La Ronde at Luna Playhouse
Luna Playhouse, a small independent theatre in Glendale, is persevering with its calendar of performances despite recent financial struggles. La Ronde, a ten-act play analyzing philanderers, their motivations and their desires, is currently showing at the theatre through March 21.
Written in 1900 by Austrian Arthur Schnitzler, and the most well-known of his plays, the work explores approaches to sex, love and gratification by static characters of the time (The Soldier, the Parlor-maid, The Young Gentleman, The Married Lady, etc.).
The work was considered pornographic at the time, although the performance has no explicit sex or nudity. It also has no resolution, and no message, although it certainly does not promote free love. Each act shows a set of lovers, the following act featuring one of the pair with a new partner, with each character throughout the play using partners for their own ends. Cigars and herbal cigarettes are smoked onstage during the play.
Luna Playhouse Theatre Director Aramazd Stepanian, currently a Glendale city council candidate, has operated the theatre in Glendale for the past three years. He and a group of Luna Playhouse supporters recently asked the Glendale City Council and the Glendale Redevelopment Agency for funds to help the theatre pay its current lease. This past week, he withdrew the request, saying among other things that city staff had not asked the theatre for a business plan during their discussions, although the Redevelopment Agency and City Council members subsequently did ask for just that.
Luna Playhouse is located in a tall commercial space on the north side of San Fernando Road just west of Brand Blvd. Parking across the street at the Harley Davidson lot/Rally’s was easy. The theatre itself featured a comfortable three-row crescent seating arrangement, and Stepanian and theatre staff treated playgoers to coffee and sweets during intermission.
La Ronde will continue to play on these dates:
Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm
March 6,7; 12,13,14; 19,20,21; 2009
LUNA PLAYHOUSE (818) 500-7200
3706 San Fernando Road
Glendale, CA 91204
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