Godfather of film brings “˜Worldly Acts’ to the stage
By Daily Bruin Staff
Jan. 27, 2002 9:00 p.m.
 EDWARD LIN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff The cast of "Worldly
Acts," now playing at the Tiffany Theater, closes the performance
with a final bow.
By Sophia Whang
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
They’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse.
Francis Ford Coppola’s magazine, Zoetrope: All Story, and
Urban Empire, a New York based theater company, offer audiences
one-act plays based on acclaimed scripts in “Worldly
Acts,” an original production.
Like “The Godfather’s” Corleones,
Coppola’s most famous film subjects, the success of these
five plays also stemmed in New York, where the performances began
last June. The production made its West Coast debut this weekend at
Tiffany Theater in West Hollywood with an opening full of paparazzi
and actors including Jerry O’Connell (“Tomcats”),
a performer in the show, and spectator Marisa Tomei (“In the
Bedroom”).
“I’m hoping this Urban Empire really does something
for theater here in Los Angeles,” said O’Connell, who
performs in the act titled “Homecoming.” “I love
L.A., but L.A. is one of those towns that is industry driven, and
something like these one-acts will really help to keep that
industry motivation in check.”
“Homecoming,” along with “Who’s On
Top”, “Boise, Idaho,” “Daniel on a
Thursday,” and “The Stolen Child,” are all from
Zoetrope’s “The One-Act Play Issue” published
back in Winter 2000. Coppola, a graduate of UCLA’s film
school and Oscar-winning director (“Godfather Part II,”
1974) and screenplay writer (“Patton,” 1970), founded
the magazine only five years ago, but already boasts the 2001
National Magazine Award for Best Fiction, succeeding over
competitors such as Esquire, GQ and The New Yorker.
The magazine, with a current circulation of 40,000, is known to
reach affluent readers, mainly those who are influential in the
worlds of art, writing and filmmaking. However, turning these works
into a play has widened their potential audiences.
 Davidson & Choy Publicity Jennifer
Grant and Jerry O’Connell perform in the
act called "Homecoming" written by Joe Borini. “The play can
appeal to a much larger audience (than the magazine),” said
Jack Merrill, Urban Empire creative director and actor in
“Daniel on a Thursday.” “(Zoetrope) is a literary
magazine. I don’t know what the audience is for most literary
magazines, but I would imagine it’s pretty
specific.”
“It’s great to read (one-act plays), but the
difference between a reading and a performance is a whole other
ballgame,” Merrill added. “I think Francis Ford Coppola
is interested in them being performed because he knows one-acts are
meant to be performed. These are very well-written, and most
writing stands up on its own, but a play’s got to be
performed.”
Although O’Connell admits to watching up to eight hours of
cable television a day, he sees theater as more intellectually
enjoyable.
“I tend to feel pretty smart when I go to the theater.
It’s like going to a museum. It’s an intelligent
person’s medium,” O’Connell said.
The arts community in New York has acknowledged this production
for its intelligent writing, which consists of four diverse comedic
acts, and one that is more serious, making it a
“worldly” combination. The amusing acts involve
scenarios such as the persistence of a man at a gay bar, the
opening of bizarre wedding gifts, a couple living out fiction at a
café, and a serviceman coming home to his wife under
questionable circumstances. The more solemn piece, “The
Stolen Child,” involves the disruption of the lives of an
upper-middle-class couple.
Paul S. Eckstein, producer of the production and director of
“Who’s on Top,” has been involved in multiple
short plays but has higher expectations for “Worldly
Acts.”
“I think (the show) caters to people who love
theater,” Eckstein said. “I’ve done a lot of
short plays, involved as a producer and director, and the quality
of the writing in these particular plays is much higher than
normal.”
The work of these playwrights, including Betsy Dewberry and Sean
Michael Welch, can be heard and experienced by anyone who wants to
fill a seat. Along with bringing these plays to a wider audience,
seven additional stories of the more than 100 published in the
magazine, are in various stages of development with Coppola’s
film production company, American Zoetrope.
In a statement from Coppola, he expressed intent on stimulating
fiction into dramatic forms. Writers whose work is published in
“Zoetrope” even sign a two-year film option.
“Francis is sort of the Godfather of our
production,” O’Connell said.
With the synergy of both his literary magazine and film company,
Coppola has the means to be Godfather to more productions to
come.
THEATER: “Worldly Acts” is playing
now through March 3, Thursday to Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sundays at
7 p.m. at the Tiffany Theater in West Hollywood. Tickets are $25
and can be purchased at (310) 289-2999.
