LOS ANGELES
TIMES – August 18, 2006
THEATER BEAT
Fabric of 'Taffetas' pleasing but thin
Also reviewed: "Groundlings Good Time Pig Farm," "Little
Armenia" at Fountain Theatre and "Nightmare" at Theatre 40.
'Little Armenia' strives for drama
Sweetly intended and crammed to capacity with sincerity, "Little
Armenia," now in its world premiere at the Fountain Theatre, is one of
those laboring little choo-choos that never quite
reaches the summit of viable drama.
The play was commissioned by the Fountain, which is nestled in the heart of
Little Armenia, an Ellis Island of sorts to
Those interviews form the basis of the play, which is obviously intended as an
overview of the Armenian immigrant experience, as filtered through the
perspective of Ashot (Ludwig Manukian),
a struggling writer who functions as narrator. Three major story lines, each
crafted by a different playwright, vie for pride of place in this busy piece,
which has been broadly but effectively directed by Armina
LaManna, who keeps the action brisk and obvious.
The production is laced throughout by an invigorating humor leavened with a
healthy dose of genuine sentiment. Standouts include Anoush
Nevart as a single mother struggling to raise her son
on a minimum-wage salary, and Jack Kandel as a grocer
with a heart ailment who is unable to accept his daughter's Anglo boyfriend.
Larger issues — the Armenian genocide, the divide between the American dream
and the American reality, and the fierce insularity of a beleaguered but proud
people — are touched upon, sometimes quite movingly.
However, despite a fair share of laughs and a few jerked tears, "Little
Armenia" succeeds more as a community outreach than a fully fledged work
of theater. At this point in time, this committee-designed choo-choo
is still spinning its wheels.
— F. Kathleen Foley "Little
Armenia," Fountain Theatre,