JOYCE RUDOLPH
Relationships take center stage during A Noise Within's new season
falling under the umbrella title "State of the Union -- A Celebration
of the Ties that Bind."
State of the Union is a play on words as this is an election year,
said Julia Rodriguez Elliott, who is co-founder and co-artistic
director with her husband, Geoff Elliott, of the Glendale classical
theater company.
"But the plays we are producing look at relationships inside the
family or political relationships, and we are really examining the
strength of relationships," she said.
An example is the first production, Shakespeare's "A Midsummer
Night's Dream," opening this weekend.
"You are dealing with both relationships in distress, in the faery
and mortal worlds, and those relationships are on a level mirroring
each other," she said. "The play deals with love and marriage and
imagination."
The second play in the season is Harold Pinter's "The Homecoming."
In this play, the writer dissects family politics, which also ties
into the relationships part of the season, Rodriguez Elliott said.
"We've never done Pinter before," she said, "He is a master
playwright. He deals with universal themes and that's why he's
considered the classic English writer, but he's more modern classic,
because he's writing in the 20th century."
The company had to replace Michael Louden, who was cast as Lenny
in "The Homecoming." The actor, who had a starring role as Duke
Kramer on the soap opera "As the World Turns," died at his Hollywood
home Sept. 4.
Louden performed two shows in the past with A Noise Within,
Thornton Wilder's "By the Skin of Our Teeth" in 2001 and
Shakespeare's "Cymbeline" in 2000.
"The lead, Lenny, was a role he had always wanted to play and it
was really a wonderful part for him," Rodriguez Elliott said. "He was
just 40 years old, a life ahead of him cut short. It's very sad."
She fondly recalled that Louden was a real character.
"He had a great facility with language, and a wonderful
imagination and sense of play. He was a very versatile actor," she
said.
The company is dedicating the production to him and a special
tribute will be displayed in the lobby on opening night that will
remain throughout the season, she said.
The season continues with Georges Feydeau's farce, "A Flea in her
Ear," which, the company's co-founder said, is a wild romp with lots
of marriages in turmoil.
The holiday offering this year is "Carroling," which is still in
development and based on works of Lewis Carroll. It is touted by
