Welcome to Athena Theatre
The embodiment of wisdom, strength and purity
A nonprofit 501(c)(3) Organization; Producing under AEA 99 Seat Plan; based in Los Angeles, California.
The Athena Theatre Company is dedicated to developing and producing contemporary, off-beat and irreverent psychological dramas and dark comedies that challenge traditional stereotypes. We strive for theatre that entertains, informs, enlightens, questions and deepens audience awareness to vital modern issues. We endeavor to actively and responsibly invest in new voices for the stage by nurturing writers and promoting original works; especially in regards to gender, politics, race and religion. We aim to become an important and necessary force in both our community and our country.
True West
EXTENDED BY POPULAR DEMAND!
Thursday thru Saturday @ 8PM and Sunday at 2PM
January 28 - February 14, 2010
Theatre Row
410 42nd Street (btw 9th and 10th Avenues),NYC
www.TicketCentral.com
Tickets now on sale: www.ticketcentral.com
True West review quotes
"The work of set and costume designers Stefan Depner and Susan Voelker and of fight choreographer Robert Tuftee is very effective...The strength of this production is the charisma and skill of the actors playing the rival brothers. Lee and Austin begin as foils for each other, the former lives as a criminal and drifter, the latter as a Hollywood screenwriter and family man. The two quickly fall into a pattern of combat; a contest to see who can first inhabit and escape into the other's way of life. Brionne Davis embodies the hard-living Lee with a dangerous presence, as well as vulnerability. One senses a pain that is nearly too much for his body to contain. Ryan Spahn gives Austin an understated physicality. Each of his character's attempts to remain in control of himself and his life is a slow, beautiful reveal. The famous—or infamous—Shepard pauses are full and powerful, especially in Spahn's hands. We know that Austin is estranged from his wife long before the words are spoken.Both actors give the characters a wonderfully "brotherly" physical life. Down to a similar way of running their hands over their heads, they have developed a whole range of common gestures. Their physicality becomes more and more similar as they morph into pained versions of each other..." --nytheatre.com
"...Shepard brings to life a tense drama and a vivid world. Lee is a great character and his consistency creates a powerful ending. The strength of this production hinges on the fine acting of Brionne Davis as Lee, whose gestures, timing, and driving moment-to-moment shifts are fueled by motivation and personality -- with no breath for let-ups." --Let's Talk Off-Broadway
"I did not see TRUE WEST on Broadway with Phillip Seymour Hoffman and John C. Reilly, so I thought I should see the play as it was being done at the intimate Lion Theatre. I was impressed by Brionne Davis as "Lee." ...He looks very much like Ralph Fiennes and played an out-of-control drunk and hustler beautifully, obviously a versatile actor." --Theater Alert
"Brionne Davis was remarkable as the ADHD Lee, who is always waiting for the proverbial ship to come in..." --TheaterScene.net
The Glory of Living
By Rebecca Gilman
Finalist for the 2001 Pulitzer Prize
Osborn Award, an After Dark Award, a Jeff Citation, the George Devine Award, and the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright.
October 9 - November 21
Fridays and Saturdays at 8PM
(Please note: DARK on 10/31)
The El Centro Theatre
804 N. El Centro Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90038
Athena Theatre & El Centro Theatre presents THE GLORY OF LIVING by Rebecca Gilman, directed by Alice Ensor and Joe Koonce. The award-winning, "viscerally powerful" (The Guardian) early play by the author of Spinning Into Butter and Boy Gets Girl. Set in the rural Deep South, Rebecca Gilman's The Glory of Living received critical acclaim rare for a new American play when it had its British premiere in 1999, garnering the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright. Having opened in New York in the fall of 2001, this work focuses on fifteen-year-old Lisa, the daughter of a prostitute, and Clint, the car thief she runs away with to escape the misery of life with her mother. But the happier times that sullenly childlike Lisa yearns for never materialize, as Clint orders her to procure young runaways for him. Rebecca Gilman has created a riveting, unsentimental portrait of a young woman whose most striking quality is not her capacity for evil but the depth of her emptiness, in an environment as harsh and unyielding as the contours of her life.
Playwright: Rebecca Gilman
Director: Alice Ensor and Joe Koonce
Set Design: MonkeyBoy Productions
Lighting Design: Extended Visions Design
Starring
Brett Aune*, Mark Deliman, Jules Hartley, Kate Huffman, Therese McLaughlin, Michael Mims, Chuck Raucci*, Carolyn Stotes, Victoria Truscott, Jeorge Watson*
Ovation Award Eligible
Reservations: 323-230-7261
Plenty of street parking
*Member of Actors' Equity Association. The Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
This performance is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.
Broadway World Interview
The Glory of Living is a co-production between Athena Theatre and El Centro Theatre running October 9th thru November 21st at the El Centro Theatre in Hollywood Directed by Alice Ensor & Joe Koonce
Q: What drew you to The Glory of Living?
Alice: Rebecca Gilman - seriously, her writing is so incisive, and her characters so complex and fascinating - after months of holding readings of various plays, this piece was the one that haunted me. The fact that I could not stop thinking about it - or how it was actually so analogous to far too many of today's actual news headlines, made me want to explore it, and its characters further.
Joe: After seeing a reading of it I found the gritty, humanly flawed characters really hit a chord in me. No one is "just" evil, or "just" wonderful - and that human ability to have both live side by side within one person is an amazing thing.
Q: I hear this play is based on true events, how much of that inspired your direction?
Alice: To be honest, I didn't look at any of the accounts of the actual events the play was based on until we were about ¾ of the way through the rehearsal process. I think Ms. Gilman used the facts of the real life story as a jumping off point. I didn't want to "recreate" the real life individuals, but rather delve into the possibilities of what motivates individuals to behave as these characters do. What was more fascinating to me was comparing Glory to say the Jaycee Dugard- Phillip Garrido case that exploded in the news while we were in rehearsal. I found myself looking at Lisa and comparing her to Phillip Garrido's wife - what made that woman stay with Garrido knowing what he was doing. Where does nature vs. nurture fit into the evolution of an individual's morals and their own self image. Those were the true event questions that inspired me more than the actual accounts of the exploits of "Lady Sundown and NightRider".
Joe: It wasn't a part of my process at all - I tried to base the work solely on Ms. Gilman's script, and the rehearsal process with our particular actors.
Q: As a Co-Director how much of the process is eased or hindered?
Alice: I think that overall having a partner on this project really eased the process as a whole. Joe and I have the same respect for theatre. We share an ideology of what we think theatre can do, and how we want to affect an audience. Now that doesn't mean that there weren't many heated discussions at home on how to proceed on certain things... but when we were in the theatre with our incredibly talented group of actors - we were almost always on the same page and that was huge help to the process.
Joe: Because Alice and I have worked together for so many years, we had very similar ideas about how to handle the material - it was great to have someone to bounce ideas off of whose opinion you really trusted.
Q: What do you think the story is really about?
Alice: I actually believe that "Glory" is a love story. A very warped and twisted version of love, but a love story none-the-less. Each of these characters is incredibly human - they each seek to be loved, to show love, to understand love - and that driving need for, or inability to attain what they seek, creates behavior. Some of it we can identify with, and some of it is completely foreign to us, but we can't deny that it's out there, and that someone right now, is possibly feeling exactly that way. We can either explore it and discuss it, in which case we shine a light on darker corners of humanity - or we can ignore it, and potentially fall victim to it. If our production generates a spark of debate on any of it - I feel that we've done our job.
Joe: It's the audiences place to take what they want from it - it's my place to hopefully start the conversation about these characters, and their similarities and differences to each audience member.
Athena Theatre & El Centro Theatre presents THE GLORY OF LIVING by Rebecca Gilman, directed by Alice Ensor and Joe Koonce. The award-winning, "viscerally powerful" (The Guardian) early play by the author of Spinning Into Butter and Boy Gets Girl. Set in the rural Deep South, Rebecca Gilman's The Glory of Living received critical acclaim rare for a new American play when it had its British premiere in 1999, garnering the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright. Having opened in New York in the fall of 2001, this work focuses on fifteen-year-old Lisa, the daughter of a prostitute, and Clint, the car thief she runs away with to escape the misery of life with her mother. But the happier times that sullenly childlike Lisa yearns for never materialize, as Clint orders her to procure young runaways for him. Rebecca Gilman has created a riveting, unsentimental portrait of a young woman whose most striking quality is not her capacity for evil but the depth of her emptiness, in an environment as harsh and unyielding as the contours of her life.
Starring: Brett Aune*, Mark Deliman, Jules Hartley, Kate Huffman, Therese McLaughlin, Michael Mims, Chuck Raucci*, Carolyn Stotes, Victoria Truscott, Jeorge Watson*
General Admission $15, Ovation Award Eligible Reservations: 323-230-7261
Plenty of street parking: *Member of Actors' Equity Association. The Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
This performance is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.
The Tolucan Times--The Glory of Living
"The production is outstanding: sets resemble the reality of the environment, costumes are spot-on and the theme draws you in. Directors Alice Ensor and Joe Koonce utilize the actor’s talents with great invention. Standout performance was by Jeorge Watson as a prison guard." -M. Jarrett Christensen
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