Swimming Upstream
Annie Vest is appearing in three of this year’s ten “Pick of the Vine” selections, the same number that Cylan Brown is directing. Photo
“Pick of the Vine” is Little Fish Theatre’s annual presentation of new one-act plays–and there’s always a gem or two or three
At the beginning of each year Little Fish Theatre does something truly remarkable. Having read through hundreds of one-act plays, the San Pedro-based company then presents their “Pick of the Vine,” and this time it’s ten plays ranging in length from seven to 15 minutes. The production opens tomorrow, Friday, and runs through Feb. 13.
Cylan Brown is directing three of the one-acts, Annie Vest is starring in three, and Holly Baker-Kreiswirth, a long-time member of the ensemble, knows all the ins-and-outs of the selection process. And right now, if we hurry up and listen in, we can find out how the whole thing came to fruition–as it has been doing for over a dozen years.
The mail carrier’s been busy
The 650 submissions–and playwrights, by the way, are only allowed one submission per year–arrived from all over the world, although for 2016 everything on the program is from the United States, albeit spread across the continent. So, how does Little Fish find 10 needles in a haystack of 650?
“We have four team leaders, and then 43 readers,” says Baker-Kreiswirth. “Each team had between 10 and 12 readers.”
Each person sits down with 10, 15, or 20 plays, and they score them between one and five, a five meaning that the playwright has aced it and now must contend with other Fives–unless a second reader isn’t quite so generous.
Eventually, Baker-Kreiswirth says, the field was narrowed to 93, still a sizeable number of contenders.
The company then hoofs it over to the Whale & Ale, after which there are more casualties, so to speak.
In the end, 10 or 12 plays remain standing, “and then we put them together,” Baker-Kreiswirth continues, “in a way that makes sense and can be used as an ensemble for nine to ten actors.”
There are many reasons why a good play may not make the cut.
“I remember reading one that called for nine-year-old actors,” Brown says. “It may be the greatest play, but we don’t have nine-year-old actors in the company. You have to make do with what you’ve got and, like Holly said, look for what goes well with the ensemble.”
The same could be said about large, unwieldy props or wild animals. Little Fish isn’t the Staples Center.
“There’s one that I read,” Baker-Kreiswirth adds, “where they said there should be hundreds of rocks on stage.”
Again, maybe this one was a great play, but…
For some, a springboard…
A few playwrights know their craft, and send in quality material every year. One of these is Mark Harvey Levine, and he’s on the bill once again with “Ten Picnics.”
“We have produced him probably eight to ten times,” says Baker-Kreiswirth. “He is one of the premier short play writers in America. I think he gets produced almost as much as David Ives.”
Many of the plays presented in years past have been absolute gems, but the company has yet to revisit them. Baker-Kreiswirth says they’ve talked about doing a “Best Of” at some point.
“I think that between Lisa (Coffi) and Suzanne (Dean) and me,” she says, “and a few people who’ve been involved with it for so many years, we know what people have come up and talked to us about. There are the ones that killed it every night, those types of shows.”
A couple of years ago “Pick of the Vine” featured a one-act by Rich Orloff called “The Ultimate Battle for Total Control of the Entire Universe.”
“When I was producing ‘Pick of the Vine,’” Baker-Kreiswirth says, “I made it a point to keep (in contact) with these playwrights–I love playwrights because I’ve worked with writers my entire life. So, when (Orloff) had a (full-length) play that he thought would work well for the theater, he sent it to me and asked me to read it. I read it, and I pitched it, and now we’re doing it in our number two spot right after ‘Pick of the Vine.’ So, ‘Domestic Tranquility’ actually came from a playwright who gave us a short play.”
The same thing happened with David Graham. He wrote a short called “The Death of a Sale, Man,” and then his full-length “And The Stones Will Cry Out” was produced by the company last year. So it’s obvious that Little Fish not only presents new work but even nurtures aspiring playwrights. Very few theater companies do that.
Who directs, and who stars?
“The directors basically are chosen by Suzanne and Lisa and Stephanie (Coltrin),” Brown says. “They all get a say in it.” Or, he adds, one can approach them with a, “hey, this is something I’d be interested in, and they’ll throw your name in the hat. Then they decide based on the number of plays and how many directors they want. This year we only had four directors, and then the directors get the ten plays that were chosen and we list them from one to ten, which ones we’d like to direct. And they kind of divvy them up.”
The directors then choose their actors, many of whom are company members.
Depending on what the play calls for, of course, Brown says, “You’ve got to find the person who has the versatility to play everything within that range, who can be heartbreaking in one scene and laugh-out-loud funny in the next. And then you all kind of squabble and yell and throw fits until you get what you want and it all comes together.”
One imagines that it’s a bit of a revelation when the entire company convenes and each director and his or her actors can see what the other actors and directors have come up with, although all of the actors (and there are nine this year) are in at least two of the plays.
But it’s not just about the acting and directing.
“Another part of the show,” Brown says, “which no one really talks about, or you don’t really notice if we’re doing our job right, is the mechanics of transitioning from one scene into the next, because you can’t just slam on the brakes, turn off the lights, and take 30 minutes to set up the next scene.”
Many elements, firmly planted around the edges of the stage, now end up serving multiple purposes. For example, a couch may become a counter, and then a table, and then a bed, depending on what the play calls for. A large abacus, representing the passage of time in one work, becomes a cradle for another when placed on its side.
“With the set being as well constructed as it is,” Brown says, “very minimal but functional, it can be all sorts of things, and I think it’s going really smoothly this time around.”
Give me five; and now five more
One more vital aspect of the production, especially with ten individual components, is that of sequencing.
“Usually you want to start with something really fun, energetic, and get people involved,” Brown says. “But you have these gut-wrenching moments also, and so you’re trying to find the arc of the night.”
Sometimes, however, just when you think you’ve solved it:
“You find a perfect balance,” Vest says, “and then someone’s like, ‘But I can’t change (costumes) that quickly from that piece to that piece,’ and then you’ve got to (stop and defer to) the practical side and go, Okay, well, now we can’t do those two together.”
Furthermore, Brown says, “while some actors are switching all the furniture around for the next scene, another actor who’s got to be on, or who was just on, is back there ripping off clothes and throwing on other clothes and catching their breath and coming out. So that’s just another interesting part of orchestrating this.”
And then there’s always a play that’s literally a tough act to follow, and in this case, Brown continues, there’s one “that is a real thinker, and is going to leave people with a quiet, thoughtful moment. We can’t follow that with anything that we have, so that’s got to be right before intermission, so that everyone can go out, get their coffee, talk about what they just saw–and then come back in and be ready for round two.”
This year’s “Pick of the Vine” directors include Madeleine Drake, James Rice, and Branda Lock, in addition to Cylan Brown. The nine cast members appearing in the ten plays, in various combinations, are Geraldine Fuentes, Brendan Gill, Amanda Karr, David Kieran, Perry Shields, Bryson Jones Allman, Kathryn Farren, and Patrick Rafferty, in addition to Annie Vest.
Pick of the Vine opens tomorrow, Friday, and plays Friday and Saturday nights at 8 p.m. through Feb. 13, with additional performances on Thursday, Jan. 21, 28, and Feb. 4, also at 8 p.m., plus Sunday, Jan. 17 and 24, at 2 p.m. For tickets, call (310) 512-6030, text (424) 226-6030, or go online to littlefishtheatre.org.