When the child was a child....

The greatest mistake and actor can make on the stage, is forgetting the audience. Such was the case in last night’s opening performance of California Repertory’s Out of Thin Air. The audience sat through 90 minutes of actor exercises, personal experiences and un-cohesive material. As an actor I connected to parts of the piece: the need for theatre in one’s life, the confusion of having an inartistic parent, the behind the scenes antics, and the deciding moments in an artist’s career. This show marks the final curtain of Cal Rep’s graduating class of 2010. The Cal Rep Ensemble was given a remarkable experience working the Steppenwolf’s founding member Jeff Perry and veteran actor and master teacher Alexandra Billings to bring a world premiere to the stage. But when the show was conceived they forgot to ask themselves one important question: Who is our audience? If their audience is actors, theatre professionals and CSULB staff and students, than perhaps this show was a success. The second question they should have asked themselves is, What are we trying to communicate? If they were trying to communicate the notion that actors are judgmental, selfish, eccentric, horny and arrogant pricks, than they succeeded in that as well. The only authentic moments came when the actors were talking about being children: “When the child was a child…” There was a beautiful moment when a little girl was told her grandfather had passed away. She sat on her father’s lap, and he took her hand and traced little circles on the kitchen table with her fingers. She said, “That was the most grown-up moment I have ever had,” in the most startlingly beautiful and sincere way. Moments like these made the show watchable. Yet, other moments made me feel like the whole show was some big inside joke I didn’t understand, or a poorly done high school production. Strange “music video” parodies, random nudity and choppy transitions made the show seem amateur. The only truly interesting or inspiring segments took place when the actors were offstage and a thought-worthy quote, photograph or taped confession projected onto the white curtains of the stage. I rather enjoyed the video of the actors speaking candidly about their craft. Even though the performers sounded contrived, in the sense that they probably rehearsed their message over and over in their head, at least it was truthful. I ask myself: Is this show relevant? Is this show important? Or is it just “out of thin air,” like the title so appropriately suggests. I think this show will either be forgotten, or remembered for the all wrong reasons - which is a shame. After three years of study, 10 talented actors will complete their MFA program this summer. Where will they go from here?