They've reached the edge of the world and the edge of the festival. The second annual Los Angeles' Edge of the World Theatre Festival finishes its 11-day run Nov. 19 after beginning Nov. 9.
Among the productions in this year's festival have been Berkshire Village Idiot, Jimmy Roach: Confessions of a Substitute Teacher, Sweet Bitter Tart, Soul Geek, My Brain Tumor, To Wed, Divorce and Bury, Papa's Brand New Bag, Saving Private Pickle Plant, David and Goliath in America, Antigone. Tertiary. Sexxx, Carrots for Hare and Scott Stein's First Play plus revivals of Godspell, The Maids, Marat/Sade, The Three Sisters, Tis a Pity She's a Whore, Mac Wellman's Terminal Hip and Edward Bond's Saved. Most shows receive one-to-two nights of performance.
Presenting companies include Zoo District, Theatre of NOTE, Sacred Fools, Open Fist, Moving Arts, The Actor's Gang, Pacific Resident Theatre, Odyssey Theatre Ensemble and the Ensemble Studio Theatre - L.A. Project.
The Edge of the World Theatre Festival has also featured several roundtables and discussions, beginning with Nov. 14's contemplation of the relationship between artists, critics and audiences in Los Angeles. Theatre companies (Actor's Gang, Celebration Theatre, Moving Arts, Open Fist, Sacred Fools and more) were on hand to talk the art with individual theatre creators Robert Harders and Michael Farkash as well as press from LADCC, Backstage West, L.A. Weekly and the Los Angeles Times. Nov. 18, theatrical designers discuss the hardships and pleasures of building sets, crafting costumes and hanging lights in L.A. Big Cheap Theatre, an alternative theatre rallying cry, and the L.A. theater community was the subject of "BCT and Beyond: The State of L.A. Theater Community" Nov. 19, the final roundtable of the Festival.
Special to the fest was a two day mini-festival of world premiere works based on Los Angeles history. The L.A. History Project ran Nov. 11-12 at the Los Angeles Theatre Center with varied moments in L.A. time such as the forty years after the Civil War, when the gunfighter ruled, prohibition in Hollywood, the Black Dahlia murder case and the story of Lucky Baldwin, one of Los Angeles' founding fathers. Tickets run from $24 to free. For reservations, check the Edge of the World site at http://www.edgeoftheworld.org for further venue information.
