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For a great night of excellent and moving theatre, Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me at the Lonny Chapman.
By Cassie Jordan for Thespian Thoughts 

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This past Friday night I went to see Someone Who’ll Watch over Me at The Lonny Chapman Theatre in NOHO. I wasn’t sure what I was in for and, given what happened in Boston and Texas over the past weeks, I wasn’t sure I was in the mood to see a play about hostages, war and terrorism. But I am so glad I went!! Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me reminds me of Kiss Of the Spider Woman, mixed with Lee Blessing’s Two Rooms.

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The entire play takes place in a small dirty cell in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1986, with 3 men chained to the wall: Adam, an American, Michael, an Irish journalist and a British literature professor. Through Frank McGuinness’ valiant & raw words and Gregg T. Daniel’s exemplary direction, three very different men fight, sing and cry together to keep their sanity because every little sound could signal the guards coming to end them. From the moment you enter the theater, you are thrust into the world of a hostage in Beirut.

There sits a chained man in a dirty cell blindfolded by sackcloth, hands bound behind his back. He can’t move or see, but he can hear what we hear: the sounds of Beirut, including the Islamic call to prayer. It truly sets the tone for this tension fraught play: anything can happen at any time. Even the scene changes were interesting! How many plays do you see an armed terrorist make scene changes???

Bravo to the combined efforts of Lights by Kim Smith, Set by Gary Lee Reed, Sound by Steve Shaw and Staging by Greg T. Daniel! <p< < p=””> </p< <>

There are three excellent performances. Evan L. Smith’s, Adam, keep us grounded in the physical and religious and his stories of his family and version of “Amazing Grace” brought me to tears.

Lloyd Pedersen and Bert Emmett

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Bert Emmett’s warm Irish charm in the early scenes lifts the mood and makes us laugh, especially fighting with Michael over whose fault the potato famine is. Later, he breaks our hearts when he does the one thing Adam told him never to do; to weep because when you weep they’ve won. Favorite quote, “The Irish invented foreplay its called Alcohol.” Lloyd Pedersen is also very strong as the older, stuffier university professor who finds kinship and survival in the unlikeliest of brothers. His stories are just gut wrenching.

Lloyd Pedersen, Evan L. Smith, and Bert Emmett

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It’s these performances, which make this story of emotional, and intestinal fortitude worth seeing. If you want a great night of excellent and moving theatre, run; don’t walk to the Lonny Chapman to Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me.
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Cast list: Bert Emmett, Evan L. Smith and Lloyd Pedersen <p< < p=””> </p< <>

Credit list:
Producer- Laura Coker
Writer – Frank McGuinness
Director – Gregg T. Daniel
Assistant Director – Jennifer Ross
Stage Manager- Emily Doyle
Set Design – Gary Lee Reed
Lighting Design – Kim Smith
Costume Design – Elizabeth Nankin
Sound Design – Steve Shaw
Photo Credit – Sherry Netherland

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Runs April 19, 2013-June 2, 2013
Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00pm
Sunday Matinees at 2:00pm <p< < p=””> </p< <>

The Lonny Chapman Theatre
10900 Burbank Boulevard
NOHO (North Hollywood), CA 91601 <p< < p=””> </p< <>

Reservations-818-763-5990
the Group Rep at the Lonny Chapman Theatre <p< < p=””> <p< < p=””> </p< <></p< <>

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Thespian Thoughts is a show on Actors Entertainment, a channel of the
Actors Podcast Network, a Pepper Jay Production.

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