Hustling is hard for playwrights, even for those who have extensive theater credits and awards. Imagine, then, how the Botanicum Seedlings play-development series can assist a writer in his most important wish’to bring the work to life? Now in its fourth season, Seedlings presents staged readings of three new plays on Sundays at 11 a.m., beginning June 4 in the Theatricum Botanicum’s home in Topanga Canyon. “The series is about serving the playwrights,” says Jennie Webb, currently playwright-in-residence at The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, who created and oversees the Seedlings program. With the collapse of the A.S.K. Theater projects in 2003, which provided an avenue for playwrights to have their work performed, the Theatricum, which is known for its summer Shakespeare repertoire, decided to expand its reach by encouraging new work. Artistic Director Ellen Geer feels the program was a natural evolution for the Theatricum, which began as a place where artists could speak out in times of turmoil. Her father, Will Geer, built the Theatricum Botanicum in Topanga during the 1950s, when he was blacklisted for refusing to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Webb solicits new plays from all over the country and usually receives between 75 and 100 submissions a year. Israel Baran, a writer and literary critic, reads every play first and gives notes. The plays are then read by two to three people, actors and writers who serve on the reading committee. The Theatricum encourages provocative, political and socially relevant material, and prefers plays which are theatrical and character-driven. Webb says that unlike a lot of companies that are looking for new plays to produce in their own theaters, the Seedlings program is not. “We’re here to help the playwright get to the next level, primarily. In addition, the Theatricum could develop relationships with other theaters, which might be interested in producing the Seedlings play, and finally, the Seedlings program expands the Theatricum Botanicum actors’ repertory. “We give the playwright two rehearsals, a director and a good cast,” Webb continues. She really provides the expert support and what she hopes will be the best combination of director and cast that will communicate what the writer feels is the most important focus. “I talk to the playwrights, and say ‘Tell me about the characters, what are your goals? Is it character-driven?’ Then I go to Ellen and we rack our brains to come up with whom we think would be the best actors to cast.” Webb cites the June 4th play, “Such Moments” by Drew Katzman, that tells the tale of two very complicated women who become an inextricable part of each other’s lives. Both Geer and Webb thought immediately of resident actors Susan Angelo and Melora Marshall in the title roles. Both women have been reigning leading ladies together at the Theatricum since they were ingenues. Angelo currently heads the Academy of the Classics, while working as an actress at repertory companies across the country. The reading is also directed by Ann-Giselle Spiegler, an award-winning director and co-founder of Lit Theater. In her other job as a drama critic, most recently for Backstage West and on air for KCRW-FM, Webb sees a lot of theater and has an extensive recollection of actors and performances. This gives her resources from which to select a cast and directors for Seedlings. As with many of the members of the Will Geer “family,” Webb has worked in many capacities. A graduate of USC’s School of Drama, she started her career as an actress and comedienne. She performed sketch and improvisational comedy in night clubs and theater, and in 1987 co-founded The Rough Theater, a nonprofit theater company which actively produced new works through the mid-1990s. She describes herself as a person who just “kind of falls into things,” and that’s what led her to the Theatricum. “Louis Fantasia, a good friend, and an internationally respected Shakespeare/acting teacher, recommended me for the job at the Theatricum heading the adult acting programs with Susan Angelo in 1989. So I got involved, I taught classes (intensive Shakespeare, classical training, kids’ play writing) and started the public relations for the company.” In 2002, Ellen said to Webb, appreciating her dedication and talent, “How can we help you? The Theatricum commissioned a play that turned out to be Webb’s one-act “Tilting,” which received a staged reading to end the 2001 Summer Repertory Season. Webb said, “How can we help other playwrights?” And that was the “seed” for Seedlings. This summer’s readings include Katzman’s “Such Moments,” which received a reading at Theatre West last weekend. A producer, director and actor, he most recently performed the 40th anniversary revival of “Spoon River Anthology” for Theatre West. “The Resurrection of Dismas and Gestas” will debut on Sunday, June 11. The play, by award-winning New York-based fiction writer Jacob Appel, is a dark comedy about ideas which takes a sharply stylized look at life, death, date, sexuality and property rights. Appel has received awards including the William Faulkner-William Wisdom Award for the Short Story, and has been shortlisted for the O. Henry Award. Brian Patrick Mulligan, who most recently staged “The Beauty Queen of Leenane” at Celtic Arts, will direct. The readings conclude on June 19 with Devin Wallace’s “The Washing Place,” directed by Karen Reed, who’s also an actress at the Company Rep. A historical play set in 12th-century France, the play unveils the colorful world of the troubadours. Based in Los Angeles, Wallace has written and directed several historical works for NPR Playhouse, including “The Glass Harmonica” and “Bitter Lake,” which later adapted into an award-winning screenplay. Several of the plays that have been Seedlings in years past have gone on to fully staged productions. Diane Lefer’s play “Harvest” was produced at the Playwright’s Arena, and James McLindon’s play “The Garden of Dromore” was a finalist in the Grove Theater’s New Plays Initiative. Webb likes the direction that Seedlings is taking the Theatricum, which, she says, has historically stood apart from the Los Angeles theater scene. “I think that this independent ‘we have to do this ourselves’ mentality may be a leftover from the blacklisting days. But my main goal is advocacy. I want us to develop relations with other small theaters. There are more theaters in Los Angeles than in New York. We’re starting to reach out and see the Theatricum go into another arena.” Botanicum Seedlings are free to the public. The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum is located at 1419 Topanga Canyon Blvd. For information, call 455-3723 or visit www.theatricum.com.
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