Top 5 Theatre of 2010

Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo
by Rajiv Joseph
May 28, 2010 at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, CA

Completely blown away by this piece! Steeped in rich, raw, and arresting theatricality and humanity... I was so pumped to read a few months ago that it will finally get a Broadway debut in March with Robin Williams - and that they are bringing back Moises Kaufmann to do it. I saw this piece with my Mom in LA on a day trip we took and she was wow'd by it too. It was definitely one of the best theatrical experiences of 2010 because I was completely enraptured and alarmed from the opening sequences, as well as all the way through. That's how theater should be! Slap me in the god damn face! My mom and I discussed this piece, it's symbols, the characters, and the ideas a great deal on the car ride home to La Jolla as well as the next morning during breakfast. I was fortuante to meet Rajiv in May, too, when I assistant directed his "Gruesome Playground Injuries" as Woolly with John Vreeke - he's such a great guy and I think his work is only beginning. I look forward to seeing this in NY in 2011.





The Merchants of Bollywood
Sunday October 24, 2010 at George Mason University's Concert Hall

Abso-fucking-lutely this is in my Top 5! THIS was such a phenominal theaterical spectacle-ride.... Dancing numbers that blew my mind away. I remember thinking during intermission that I wish I could think like these Bollywood directors clearly think - in that they must think within so many layers of color and movement and music - I mean, I wish my imagination had the palette like they had. Every scene brought out another surpirse - genuine surprise, a mix of exotic, bollywood, india, hollywood, human drama, pop concert, camp and mime.

I was in such great company too... Kelly, Patrick, Heather, Michael, Nicole. All of Act I I was shaking my butt in my seat, by the middle of Act II we were up in the aisles- as well all 2,000 other people in the Concert Hall. Totally obsessed with the music - thank god Heather bought the soundtrack, I burned it instantly and STILL to this day months later routinely play it in my car. There are certain tracks on there I still can't get enough of. Music really can bring the people together.. it's an amazing feeling to be at at theatrical event, not a pop concert, but a theatrical event and have that many people up on their feet.

After the show, K and P and I went back stage and met several of the dancers, and even the lead actress Carol Fertado - hilarious. We got autographs, the dancers took movies of us raving about their performances. The whole damn thing... was just one of the best nights out to the theatre -ever.



11 and 12
by Peter Brook
at the Barbican Center February 8, 2010 at 7:45pm

I was very, very fortunate to be in London when I was. I seriously got lucky because I didn't do that much looking into what shows would be playing while I was there. 11 and 12 was written and directed by the now elderly Peter Brook - but what a master he still is! This was the best show of the year that illustrated to me the power of simplicity- theater that can be done with a gang of people, and a carpet, a chair and a few sticks. And also how if it's a play, the power will always lie with the story and it's humans, nothing else. Having an extravagant set is cute, but... if the people and the story aren't up to par, the whole thing will be worthless, fluff.

I had talked to many people about this idea before, but this, I think, was the first time I had seen it executed so masterfully. And it's Peter Brook! My god! The man is a genius. I personally love his style, I love his writings and I was completely moved by the entire experience.. even to the last moment where he lifts the lights in the house and the audience cues themselves when (or when not to) clap.

This was a very powerful theater week, I remember. Monday I saw this show- by myself at the Barbican - and later that week I had tickets to see Midsummer Night's Dream with Judi Dench at the Rose and Waiting for Godot with Ian McKellen at the Haymarket. Both powerhouse actors and both did masterful work that inspired me, but this 11 and 12 production has stayed with me longer.




Six Degrees of Separation
by John Guare
at the Old Vic, February 3, 2010 at 7:30pm

So obsessed with this play... and this was such a tight show. I was front row with Wided and countless times, our jaws dropped, our heads glanced from actor to actor...this piece had us on the edge of our seat. A sharp, well engineered play that roared staright through without an intermission... my god, I turned to Wided after the showed ended, after they took their bows and I said "this is the kind of theatre I want to do."

and that's that.





The Habit of Art
by Alan Bennett
January 12, 2010 at 2:15PM at the National Theatre, London

This was the first show I saw on my European trip this past year... front row and totally swept away from the high caliber of acting and the writing, which moved me greatly. A gang actors rehearsing a play about Auden and Britten - so its the story of the actors working with the writer and the stage management to produce and craft the piece, but it's also the play within the play, the story of the two artists themselves. An masterful meditation and conversation on humanity, art, sexaulity, identity, fear, the theater, and life.

This was, too, my very first trip to the National Theater. Last time I was in London I for some reason never made it there. This was, too, so soon after I arrived... it was a very special moment for me experiencing this piece by myself and taking ownership of what I had just done: travelled across the pond, after months of saving and dreaming and scheming, to learn, grow, explore, create, and dream even more. I was staying with my dearest friend, sister Wided while she studied at university.... and life seemed surreal and terrifying and mysterious and exhilarating.

I tried to go and see this piece a second time but tickets were sold out - I was SO fortunate to see this in Previews - but I'm happy with the single viewing because it keeps this experience collected and singluar and more powerful, I think. I bought the book to the play and love it - which I need to find..