA, but I blieve this production is worth the
effort.  It also might be of some interest to those thinking about/ talking
about war, war's effects of civilian Americans, the warrior-nature of men,
civilian reponsibility for the actions of soldiers.

SALVADOR DALI opens January 28 and runs until February 27.  The theatre is
located at 655 Town Center Drive, Cosa Mesa, CA.  Call 714-708-5555 for info
and tix.

The following is an excerpt from SALVADOR DALI:

GABRIELA:

I've been looking up
at the night sky for months.
Watching the watchful moon.
Noticing the stars.
Before you're born, I wonder,
as you looked around,
and took inventory of the womb ...
did it look like this?
Did you see the moon and stars in there?
Floating bits of fire --
maybe the nurtients from your
mother's bloodstream --
looking like constellations
against the deep, deep black
of your mother's night sky?
What do you say, Moon?
What's the good word tonight?