(But soft! what ping through yonder video dings?)
- The world is weird.
- And/or wonderful.
- And I'm taking my
little friend Ryan Bergara
around to explore every last bit of it.
- Where are we today?
- We're hanging out with
the Independent Shakespeare Company.
(upbeat piano)
(whistle noise)
(upbeat music)
- [Shane] By the pricking of my thumbs,
something weird and
wonderful this way comes.
(laughing)
Just some Shakespeare fun there for ya.
Founded in 1998 by a ragtag group
of scrappy Big Apple thespians,
the Independent Shakespeare
Company soon found its way
to Los Angeles and has
been staging spectacular
productions by and for the
community for nearly 20 years.
Including, free shows
in LA's Griffith Park
every single summer.
My colleague and I sat down with founders
Melissa Chalsma and David
Melville at their studio space
in Atwater Village to get the scoop
on this Angelino institution.
I've been to many, many
years of the Griffith Park
free Shakespeare shows.
You've got people of all
ages, all backgrounds,
it really feels like a
reflection of Los Angeles.
- [Melissa] We definitely want people
to have that experience,
like I'm watching something
that is expressing LA
even though it's Shakespeare.
- There's a certain friend of mine
who I've told numerous time,
a local Angelino, born
and raised in Arcadia.
- Oh it's me
- That you should really check them out.
(laughing)
- He's never come?
- No, I haven't and-
- Wow.
(laughs)
- I am ashamed of that.
I don't really have any
Shakespeare experience.
I did one scene in acting class.
Romeo and Juliet when he
meets Juliet at the party.
- [All] Oh.
- Do you know that scene
is written as a sonnet?
- Yes, I think that Bill was a clever guy.
- He was.
- But not clever enough to get you out
to the Shakespeare festival.
(laughing)
- Okay, alright.
You know we just met.
- So tell us a little
bit about how this whole
outfit came to be.
- David and I were working
for a private detective
company in New York.
- What?
- Wait is this real?
- Ya, ya.
- This is real and-
- This is wait, this is great,
what are you talking about?
- They did mostly copyright infringement
so they'd hire actors to
go out and pretend shop.
- Ooh.
- So you'd get intelligence
about where the dodgy goods was.
So I was watching the back
of this door on Canal Street
and they left me there
for about four hours.
My only cover was a copy
of The Village Voice.
(laughing)
One of the articles in
this was that this guy,
Aaron Belly used to run a
little theater called NADA
on the Lower East side
and he had this wacky plan
that he was gonna do all of
Shakespeare's plays his space.
- [Melissa] It was really, really small.
- [David] It was about 30 seats
and had a nine foot ceiling.
I talked to Melissa, I said,
"why don't we do "Henry V" there?"
That's the most ridiculously epic show,
and we could do it in this tiny space.
(laughing)
- [Shane] That's great.
- Then we ended up in LA an somebody said,
"you should do a show in the park,
"'cause there's not really
that happening out here."
- You guys went from
being a couple of gumshoes
to giving LA this amazing gift
that obviously people aren't appreciating.
(laughing)
- Well, some people are.
- So I think that first
summer, in Griffith Park,
over the whole summer we played
for 12,000 people and then-
- 12,000?
12,000?
- 12,000.
Now we do about 45,000
people every summer.
- Holy gosh.
- That's like a Jonas Brother's concert.
- Well it's not all at once.
- Oh, Oh, oh, oh.
Okay, okay, I was like-
(laughing)
- So, outside of the summer,
you guys are doing stuff
here at the studio.
- Ya.
- It's a little different vibe.
Right now you guys are
working on a production of
"Anita Berber is Dead."
- Yes.
- It's a little racier.
- It's a lot racier ya.
- That sounds creepy when I say that.
- [Melissa] It's a lot racier.
- A little racier.
- [Ryan] Especially when you do that.
- With little mustache.
- With the gesticulation, I don't like it.
- [Melissa] Anita is
about a Weimar era dancer
who danced nude, had a pet monkey,
and was addicted to cocaine.
- This lady sounds cool as hell.
I will say one of the fun things about
the Griffith park shows is
you guys always find a fun way
to sort of work music into when you can.
- [Melissa] Ya.
- [Shane] But this is
like all original music,
all original songs.
- [David] Ya.
- [Melissa] Mm-hmm.
- [Shane] And you wrote all of these?
- [David] I wrote some of it with Jim.
This is our second musical,
the other one we did was about
a grisly murder that happened in England-
- That's our, that's our jam.
- Oh. (audibly gasps)
- Oh really, I'll have
to tell you about it, ya.
- You guys would like that,
there's a whole ghost situation.
- Oh, God.
The ISC utilizes their
studio space to stage
performances that you won't
find in the bards repertoire
but still sizzle with
the same creative spirit
as their Griffith Park shows.
Like their annual production
of Charles Dickens'
"A Christmas Carol."
Or an original musical about
Weimar Republic iconoclast, Anita Berber.
We caught up with Tanya Kay, the star
of "Anita Berber is
Dead" to learn what goes
into a performance like this.
Spoiler alert, we will
be dancing very shortly.
You are the titular Anita Berber.
- I am Anita.
- [Ryan] That's great.
- And I'm titular for sure.
(laughing)
She was a trained dancer and
she was noted for her ability
to, you know, change people's
lives through her dance work.
- [Ryan] Ya.
- [Tanya] But, she involved
her personal life in everything
she was front page news for five years.
- How do you put yourself into that?
- Well I've, I've, you know,
I've had my parallel experiences.
(laughing)
- Ya?
- To Anita's life in a
totally different time.
So she was 1920's.
- Uh-huh.
- Germany, and I'm Los Angeles, California
but, you know.
- Different vibe.
- Drugs, and bisexuality.
- Okay, maybe same vibe.
- [Ryan] Ya, same thing, same thing.
- Same vibe same vibe.
- Ya, we're all doing it,
but now it's out there in the open,
well I guess it was also, y'know, look,
all I'm sayin' is, hey, love everybody.
What do- why is this turning into a PSA?
- You-
(soft music)
- Sorry about that.
- Well that's the point, the
point of this whole production.
- Ya.
- Is to draw empathy from others
and have you look inside yourself,
maybe you're a changed person
when you leave the audience.
- I mean, that's, that's the goal right?
- Shane has no empathy, he's a monster.
- No, well that's not true,
I have plenty of empathy
I feel for people, who aren't me.
That's what it is.
- Ya.
- [Shane] Having aquatinted
ourselves with Tanya,
it was time to dance.
And as an accomplished
dancer in my own right,
I thought it best to sit by the sidelines
and silently judge while we
put my colleague to the test.
Is this-
- Stand over here.
- Oh, over here
- Ya.
- I see.
- No leaning on things
in the dance studio.
- Okay.
- If you feel moved to do anything-
- You know what-
- Just join in.
- That'll be the metric of success.
- I'm not here to do well,
I'm here to have a good time.
- Warm-up, dancers.
- Let me limber up, hold on.
- Good.
- Don't wanna pull a hammy when
you're doing a little jammy.
You know?
- Whoa.
- All right, are you
ready for the first step?
- (exclaims)
- Ryan?
- Ya.
- Push, push, push, push.
- Wait hold on let me look,
I need to observe first.
- Left, right, left, right, left, right-
- Left, right, okay, okay.
- Left, right, left, right, left, right.
- [Ryan] Do that with the hands?
- Yes, you got it.
No we're gonna Charleston
'cause that's from the 1920's, right?
- Oh, okay.
- One, two, three, four.
- Whoa, look at that stuff
you're doing with your heels.
Okay, wait.
- It's just like the- yes!
(laughing)
Three, four, step.
- You just give it a little
pivot on the ball, y'know?
- [Tanya] Yes, touch.
- [Ryan] Well now he-
- [Tanya] (exclaims)
- He's sitting over there like
"yes, I'm going to observe."
- The dance moves from
the 1920's versus 2000's.
- Look, hey man, I don't need lessons.
- Unbelievable.
- (laughs)
Five, a six, a five, six, seven, eight.
(piano playing)
- One, two, three, four, five, six, yes.
Good the Push Step, now
we're gonna Charleston.
Charleston.
Get ready to Sugarfoot.
Sugarfoot, hey, he's good!
Bump your hips, bump, bump, bump.
Now big swirl, swirl and hit.
There you go!
Ya!
- That was pretty good,
that was pretty good.
Do you have any notes?
- I'll try it this time.
- Oh!
This is your performance.
- Okay, okay.
- The audience is here,
it's opening night.
You have to remember-
- I can't handle those steaks, but yes.
Do a little meditation.
(calming music)
- A five, six, seven, eight.
(piano playing)
- Charleston.
One, two, three, four.
Good.
Sugarfoot.
Sugarfoot.
- No, that's not good.
- Now bump your hips.
Bump, bump, bump and a swirl.
Swirl and smack.
(squeaking noise)
- Didn't land the smack.
- [Ryan] I was a little early
on the smack, I was a
little early on the smack.
- It's harder than it looks.
- Good job.
- Let's give it up for Jim
Lang on the piano, everyone.
- [Ryan] That was pretty good.
(applause)
- Thank you so much.
- David Melville on strings.
(applause)
- What are you, Frank Sinatra?
(laughing)
- Tanya, your dancing
is much better than ours
- That goes without saying.
- So I assume the production
will be marvelous.
- I'd do it again.
- Come back anytime.
- [Shane] We will.
- We'll take you up on that.
- We're gonna be practicing
this at home, together.
- In the shower tonight.
- Well, that's-
- Get out of the shower dry off.
- Not what I, okay.
- The wardrobe for this is thigh-highs.
Just so you know.
- I could do it.
- Got it, okay.
- Confident.
(laughing)
- Well, that's dancing I guess,
sorry we didn't do renegade
or whatever you Tik Tok
children are up to nowadays.
Having suitably embarrassed ourselves
in the field of shuffling,
we thought it time to
also embarrass ourselves
in the realm of acting.
As David and Melissa are no strangers
to the classics, we seized the opportunity
to have them masterfully
critique our run-through
of a scene from "Hamlet".
Which is generally regarded as, you know,
good, it's a good, challenging play.
- (clears throat)
(laughing)
I'm hamlet, I'm sad-
- You're right, you're right.
- I'm sort of brooding.
- I should, I should get in it.
(joyful music)
- How does my good Lord Hamlet?
- Oh, well, God-'a'-mercy.
- Do you know me, my lord?
- Excellent, well, you are a fishmonger.
- Not I, my lord.
- Then I would you were so honest a man.
- Honest, my lord?
- Ay, sir.
To be honest, as this world goes,
is to be one man picked
out of ten thousand.
- That's very true, my lord.
- For as the sun breed
maggots in a dead dog,
being a God kissing carrion-
Have you a daughter?
- I have, my lord.
- Then let her not walk in the sun.
Conception is a blessing,
but, not as your daughter may conceive.
Friend, look to it.
- How say you by that?
Scene.
- So not- scene, scene.
- [Ryan] Scene.
(applause)
- I think that was really rather good.
- [Ryan] Thank you.
- So the pacing obviously
a little off there.
You were very angry.
Is it- an angry performance.
- I'm an angry guy.
- It was interesting, ya.
(laughing)
Can we give you a few pointers?
- It sounds like you got some, ya.
- So where is the audience?
- Oh they're, out there.
- They're out there, okay.
- [Shane] Yes.
- You know everything we do in
the theater is for the audience.
Polonius has some asides in this,
I think at the end.
- I said it to camera because I'm one
of those stupid LA Hollywood dear-
- Ya, we got a real
Jeremy Piven over here.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jeremy Piven, that's what you think
of when you think of film acting?
Jeremy Pivon?
- No, that's what I think
of when I look at you.
(electric guitar playing)
- But normally, in theater,
so if it's an aside,
would he sort of step out?
- You, you'd take a little step downstage
and then look to the audience and go "oh",
you know whatever it was.
- Like that?
- Ya you got it, ya.
- Well it doesn't have
to be maybe that dramatic
it can also be sort of
like, "oh", you know,
just a little turn out.
- How about my eyes?
Do I have to look a little vacant?
Kinda-
(ominous music)
No?
- [Melissa] No.
- No.
- No, ya, okay.
- Just-
- I mean, I was just
throwing it out there.
- The audience is just another character.
- Oh!
- 'Cause you know for Shakespeare's plays
that was before the
idea in the theater came
that we pretended the
audience wasn't there.
Shakespeare's plays tend
to be very interactive.
- Ya.
- Which you know in the
park we make a lot of that.
- It's great, there's people popping up in
the audience all the time.
- Notes?
- So I think when you do your aside,
find someone in the audience to say it to.
- Okay, I'm gonna say it directly to-
- But maybe you won't face
out right in front of him.
- That's called upstaging.
- That's upstaging, so if you're "hello".
- I'm so sorry Shane.
(laughing)
- Right, don't do that.
- So I pick a victim.
- Pick, pick someone and say that to them.
- Okay.
- And Shane, your piece
on making the aside work
is don't look at him while
he's making the aside.
- Oh, cause I'm not like
"who's he talking to?"
- Ya.
(laughing)
- You need to find a reason-
- Like, ah, butterfly.
- Something, a butterfly,
or my shoes untied or-
- Oh, darn it.
- In this moment, with what
you're saying to Polonius
why are you saying it?
(laughing)
- You know.
I don't- Frankly, I don't know.
- Ya, we've done exhausted research
in that we haven't read the
scenes before this or after.
- Got it.
Excellent, excellent.
- So Hamlet is pretending to be mad.
So he's saying outrageous things-
- But not mad angry
- No, no, no.
- That's what the scene's about?
- Mad crazy.
- Oh.
- Yes.
- So Polonius thinks he's mad,
Hamlet's helping him by
pretending to be mad.
But you're not actually mad.
- I'm playing mad.
- That's the choice that you could make.
- You know, if I'm
working with the audience
and I do a little ooh,
"then I would you were so honest man."
- You could try that.
- You could do that.
That would- That's a choice.
- And do you think he's mad
because you told your daughter
to stop accepting his
presents and his letters.
- I said that?
- Yes.
- That seems pretty rude of-
I'm not supposed to judge me but-
- No, don't worry, she was gonna-
- Polonius can be a bit of a dick.
- What, no he was worried
she was gonna get hurt.
(laughing)
- Right?
- I'm excited to see what happens now.
- Okay, here we go.
- Clean, okay, clean beginning here.
Let's do whatever we gotta do, okay.
That's a little hammy, but, okay.
- No, I'm getting in it.
- In your own time.
- Oh you're right, sorry.
(laughing)
(ominous music)
- How does my god Lord Hamlet?
- Well, God-'a'-mercy.
- Do you know me, my lord?
- Excellent well, you are a fishmonger.
- Not I my lord.
- Oh, then I would you
were so honest a man.
- Honest, my lord?
- Ay, sir.
To be honest, as this world goes,
is to be one man picked
out of ten thousand.
- That's very true, my lord.
- For if the sun breed
maggots in a dead dog,
as a God kissing carrion-
Have you a daughter?
(loud bang)
The world of the theater.
(laughing)
- I have, my lord.
- Let her not walk in the sun.
Conception is a blessing,
but, not as your daughter may conceive-
Friend, look to it.
- How say you by that?
- And I stared at my wrist.
- That was a brilliant aside,
it was masterfully achieved.
- It was very good.
- Did we do better?
That was a market improvement I think.
(applause)
- Ya, bravo.
- The most applause we're ever gonna get.
- See you can do Shakespeare.
- I disagree.
- How do we exit stage?
(laughing)
- You can't, you're here forever now.
- Oh.
(laughing)
It's not every day you get
to hang out, cut a rug,
and work them acting chops
with some bonafide thespians.
And don't think we took the
opportunity for granted.
Our time at the Independent
Shakespeare Company
was very special and I invite you now
to watch me attempt some
sense of earnestness
in communicating this to them.
I just wanna thank you
guys for doing all you do.
- Thank you guys.
- You're such a big part
of the community here.
I don't know why I'm getting sentimental.
I just-
- I don't know why you're
looking over at me-
(laughing)
- 'Cause I'm trying to get you
to go to one of these shows.
- Here's what I think, I
think you felt emotion and-
- Got backtrack from it?
- And as a person who
doesn't understand emotion
because you're a robot, you
started to panic a little bit,
you started looking around
like that, and then-
- Gonna genuinely emote here,
you guys do a great thing for the city,
and we're all very lucky to have you.
- [Melissa] Thank you.
- [David] Thank you.
- I did it.
- [Ryan] That was good.
- Okay.
- I'm proud of you.
- Well, another successful
stop on our journey across
the world. and by that I mean Los Angeles.
- And once again I'm happy
that I was your first mate.
- I thought you'd enjoy
this place, you like it?
- I went in there with
the goal of having fun
and I gotta tell ya, I had a lot of fun.
- Had some fun.
If you're in Los Angeles anytime soon,
summer time, go see a free
show at Griffith Park,
any other time of the year, come on out
to their studio in Atwater Village
and see what they got cookin'.
You will not regret it.
- I agree.
- Goodbye.
- Okay.
(upbeat music)
