Theater Review

By JOLENE HULL Palisadian-Post Intern ‘Tis the season for merry machinations and Christ- mas chaos in the satirical holiday comedy ‘Inspecting Carol,’ presented by Theatre Palisades. The actors of the Soapbox Playhouse Theater Company are busy preparing for their annual performance of ‘A Christmas Carol.’ After being informed by the theater’s financial director that the theater is bankrupt, the play’s exuberant Lithuanian director, Zorah Bloch (played by Susan Lucci lookalike Pamela Murphy) is panic-stricken. The advisor also informs her that an inspector from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is expected to arrive at any moment to adjudicate whether funding should be continued or cut. Then, without warning, an overly enthusiastic actor named Wayne Wellacre (Stephen King) shows up to audition for a part in the production. Zorah assumes this is the NEA inspector in disguise, so she more than willingly gives him a part in the play, as well as incorporating his fatuous ideas and catering to his every need. After numerous shenanigans, including a steamy stage seduction, the real NEA inspector shows, only to bear witness to the most outrageous and appalling dress rehearsal of ‘A Christmas Carol’ this side of the North Pole. My favorite character was by far Sidney Carlton (George Hoth). After cast mate Walter E. Parsons (Arden Haywood), fails to utter any one of this Ghost of Christmas Past lines in the play, Sidney reassures him it was okay since ‘a lot of people forget their lines …just not the whole play.’ Although slow-going for a while, ‘Inspecting Carol’ is a solid play, fueled by its witty and unforgiving script. In addition, the acting and set decoration were both lively and convincing. Other highlights include a giant Tiny Tim, a run-of-the-mill turkey and a politically charged Ebenezer Scrooge. The play also features Benjamin Ackerman (Luther Beatty), John Clement (Phil Hewlitt), Manfred E. Hofer (Larry Vauxhall), Paul Huebl (Bart Frances), Martha Hunter (Betty Andrews), Paula K. Long (M. J. McMann), Cynthia Rothschild (Dorothy Tree-Hapgood), Jack Winnick (Kevin Emery) and Evan Smith (Luther Beatty understudy). The play is written by Daniel Sullivan and the Seattle Repertory Company, directed by Sherman Wayne and produced by Shirley Churgin and Lee Minderhout, ‘Inspecting Carol’ continues Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. through December 5 at Pierson Playhouse, 941 Temescal Canyon Road, Tickets: 454-1970.

His Live Performance Creates the Sounds for Film

Palisadian Michael Lyle won a 2004 Emmy award for stomping his feet in sync to film, and slapping boxing gloves against the floor. A Foley artist, Lyle won the Emmy for ‘Outstanding Sound Editing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special’ for HBO’s ‘And Starring Pancho Villa As Himself.’ ”The Emmy Awards ceremony brought rare recognition to this behind-the-scenes Hollywood craft. After the film is shot, the Foley artists begin their work. Since the sound recordists on the set are mostly focused on capturing dialogue, Foley artists come in and add the ambient sounds that give the film or TV show a ‘real, authentic’ feeling. ”On a recent Thursday afternoon at Universal Studios, Lyle was starting the evening shift of Foley work with his partner Paul Stevenson and Foley mixer Matt Mondrick. ”Mondrick sits at a large mixing table in a glass booth, while Lyle and Stevenson work on the stage. The film is projected without sound on a large monitor and two portable super-sensitive microphones pick up every move of the two Foley artists. The work requires replicating sounds from the intricate movement of people and objects. ”While working on an episode of the television series, ‘LAX,’ the two men first rub cloth together for the scene. This cloth track will add the subtle background noise of people’s clothing moving. Next, they work on footsteps, one of the Foley artist’s specialties. ”Lyle says he has over 50 pairs of shoes, ‘from combat boots to 6-inch stilettos,’ each chosen to make a specific sound. ‘It’s funny seeing us at the thrift store with a bunch of women’s shoes walking around with them to see what sound they make,’ says Stevenson. ”Looking like a crazy tap dance duo from an old silent movie, the men focus intensely on the screen while moving in rhythm to create the walk of the character they’re playing. There are a variety of walking surfaces to choose from in the studio: coffee grounds on a concrete surface for a sidewalk, dirt with grass and wood chips, gravel, rugs, and other squares of different material throughout the stage floor. ”The soundproofed studio is filled with props’glasses, kitchenware, food, shoes, magazines, telephones, guns, rifles, metal pipes, a tub and various buckets of water, and a well-worn car hood. ‘If we don’t have it, we make you think we have it,’ Lyle says. ”’When we see something new [on the screen], our brain goes into high gear, we run around for a minute and get an idea [of how to make that sound], we usually figure it out quickly.’ ”In another run through the scenes, the two sit at separate microphones, using props to make yet another layer of sound. Someone is spit at and Lyle slaps a wet chamois cloth against his hand to replicate the sound. For a fight scene, pairs of jeans slapped on the floor are used to represent the sound of a body hitting the floor. ”The work is intensely physical. ‘I’ve got to stay in really good shape for this,’ says Lyle, who works with a trainer to keep in top condition for the job. ‘There are about 50 people who make a living at it in town,’ he says. About two-thirds of them are women, many who started as dancers. ”There are tricks of the trade that are passed down, such as using coconuts for horse hooves and paper clips taped to a glove for dog and cat paw steps. ”Lyle credits being a lifelong drummer to his ability to be a ‘sync-monkey,’ synchronizing his movements exactly with what’s happening on the screen. ‘It’s very rhythmic,’ says Lyle, who also enjoys the overall creativity of the job. Foley artists have to be able to quickly replicate any sound on a first viewing. If an actor knocks something with a weird rhythm, Lyle can hear it back once and replicate it automatically, a talent that comes from his percussion background. ” ”In his musical career, he leads the eight-member jazz band The BlueCat Express, which also includes his wife, Heather, a vocalist (the group’s CD ‘Spirit of New Orleans’ is available at Village Books). The couple have lived in Marquez Knolls since 1993. ”Lyle was training to be a sound effects supervisor seven years ago when he got thrown into a Foley stage. ‘An editor put me in a studio cold and said, ‘Get this film done,” recalls Lyle, who learned he had a knack for it. ”Lyle, 44, also loves the autonomy of the job, ‘Foley artists are among the few people in the film business who are allowed to do their own thing. When directors or producers hire us, they know we’re going to get the job done. It’s up to us to do what the film or TV show needs. It’s nice to go to work with your team.’ ”The process starts when an editor, while watching the film, notes on a chart the exact moment when a specific sound effect is needed. The Foley mixer can record up to nine separate tracks of different Foley sounds for one scene in a TV show, and 24 tracks for a film. ”The Foley mixer cues up the scene to the correct spot, and makes sure the sounds and movement are in perfect sync. He may occasionally have to ask the Foley artists to redo a scene if, for example, one of their stomachs grumble, since the microphones are so sensitive they will pick up the sound.” ”Finally the mixer will mix the Foley tracks with dialogue, sound effects and music to create the final product. ”’When you really get the groove of moving in sync with the picture, it’s the same feeling as playing with a band when it’s going well,’ Lyle says.

By MARIE-CLAUDE HAMEL, Palisadian-Post Contributor From afar, nothing seems unusual. It’s 9:30 on Saturday morning and the sports field at Calvary Christian school is swarming with young soccer players in blue and red jerseys. Coach Don Randolph, wearing a yellow T-shirt, runs with the players, giving them last-minute advice for the play. ”But as one gets closer to the field, something special differentiates this game from the average one: young soccer players, not donning any of the teams’ colors, run up and down the field, assisting the team members with their moves. Those young aides, ‘buddies,’ are the key to the success of the American Youth Soccer Organization’s VIP program for children with special needs. ”’Each player is assigned a buddy from the moment he or she walks on the field to the time of walking off the field,’ Randolph said. The buddies are mostly friends and family members of the VIP players, volunteers from the local AYSO teams or from the local Boy Scout troop. ‘If I have to give credit to anyone for the success of the program, it’s to the buddies. These are young soccer players who have never experienced anything like this before,’ he said. ”Although Randolph is an attorney with a full load of complex cases, he has already spent 10 years volunteering as a coach for AYSO. When he was asked to organize and coach the Pacific Palisades’ VIP soccer program, which stands for Very Important Players, he said that both he and his wife Suzanne knew this was something they had wanted to do, it was just a matter of when. It now seems as though the fall of 2004 was just the right time for Don and Suzanne. ”Since the Randolphs’ daughters, Christina, 16, and Maggie, 12, were already playing in AYSO teams, Don said they waited for their 10-year-old son Charlie to be ready to be involved in a sport before starting the Palisades’ branch of the VIP program. Now Charlie, who is autistic, is able to participate in a team sport for the first time in his life, while being coached by his father. ‘Charlie is staying a little longer every week. Perhaps he’ll stay for a whole game by the end of the season,’ Don said. ”Charlie is part of the 10-year-old and under co-ed group, which now has about 12 registered players, while the over-10 group has about six players. The younger group takes to the field from 8:30 to 10 a.m. Saturdays, while the older group plays between 10 and 11:30 a.m. on the same days. ”But the VIP program is still a work in progress. Having officially started only in late September, Don said he felt the program could grow rapidly. ‘We now have about 18 to 20 players registered and we’re very pleased, but I would be very happy if we could grow the program to about 50 players.’ In addition to Don, Chris Jones helps coach the team and also has a son, Dylan, who plays in the older group. Volunteer Nancy Weintraub also helps with coaching, and her son Ted is one of the buddies. ”According to Debbie Held, the commissioner for AYSO Region 69, which encompasses Brentwood, the Palisades and adjacent neighborhoods, the VIP program was greatly needed in the Palisades and she was pleased when Don accepted her offer to start the project. ‘It takes a lot of energy to get the ball rolling, and Don has been a great organizer and a great coach,’ she said. ‘There is a need for this program in this community and I think it’s great time that we have a VIP project in place. It’s now just a matter of getting the word out to the community and letting them know that this is available to their children.’ ”The VIP project has its arms open to many children who would otherwise be unable to participate in a team sport. ‘Anyone with any disability that doesn’t make a child too fragile to play is welcome,’ said Suzanne Randolph. Although the program is open to any child with physical or mental impairment, Suzanne said that the majority of the Palisades’ VIP members have autism. According to AYSO, these children can often feel isolated in schools and in special programs, but the integration of the non-disabled players to the VIP program allows for a healthier growth and exchange for the children with special needs. ”Mike Roux, a 16-year-old who, on the Saturday we visited, was sporting a blue jersey and scored the first goal for his team, has found in VIP the outlet he needed in order to satisfy his desire to play sports. His father Chris, who also fills in as a temporary coach, explained that since socialization is the main difficulty for autistic children, the idea of a team sport helps lift some of the barriers. ‘Kids like Mike think about themselves all the time, so the concept of a team broadens his world,’ Chris said. ‘He really does enjoy it. He played for three years in the Westchester VIP program, but this is closer to home.’ ”But some of the children are newer to the scene. One of Mike’s friends, 15-year-old David Coles, is one of them. Having gone for the first time to a VIP soccer game two weeks before, he sat on the sidelines until halftime, when he finally decided to join in and, according to Don, quickly became the star of the show. ‘He’s a natural,’ Don said. ”But David’s mother Laurie said she thinks that his agility may come from someplace else. ‘He plays computer games constantly. We think that’s why he’s so quick to learn,’ she said. Laurie said that David loves to write and has a great imagination. ‘I think he lives his life through the stories that he writes and I think that’s him trying to have friends: the ones who live in his stories. That’s why I think [VIP] is very important. It’s part of their socialization.’ ”David, who, like Mike, wore a blue jersey, scored at least two goals during Saturday’s game, making him once more very popular with his team and with the group of parents who sit on the sidelines and encourage all players. ”At the end of each game, the players give each other cheers and run through a tunnel made by their family members and the volunteers. It is difficult not to notice the joy on the children’s faces as they pass under their loved ones’ arms. ”Although this volunteer, parent-run national group has for its obvious goal to benefit children with special needs, Don said he feels that the buddies also go home with a great gift. His daughter Christina has been a buddy for the whole season and she said that, in many ways, the experience has touched her life. ‘I’ve worked in my little brother Charlie’s classroom before. I was a volunteer and there was a lot of one-on-one work. But school is tough for everybody. With soccer, the kids are having more fun and their faces light up. It’s wonderful to see that.’ There are some difficulties for the buddies as well. Christina said that she often works with the more disabled children since she has that experience with her brother Charlie at home. But for the most part, she said that all that is required is that one knows the basic rules of soccer and has some coordination. ‘It’s not heavy duty. For anybody who likes kids, it’s great and it’s really fun,’ she said. ‘And it’s not hard to come up once a week and brighten up your whole day in the process.’ ”Don also said he believes in the advantages that youngsters get from being involved in the program. ‘It gives the buddies a greater appreciation of the world, of the life and of the spirit of these kids. Anytime a child with special needs gets to participate in a program like this, everybody benefits.’ ”(Editor’s note: The VIP season ends November 20. A spring VIP season is being organized. If you are interested in registering your child in the VIP program, contact Kathy Slattery at 459-2552. If you are interested in volunteering for VIP, contact Suzanne Randolph at 459-3170.)