Friday night's reading of Arthur Kopit's The Discovery of America kicked off the weekend of presentations for the Fifth Ojai Playwrights Conference. An epic and dynamic tale of Spanish explorer Cabeza de Vaca, it traced his descent into madness after being shipwrecked, enslaved, raising the dead and being hailed as a god. Dealing with issues of faith, responsibility and the quest for glory for the Empire, the play was framed with direct addresses to the audience by the four surviving members of the voyage. The style employed these direct addresses and monologues to frame dramatized scenes from the tale going back and forth in time from the first landing in Florida to de Vaca's final days in prison.



Discovery of America reading - Standing L to R - Tony Amendola, Robert Beltran, Marcelo Tubert, Kevin Daniels and Daniel Riordan - photo by Bruce Botnick



Discovery of America playwright, Arthur Kopit - photo by Bruce Botnick

Saturday afternoon started with an amazing showcase of pieces from the Youth Playwriting Workshop: "Why Don't You Just Go Write a Play About It?!" Led by Laural Meade, the students, aged 12 to 17 wrote monologues, one-act plays and excerpted scenes from larger plays in the reading. The participants were Philippa Baker (14), Michael Wise (16) Niki Blumberg (16), Elisa Goddard (12), Sarah Mirk (15), Olivia Sandoval (14), Jared Swanson (12) and Ryan Swanson (14). The audience was eager to see these budding playwrights, and all were absolutely blown away by the acuity, humor and observation of all of the young talents.



The 2002 Teen Playwriting Workshop lead by Laural Meade (l) and Artistic Director Robert Egan (r) - photo by Helene Gordon

That was followed in the early evening by Jessica Goldberg's Katzman and the Mayor. The play shows two sides to a horrific crime. When a Jewish man's body is defiled in the local cemetery, the Mayor's son is accused of the crime. Even his own father has his doubts, though his mother's faith is unwavering. This is contrast with the dead man's family, the Katzmans. Not even recovered from his sudden death, they are faced with this terrible violation and must reconcile this with their own identities as Jews and victims. This provacative examination of identity, family, victimization and prejudice sets these themes through spare dialogue, humor and dynamic confrontations in scenes that alternate from one family's home to the other.



The Mayor's Family (L to R - John Cabrera, Shannon Holt and James Lashly) in Katzman and the Mayor by Jessica Goldberg - photo by Bruce Botnick

Later that evening Kelly Stuart's Mayhem drastically altered the tone. Riotiously funny, yet dark and savage, the play follows Susan as she struggles to find some purpose in her life as her friend, Claire, tries to bring her into a greater political consciousness. What happens then is an odd journey for Susan as she learns about the women of Afghanistan under the Taliban and takes their opression to heart as she and Claire don Burkahs in solidarity with their Muslim sisters. This soul-searching on Susan's part causes friction in her marriage to David (well, his drug use doesn't help either) and her liason with a gonzo journalist who gives Susan a camera from a Pulitzer-winning photographer. The play follows the characters in a linear series of scenes as they face off against each other building, literally, to a riot at the Democratic National Convention.



Claire (Nealla Gordon), David (John Diehl) and Susan Gibney (Susan) in Mayhem by Kelly Stuart - photo by Bruce Botnick

Sunday afternoon brought one on the riskiest performances - Luis Alfaro's Journey to the Center of L.A. (or Six Stories Towards Adulthood) - which details a few moments in his life growing up in Los Angeles. Six poignant stories illuminated the time and place with such accuracy, we could see it as clearly as our own memories. His poetic descriptions were matched only by his physical committment. He stuffed nine (or was it eleven, I lost count) twinkies into his mouth at one point and later downed shot after shot of tequila in an awesome juxtaposition that had the audience squirming and screaming and even tempted some to stop the show out of fear for his safety. Hysterical yet moving, the piece transcended the queer, the language barriers, the borders and touched everyone who has ever felt on the outside of life.



Luis Alfaro performs the piece, My Opera Shrine - photo by Bruce Botnick

The closing piece this year was Jon Robin Baitz's The Paris Letter. A true tragedy, the play traces the rise and fall of Sandy Sonnenberg, a man obsessed with his business persuits and controlling his own sexuality. By pure willpower, and 20 years of daily psychiatrist visits, he denies his identity and becomes an incredibly successful man with a devoted wife with fullfilling, lasting and deep friendships. But denying himself, his identity, leads to his involvement with a young entrepenuer who brings about financial ruin not only for him, but for everyone who trusted him. The play travels back and forth, from the late sixties through the present with eloquent scenes and exuberant dialogue and a direct-address monologue to set the scenes.



Co-Director Michael Morris (front) with the cast (L to R - Ana Nichols, Ravi Kapoor, Jonathan Woodward, Ron Rifkin, Dana Delany, Will McCormack and Daniel Davis) of The Paris Letter and Artistic Director Robert Egan (right)- photo by Bruce Botnick



Ron Rifkin as Dr. Himmelfarb in The Paris Letter by Jon Robin Baitz - photo by Bruce Botnick

Provacative and daring all, the thoroughly enjoyable plays presented in this years conference were woven of some of the same threads: Identity; Denial; Acceptance; Responsibility; and Trust. But how incredibly different and revealing each tapestry was. How exciting it was to see such varied combinations of these themes and how exciting it was to be a part of this year's conference. Outside Zalk Theatre as the last stragglers talked about the closing reading; the last bit of golden light blazed across the Topa Topa mountains and I couldn't wait for us to start the Sixth Ojai Playwrights Conference.

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