The Company Theatre -- an appreciation
January 02, 2008 | by Sylvie Drake, Special to The Los Angeles Times
Hanging above my desk in my home office is a framed copy of a tattered program for "The Emergence," one of the Company Theater's famous communal shows dating back to the 1970s. I love it because it gives me the names of most of the members of this remarkable company. This ensures I will never forget them.
The two went hand in hand -- the company and the 1970s. Hippies and flower children were everywhere, and the artists of the Company Theater -- young, inventive, bold and talented -- were its most exotic blossoms.
Los Angeles had never had a company quite like this one before and was never to have another. Its members lived together and did pretty much everything else together, whether cleaning toilets or directing, choreographing and stage managing, or designing and constructing lights, sets, costumes and programs. All of this, always, on a budget of about 5 cents, which never seemed to affect the quality of the work.
Hanging above my desk in my home office is a framed copy of a tattered program for "The Emergence," one of the Company Theater's famous communal shows dating back to the 1970s. I love it because it gives me the names of most of the members of this remarkable company. This ensures I will never forget them.
The two went hand in hand -- the company and the 1970s. Hippies and flower children were everywhere, and the artists of the Company Theater -- young, inventive, bold and talented -- were its most exotic blossoms.
Los Angeles had never had a company quite like this one before and was never to have another. Its members lived together and did pretty much everything else together, whether cleaning toilets or directing, choreographing and stage managing, or designing and constructing lights, sets, costumes and programs. All of this, always, on a budget of about 5 cents, which never seemed to affect the quality of the work.
 |
If New York had the much darker Living Theatre at about the same time, L.A. was blessed with this very different but astonishing troupe of performers. They were much sunnier and lighter in spirit than the New Yorkers (as behooved the climate in which they worked) and still young enough to put their art before any other considerations and not look back.
(left) Bob Walter & Candace Laughlin |
It lasted as long as it lasted. Anyone who saw it would never forget the whimsy of "The Emergence" or the sheer magic of "The James Joyce Memorial Liquid Theater," which had a closing image worthy of nature's aurora borealis. But because theater is an ephemeral art, a mere handful of fortunate people saw "Liquid Theater" (cosmically speaking), even though the show traveled to New York's Guggenheim Museum and later, with other performers, to London and Paris.
When these artists hit their mid-30s and 40s, other needs started to manifest themselves, and the group began to splinter and move on. Life is like that. But in the decade and a half that they were together, these troubadours collectively gave Los Angeles a memorable gift: A theater of vigor, vision, beauty, originality and gentleness never to be duplicated -- a quintessentially young theater full of dreams and passion and optimism.
When these artists hit their mid-30s and 40s, other needs started to manifest themselves, and the group began to splinter and move on. Life is like that. But in the decade and a half that they were together, these troubadours collectively gave Los Angeles a memorable gift: A theater of vigor, vision, beauty, originality and gentleness never to be duplicated -- a quintessentially young theater full of dreams and passion and optimism.