This season in Los Angeles, all the world’s a stage

  Wadsworth Theater Four chefs prepare for a wedding
banquet in the performance art show "Cookin’."

By Mary Williams
Daily Bruin Senior Staff Local theaters, big and small, are
offering a lineup over the next few months that includes the
quirky, the innovative, the lauded and the unknown. From acrobatics
to new twists on old favorites, Los Angeles’ fall theater
season looks full of possibility. Here are a few of the more
promising shows:

“Lady Macbeth”
The Knightsbridge Theatre
Sept. 15 – Oct. 21
1944 Riverside Drive
(626) 440-0821 This is Shakespeare as he never would have imagined
it. The Knightsbridge Theatre is performing an adaptation of the
Shakespeare play “Macbeth” with women playing both
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth ““ as women. Working with the idea
that love and ambition are universal, the theater company has set
the classic in a future where race and sex no longer matter.
Shakespeare’s plays have been modernized and feminized
before, with varying success. Putting on something so experimental
is risky, but if the production succeeds it will bring a
fascinating new perspective to a play by a man who never seems to
go out of fashion.

“Our Own Dear Anton’s Abandoned Story Cycle,
Presented by Ivan and Burkin (100 years after they left their
village)”
The Raven Playhouse
Sept. 22 – Oct. 28
5233 Lankershim Boulevard
(323) 478-1337 If this play is as intriguing as the eye-catching,
19-word title, audiences in search of an unusual theatrical
experience will be pleased. Originating from three interlocking
stories Anton Chekhov wrote for a novel he never finished, and
including some original stories by playwright Joseph Skibell, the
performance uses two actors and a narrator to relate a series of
vignettes. With minimal props and sets, the actors play multiple
characters in this literary and intellectual comedy.

“Cookin"
Wadsworth Theater
Oct. 9 – 21
4311 Wilshire Boulevard
(213) 365-3500

Possibly one of the funnest upcoming shows in Los Angeles,
“Cookin'” is a performance art piece centered on
four chefs preparing a wedding banquet. They slice and dice, while
turning kitchen utensils into percussion instruments. Coming from
Korea, the comedy has been compared to the hit “Stomp”
for its energy and strong beats. Incorporating slapstick comedy and
a presumably loose plot, “Cookin'” will not be
one of the season’s more challenging or thought-provoking
plays, but is potentially delightful and charming nonetheless. The
show is beloved in its home country and is gaining international
recognition and praise. If it lives up to the hype, it will join
productions like “Stomp” as a high-spirited romp that
will leave audiences smiling.

“Do Jump!”
The Geffen Playhouse
Nov. 6 – Dec. 16
10886 Le Conte Avenue
(310) 208-5454 The Geffen PlayhouseAlong the same lines as
“Cookin’,” “Do Jump!” at the
UCLA-associated Geffen Playhouse mixes acrobatics and comedy for a
creative approach to theater. The six performers use ropes, ladders
and trapezes to perform above the stage floor. Members of the
“Do Jump!” group are skilled athletes who play around
the country to critical acclaim. Expect a high-energy and
physically impressive show, which will hopefully go deeper than
athletic prowess and circus stunts and achieve well-coordinated,
theatrical beauty.

“A Lie of the Mind”
UCLA Little Theater
Nov. 9 – 18
(310) 825-2101

Featuring UCLA actors and directed by a UCLA professor, “A
Lie of the Mind” tells the tale of two families falling
apart. Playwright Sam Shepard examines the foibles of everyday
people in search of the American Dream. The theater school is
working with great material here, and this play, the most
accessible to UCLA students, will be thought-provoking.

“Aida”
Mark Taper Forum
Nov. 11 – Jan. 5
135 North Grand Avenue
(213) 628-2772 Joining “The Lion King,”
“Aida” will be a second Disney Theatrical Productions
show to play in Los Angeles this fall. Both shows have scores
written by Elton John and Tim Rice and boast lavish productions.
Given the elements in common between the two plays, and the
enormous popularity of “The Lion King,”
“Aida” is all but guaranteed financial success. This
will probably be one of the more expensive tickets in town this
fall, but in return the audience should be treated to some of the
more extravagant sets and costumes. The Broadway version of the
production won four Tony Awards in 2000, and Elton John and Tim
Rice won the 2001 Grammy for Best Musical Score Album. With all
this behind it, “Aida” looks like a safe bet.