Theresa Rebeck’s darkly comedic, dramatically potent Seminar gives five talented L.A. actors the chance to dazzle under Jeremy Luke’s razor-sharp direction at North Hollywood’s Theatre 68.

Whatever early success may have brought novelist-turned-magazine correspondent Leonard (Leif Gantvoort) critical acclaim and accompanying fame, recent days have seen the one-time literary superstar doing magazine reportage in strife-torn Africa while waging his own one-one-one attacks on aspiring writers so desperate to publish that they will willingly fork over $5000 a head for a mere ten weekly sessions, none of which seem to last more than a matter of minutes.

At least Kate (Bella Balsamo), whose old-money family’s nine-room, rent-controlled-at-$800-a-month Upper West Side apartment serves as the group’s meeting place, would appear to have more than enough in her trust fund to pay the prof.

The same can probably said for Douglas (Freddy Giorlando), a preppy type who’s not only got family connections to the artists’ community Yaddo but is being courted by none other than The New Yorker.

College-age temptress Izzy (Kelsey Kummerl), too, seems hardly in need of a handout, nor is she likely to lack in lustful looks from the male seminar attendees or its lascivious leader.

Indeed the only member of Leonard’s uber-pricey seminar likely to be dealing with financial issues is Kate’s longtime chum Martin (Andy Cohen), so strapped for cash that he ends up begging her to let him occupy one of her Central Park-view rooms rent-free.

Over the course of Seminar’s two absorbing, entertaining acts, prolific playwright Rebeck keeps us guessing as to what makes these would-be writers and their egomaniacal mentor tick, though one thing is clear from the get-go:

When it’s Leonard doing the critiquing, only the thick-skinned need apply.

No wonder then that Kate bristles when the one-and-only story she’s been working on for half-a-dozen years gets dismissed before even one paragraph has been read.

As for Izzy, who isn’t above using her feminine curves to rise to the top of the curve, or Douglas, who uses words like “interiority” and “exteriority” without a clue to their pretentiousness, or Martin, who seems ill-inclined to offer up even a single written page to the group’s scrutiny, it’s anyone’s guess just how savagely Leonard will eviscerate their work.

Rebeck’s dialog crackles with the familiarity of one who’s been there, suffered that, thereby giving Theatre 68 favorite Luke ample opportunities to strut his directorial stuff while keeping the pace swift, the stakes high, and the performances finely honed.

Gantvoort commands the stage as Leonard, a man as egotistical as he is misogynistic and vicious of tongue, and the eleventh-hour soliloquy he delivers is a rage-and-rancor-filled stunner.

Balsamo’s Kate is such a perfectly balanced mix of privilege, low self-esteem, and sexual/romantic frustration that a second-act reveal proves especially delicious.

Giorlando does a terrific job of encapsulating Douglas’s pretention, his conceit, and his self-doubt, and a fabulous Kummerl’s blonde bombshell of an Izzy is as smart as she is seductive.

Most watchable of all is Cohen’s emotionally buttoned-down, financially hard-up Martin, the busy screen actor proving himself equally adept at captivating a live audience while finding every single nuance in the words Rebeck has written.

And if it’s true that great performances are as much about reacting as they are about acting, then Luke’s quintet prove themselves the most riveting of reactors.

Scenic designer Gantvoort backs Kate’s apartment with what look to be a row of floor-to-ceiling book spines (a clever touch), Cortney Roles’ lighting is topnotch, and each scene features a different set of costumes (all of them character-perfect).

Last but not least, I love the eclectic mix of songs (by Edith Piaf, Nancy Sinatra, The Crystals, and Sting no less) that accompany scene changes.

Sebastian Fernandez is stage manager. Taylor Martorana, Marali Natalia, Sierra Nowak, and Nick Samson share the stage with Gantvoort at alternate-cast performances scheduled in July.

In play after play (and I’ve seen nine of them so far), Theresa Rebeck has proved herself one of our most consistently reliable and versatile playwrights. Seminar is one of her very best, as funny and entertaining as it is guaranteed to keep you glued to your seat at Theatre 68.

Click here to read my alternate-cast review.

–Steven Stanley
June 28, 2024
Photos: Sierra Nowak

Theatre 68, 5112 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood.

Tags: Los Angeles Theater Review, Theatre 68. Theresa Rebeck