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"...endearingly human..."
-- Kyle Moore,
The Tolucan Times
"...director McClean and his company
demonstrate the true art of ensemble acting."
--Dink O'Neal, Backstage West
 A Company of Wayward Saints
Written by George Herman
The company is a commedia dell' arte group
who wander by mistake into the eye of an allegory. They are
humanity, wayward saints all, who are far from home and
without means. A nobleman may be their salvation if they can
put on a good show for him. Surprisingly, the Company
chooses to present the history of man, from the Garden of
Eden through Everyman in birth, adolescence, marriage and
death. Along the way they enact other wayward adventures
such as the assassination of Julius Caesar and the
homecoming of Odysseus. It is a fine mosaic of life redeemed
by humor and human understanding.
Performance Dates –
Previews June 20 - 21
Opens June 26 - Aug 2 2008
Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8 PM
Tickets $20.00 General / $15.00 Discount
tickets for Groups/ Students / Seniors
323-469-3113 for
Reservations and further information
LOCATION: Front Entrance
Write Act Repertory Theatre
6128 Yucca Ave
(1 block off Gower & the 101 – just east of the historic
Capitol Records building)
Hollywood, CA. 90028
PARKING/TRANSPORTATION: Back Entrance
Parking is available on-site at the St. Stephen’s Episcopal
Church parking lot located one block below with an easy
 Write Act Rep entrance. The free ample parking lot is
located at Write Act Repertory Theatre 6125 Carlos Ave.
Hollywood, CA. 90028
ACCESSIBILITY - Write Act Repertory is ADA
Compliant and Wheelchair Ramp Access is through the Front
Entrance only at 6125 Yucca Ave. Hollywood 90028. Also
accessible by Taxi and the Hollywood & Vine Metro Subway Red
line.
If you are interested in finding out more
information about your opportunities and how Write Act Rep
can help capture your Artistic goals, please e-mail our
Communications Director
tracypeyton@writeactrep.org
and she will put you in contact with our Artistic Team
members depending on which artistic discipline you are
interested in.
Backstage West
Theatre Review by Dink O’Neal
Director Joe McClean
handles the script's everything-but-the-kitchen-sink
requirements with skill…
…{McClean’s}actors
handle the subtleties and nuances of Herman's script with
touching simplicity.
… Standouts in their
ability to flip between bufoonery and realism include Chas
Mitchell as Pantalone, Joseph Ruzer, and Andrea Pandazedes…
…Tchia Casselles's
appropriately Renaissance-like costuming is augmented
beautifully by Wendy Gough Soroka's handcrafted masks. Rich
Wong's lighting is particularly effective…
… director McClean and
his company demonstrate the true art of ensemble acting.
Tolucan Times
A Commedia Primer
Theatre Review by Kyle Moore
George Herman's "A Company of Wayward Saints," now playing
at Write/Act Repertory Theatre in Hollywood, is a platypus
of a play: A mismatched hybrid of the parts of two very
different animals fused together to make a single entity …
… under Joe McClean's
loose and playful hand …the overall effect is surprisingly
moving as Herman muses on the greater purpose of man (and
woman) in this world…
…Some particularly funny
and lively work is turned in by Joseph Ruzer and Candace
Brown, and Andrea Pandazedes…
…Commedia, comedy,
tragedy, drama? Whatever it is, it's endearingly human.
For Entertainment Today, 7/20/08
TICKETHOLDERS
by Travis Michael Holder
A Company of Wayward Saints
Write Act Repertory
George Herman's rusty old warhorse of a farce A Company of
Wayward Saints has had 'em rolling in the aisles since its
debut in 1963, presented over the years before thousands of
eager summer festival attendees on huge and slickly
professional arena stages around the world, yet still
trickling down in size and scope to play the tiniest
makeshift community theatre spaces in the basements of every
local Baptist church on the continent.
Ironically, the Wayward Saints inept and dysfunctional
amateur commedia dell'arte troupe returns to a church
setting once again for its latest revival, but it's
blessedly not being performed somewhere in the outskirts of
Cleveland this time. Instead, they're rolling 'em right here
in our urban wasteland of a city at Write Act Repertory's
charming longtime home in the shadow of the Hollywood Sign:
the atmospheric century-old St. Stephen's Episcopal Church,
which thankfully isn't that holy when it comes to letting
Write Act do whatever they please, including the often
profane antics and stuffed codpieces of these Wayward
Saints.
This is all something akin to Noises Off as written by a
time-hopping Moliere, as Saints' bumbling band of traveling
players makes one last-gasp effort to earn enough money to
abandon the unforgiving road and hightail it back home,
where each weary actor envisions he or she can live
forevermore in some dreamlike state of non-theatrical
stability. Whether or not this all takes place in
16th-century Italy where commedia was developed is a little
murky here, especially when director Joe McClean's vision
includes everything from the airheaded Ruffiana shooting off
her digital camera at every opportunity and includes
references to such contemporary icons as Motel 6, not to
mention one character boasting graduation from ITT Tech.
The premise is that a wealthy duke is in the audience (don't
sit in the second row if it's a light audience and you want
to avoid becoming part of the plot) who has promised to
patronize the Saints' journey from Theatrical Touring Hell
to civilian Valhalla if they can successfully wow him with
their improvised comedic rendition of The History of Man.
Unfortunately, these feuding players can hardly endure each
other's farts, let alone create a program that needs a
fiercely trusting solidarity.
All the old commedia players are here for the fight,
including their frustrated leader Harlequin (Andrew
Mueller); his long-suffering acerbic Eve Arden of a wife
Colombine (Andrea Pandazedes); their rascally womanizing son
Scarpino (Joseph Ruzer); a Brooklyn-y phallus-stroking
Pantalone (Chas Mitchell); the aforementioned legally blonde
vixen Ruffiana (Candace Brown); the aging Falstaffian
Dottore (Jack Seal); and the blowhard Capitano (Marc McHone).
And as the company's obviously starcrossed lovers, the
hilarious Jason Parsons makes an auspicious LA stage debut
by playing his Tristano as the troupe's resident light-loafered
Carson Kressley, with the moon-eyed Aurora Nibley (in for
Sarah Yahr Tucker, who now I bet will remember Write Act
plays Thursday night performances) in tow as his beloved
Isabella, a girl who obviously needs a little counseling if
she's planning to pursue the pair's romantic relationship
beyond this possibly ill-fated final tour.
In one scene early in Act Two when the company members
realize they must stop their bickering and link together if
they're ever going home, Parsons and Nibley show their
extreme versatility as the young players quietly and
sensitively morph into countrified parents giving birth to
their firstborn. One too-brief scene between Parsons' dazed
and confused anti-Kressley first-time father and the town
doctor (Seal) around more to give some quiet downhome advice
than to just say "Push," proves one of the most memorable
moments of the production.
Kudos must also be shouted out to Tchia Casselle for her
nicely distressed Renaissance costuming; McClean for his
perfectly eclectic collection of mismatched props and set
pieces; and particularly to Wendy Gough Soroka, whose
amazing original masks created especially for this
production are the quintessential addition to the
proceedings, allowing each player to act like buffoons
without—presumably—having to bat an eyelash. On the artist's
website (www.arlymasks.com),
Soroka explains her mission is to "conceal the human and
reveal the divine," something she's has accomplished
spectacularly this time out.
Still, the most impressive thing here is the freedom and
camaraderie allowed the company playing the Company.
Miraculously, everyone joined onstage for this fine revival
of A Company of Wayward Saints mirrors the story, as they
all seem more than willing to work as a team, something they
pull off (no, Pantalone, not that) with phenomenal ease and
unerring commitment. One would assume the credit goes to
McClean's spirited direction, a leadership which obviously
encouraged his fortunate actors to play at will, including
throwing in extremely quick, enormously funny adlibs
whenever the evening's performance demands.
www.reviewplays.com
A
Company of Wayward Saints
Write
Act Repertory Theatre
Reviewed by Jose Ruiz
We have covered this company a couple of
times in the past and have never been disappointed in
their productions. This show continues that string.
Performed in the style of commedia dell'
arte, George Herman's story deals with a group of actors
who seem to have gone wayward, are flat broke and are
looking for a way to go home again. The premise is that
a wealthy nobleman comes to their show and offers to
help them go back if their performance is worthy.
In this play within a play, the actors
who call themselves A Company of Wayward Saints, decide
that the best way to gain the patronage of this
important patron is to put on a stylish and imposing
show. But what? They finally decide on a theme that
will be all inclusive. They will perform the "History
of The World."
Starting with the Garden of Eden (which
was just this side of genius) through birth,
adolescence, marriage and death the company argues,
fights, and tries to outdo one another as they perform
their various scenes. Though chaos reigns supreme, they
still manage to get as far as the assassination of
Julius Caesar and the homecoming of Odysseus. But by
now the Wayward Saints have reached the end of their
patience with each other, and their selfishness and self
indulgence triumph to dissolve the company so each goes
his and her own way.
But guess what – these are actors and
what is an actor without a stage? So they somewhat
grudgingly get back together to finish the performance
for the nobleman, who has been patiently sitting in the
back, and this time they tackle far more meaningful
aspects of life.
Needless to say, they pull it off and
eventually they realize that there are far more
important things in life besides gaining recognition and
fame. Along the way the company (the real actors)
performs with true zest managing to engage the audience
in laughter at times mixed with introspect.
The Commedia masks crafted by Wendy Gough
are just wonderful as they create distinct personalities
for the actors. So are the costumes by Tchia Casselle
which combine period with present and work in synch with
Joe McCLean’s set and props. Rich Wong also worked on
the set and lights.
But it’s the entire cast that makes this
happen, and the evening we dropped in the actors
included Marc McHone, Andrew Miller, Andrea Pandazedes,
Justin Radford, Sarah Yahr Tucker, Beth Fisher, Jonathan
Harrison, Samm Hill and Sarju Patel. All of them were
super in their roles.
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