ALONG COMES MARY

(*Disclosure: I work often with Theatricum Botanicum & love this company!)

If you’re in the Los Angeles area, where can you drive along winding roads through the canyon then reach a destination that is a magical venue filled with Lords, Kings & Queens, & maybe Puck & other faeries or 2?

All Summer at Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum, of course! 😉

Located in the gorgeous Topanga Canyon, Will Geer (Best known as Grandpa Walton on The Waltons) set down his roots for this venue back in the 1950s & its been thriving ever since. While last year had the company celebrating Shakespeare’s 450th birthday, this year is an awesome throw back to Americana.

The Botanicum will set out to explore who we are as Americans with a mix of American plays, Shakespeare performed with an American twist, toe-tapping Americana roots and folk music, buffet dinners in the gardens and more — making Theatricum a unique destination spot for locals and visitors alike.

The upcoming ‘Americana’ season includes William Shakespeare’s As You Like It, re-set in the Reconstruction-era South with live music of the period; To Kill A Mockingbird, Christopher Sergel’s stage adaptation of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel; August: Osage County, Tracy Letts’ biting portrait of the dysfunctional American family at its finest — and absolute worst; andGreen Grow the Lilacs, the play by Lynn Riggs that inspired Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma. Finally, what could be more American than an outing to experience Theatricum’s signature production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, back for the ninth year in a row by popular demand? Audiences flock to this annual family favorite, a beguiling romantic comedy set in Theatricum’s own Topanga forest.

All five plays are set to open back-to-back in June and early July. Unlike most theaters in the L.A. area that stage continuous runs of a single play, Theatricum, using a company of actors, will perform each of the plays in repertory, making it possible to see all five main stage plays in a single summer weekend.

The season kicked off on Saturday, June 6 with a matinée performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Melora Marshall and Willow Geer. Then, audiences were invited back the very next afternoon, on Sunday, June 7, for the opening of As You Like It.

Coming up next on June 13, the company opens To Kill A Mockingbird. Sergel’s stage adaptation captures all the warmth and poignancy of Harper Lee’s beloved novel, a compelling and timeless story about the loss of innocence. In a small Southern town during the depression, the idyllic childhood of eight-year-old Scout and her brother Jem is changed forever when their lawyer-father defends a poor black man accused of raping a white woman. Through the drama of the trial and its aftermath, the children experience the harsh realities of prejudice that surround them.

June 20 sees the opening of August: Osage County, directed by Mary Jo DuPrey. A vanished father. A pill-popping mother. Three sisters harboring shady little secrets. When the large Weston family unexpectedly reunites after Dad disappears, their Oklahoman family homestead explodes in a maelstrom of repressed truths and unsettling secrets. Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play unflinchingly — and uproariously — exposes the dark side of the Midwestern American family.

Green Grow the Lilacs rounds out the repertory season, directed by Ellen Geer for a July 11 opening. Native American playwright Lynn Riggs infused his 1931 hit play with a perfect mix of drama, romance and America’s most popular folk music. The courtship between a rancher and his gal is threatened by a menacing farm hand, jeopardizing the young lovers’ future. Filled with vivid characters, colorful language, old songs and cowboy ballads, the play that inspired Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma is rarely performed in its original form, yet remains as compelling now as when it first burst onto the American stage.

On Aug. 7 and Aug. 8, Theatricum will host A Walton’s Weekend, a gathering of alumni from the long-running TV series The Waltons that starred Theatricum founder Will Geer as Grandpa Walton from 1972 until his death in 1978. Members of the Geer family will present series creator Earl Hamner with the first annual Will Geer Humanitarian Award in recognition of his lifetime achievements and concern for others.

The beginnings of the Theatricum Botanicum can be traced to the early 1950s when Will Geer, a victim of the McCarthy era Hollywood blacklist (before he became known as the beloved Grandpa on The Waltons), opened a theater for blacklisted actors and folk singers on his property in Topanga. Friends such as Ford Rainey, John Randolph and Woody Guthrie joined him on the dirt stage for vigorous performances and inspired grassroots activism, while the audiences sat on railroad ties. Today, two outdoor amphitheaters are situated in the natural canyon ravine, where audiences are able to relax and enjoy the wilderness during an afternoon or evening’s performance.Theatricum is the recipient of multiple awards, including the Margaret Harford Award for “sustained excellence,” which is the Los Angeles Critics Circle’s highest honor. Last season, all four Theatricum productions reviewed by the Los Angeles Times were designated “Critic’s Choice” by the paper.

Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum is located at 1419 North Topanga Canyon Blvd. in Topanga, midway between Pacific Coast Highway and the Ventura (101) Freeway. The amphitheaters are terraced into the hillside, so audience members are advised to dress casually (warmly for evenings) and bring cushions for bench seating. Picnickers are welcome on the grounds before or after the performances.

For tickets, subscriptions, group discounts and a full schedule of theater, music and family entertainment, call 310-455-3723 or go to www.theatricum.com. 

(*Disclosure: I work often with Theatricum Botanicum & love this company!)