Lose Yourself in “Lost Angeles”

Forget about bringing a Thomas Guide along, "Lost Angeles" maneuvers through the back alleys of Gen Xers searching for love and ultimately finding it within themselves.  Like all well-traveled roads in L.A., there are obstacles, speed bumps, close calls, delays and detours for these lovers trying to make sense of it all.

But how can one make sense of anything when the Starbucks barista can’t even get your order right?

 

These are the daily tribulations of a cynical bunch drowning their insecurities in frappes by day and Taco Bell hot sauce by night.  They have stomachs of steel apparently, but handling emotions makes them curl into a fetal position.  This makes for amusing situations, but the level of immaturity of these thirty-something’s leaves room for doubt that by the end of the play they’ll have come to terms with who they are and what they want.  All they seem to know is that they like tacos.

There is a similar quality to John Guare’s "Six Degrees of Separation" with how playwright Caroline Treadwell intersects the ten lives of seemingly improbable pairings.  In the sprawl of Los Angeles, somehow these characters manage to connect.  It is implausible at times to accept the randomness, but the hilarity and excellent directing by Joe Camareno makes this forgivable, and the audience is willing to go along for the ride.

For all the hard to swallow situations, "Lost Angeles" is a funny microcosm of a generation plagued with finding personal identity in a throwaway society.  The issues raised here are not unique to this city.  It conceivably could be anywhere suburbia or metropolitan, U.S.A.

The plot, however, is a Rubik’s Cube.  After two hours of twists and turns, the blocks do fall into place.  Unfortunately, the payoff feels too easy.   

(Ashleigh Sumner). 

Both Anna and Beth are on first dates, each one perilous in their own way.  Anna agrees to date scientist stalker Julien (Kevin Hoffer) to get back at Tom (Seamus Driver), her golfer, ex-boyfriend.  Beth, meanwhile, freaks out when her MySpace date Celine (Kristen Ariza) is a gorgeous bombshell with secrets of her own.  Marin, the consummate busybody deserts Charlie and heads to the bar where she meets Beth’s date and tries to mediate between the two women. 

Charlie loses it and has a nervous breakdown at Starbucks where barista Reese (Adam Donshik) salves Charlie’s pain with a Caterpillar-like philosophy from "Alice in Wonderland."  Hence, much psychedelic shrooming and pill popping from Reese’s secret, smiley face cabinet chock full of narcotics in the storeroom.  Makes one wonder what’s really in the coffee. 

Meanwhile, Tom is at the driving range with his loyal, but resentful caddy, Hernan (Alejandro Cardenas).  Tom espouses better pay for Hernan, but never comes through.  Hernan’s sister, Suela (Sandra Cevallos) makes matters worse with her dalliance with Tom that results in an unplanned pregnancy.  After a family feud, Suela shoots Tom in the head with a bebe gun.  Tom is dumped in an alley where an unconscious Charlie is dumped as well by Reese moonlighting at Taco Bell on the late-night shift.

Back to the lesbians, it’s flirt or flight.  Beth can’t seem to work up enough confidence, and her self-deprecation naturally puts Celine off, but with a little help from Marin, they work it out.  It’s late so they decide to grab some tacos at Taco Bell.  There must be only one Taco Bell in L.A., as Celine’s secret past is revealed when the barista/illegal herbalist/Taco Bell attendant is none other than her bitter, ex-boyfriend, Reese.  Of course, they get closure and even Marin resolves her differences with the same man for always screwing up her coffee every morning.  Uh-huh. 

Charlie wakes up alongside Tom, bleeding from his head.  Out of sorts the men stagger, and naturally Tom runs into Anna with her new, geeky beau.  She gets the closure she needs, of course.  Suela and Charlie take an instant liking to one another and it seems her pressing situation may be well suited for an eager to commit guy that just got jilted.

Everything resolves itself so nicely.  Marin, decides it’s better to be alone than with a warm body.  The lesbians smooch while eating tacos…ah, symbolism.  Anna finds her date’s logic comforting.  Charlie hints at a future with Suela.  Hernan grows a backbone.  Tom receives his just deserts.  And the caterpillar transforms into a butterfly when the Starsucks/Taco Hell lackey decides to move onto better things.  

The cast features stand out performances from Ashleigh Sumner (Beth), and Kristen Ariza (Celine).  This duo really connects both to the material and to each other, making the tension between the physical attraction and their personality differences exciting to watch.  Adam Donshik (Reese) finds interesting levels in his character with seamless transitions that solidifies his growth at the end of the play.  Occasionally, the acting bordered on "over-the-top" and played too hard for laughs.  Daniel Billet (Charlie) has the facial expressions of Jim Carrey, but engulfs the role, especially in the "mushroom" scene with too much hammy grand-standing.  Porter Kelly (Marin) fails to find her arc within the play which is a pity as she has perhaps the strongest resolve in the show. 

Sigh.  Oh, if only life imitated art here.  Granted, we’d all be unhealthy and jittery, but hey, it’s L.A.  Just blame it on the smog.

Curtain Call:  You’ll leave this play with the munchies.

Photos by Kevin Hoffer