By Lonnie Burstein Hewitt
Sweaty, smoky, uncertain September. As if the pandemic were not
enough, September swept in with record-breaking three-digit temperatures, state-of-emergency
wildfires that spread smoke-filled clouds and flakes of ash around the county, and
no lessening of social unrest and political dissension.
.
If you’re looking for a way out, La Jolla Playhouse is currently offering
some solutions—a pair of portals into new worlds imagined by acclaimed local
artists that are part of their biennial WOW Festival, which this year has gone fully
virtual.
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| Portaleza |
The first portal to open is Portaleza, created by award-winning
scenic/costume designer David Israel Reynoso and his team of paranormal
visionaries called Optika Moderna. You may have already journeyed through one
of OM’s elaborate, immersive productions at previous WOW Fests—“Las
Quinceañeras” in 2019 or “Waking La
Llorona” in 2017. This one is a private experience
you have in your own home, with the aid of your smart phone and the contents of
a mysterious package mailed to you several days before your ticket date.
Portaleza will be on view through October 4. Tickets are $20 and must be ordered in advance at LaJollaPlayhouse.org
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| The Society of Wonder |
Portal #2, The Society of Wonder, is the work
of Bridget Rountree and Iain McGunn, aka Animal Cracker Conspiracy—a dynamic
duo who combine ingenious puppetry, an array of visual arts, and offbeat storytelling
in their productions. This one is a six-part series of videos about an ancient
society that discovered secret portals to an underground kingdom of hope and
inspiration in their own backyards and is about to come to life again—in a
whole new way.
Exact dates have not yet been announced, but The Society of Wonder will be
launching sometime in mid-September. And wonder of wonders—all six
episodes are free.
*UPDATE,
September 18: I have seen The Society of Wonder—Episode 1, at least—which just
started streaming today. It’s only six minutes long and mostly introduces six
unusual characters about to dig into a mysterious situation but the puppets are
wondrous enough to make you want to follow them anywhere, certainly through the
next five episodes. The settings are gorgeous too, and I can’t wait to see what
comes next. The plan is to release a new episode every Friday. You can kick off
your weekend with this one at https://lajollaplayhouse.org/wow-goes-digital/society-of-wonder/
Lonnie
Burstein Hewitt is an award-winning author/lyricist/playwright who has written
about arts and lifestyle for the La Jolla Light and other local media for over
a dozen years. You can reach her at hew2@sbcglobal.net
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