AN INTERVIEW WITH PLAYWRIGHT LAUREN YEE

“Unmitigated Theatricality”

UCSD Grad Student and Up-And-Coming Playwright Lauren Yee Talks About Her Delightfully Strange Works As Two of Her Plays Hit San Diego This April

By Donnie Matsuda

Lauren Yee seems to elude reality in every facet of her young but prolific life as a playwright.

First, her fanciful imagination naturally concocts quirky characters that are not grounded in reality – a talking wall, a traveling hat, for instance – and manages to mine both the humor and heart in the most unexpected of situations. Second, this fresh-faced twenty-something (who is in her third and final year of UCSD’s MFA playwriting program) defies her youthful looks by having produced a plethora of critically acclaimed plays, all of which speak to the fierce talent and unique gift for narrative-based writing that lies beneath her unpretentious exterior. And third, this talented playwright has achieved so many accolades in her young career, it is almost unreal. Among the many honors that have been bestowed on Yee: a Dramatists Guild fellowship, a MacDowell Colony fellowship, a finalist for the Djerassi Resident Artist Program, the Heideman Award, the Jerome Fellowship, the PEN USA Literary Award for Drama, the PONY Fellowship, the Wasserstein Prize, and writing fellowships from the American Antiquarian Society, the Byrdcliffe Artist Colony, the Edward F. Albee Foundation, the El Gouna Writers’ Residency, and the Mills Cultural Center.

Yee’s first full-length play, Ching Chong Chinaman was a finalist for the 2008 Princess Grace Award and the winner of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival’s 2010 Paula Vogel Award and Kumu Kahua Theatre’s 2007 Pacific Rim Prize. Named one of the top 10 plays of the year by both the East Bay Express and City Pages, Ching Chong Chinaman has been produced on stages all across America, including Berkeley’s Impact Theatre, Minneapolis’ Mu Performing Arts, and New York’s International Fringe Festival.

Since writing this seminal masterwork, Yee has churned out nearly a dozen new plays (both short and full-length) and is showing no signs of stopping anytime soon. Her latest full-length play, A Man, his Wife, and his Hat was developed at PlayPenn and UCSD’s Baldwin New Play Festival in 2011 and is returning to San Diego for a full-fledged, professional staging at Moxie Theatre this April. At the same time, her thesis project Hookman (described as “an existential slasher comedy”) is set to premiere as part of UCSD’s Baldwin New Play Festival in 2012.

Amid the craziness of writing new plays, mentoring productions of her current plays, and preparing for her MFA graduation this June, Yee took time to answer some questions about her aspirations as a playwright, her educational journey, and her penchant for making the unfunny funny.

Playwright Lauren Yee. Photo by K.C. Alfred.

DONNIE: Tell me about your childhood…where did you grow up? And what fueled your interest in playwriting?

LAUREN: I was someone who always wanted to be a writer. It was not until high school that I stumbled into playwriting. I love dialogue. I love how language hits the ear. And I think it was this love of hearing words out loud that pushed me into theater in particular.

I grew up in San Francisco and while my parents weren't artists, they've been always very practically supportive of what I do. They were the ones building sets, putting up posters, and ferrying things back and forth for my shows. I owe them a lot.

DONNIE: What did you study while at Yale University?

LAUREN: I was an English and Theater Studies double major! The Theater Studies ended up being much more helpful than the English, surprisingly.

DONNIE: What made you decide to come to UCSD for your MFA?

LAUREN: UCSD's MFA playwriting program is easily one of the best in the nation. Visiting UCSD as a prospective convinced me that this was the only program I really wanted to go go. Naomi Iizuka is now in her fifth year as chair of the program, and she's someone who's really helped to push my writing in new directions and of course correct me when my writing goes off the rails. And I love my colleagues here. The Baldwin Festival is also a huge asset for the playwriting department and the school in general. You get the chance to see your work, attend rehearsals, and form really close relationships with the artistic teams. That doesn't always happen in the real world.

DONNIE: Out of all your plays (both short and full-length), which are you most proud of and why?

LAUREN: I would say I'm pretty darned proud of A MAN, HIS WIFE, AND HIS HAT. It's a sneaky play that is (hopefully) both funny and heartbreaking. Also, I think that it allows for unmitigated theatricality and explores some really emotionally resonant metaphors. Also, it was amazingly fun to write and hear the characters' voices.

Photos of "A Man, his Wife, and his Hat" at UCSD's Baldwin New Play Festival in 2011. Photos courtesy of Lauren Yee.

My first full-length play CHING CHONG CHINAMAN has been my most successful play. I wrote it at a time when I didn't realize how hard playwriting is, and it's really interesting to see how my writing has changed since then.

[More about “Ching Chong Chinaman”: The ultra-assimilated Wong family is as Chinese-American as apple pie: teenager Upton dreams of World of Warcraft superstardom; his sister Desi dreams of early admission to Princeton. Unfortunately, Upton’s chores and homework get in the way of his 24/7 videogaming, and Desi’s math grades don’t fit the Asian-American stereotype. Then Upton comes up with a novel solution for both problems: he acquires a Chinese indentured servant, who harbors an American dream of his own.]

DONNIE: How did you come up with the concept for “A Man, his Wife, and his Hat”?

LAUREN: I wrote the play in Egypt, almost two years ago. I was there at a writers retreat on the Red Sea, staying at a German golf resort as part of the residency. I was surrounded by foreign accents, and the TV in my room only received two English language channels: CNN and the History Channel. I also had always thought that the title of Oliver Sacks's book THE MAN WHO MISTOOK HIS WIFE FOR A HAT would make a great jumping off point for a play. And it did.

[More about “A Man, his Wife, and his Hat”: Hetchman loves his hat. Oh, and his wife, too. But when both go missing, the retired hatmaker vows to stop at nothing to find them, if he can ever muster the strength to leave the comforts of his armchair. But the arrival of a talking wall and a hungry golem threatens to derail his endeavor. A klezmer-inspired love triangle between a man, his wife, and his hat.]

DONNIE: What excites you most about this San Diego staging of “A Man, his Wife, and his Hat”?

LAUREN: This play does a little bit of the impossible. People float. Creatures climb out of pits. Walls shake and move. What will be fun for me with this production is seeing older actors in the main roles. In my UCSD workshop of the show, we used MFA actors, who--while extremely talented--were not exactly old.

Photos of "A Man, his Wife, and his Hat" from Moxie Theatre's 2012 production. Photos by Daren Scott.

DONNIE: Your work has been described as “delightfully strange” and “a little absurd.” How would you describe your own body of work?

LAUREN: I think my interest lies in expanding what theater can be. I'm drawn to different slants on a certain topic. I also think that all my plays contain some desire to make the seemingly serious and unfunny funny.

DONNIE: What upcoming projects/readings are you most excited about?

LAUREN: Definitely excited about Moxie's upcoming production. But I'm also thrilled to have two workshop productions of my new play HOOKMAN running or soon to open--one at Company One in Boston and one at UCSD.

[More about “Hookman”: Freshman year at college is hard when your roommate is weird, you’re feeling homesick, and a hook-handed serial killer is slashing girls’ throats. But if Lexi can discover what really happened to her high school best friend on that car ride to the movies, everything will be okay. In this existential slasher comedy, Lexi and her friends learn what it means to grow up – and it’s not pretty.]

Show poster for Moxie Theatre's "A Man, his Wife, and his Hat." Courtesy of Moxie Theatre.

A Man, his Wife, and his Hat opens tonight, April 7 at 8pm at Moxie Theatre located at 6663 El Cajon Blvd, Ste. N in San Diego. The play runs through April 29. Tickets are $25-27 with discounts available for seniors, students, and military. For more information or to purchase tickets, call 858-598-7620 or visit www.moxietheatre.com.

Hookman opens April 19 at 8pm at the Theodore and Adele Shank Theatre in the UCSD Theatre District/La Jolla Playhouse. It is part of UCSD’s 2012 Baldwin New Plays Festival (and Lauren’s MFA thesis!) and will run through April 28. Tickets are $20 with discounts available for UCSD students/alumni/affiliates. For more information or to purchase tickets, call 858-534-4574 or visit http://theatre.ucsd.edu/season/Baldwin/index.html.

And to learn more about fascinating playwright Lauren Yee, visit her website at: http://laurenyee.com/

THEATRE REVIEW: "Buried Child" at New Village Arts

A Peculiar "Child"

New Village Arts stages a riveting and raw revival of Sam Shepard’s Pulitzer-Prize winning play

By Donnie Matsuda

There’s more than just a child buried beneath the surface of Sam Shepard’s dark and disturbing masterwork, Buried Child.

There are layers and layers filled with destructive family secrets, fallout from strained relationships, and many attempts to cover up the horrific events of the past with ample amounts of pills and booze. As these layers are slowly and painfully pulled away over the course of the play’s brutish three acts, it becomes quite clear that the unnamed family at the heart of this play is as strange and as dysfunctional as they come. And as their family feuding goes far beyond mere quibbles and slights, the play unearths some shameful skeletons in the family closet and suggests that, at least for these folks, their American dream has devolved into a horrific nightmare.

Jack Missett as Dodge. Photo by Daren Scott.

One of the more critically acclaimed plays of its time, Buried Child was first presented at San Francisco’s Magic Theatre in 1978 and subsequently transferred to the Lucille Lortel Theatre in New York, where it became the first Off-Broadway play to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1979. It is considered Shepard’s greatest work and the one that launched him to national fame as a renowned playwright.

As wickedly dark as it is fiercely funny, Buried Child depicts the disappointment and disillusionment of a rural family dealing with the death of their dreams deep within the crumbling walls of their Illinois farmhouse in 1973. As young, idealistic Vince decides to visit his grandparents' house after a many years absence, he is rather shocked to find that no one recognizes him. With his go-getting girlfriend in tow, he fiercely tries to have his identity acknowledged, but he can’t seem to penetrate the steely surface of this fragmented family: his grandfather Dodge is overcome with the failure of both his farm and his family and drowns himself in a sea of whiskey and pain pills, his grandmother Halie is a basket-case on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and his father Tilden is emotionally handicapped and has regressed to shucking corn and peeling carrots as a means to pass the day.

But despite the play’s roller coaster of raw emotion and shadowy personalities, there is still an incredible amount of unexpected humor and wit. It is comedy of a sarcastic, biting nature in which we laugh out loud at the most inappropriate and preposterous of situations. And here with New Village Arts' sharp staging, every single line of Shepard's darkly delusional memory play is brilliantly acted and brutally realized.

Manny Fernandes as Tilden. Photo by Daren Scott.

At the head of it all is a mesmerizing Jack Missett as penetrating family patriarch Dodge. His spooky, skeleton-like appearance is initially quite jarring and he manages to lure the audience into his demented, drug-induced world one swig of whiskey at a time. Here, Missett doesn’t miss a beat as he delivers his character’s acerbic rants and catatonic trances all while wasting away on the old, beat up couch in the basement of the family’s dilapidated farmhouse. Meanwhile, his wife Halie (a delicate and damaged Dana Case) spends most of her time flitting about on the upper floor, reprimanding and nagging him from offstage and talking to him as if he were a child. That is, when she’s not out and about having the occasional fling with the town’s parish priest (a bright cameo appearance by John DeCarlo). Through her forced smiles and snappy tone, Case manages to convey the devastation that lies just beneath the surface of her delusional dreaming and it is both gut-wrenching and heartbreaking to watch her virtually self-destruct as the pain of her past consumes her.

The children are also well played, though they are as eccentric and as inaccessible as their parents are. Here, the rotten apples don’t fall very far from the twisted and tangled branches of this warped family tree. As eldest son Tilden, Manny Fernandes plays his character as a slow-witted mute, vaguely reminiscent of his award-winning portrayal of Lennie in NVA’s masterful “Of Mice and Men.” Fernandes gives both strength and vulnerability to this good-boy-gone-bad role and evokes an incredible amount of sympathy for the lost soul that Tilden has become. As younger son Bradley, Samuel Sherman is intimidating as the rough and tumble one-legged psychopath who perhaps most ardently struggles to keep the family’s secrets buried deep underground.

In somewhat stark contrast to the crippled and deathly family, Adam Brick as grandson Vince and Kelly Iversen as his edgy girlfriend Shelly add a breath of fresh air to an otherwise deeply scarred sanctuary. Brick is ideally cast as the lean and lanky Vince who sports his slick 70’s styles well until the third act, when his inner rage gets the better of him in ways both terrible and tragic. And Iversen is every bit his equal, adding a sense of fast-talking vivaciousness that simultaneously lifts and grounds the piece, as she unwittingly digs up the dirt that this creepy clan has worked so hard to put to rest.

Adam Brick as Vince and Kelly Iversen as Shelly. Photo by Daren Scott.

Director Lisa Berger works her macabre magic again here (her terrifically twisted work on Cygnet’s recent “A Behanding in Spokane” was to die for) and she expertly extracts uniformly fine performances from her first-rate ensemble of actors. Her chilling vision for this show evokes motifs from horror flicks of the 70’s, and overall, the haunting effect works well with the disturbing nature of this fractured family tale.

Taken together, it is not totally clear what one should take away from this terribly tragic and utterly unsettling expose of a Middle American family falling apart at the seams. If anything, perhaps Shepard’s Buried Child is a harshly cautionary tale to beware the seeds you sow, as they might just grow up to be unwanted weeds, yielding harvests of hatred and hurt for generations to come.

Things to know before you go: Buried Child plays at New Village Arts Theatre at 2787 State Street in Carlsbad through April 22, 2012. Running time is 2 hours and 15 minutes with two 15 minute intermissions. Performances are Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8pm, Saturdays at 3pm and Sundays at 2pm. For more information or to purchase tickets, call (760) 433-3245 or visit www.NewVillageArts.org.

INTERVIEW WITH PLAYWRIGHT MELISSA JAMES GIBSON AS "THIS" READIES FOR ITS SAN DIEGO PREMIERE

Melissa James Gibson, Playwright of "This"

By John Del Signore

[This interview was conducted just after the Off-Broadway opening of “This” and is re-printed here with permission from its New York-based author]

In the tradition of Harold Pinter and Edward Albee, Melissa James Gibson's plays incisively isolate the idiosyncrasies of colloquial speech, reveling in their often overlooked weirdness, and marveling at what these words reveal about the speaker. Her play “Suitcase—Or, Those That Resemble Flies From A Distance,” staged at Soho Rep in 2004, concerns two female grad students agonizing over their thesis in cluttered rooms high above the stage, while their neglected boyfriends plead desperately through the ground floor intercom. For a play in which "nothing much happens" in the conventional sense, it was a mesmerizing journey into the minds of four unstable urbanites.

Gibson's funny and affecting new play, “This,” is more naturalistic than her previous plays, but her distinctive style is unmistakable. Set in a gorgeous, hyper-realistic converted loft in what must be Williamsburg or Red Hook, “This” centers on five friends in their mid-thirties and their desperate attempt to stay sane in the face of death, parenthood, adultery, and incessant craving.

Melissa James Gibson, author of "This." Photo credit: Heather Weston.

How did you get into writing plays?

It was kind of accidental. I was one of those people who came to NY when I was 17 thinking I could act, and I did go to acting school for three years until I was 19, and then I was in a theater company shortly after attending acting school, a start-up theater company, so we did everything, and part of what we did was, "We're all gonna write." And that was my first experience of playwriting, and I loved it. Then I went to college and graduate school and studied it more formally, among many things, just getting an education period that way. But I fell into it through the door of acting.

“This” seemed more naturalistic and narrative-based than some of your previous work. Do you agree with that assessment and was that something you had in mind when you were writing it?

No, it really wasn't intentional at all, and I don't really think in those terms, per se. I respect people's view of it being that way, but honestly, I was just, as always, I was just focusing on what I was focusing on and it unfolded the way it did. But I think you're right; people tend to experience it that way. But I didn't set out for it to be more normal or anything. [Laughs]

One critic wrote that he felt the story was about "how we process love, hurt and loss by concocting tidy stories to recall our experience, or reshape it." Do you agree with that?

I think that's one perspective on it. Really, the whole thing to me—which is another way of saying what he just said, I guess—is about grappling with mortality from the different characters' vantage points. And just that, grappling with that big old subject, that we grapple with every day, sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly.

Were you thinking about death more when you were writing this, more than usual?

I think maybe I was, yeah. I know I was. I lost some friends in a very short period of time, I lost a number of people who are dear to me. So although I started writing before that was the case, I think inevitably it informed the way in which it got explored.

Do you think writing “This” was in any way therapeutic?

I wouldn't use that word, but sure, in the sense that clearly I am in a very real way grappling with that subject, it was hopeful to think about it through the prisms of these five people. Yeah, so the act of writing is the act of trying to make sense, so yes. It was helpful.

Melissa James Gibson receives The 1st Lillian Hellman Award for Playwrighting at the 2010 Lilly Awards presented by The Committee for Recognizing Women in Theater in NYC. Photo by Monica Simoes.

How much time did you spend writing it?

It's hard question to answer, to identify starting points for anything. But, having said that, for me it was a relatively short amount of time, I mean, sometimes things can go on for many years. I think maybe this one was just in a gestation phase before writing occurred on the page. So I would say, sort of the end of last summer through December was very intensive, getting that first real draft out, and then lots of revisions. A shorter period of time than is sometimes the case with me. I can be slow.

Do you write every day?

I do. I mean, well, I shouldn't say that, not every single day of my life. But it's definitely what feels good, and what I aim to do.

Do you have a set, habitual way of going about it?

A routine?

Yeah, a routine!

It depends. This past year I've been on leave; I had a fellowship, so I was able to be much more—in a great way—business-like about it, and being able to work during school hours while my children are at school. But normally I have a day job as well, so that means it's sort of pre-school hours. It's sort of like a 6-9 kind of thing and then sorta stealing time after they're in bed. Usually it's weird opposite ends of the day. And I find it can be useful times in different ways, in terms of where the brain is naturally at after a full day, or starting from scratch. But no, I've much preferred having uninterrupted hours in a row, as I said, this past year.

I think playwrights like Pinter and Albee have written about how they don't have a real narrative plan or storyline in mind when they start writing. Is your process similar to that?

It is, actually. Yeah, I don't think anyone celebrates my plots! [Laughs] I don't come at it from that perspective. Actually, it'd be really fun one day to challenge myself to write a heavily, beautifully-plotted play. But I'm much more interested in where the characters lead me through their dialogue, and through the spaces in which they find themselves. With language, that's the natural way forward for me.

There's a lot of apologizing and saying "I'm sorry" in “This.” Where does that come from for you?

Yeah. Well, that too sort of happened. There's a lot that the characters in this play feel sorry for, but I'm just sort of interested in that expression too because they're default words we all have. And sometimes they mean something and sometimes they're hollow. I was interested in exploring the gradations.

Melissa James Gibson being interviewed at The 2011 Steinberg Playwright "Mimi" Awards presented by The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust at Lincoln Center Theater in NYC. Photo by Jason Kempin.

Your titles tend to be usually... different. Have you ever thought about why the titles of your plays are so different from and open-ended. Does that make sense?

I think so. I don't know, it's very much a gut thing. I try things on in my head or on the draft, and then just settle on what feels right. This is what felt right for this, because it's so unspecific and yet weirdly specific at the same time, which felt right for this piece. It's very much a gut thing each time.

Yeah, I overheard somebody as they were leaving the theater, saying they thought it was a perfectly-titled piece, to them it really evoked describing a relationship, like, "ugh, all this."

Yes, that's hard to name. That's what I'm always drawn to. I think that's what all artists are drawn to, trying to name the unnameable.

The play struck me as very New York, and I can't actually recall if there are any geographically specific aspects to it, but did you have that in mind, did you feel like you were writing a play about people living in New York?

Yes, that's what I was imagining for sure. I love this place, this urban environment is where most of my plays have been set so far, in one way or another.

And now..."This" in San Diego

The cast of North Coast Repertory Theatre's "This." (L-R): Richard Baird, Courtney Corey, Matt Thompson, Judith Scott, and Andrew Ableson. Photo courtesy of Aaron Rumley.

If you want to see “This” live on stage, you can catch the San Diego Premiere at North Coast Repertory Theatre this month. With previews April 4-6 and a four-week run from April 7-29, you can experience Gibson’s tart, new American comedy for yourself. Filled with scintillating verbal humor and a keen compassion that upends conventions, “This” dives head-first into the choppy waters of middle age and offers up some rueful meditations on love, adultery, and adulthood.

North Coast Repertory’s powerhouse production is directed by Kirsten Brandt and features a fearless five-member cast (in alphabetical order): Andrew Abelson, Richard Baird, Courtney Corey, Judith Scott, and Matt Thompson. Tickets for “This” are available only at North Coast Repertory Theatre in Solana Beach at 987 Lomas Santa Fe Drive, Suite D. Box office hours are Noon to 4pm daily and Noon to curtain on the day of performances. For more information, visit www.northcoastrep.org.

THEATRE REVIEW: "ROCK OF AGES" at Broadway San Diego

"Rock of Ages" Can't Stop the Best

Broadway SD will rock your socks off with a pulse-pounding, electrifying homage to the 80’s

By Donnie Matsuda

By modern day musical standards, Rock of Ages doesn’t do anything right.

The tribute to the 80’s musical boasts a paper-thin plot, features one-dimensional low-brow characters who are much more rockstar casual than musical theatre refined, and tops it all off with a score that evokes nostalgia with its recognizable radio tunes that do little to further its plot. But in spite of itself, the jagged pieces of the Rock of Ages puzzle somehow come together brilliantly to create a hilarious and highly entertaining jukebox musical that raises the rafters with its soaring guitar licks, heart-pounding drumming, and layers upon layers of blazing, ball-busting pop infused rock. So, if you're a big fan of vintage rock and don’t want to miss this totally rad musical trip down memory lane, get yourself down to the San Diego Civic Theatre, where the Rock of Ages national tour is currently rocking the house for a short time, now until April 1st.

Dominique Scott as Drew. Photo by Scott Suchman.

The barely-there book by Chris D’Arienzo and the spine-tingling score (which borrows some of the greatest songs of the 80’s by iconic rockers Journey, Styx, REO Speedwagon, Foreigner, Pat Benatar, and Whitesnake) should totally work against the success of the show. However, it is because of these elements that Rock of Ages works so well as its brazenly self-aware characters and hokey script are more than endearing enough to fuel the tuneful, sing-along-with-your-favorite-hits score. And at the end of the day, that’s really why we’re all there: to soak in the rock concert vibe, raise our hands in the air, and bounce to the beat of one chart-topping tune after the next.

And who doesn’t love a predictable 80’s romance? This one is between big-city dreamer and wannabe rockstar Drew Boley and small-town girl turned aspiring actress Sherrie Christian (and yes, both Steve Perry’s “Oh Sherrie” and Night Ranger’s “Sister Christian” feature prominently in the show’s playlist of iconic 80’s hits). These two bright-eyed youngsters fortuitously meet in L.A.’s most legendary rock club, The Bourbon Room, and suddenly, they want to know what love is. Sure, there are some minor complications thrown in for good measure (and to provide more excuses to insert more hit songs), but do we really think that a sleazy fling with Arsenal superstar Stacee Jaxx or the threat of gentrification by a German father-and-son development team will halt this made-up-for-the-musical romance? Don’t stop believing, people.

Dominique Scott as Drew (center) surrounded by the tour company of "Rock of Ages." Photo by Scott Suchman.

As rocker Drew, Dominique Scott brings a fresh face and some powerful pipes to the “innocent boy makes good” role. He is blessed with a soaring tenor that cuts through both his beautiful ballads and his angst-ridden anthems with an equal amount of fire and ice. Not only does he dazzle with his vocal pyrotechnics (which include some impressive solo riffs and soaring sustained notes), but he also adds some much needed-nuance to an otherwise bland and boring character. As his love interest Sherrie, Shannon Mullen delights with a perfect rocker-chic look and makes her transition from bright eyed ingénue to sassy stripper to wholesome leading lady as convincing as she possibly can. She’s also got one heck of a voice that imbues her bluesy ballads with a vibrant tone, and she fearlessly goes full force in her powerhouse duets with Drew, matching her man in both power and pizzazz.

In supporting roles, Justin Colombo is a hoot as the all-knowing show narrator Lonnie (he reads a book titled “Musicals for Dummies” and schools us on the appropriate use of “jazz hands”) while Matt Ban puts his droll deadpan to good use as club owner Dennis. When these two men can’t fight their feelings anymore and indulge in a full-fledged on-stage bromance over a fog machine, the show’s silly shenanigans reach an all-time high (or is it low?). And not to be upstaged in the camp department, Stephen Michael Kane really hams it up as the hair-tossing, lithe leaping, not-gay-but-just-German Franz, while Katie Postotnik nails the role of hippie protestor Regina (pronounced Reg-eye-na).

Shannon Mullen as Sherrie. Photo by Scott Suchman.

Director Adam John Hunter (who adapts Kristin Hanggi’s original direction for this tour) doesn’t miss a beat in his brisk staging and he keeps the energy high and the volume turned up so that his high-octane show has plenty of juice for its action-packed two and a half hours. And choreographer Marcos Santana (who recreates Kelly Devine’s original work here) amps up the energy with some incredibly erotic moves delivered with pulse-pounding panache by a talented ensemble of strippers, rockers, and free-spirited protestors.

In the design department, wig master Tom Watson keeps the hair as high as the sky while costumer Gregory Gale keeps everyone looking, like, totally 80’s in their outrageously colorful and outlandishly retro fashion fads. And set designer Beowulf Boritt captures the grungy look of The Bourbon Room and the surrounding streets of the Sunset Strip with his serviceable single set design that is greatly aided by some splashy projections created by Zak Borovay. Last but not least, lighting designer Jason Lyons blasts the stage with an impressive lighting grid filled with bold, eye blinding colors and special effects that enhance the show’s rock concert vibe, while sound designer Craig Cassidy tries to keep the dialogue heard above the roar of the show’s rock band (which doesn’t always happen).

The Company of "Rock of Ages." Photo by Scott Suchman.

But all these technical elements take a back seat to what truly powers this exhilarating musical revival: the over two–dozen legendary rock hits from the 80’s that are as timeless as they are tuneful. Here, these 31 songs are given truncated versions, but music director Darren Ledbetter and his totally radical five piece band (with mad props to guitar soloist Chris Cicchino) render the well-orchestrated and explosive score with all the power and passion it demands.

So, even if you’re only a moderate fan of 80’s rock or if (like me) you are too young to remember what the era was all about, you’re still guaranteed to have a rocking good time. That’s probably because Rock of Ages is a musical that knows exactly what it is and is so sure of itself, it unabashedly takes all the bad elements of a modern musical and does a bang up job of turning them into one highly entertaining night of theatre. The final product is, in the words of legendary rocker Poison, “Nothin’ But A Good Time.”

Things to know before you go: Rock of Ages presented by Broadway San Diego plays at The San Diego Civic Theatre at 3rd and B Street through April 1, 2012. Running time is 2 hours and 35 minutes with a 15 minute intermission. Ticket prices vary. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit TicketMaster.com, call (888) 937-8995, or visit www.BroadwaySD.com.