Vietnam and Vietnamese food event at Traveler's Bookcase July 14

Our longtime member Natalie Compagno (The Reunion, Hellcab) is also the owner of Traveler's Bookcase, and on Wednesday July 14, there will be an event at the store to promote a new book about Vietnamese cuisinse.

You're invited to travel through Vietnam by way of the country's distinctive cuisine on Wednesday July 14 from 7:30-9:30 pm at Traveler's Bookcase, 8375 West Third Street in Los Angeles.

Please join Kim Fay and Julie Fay Ashborn to celebrate the publication of Commiunion: A Culinary Journey Through Vietnam . After a brief reading and Q&A, we will be serving wine and a sampling of flavors fro the book. As an added treat, the Mandoline Grill Vietnamese food truck will offer delicious, inexpensive Vietnamese classics.

So make your plans now, and Thanks!

Kim Estes in "Drunk Talk"

You can see our longtime member Kim Estes (The Life and Times of Tulsa Lovechild, Infinite Black Suitcase, The Reunion) in a show called Drunk Talk at the Dragonfly, 6510 Santa Monica Blvd. in Hollywood

This is an interactive show that transforms the theater space into an actual bar, and here is the show description from its website:

DRUNK TALK is an original play that transforms an actual bar into an interactive, high-spirited comedy. So enter the world of McSwiggen's Tavern where you're not just an audience member, but a patron. But watch out because you never know who is "IN" the show or just "AT" the show.

Follow the cast of zany characteristics as they try and cope with the looming reality that their local bat is closing down after tonight. Now with no place to drink up and chew over their aspirations, will they have to actually get out there and live their lives...or will the bar be saved?

Come join us for a round of DRUNK TALK and have a cold one while you do! Full bar open throughout the entire show. Come thirsty, my friend.

Ticket includes a free McSwiggen's special cocktail during the show!

Must be over 21.

Drunk Talk runs Sunday nights at 8pm through August 1 (except for July 4th), and tickets are $15.

Read a review here, and buy tickets here.

Thanks!

Mari Marks demo reel

Mari Marks (bobrauschenbergamerica, The Reunion, has been a member of TheSpyAnts since 2007, and this is her demo reel.

Jennifer Etienne Eckert's Demo Reel

Jennifer Etienne Eckert - bobrauschenbergamerica, What If? (2008), The Reunion (2006), Rudolph The Red Hosed Reindeer - is a longtime member of TheSpyAnts, and this is her demo reel.

Who Killed Jason? ("The Reunion" web series)

Who Killed Jason? will be a web series based on our production of The Reunion: Everything Changes. Everyone Stays The Same which ran in the summers of 2006 and 2007. It was a unique project for us that was co-written by the original cast, and co-directed by Danny Parker-Lopes, and former member Darcy Halsey.

The story of 10 year reunion of Woodrow Wilson High School's Class of 1984 remains intact, but there is a new twist. Jason was the guy who mysteriously died at the senior party, and ten years later, no one still knows for sure how he died and who was responsible. This will follow the interactive format of the play on the web, and you can see how it all works by checking out the website, and watching the short trailer.

And just to refresh your memory, check out this segment on the play by YourLA.

Who Killed Jason? LLC is comprised of Danny Parker-Lopes, Darcy Halsey, and Addi Gaash.

You can follow Who Killed Jason on Facebook by clicking here

StageSceneLA review of "The Reunion"

“Unique” is a word all too frequently bandied about, but in the case of The Reunion: Everything Changes, Everything Stays the Same, “unique” is almost an understatement. Writer/directors Darcy Halsey and Danny Parker have
written a 5 1/2 hour play about a 10-year high school reunion which unfolds in just an hour and a half. How, you may ask, do they do that?

By having four scenes unfolding simultaneously in various parts of the Howard Fine Theatre complex. In one room, characters discuss the mysterious death of a popular classmate; in the courtyard, two male classmates, formerly best friends, reunite in a most unexpected way; on the terrace, a glamorous Russian movie star discusses her latest project while elsewhere another
classmate has a nervous breakdown.

Audience members, who are treated to beer/wine/appetizers (included in the $20 admission), must decide which scene to observe and where to go next, making The Reunion a production which can be seen and seen again. (Ticket prices go down $5 each time you come back.) I love TheSpyAnts, and The Reunion gives several dozen of them a chance to show their acting and comedic chops. I dare not begin to name names as there are so many sparkling performances that to attempt to pick out standouts would mean leaving off far too many fine members of the troupe.

This limited return engagement of The Reunion will I hope become an annual event! July 13th - August 4th Fridays & Saturdays 8pm/Sundays 8pm July 22nd & July 29th; The Howard Fine Theatre ,1445 N. Las Palmas Avenue,
Hollywood, CA 90028; Tickets $20 includes beer, wine & hors d'oeuvres; Returning guests receive $5 discount per return; Reservations: 323.860.8786.

--Steven Stanley

"The Reunion" featured on "YourLA"

The Reunion was recently featured on KNBC Channel 4's YourLA, and in case you didn't catch it, here it is:

Backstage review for "The Reunion"

Backstage West - Michael Holder

THE REUNION: Everything Changes. Everything Stays The Same
at the Howard Fine Theater. CRITIC'S PICK

With confessed deference to Tamara, in which the audience followed actors from room to room and hoped to unearth as many story points on their individual journeys as possible, The Spy Ants has brazenly taken the concept and moved it from an Italian villa in the 1920's onto the grounds of the fictional Woodrow Wilson HIgh School circa 1994. The audience once more becomes part of the action, asked to attend the 10th reunion of the Wilson Warriors Class of '84, and spy on the students who had the cajones to once again face their incredibly messed-up classmates, folks with enough residual damage to keep a psychiatrist in teeoff fees for years.

Even the "class clown" who became a shrink (Ryan Churchill) isn't immune to the wreckage; indeed he's creating more. As he confesses his date (Lana Underwood) is also his 19 year old patient, he finds time to surrepitiously distribute a new, unapproved drug guaranteed to make girls get jiggy and spread rumors from an unbalanced classmate (Dawn Merkel) about who was doing what to whom the night of the graduation party while one poor kid turned crispy in a boathouse fire. Director-writers Darcy Halsey and Danny Parker do an impressive job keeping the audience hopping as they tag behind the certifiable students and suitably war faculty members, winding the characters' stories together masterfully and adding a few surprises, such as having Johnny Cochrane (Kim Estes) present as the secret lover of one lusty attendee (Jenny Vilim), the former girlfriend of the football star (Linc Hand,) crippled in another grad night "accident."

The cast is golden, all members brilliant at making their characters real despite the need to keep them talking and moving at once. But like Tamara,the problem with becoming a fly on the wall of this facinatingly dysfunctional gathering is that there's not time to unravel the mysteries in one evening. After the understandable minor clunks of opening night smooth out a bit, this is one production worth a second, third, or even fourth look. And that big red star next to algebra on the back of your program/report card lets you do just that at a discount.

Tolucan Times review for "The Reunion"

Tolucan Times - Pat Taylor

The Reunion: Everything Changes. Everyone Stays the Same

HOLLYWOOD - If you're ready for a wildly different theatrical hoot, this is the one for you! Performed and penned in the style of Tamara, which ran in Hollywood for 10 years, it is an entertaining, involving journey that really tweaks your mind. Cleverly written and directed with great imagination, by Darcy Halsey and Danny Parker, with plenty of juicy input from their troupe (the SpyAnts) this talented cast of 20 actors is all terrific! In this inventive audience interactive piece, we are guests at a volatile and revealing 10-year class reunion party in 1994. We voyeuristically peer in on these characters' dirty little secrets, passions and progress (both past and present) in individual group scenes, following them through the school and quad, on foot. Like the proverbial fly on the wall, we quietly study a multitude of in your face, explosive and emotional skeletons, as old classmates bare their souls. We drink wine and enjoy munchies from the party table all evening, and the intimate stories we are privy to depend on which characters we chose to follow. Sounds a bit confusing, I know, but it soon all falls into place.

At intermission, openly chat with other audience members or separate from your own friends during the play and compare notes later to catch up on the scenes you missed. It is a brain teasing blast! Too many complex scenes to describe them, and besides, that would spoil your fun! The ticket price (including food and libation) is $20 the first time, $10 the second return, and $5 thereafter, as long as you bring a full paying, unsuspecting newcomer. Many come back again to follow different ones.

Kudos to the entire cast: They are Eric Bunton, Ryan Churchill, Natalie Compagno, Kim Estes, Addi Gaash, Gretchen Gaboury, Darcy Halsey, Linc Hand, Brett Hren, Tammy Kaitz, Shelby Kyle, Melissa Lee, Danny Parker, Dawn Merkel, Marina Mouhibian, Jerry Pappas, Stasia Patwell, Hal Perry, Lana Underwood, and Jenny Vilim This is a naughty, bawdy, fun filled, unique and worthy production! Turn up in the outdoor quad 7:30ish for a drink, a snack, and a chance to read over the program and "class rules." It really helps in your overall experience!

Running through Aug. 5 (possibly longer) at the Howard Fine Theatre, 1445 N. Las Palmas in Hollywood. Call (323) 860-8786.