After nearly two years of global pandemic hiatus, IAMA Theatre Company has brought “community” back by writing CELESTIAL EVENTS, a full-length play as an ensemble. The result by Deborah S. Craig, Christian Durso, Anna Rose Hopkins, John Lavelle, and Adriana Santos is sweet and joyful and fun and hopeful, a bit overwritten and a little too long. It is nevertheless, a delightful evening of theater.
It’s a sort of CRASH setup (forgive the old-timey 2005 reference – it’s been a minute) where relationship tensions collide in a collection of intertwined stories and random meetings involving residents of Los Angeles. In CELESTIAL EVENTS these meetings are initiated by a once-in-a-millennia star fall aka a meteor shower.
The cast is filled with generic characters. A young husband and wife living in Silver Lake have just had a baby and are in need of fun. A lesbian couple is bravely attempting a conscious uncoupling of their marriage. Two somewhat estranged, sisters meet to honor their now-deceased loved ones by scattering their ashes under the stars. An angry skater girl bumps up against a corporate hack in an elevator, on his way to propose to (as it turns out) her niece’s beloved kindergarten teacher. And, two girlfriends hang out on a night when the other is secretly arranging to get her friend to a destination for her boyfriend to propose. Yup. You guessed it – the kindergarten teacher. And finally, a woman who has written a book about science and astrology, by happenstance bumps into the science teacher who inspired it all. She also mysteriously happens to be carrying around a full manuscript, his favorite soda, and the very same flowers she left on his desk every day of class. Sigh. Coincidence? Or, is it written in the stars?
“Created” stories of apparent strangers bumping into one another by accident only to discover that they actually have something in common is a definitively fun storytelling tool. The actors are fantastic in their collaborative endeavor to pull it all off. But CELESTIAL EVENTS doesn’t always seam together quite in the way they might have hoped. There are pockets of genius in this production and then there are bits that just aren’t that interesting, are a bit implausible, and are just too long. Although the movable set is inventive and adds an intriguing layer to the visuals of the production. As does the lighting design.
None of the mere blippy downsides take away from the beauty of the message though. Sometimes you just need to take a moment and see the wonder of friendship, love, and shared experience.
“Just look up.”
Lead photo by Jeff Lorch: The Ensemble
CELESTIAL EVENTS
Written, Directed, Performed, and Produced entirely by ensemble members of IAMA Theatre Company
Written by Deborah S. Craig, Christian Durso, (co-writing captains), Anna Rose Hopkins, John Lavelle, Adriana Santos
Co-directed by Tom Amandes and Adrian Gonzalez
Starring: Alex Alcheh, Ryan W. Garcia, Tina Huang, Bailey Humiston, Andria Kozica, Melissa Jane Osborne, Kacie Rogers, Adriana Santos, Sonal Shah, Lexi Sloan, Margaux Susi, Jamie Wollrab
Creative Team: Parvesh Cheena, Deborah S. Craig, Andria Kozica, John Lavelle, Kacie Rogers, Lexi Sloan
Production Manager: Josh Epstein
Co-produced by Terry Li and Geoffrey Rivas
Presented by IAMA Theatre Company
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