`CITY FOR SALE' NEEDS TO GO BEYOND WORDS.Byline: Julio Martinez Julio Martinez is the weekly host of KPFK Radio’s Arts in Review, is a theatre critic for Daily Variety and Features Editor of Latin Heat Magazine. His articles have appeared in Los Angeles Times Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, Backstage West, L.A. Special to the Daily News The venerable, Tony Award-winning San Francisco Mime Troupe The San Francisco Mime Troupe is an award winning theatre of political satire, which performs free shows in various parks in the San Francisco Bay Area and around California. is celebrating its 50th year as this country's most consistent exponent of Bertolt Brecht's concepts of ``epic theater,'' wherein it is the responsibility of stage artists to reflect the ills and foibles of society. The troupe's latest outing, ``City for Sale,'' focuses on the evils of gentrification gentrification, the rehabilitation and settlement of decaying urban areas by middle- and high-income people. Beginning in the 1970s and 80s, higher-income professionals, drawn by low-cost housing and easier access to downtown business areas, renovated deteriorating , as represented by self-serving developer Ben (Amos Glick), who is endeavoring to evict longtime industrial-area residents in order to turn their low-rent housing into high-priced yuppie lofts. The ideals are certainly in place, but as scripted by Joan Holden and Kate Chumley and directed by Keiko Shimosato, there is too much verbal over-statement of the theme and not enough action. ``City for Sale'' is the Mime Troupe's reaction to the sweeping upscale redevelopment currently raging through the Bay Area that is forcing traditional working-class citizens out of their affordable residences and work spaces. The troupe is at its best when incorporating its well-honed commedia dell'arte physical skills to drive home the troupe's often piercing political and social indictments. The usual joyous, irreverent physicality is missing in ``City for Sale,'' which relies more on the force of words. They are not enough. The action centers on musicians Junior (Bruce Barthol) and Xavier (Victor Toman to·man n. A gold coin formerly used in Persia worth 10,000 dinars. [Farsi t  m ), who decide to fight Ben and the Mayor (Velina Brown) to keep possession of Junior's funky but spacious pad, which serves as their home and rehearsal studio for their band, Califas Triscuit. They soon are joined by their neighbors, auto body shop owner Alonso (Luis Oropeza), small-time small·time or small-time adj. Informal Insignificant or unimportant; minor: a smalltime actor. small entrepreneur Latrice (Aaron Birk) and dance teacher Betty Rae (Stephanie Taylor), who combine efforts in their attempt to defeat the corruption of City Hall and the relentless greed of the real estate profiteers. Though the production often bogs down in its desire to drive home the pertinent facts, there are some outstanding performances. Barthol is hilarious as Junior, the aged, constantly stoned bass player who still is lamenting that they ``shut down the Blackhawk'' (a San Francisco jazz club that closed in the '60s). In the closest thing to a true commedia portrayal, Brown is dead-on as the lascivious las·civ·i·ous adj. 1. Given to or expressing lust; lecherous. 2. Exciting sexual desires; salacious. [Middle English, from Late Latin lasc , self-serving Mayor who can't understand why she is being held accountable, wailing, ``Those weren't really (campaign) promises, they were figures of speech.'' Oropeza is a fireball fireball, very bright meteor leaving a trail in the sky that can remain visible for several minutes; often a distinct sound, perhaps caused by very low frequency radio waves, is associated with it. of comic intensity as Alonso and Taylor performs admirable double duty as prospective yuppie loft owner Agnes and the aged but spry An application framework from Adobe for building rich Internet applications using HTML. Spry takes the tedium out of writing AJAX code and also includes routines for creating animation effects and building widgets. For more information, visit http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/spry. Betty Rae. THE FACTS What: The San Francisco Mime Troupe's ``City for Sale.'' Where: Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring St., L.A. When: 8 tonight; 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets: $15 to $20. Our rating: Two and one half stars. |
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