Feature by Tracey Paleo, Gia On The Move
Like many first-timers on the Hollywood Fringe, BEFOK playwright and solo performer Asta Leigh is experiencing the thrill. She’s additionally feeling the strain. Hearing her converse after simply ending a primary rehearsal within the Broadwater Black Box area it’s clear, she’s a meticulous actor. At this second her mind is on fireplace. The verbalized inner dialog, a swirling mixture of her personal psychological performer beats together with blocking and different technical notes, given to her in the course of the session. For a solo artist, each present is an element balancing act, half trial by fireplace. Leigh is decided to get each tiny element proper.
“I’m coming off of a partial tech in the actual space. I feel like I’m all over the place. I have to be honest. I’m a big old mess right now. But Matt is brilliant of course. He’s taking the material to another level.”
Matt, is award-winning, Fringe veteran Matt Ritchey (“Blackboxing”, “Angel’s Flight”, ‘American Conspiracy”, “Martha Washington Killed a Redcoat”) who, for the last several months, has been helping to shape Leigh’s present via teaching and story crafting. He’s additionally Leigh’s, BEFOK director. Together they took the fabric from Leigh’s internet series-turned-multi-episode TV present, “Dear Alejandro,” and reworked it right into a extremely minimalistic, cinematic one-act.
For Ritchey, the defining side of all of it is like directing films which have lots of lengthy takes.
“We wanted to find a way to get that effect on stage. Develop the kind of stillness that makes people lean into an image, then enhance that with a lot of realness. Because Asta is a very good actress, and she’s very real. We want the stillness to draw you in rather than the material explode out into the audience.”
Of course, it’s extra than simply drama. According to Leigh, the present itself is really “befok”. For anybody who has pursued a profession in Hollywood, it’s a phrase with which they will establish. “Befok” is an Afrikaans phrase that may imply a variety of issues: loopy, superior, offended, cool, and even, not proper within the head, and it actually applies to her character Lola.
BEFOK (Or The Desperate Attempt to Impress Iñárritu) is a world premiere, darkish comedy a few South African actress, Lola Luvv, on the cusp of forty who will do something to audition for the titular filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu. Lola swore she’d be a world-renowned actress by this momentous birthday. But it’s occurring in seven days and she or he’s no nearer to her aim than when she moved to Hollywood. She’s getting, a bit…determined.
For a second, I couldn’t assist however assume that there could be just a few parallels to actual life for Leigh. Not to say that even earlier than the script was accomplished, she bravely dedicated to a minimum of 9 performances. Befok?
It’s form of unnerving. A present may be so completely different on a special evening. There’s lots of stuff happening.
This isn’t her “first rodeo”, nonetheless. Leigh is an award-winning actress centered on creating tales that encourage, educate, empower, and produce new views to audiences. Her stage chops embrace each drama (Agamemnon), and comedy (The Odd Couple). On movie, she’s appeared in addition to co-produced the award-winning, “Sand Angels”, co-produced “League of Legend Keepers”, and produced and starred within the multi-award-winning, “Running on Empty”. She additionally wrote and directed the brief movie, “Perception” and performed a job in Golden Globe winner Paul Walter Hauser’s brief movie, “Heirloom”.
But BEFOK isn’t simply humorous. It’s additionally darkish. In the primary pages of the script, Leigh introduces some fairly scary stuff.
“It’s what Lola went via. It’s about how somebody’s childhood impacts each single selection they make in a while. It colours the whole lot she does. There are lots of layers to her. She’s all the time protecting up her points with, ‘I’m wonderful, implausible, fantastic.’ She’s the form of particular person others usually discover annoying. She does cringe-worthy issues from the must be cherished and adored. But there’s a purpose. She’s coping with her insecurities and lots of loneliness. Her loneliness is profound. It’s crippling. Lola is determined. She’s not simply bold for fame. She has morals. But she struggles with sure stuff. And, on the similar time, there’s lots she’s overcoming. She’s additionally extremely robust as a result of she’s overcome a lot. “
How does this all shift into the comedy?
“As an actor I’ve always really connected to drama. Things that are really dark. TV shows like, “Barry”, “Flea Bag”, and “Succession”, are my obsessions. They’re all an ideal mixture of comedy and drama. My buddies have all the time stated, ‘But you’re humorous’. It all the time makes me assume, ‘What are the things about these shows I cannot forget? What connects into your bones? “Hacks” is another show that does the same thing. There’s one thing about while you snigger and cry, it’s intoxicating. I wished BEFOK to be a darkish comedy the place you’ve bought the opposite facet. Because it’s bought drama and comedy, it feels extra poignant and linked on one other degree.
Making individuals snigger could be very tough. People who do are geniuses. But making them snigger and cry on the similar time places me in awe. It hits me way more deeply. With simply comedy alone, generally I really feel one thing is lacking for me. It doesn’t maintain me. Because that’s who all of us are. The thought that you simply’re within the worst scenario ever and somebody makes a joke. This occurs on a regular basis. It’s so intriguing to me. It’s messy and I like that. And it’s in the end what I need for Lola. Lola is an enormous persona with lots of coronary heart and I’d like individuals to get to satisfy her.”
BEFOK (Or The Desperate Attempt to Impress Iñárritu)
Written and carried out by Asta Leigh
Directed and Storycrafted by Matt Ritchey
SYNOPSIS:
In the World Premiere satirical solo present BEFOK (Or The Desperate Attempt to Impress Iñárritu), South African born Lola Luvv swore she’d be a world-renowned actress by the age of forty, however that’s in seven days and she or he’s no nearer to her aim than when she moved to Hollywood. She nonetheless walks canine and cleans up their monster shits. After catching a glimpse of Academy Award-winning director Alejandro González Iñárritu on the Alta Dena Whole Foods, Lola’s satisfied it’s an indication she’s destined to play the lead in his new TV present, “The One Percent”. What follows is a manic experience of willpower, desperation, ketamine, and chickens, the place the one factor at stake…is her life.
DATES AND TIMES:
June 1 – 9:30 p.m.
June 5 – 8 p.m.
une 11 – 12:30 p.m.
June 14 – 8 p.m.
June 16 – 6:30 p.m.
June 18 – 2:30 p.m.
June 23 – 6:30 p.m.
June 24 – 8:30 p.m.
June 25 – 12:30 p.m.
LOCATION: The Black Box at The Broadwater 6322 Santa Monica Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90038
TICKET PRICES: $15
FOR MORE INFORMATION: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/9832