Writer’s new play takes a trip down memory lane

  The Coast Playhouse Writer-director Steven Belber

By Siddarth Puri

Daily Bruin Reporter

In a shady motel room in a small midwestern town, a group of
three friends reminisce about high school.

Not as calm as it sounds, the scene is set for complicated
dialogue and profound meaning focusing on people’s
perceptions of their previous experiences.

Steven Belber examines this idea of investigating past events,
and how they have molded people, in his off-Broadway play
“Tape,” produced by the New York-based theater company
Naked Angels.

Making its West Coast premiere in West Hollywood last week,
“Tape” chronicles the reunion of two high school
“jock” buddies who ponder the events of a fateful
senior prom, 10 years prior. One of them may have raped the
ex-girlfriend of the other, and the situation heats up even more
when the ex-girlfriend decides to show up.

The play recounts the events of how the two friends and the
ex-girlfriend remember the events of the night and how, it turns
out, all three have wildly differing views of what really
happened.

“The play is a small story about three small people in a
small confrontation,” said Belber. “It’s not
trying to be an epic play. It merely examines the way we remember
things and poses the question if it is true that people construct
their personalities on a memory of an event and how they remember
themselves in that event, what happens if they don’t remember
the event?”

Belber wrote “Tape” during the midst of his
co-creation, “The Laramie Project.” Inspired by
interviewing people about the murder of Matthew Shepard, Belber
started thinking about how events are remembered and how people
perceive them.

“I started thinking a lot about the people of the town and
how they could make amends for such a horrible event,” Belber
said. “I wanted to look at and promote how we take
responsibility for those around us and how we interact with each
other, which can hopefully stop some of the horrific events we
always hear about.”

While his preceding plays have, many times, represented America
in metaphoric terms, “Tape” is more spontaneous,
according to Belber, and slightly less ambitious because it is one
act, one scene and one set.

In 1999 Belber wrote “Tape” for two real life
buddies, Dominic Fumusa and Josh Stamberg, who were, at the time,
looking for an original piece in which to act. The two now star in
the piece along with Alison West, who plays the ex-girlfriend.

“I didn’t imagine that the play would be performed
so much and actively accepted,” Belber said. “It was
something I wrote for my friends, something casual and more
spontaneous that had characters from our generations that we could
identify with.”

Before Belber’s career got started, he was a student at
Julliard’s Playwright’s Program. He has since started
writing for “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.” Even
though he writes for the show, he is not confined to stay in Los
Angeles and thus submits his scripts via e-mail from cities such as
New York and Paris.

“It’s much more of a supportive environment when I
don’t have to write on the set, but can do so in my own
space,” Belber said.

Belber has always been a fan of reading and writing. Originally
wanting to be a novelist, he found more success in entertainment
writing. He also had been interested in acting, but numerous
rejections caused him to move on to other fields.

“I used to love reading fiction, but have moved on and
have started reading personal essays,” Belber said.
“It’s always refreshing to read an intellectual
guy’s writing about our culture and see him taking a stab at
being (or trying to be) profound.”

“I want the audience to walk out re-examining what they
think is important to them and to the construction of their
lives,” Belber added. “Even I have re-examined my life
and realized things I made so dramatic, weren’t that
important.”

THEATER: “Tape” is playing at The
Coast Playhouse located at 8325 Santa Monica Blvd. until May 11.
There are shows Wednesday through Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at
7 p.m. For more information call (323) 856-4200.