Los Angeles Theater Preview: BUGABOO & THE SILENT ONE (Lounge Theatre in Hollywood)

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by Tony Frankel on January 5, 2018

in Theater-Los Angeles

THANKFULLY, NOT SO SILENT

Based on her three previous theater outings alone, it’s fitting that writer/director Marja-Lewis Ryan has recently been tapped to be showrunner and executive producer of he upcoming The L Word sequel series. L.A. is lucky to have Ryan, who loves to keep working in theater even as her career in film and TV blossoms. While Ryan’s plays have received great notice (see my review of One in the Chamber, staged in 2014), her productions definitely come in under the radar, so here’s your notice about Bugaboo & The Silent One, which opens tonight at the Lounge Theatre.

In this new play, we meet the big-mouthed Bugaboo (played by frequent Ryan actress, Heidi Sulzman), who is an inmate in the women’s block of Henderson County Jail in West Virginia. After 42 days alone, she is assigned a roommate who she comes to call her “silent little sinner”. Bugaboo has recently “come fully to Jesus” and is set on saving the soul of her new roommate, The Silent One (Jacqueline Toboni). But as the play unfolds, it becomes clear that they are both desperate for something outside of themselves.

For those who gripe that there aren’t enough great roles for women, Ryan has taken it upon herself to make sure that there are. Her timely new drama is presented by producer Chris Bender (American Pie, History of Violence, Mulan), who said, “Since meeting Marja, I haven’t missed a play, each brilliantly exploring complex social truths through intimate relationships, and I’m thrilled to be a part of this next chapter.” I urge you to check out this intimate look at the power of female friendship despite devastating circumstances.

photos by Billy Baque

Bugaboo & The Silent One
presented by Chris Bender
Lounge Theater, 6201 Santa Monica Blvd.
Thurs-Sat at 8; Sun at 2 & 7
ends on January 27, 2018 EXTENDED to February 24, 2018
for tickets, call 800.838.3006 or visit Brown Paper Tickets

{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

Steve Harkriter January 6, 2018 at 1:18 am

Marja-Lewis Ryan has really outdone herself this time, perhaps as a subtle jab at the overly-fettered sets and mood lighting awash over Hollywood now. If a single stage can look like a screen, why am I watching Netflix? You bring the grit, and I’ll bring the popcorn.

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