DAILY BREEZE

Friday, May 27, 2005

New work at Ford explores encounters between faiths

“A Long Bridge” concludes Cornerstone Theater Company’s four-year cycle addressing how faith unites and divides Los Angeles.

BY JEFF FAVRE

SPECIAL TO RAVE!

What could be considered miraculous by other countries frequently is taken for granted in America. Every day, people representing practically every spiritual belief co-exist peacefully.

Christians and Muslims brave traffic jams together. Buddhists and atheists ride the subway. And everyone—no matter what their faith—stands in line at the post office. Four years ago, Cornerstone Theater Company, which specializes in community-based productions, began its Faith-Based Theater Cycle. Original plays were created around 10 religions, each intended to answer the question, “How does faith unite and divide us.”

Beginning Thursday at the Ford Amphitheatre, Cornerstone will end its cycle with the world premiere of “A Long Bridge Over Deep Waters,” written by James Still and directed by Bill Rauch.

The epic production, with a cast of 50, creates an interlocking chain between all of the faiths, as well as nonbelievers, that have been explored during the project.

This will be the last community-based production that Rauch, who co-founded Cornerstone 20 years ago, will direct as a member, and he considers it an ideal way to finish his run.

“After years of addressing the question of how faith unites and divides us, we still are grappling with the question,” Rauch said. “People have been passionate about the work we’ve done so far. And with this final piece, which has been brilliantly written, we express the often invisibility of faith, and how we make unconscious assumptions about each other based on religion, and how often those assumptions are wrong.”

Still was commissioned three years ago to write the climactic production, but he wasn’t able to begin until he had attended workshops, rehearsals and productions of every play in the cycle.

“James has taken this responsibility seriously,” Rauch said. “He has carefully listened with an open mind and an open heart. He has taken an impossible task, combining 10 religious traditions, and created a rich, thoughtful and entertaining play.”

The writing process for Still was difficult, to say the least.

“I tried not to get too scared about the deadline,” said Still, who filled several notebooks with ideas inspired by the previous plays. “But I was losing a lot of sleep worrying about how I could possibly put all of this together.”

Finally, Still came upon two concepts that got him on track. The first came when he re-read Arthur Schnitzler’s play “La Ronde,” which links several disparate stories into a cohesive whole.

“That was when I realized how I could make this thing happen,” Still said. “One story can feed into the next.”

Next, he came up with the framing device to hold his various vignettes. The idea came from the venue itself. Still gave a short history of the Ford Amphitheatre. It was built with funds provided, in part, by Christine Wetherill Stevenson. Originally one of the investors in the Hollywood Bowl construction, she clashed with the group because she wanted the new outdoor concert venue to be used for religious pageants. Her money was refunded, and in 1920 she built a smaller theater across the road from the Bowl where her “Pilgrimage Play” could be performed. It was presented there until 1964, when it was closed after a lawsuit claimed the now county-owned theater couldn’t produce religious works.

“The way we start is with the entire cast coming out as ghosts from the original 1920 ‘Pilgrimage Play,’” Still said. “They think they are there to perform their show, but they realize that the world has changed. So they decide to perform a new ‘Pilgrimage Play,’ incorporating all of these faiths.”

The locations in Still’s script span the county. There’s a scene in a UCLA dorm room, another in a Long Beach church, one in a Pasadena living room and one in a West Hollywood park.

In each scene, Still shows the challenges faced on individual journeys, both to and from faith. Though there are serious moments that he hopes will evoke tears, he has injected many lighthearted moments as well.

Rauch says his playwright has succeeded on every level.

“There is something for everyone here, whether you are comfortable with your faith, or you are struggling, or you are an atheist,” Rauch said. “The tapestry James has woven is so rich, so entertaining, and so full of surprises.”

· Jeff Favre is a freelance entertainment writer based in Los Angeles.

DAILY BREEZE

Monday, June 06, 2005

Cornerstone’s ‘A Long Bridge’ spans depths of faith

Final play in the Faith-Based Cycle tries to find common ground among the world1s beliefs, and succeeds.

By Jeff Favre

In 2001, Cornerstone Theater Company asked the question, “How does faith unite and divide us?” Searching for an answer, the company began its four-year Faith-Based Cycle, which included 14 short plays and seven full-length collaborations with different communities of faith.

During its journey, Cornerstone found many answers—and new questions—regarding the unifying and dividing powers of faith. And now, to celebrate and to culminate the cycle, the company is presenting at the Ford Amphitheatre its most ambitious and challenging production, “A Long Bridge Over Deep Waters.”

Written by James Still and directed by Cornerstone co-founder Bill Rauch, the play boasts a cast of about 50 and encompasses most of the world’s major religious beliefs, as well as atheism.

Cornerstone’s reputation for intelligent and uncompromising work is justified once again. Still has woven a fascinating tapestry of emotions and ideas, rarely resorting to soap box preaching. And Rauch has seamlessly merged a cast of amateur and professional actors who portray these disparate characters with such honesty that the scenes at times resemble a documentary.

Filled with compassion and respect for all viewpoints, “A Long Bridge” is a rare find—a play that can enlighten and entertain virtually everyone.

Still chose a piece of Los Angeles history as a framing device. The opening scene has the entire cast dressed in period costumes. The actors are about to re-enact “The Pilgrimage Play,” which was written by Christine Wetherill Stevenson (Loraine Shields) for the Amphitheatre, which she had built in 1920 for the purpose of presenting religious works. But the actors, realizing that the world has changed significantly in the past 85 years, decide instead to create a new version of the Pilgrimage Play.

All of the 11 scenes take place around Los Angeles (except for one that is in an orbiting space station).

To incorporate so many religions into one play, Still adopted the technique used by Arthur Schnitzler for his “La Ronde,” which links scenes through one character.

The first scene is an English as a Second Language class taught by Julia (DeLanna Studi), who is Tongva, but also was raised Catholic. Julia receives some distressing news, and the older immigrant students comfort her by talking about their relationships with God.

The link to the following scene comes through Tevy (Leonard Wu), who picks up his grandmother from the ESL class on his way to his job, typing letters for an elderly poet named Ruth (Dorothy James). Ruth is Jewish and Tevy is Catholic, and they discuss the differences and similarities between the two religions.

Still’s mastery of tone keeps “A Long Bridge” from becoming too light or overly sad. And he finds clever ways to combine characters that wouldn’t normally meet. For example, in scene three Ruth’s son Alan (Jeff Sugarman) meets a family of Black Methodists, because one family member, Regina (Adina Porter), received Ruth’s heart in a transplant operation.

The writing never passes judgment on any viewpoint. The pleasures and pain of each believer and non-believer are given equal time.

Rauch, now an old hand at directing a cast of varying skill levels, never gives his actors more than they can handle. The result is that all of the actors seem ideal for their parts.

A full-scale version of “A Long Bridge” may never again be performed, given the large, diverse cast that is required.

Years from now, this play will be discussed as one of the special events in Los Angeles theater history. Be one of the lucky ones who share the experience.

The play runs June 9-12 at the Ford Amphitheatre, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East, Los Angeles.

Admission is $20 for adults, $12 for students and children, and Thursdays and Sundays are pay- what-you-can.

For more information: Call 323-461-3673, or visit the Web site, www.fordamphitheatre.com.

LA DAILY NEWS

U-Daily News

A graceful conclusion to a journey of faith

By Evan Henerson

Theater Critic

Thursday, June 09, 2005 - Leave it to the Cornerstone Theatre Company to go out with ... not a bang, exactly. More like a prayer, a heartfelt wish. “Good night, give it some thought, and be well. Keep the faith, whatever it may be.”

Some 3 1/2 years after launching its investigation into the uniting and divisive qualities of religion, Cornerstone brought all the partners of its sprawling Faith-Based Cycle for a reunion. James Still’s “A Long Bridge Over Deep Waters” - the FBC bridge show - finds atheists and Catholics, Jews, Hindus, Muslims, Baha’is and several other faiths sharing a single stage, a single play. The representatives of the various faiths sometimes see common ground, and more often agree to disagree. Peacefully.

Employing a structure that affords each of the 10 representative faiths equal stage time and also allows the play to circle back to where it began, “A Long Bridge” is as ambitious as it is occasionally unwieldy. Fifty-seven performers (nonprofessionals as well as Cornerstone company members) is a heck of a lot of people to have to corral in a single event. The outdoor Ford - chilly, pastoral and haunting in the moonlight can accommodate them. As can Still’s play. Outgoing Cornerstone artistic director Bill Rauch does yeoman’s work to keep the action under control and organic.

“A Long Bridge” is essentially 10 unrelated encounters between two sets of people of different religious beliefs and convictions. An elderly Jewish poet banters with her Catholic helper. One scene later, the poet’s son meets the black Methodist recipient of his deceased mother’s heart. Next scene, we’re in outer space, where a Methodist is in the same space capsule as a Zen Buddhist, each facing a moment of crisis in a different way.

The play also contains a framing device: The spirit of Christine Wetherill Stevenson, author of “The Pilgrimage Play,” for which the Ford (originally known as the Pilgrimage Theater) was built, returns to give her pageant an encore. But that production gets derailed when Julia, the actress playing Mary Magdalene (DeLanna Studi) has to take a cell-phone call that sets the scene cycle in motion. She’s actually a Tongva ESL teacher from Long Beach, and she’s just received some bad news. We’ll learn exactly what

that is at play’s end.

Now, a one-shot, five- to 10-minute scene is not a lot of time to establish a character, a belief and some sort of conflict, particularly when you’re sharing the stage with up to seven or eight other actors. A handful of the encounters feel rushed or forced. Once you settle into the rhythm of the play, it’s a safe bet that some question or crisis of faith will crop up in the next few minutes. The only remaining question is, howsubstantial are these incidents?

Studi’s encounters - both with her ESL class and later with an advocate - are particularly affecting. As much as anybody, and certainly by virtue of her plot placement, Studi anchors the play. Cornerstone mainstay Shishir Kurup lends a steady presence as an atheist journalist who clashes with a Realtor over the use of the word “spiritual” and later has to interview the Baha’i family of a soldier killed in Iraq.

Fittingly, “A Long Bridge” doesn’t wrap itself up any more tidily than it unfolded. There is, however, a splendid moment at the play’s conclusion during which each of the play’s 57 cast members reveals his or her own culture or faith and compares it with what the character just played on stage.

Since October 2001, Cornerstone Theatre Company has been asking the question “how does faith unite and divide us?” via some of the most vibrant and exciting examples of theater the city has produced. “A Long Bridge” may not spell out any easy answers, but if the work of Still, Rauch and their huge ensemble is any indication, faith can connect people across Los Angeles, overseas, all the way up to the cosmos and back again.

In a nutshell: An ambitious end to an amazing cycle.

A LONG BRIDGE OVER DEEP WATERS

Where: Cornerstone Theatre Company at the Ford Amphitheatre, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. E., Hollywood.

When: 8 p.m. today through Sunday; ends Sunday.

Tickets: $10 to $20. Call (323) 461-3673.

---

Evan Henerson, (818) 713-3651 evan.henerson@dailynews.com

LA WEEKLY

A LONG BRIDGE OVER DEEP WATER

James Still’s lovely collection of vignettes is a tone poem to Los Angeles’ cultural and spiritual diversity, inspired by the 1920 Pilgrimage Play written and directed by Ford Amphitheater founder, Mrs. Christine Wetherill Stevenson. Stevenson’s ghost (Loraine Shields) welcomes the audience to a reprise of her hammy biblical epic, but after Mary Magdalene’s cell phone breaks the scene, robes are shed for capri pants and polos as the passion play modernizes into a bighearted salute to family history and faith. This dauntingly grand topic gets filtered through intimate, prosaic sketches, in which a Methodist meets a Buddhist who in turn tries to sell a house to a family of atheists. Still aims to show how our differences can unite us, and his greater accomplishment is that he largely does this without becoming preachy or saccharine — although the evening’s exhaustive last quarter, in which the audience learns to accept Baha’is, gay Muslims and the transgendered, stops a hairpin shy of didactic. Director Bill Rauch enjoys the Ford’s woodland expanses; three Tongva men sound drums and flute from the trees and the nearly 60-person cast, all fine performers, stretch across the stage in a neat row of chairs. Cornerstone Theater Company at the Ford Amphitheater, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East, Hlywd.; Thurs.-Sun., 8 p.m.; thru June 12. (323) 461-3673. Written 06/09/2005 (Amy Nicholson)

KCET LIFE & TIMES

Val>> For those of us able to afford theater tickets, it’s hard to imagine that, for thousands of Southern Californians, theater is beyond their reach. Well, that’s where the Cornerstone Theater comes in. It brings theater to the people and, for many of them, their first step is on stage. Vicki Curry has their story.

[Film Clip]

Vicki Curry>> A group of people are gathered in downtown Los Angeles. They come from different neighborhoods and range in age and ethnicity, but they have one thing in common. They’re all here to put on a play.

Bill Rauch>> “So tonight is our first time to begin to work toward how the play is going to end.”

Vicki Curry>> This is the Cornerstone Theater Company doing the same thing it’s done for two decades, taking live theater to different communities and casting local residents to work with the company.

Bill Rauch>> We make plays that involve usually first-time artists alongside professional members of our ensemble and the plays are always set in or somehow about the community that we’re collaborating with and that we’re performing for.

Vicki Curry>> Bill Rauch is the Artistic Director of Cornerstone. Since 1986, the company has staged over fifty plays across the country.

Bill Rauch>> We wanted to do something that was not about doing work in kind of the cultural palaces, if you will, of theater around the country, but to deliberately go into, you know, the church basements or the social hall or, you know, the community space, and create the highest level, mostinnovative professional theater we could in very unusual community settings.

Vicki Curry>> Cornerstone has built a national reputation for reaching nontraditional theater audiences. It’s a far cry from how it first began. It all started when Rauch, his co-founder, Alison Carey and a group of college friends from Harvard, talked about working in theater after graduation.

Bill Rauch>> We had read a very damning statistic that only two percent of the American population went to professional theater on any kind of a regular basis, so we were freaked out that we would, even if we were lucky enough to be successful, end up performing for a very, very tiny minority of the American people.

Vicki Curry>> They wanted to perform for people who normally didn’t go to theater and decided to involve them to make their productions more exciting. They begged family and friends for donations and hit the road.

Bill Rauch>> We got in the van and we drove around the country and went to various small towns around the country, rural communities, and put on plays with people who lived there. We just picked regions of the country that we were interested in. Sometimes just places that we knew very little about.

[Film Clip]

Vicki Curry>> They went to North Dakota to Texas, Oregon to Maine, and plenty of other places in between.

Bill Rauch>> We would just move into a town and go out and meet people and it was about—and still is—about building relationships with one person at a time and sometimes it takes incredible perseverance. Sometimes people just pour out of the woodwork.

Vicki Curry>> Cornerstone originally intended to stage classic plays, but in working with the communities, they soon realized their audiences might not relate to the classics.

Bill Rauch>> It was not until we were doing “Hamlet” in North Dakota that it suddenly dawned on us that we could make the theatrical experience even more immediate by adapting the text.

[Film Clip]

Vicki Curry>> The company spent four years on the road staging plays in twelve towns. It then created what would become a trademark of Cornerstone: the Bridge Show.

Bill Rauch>> We brought people together from all twelve of those communities and we created a new show that went on a national tour back to everybody’s hometown.

[Film Clip]

Vicki Curry>> In 1992 after five years of traveling, Cornerstone Theater Company was ready to settle down. The members felt they would have more impact if they moved to a big city.

Bill Rauch>> Because we could work with communities that were incredibly different in terms of culture, language, socio-economics, any number of factors, but were geographically very close to each other and we could work with these different communities and then encourage them to come together.

Vicki Curry>> But the company members couldn’t decide which city. Alison Carey pushed for Los Angeles.

Bill Rauch>> She wanted Los Angeles because of how much Los Angeles was the United States of the twenty-first century. The complexity of the landscape of Los Angeles, all of that was daunting and really enticing at the same time.

Vicki Curry>> Cornerstone’s first local production was with the Angeles Plaza Senior Housing Project.

Bill Rauch>> Our auditions were on the Monday after the Friday of the Los Angeles uprising, and it was a very grim confirmation that we’d come to the right city just in terms of anything that we might offer as artists in terms of building bridges between and within communities. It felt like, okay, we’re where we need to be.

Vicki Curry>> After two more projects with other communities, Cornerstone put on its first Los Angeles Bridge show.

[Film Clip]

Vicki Curry>> Several other projects and Bridge shows followed. The Central Avenue Chalk Circle with residents of Watts.

[Film Clip]

Vicki Curry>> Broken Hearts with different B.H. neighborhoods like Boyle Heights and Beverly Hills.

[Film Clip]

Vicki Curry>> A Long Bridge Over Deep Waters with representatives from ten communities of faith.

[Film Clip]

Bill Rauch>> And now we don’t even conceive of doing a community collaboration without thinking about how is it leading to a Bridge show? How is it part of a cycle? And we try to think about the work very holistically that way. We’ve even done a Bridge show that bridges previous Bridge shows.

Vicki Curry>> As Cornerstone’s reputation has grown, so have the opportunities. Large established theaters began asking the company to stage productions, but the members hesitated. They wondered if they’d be selling out, compromising their mission of community-based theater. They decided it wasn’t a problem.

[Film Clip]

Bill Rauch>> It was very exciting actually because the community collaborators in the piece and community-based audience members who had never set foot in that theater felt ownership of that theater because it was their story happening on that stage.

Vicki Curry>> Cornerstone’s status has also led the company into education. It now teaches other Theater professionals how to stage community plays.

Bill Rauch>> We’re influencing the field not only with our immediate circle and not only with people who happen to live in a community, but with theatre professionals from all over the country who want to learn how we do what we do, to take it back into their own communities.

Vicki Curry>> It’s been twenty years since a bunch of kids created Cornerstone Theater Company. They never dreamt they would come this far.

Bill Rauch>> We were blessed with an idea that really inspired people from the very beginning, so I think we are around and we’re as strong as we are twenty years later because of the mission and we’re all here to serve this mission of bringing people together through theater. People who would otherwise never meet suddenly are creating something together and it does change peoples’ lives.

[Film Clip]

Val>> The big Bridge show will be happening at the Ford Amphitheater for two weekends in June. For more information, you can go to their website at cornerstonetheater.org. Our thanks to the folks of the Natural History Museum for the use of their venue. I’m Val Zavala. For everyone at Life and Times, thanks for watching. We’ll see you next time.

JEWISH JOURNAL

2005-05-27

Still’s ‘Waters’ Run Deep

By Naomi Pfefferman, Arts & Entertainment Editor

In James Still’s “A Long Bridge Over Deep Waters,” a Catholic Cambodian asks an elderly Jew, “Why don’t you believe in Jesus?” The senior citizen replies that she regards Jesus as “a revolutionary Jew,” not the savior — and that she would rather argue with God than feel awe for Him.

The debate is typical of “Waters,” a series of intense encounters between 57 members of 10 Los Angeles religious communities produced by the multicultural Cornerstone Theater. It’s the culmination of the company’s four-year faith-based theater cycle, which staged eight projects on creeds from Mormon to Baha’i. According to Cornerstone’s Lee Lawlor, “‘Waters,’ is a ‘bridge show’ incorporating all the groups, in our tradition of building bridges between diverse communities.”

With so much ground to cover, Still found “Waters” initially “overwhelming.” The 46-year-old playwright grew up Methodist in a Kansas town and did not meet many minorities until his church exchange program with a synagogue when he was 15. Yet he understood what it was like to be ‘the other,’ given that he was gay. “I yearned to find out if anyone else felt they were on the margins, or hated, or invisible,” he said. Cornerstone’s faith project drew him, in part, because “it’s scary now for minorities to discuss religion in this country,” he said. “There’s pressure to talk about faith as one thing only, and that is Christianity.” To structure the sprawling “Waters,” Still drew on Arthur Schnitzler’s classic play, “La Ronde,” in which scenes are connected by protagonists moving from one sequence to another. To create his characters, he conducted more than 1,000 hours of interviews; a “spiritual restlessness” among some Jews inspired the fictional Alan, who is secular but considers synagogue after his mother’s death. Other characters include a Hindu who clashes with her Muslim roommate; an all-American family of atheists; and a lesbian Jewish mother, Connie.

Actress Lisa Robins, who plays Connie, feels spiritually challenged by her role. Like her character, she is a Jewish single mother who has explored other religions but is investigating Judaism now that she has a child. “But Connie has much more of a commitment to the religion,” she said. “When I say onstage that I believe in God, I’m actually wondering, ‘What do I believe.’ It’s awkward.”

Still intended awkward moments to occur throughout “Waters:” “The play is about how faith both unites and divides us,” he said. “Waters” plays at the Ford Amphitheater June 2-12. For tickets, call (323) 461-3673. FORUM - Join Us!

NEW YORK TIMES

Theater Seeks Common Ground for Intersecting Faiths - New York Times

By TONI WEINGARTEN

When the John Anson Ford Amphitheater opened in a canyon near Hollywood 85 years ago, it was to be the host of a Christian pageant that ran until 1964, when a lawsuit opposing religious programming in a county theater ended its run. This weekend, the theater presents a play featuring multiple religious traditions - all thriving in America.

The play, “A Long Bridge Over Deep Waters,” is the creation of the Los Angeles Cornerstone Theater Company; it depicts 10 faith groups in the chronological order of their arrival in what is now Los Angeles, each interacting with the faith preceding and following it in a series of loosely connected vignettes.

So, in the first scene, a Tongva Indian encounters a Roman Catholic immigrant, who meets a Jew, and so on through Christian, Buddhist, atheist, Bahai, Hindu, Muslim, and, finally, the multifaith gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgender group.

“For us it’s all about how do we build a more inclusive theater in the U.S. and how to bring together people who otherwise wouldn’t be in the same room,” said Bill Rauch, Cornerstone’s artistic director and co-founder. Mr. Rauch knows that friction can occur where communities’ borders rub up against each other, and faith’s borders can be especially prickly.

Since its founding 20 years ago, Cornerstone has always explored concepts of community - both geographical and those based on things like shared occupation or language. In 2000, looking for a new community to explore, the group chose faith and how it both divides and unites people.

Cornerstone started what it calls its “faith cycle” in partnership with the National Conference for Community and Justice, which changed its name from the National Conference of Christians and Jews to signal its inclusiveness, to build relationships with Los Angeles faith groups.

It held discussions with the conference’s help to understand how different religions felt about topics like rituals, belief and social justice. Then it selected six communities and spent the next five years staging a play in each, culminating in the current production, now in the second weekend of a two-weekend run.

The six communities were Catholic immigrants, gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgender people, African-American Christians, Muslim Americans, Jews and Hindus. Each cast had about 50 people, mostly community members mixed with Cornerstone actors. The conference led talks for communities and cast members on the play’s issues; similar small-group discussions take place for audiences after performances.

“We try to create something that really engages people in the content and not just the artistic expression of it,” said Lucky Altman, who was the Los Angeles regional program director for the conference during Cornerstone’s faith cycle. Such discourse and candor led to surprises and drama in the play-making process.

The Catholic immigrant play included a group from Cambodia whose scenes were a loose interpretation of the Biblical story of Noah, with participants fleeing the killing fields instead of a flood. One Cambodian woman had a monologue about losing her entire family under the Khmer Rouge regime. In a cast gathering before the show, she revealed that the monologue was actually her life story.

The playwriting process was not a lone artistic endeavor. The writers hired by Cornerstone participated in “story circles” with their specific faith community to look for inspiration. In the circles, groups of 4 to 50 people discussed topics like whether they prayed on Sept. 11, 2001, and the role of foods in celebrating religious holidays.

“I did dozens and dozens of circles,” said James Still, the author of “Bridge.” He followed all the plays in preparation for his own. Despite such close communication between the communities and the writers, problems arose. Mr. Rauch said, for example, that organizers did not anticipate how potent a theme homosexuality would be for most of the religious groups. It came up in the Christian play when an African-American asked Cornerstone to focus on the silence of his community’s clergy on H.I.V. and

AIDS. After seeing the play, one clergy member gave a sermon on the subject the next week.

It also came up when the Muslim playwright included a gay character that caused such objections in the Muslim community that Cornerstone commissioned a new play that had a much subtler gay character. Still, protest was strong.

“It was problematic for us, as the idea is to do a collaboration with the Muslim community,” said Baraa Kahf, a Muslim technology consultant who acted in the play. “And if they do something that immediately offends the community, then obviously there’s no room for collaboration.”

He said homosexuality is not a priority for his community right now. “We’re having to deal with our neighbors being whisked away in the middle of the night, and detention, and being accused of terrorism,” he said.

In “Bridge,” the chronological order of religions placed the Muslims next to the gay-lesbian-transgender group - whose members come from many faiths but generally do not feel accepted by them. So, this time Cornerstone kept the gay character despite objections. Cornerstone and the Muslim community held a meeting and at its end, all but one Muslim said they would see the show.

Balancing the priorities of faith groups, and being sensitive to each, is what makes this process exciting for Cornerstone. So is working opposite community members.

“It’s such a grounding process,” said Page Leong, a Cornerstone member. “The community part of it keeps you in an honest place - you’re responsible for helping convey stories of people you are face to face with, onstage with. It is pretty enlightening in a way that doing regional theater or doing television would never be for me.”

“Bridge” is the first time the many faiths are together in a cast. Visits by the cast to one another’s worship services are planned.

“I think that it emphasizes to me that it isn’t about the religion, it’s about the people and the fact that we can all do the play together and play each other’s roles and faiths, “ said Abdullah al-Muntheri, a Muslim engineer who plays a Hindu storyteller. “It’s not about ideology, it’s about people and the relationships you have with them.”

LA DAILY NEWS

Article Published: Tuesday, May 31, 2005 - 11:22:55 AM PST

Beyond belief

Cornerstone Theater’s biggest show yet brings its faith-based series to

a close

By Evan Henerson, Theater Writer

Opening the Ford Amphitheatre’s 2005 summer season Thursday is a Cornerstone Theater Company bridge show, with - fittingly - the word “Bridge” in the title.

But given the scope of the undertaking and the number of communities being brought together in a single production, however, James Still’s play “A Long Bridge Over Deep Waters” is more a Golden Gate-like expanse than a mere pedestrian foot bridge.

How about 57 actors and 52 community partnerships representing 10 communities of faith in Los Angeles uniting in a single evening? Cornerstone could hardly pare things down, considering the breadth of its 4 1/2-year Faith- Based Cycle (FBC), which “A Long Bridge” officially brings to an end.

The cycle - delving into the question “How does faith unite and divide us?” - began with the “Festival of Faith” in October 2001 and most recently staged the Hindu partnership “As Vishnu Dreams” in December 2004. Along the way, Cornerstone ensemble members partnered with L.A. Jews, Catholic immigrants, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, African-American Christians, Baha’i and gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender people of faith. FBC plays have been staged at legitimate theaters, decommissioned churches, town halls and, beginning Thursday, the 1,241-seat Ford Amphitheatre, which was originally constructed for religious pageants. The Ford will be the largest venue ever used for a Cornerstone production.

For “A Long Bridge,” which follows the circular structure of Arthur Schnitzler’s “La Ronde,” Still added two communities that the Faith-Based Cycle hadn’t previously included: atheist/nonbelievers and Tongva/Native Americans.

“There was a larger story we wanted to tell,” says director Bill Rauch. “So many atheists had been vocal about the lack of representation within the cycle, so that felt important. And the ground under our feet had belonged to Native Americans long before the rest of us were here.”

In “La Ronde” (later adapted by David Hare as “The Blue Room”), a series of daisy-chain sexual encounters forms a perfect circle, with each character having two encounters and then disappearing (prostitute beds cab driver, who seduces an au pair, who sleeps with a student, etc.). “A Long Bridge” has people of a given faith having two nonsexual encounters with groups from a different faith and circling back to the beginning.

“Coming up with the order was one of our biggest challenges,” says Rauch, “because you tell different stories based on juxtaposition. In the end we came up with an order that reflects roughly the order the groups were established in L.A. County.

“I’m not doing anything anyone hasn’t done before in terms of structure,” adds Still. “ ‘La Ronde’ suggests a movement of moving forward, and there’s an accumulation of experience and knowledge and emotion in that structure for me as well. It was pretty exciting when I found my way to that.”

The creation of “A Long Bridge” was essentially a three-year endeavor for Still, who held regular meetings and “story circle” sessions with faith-based communities while the

earlier FBC productions were in development or under way. Members of a given

community would come together and talk about faith and culture, sometimes bringing food and always sharing stories.

Still’s work essentially paralleled the Cornerstone play-building method. Originating in 1986, the ensemble traveled the country creating site-specific entertainment - often based on a classic play - within communities that had previously had little exposure to the arts. Since settling in L.A. in 1992, the company has turned the bulk of its creative attention to communities within the city.

Coming on the heels of other multiple-play endeavors, the concept for the Faith-Based Cycle was hatched as the company’s BH cycle (set within communities with the initials B.H.) was coming to an end.

“(Company member) Page Leong was the one who said, ‘What about religious communities?’ and we all said, ‘Yes!’ “ recalls Rauch. “We didn’t anticipate that it would take us 4 1/2 years and that the subject would be so rich we’d just keep adding communities. We could rededicate ourself as the Faith-Based Theater Company and do nothing but that for the next 50 years, but of course that’s not the way.”

The next cycle, when it’s announced, will be hatched by Rauch and his successor. After 20 years with the company, Rauch - Cornerstone’s co- founder and artistic director - will be leaving the company by March 2006 to take a position as professor of theater at UC Irvine and various freelance directing assignments. His final Cornerstone ensemble assignment will be an adaptation of Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” in the winter and, in 2006, he will helm a production for the Guthrie Theatre’s inaugural season in its new building on the banks of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis.

“Perhaps I’ll run a theater again someday,” says Rauch. “But, frankly, after being part of Cornerstone, I’ll be pretty darned picky where I apply to run a theater. It’s hard to imagine what will follow this.”

A LONG BRIDGE OVER DEEP WATERS

Where: Ford Amphitheatre, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. E., Hollywood.

When: 8 p.m. Thursday through Sunday; through June 12.

Tickets: $10 to $20. Call (323) 461-3673.

Evan Henerson, (818) 713-3651 evan.henerson@dailynews.com

VARIETY

A Long Bridge Over Deep Waters

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?

(Ford Amphitheater, Los Angeles; 1,245 seats; $20 top)

A Cornerstone Theater Company presentation of a play in two acts by James Still.

Directed by Bill Rauch. Choreography, Otis Sallid.

With: Martin Alcala, Abdulla Al-Muntheri, Natasha Atalla, Sofia Azizi, Sally Ben-Tal, Mark Brust, Pierre Chambers, Andrew Cohen, Gregory Cruz, Jonathan Del Arco, Michele DeRosa, Michael Phillip Edwards, Ramy Eletreby, Fred Fluker, George Gant, Joseph Gorelik, Olga Gorelik, Emily Goulding, George “Jiddu” Haddad, Jenny Hahn, Theodora Hardie, Peter Howard, Ebonie Hubbard, Myron Jackson, Dorothy James, Elham Jazab, Diana Elizabeth Jordan, Nathaniel Justiniano, Shishir Kurup, Page Leong, Geeta Malik, Naveed Merchant, Natch Narasimhan, Stephanie Nunez, Deborah Piver, Adina Porter, Gezel Remy, Lisa Robins, Ibrahim Saba, Manuel Sanchez, Berkeley Sanjay, Bennett Schneider, Meena Serendib, Loraine Shields, Joann Charles Smith, Mark Strunin, DeLanna Studi, Jeff Sugarman, K.T. Thangavelu, Badrinath Touzene, Sabrinath Touzene, Yogananda Touzene, Toufiq Tulsiram, Virdell Twine, Leonard Wu, Nancy Yee.

By JOEL HIRSCHHORN

Cornerstone Theater’s world premiere of “A Long Bridge Over Deep Waters” is an ambitious answer to the question, How does faith unite and divide us? Inspired in part by Arthur Schnitzler’s “La Ronde,” the show, developed over 41⁄2 years and featuring 50 actors from 10 communities of faith, is refreshingly adept at avoiding a preachy, “meaningful” tone. The most emotionally resonant and solid material appears in act one, but director Bill Rauch steers clear of sentimentality and opts for a humorous approach.

The show opens with a lively prologue featuring Loraine Shields as Christine Stevenson, who purchased the land for the Ford Theater in 1920 with the idea of presenting “The Pilgrimage Play” and a series of other spiritually oriented stories centering on religious leaders. “The Pilgrimage Play” continued performances until 1964, when a lawsuit closed it because of its religious nature. This history makes the Ford a logical place for “A Long Bridge” and for Cornerstone, a multi-ethnic, nationwide company dedicated to bringing communities closer together.

After a moderately interesting segment about an instructor teaching English to students who help her accept her Tongva (Indian) heritage, playwright James Still (“Looking Over the President’s Shoulder”) offers the endearing “Winter/Spring,” which spotlights Ruth (Dorothy James), an elderly Jewish poet, and her Cambodian-American assistant Tevy (Leonard Wu). Tevy is unable to comprehend why Ruth doesn’t believe in Jesus, then tells her he’s in awe of God, prompting her to shoot back, “I never wanted to be in awe of God—I always preferred a good argument.” James and Wu are excellent, skillfully drawing sharp contrasts between Still’s protagonists while indicating they have the capability to understand and appreciate each other’s differences. The most dramatic and beautiful episode, “A Heart Is Where the Home Is,” introduces Ruth’s son Alan (Jeff Sugarman) to Regina (Adina Porter), an African- American who now has Ruth’s heart. In the story’s sensitive ending, Regina places Alan’s hands on her heart and lets him hear the beating sound that represents his lost mother and the life-giving force it has provided for another, vastly different human being.

“Houston, We Have a Problem” highlights trapped astronauts Redwood (Michael Phillip Edwards), a black Methodist, and Anderson (Peter Howard), a white Buddhist, and their efforts to spiritually handle the possibility of dying in space. Edwards and Howard are a terrific team, embodying the worlds of traditional prayer and chanting.

Author Still smoothly brings in Diana (Page Leong), Anderson’s realtor wife, who’s trying to sell a home while worrying about her husband’s fate. This scene deals effectively with unthinking prejudice (“You’re pretty pushy for a Buddhist”), and leads into a stark tale about Middle Eastern parents of the Baha’i faith who come to the United States to escape persecution, only to have their son die in the U.S.-instigated Iraq war. The son’s feelings are captured in a powerfully written and directed video sequence.

Remaining playlets are less story-based and begin to make points in a more obvious way. These include “Declaration,” set in a college dorm and focusing on a Muslim woman’s insistence on wearing a hijab, although the scarf disturbs her Hindu roommate. This same problem—on-the-nose commentary over conflict—prevents the story of a gay Muslim and his sympathetic lesbian friend from hitting its mark, and there’s a well-choreographed but broadly farcical Hindu fairy-tale sequence that seems out of key with the rest of the production. What fuses the material is a climax highlighting people of different faiths—every conceivable combination, ranging from Cherokee Christians and Iranian Jews to Hindu drag nuns—expressing their points of view. It’s initially hard to conquer skepticism that all these diametrically opposed viewpoints can blend, but director Rauch makes his case convincingly enough to give spectators hope that such integration and acceptance is possible.

Sets, Christopher Acebo; costumes, Lynn Jeffries; lighting, Geoff Korf; music and sound, Paul James Prendergast; production stage managers, Michelle Blair and Anna Belle Gilbert. Opened and reviewed June 4, 2005. Runs through June 12. Running time: 2 HOURS, 40 MIN.

LOS ANGELES TIMES

THEATER

It’s rough going for ‘Deep Waters’

The presence of a gay Muslim character prompts at least one actress to leave the play.

By Don Shirley, Times Staff Writer

A scene depicting a gay Muslim roiled the currents beneath Cornerstone Theater’s latest production, “A Long Bridge Over Deep Waters.”

The show, which plays Thursday through Sunday at the Ford Amphitheatre, is the climax of a four-year play cycle examining the faiths of 10 local communities: Tongva Indians, Catholic immigrants, Jews, African American Christians, Buddhists, atheists, Bahais, Hindus, Muslims and religious believers among the gay community.

The narrative moves from one group to another, with overlapping links. Groups are introduced in the order “in which they became prominent in the L.A. faith landscape,” says Cornerstone’s literary manager Scott Horstein.

The play’s creators decided the establishment of the Islamic Center of Southern California in 1953 was the Muslim beachhead, and the founding of the gay-oriented

Metropolitan Community Church in 1968 was the equivalent in gay religious circles.

That placed the play’s segments devoted to Muslims and gays side by side. To create a link between the two, playwright James Still wrote a scene in which a discussion among young women about wearing Muslim head scarves is interrupted when the bruised brother of one of the women arrives.

At first he pretends he’s the victim of an anti-Muslim hate crime. Later he acknowledges he was targeted because he’s gay. Some Muslims who were advising the show — or in it — objected to the scene and to depicting a gay Muslim.

The first actress playing the sister, Sondos Kholoki, said her casting “forced me to do a

lot of research to see what the religion says. I don’t see homosexuality as having a part in the religion” — although “homophobia and hate crimes have no room in the religion either.” Her unease with the scene prompted her to withdraw from the role, she said, adding that a conflict with an out-of-town family wedding also provided “a nice excuse” for her departure.

Kholoki’s husband, Baraa Kahf, also withdrew from a small role. Because of concerns raised by Kholoki, Kahf and other Muslims, a four-hour-plus meeting was held to discuss the scene.

Soon thereafter, the second Muslim actress cast as the sister also withdrew from the cast, reportedly for similar reasons. She did not return a Times call. With no other Muslims stepping forward to take the sister’s role, an Arabic Christian woman was cast.

A similar clash had arisen with Cornerstone’s Muslim-specific production earlier in the cycle. The group had commissioned a play, “Ten Acrobats in an Amazing Leap of Faith,” that had a gay Muslim character. It wasn’t produced for unrelated reasons. When it was replaced in 2003 with a contemporary adaptation of “You Can’t Take It With You,” using Muslim characters living in L.A., adapter Peter Howard decided to include a gay couple among the characters.

A number of Muslims protested, and the company eventually retreated and cut the gay references. “It was important to keep everyone in the room,” artistic director Bill Rauch says.

Company officials say the cast of “Long Bridge” includes three gay Muslims. Ramy Eletreby, 24, plays the brother.

“I consider myself a good Muslim,” he says.

But the heated company meeting has colored his views on his religion, he says. “A lot of people making hurtful remarks were people I’ve known my whole life. I’ve started to doubt my future with the faith.”

IN LOS ANGELES

A young, gay Muslim confronts his community by coming out on the stage.

By Ramy Eletreby

“You know you’re going to be outed now,” my friend Corey told me.

“I know. I don’t care. It’s about time,” I replied.

Corey was referring to me being cast in A Long Bridge Over Deep Waters, a new

play by James Still making its world premiere June 4 at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre in Hollywood. I would be playing the part of Tameem, a gay American Muslim in his mid-20s sorting through life and relationships in Los Angeles—a role seemingly tailor-made just for me. When the Cornerstone Theater Company offered me the role back in December, it was clear that this would be more than just another part in

another play. For the first time in my career I would be portraying a character struggling with fraught issues that I have never had the courage to approach so candidly before. I would have to openly reveal the inner conflicts of a young Arab, raised in a conservative Islamic household in a suburb of L.A., who can no longer deny his sexuality—all of which is hitting a little too close to home.

Questions have been flooding my mind ever since I was cast. Why now? I’ve survived this far without ever having to reveal myself to my family, let alone any fellow Muslims. Why should I suddenly have to expose everything I’ve so cleverly kept hidden and expose it in front of a sea of strangers on a nightly basis? It’s none of their business anyway. I was happy with it being clandestine. It’s unfair.

Maybe I should just relax. It’s not me on stage, it’s Tameem, and he’s fictional. I’m merely an actor playing a role. Whew! Crisis averted. Right? Who the hell am I kidding? I am so like Tameem! He is me ... damn! For the past five months, I’ve been having this same run-around. I know I should not stress about what I cannot change. I know I should just face the music once and for all. Well, the music played a couple of weeks ago and I got a preview of what is waiting for me. When members of the local Muslim community got wind of the fact that A Long Bridge... will be presented at the spacious Ford Amphitheatre, the you-know-what hit the fan.

Needless to say, the idea of as many as 1,200 people sitting in a theater watching a Muslim declare himself as also being a homosexual, and thus condoning his existence, was unthinkable. In early April, in an effort to give the Muslims an opportunity to voice their concerns about Tameem’s existence, an evening of open (and heated) dialogue occurred between Cornerstone and the community. So cried the Muslims:

“I feel betrayed!”

“I feel stepped on!”

“This is not the time.”

“You are going to be hard-pressed to get any Muslims to come see this play.” I just sat there looking pensive, unable to say anything amid the outbreak of disgust. Words like “betrayal” and “offensive” fell hard upon my ears. My fellow Muslims feel betrayed! My character offends them! One particular female announced that due to the inappropriate and offensive subject matter she could not bring herself to attend. It was awkward to hear these people (my people) invalidate my existence. It was more than upsetting. It was disparaging, infuriating, and painful—and I expected to hear it all—I just didn’t expect my reaction. I thought I would leave the meeting feeling angry and ready to tell them all to shove it, but instead, I left feeling disturbed and incomplete. I didn’t realize how hurtful their statements would actually be—I was heartbroken.

Anger would have been easier—I can handle anger. Who wants to handle heartbreak from people you thought were your friends? Those people in the room weren’t just random strangers—I’m from L.A., and I know them personally. There was one couple in the meeting whose wedding I attended. There was a young woman—about four years younger than me - - whom I vividly remember reading a children’s story to on the sofa in my parents’ living room maybe 15 years ago. All that peaceful, joyful camaraderie was just extinguished.

For the first time in years, I was diminished. I let them get to me. It had been a long time since I felt ashamed—I thought I worked through it all. I thought I came to that realization that all gay people must come to: This is a part of who I am and I cannot change it. I actually got to the point where I embraced it. How fragile that self-assurance turns out to be when it meets intolerance and judgment. Maybe I’m not as strong as I thought.

Next comes the hard part: It’s time to tell my parents. I was raised in a close-knit Egyptian Muslim family. I was taught that your relationship with your family is the most important relationship you will ever have. Now I’m making an active choice to jeopardize all that. I have been waiting for the perfect opportunity and it’s now here—it’s too perfect to pass up. It’s time to give voice to all those fears I know they hold deep inside.

Of course they know—they’re my parents, they know me—they’ve just never had the guts to ask nor have ever I had the balls to tell. I understand their not wanting to verbalize it—until something is defined, it cannot exist. They’re Egyptians living in denial. However, who am I doing this for, them or me? What state will we be in after all is said and done? I don’t know. I don’t know how this will proceed—whether I’ll be disowned, estranged, or simply reprimanded is uncertain. The only certainty is the disappointment and the shame—I always expected that—I just didn’t expect it so soon. Will I walk away merely scarred or severely wounded?

At the meeting with the Muslims, all the comments were delivered diplomatically as to not intentionally offend anyone and keep it professional. That luxurious dynamic will not be present with my parents; they will speak in entirely uncensored terms, and I will have to be ready to hear them Another thing happened that night of the meeting—I doubted my future with Islam. It was the first time I ever questioned my faith. For as long as I can remember, I have always been devoted to Islam—to Allah and Prophet Muhammad’s teachings. I chose not to find disharmony between God and sexuality—in fact, I chose to ignore it, and I don’t think I can anymore—it was like ignoring that part of me that wasn’t a “good” Muslim.

But if I truly accept who I am, can I accept Islam too when it’s clear that Islam doesn’t accept me? All of a sudden, I’m thinking twice. I hesitate before calling myself a Muslim. That’s harder for me to swallow than anything else. Now, not only may I have to tell my parents I’m gay, I may have tell them that I no longer accept the religion they raised me in. I don’t know which revelation will cause a worse reaction. Maybe I shouldn’t be so hasty—it’s obvious that I’m volatile right now and big decisions such as faith should not be rushed.

Damn those people for making me lose focus on my identity! Damn them forcing me to reexamine everything I thought I had figured out! My friends tell me not to miss the bigger picture. They remind me of the enormous power I have with this role. I have the power to give a voice to people like me; people struggling with faith and sexuality, people who are too afraid to speak. I accept the responsibility—that’s why I do what I do.

All my life, I’ve wanted to be an artist, and artists refuse to accept the way things are; they see the beautiful potential in all things. I’m an actor and a writer. Whether it’s a portrayal on stage or a story in a magazine, we have the tremendous power to change people’s minds by our words. We have a duty to do our part in improving this world, to promote tolerance and acceptance.

With this play, I hope I can do right by my self and those like me. If I don’t embrace this job, who will?

A Long Bridge Over Deep Waters runs June 2-12 at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd., Hlywd. For more information, see www.cornerstonetheater.org or www.fordamphitheatre.org.