Watermarks (A Fugue)

[NoHo Arts District, CA] – Pergola Productions and Theatre West have announced Watermarks (A Fugue), a new play written by Abbott Alexander and directed by Marco Rivera, running February 14–23. 

Set inside the most famous gift card shop in the world, a manager competes with his one and only customer over what is and what is not.

Playwright’s Note

My actor friend Steve Nevil kept bugging me to write about my experiences ‘looking after’ the famous director George Cukor three weeks before he died in 1983. So, we can blame Steve for everything. That urging became the nucleus for this Punch and Judy surrealistic fantasy showdown of double meanings, puzzles and cultural associations. Watermarks personally became in itself a greeting card to someone I loved dearly, completely and fully but never showed that enough to them while they were alive.

‘Watermarks’ is a term used by printers to emblazon their crest or initials onto their paper when it’s held up to the light. Opaque branding. Hieroglyphics that move when held up to the sun. Therein lies the answer to the riddle of the Sphinx. But it’s still all Steve’s fault.

Director’s Note

Watermarks is the exegesis of the human soul in a political vector. The ‘ideal human’ – indicative of the virtues and successes we most respect – is unraveled like an object upon a black hole. It is spaghettification in the theatrical sense. The ‘ideal man?’ The object onstage. The rest? The black hole itself. The play is such journey into singularity.

The Cast

Watermarks Features (in alphabetical order) Abbott Alexander, Briana Burnside, Helen Floersh, Scottie Nevil, and Steve Nevil.

The Team

Abbott Alexander, an Actors Studio member, began his career in New York starring in the NBC daytime dramas Lovers and Friends and For Richer, For Poorer. The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle nominated him as Best Actor for Kingdom of Earth. His acclaimed solo show Sonata for Rimbaud played at Scotland’s Edinburgh Festival and received LA Weekly’s ‘Best Creation’ Award. He starred in Theatre West’s revival of Spoon River Anthology, directed by original Broadway cast member Betty Garrett. His other creations, One Night Beyond and The Long Gravel Road, were both nominated for Best Solo Performance by the Valley Theatre Awards.

Marco Rivera is a UCLA directing and dramaturgy alumnus. He has developed content for Walt Disney Imagineering (Star Wars Land and Downtown Disney District), Warner Bros’ Companies (Do Good Films and 19f Productions), Violent Pink Productions, and Create the Writer’s Room. His theatrical work includes Karen Sacarías’ Just Like Us with UCLA Latinx Theatre Comunión, the US premiere of Lope De Vega’s Women and Servants as part of LATC’s Encuentro Festival, the US premiere of Dea Loher’s Life on Praça Roosevelt, the West Coast premiere of The Pride by Alexi Kaye Campbell, and Swan Lake at the Ricardo Montalban Theatre.

Linda Pace (producer) is a screenwriter and playwright who has piloted over two decades of worldwide film premieres as Vice President of Special Projects at Universal Pictures, from Schindler’s List to Get Out. She also worked on Universal Pictures’ Franchise Films and Stage Musicals, including Jurassic Park, The Bourne Identity, The Fast and the Furious, Despicable Me, Bridget Jones, Mamma Mia!, Pitch Perfect, and Wicked.  She produced Abbott Alexander’s ground-breaking play The Long Gravel Road to critical success at Theatre West.