Love, Sex, and Misery
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LOVE, SEX AND MISERY - 905 Cole Street Theatre
Reviewed by Amalisha Hueck
Have you ever wondered what life on Mars might look like? How Martians think and what they do? Through eight uniquely intriguing life situations, creatively explored by playwrights Jeff Gould and Jake Gould, the stories of love, sex and marriage are revealed by challenging conformity of lifestyles. The variety of relationships brings in a fresh vibe of what love might be on Mars.
The one-act stories in the world premiere, Love, Sex and Marriage will give you into 85 minutes of good laughs while showing the different ways how miserable one can be in a relationship. If you want to laugh, give yourself a gift and see this hilariously entertaining show, where a self-willed smoke detector alarm is acting as another actor on the stage, connecting the acts like a heartbeat with its chirping and touching upon the major points of some good and bad parts of the relationships.
Just to mention a few fun scenarios; in the story of 'Bullshit Detector', the electromagnetic sensory detector shocks lovers every time it catches them in lies, in 'To Good Friends' one friend gets an answer what his friends think about him by staging his death, in the 'Two Stones, One Bird' the parrot is giving out everything that has been said in the room and by doing that it reveals the couple's faithlessness and in the 'Invention of Marriage', we are shown how marriage and divorce was invented.
There are twenty actors many playing different roles. Congratulations on wonderful teamwork and for exploring everyone's comedic and dramatic talent. The actors are Ashey Alva, Anthony Backman, Auri Brown, Karen Brundage, Domenic DiDiana, Kriss Dozal, Jean Marie Fiumara, Adam Fox, Jake Gould, Alexander Hall, Shelby Janes, Chuck Lacey, Ari Litman-Weinberg, Piper Major, Ian Nemser, Amye Partain, Briana Wagner, Jason Pierce, Olivia Spirz, Tim Trobec, Tina Walsch, Marco Parra, and Corbin Timbrook.
The new comedy 'Love, Sex and Misery' produced at Skypilot Theatre Company by Shelby Janes and masterfully directed by five directors (Anthony Backman, Sean Dube, Jeff Gould, Anita Tellez-Mansy, and Morris Schorr) is fun and super entertaining. Adding a smoke detector alarm and some gunshots to a similar way of living shows us that life on Mars may not be very different than the one we live here on Earth.
Skypilot Theatre is a non-profit ensemble company of resident playwrights, actors and directors producing provocative, compelling and challenging new works for the Los Angeles theatre-going audience.'
This great show is not to be missed. You will laugh out loud as the stories of love, sex, and marriage unfold. The new comedy runs through Sunday, Dec. 10th at the 905 Cole Theatre in Hollywood. Showtimes are 8 p.m., Saturday; 3 p.m., Sunday. Tickets are $40.
For ticket information, visit: https://www.onstage411.com/newsite/show/play_info.asp?show_id=6394
Review: ‘Love, Sex, and Misery’ Rivets With 8 One-Acts of Romantic Entanglements
ByImaan Jalali
Posted on November 6, 2023 -- LAExcites.com
The following review is based on the Sunday, November 5th performance when Anita Tellez-Mansy and Jake Gould portrayed Cathy and Sam, respectively, in Life on Mars; Piper Major and Tim Trobec played Bambi and Rork, respectively, in The Invention of Marriage; Tim Trobec depicted the role of Mark in Warning, May Be Hazardous to Your Health; Anthony Backman played Jerry in Two Stones, One Bird; and Corbin Timbrook and Shelby Janes portrayed Larry and Marsha, respectively, in The Waiting Room.
Playwright and director Jeff Gould has continued to make quite the impression with his acute understanding of human psychology in the context of romantic relationships. Produced by Shelby Janes and presented by SkyPilot Theatre Company, the world premiere of Love, Sex, and Misery, which is now playing at the 905 Cole Theatre through December 10th, marks Jeff’s sixth pen-to-paper offering. Once again, humanity’s most relatable subject is dexterously delved into and, this time, the production is written alongside his son Jake Gould and comprised of eight pithy one-acts.
Teeming with an abundance of cackling creativity — with nods to satire, science fiction, distant history, and just topical discussion points — each entertaining act touches on the varying emotional gradients that underscore amorous attachments. Directors Jeff Gould, Morris Schorr, Anthony Backman, Anita Tellez-Mansy, and Sean Dube have woven terrific achievements of mini-plays that simultaneously stand on their own and are also compatible with each other, the most conspicuous motif being a disobedient smoke detector alarm, a through-line narrative device which remarkably sees its own culmination in the final act.
Overall, anyone who has ever been attracted to another, loved or been loved, and experienced conflict with a romantic partner will feel heard and understood by the bevy of truisms — many of them, comfortingly hysterical — in Jeff and Jake Gould’s Love, Sex, and Misery. Among the cleverly written and performed eight one-act plays are matters of discourse emanating from various vantage points and motivations, which thoroughly cover the gamut of most lived experiences. Not to mention, Love, Sex, and Misery is a worthy follow-up to Jeff Gould’s A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Divorce, The Marriage Zone, and his other well-crafted works on the conundrums beleaguering couplings.
Love, Sex, and Misery
By
Samantha Simmonds-Ronceros
-
11/09/2023
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BriAna Wagner, Jean Fiumara, Jason PIierce. Photo by Sean Dube.
[NoHo Arts District, CA] – A NoHo Arts theatre review of SkyPilot Theatre’s world premiere of Love, Sex, and Misery, written by Jeff Gould and Jake Gould, directed by Jeff Gould, Morris Schorr, Anthony Backman, Anita Tellez-Mansy and Sean Dube, and produced by Shelby Janes heads to the Cole Theatre October 21- December 10.
SkyPilot Theatre’s Love, Sex, and Misery is a hilarious frolic through the comic minds of Jake and Jeff Gould. Father and son. Eight shorts, all beautifully balanced and subtly connected with genuinely original storylines and characters, performed by some deeply talented and insanely funny actors.
BriAna Wagner, Olivia Spirz, Domenick DiDiana. Photo by Sean Dube. Kriss Dozal Anthony Backman. Photo by Sean Dube.
From martians with earthling bigotry to the original caveman concept of marriage, to obnoxious husbands who deserve to die to grown men lamenting the death of their friends by considering the lengths they might go to for B.J.s…the sketches are diverse, excellent short subjects. But it’s really not a loose collection of short plays…I’ve seen an awful lot of those, we all have. Love, Sex, and Misery is far more intentional than that.
The plays feed into each other, they support thematically but not in the obvious way. What could the connection be from a caveman to a group of friends mourning their loss? Well, as it turns out they fit together perfectly.
Ashley Alva, Alexander Hall, Jake Gould, Victoria Ogbonna. Photo by Sean Dube. Amye Partain, Olivia Spirz, Jason Pierce, Anthony Backman. Photo by Sean Dube.
I also loved how the roles are dispersed between this very fine group of actors. One actor playing several roles that on the surface seem utterly disparate, and yet, there is a thread, and not just from the actor. It’s as if the same questions are being posed over and over in slightly different ways. What is love? Why sex and are we all just destined to be miserable and alone?
It’s a fascinating concept wrapped in really excellent observational comedy. We laugh as we nod knowingly. We are led through each journey in order to reach a point. A poignant point. Sometimes a brilliant one.
Shelby Janes and Corbin Timbrook. Photo by Sean Dube. Adam Fox and Piper Major. Photo by Sean Dube.
Funny things are true and really, really funny things are brutally honest. “Love Sex and Misery” is brutally honest and very very funny. I absolutely loved it. It plays at the fabulous 905 Cole Theatre until December 10, Saturdays and Sundays.
Smoke alarm ties together eight one-act plays in Love, Sex, and Misery at the Cole Theatre
By Juan Markos - October 30, 2023
By Juan Markos
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 10/30/23 – Love, Sex, and Misery took the spotlight at the 905 Cole Theatre in Hollywood, on October 28.
The eight one-act plays are hilarious, and all have one thing in common, a smoke alarm, the nuisance object is metaphoric to the neglect and time avoidance we often face in our relationships and marriages.
It kind of becomes a pun across the stories, and multiverse. It’s quite the ensemble and depicts a variety of relationships, including friendships and the dynamic between the two, especially the second play, “To Good Friends” which portrays the major role friendships play in relationships.
The second “Life on Mars” was a juxtaposition of an ordinary affair but in Mars where being hetero is abnormal and life is simply ordinary to these Martians who view earthlings as extraterrestrials.
I loved “Two Stones, one Bird” where the bird calls out partners on their love affairs and reminds me that sometimes relationships and love aren’t the same as lust and fun. The funniest and smartest play was that of “The Parallel” which shows its characters in a parallel universe where their actions and reactions to situations lead the same couple down different paths.
All the stories are intertwined by a smoke detector as mentioned which in the final act plays a big role.
The eight one-act plays were written by Jeff Gould and Jake Gould, and directed by Gould, Morris Schorr, Anthony Backman, Anita Tellez-Mansy, and Sean Dube. The show was produced by Shelby Janes for.
Many of the actors got to play different roles showcasing their dramatic and comedic abilities, The two actors that stuck out to me most were Auri Brown, Anthony Backman, and Jason Pierce. This is a great show you shouldn’t miss. It runs until December 10 at 905 Cole Theater. for ticket information please visit https://www.onstage411.com/newsite/show/play_info.asp?show_id=6394
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