How do romantic partnerships endure the test of time? What is the glue that holds them together? Writers Brooke Bishop and Daniel Landberg interviewed 52 couples in 20 states about their long-term relationships. How Love Lasts brings five of these couples' true stories to life, in their own words, on The Echo Theater Company stage at Atwater Village Theater. Performances take place every Thursday at 8 p.m. beginning February 18.
Bishop and Landberg interviewed couples of varied ages, faiths, races, sexual orientations and socioeconomic backgrounds during a month-long road trip across the U.S. At the Echo, Claudia Crook, Eduardo Fernandez-Baumann, David Hartstone, Briana McLean, Samantha Smart and Paul Weinberg will recreate some of their stories in the documentary style known as "verbatim theater." "I've always been fascinated by love," explains Bishop. "I want to know everything there is to know about how it works. This project is a personal investigation. I wanted to talk to people who have successful partnerships because I want what they have, and I want to know how they did it." Landberg says, "Brooke and I came home from our trip transformed. I knew that if we could distill even 10% of our experience into this show, audiences would be transformed, too." Echo Theater Company artistic director Chris Fields discovered the project when the company performed a 15-minute segment at a holiday party held by Los Angeles theater website Stage Raw.Videos