Small Plays, Big Festival

Is the Hollywood Freeway the edge of the world?

Most of the 45 productions in the Edge of the World Theater Festival, opening Saturday, are clustered within a few miles of the famous freeway--in downtown L.A., Hollywood and North Hollywood.

The festival, designed as a way to promote L.A.’s small-theater scene, grew out of the Big Cheap Theatre round-table, an e-mail network for a number of small theater companies--many of them within hailing distance of not only the freeway but also the cutting edge, aesthetically speaking.

Despite the name, however, no “edge test” was required for participation. Any L.A. production that paid $40 before the deadline could join. So, in addition to such groups as the Actors’ Gang, Cornerstone Theater and Sacred Fools, which usually concentrate on new work, the festival also includes Actors Co-op’s “The Fantasticks” and Interact’s “Manege Moliere.”

Not that the festival attracted a truly broad cross-section of even the sub-100-seat theater scene. Most of the major sub-100-seat companies and venues aren’t part of it. Very few ethnic-specific groups are in it; the festival is somewhat whiter than one might expect at the “edge of the world.”

Even within the vicinity of the Hollywood Freeway, many venues that do new or edgy work--Glaxa Studios, the Cast Theatre, Theatre/Theater--are not represented. Richard Kaye, who runs Glaxa, said he received only “a form letter” from the festival. “Probably I’m still on the outside of that group,” he said.

Nonetheless, Kaye and everyone else over 21 is invited to the festival launch, a Saturday afternoon party at the downtown Stock Exchange club. Performances begin Sunday and continue through the following Sunday. The festival also is sponsoring a round-table discussion of local theater issues at 2 p.m. on Nov. 13 at the Los Angeles Theatre Center.

Productions will occur at 20 venues, almost all of them sub-100-seat theaters. Fewer than half of the shows were actually created for the festival. Among those that weren’t are many that are already open--which raises questions about how the festival week differs from any other week in L.A., where dozens of sub-100-seat productions run each weekend.

The festival’s primary methods of distinguishing itself from the norm are marketing devices: The shows are advertised as a unit, a “passport” is available for $10 that admits the bearer to any of the shows for $5 each, and the paper programs will share a common cover. Also, the festival offers a few show times for those whose schedules don’t permit theater attendance at the usual times--Tuesday at 9 p.m., anyone?

Tamar Fortgang, one of the festival directors, said that because this year’s festival is the first of what’s planned as an annual event, organizers wanted “to start small, to not get too big for our breeches too quickly.” Even so, the event grew faster than they had expected, so attempts to attract still more participants weren’t as aggressive as they might be in the future.

For information: https://www.edgeoftheworld.org., (310) 281-7920.