Lamm

Monday, May 27, 1996

Producer of Wilson play optimistic about productionBy Alicia
Cheak

Daily Bruin Contributor

The past year has been good for Adrienne Lamm.

Fresh off the production of "Lips Together, Teeth Apart," she is
now producing August Wilson’s "Two Trains Running" at the
Morgan-Wixson Theater in Santa Monica. It’s been a tough four years
for the New York native but she has found a niche in the Los
Angeles theater community and is enjoying her first attempt at what
she calls "a minority play."

"Most of the basis of ‘Two Trains’ ­ and that’s what made
me take the project ­ was the historical references and how
the blacks felt about certain things at that time," Lamm
explains.

"Two Trains," set in Pittsburgh, 1969, centers on the
African-American experience and consciousness in the time of
notable figures like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King.

"When (historical) references were made, they were what most
blacks thought at that time and what some still do feel today,"
says Lamm.

Lamm believes that the play takes an honest look at realistic
individuals. In the midst of racial tension, the characters are
merely trying to deal with everyday problems.

Memphis, the play’s main character, is fighting for the $25,000
he expects for his diner, which is a casualty of the neighborhood
renovation plan. Risa, the only female character, has eight
bandages on her right leg and seven on her left ­
self-inflicted scars in attempt to "define herself in terms other
than her genitalia." Hambone, one of the diner’s patrons, utters
only two phrases: "He gonna give me my ham. I want my ham," having
received a chicken instead of a ham nine years ago for a paint job.
His world is centered on getting what he believes is rightfully his
and, though a comic character, Lamm says he "is the play’s victim
which suffers the most in the end."

What she was delighted with was non African-American viewers
engaging in the material as well.

"It’s like the color went away and all of a sudden, they started
seeing Risa as a woman, and the restaurant as a restaurant, not a
soulful restaurant. (Sterling) is out of jail. It wasn’t like the
black man out of jail but the boy is out and he hasn’t got any
sense."

For Lamm, "Two Trains" was the second dramatic production she
has been involved in. In 1995, Christofer Cariello approached Lamm
with the offer to produce "Lips Together, Teeth Apart," a play by
Terrence McNally about four people who spend New Year’s at New
York’s Fire Island.

Lamm found McNally’s material extremely emotional and
thought-provoking ­ very "in your face." Likewise with "Two
Trains." Lamm appreciates the experience and the extra boost to her
resume, but her heart lies with musicals.

"I like people to go into the theater and feel good," Lamm says.
"These are my first shows where people have to think. I personally
like in a land far away where the bluebirds sing."

Lamm’s first theater production was the upbeat "Guys and Dolls."
Frank Bonanno, her high school teacher, ran a theater in
Burlington, N.J., and offered her the role of director’s
assistant.

Her theatric ambitions were put on halt with her move to L.A.
because of insufficient funds. Attempting various things, she was
assistant CEO at 26 earning "beaucoup bucks." But the artistic itch
never left her.

"I’m not a money person and what I really wanted to do is to get
back into the grind and do theater" she says, and "in 1991, I
returned to theater productions."

"There are two kinds of producers," Lamm believes, "those who
drop a lot of money in the production and leave it, and the other
is what I call a ‘glorified accountant.’"

As producer, Lamm has a hectic schedule organizing fundraisers,
handling public relations and keeping the director from blowing the
budget on "white elephants." She keeps the production together, and
she is glad that "Two Trains" is indeed running.

A month before the production, she still had not gotten the
rights to the play.

"Four weeks before the opening night," Lamm says, "I got a call
from August Wilson reps who released the rights and a week before
opening night, the actor playing the lead character, Memphis, left
the production."

The actor was expediently replaced by Orlando Bonner, and no one
in the audience would have guessed that he had only a week to
memorize the lines and get into character.

Despite her efficiency and experience as a producer and the
projects she has been involved with, like "Kismet," "Carnival,"
"You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown," Lamm believes that the
entertainment industry is still hesitant towards female, minority
talents.

"In my capacity, I cannot go to New York and do ‘Seven
Guitars,’" Lamm says. "You have a get a resume up."

Her resume is boosted up with "Two Trains" but Lamm doesn’t know
if she can handle bigger and better productions. All she wants is
the opportunity to show what she can do. She appreciates L.A.
because it allows higher risk experimentation than New York or
London. Coupled with a pool of great and undiscovered theatrical
talent, she is optimistic that L.A. can and is already a place for
the genesis of good, solid theater productions. She cites Steve
Martin’s "Picasso at the Lapin Agile," which premiered at UCLA’s
Westwood Playhouse, now the Geffen Playhouse, as one of them.

"Picasso started here and then went on to Chicago and finally to
Broadway," Lamm says. "Now it’s winning rave reviews from the
critics."

In such an industry, Lamm believes perseverance is the key. It
took her 10 years but now, job offers are flowing in.

"You’ve just got to keep trying. I’m just plugging, plugging,
plugging and hopefully, I’ll do a big production one day."

STAGE: "Two Trains Running," Morgan-Wixson Theater, Santa
Monica, through June 8. Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m, Sundays, 2 p.m.
$8-$10. (310) 828-7519.

Adrienne Lamm produces "Two Trains Running." It stars (l-r)
Doctor Hayes, Orlando Bonner and Amos Cowson.