What a find at the LA Fringe this year! UCLA’s theatre department is well represented by Warren Riley’s imaginative Urgent Care, which is about as backward a love story as you can get, but a love story, nonetheless. It seems that Al (also Warren Riley) must undergo a hysterectomy as part of the transition from female to male. But plans are knocked askew by Ellis (Sami Kuncharapu), who informs Al that she is pregnant…and it’s his! Or is it still “her”? Thank goodness we have friend Will (Kosi Eguchi) to help navigate this dilemma and an understanding Dr. McCandless (Madeleine Curran) to sort it all out.
It takes a detail-oriented director like Cypress Cai to smoothly wrangle the cast and an “Integrated Studies” producer like James Stutts to coordinate the entire design team to rush into the Hobgoblin Theatre and set up within minutes, as is the requirement during LA Fringe. But from lighting (Kai Li) and sound (Semira Robinson) to costumes (Catherine Day) and props (Tae Scholl), they smoothed the way on opening day when I attended. Kudos to all!
Also at the Fringe, Neo Theatre Company has mounted a version of an earlier compilation show, this time entitled, Amazing Graves. Both set in a cemetery, the plays, I Hate How You Dress by Beth Polsky and Our Cemetery by Grant Gottschall, reveal the humanity found when grappling with life and death. There are two more shows: Saturday, June 20th at 4 pm; and Tuesday, June 23rd at 9 pm, at the Broadwater Second Stage, 1078 Lillian Way and Santa Monica Blvd. Hollywood, 90038.
Urgent Care continues at the Hobgoblin Theatre, 1516 N. Gardner st., Los Angeles 90046, on Saturday, June 20th @ 10:30pm; Wednesday, June 24th @ 7pm and Sunday, June 28th @ 7:30pm. All tickets are $15.00, with discounts for Fringe Button purchasers. Purchase in advance at www.hollywoodfringe.org or by phone at 805-358-7243.
