By Jim Berg

What is wrong with theatre in L.A.?

Why isn’t it the thriving, exciting art form it is in other major cities?

I’m not the only one asking these questions.

A waitress at the Eclectic Cafe who had just graduated from college in San Diego and had just moved to L.A. went out with a friend to see a play. The play was bad. It was very bad. She asked me why, in the shadow of Hollywood, where talent is drawn from all over the world, where there’s a screenplay under every pillow, an actor waiting every table, a director driving every cab, how can you possibly put on a bad play with so much to draw from?

First off, you have only to turn on the TV to realize that Hollywood doesn’t necessarily draw the best talent. The presence of Hollywood distorts the form. To many, too many people, theatre functions as a showcase. Actors, directors and writers will use theatre to showcase sit-corn talent, to hopefully catch the eye of Hollywood to land that lucrative contract.

This is an economic reality, a reality of the system that nobody can be faulted for, as unfortunate as it is.

But when somebody breaks with the system and flies in the face of economic pressure, they should be lauded. The Foundry is a group that has done just that. A group of actors at the American Renegade Theatre finally got fed up with creative compromise and sacrifice and decided to set themselves free to explore the boundaries of their own art.

When I first heard of them, I was skeptical. Their flyers describe them as “unconventional,” “expermental,” “Eccentric to the point of mania. Lucid to the point of hallucination.” Often such descriptions are used to cover bad work. Armed with this skepticism, I went to see the Foundry’s first offer-ing, An Evening of One-Acts.

The first one-act is What it Takes by Thayer Burch. The unconventional, at least by Valley theatre standards, is immediately established with this play. A Dreamer (Scott Forbes) is taunted by three women, known only as #1 , #2 and #3 (Judith Zimmer, Heidi Carofano and Gina East respectively) who represent some aspect of the dream.. ers subconscious. I didn’t get it, which had me worried at first, but the following one-acts made up for it. Even though I didn’t get it, it was interesting to watch because it made it very clear that much more is expected of me as an audience, that I wasn’t going to be spoon fed.

The set design consists of the placement cubes, columns and platforms that are shaped and molded by the lighting design of Jeff Calderon. Add just a little imagination provided by the audience, and belief is gently levitated and suspended in the space. It is actually a delight not to be bothered with the details of a realistic set, which can never be perfect, but my imagination is, providing all the details I want.

The second one-act, Beast on a Swing, also by Thayer Burch, is about Marjorie, delightfully played by Lisa Marie Hayes. Marjorie is in an oppressive marriage and manages to conjure up a Beast (Paul T. Murray) to relieve her from her misery. Murray is hilarious as the conceited caricature of masculinity with a prodigious “aspect.”

The big payoff for the evening comes in the third one-act, Buyer’s Market by Richard Sutherlin. C. Buckler Cramston (Theda Reale) is a writer who seeks out B. Elzebub (Gail Bearden) in order to sell her soul for a successful career. Before she can see the devil, she must get by the devil’s secretary, Eva Peron (Nancy Hammil), and when she does, the devil is not interested — she already has too many souls. Hammil’s Peron is bizarre, insane and hilarious. Bearden is flawless as the over-worked, under-appreciated merchant of souls with an inventory surplus as a result of the eighties. This play is a wonderful eulogy for the greed decade. Set design consisted simply of four poles and some cubes. That’s all that was needed to define the space. The acting, the writing, and the direct-. ing did the rest. That’s how theatre is supposed to work.

A few days after seeing the play(s), I sat down with the Foundry committee, consisting of founders C.J. Bau, R.J. Bonds, Angela Eads plus Lisa Mahe Hayes and Sunny Reale. Most of them had come from or had experience in theatre in New York, Chicago and London. All of them are frustrated with theatre in L.A.. This is the primary motivation for the creation of the Foundry. They all expressed a desire to free themselves creatively as artiste and that is what they hope to accomplish.

They have been given the second stage at the American Renegade for six months. Shows will run consecutively for five weeks, with no down time in between. The emphasis is on collaborative, ensemble work that maximizes the talents and abilities of all involved, while maintaining a clear artistic vision. The Foundry is off to a strong start. They are meeting their end of the bargain in providing honest, good quality theatre. Now it’s up to the audience to respond.