Reviews of STAY SWEET STAY HAPPY
Conceived and Directed by Guillermo Cienfuegos
created by and featuring Alex Fernandez, Melody Doyle and Terrance Elton

From ENTERTAINMENT TODAY
Travis Michael Holder
7 November 2003

The origins of nom de guerre's world premiere of Stay Sweet Stay Happy is fascinating in itself. Conceived and directed by Guillermo Cienfuegos, the project started with a blank slate and a respect for the work of British filmmaker Mike Leigh. Cienfuegos spent the first six weeks of rehearsal time meeting with his three actors separately, working with each performer one-on-one in the creation of his or her character.

After all three actors had individually invented a complete back story and had thoroughly gotten to know the person whose behavior they were depicting, the three characters were "introduced". They were brought together in intense improvisational encounters, taking place both in a rehearsal space and sometimes out in public. As the exploration continued, the relationships between the three invented characters developed and widened, resulting in this arresting piece of highly original theatre.

Perhaps the main reason this works so well—and why such a daring undertaking manages to so keenly keep our attention—is that co-creators Melody Doyle, Alex Fernandez, and Terrance Elton are all such intelligent, inventive, interesting actors. Doyle is instantly believable as a needy Miami earth-motherly social worker who becomes involved in the lives of the two strangers separately, without any of the three aware the others are acquainted. Susie manages to involve herself in the men's lives, perhaps to forget her own problems, such as living at home with her mother while trying to win custody of her son, or perhaps because she hopes one of the two efforts will blossom into romance.

Fernandez is an actor it's hard to take one's eyes from, here particularly creepy as a pathological liar who has created two separate—and equally deceptive—personas for each of the other two. Elton is also exceptional as a young mechanic who wants to be an artist, but finds communicating difficult as he lives in nightmarish denial of the sexual abuse he’s suffered at the hand of his father. The way these three actors communicate with one another is almost eerie, even making their feelings known while speaking unintelligibly (to the audience) behind a glass partition.

Stay Sweet Stay Happy is more than a showcase to bring a committed new theatre company the attention it richly deserves; it is a remarkable accomplishment, testament to the simple origins of storytelling which have kept theatre alive since the beginning of time.

From Clark Schpiell Productions
David Nett
23 October 2003

Stay Sweet, Stay Happy is Nom de Guerre's first original play, and is a work created entirely, over 16 weeks, through improvisation. Like you, the first thing I thought upon hearing that, was, "oh, no -- another bad improv/Saturday Night Live rip-off." I'll tell you that Stay Sweet could not be farther from that initial fear -- it's a powerful, thoughtful piece as far removed from Who's Line is it Anyway? as George W. Bush is from FDR.

Stay Sweet follows Bobby (Terrance Elton), a struggling artist with a dark secret, Eddie (Alex Fernandez), a mystery man and successful artist who appears to give Bobby and Susie exactly what they want, and Susie (Melody Doyle), a kind-hearted social worker who senses Bobby's and Eddie's need for companionship. The play could as easily be called, the Lies We Tell to Cover Our Dark Secrets and Generally Fuck with Susie, Who's Got Secrets of Her Own, but I'm partial to the real title's simplicity.

The play begins with two strangers, Eddie and Susie, extending friendship and help to Bobby, who's new in town (Eddie offers to help him get a showing of his art, and Susie brings him his car keys, lost after a drunken party). Bobby, for his part, tries awkwardly to return the kindnesses, but his social skills, let us say, leave something to be desired. From this simple beginning, though, things begin to get complicated, as characters meet in pairs or take the stage individually, saying things and acting in a manner which completely contradicts what has come before. As the lies pile up and situations become more complicated, Bobby is no longer seen as a victim of circumstance, Eddie is no longer the kindly artist he seemed, and Susie cannot keep it together the way a a social worker should. Inevitably, situations unravel, and each character is left alone with his or her own deceit and failures as company.

The story itself is bumpy in spots (though the twists -- especially the early ones -- are smart and delicious), and sometime feels like it is still being born. But there is mystery, drama and humor in large doses, and the acting is as mature, real and engaging as any I've seen. Elton is able to mine an almost physical pain as Bobby struggles to pull himself out of his social isolation, all while keeping his demons hidden inside. Doyle is alternately charming and pathetic as the social worker who tries to help others as a way of compensating for her inability to help herself. Fernandez is electromagnetic as Eddie, in all his incarnations, and commands the space around himself in a way very, very few actors can, even while sitting slumped in a chair in the far corner of the stage, singing softly.

The acting alone is worth the price of admission to Stay Sweet, but the staging deserves a nod as well. Guillermo Cienfuegos is a master at realistic staging in non-traditional spaces (as shown by last years' Pains of Youth), and does not disappoint here. Most notable, for me, were the couple of scenes which took place entirely in another room, visible through a window, but almost inaudible -- the audience can hear the pitch and tone of the conversations as they rise and fall, and can see the emotion through the characters' faces, but is left to guess at most of what is said.

And this is kind of a theme throughout the show. What we see on stage is only a tiny sliver of the whole picture. The actors give us the highlights -- the sweet spots -- of the events as they unfold, and from these well-crafted but frustratingly small clues we are left to infer what is really going on. This requires a great deal of intellectual participation on the part of the audience, and leaves many loose threads in the end, which may turn some folks off. But if you are willing to invest a little brain power in your night at the theater, you cannot help but enjoy Stay Sweet Stay Happy.

Stay Sweet, Stay Happy, presented by Nom de Guerre Productions at Paul E. Richards' Theater Place, 2902 Rowena Ave., Silver Lake. October 24 - November 23, performances Fri & Sat @ 8pm, Sun @ 7pm. Call 323.401.6585 for reservations.

Note: I know the folks at Nom de Guerre pretty well --they are good friends. Even so, I'm a pretty ruthless reviewer and, if I wasn't completely taken with this production, I would, out of friendship, not review it at all. I really liked this show, and everything I've written above is well-deserved.

From LA Weekly
Martín Hernández
October 2003

This compelling yet off-kilter 90-minute dance of denial and deceit explores the intertwining lives of a desperately lonely and psychically scarred trio in modern-day Miami. Director Guillermo Cienfuegos and his understated ensemble’s improvisationally crafted work begins when an amazingly good-natured social worker, Susie (Melody Doyle), befriends struggling artist Bobby (Terrance Elton). Bobby, friendless, insecure and newly arrived from California, soon meets Cuban exile and fellow painter Eddie (Alex Fernandez), who offers to aid the hangdog. As Bobby’s hopes rise, Eddie then encounters Susie in a hospital and leads her on a bizarre exploit that belies all that he’s told Bobby. The ensuing deceptions from each well-crafted character spark questions whose answers are alluded to but never answered. Is Bobby the victim or perpetrator of some ghastly childhood acts? What “trouble” keeps the seemingly upbeat Susie barred from meeting clients? Is Eddie truly as influential as he claims to be? Despite an often humorous and initially engaging script that grows listless by the finale, the piece offers refreshing innovation and a commitment to production values, from Cienfuegos’ white-shrouded set to Bobby’s blank canvases, symbolic of how we reinvent ourselves when reality proves too real. Nom de Guerre at Paul E. Richards Theater Place, 2902 Rowena Ave., Silver Lake; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; mat Fri., Oct. 18, 2 p.m.; thru Nov. 22. (323) 401-6585.

Reviews of PAINS OF YOUTH
Directed by Guillermo Cienfuegos
featuring Alex Fernandez, Zoe Benston, Davida Bourland, Dan Cole, Terrance Elton, Shannon Nelson and Melody Doyle

From Clark Schpiell Productions
David Nett
4 November 2002

You know that feeling you get just after you've watched Midnight Cowboy? Y'know -- that kind of sick, sour, sad feeling? You feel it again, just a little bit, every time you hear Harry Nilson's Everybody's Talkin'.

That's the way Nom de Guerre's Pains of Youth makes me feel. It's not bad. On the contrary, as with Midnight Cowboy, that's the way you are supposed to feel. (If you haven't seen Midnight Cowboy, stop reading this now, and go out and rent it. This review will still be here when you are done, I promise.)

Pains of Youth was written by Ferdinand Bruckner in the 1920s, and was the start of his very successful career. It's the story of seven young people living in a boarding house in Vienna, just after WWI. As several of them near graduation from medical school, they have to deal with the painful realities of grown-up life in postwar Germany, and the mass of dissapointment and disillusionment the war has left behind. The day before Marie (Davida Bourland) is to graduate from medical school, it is revealed to her by manipulative perpetual student, Freder (Alex Fernandez), and her mentor, Alt (Dan Cole) that her boyfriend, Petrol (Terrance Elton), has fallen in love with another medical student, Irene (Melody Doyle). In her grief, Marie falls into the arms of her roommate, Desiree (Zoe Benston). Throught this all, Freder is performing the ultimate medical experiment -- changing the basic nature of the house's maid, Lucy (Shannon Nelson) from loving innocent to something horrible.

There's no question -- this is a difficult play. Translations are always hard -- the language tends to be stiff and overly formal. Add to that the tiny space Nom de Guerre has chosen to mount this show (barely 25 seats, with only a jagged painted line separating actors from audience), which lets the audience see every single blink of each actor's eye, and you've a recipe for disaster if even a single actor is the slightest bit weak. Fortunately, the acting talent on this stage is remarkable. Despite the difficulty of both the language and material, every actor pulls pulls his or her weight, and then some. Alex Fernandez is a steamroller as Freder, noisily crushing the hopes of the other characters onstage, and forcing the audience to react to his every word. Bourland's Marie is delightfully pathetic, and Nelson sparkles as the simple Lucy, who falls so easily under Freder's spell. As I've said, the rest of the actors move deftly through the thick text in their own right, bringing a painful life and humanity to what is, at base, a long tale of lonliness and loss.

Frankly, there's not much you can say about this show that isn't good. Guillermo Cienfuegos's direction is loose and natural, and works extremely well in the small, audience-close space. Much care has clearly been taken in the collection of props and scenery (right down to the decoration of the bathroom, which is used both by the audience and as a practical space for the actors), and the costuming is, with one exception, excellent. (The exception: the first time I saw Petrol and Irene, because of their matching uniform-like black and white dress, I though they might be maids or servants, like Lucy. After only a few moments, however, it became clear that such was not the case.) The small space does mean that the booth noise, especially as sound queues approach, can be distracting, but it's a minor annoyance, at worst.

My biggest problem is actually with the two intermissions. I know that Bruckner's original called for three acts, with an intermission between each, but I think that, for a modern audience, this structure is unnecessary. The first two acts could be easily presented back-to-back, with a ten to fifteen minute intermission between acts two and three. It would make for a long first act, but not unbearably long, and it would help with the play's continuity. I simply found that the long break between acts 1 & 2 really upsets the audience's concentration. Plus, since the theater has no lobby and sells no concessions, the audience is forced to either sit in their seats, or mill about in the parking lot for, between the two intermissions, nearly 25 minutes, making the evening seem much longer than it actually is. In the end, it's a silly thing to quibble about, but the fact that I list, as my biggest issue, that I did not want a break between acts, is telling of just how good this play is.

Extra intermission aside, this is an excellent play, performed by a troupe of extremely talented actors. If you live in the Los Angeles area, make your way to this little theater in Silverlake. You'll be glad you did.

"Pains of Youth," presented by Nom de Guerre Productions at Paul E. Richards Theater Place, 2902 Rowena Ave., Silver Lake. Nov. 2 - Dec 7, performances Fri&Sat @ 8pm, Sun @ 7pm. Call 323.401.6585 for reservations.

Note: my review might appear biased to some. Fact is, I know the folks at Nom de Guerre pretty well. Some are good friends, and my wife is in the show. Even so, I'm a pretty ruthless reviewer and, if I wasn't completely taken with this production (I've seen it twice already), I would, out of friendship, not review it at all. I really liked this show, and everything I've written above is well-deserved.

From LA Weekly
Martín Hernández
14 November 2002

A guru of theater history textbooks, Oscar G. Brackett notes that many Neue Sachlichkeit (neo-realism or new objectivity) plays were very popular in post–World War I Germany but "few now bear reading." A case in point is Ferdinand Bruckner’s bleak 1926 depiction of the uncertainties facing a group of despairing bourgeois youth in 1923 Vienna. While the pedantic text of Bruckner (a pseudonym for Theodore Tagger, founder of Berlin’s Renaissance Theater) fosters a somewhat tedious and nearly three-hour production, director Guillermo Cienfuegos’ inventive staging; a cast swimming in credible languor, anger and dissolution; a gritty bitch fight; and the commendable attention to period detail make the experience a tad more endurable. When newly graduated medical student Marie’s (Davida Bourland) ne’er-do-well boyfriend betrays her, she finds succor in the arms of a fellow student, the sleek and aptly named Désirée (Zoe Benston). But Désirée’s manipulative and Marie’s compulsive behaviors eventually clash for the predictably angst-ridden denouement. Alex Fernandez as Freder, a shallow cad who prefers drinking and pimping to work, is a droll comic plum. Nom de Guer re Productions at the Paul E. Richards Theater Place, 2902 Rowena Ave., Silver Lake; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m.; thru Dec. 7. (323) 401-6585.

From BackstageWest.com
T.H. McCulloh
21 November 2002

With all lucidity Gertrude Stein once said, "Everything is the same, but everything is different." 'Tis true. Today's young college folk often indulge too much in various stimulants, generally experiment widely and openly with sex, and often, in their imagined despair, commit suicide, as did the young in the Western world in 1923. What's different? On the stage today anything can be discussed, from those sexual avenues to drugs to suicide. It wasn't like that 80 years ago. Take Vienna, for instance. Because he was writing a play about the taboo subjects of lesbianism and suicide, prominent theatre artist Theodore Tagger wrote it under a pseudonym, Ferdinand Bruckner. What he wrote is as pertinent today as it was then. The drama is fairly avant-garde today, considering that it's a very well-made play, constructed with exquisite care, developed with dramatic honesty, treating its protagonists with understanding and insight. So, too, is the powerful direction of Guillermo Cienfuegos in his Los Angeles debut. Cienfuegos plays out the action like a Renaissance fresco, with delicate shadings and exactly the right rhythms and subtext.

Marie is preparing for her graduation party from medical school. Desiree lounges in the connected next-door room, going over answers to an upcoming exam as Marie coaches her. Their relationship is quixotic. Desi loves Marie, and the love is returned when Marie is not in a fit over her "little boy" Petrell. Marie has almost supported Petrell for the past two years, but he is openly more interested in the buoyant but naive Irene. The maid Lucy is even more naive but panting to learn. Their lives are affected in deeply Freudian ways by the older but decidedly spurious figures of the raucous Freder, who is more interested in sex than medicine, and the placid but controlling Alt, who spent two years in prison for euthanasia.

Their tale unfolds in quiet moments that are very powerful under Cienfuegos' guidance; they're naturally able to explode in other moments of thunderous emotion and ribald humor. It is a rich portrait of persistent truths, and the cast is totally living as these poor lost souls, with a fascinating subtext simmering beneath their words. Davida Bourland's Marie is volatile and edgy in her confusion, and Zoe Benston as Desiree is a fluid portrait of a lost soul. As the maid Lucy, Shannon Nelson is a sheer delight, as is Melody Doyle as the simple, affecting Irene, more in touch with real life than the others. The innocent Petrell is given an effective self-awareness by Terrance Elton, who easily combines Petrell's denseness with his honesty. The towering sexuality of Freder and his lack of concern for those he molds is intense, amusing, and frightening in Alex Fernandez's rich performance, and Dan Cole's usually quiet Alt is illuminated by Cole's strong presence.