Photo: Genevieve Joy (top), Mathew Caine (below)
Wow! It’s been a fulfilling journey and we are fast approaching our sixth and final weekend of performances. Hope to see you there!
I STAND BEFORE YOU NAKED by Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer Joyce Carol Oates, directed by Gloria Gifford.
Wow! We were honored to have legendary director Garry Marshall (Pretty Woman, The Princess Diaries, Laverne & Shirley) come to see I STAND BEFORE YOU NAKED last night!
http://instagram.com/p/wV0j18M0Vf/?modal=true
We’ve got ONE WEEKEND left! Join us for Closing Weekend 12/13 at 8 PM or 12/14 at 7:30 PM!
This play has changed my approach to the work and led to a lot of introspection. As icing on the cake, I’m thrilled we got another great review for I STAND BEFORE YOU NAKED by Pulitzer-Prize nominated writer Joyce Carol Oates. Directed by Gloria Gifford.
Prolific author Joyce Carol Oates has written this series of ten monologues by a variety of women in a desperate search for love. Some are sketchy, others are almost mini plays, but all are powerful statements about women’s confused relationships with men. There is some onstage nudity but Oates is mainly concerned with revealing emotional nakedness. Director Gloria Gifford cleverly has them all as party attendees, in a blood-red room, where they share their stories with us.
Genevieve Joy is the hostess writing checks to save a world she despises; Cynthia San Luis is riveting as a teacher sexually misinterpreting the advances of a boy of 15; Sabrina Won is a total loon waiting for Armageddon; Abigail Kochunas is a receptionist whose façade hides a hidden rage, and Davia King is a wife seeing her husband weeping and realizing it’s over.
Pamela Renae is moving as a happily pregnant women with a malignant talking fetus; Kelly Musslewhite is delightful as a featherbrain married to a serial killer (see today’s headlines); Kasia Pilewicz is trying for invisibility thru bulimia, and Leana Chavez, Raven Bowens and Nancy Chavez are disfigured with love bites. Most impressive is Jade Warner as a murdered stripper who walks us through her terror and asks the question, ‘why do you hate us?’ that female victims of violence ask everywhere.
Produced by Chad Doreck, Lauren Plaxco and Jade Warner for Jamaica Moon Productions and Ggc Players. At: T.U. Studios, 10943 Camarillo St. (off Lankershim), North Hollywood. Tickets at 310-366-5505 orwww.tix.com.
Also in the December issue of NOT BORN YESTERDAY.
We just got ANOTHER RAVE REVIEW for our production of Joyce Carol Oates’ I STAND BEFORE YOU NAKED!
“Oates’ effort to get into the heads of these suffering women and allow the audience to feel what they feel is refreshing. It opens the door to a sympathetic view of their world and their efforts to find love in unlikely places. That is the power and beauty of great acting and directing, when a story propels the audience’s mind to unfamiliar places and tries to make sense of the insensible.”
A big thank you to Denise Walker, of LifeInLA.com, for this review and my mention!
“The most compelling and disturbing soliloquy with a high ”ick” factor is that of a pedophile substitute teacher whose career is stagnant. The teacher, portrayed with chilling aplomb by Cynthia San Luis, takes the audience on a journey down a twisted path of child seduction, as San Luis’s character coyly discloses how the boy flirted with her, made her laugh and gave her joy. Starved for affection, she saw in the boy someone who could bring pleasure and meaning to her life.” – Denise Walker, LifeInLA.com
See the whole review HERE.
We run Saturdays 8 PM and Sundays 7:30 PM thru December 14th!!!
I’m happy to announce that I’ve expanded my team to include the awesome folks at DDO Artists Agency!
I’ll be working with Marlene Sutton and Julie Gudz for commercial representation and with Laura Thede for print!
A BIG
THANK YOU to my manager, David Martin, for connecting us!
And the reviews continue to come in for THE GGC PLAYERS and Jamaica Moon Productions’ I STAND BEFORE YOU NAKED!
The latest one comes from NoHo Arts District! (full review below)
“I was riveted.”
Photo (L-R): Kelly Musselwhite, Samiyah Swann, Nancy Vivar, Cynthia San Luis, Sabrina Won, Genevieve Joy, Jade Warner, Leana Chavez, Tracey Nelson, Kasia Pilewicz. Photo: Mathew Caine/Studio Digitrope
Friday, 14 November 2014
Theatre Review – I Stand Before You Naked
Written by Samantha Simmonds-Ronceros
Presented by Jamaica Moon Productions and GGC Players.
Written by Joyce Carol Oates
Directed by Gloria Gifford
I am ashamed to say that I have not read anything by Joyce Carol Oates, something I will strive to rectify after seeing this quite extraordinary play.
My excuse is that I am English and Joyce Carol Oates in not an author I was exposed to, but it’s not a very good excuse, especially after my modicum of research and her illustrious career.
Having admitted to my ignorance, now to this most recent production of the play ‘I Stand Before You Naked’.
Not performed in Los Angeles for more than ten years, this play debuted in London in 1992 and is about the presumed paradox of a woman’s strength and vulnerability. An ongoing theme of the extremely prolific, and much celebrated, american author Joyce Carol Oates .
Brave and truthful are the words that keep running through my mind after watching the excellent production.
The stage is set like a boudoir, all red velvet and mirrors. And the play opens with a women, completely naked, reclining on a sofa, her back to us.
To begin with such a courageous and awe inspiring act, something that many of us would never have the nerve to do, is a wonderful way to bring us into this world. A world of a particular group of women, and their stories of pain and love, humiliation and bravery, horrible, ethical mistakes and their consequences.
I was riveted.
The actresses who performed on the evening I attended where half of the cast. The other half perform on successive nights, but if these performances are anything to go by, any night you choose to attend will be brilliant.
Each actress is on stage throughout the play, standing as if at a cocktail party, waiting to give their monologues. Its a powerful way to show how each of us has our own story to tell, our own past that makes us who we are and something that connects us all.
The stories vary from light to dark, universal and perhaps not so. I would spoil the play I think if I gave anything more away. Surface it to say that we can all relate one way or another of these women’s histories, and the paths they chose.
The subjects these monologues cover are close to everyone’s hearts, not only women, and I urge any men who might attend to open your mind, you will certainly see yourself in these women stories too. Each of these women are magnificent, equal parts vulnerable and courageous. Mothers and sisters and daughters and wives.
It would be difficult to single out any one performance, and to be fair, since the play is so reliant on the emotional support each actress and even each audience member, brings to the night, I will simply say that everyone of these accomplished performers touched my heart, and my husband, who came with me, was equally moved.
There is some nudity, beautifully and naturally handled with grace and pride. I understand why the play requires it, and loved the context, a very brave lady indeed!
Gloria Gifford directs this play with a tender and humorous touch. Her staging is perfection, and the comfort of her actresses clearly paramount. I particularly loved the use of the large mirror, we should all see ourselves so completely! I cannot remember when I have seen a more committed and rehearsed cast. You can truly feel all the hard work and effort that everyone has put into this play.
I have already told everyone I know to go and see it, ‘I Stand Before You Naked’ is rarely performed and this production at the lovely T.U. Studios in North hollywood is well worth every effort to attend!!
I highly recommend it!!
Cast:
Akeda Abrams, Raven Bowens, Shelby Brown, Leana Chavez, Yvette Devito, Genevieve Joy, Davia King, Abigail Kochunas, Kelly Musselwhite, Tracey Nelson, Nakta Pahlevan, Kasia Pilewicz, Lauren Plaxco, Cynthia San Luis, Deidra Shanell, Tejah Signori, Pamela Smith, Samiyah Swann, Nancy Vivar, Lucy Walsh, Jade Warner, Sabrina Won.
Crew:
Stage Managers; Justin Truesdale and Keith Walker, Lighting Designer; Chris Rivera, Scenic Design; Jeffrey Casciano, Davia King and Sterling Cardon.
Produced by Chad Doreck, Lauren Plaxco and Jade Warner. Produced by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.
T.U. Studios, 10943 Camarillo St, North Hollywood, CA 91607
November 8th – December 14th 2014, Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 7.30pm
Admission is $20 and reservations (310) 366-5505
Online ticketing at: http://www.tix.com
ADULT/NUDITY
Woo hoo! Our Saturday cast got an awesome review from The Tolucan Times!
Joyce Carol Oates’ I Stand Before You Naked: A Review
NOVEMBER 14, 2014 THEATRE REVIEWS
By Natasha Lewin
Yes, there’s nudity in the show, but that’s not exactly what the “standing naked before you” refers to. I Stand Before You Naked focuses on the vulnerability and perseverance of 12 seemingly contrasting women and their various run-ins with love, sex, and insecurities in a multitude of bad situations — revealing a common thread between each one of them.
From the trio of girls with lip sores to a substitute teacher who seduces her own student; the wife of a serial killer; to a stripper whose client takes her performance to another level — each of the vignettes feature drastically different women standing before the audience, waiting to be loved.
Playwright, author and feminist Joyce Carol Oates’ work is known for its controversial subject matter, making it easy to understand why she endures such popular and commercial success. As the winner of the National Book Award, Oates has been a professor at Princeton for three decades. I Stand Before You Naked is one of the most commercial titles in theatrical history. The play debuted in London in 1992. It’s been six years since it’s had a major production in Los Angeles.
Directed by Gloria Gifford, I Stand Before You Naked features two separate casts. Notable standouts are Tejah Signori, who contorts her face into uncomfortable hatred in ‘Good Morning! Good Afternoon!’ while Lauren Plaxco shines as a timid and homely newlywed in ‘Wife Of.’
I Stand Before You Naked runs from November 8th through December 14th, Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 7:30pm at T.U. Studios, 10943 Camarillo St., North Hollywood, CA 91607. Admission is $20. You can purchases tickets by calling (310) 366-5505 or at http://www.tix.com. The play is 90 minutes with no intermission. Advisory note: There is adult content and, yes, nudity.
We had the pleasure of having casting director Billy DaMota come see our Sunday show this past weekend. Here’s his post about our production:
From Casting Director Billy DaMota:
RECOMMENDED!
I went to see the opening night of I Stand Before You Naked – directed by Gloria Gifford at T.U Studios in NoHo. I have known Gloria for decades and have seen so many of the pieces she’s directed…but this one stands above the rest as a truly remarkable night of theatre. The performances are world class, the direction is flawless, the set and the costumes are simple but stunning.
The entire cast was brilliant, with standout performances by Kasia Pilewicz, Jade Warner, Cynthia San Luis and Abigail Kochunas.
They have two casts running alternately, so make sure you see both!
Thank you, Billy!
Here’s a photo of Billy with some of the GGC Players after one of our performances of THE TEMPEST this past summer!
Casting Director Billy DaMota, CSA with some of the GGC Players after THE TEMPEST! L-R: Cynthia San Luis, Akeda Abrams, Billy DaMota, Abigaili Kochunas, Kasia Pilewicz, Sabrina Won; 2nd row: Lucy Walsh, Jade Warner. ©castboy.com
Alrighty! We had reviewers come opening weekend and the reviews are starting to come and the news is good!
“Directed by Gloria Gifford, I STAND BEFORE YOU NAKED is a stage drama about hurt, hate, confusion, destruction, envy, vainness, and adds generous touches of hope, salvation, reverence, and most importantly, the strong desire to love and be loved.”
-Richard Bowory, Accessibly Live Off-Line
Here is our first review from ACCESSIBLY LIVE Off-Line! (scroll down to News & Reviews)
I STAND BEFORE YOU NAKED, Joyce Carol Oates’ stage piece that speaks upon a spectrum of the emotions of woman living in a domestic lifestyle, currently performs at North Hollywood’s T.U. Studios.
This stage work consists of ten separate monologues where ten women that come from different backgrounds and settings verbalize about themselves where a common bond exists; maladjustment, uncontent, and/or some aspects that isn’t proper or reformed. Generally speaking, a life that shows physical and emotional pain and suffering, as much of this grieving originates from a source that isn’t necessarily of their making. Among the situations that are mentioned by these woman range from a high school teacher that attempted to have an affair with a student of hers; a woman whose act of self starvation becomes a spiritual appeal; a woman seeing her marriage coming to an end due to her spouse’s job loss; a woman of financial means that donates to charities holds a secret desire to use her firearm on them; a woman who marries an imprisoned serial killer; an exotic dancer who is beaten to death and vocalizes upon it after the fact, and other situations that shows a minimal sense of faith and assurance, but keeps upon its glimmer of hope, and most notably, love.
Calling this performance a “play” doesn’t describe this showpiece in any accurate sense. Unlike in a traditional play, a number of characters hold conversation within situations they come in and out of. This production consists of self contained monologues that focuses upon these good natured women that are turned away from ideal situations, some as planned and others as victims of circumstances. The characters themselves are not referred by as surnames of related monikers, but as the conditions and points they arrive from. (“Pregnant”, “The Orange” “Slow Motion”, etc.) In this presentation, the scene where the dialogue physically takes place resembles a dark maroon-toned “party”, where these woman gather, standing along tables placed upon the side wings of the stage as they hover over the selection of “finger foods” placed on these table tops that are never seen or even consumed! Jeffrey Casciano’s set concept suggests that this isn’t a festive occasion, but rather as an invisible holding pattern where these unnamed characters never cross paths with one another because of social status, well beings, and in a few cases, falling upon an unreversable demise. A rotating cast of performers give these voices a life among themselves, as they speak as and for these women of both proper means and lack thereof.
The players that appear within this production are (as listed in alphabetical order), Akeda Abrams, Raven Bowens, Shelby Brown, Leana Chavez,Yvette De Vito, Genevieve Joy, Davia King, Abigail Kochunas, Kelly Musslewhite, Tracey Ann-Marie Nelson, Nakta Pahlevan, Kasia Pilewicz, Lauren Plaxco, Pamela Renae, Cynthia San Luis, Tejah Signori, Deidra Shanell, Samiyah Swann, Nancy Vivar, Lucy Walsh, Jade Warner, and Sabrina Won. (Check program for specific cast listing.)
Directed by Gloria Gifford, I STAND BEFORE YOU NAKED is a stage drama about hurt, hate, confusion, destruction, envy, vainness, and adds generous touches of hope, salvation, reverence, and most importantly, the strong desire to love and be loved. And as the title may suggest, it has nothing to do with being naked, although there is a minimal depiction of nudity interpreted but is shown as a symbol of being “naked to the world”–these woman’s personal universes. The message spoken upon is something that one should take heed regardless of intersocial capacity, particular sentient, or gender.
I STAND BEFORE YOU NAKED, presented by Jamaica Moon Productions and GGC Players, performs at the T.U. Studios, 10943 Camarillo Street (at Lankershim Blvd.) North Hollywood, until December 14th. Showtimes are Saturday nights at 8:00 PM, and Sunday evenings at 7:30 PM. For ticket reservations, call (310) 366-5505, or via online at tix.com
Wow, wow, wow, wow, WOW!
We had packed houses both nights for our opening weekend performances of Joyce Carol Oates’s I STAND BEFORE YOU NAKED, directed by Gloria Gifford!
THANK YOU!!!
The play runs Saturdays 8 PM and Sundays 7:30 PM thru December 14th!
Reserve your seat by calling 310.366/5505 or pre purchase online at tix.com and goldstar.com!
©Jamaica Moon Productions
Cynthia San Luis 