DESTRUCTION, REBIRTH…

I am no economist, but I keep having this recurring image: that the current economic meltdown is to Capitalism what the crumbling of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was to Communism. Maybe it is time for what Riane Eisler calls the Partnership model.

REBIRTH, THE SEQUEL

“The rumors of my demise are greatly exaggerated,” Mark Twain famously spoke. Thankfully, the same came be said of Paper Wing Theatre in New Monterey. While it is true that the current run of the iconic Rocky Horror Show will be the company’s final production of that particular play, Paper Wing will continue to put on quality, thought-provoking theater.

While a recent issue of the Weekly referred to the theater company as “tired,” the owners, actors, crew and numerous dedicated volunteers have been exceptionally busy since Paper Wing moved to the old Hoffman Street Playhouse in 2007. In addition to completely refurbishing and rebuilding the facility, managing owners LJ Brewer and Koly McBride obviously remain committed to putting on edgy, contemporary theater. The current season’s productions, including Killer Joe, are challenging plays that one rarely sees on the Central Coast.

So, while media reports seem to indicate, as with Twain, that Paper Wing is fading, nothing could be further from the truth. Hopefully, the company will continue to put out energetic theater for years to come.

Manor of Speaking

Your celebration of 20 years of publishing– and of local culture– was informative and entertaining. However, I was sorry to see no mention of any of the arenas which my friends and I have made consistent efforts and contributions over the past 15 years.

There was MPAA, the industrial band (yes, named for the ratings board) that sold out various venues with hardcore music and innovative horror-show effects.

Where was California’s First Theater? The Troupers of the Gold Coast remain the oldest continuous theatrical company in the country– if not the world. They served up authentic, 19th-century melodrama (and olio aftershows) through the end of the 20th century itself. They are still in business today.

On a decidedly lighter note were the audience-participation farces of the Barbary Coast Theater. The people running that show provided a home for the first few seasons of Remo D.’s Manor of Heaven (Monterey County’s own weekly televised “creature feature” is the longest-running locally produced program on Channel 24, Access Monterey Peninsula). The Barbary Coast also provided a venue for a film festival dedicated to providing a home for our late, beloved friend Jonelle Snead, at the time facing a terminal illness with no place to call her own.

And what of Labcoat Productions, who played their shot-in-Monterey thrillers Flesh Eaters and The Wooden Gate to capacity crowds at the Osio Cinemas? The Weekly was there as they were readied for premiere, for which we remain truly grateful…