ENTERTAINMENT Theater

Last year was, as Dickens wrote, “the best of times, it was the worst of times” for Los Angeles theater. In 2022 we were treated to some first-rate plays, such as “The Lehman Trilogy” at the Ahmanson, “Inheritance” at the Geffen, “Andre and Dorine” at the Los Angeles Theatre Center (LATC), and, again at The Music Center’s Ahmanson Theatre, “Come From Away.” These four plays had government (England, Spain, Canada) funding for their development. (To be clear, the production of “Inheritance” was homegrown but imported much of the physical aspects of the London production). However, the British Arts Council recently eliminated funding for such theaters as the Donmar Warehouse, Watermill and English National Opera, so who knows where the next incubators will be.

The above productions almost made up for a deadly “Oklahoma!,” an overblown “Slave Play” and a ludicrous “King Lear” (at the Wallis), among others. And while these plays did have their development cycles (especially “Oklahoma!” and “Slave Play”), I am going to venture that American plays are developed now — for absolutely legitimate reasons — with more of an eye to the politics of the play or playwright than the quality of the content. It is a swing of the pendulum we have to pass through in order to achieve true equity onstage.

The other Dickensian issue of ’22 (and 2023) is Covid, along with the flu and RSV. Performances get cancelled. Plays (unless they star Hugh Jackman or Lea Michele) are running at 75-80 percent capacity, often ending their runs early. Producers are wary about investing in new plays, let alone developing them, and audiences, especially older ones with disposable income, are hesitant about being in crowded spaces — and they probably will be more so come the winter.

The big corporate theaters will survive, providing us with a stream of mostly bland entertainment at exorbitant prices. Smaller, more experimental work — the American entrepreneurial version of state subsidies — will struggle. Some of the reasons for that struggle underpin the Rogue Machine’s production of Justin Tanner’s “Little Theater,” at the Matrix in Hollywood.

Thirty years ago, Mr. Tanner was the enfant terrible of Equity Waiver Theater (the actors’ union “waived” salaries so that members could be seen by producers). His early plays were produced in multiple venues, won numerous awards, played in New York, and earned Mr. Tanner (who appeared on the cover of LA Weekly) a deal at Universal. This was possible when there were 100 or so

Theater Review

by Louis Fantasia

small theaters in Los Angeles opening a dozen new plays a week in a city that still had multiple newspapers. Tickets were, maybe, $12, and rent might be $500 a week, which is what a producer pays per night now. Mr. Tanner’s tone was part Woody Allen, part Bret Easton Ellis, which captured the Los Angeles moment. An up-and-coming playwright (or director!) could actually get reviewed in the Los Angeles Times, and audiences came to the funkiest parts of town because odds were good that something creative, or at least interesting, was onstage.

It would have been fun if “Little Theater” had celebrated some of this insanity. Instead, Mr. Tanner seems more concerned about writing a forgiving portrait of himself, and less so of his boss at the Cast Theater, Diana Gibson. In this play, Zachary Grant, Jenny O’Hara and Ryan Brophy bring the stage versions of Tanner, Gibson and Tanner’s friend Andy Daly to life under Lisa James’ capable direction. The opening night audience was filled with “little theater” luminaries of the period, who laughed at

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What To Watch For

January sees a flood of musicals: “Mean Girls” (Pantages, Jan. 4-29), 323-468-1770, hollywoodpantages.com; “Grease” (La Mirada, Jan. 20- Feb. 12), 562-944-9801, lamiradatheatre.com; “The Lion King” (Pantages, Feb. 2- Mar. 26); Sondheim’s “Sunday in the Park With George” (Pasadena Playhouse, Feb 14-Mar. 19), 626-356-7529, pasadenaplayhouse.org; “The Secret Garden” (Ahmanson, Feb. 19-Mar. 26), 213-628-2772, centertheatregroup.org.

inside jokes about The Times’ Sylvie Drake or LATC’s Bill Bushnell. But, overall, it’s hard to see why anyone under 50 would care about what was, once, the worst of times and the best of times.

Through January 8. Tickets: roguemachinetheatre. org or 855-585-5185. Rogue Machine at the Matrix Theatre, 7657 Melrose Ave.

Marlborough

(Continued from page 1) about the school, I fell in love with it.”

Ciccarelli, who was selected from a field of more than 200 candidates, previously shared her expertise and enthusiasm for girls’ education at multiple schools across the country, including Columbus School for Girls in Ohio, where she was head of school from 2014 before coming to Marlborough. Advantages

The longtime educator touts the advantages of single-sex schools and told us the benefits are huge and clear on a lot of levels. “My theory is that when you have a girl-centered education, girls can play all the roles that are possible for human beings. So, they’re not told what they should or shouldn’t do. They are the leaders everywhere. They get the message that girls and women lead. They don’t get the message that they should quiet their voices, they should get smaller, they should shrink back, which is the message that our society sends girls. And so, for girls in particular, single-sex education is extremely valuable and the research does bear that out.”

The head of school notes that girls who have grown up with this unfettered education are in the habit of living this way. When they graduate, they go out into the world with the assumption that this will continue. And, when they “bump up against a counter-narrative,” said Ciccarelli, “they say, ‘woah, woah, woah, what’s going on here?’ And they use their voice, and they speak up and they fix it.”

Pandemic impacts

Ciccarelli believes strongly in the Marlborough goal of helping students lead lives of purpose. When asked about how the pandemic continues to affect school life, she said, “The pandemic really loosened things up a lot, and what I know as an educator is that kids thrive with boundaries. So, the fewer boundaries you put in place, [the more] unsafe things start to feel —not just for the rule followers. And you lose focus on what you should be focusing on, which is the learning and creating a lovely, supportive community.” Ciccarelli said Marlborough staff is working to put some loosened boundaries back in place.

The new head of school believes teachers around the country did as great a job as they could, but that learning online is not the same as being in person. She said the learning loss was real. According to Ciccarelli, math is the most concretely visible area where changes have occurred. She has noticed that students are not as willing to dig in — they are not as focused as previous students have been. The educator said, “It’s like the muscle for executive function and attending has atrophied.”

Ciccarelli said she also has noticed that kids are a little more risk adverse. They stick to what they know — stay with people they knew from the schools they came into Marlborough from. She said, “We are doing a lot of support on social dynamics and how to be kind to each other — how to reconnect with somebody after you’ve been in a fight and those day-to-day social skills. And, I suspect that we are going to decide to teach them more explicitly.”

The years to come

Regarding curriculum, Ciccarelli said the school is in phenomenal shape. “It’s an extraordinary school with a fantastic reputation of being a really academically rigorous, relevant and thoughtful school.” She said, “One of the things Marlborough does really well is it gives our students a great foundation of all those traditional academic skills… And then, pretty early — through some of the electives — students get the op(Please turn to page 27)