It’s not every day that one finds Indiana Jones on the
stage of a theater singing a song from Stephen Sondheim’s hit
musical “Into the Woods.” Nor is it a common occurrence
to see Bill Clinton serenade Monica Lewinsky with the song
“Too Much in Love to Care” from Andrew Lloyd
Webber’s musical “Sunset Boulevard.”
Both of these rather perverse episodes may be found at the venue
2100 Square Feet starting on Dec. 4, as seven students from the
theater department make their debut into the world of professional
theater.
The show, called “No Doi: A Musical Tribute to Generation
whY?” began as one of 29 pieces performed at UCLA’s
TheatreFest in 2003. Fourth-year theater students Tanya Chisholm,
Kelsey Jessup, Lana McKissack, Peter Musante, Paul Peglar, Rebecca
Rainboldt and Benjamin Wright have brought back to life what was
originally going to be a Cabaret show that has evolved into a
tribute to pop culture iconography of the 1980s, ’90s and
today. It is a parody of American culture as well as the effects
and influence that pop culture has had on Generation Y. What makes
this show especially unique is the blending of show tunes with
recognizable pop icons. Rainbolt stresses the importance of merging
these two elements.
“Because we have familiar figures of pop culture singing
show tunes that are typically not known to people outside the world
of theater, our show kind of bridges the gap,” she said.
“While some people may not be acquainted with the music, they
will certainly know the characters being impersonated.”
Pegler remembers being extremely happy with the positive
reception that the performance received at TheatreFest.
“Our first two performances were huge successes, in our
opinions anyway,” Peglar said, laughing. “We had repeat
audience members who came back to see it again.”
But after those two nights, TheatreFest was over, and the group
was sad to see their show come to a close. Thus, a year later, the
group has come together to perform an enhanced and expanded version
of “No Doi,” only this time it will be produced
professionally from their own company that they founded in October.
The Unacceptable Theatre Company, as the group has christened
itself, will introduce its seven cast members to the world of
professional theater. Chisholm described how different it is to be
running a company rather than simply performing in one.
“There was a lot of work that had to be done that we
didn’t expect,” she said. “We are used to putting
in hours of rehearsal time, but now we also have to work on all the
behind the scenes stuff that is usually taken care of for us, like
money and advertising.”
But despite the plethora of new responsibilities the group took
on, they still recognize that the experiences they will get out of
running their own company will be invaluable to their futures.
Inspired by actor and former UCLA theater graduate Tim Robbins, who
founded the company The Actor’s Gang, these students feel
that through involvement in their own company, they will have paved
their own unique paths in a career where everyone is striving to
stand out. Musante feels that The Unacceptable Theatre Company will
help open many doors for him after graduation.
“Most students graduate from theater school and
immediately begin scouting audition after audition rather than
making their own opportunities happen,” he said. “This
way we don’t have to try to fit into everyone else’s
mold. We will already belong to something that is completely
ours.”
Moreover, not only does this experience open up numerous future
opportunities to these students, it has also brought them countless
hours of enjoyment and plain fun. Musante has enjoyed great times
offstage as well as on.
“We each play like 20 characters throughout the show, so
while some people are on stage performing, the rest of us are in
the back frantically ripping our clothes off and fumbling with wigs
and mustaches,” he said. “It gets pretty chaotic. We
could really use some personal dressers.”
Jessup is extremely confident about the upcoming success of the
show.
“No one can walk out of our show without having a good
time,” he said.
“Unless you are offended,” Chisholm followed up,
laughing. “During our first performance I had a costume
malfunction and my left boob fell out. So we are just full of
surprises.”