PaliHi Graduates Launch New Shakespeare Company

When the founders of the new Los Angeles theater company, The Porters of Hellsgate, were students at PaliHi, they lived and breathed drama, appearing in school productions and the citywide Shakespeare drama festivals until they graduated. Now, a few years out of high school, Eddie Castuera, Jack Leahy and Charles Pasternak have formed their own company dedicated to performing Shakespeare, and will debut with ‘Julius Caesar’ tomorrow at the Whitmore-Lindley Theatre Center, 11006 Magnolia Blvd. in North Hollywood. The actors will concentrate on Shakespeare, because that is where their hearts lie. ‘It just doesn’t get any better than the Bard,’ Castuera says. The company’s name, in fact, is drawn from a scene in ‘Macbeth’: ‘As the drunken gatekeeper, the Porter, stumbles before his charge (the metaphoric gates to hell), he hears a pounding on the gates, to which he responds with the ironic quip, ‘Here’s a knocking indeed!’ If a man were a porter of hellsgate, he should have old turning the key’Anon, anon! I pray you, remember the porter.’ ‘Shakespeare is the best work and our foundation for the company,’ Castuera says. ‘Charles has an amazing way of making Shakespeare simple for people, while staying true to the text and true to the man. He has an impeccable way to make it easy to understand and easy to love.’ The group chose ‘Julius Caesar’` to show off each actor’s talent. In addition to co-producing with Leahy, Castuera plays Casca and young Octavius. Director Pasternak also plays Marc Anthony, and Leahy plays Brutus. Castuera said they have approached the play not as a political drama nor as a commentary on modern politics, but as ‘a human drama examining the minds and hearts of the men who rose up to commit history’s most famous murder, and their ensuing fall under the shadow of Caesar’s eternal eminence.’ The Porters of Hellsgate were introduced to one another’s work through PaliHi’s drama department, under the direction of Victoria Francis. A 2003 graduate, Castuera describes himself as an actor and musician with the mind of a producer and the heart of an artist. He was most recently on stage earlier this year in SMC’s production of ‘Evita.’ He is an accomplished beat-boxer and singer, a former of the Palisades a cappella group Absolute Funk, and has performed in Lisa Gumenick’s summer theater program, The Pretenders. After graduating from PaliHi in 2003, Leahy studied culinary arts at the Culinary Institute of America. He was most recently seen onstage in The Pretender’s production of ‘Hair’ at Magicopolis. Pasternak is an actor and director who has been working in the California theater community since graduating from PaliHi in 2002. He started his training in Shakespeare at a very young age through the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, under artistic director Ellen Geer. He later became a student of acting teacher Larry Moss and has appeared at the Theatricum, and the Mark Taper. He is a founding member and director at the Ethos Theatre Company in Hollywood. ‘Julius Caesar’ runs for four weeks on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. through January 13. There will be a matinee on Sunday, January 7 and closing day, January 14 at 3 p.m. For information and reservations, contact 497-2884.