Tuesday, November 4, 1997
Behind the wheel
THEATER The UCLA alumni-driven comedy, "Black Camaros on
Interstate 15" allows writer Luis Reyes to put his personal
experiences on stage.
By Cheryl Klein
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
The first play Luis Reyes wrote centered around an emerald that
controlled the world’s economy, hidden high in a Manhattan
skyscraper and was much coveted by a villain determined to send the
futuristic world reeling into chaos.
"It’s one of those things where you go, ‘First play, hm? That
maaay not be the best thing – post apocalyptic economic raucous,’"
says the ’96 alum.
He can laugh now. Several years and a theater degree later,
Reyes has written and produced "Black Camaros on Interstate 15,"
playing through November 15 at the Rose Theater in Venice. And with
Lost Dog Productions, he is finding himself.
"They said write what you know," Reyes says. So he wrote about
Shakespeare, pretentious coffee houses, Southern Comfort, and
searching for a sexual identity, among other things. Dubbed "the
alternative to alternative lifestyles," the comedy follows a
20-something man who questions his sexuality after learning that
his best friend, Adrian, is bisexual.
Oh, and the man’s name is Louis. Extra vowel aside, Reyes admits
"Black Camaros" is sort of autobiographical.
"He’s not based on me as much as he started out," Reyes says.
"The whole Adrian-Louis relationship was a relationship I had with
a friend of mine, but then Adrian started taking on a completely
different personality and so did Louis."
On stage, actor and UCLA student, Jonas Ball plays
Louis-with-an-O as more neurotic and angry than the relaxed and
chatty Reyes. At one point, the scene flashes back to high school,
as all the characters don flannel shirts and rock out to "Cherry
Pie." Ball tugs at his spiky hair and paces between buddies in
various stages of sexual repression. Again, it’s familiar territory
for Reyes.
"I (wrote) a lot of really stupid dark poetry when I was a
sophomore in high school, man, it was terrible," Reyes recalls.
"Stuff like ‘The darkness is closing in on me. I have to look at
the moon.’ Total teen angst."
Granted, "Black Camaros" has its share of soul-searching
monologues and parental confrontations. But, Reyes says, there is
method to his angst. "Teen angst turns into early 20’s angst, which
turns into mid-20’s angst. Angst always exists. What you have to do
is bank it off your sense of humor."
So if people share Louis’s confusion and heartbreak, good. If
they understand that the ’69 black Camaro he inherits from his dead
father is a symbol of sexual potency, even better. And if they
laugh at the super-cheesy French accent of Adrian’s boyfriend, then
they really get it.
"It’s really easy to become preachy and to seem pretentious and
we were desperately, desperately trying to avoid that," says
director and ’96 English alum. Matt Bibb. "Hopefully it will be the
kind of play where people will laugh their asses off for two hours
and then go home and be like, ‘Wow. That was pretty deep.’"
Both Bibb and Reyes had a prime role model for meaningful comedy
in none other than William Shakespeare. As former members of the
UCLA Shakespeare Group, they can quote the Bard like most people
quote "Seinfeld," reveling in his intricate dialogue and perfectly
executed plot structures. The characters in "Black Camaros" infuse
their own rhythmical lines with bits of "A Midsummer Night’s
Dream," "Henry IV, part I" and "The Merchant of Venice." But
despite the prolific renaissance man’s timelessness, directing
"Black Camaros" poses a distinct set of challenges.
"If I don’t like something Shakespeare wrote, I can cut it. And
he’s not around to say, ‘No, no, no, that scene’s important,’" Bibb
points out.
While Reyes dismisses "Hamlet" as abstract in structure, he
seems to share the play’s "to thine own self be true" mode of
thinking.
"The whole idea is sexuality: labeling it is bullshit," Reyes
says. "(Louis) tries to be heterosexual, he tries to be homosexual.
He tries both, but he can’t even attempt to figure it out. At the
end he realizes Adrian is just Adrian and Michelle is just
Michelle. They’re not Adrian the gay and Michelle the dyke. They’re
just Adrian and Michelle and they mean something to him.
"It’s what you reach when you’re 23, 24 and you’ve been out of
school for a while and you’re like, ‘Who means something in my
life? I have a friend I haven’t talked to in years. I think I’ll
give him a call.’ It’s that kind of feeling. Maybe we’ll even have
a phone right outside," Reyes ponders. "During the line-up they can
start calling people. I think it would be really fun if that
happened."
In his year and a half since college, Reyes has had plenty of
time to reflect and hone his theater skills. He directed a play and
a one act festival at UCLA, and worked with grad students, relaying
much of what he learned during the year he spent studying in
England.
Acknowledging, with seemingly little sorrow, that "you cannot
make a living in theater" Reyes has published an article about
writer/director cooperation for a New York paper and begins writing
theater reviews for L.A. Weekly this week.
Perhaps the writing emphasis is fitting, given that Reyes
started out an English major. He loved theater, but was an
"incurable introvert." Which makes seeing his life dissected,
shouted, and self-mocking on stage all the more ironic.
"It’s a lot of fun, writing," Reyes concludes. "It’s really
really scary, but once you realize your fear, it gets a lot more
fun. It’s like walking a tightrope."
Or driving a ’69 Camaro.
THEATER: "Black Camaros on Interstate 15" plays through November
15 at the Rose Theater in Venice. Tickets are $10. For more
information, call 207-7089.