"In American Falls, a doctor can live next to a shoe salesman, and a shoe salesman can be an Indian." The Echo Theater Company introduces L.A. audiences to playwright Miki Johnson when Chris Fields directs the West Coast premiere of American Falls, opening tonight, Sept. 11 at the Echo's Atwater Village Theatre home.
A kind of modern day Our Town, Johnson's American Falls is a poetic and sensuous interplay of stories and monologues that exposes the inner life of everyday people desperately seeking meaning and love. From a broken-hearted ghost to a Native American storyteller with an extensive pop culture lexicon and psychic powers that can be traced to his shoes, American Falls asks enduring, unanswerable questions: What is it to live? What becomes of the child on the mysterious road to adulthood? What is it like to grow old? What does it mean to die?
"Miki magically weaves the stories of the dead and the living in a small town into an exquisite tapestry that reminds us that, no matter where we are or what we've become, no matter how bad it hurts, we always carry home, family and love within us," says Fields.
Johnson's first full-length play, American Falls premiered at Houston's Catastrophic Theatre in 2012, earning her the Houston Theater Award for Best Playwright. Subsequent productions have taken place at the Cleveland Public Playhouse in 2014 and, earlier this year, in Pittsburgh, PA by Barebones Productions.
The Echo production stars
Leandro Cano (Oedipus El Rey at Theatre @ Boston Court, The Interlopers at the Bootleg) as Billy Mound of Clouds;
Karl Herlinger (Gesualdo in Echo's production of
Tommy Smith's Fugue) as Samuel;
Barbara Tarbuck (Brighton Beach Memoirs, The Water Engine on Broadway; Jane Jackson on General Hospital) as Samuel's mother, Samantha;
Deborah Puette (Facing Our Truth at the
Kirk Douglas, A Delicate Balance at the Odyssey) and
Andrea Grano (Echo productions of A Family Thing, God's Ear, Better; award-winning indie film BFFS) alternating as Samuel's dead wife, Lisa; child actor Tomek Adler as their young son;
Eric Hunicutt (The Pain and the Itch at the Zephyr) as Lisa's lover, Eric Dewar; Garrett Hanson (STOMP at New York's Orpheum Theater and on tour for five years) and Ian Merrigan (Row After Row at the Echo) alternating as Eric's friend, Matt; and Jessica Goldapple (Firemen at the Echo) and
Beth Triffon (The Pain and the Itch at the Zephyr) alternating as Matt's wife, Maddie.
Scenic design is Nina Caussa; lighting design is by Jesse Baldridge; sound design is by
Jeff Gardner; costume design is by Michael Mullen; graphic design is by
Elizabeth Hale; photography is by Darrett Sanders; and the casting consultant is Raul C. Staggs. Julian Montenegro assistant directs, and the production stage manager is Emyli Gudmundson. Reena Dutt and
Chris Fields produce for The Echo Theater Company.
Miki Johnson's other full-length plays include Fleaven (music by Joe Folladori), Clean/Through and The Crab King (music by Joe Folladori and Hoja Lopez). Echo audiences got a taste of her work when Say You Say Me by Lionel Ritchie premiered as part of The Echo One Acts 2014. Before moving to L.A., Miki lived in Houston, Texas where she was resident playwright and actor at the Catastrophic Theatre. She received her BFA in creative writing at the University of Pittsburgh and her MFA in acting from Yale University. She currently writes for AMC's contemporary Western drama, Hell on Wheels.
The Echo Theater Company, under the leadership of founding artistic director
Chris Fields, was anointed "Best Bet for Ballsy Original Plays" in the LA Weekly's 2014 Best of L.A. issue. Fields most recently directed the world premieres of two plays by
Tommy Smith, Fugue and Firemen (the latter the winner of five LADCC awards including Outstanding Production and Direction), as well as the L.A. premieres of Peter Sinn Nachtrieb's Bob and the world premiere of
Gary Lennon's A Family Thing (LA Weekly award for Best Director of a Comedy). Other notable directing credits: Eat Me by
Jacqueline Wright (six LA Weekly nominations including Best Director); L.A. premieres of
Kate Robin's Anon and
Jessica Goldberg's Body Politic (four Ovation nominations); and the world premiere of Padraic Duffy's The Illustrious Birth. Fields was the founder of the Ojai Playwrights Conference, where he served as artistic director until 2000.
American Falls runs Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m., Sept. 11 through Oct. 18. There will be two preview performances, on Wednesday, Sept. 9 and Thursday, Sept. 10, each at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25, except previews which are Pay-What-You-Can. Atwater
Village Theatre is located at 3269 Casitas Ave in Los Angeles, CA 90039. On-site parking is free. For reservations and information, call (310) 307-3753 or go to
www.EchoTheaterCompany.com.
