My god, that beard!

I am about to tell you that a beard is the reason to go see a play. I know that sounds nuts, and I’m probably biased, but my god, it’s one hell of a beard!

It’s messy. It’s big. It seems to have a mind of it’s own and goes in a ton of different directions. There’s something solid behind it all, once you look closely. It makes absolutely no sense and yet, it really holds together and moves you.

Sure, I’m talking about actor Hugo Armstrong’s beard... but I’m also talking about Will Arbery’s play Evanston Salt Costs Climbing. 

If that title strikes you oddly, it was actually a newspaper headline that served as a writing workshop prompt. Evanston is the northern midwestern town snowbound town where the play is set. That salt is being spread across the roads every winter and the heart of the play is the Public Works department where two salt truck drivers and their boss work.

If that doesn’t sound like a compelling setup for a play, or even a good play for Los Angeles, stick with me.

Like that beard, the play is not a tightly manicured, perfectly structured affair. This isn’t a play where you’re going to fall in love with the plot (a plot where heated permeable pavers play a not-insignificant role). You will probably connect emotionally with the characters who are a really quirky bunch.

Take Basil, the Greek Public Works employee behind that beard. While he spends most of his time in a snowsuit, he’s the dramatic anchor of the play. He’s a sweet, chaotic man who listens to the world around him. He’s played by Hugo Armstrong (who, if you’re lucky, you saw as Uncle Vanya at Pasadena Playhouse). One of Mr. Armstrong’s gifts, across so many of his roles, is mixing physical abandon with a grounding, shocking honesty. He somehow makes the absurd not only believable but deeply relatable. The rest of the stellar ensemble matches him beat for beat.

So what’s really behind that beard? Tragedy. Global warming. A profound sense that something is pulling us, all of us, down — somehow — and maybe we can’t escape it. While it’s a funny play, it’s also a very dark play. Suicidal ideation runs through it, so this isn’t light. But it’s worth your time and it’s a play that, through an odd midwestern prism, is speaking to our moment in Los Angeles. Forgive the script's flaws, let go of the plot, and let the characters pull you in. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you about that beard.

Evanston Salt Costs Climbing plays at Rogue Machine at the Matrix Theatre on Melrose through March 9th.

This is Anthony Byrnes opening the curtain of LA Theater for KCRW.

How will your theater respond?

There’s a sketch of next season on artistic directors' walls or computers right now. Maybe it’s a bunch of Post-its on a whiteboard, maybe an elaborate Excel spreadsheet, or just some scribbled lines in a notebook — but there’s an idea about the future. My guess, if the theater is paying attention, is that those plans just got a lot more complicated in the past couple of weeks.

A lot is going on. You could think about the fires that have decimated neighborhoods and livelihoods across Southern California. Or you could glance at the news and see the dismantling of DEI programs, NIH funding, and countless other norms in the past week. Suffice it to say, the world as we experienced it on January 1st of 2025 isn’t the same world we are experiencing today.

So how does theater respond? 

This question is in part both artistic and economic. Economically, especially in a blue state, the outlook has to be a little troubling. If past is prologue, we’ll see a shift in the giving priorities of patrons. The zip codes affected by our fires surely include some significant donors. One has to imagine that giving will take a pause. Then think of all the lives disrupted, not just the homeowners but all the businesses and people that support them. Then think of all the giving that might have gone to the arts that now is supporting a friend’s GoFundMe or another charity. Wrap in the political climate and that donation to a theater company may seem like a luxury at this moment. This is before considering how all of this might affect audience sizes. Remember, the price of a ticket never covers the cost of the show — it’s a combination of earned income (ticket sales) and contributed income (donations). In American theater, those run about 50/50.

So on that imaginary season planning board, some of those Post-its are moving based on dollars.

The more interesting question is how do you program artistically for this moment?

Through that lens, next year’s season announcements will tell you a lot about your favorite theater company. How do they imagine the world around them? Is this, forgive the expression, a five-alarm fire that requires an immediate response? Is it a moment to do overtly political works in response to our climate and times? Or will it be steady-as-she-goes — light comedies and crowd-pleasing fare? Through the selection of plays, you’ll get a sense of how that theater company sees its role, its audience, and its place in the community.

As you begin to see next-season announcements over the coming months, ask yourself if what you're seeing reflects our time. If it does, double down on your support. If it doesn’t, that’s not a good sign for theater or our communities.

Theater for a New Year

Here are my quick picks for Theater in LA in the New Year.

Let's start intimate at Rogue Machine with Evanston Salt Costs Climbing by Will Arbery. I've been a sucker for Hugo Armstrong's acting for literally decades. If you're lucky, you may have seen him own Uncle Vanya at Pasadena Playhouse. Any time he's onstage. I'm there. It plays at Rogue Machine from January 29th through March 9th. Remember those dates... you'll see them come up again.

Next up, head downtown to the Taper for LA playwright Larissa Fasthorse's world premiere of Fake It Till You Make It. From CTG: "Meet Wynona, the Native American proprietor of N.O.B.U.S.H., and River, her white counterpart at Indigenous Nations Soaring. Their escalating rivalry ensnares colleagues and bystanders, leading to the unraveling of secrets that highlight the absurdities of ambition and authenticity." The second play of new artistic director Snehal Desai's Taper season, it will be interesting to see not just the play but "how it plays." The Taper is at a crossroads and with only three plays in the season — will audiences stick with it? That, and it's great to see Ms. Fasthorse get a local production. Another theme that recurs: a co-production — this one with Arena Stage. And the dates? January 29th through March 9th.

And if you don't already have plans for... January 29th, head across town to the Geffen Playhouse for... a co-production (catch the theme?) of Noises Off. Michael Frayn's comedy is a play that comes up invariably in a season-planning discussion when someone asks "Why don't we just do a comedy the audience will love?" The reason it always comes up is that, as a play, its comedic architecture is so solid. That's both a blessing and a curse. It's sort of like a comedic Macbeth. Both plays have such strong structures that all you have to do is do the thing. But... that's also the downfall of bad productions. If you don't nail it, it's really obvious. This one is a co-production with Steppenwolf Theatre Company where it played in the fall to mixed reviews. Let's hope their 'out-of-town trial run' has them ready for LA. It plays... can you guess? Well, this time it's January 29th through March 2nd — almost!

My last pick isn't till April and you can only get on a waitlist — but it's still worth it. Elevator Repair Service is coming to UCLA's Nimoy Theater April 4th and 5th with Ulysses. If you've seen any of their other work, you know why I'm so excited for this one. It is sold out, but flood their waitlist with requests to convince them to add shows and bring the company out for the full week.  

I'll continue next week with what these two recurring themes — co-productions and overlapping schedules — tell us about the state of LA theater.