Some go to the theater to be inspired, some go to be amused, and others go to escape the realities of their daily lives. A question that theater companies repeatedly ask themselves is which of these is most worthy.
In David Bridel’s upcoming play “I Gelosi,” the characters, themselves members of a theater company, struggle to define and defend their incentives for taking part in theater. The play opens tonight at the Powerhouse Theatre in Santa Monica.
The play follows the true story of Italy’s first theater company through their inception, their early struggle to find work and stay afloat, their successive prominence and success, and their subsequent fall back into hardship. The company uses Commedia dell’arte, a popular art form during the time, which employs masks and archetypes in a physical comedic act.
“I’ve been fascinated with Commedia dell’arte for a long time, and I actually just stumbled on the true-life story of the Gelosi,” said Bridel, who is a visiting director at UCLA.
“And I really liked what I read about their history.”
Bridel wrote this play over two years ago, and it was performed at UCLA by theater graduate students in 2006. However, Bridel has made a few changes since this initial production.
“I have worked on the script in the meantime, so there were some changes and adaptations to the text. I’ve tried to streamline the story a little bit,” Bridel said.
With one production already under his belt, Bridel hopes to make this second production even better.
“In the role of the director, it is a little bit easier the second time around. It doesn’t necessarily guarantee it will be better, but to come with a degree of knowledge is certainly helpful in the preparation for the project.”
This time around, the play is being put on by the Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble, a group of mostly UCLA alumni and students.
“It’s a company of young actors and directors who want to stage theater projects with high artistic integrity while still remaining accessible and entertaining,” Bridel said. “The company tries to strike a balance between producing new plays and also producing the works of classics and well known theater pieces.”
Emily Rose, 2006 film graduate and member of the Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble, explained how this ensemble is so different from most others.
“We’re a work-based ensemble, which is contrasted to a dues-based ensemble which a lot of theater companies are in town. They require their actors to pay to be a part of it. And we are more geared towards work-based, which is great, being that we’re all starving artists,” she said.
For Rose, the ensemble is a sort of home, amid the individualistic world of theater and television.
“The ensemble provides a place of familiarity and a place where I can fail and mess up but be comfortable with the people that I am with. We all kind of really understand each other.”
The group finds that the characters in “I Gelosi” reflect a 16th century version of the Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble.
“We as an ensemble really resonate with it, because they’re a theater company that puts together their own plays and try to make a name for themselves,” Rose said.
The motivations of the characters in the play, as well, are applicable for today’s actors.
“The way that I’ve written it, each member of the troupe has a different ambition for their role as an actor. Some of them are interested in fame, money, some of them are interested in high art and others are interested in the theater as a political weapon,” Bridel said. “The theme is based around a discussion of the various different functions of theater and how and when it lives up to its potential as an art form that can inspire the audience.”
The characters, as well as the actors, have some difficult questions to ask themselves ““ the sort of questions that are raised in other occupations as well.
“They kind of struggle with the question of what is art really for. Is it for pleasure and entertainment and to be kind of an escape for people? Or is it kind of a catalyst for political change?” Rose said. “Are we doing it for the paycheck and the entertainment value, or is the art that we’re doing going to effect and change and do something in society?”