The Fountain Theatre is hosting a free reading of the powerful new play, We Will Not Be Silent, on Thursday, July 20 at 7pm. Written by David Meyers and directed by Cameron Watson, the cast for the reading features Steven Culp, Jim French and Elizabeth Lanier. Recently presented at the Contemporary American Theatre Festival, BroadwayWorld applauded the play as “gripping” and DC Theatre Scene hailed it as “superb.”
The true story of Sophie Scholl, a German college student who led the only act of public resistance to the Nazis during World War II, David Meyers’ play examines the moral strength and clarity that led a group of students to risk their lives for a righteous, but hopeless, cause.
The Fountain offers the free staged reading as an adjunct to its currently running production of Building the Wall.
Free to the public. Reservations necessary. (323) 663-1525 or click here.
Even the most vivid dreams come to an end. The Dream Catcher company awoke Monday night from their 2-month reverie and enjoyed their final performance followed by a lively reception in our upstairs cafe. Another magical evening at the Fountain.
Dream Catcher enjoyed an extended two-month run that earned rave reviews. Actors Elizabeth Frances and Brian Tichnell gave a thrilling performance Monday night. They were joined at a fabulous party in our upstairs cafe by director Cameron Watson, playwright Stephen Sachs, stage manager Emily Lehrer, Co-Artistic Director Deborah Lawlor and producer Simon Levy, associate producer James Bennett and props designer Terri Roberts. Others attending were Jennifer Finch (“I and You”), Sabina Zuniga Varela (“El Nogalar”), Barbara Beckley (Colony Theatre), Michael Seel (Theatre@Boston Court), Dany Margolies, Sandy Baldonado, Kevork & Cecile Keshishian, and videographer Paolo Durazzo.
Randy Reinholz and Jean Bruce Scott of Native Voices
Join the cast and creative team of Dream Catcher and NativeVoices Producing Artistic Director Randy Reinholz, Producing Executive Director Jean Bruce Scott, and Ensemble Leader Jennifer Bobiwash in a post-show Q&A discussion with the audience after the performance this Monday night, February 22 at 8pm.
Elizabeth Frances
The panel will include Dream Catcher actors Elizabeth Frances, Brian Tichnell, director Cameron Watson and playwright Stephen Sachs. The discussion will focus on the tribal issues raised in the play, the challenges faced by Native actors in this era of diversity casting, and an assessment of how Native people are dramatized in theatre, film and television.
Dream Catcher actress Elizabeth Frances is a member of Native Voices.
NativeVoices at the Autry is the only Equity theatre company devoted exclusively to developing and producing new works for the stage by Native American, Alaska Native, and First Nations playwrights.
In Dream Catcher, construction of a billion dollar solar energy plant in the Mojave Desert is threatened to be brought to a halt when it is discovered that the plant may be sitting on a Mojave Indian burial site. Inspired by a true event, the world premiere production has earned rave reviews and runs to March 21.
Looks like the Fountain may have another hit on its hands. Our world premiere of Dream Catcher by Stephen Sachs is earning rave reviews and has been spotlighted as Ovation Recommended by members of LA Stage Alliance. Broadway World hails it as “an incredible tour de force” and ShowBuzzNYC exclaims that it’s “an emotional rollercoaster thrill ride.”
Directed by Cameron Watson and starring Elizabeth Frances and Brian Tichnell, Dream Catcher is performed in a thrilling in-the-round setting (“Fountain 360”) until March 21.
Enjoy this new video highlighting the fabulous press quotes earned by this passionate production.
Packed house in the round for Opening Night of ‘Dream Catcher’
Our world premiere production of Dream Catcher by Stephen Sachs opened this weekend to a flurry of parties, standing ovations and enthusiastic response. A packed sold-out audience on Saturday night was thrilled with director Cameron Watson’s in-the-round staging and riveted by the kinetic performances of Elizabeth Frances and Brian Tichnell. Dream Catcher runs to March 21.
A select group of Fountain donors and board members enjoyed an early look at Dream Catcher Friday night at the final Donor Preview. They included actor Alan Mandell, Lois Fishman, Ejike and Victoria Ndefo, Nick Ullett, Ruth Tavlin, Patty Paul, Bill Butler, Susan Stockel, Dick Motika and Jerrie Whitfield, and Oscar and Nyla Arslanian. They were joined by Director of Development Barbara Goodhill, Co-Artistic Director Deborah Lawlor, producing Director Simon Levy, and members of the Fountain team. After the performance, all celebrated upstairs in the cafe for a catered party with the actors and company.
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
After seeing Dream Catcher, actor Alan Mandell beamed, “A terrific performance. Very intense. Exciting theater directed by that master director Cameron Watson. A wonderful script from Stephen Sachs. Don’t miss it.”
A packed sold-out audience filled the theatre on Saturday’s Opening Night. The provocative in-the-round setting — dubbed “Fountain 360” — created heightened excitement and electricity. At the post-show reception, playwright Stephen Sachs was surprised by a special guest in attendance: Louis Sahagun, the LA Times reporter who wrote the original article in 2012 that inspired Sachs to write the play.
LA Times writer Louis Sahagun congratulates Sachs (right) on Opening Night.
Early reviews for Dream Catcher are starting to come in. The Examiner hails it as “Extraordinary! A must see!” LA Splash raves the “Stunning performances.”
Feel it. Full circle. In the round. Experience Fountain 360 for yourself.
A road trip rehearsal in the vast, open desert became an unforgettable experience for the company of Dream Catcher on Saturday.
Because the new play is set in the middle of the Mojave desert, director Cameron Watson led actors Elizabeth Frances and Brian Tichnell, playwright Stephen Sachs and stage manager Emily Lehrer to a desert spot 80 miles outside Los Angeles. They would rehearse the play there. Watson hoped the desert would offer the actors an authentic sense of place and the opportunity to soak up the sights, sounds, smells and heat of the landscape.
Construction underway for in-the-round seating for ‘Dream Catcher’.
Director Cameron Watson wants Fountain audiences to walk into the theatre and immediately be surprised. To encounter the unexpected. For his mounting of the world premiere of Stephen Sachs’ Dream Catcher, patrons will be startled the moment they step through the lobby door: the seating has been changed to a dynamic in-the-round configuration.
Cameron Watson
“This play is volatile and exciting,” says Watson. “The muscularity of it got my attention right away.”
Watson doesn’t want audiences to experience the kinetic energy of Dream Catcher in the conventional way. Instead of sitting in the dark and watching the play as an observer, audiences will surround the playing area on all sides and be inside the world of the play with the two characters.
Dream Catcher is set in an empty stretch of the barren Mojave Desert. The construction of a huge solar energy plant in the middle of the desert is threatened to come to a halt when the sudden discovery of long-buried Native American artifacts are found on the site. Changing the theatre seating to an in-the-round configuration opens up the space to help evoke a feeling of wide expanse. It also creates a sacred circle for the audience, a sense of ritual and ancient storytelling that is central to Mojave Native culture. Even the hoop shape of an actual dream catcher is circular, signifying unity.
“I felt like it needed to be a circular, almost tribal, space,” says Watson. “I felt like it is told in a ring. Communal. That we all need to be part of the experience and commune with the story. Inclusive. The circular space echoes the vastness and isolation of the wide open space and also the circular configuration of the solar field in the desert.”
The new set is being created by award-winning and longtime Fountain designer Jeff McLaughlin. Changing the audience seating required extra effort for Fountain Technical Director Scott Tuomey and his crew.
This is not the first time the Fountain has experimented with altered seating. In 1993, The Seagull starring Salome Jens was performed in-the-round. Athol Fugard’s The Train Driver had a three-quarter setting in 2010, with the audience seated on three sides.
But this current in-the-round seating for Dream Catcher is unique and has an immediate impact on the total feeling of the space. It is kinetic, energetic and alive.
Actors, director and production team gathered yesterday afternoon for the first rehearsal of our world premiere production of Dream Catcher by Stephen Sachs. The new play about climate change, cultural change and the moral consequences of personal choice opens January 30.
Producer Simon Levy welcomed the company and director Cameron Watson shared his vision for the production. Playwright Stephen Sachs offered his insight on the script as actors Elizabeth Frances and Brian Tichnell watched and listened. Also present were Co-Artistic Director Deborah Lawlor, associate producer James Bennett, stage manager Emily Lehrer, designers Terri A. Lewis and Terri Roberts, assistant director Alana Dietze. A special guest at the table was Michael Van Duzer, writing a feature story for ThisStage magazine on the development of the new play.
After the remarks and a brief discussion, the script was opened and the new play was read aloud by the two talented actors. The room immediately filled with the passion and intensity of the play, sent soaring by the heat and fervor of the actors. It was clear, even at this first reading, that Dream Catcher was going to be an extraordinary ride for artists and audiences alike.
Solar power confronts spirit power in a new drama by Stephen Sachs about climate change, cultural change and the moral consequences of personal choice. Cameron Watson directs Elizabeth Frances and Brian Tichnell in the world premiere of Dream Catcher, opening January 30 at the Fountain Theatre.
Roy is the youngest member on a team of high-level engineers brought in to launch the most important project of his career — the construction of a solar energy plant in the middle of the Mojave Desert — when the sudden discovery of long-buried Native American artifacts threatens to bring the billion-dollar operation to a halt. The disaster gets deeply personal when the whistle-blower turns out to be Opal, the fiery and unpredictable young Mojave Indian woman with whom Roy has been having an affair.
The Fountain Theatre is hosting a free reading of the powerful new play, We Will Not Be Silent, on Thursday, July 20 at 7pm. Written by David Meyers and directed by Cameron Watson, the cast for the reading features Steven Culp, Jim French and Elizabeth Lanier. Recently presented at the Contemporary American Theatre Festival, BroadwayWorld applauded the play as “gripping” and DC Theatre Scene hailed it as “superb.”
