THE FOUNTAIN THEATRE REQUIRES PROOF OF VACCINATION FOR ALL PATRONS
TONY NOMINATED. L.A. PREMIERE
What is our responsibility to the future? What legacy do we want to leave? The Los Angeles premiere of The Children, written by Lucy Kirkwood and directed by Simon Levy, asks those questions and more in its Los Angeles premiere at the Fountain Theatre, indoors.
Kirkwood’s funny and astonishing Tony-nominated play is a taut and disquieting thriller about responsibility, reparation and what one generation owes the next. With the outside world in chaos following a devastating environmental disaster, two retired nuclear engineers live a quiet life in a remote cottage on the lonely British coast — until a surprise visit from a former colleague upends the couple’s equilibrium and trust.
Awards:
2021 Annual Ticketholder Awards: BEST PRODUCTION; BEST PLAYWRIGHT (Lucy Kirkwood); BEST ENSEMBLE CAST (Ron Bottitta, Elizabeth Elias Huffman, Lily Knight)
2021 Annual Ticketholder Awards (Runners-Up): BEST DIRECTION (Simon Levy); BEST SET DESIGN (Andrew Hammer)
Medium.com: 2021 THEATRE PRODUCTION OF THE YEAR
Reviews:
Los Angeles Times - “GRIPPING… WE HANG ON TO EVERY WORD… Lucy Kirkwood’s “The Children” follows the wisdom of the environmental slogan “think globally, act locally.”… What Kirkwood excels at is creating characters that audiences want to learn more about… The Fountain BRAVELY CONTINUES to bring L.A. audiences important contemporary works the larger theaters in town still haven’t the courage or vision to produce.” - Charles McNulty
TicketHoldersLA - “BEST NEW PLAY… ACTING AT ITS BEST… This is surely the best play to which we’ve been treated since the world is slowly and tentatively reopening… Bottitta gives the performance of his career… Huffman provides a richly multilayered performance as Rose… Knight gives a heartfelt performance that will linger for many moons to come… Still, it’s the three of these ENORMOUSLY GIFTED FOLKS creating magic together under the patient and insightful leadership of Simon Levy that makes this production so enthralling… Knight, Huffman, and Bottitta offer a textbook example of generous, giving, electrically charged acting at its best, bouncing off one another so brilliantly I bet one could return to this production again and again and see new and completely divergent sparks fly every time. If I were back teaching this semester, I’d be doing everything I could to get my classes to the Fountain to see what quintessential ensemble performance is all about. Above the wonders of this presentation, however, simply The Children is THE BEST NEW PLAY to hit our poor maligned cultural desert oasis in a long time, introducing to our shores a new playwrighting voice in Lucy Kirkwood that could prove to rival some of the best and most appreciated theatrical wordsmiths of the last century.” - Travis Michael Holder
Theatre Notes - “IMPECCABLY MOUNTED… Under the keen direction of Simon Levy, The Children, by British playwright Lucy Kirkwood, is a fast-paced, kitchen-sink wonder with a special kick… The dialogue is ping-pong, non-stop, and the physical movement is ever on-going. And something smolders under the action… Ron Bottitta is a dominating force of nature on stage. Ms. Huffman as Rose, skillfully treads lightly over this domestic mine field, and keeps her revelations tightly within. Lily Knight is a whirlwind of domestic action and keeps a lid on her powerful emotions until they explode. In classical fashion, the action surges towards a climax and dénouement, leaving the audience exhausted and STANDING TO THEIR FEET IN A SUSTAINED OVATION.” - Paul Myrvold
TVolution - “INSIGHTFUL, VICIOUS, ACCUSATORY, DRAMATIC AND VERY, VERY FUNNY, or, in other words, the perfect show for the Fountain Theatre…. a work that amuses us with characters in which we recognize ourselves until it challenges us to realize ourselves…. Bottitta, Huffman and Knight have met every demand of this work superbly… Director Simon Levy has been given a Stradivarius and has played it like one… THEATRE THAT SHOULD NOT BE MISSED.” — Ernest Kearney
ArtsBeatLA - “A TERRIFIC PRODUCTION… boasts a trio of excellent performances and sharp yet often humorous writing. I found the show enjoyable and expertly done… Knight excels as Hazel… Huffman is very good… Bottitta, an actor whose performances I’ve admired for many years, continues to impress as Robin, equally adept in comedic and dramatic moments… Director Simon Levy gets STRONG, EMOTIONAL WORK from his actors, keeps the pacing tight.” - Terry Morgan
Cultural Daily - “STARTLING - Leave it to LA’s ever-adventurous Fountain Theatre to deliver the Los Angeles premiere of this cleverly conceived British play. It is wrapped in enough enigmatic spoilers to make it impossible for me to reveal any of them. Kirkwood is a rising young writer who’s made a name for herself in England by dabbling in the quirky and the sly. When that gets your attention, she unleashes the fully unexpected. To tell you much more about The Children would damage your chance to experience it, which is the point after all and what this play deserves. So mum’s the word… the production, directed by Simon Levy, gets high marks overall for its dramaturgical sturdiness… a cast of three seasoned actors who know how to balance the intensely conflicting and contradictory human traits required of them… A TAUT PRODUCTION AS ARRESTING AS IT IS UNPREDICTABLE IN THE BEST POSSIBLE SENSE.” - Sylvie Drake
Splash Magazines - “SUPERB… MOMENTOUS… In an era of climate change and a constant search for safe energy, Tony-nominated THE CHILDREN asks today’s big questions: What about the future? Do we have a personal responsibility for the direction the world takes? What kind of legacy will we leave behind? Does one generation owe anything the next? Playwright Lucy Kirkwood REALLY NAILS IT… Levy helms the production with attention to the small details which make up a life and define an individual. His honest approach to the fallible human beings involved allows the audience to identify with people as well as with philosophical issues. The TALENTED CAST DOES A SUPERB JOB of turning a slice of ordinary life into a momentous moment in time as they breathe life into the characters and their story… The entire cast and crew seem to understand and appreciate the apocalyptic and insoluble quality of these events and their consequences. THE CHILDREN comes along at the perfect time in our history and reflects the conundrums we all face daily.” - Elaine Mura
Larchmont Buzz - “ASKS IMPORTANT QUESTIONS… AN INTENSE DOMESTIC DRAMA CROSSED WITH A HEART-STOPPING THRILLER… The Children is a Tony-nominated play getting its West Coast premiere at the Fountain Theatre—and it bears mentioning that it’s performed indoors. Wearing a mask during its emotional story and backdrop of ecological disaster underscores the dangers that undermine our own heightened sense of control over our environment… BEAUTIFULLY CAPTURES the indignity of human frailty and the heroic potential of the human spirit. It asks important questions about the obligations of parents, scientists and human beings in general to protect the earth and their fellow inhabitants.” - Laura Foti Cohen
People’s World - “METICULOUSLY CONCEIVED… a highly successful production of A GORGEOUS PLAY.” - Eric A. Gordon
Discover Hollywood - “THEATRE MAGIC… SUPERB CAST… Settling in at The Fountain for a performance of The Children, Lucy Kirkwood's Tony-nominated play, felt like coming home… For a truly engaging evening (or Sunday afternoon), The Children absolutely delivers and what a joy it is to be back at Hollywood's favorite intimate theatre, The Fountain.” - Nyla Arslanian
Theatre Spoken Here - “A BRILLIANT PREMISE… Lily Knight and Ron Bottitta are superb.” - Morna Martell
On Stage Los Angeles - “CHALLENGING [AND] IMPORTANT… dark humor… STRONG PERFORMANCES." - Michael Sheehan
Angeles Stage - “SHOULD BE SEEN… AND HEARD… Director Simon Levy’s TERRIFIC CAST makes every moment matter in this PROVOCATIVE PLAY.” — Don Shirley
StageSceneLA - “BELIEVABLY REAL… Ron Bottitta, Elizabeth Elias Huffman, and Lily Knight are THREE REMARKABLE ACTORS doing powerful work under Simon Levy’s assured direction.” - Steven Stanley
Stage and Cinema - “THE JOURNEY IS RICH AND HIGHLY RECOMMENDED… Three Los Angeles treasures (Bottitta, Huffman, Knight) richly explore and exploit the tangled pain of three too-tested friends. The dark humor — handled with a theatrical reality rarely seen in L.A. house by director Simon Levy — enhances the looming lessons Kirkwood delivers… BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN PLAY.” - Tony Frankel
Written by Lucy Kirkwood
Directed by Simon Levy
Executive Producer Karen Kondazian
Produced by Stephen Sachs, James Bennett
Starring
Ron Bottitta, Elizabeth Elias Huffman, Lily Knight
☎️
Show Days: 11 - Curtain
Dark Days: 11 - 6
Closed Tues
Low-Price & PWYW Previews: Nov 3-5
Open: Nov 6 & 7 (Yes! Two Openings!)
Close: Jan 23
Holiday Interlude: Dec 24 - Jan 7
Runs Fri & Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm.
PWYW Mon 8pm.
The cast includes Ron Bottitta (Hir, Faith Healer, Arsenic and Old Lace, The Arsonists at the Odyssey Theatre; Superior Donuts, Yes, Prime Minister at the Geffen; Oppenheimer, Honky, Razorback at Rogue Machine Theatre, where he also hosts the company’s Rant and Rave spoken word series); Elizabeth Elias Huffman (artistic director of Chain Reaction Theatre in Pittsburgh, most recently seen on stage in The Oldest Profession by Paula Vogel at Portland’s Profile Theatre); and Lily Knight (Ovation, LADCC and Stage Raw award nominee for A Small Fire at the Echo Theater Company; A Delicate Balance at the Odyssey; Three Days in the Country, The Crucible, Peace in Our Time, The Autumn Garden at Antaeus, where she is a member).
"What I love about the play," says Levy, "is that it tackles these enormously important contemporary issues about our responsibility to the planet, to each other, to future generations, and grounds them in funny, complex, identifiable characters grappling with a moral dilemma that, quite frankly, all of us are confronting, right now, in real time."
“The nuclear disaster the town is struggling to survive could be anything — it could be COVID, or climate change,” says Fountain artistic director Stephen Sachs. “The moral dilemma is: what world are we leaving to our children?”
The Children premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in London in 2016, then transferred to the Manhattan Theatre Club on Broadway the following year. In 2019, The Guardian placed The Children on its list of “greatest theatrical works since 2000.” London’s The Independent called millennial playwright Kirkwood “the most rewarding dramatist of her generation.”
The Fountain creative team includes scenic designer Andrew G. Hammer; lighting designer Christian V. Mejia; sound designer Marc Antonio Pritchett; costume designer Naila Aladdin Sanders; choreographer Annie Yee; and dialect coach Nike Doukas. The production stage manager is Gina DeLuca. Stephen Sachs and James Bennett produce for the Fountain Theatre. Sheila and Alan Lamson are production underwriters, and the executive producer is Karen Kondazian.