LOS ANGELES CITY BEAT

August 18, 2006
 
Theater Critic’s Choice

‘Little Armenia’

In the neighborhood surrounding the Fountain Theatre, an immigrant couple frets that their daughter wants to marry an outsider – an Icelandic American. Meanwhile, an Armenian American teenager falls in with a shady garbage collector, and two women worry about losing their waitress jobs if a restaurant moves to Glendale. These are among the narrative strands that intertwine in this research-based play by three authors: Lory Bedikian, Aram Kouyoumdjian and Shahé Mankerian. It sounds like a recipe for sprawl, but Armina LaMann’s staging is remarkably concise and consistent in tone. The text balances warm emotion with a few less than flattering perspectives and a wealth of local color – the narrator’s home is on a street only a half-block from the theater.

–Don Shirley

The Fountain Theatre, 5060 Fountain Ave., Hollywood, (323) 663-1525. Thurs.-Sats. at 8 p.m.; Suns. at 2 p.m. Closes Sept. 3.