FILAMENT THEATRE CO. presented the LOS ANGELES PREMIERE of "second," a multifaceted dark comedy by Neal Utterback. Second was performed in a private home in Echo Park on Thursday-Saturday from May 6th to May 29th and Wednesdays May 19th & 26th, 2010.

 

Directed by Joe LaRue and produced by Celeste Den , second is a choreography of seven actors and three cameras unfolding through separate, concurrent scenes performed by Hilario Saavedra, Kristin D'Andrea, Carla Nassy, Tane Kawasaki, Jason Bonduris, Chad Christopher Kline, and Marco Neves. The audience was divided amongst three rooms of the house. As one scene plays out live in the room, the other two scenes are captured by live cameras and presented cinematically, allowing each audience a unique experience while still sharing the same story.

 

While the worst snowstorm in history rages, a mysterious man touches a woman, seemingly brings her back to life -- then disappears. The mystery and media frenzy instigates three sets of New Yorkers to question their faith in radically different ways -- in a hotel room, a scientist and a prostitute test the boundaries of trust; in their brownstone, a doctor and a tv news-reporter teeter on the edge of their future; in a tenement, two criminals on a job await further instructions.

 

"second attempts to bridge the gap between audiences and live theatre by incorporating the experience of sharing a televised story with friends," notes director Joe LaRue. "Part of the process has been discovering how images of each scene can highlight or inform events in the other rooms. The challenge as a director has been to stage three scenes, coordinate three cameras, and ensure that the emotional arc of the play is clearly communicated to all in attendance."

 

second premiered at New York City's Under St. Marks theater in April 2004. Produced by Tobacco Bar Theater and directed by Joe LaRue, the success of the original production resulted in the publication of second in Plays and Playwrights 2005, an anthology of best Off-Off Broadway plays published by the New York Theatre Experience. Since publication, second has enjoyed several productions in regional theatres around the country, including Minnesota's Chameleon Theatre Circle, NonProphet Theatre Company in St. Louis, and Hovey Players in Massachusetts.

 

Joe LaRue is a multidisciplinary artist with experience as a stage and film director, television producer, editor, photographer, and graphic designer. From 2000-2006 he served as artistic director of New York's Tobacco Bar Theatre Company, where he produced and directed original off-off-Broadway plays, including the original production of second. His short films ADOBO, LOADED, and THANKSGIVING have played in film festivals across the country, including the Boulder International Film Festival, Estes Park Film Festival, D.C. Asian Pacific American Film Festival, Philadelphia Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, Long Island Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, and the Long Beach Q Film Festival. His photographs have been featured in both the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. He holds an MFA in Acting from the University of Florida, where his creative partnership with playwright Neal Utterback and producer Celeste Den was forged. He is currently the creative director of IMO, a boutique creative agency in Venice, CA.

 

The works of playwright Neal Utterback have been produced across the United States, including The Liar's Poem (NY), second (NY, Minnesota, Missouri, Massachusetts), and American Western (Florida). In 2009, Utterback's The Picture (of Dorian Gray), an adaptation of Oscar Wilde's infamous novel, premiered at the Absolut Dublin Gay Theatre Festival in Dublin, Ireland, earning him a nomination for "Outstanding New Writing in Theatre." His works have been published in Plays and Playwrights 2005, Best Stage Scenes 2004, Best Women's Stage Monologues 2005, and Best Women's Monologues of the Millennium. Utterback received his MFA from the University of Florida and is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in Theatre at Indiana University.

 

Filament Theatre Co. is a Los Angeles based performance ensemble working to create fresh contact with classic texts, new works, and emerging ideas. Their 2004 inaugural production of Max Truax's Farewell Juliet premiered at the Other Space at Santa Monica Playhouse, followed by the 2005 recording of M. Deegan's radio-play Termen Ne Mret and its subsequent live production Termen Vox Machina at Sacred Fools Theater in 2006. Filament Theatre Co. participated in the 2007 yearlong national theatre event 365 Days/365 Plays by Suzan-Lori Parks with performances of July 16-July 22 at the Son of Semele Theater, as well as the 2009 global festival "21 for 21" celebrating the work of Howard Barker with a staged reading of A Hard Heart. Founded and operated by California Institute of the Arts Theatre School alums, with artistic director Tane Kawasaki (MFA '02) and producing director Celeste Den (MFA '04), Filament Theatre Co. maintains concise aesthetics in fearless explorations of process.