The normal progression of theater production usually culminates
in a performance magically manifested on stage. However, students
who take initiative in their creative efforts have more to worry
about than memorizing their lines.
Four friends and students of the UCLA School of Theater, Film
and Television, along with some community help, have independently
formed a production of “Songs for a New World” by the
Tony Award-winning composer Jason Robert Brown. Produced
professionally under the Unacceptable Theatre Company, the
production is showing March 4-5 at 8 p.m. and March 6 at noon at
UCLA’s NPI Auditorium at 720 Westwood Plaza.
The Unacceptable Theatre Company was founded in October by the
cast of “No Doi,” the first show under the group; the
company is a loose conglomeration of a group of friends and their
passion for working together.
Now, five members of the company have enthusiastically embraced
their passion for Brown’s musical work. The production
consists of a four-member cast of fourth-year theater students
Jesse Carrion, Shaina Lemmerman, Lana McKissack and Paul Peglar,
and musical director Carson Schutze.
With the sometimes constricting confines of the theater
department’s scheduling and politics, these students are
making their own opportunities happen.
“We would be held back by the theater department,”
said Carrion, who also directed the project. “In order to
have the creative freedom and control of a project, we needed to
gain full control.”
As students progress through four years of theater in school,
the chances of doing a project of personal interest are unlikely.
Also, there is no opportunity the theater department offers that
allows students to create independently.
Until now, there has not been a production of Brown’s
music at UCLA, which are either extremely large or very intimate,
from “Parade” on Broadway to a small two-person show.
So the students decided to do an independent project in a
small-scale production of the acclaimed composer.
“Knowing that we are limited to what the theater
department sets up for us, we want to express ourselves in our own
right, as passionate, driven and creative people,” Peglar
said.
This production is a forward movement for the group, as the four
cast members explore their anxieties and connect their personal
experiences. Brown’s music is beautiful and challenging,
melodically and figuratively, and the students greatly related to
the themes broached in the music.
Each character is representative of a theme, and the songs are
strung together as a collection of life’s moments.
“It’s about one moment,” Peglar said.
“All the songs of the show center on this person in this
particular moment when they need to make a decision. Because they
are very conversational songs, it speaks on a very human level. It
really cuts down to the nit and grit of it.”
Beneath the conversational and humanizing lyrics, the rhythmic
music encompasses an earthy attitude with musical theater
style.
“Brown is so great because of this rock, folk, pop musical
sense that he has,” Schutze said. “The music is melodic
and interpretive, and is appealing to people who aren’t into
musical theater.”
Besides the positive nature of a collaboration of friends and
worshippers of Brown, the group has run into some logistical
problems. Less than three days away from the opening date, the
production lost its stage at the Northwest Auditorium. But in the
spirit of the show, the group rallied to find a solution.
“Brown’s songs all have a journey in which we
discover a resolution or lack of resolution,” McKissack
said.
Like the music itself, these students have followed a strong yet
challenging path in their creation. By joining together in their
love for the music and performing, their efforts have prevailed and
the show has found a stage. But with the sudden change in location
and staging, the presentation has lost some frills.
“Now it’s really going to come down to just us as
people singing these songs, telling these stories,” Carrion
said. “Very literally, the show must go on.”
Fortunately this is the type of show where this is possible: The
piano, voices and lyrics are all that are necessary. By working
with peers, tackling difficult music, and overcoming the unforeseen
hurdles, the students have independently embraced their passions
with strength and conviction.
“The success is that much greater knowing that the five of
us had the power to accomplish this show,” Peglar said.
For more information, visit
www.unacceptabletheatre.com.