There’s nothing like a pleasant stroll down memory lane, unless of course you’re a
40ish gay man with a dad who once paid an acquaintance to kill your mother (the
rape was a bonus the acquaintance threw in), a sadistic son-of-a-bitch of a
granddad who sent you to military school at age 12, and a 15-year-old dorm-mate
who sodomized your 12-year-old self on a nightly basis.

Fortunately, Randy, the hero of Robert J. Ammidown’s Life, LoVe & Chaos (and one
might surmise playwright Ammidown himself as the play is “based on real events”) is
a survivor with a sense of humor (sometimes bitchy, sometimes ironic, sometimes just
downright funny).  Thus, L,L&C is much less of a downer than one might expect,
becoming ultimately an inspiring story of forgiveness, and a gripping piece of theater.

The play received a laudable staged reading tonight, the first of the Blank Theatre
Company’s Monday night living room series. If tonight’s “staged reading” (more like
a staged production with script in hand) is any indication, the series is off to a bang-
up start.

As a stroke of good luck, the L,L&C’s attic setting was a near perfect match for the
currently running Heads’ Iraqi basement prison cell set, lending to tonight's reading
the air of an actual performance.  Good luck it was too to have an all-around fine
cast of actors to bring to life Randy’s tortured past, and excellent direction (by Jon
VanMiddlesworth), which made good use of the Heads set as well as an effective
lighting, projection, and sound design.  Original songs--"Life Support on Christmas"
and "Heavy Metal Lover"--were written and performed by Michael Mangia . The
projections and other music were designed by Bryan David Wilson.

Randy was touchingly played by Charlie Schlatter, an actor whose career I have
followed since his triple-punch movie debut at 21 in Bright Lights, Big City,
Heartbreak Hotel, and especially 18 Again (portraying an 18 year old George Burns),
a movie I’ve seen more times than I’d care to admit. Twenty years later, Schlatter
has more than fulfilled the promise of those early films, maturing into an actor of
depth, yet maintaining the boyish charm of his early work. It was a treat to see him
on stage tonight in a passionate and layered performance.

The CHAOS in the title refers to the chaotic memories which flood Randy’s mind as
he returns to the attic of his youth, following the death of his father. This "CHAOS"
was personified by Brandon Alexander, a talented young actor who gave CHAOS a
wicked (and sometimes bitchy) sense of humor.  Randy doesn’t always want to go
where CHAOS wants to lead him, but in order to achieve some kind of closure, follow
him he must. In one very good scene,  a spot-on Alexander took on the robes, voice,
and mannerisms, of Katharine Hepburn as Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion in Winter,
as she and Randy debated who had the more dysfunctional life.

Mike Genovese was suitably unpleasant as Randy’s ex-jailbird dad, who feels quite
justified in asking Randy for financial help, even after the horrendous crime which
sent him to prison, even after Randy and his boyfriend chose to give up their life in
New York to move to Florida to be with him after his prison release, even now, when
he finds himself in financial trouble after marrying a Russian Internet-bride (deliciously
played by Heather Mazur).  The funniest line in the play is Heron’s, about a personal
ad that didn’t get the results she’d hoped for.

John Ronald Dennis created a truly evil granddad, and Judith Montgomery’s
Southern belle grandmother (called Mummum) elicited sympathy even as her
character lacks the guts to stand up to her monster of a husband.  Completing the
cast was Matthew Heron, a warm and stabilizing presence as Dave, Randy’s
mensch of a husband (of 20 years).

Because of Randy and Dave’s enduring relationship, we know that Randy has
indeed survived a childhood most of us could scarcely imagine, and because of
Ammidown’s painfully honest script, we feel that we have taken a journey with him,
and have come out victorious in the end.

Life, LoVe & CHAOS, like any play in the “staged reading” stage, is most likely still a
work in progress, however even in this “unfinished” state, it would seem to be a
worthy addition to both the "survivor" or “gay play” genres (though it is much more
than that) and deserving of a fully staged production.

--September 10, 2007

The Living Room Series takes place Monday nights 8pm at:
2nd Stage Theatre, 6500 Santa Monica Blvd. (at Wilcox), Hollywood CA 90038
Reservations & Information 323.661.9827 Suggested Donations Start at $8

--Steven Stanley