The Los Angeles-based BOTHarts theater company, including writer
and actor Chris Wells, is fighting to keep “Liberty!”
alive in the city of angels.
“Liberty!,” a one-act play, turned ensemble
production, written by Wells and performed by BOTHarts, opens Jan.
18 as part of the Hot Properties series sponsored by the Los
Angeles County Arts Commission and A.S.K. Theater Projects at
[Inside] The Ford.
That’s assuming Wells, the show’s original solo
performer, bedridden, voiceless, and without an understudy can rise
to the occasion.
“Don’t worry. He’ll be performing on
Saturday,” assured the show’s producer, and UCLA alumna
Elizabeth Tobias, commenting on Wells’ hopefully temporary
illness.
It doesn’t appear that any difficulty, no matter how
drastic or last-minute, can stop this determined group from
presenting their hometown premiere. The shared experience between
several of the group’s members, first at UCLA and then with
the Actor’s Gang, has transformed them into a resilient
community of L.A. theater scene veterans.
“I knew everybody at UCLA before I came to the group. We
were all friends,” said Tobias. “From the late
’80s to the early ’90s there was really strong
camaraderie (in the Theater, Film, and Television department) at
UCLA.”
For Tobias, both the experience and friendships she encountered
at UCLA have continued to support her throughout her career.
“If you’re willing to work your ass off, you can
create whatever art you want in this city. Los Angeles is a
macrocosm of UCLA,” Tobias said. “You could make
anything happen while you were there if you worked hard
enough.”
The competitive but supportive environment at UCLA seems to have
served BOTHarts well. Five of the BOTHarts members, including UCLA
undergrad Jennifer Haley, hail from UCLA.
However, many of the members of BOTHarts, including six of the
people involved in the production, had their determination and
sense of community threatened while still working with the
Actor’s Gang a little over a year ago.
“The Actor’s Gang changed over the organization it
was. The former artistic director (UCLA alumnus Tim Robbins) came
back and took the company over, and it changed from a democratic
organization,” Tobias said.
“Liberty” director Tracy Young felt a similar
frustration.
“I was a member of the Actor’s Gang for fifteen
years and it was just the right time to move on,” she
said.
Retaining much of the commedia-based style that influenced their
work in their former group, Young and Wells founded BOTHarts in
order to focus on their own original work.
“This company is about developing beyond what that work
(from the Actor’s Gang) is, and to refine our own personal
objectives,” Young said.
Not only have the members themselves been transformed by their
new group, but “Liberty!” has grown from Wells’
own one-man show into a five-person ensemble performance that
includes large, choreographed dance numbers, backed by an on-stage
three- person band.
“The solo piece had a lot to do with virtuosic,
high-energy performance, wherein one guy takes on fifty
roles,” Young said. “The ensemble allows him to distill
his performance.”
“I think the energy of the piece has been maintained, but
for me the story and the ideology of the play has more clarity in
the ensemble production,” Tobias said.
That story, in which the Statue of Liberty heads off across the
country in search of freedom, challenges the audience to think
about the country’s current political climate.
“The play simultaneously, in entertaining and disturbing
ways, seeks to explore a lot of what’s happening,”
Young said. “At the same time it goes back to the court
jesters who could manage to critique the kingdom while making the
king laugh.”
“Liberty!” runs Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8
p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m., Jan. 18 through Feb. 23. Tickets on
Thursdays and Sundays are $15 general admission and $10 for
students and seniors; tickets on Fridays and Saturdays are $20
general admission and $15 for students and seniors. Call
323-461-3673 or go to www.fordamphitheatre.org for more
information.