This past month has been incredibly full — I got to see a bunch of plays, read books, spend time with friends, and enjoy work. Photo highlights follow!
FRIENDS
My sister visited LA this month. We spent an afternoon walking around Silver Lake with Grace & Tamar, ducking into stores and sipping LAMILL coffee. We stumbled upon this art installation below-right:
Afterwards we stopped by our favorite sushi place Octopus and stuffed ourselves silly with raw fish.
Later that night we saw Grace’s boyfriend Rian perform an improv cabaret with his teams at The Clubhouse in Hollywood.
The following week our whole group of friends met at Golden Road. Random: it was my first time at trivia here and I was pleasantly surprised to find that so many Emerson Zetas run it.
The next weekend we celebrated “Christmas in July (in March)” because the weather was so glorious here in LA. Our hosts set up their Christmas tree poolside and we played Xmas carols while exchanging gifts. It was absurdly fun.
I went hiking with my buddy Mike earlier this month. We started on the Los Feliz side of Griffith Park and climbed a trail to the lookout over the Observatory. The sky was moody which made for better photos.
Mike and Archer:
Yours truly:
Silhouette of hikers stretching above the clouds:
THEATER
This month brought lots of theater-going opportunities.
I saw Conor McPherson’s play The Night Alive at the Geffen and really enjoyed it. I have yet to read or see his other works (The Seafarer really intrigues me) so this was an introduction. I was quite taken in with the story and enjoyed a talkback with the cast and director / Artistic Director Randall Arney following the performance. The Geffen does consistently good work and I’d love to see the production of Switzerland currently running with Laura Linney but it’s completely sold out (UPDATE: they just announced a one-week extension) and weekend tickets are selling for $117 so it’s looking like that won’t happen.
The Other Place by Sharr White bowed on Broadway two years ago and is now making its Los Angeles premiere in North Hollywood. A woman with dementia grapples with the mystery of what happened to her missing daughter. It would have been more compelling if I hadn’t accidentally read the headline of the LA Times review (while searching for the running time) that gave away a major plot device. Why would the LA Times put a spoiler in their headline?
[images via here and here and here]
My favorite theatrical experience of the month goes to Trevor, presented by Circle X Theatre and currently running in Atwater Village. It’s written by Orange is the New Black writer Nick Jones who recently earned decent reviews for his off-Broadway play Verite at Lincoln Center. It stars original Steppenwolf member Laurie Metcalf as Sandra, the owner of a chimpanzee named Trevor (played by Jimmi Simpson, most recently seen on House of Cards) as they deal with complaints from neighbors that Trevor, though beloved by the community as a sort of mascot, might be a danger. Trevor comes off as a moody teenager; we are privy to his inner thoughts even though the humans around him cannot understand him except through rudimentary sign language (similarly, he cannot understand much of what they say). Miscommunication is heightened in both humorous and grave ways as Sandra struggles to keep Trevor living with her at home. Also, Trevor longs to be an actor (he once did a tax commercial with Morgan Fairchild) and there are some funny fantasy sequences. This play won me over handily and I’ve told many of my theater-loving friends to see it. Now I’m telling you, too!
The following day I saw a production of Eugene O’Neill’s Pulitzer Prize winning play Anna Christie at the Odyssey Theatre. I was initially intrigued for two reasons: I love Eugene O’Neill’s work but had not seen this play yet, and it stars Jeff Perry (another original Steppenwolf member) who plays Cyrus Beene on Scandal. Jeff Perry’s real-life daughter Zoe stars alongside him. Crazy coincidence: she is also Laurie Metcalf’s daughter and THEY co-starred in The Other Place (see my second theater review above) on Broadway two years ago. The theater world can be so small. Plus Laurie Metcalf and Jimmi Simpson — both of whom I’d seen just the night before in Trevor — were in attendance at this performance (I said hi).
The play itself drags early on but picks up steam when Kevin McKidd (Grey’s Anatomy) enters as Mat, the love interest for Anna. I particularly liked the set and staging of this performance; there is a shallow pool of water surrounding the stage like a moat and the front row is warned they’re in the Splash Zone.
The other night I saw a production of Donald Margulies’ Sight Unseen at the Lounge Theatre in Hollywood. It was my second Margulies play in the last year and I enjoy getting to know his work. This production is solid despite one unusual casting choice. The way they utilize the set is especially inventive — they do a lot with a small space.
Oh, and at the very end of last month I caught Gabriel Kahane’s The Ambassador at UCLA. It’s a concept album featuring tracks named after specific addresses in Los Angeles connected to LA’s history and identity. Deftly staged by Tony winner John Tiffany with stunning set design by another Tony winner Christine Jones, what could have been a simple concert has been elevated to an impressive work of theater. So glad I caught this one.
This Music Map in the lobby got my attention — guests could add the names of songs that remind them of specific LA places to this map of the city.
I attended one other industry event this month — 30 Rock and Pitch Perfect writer Kay Cannon spoke about her career as a comedy writer at an event sponsored by the Writer’s Guid Foundation. It was inspiring to hear how she made the leap from performer to writer (Tina Fey was a mentor) and stories from her life and the sets of her TV shows / movies.
FOOD, COFFEE, BOOKS
Some meals out this past month include… pizza at 800 Degrees, chicken kabobs with garlic fries at Hyatt’s Kitchen in NoHo, and sushi at Jinya in Studio City.
Photo from just outside Bob’s Big Boy at dusk in Toluca Lake:
Coffee at LAMILL in Silver Lake and Alfred’s on Melrose Place:
And coffee in bed on a rainy afternoon while reading Amy Poehler’s autobiography Yes Please:
I forgot to include this in my February recap, but I read Station Eleven and The Good Girl’s Guide to Getting Lost. Thoroughly enjoyed them both.
I just finished reading Meg Wolitzer’s The Interestings. I was very much sucked into the world she creates while following a core group of teens from when they meet at summer camp through their lives as middle-aged adults.
I also ready two plays this month — The Elephant Man (by Bernard Pomerance) and The Farnsworth Invention (by Aaron Sorkin). My commute via metro and bus lends itself to lots of reading and podcast listening. I’ve started picking up cheap plays at a used bookstore in NoHo called The Illiad Bookshop.
Just started reading Wonder by R.J Palacio. This was unintentional, but it pairs nicely with The Elephant Man in that it’s about a child named August whose face is severely disfigured, not unlike Joseph Merrick. The story begins as August navigates the move from home schooling to middle school, an unbearably cruel age for such a transition.
Above meal is from Simple Things in Toluca Lake. Delicious sandwiches. Good looking pies.
And just this past Sunday I went to the DGA with Jenny for a double feature of Cinderella and Insurgent (part two of the Divergent trilogy). Really enjoyed both films, as well as lunch at 9021-pho in between.
[images via WORK
I’ve been back at Young & Restless full-time covering a co-worker’s maternity leave. Most of the time I’m assisting our show’s executive producer but this past week I stepped back into my old job of production associate / script supervisor. It was such a gift to drop back into my old life like that — it was like I’d taken a two-year nap and woke up exactly where I left back in 2013. Here’s a photo from the set the other day:
The control booth:
We celebrated the show’s 42nd anniversary this past Thursday with an In ’N Out truck and cake on-stage (script page blurred out so I don’t get fired).
My boss gave a speech:
And the cast gathered around our celebratory cake for photos:
One other thing from work — the new Late Late Show with James Corden debuted last week, taping right next to our show on the CBS Television City lot. James did a genuinely terrible Y&R spoof but this Tom Hanks movie retrospective is quite endearing. Now can we get a One Man, Two Guvnors or Into the Woods tie-in?
Spotted on my evening commute through Hollywood:
Yesterday I wrote about one other highlight of the month — my 31st birthday celebration:
And that’s a wrap on March!
