Los Angeles, I'm (not nor will I ever be) yours.

Zoe and I saw a guy masturbating on a subway platform.

I will never live here. Even Portland (which is supposedly Hobo Mecca) is cleaner and more pleasant than Los Angeles. I have seen at least 12 crazy people (including a drunk iguana-man who almost got thrown out of a Mexican restaurant and some guy flailing in the street). I have been stared at and (purportedly) followed by a drunk cafe patron. I have had my butt grabbed by a middle aged guy with a briefcase while I was waiting for the Angel Tram. I have been trapped in the middle of a huge crowd of people which has come to a complete standstill for no apparent reason.

I hate Los Angeles and I will never live here.

In other news, nobody advanced or won anything so the conference turned into a sightseeing/showseeing opportunity. I saw four shows, and here is my (brief) analysis:

Cal Lutheran's The Cherry Orchard:

First of all, I think that Tom Stoppard's translation seriously undermined the character development. The modernization of the language, including use of contractions and expressions which are unique to a more contemporary time period, made it difficult to discern both the subtext and theme of the play. (This, I think, was compounded by the fact that Stoppard's "new version" emphasizes humor rather than plot.) The acting was, for the most part, pretty disappointing. Lopakhin was rather a lot like Groucho Marx, Varya had no levels or energy, Lyubov was dreary, Gaev was slow... I was bummed out. The Cherry Orchard is in my Top 5 Favorite Plays and this was my first time seeing it onstage. I wanted so badly for it to be awesome.

Weber's Under Construction:

First of all, I want to say that I really like Charles Mee. I've read a few of his plays and I appreciate the poetic style he employs. However, I had a really difficult time watching this show. I think it's because there were very few unifying aspects of the production. I think the director and the playwright had very different ideas as to the theme of the script, which caused a sort of weird conceptual conflict throughout the course of the show. I was also kind of disappointed in the actors. They were clearly all very talented, but they lacked passion or energy or any kind of livewire driving force which is so essential for a piece like this. It was kind of like someone telling a joke without caring whether or not anybody laughs.

USU's Do Not Hit Golf Balls Into Mexico:
Holy crap, this show was awesome. It's an original play, which I find so incredible -- it takes so much courage to write anything and then share it with a large group of people -- and the quality of the text was just astounding to me. Granted, it wasn't perfect -- it could probably use one more re-write, just to do some fine tuning -- but it was soulful and informative. The acting was sort of hit and miss -- the leads were great, but the supporting characters could have used some extra work. Overall, a really touching production.

Cal PolyTech's Betrayal:
I went to see this show because I met their stage manager, Theresa, and she invited me to attend. Fortunately, I was not disappointed. I think that this was the most well-acted production I saw at KCACTF. The guy who played Robert, (whose name was Devin [I think]) was absolutely incredible. Oh my gosh, I was in awe of the ease and honesty of his performance. (Also, he was soooooo cute.) I appreciated the fact that they played up the humor of the situation, rather than trying to emphasize the drama and conflict. The presence of comedy really accentuated the theme of the play. I think the only thing I had even the slightest problem with was that they occasionally underplayed their lines, which made it hard to tell when the things they were saying were important or not.

All in all this has been a really incredible opportunity to attend live theatre. I'm glad I had the chance to go.