San Diego Playbill - Theatre News

Compass Theatre's Final Productions at the Hillcrest space. THE HOUSE OF YES and THE FEVER

Compass Theatre

January 4, 2010

Just two more productions before Compass Theatre closes its Hillcrest home after 9 years. Be sure to get your cheap preview performance tix for THE HOUSE OF YES. This dark comedy is certainly in step with Compass' tradition of black edgy productions that make you laugh and squirm at the same time. Playwright Wendy MacLeod is known for her biting wit and bravery in tackling taboo. The House of Yes, which became an award-winning film, premiered in San Francisco at the Magic Theatre, where it won the Bay Area Critics' Award for Best New Play in 1990, and became the second longest running show in Magic Theatre's history. Read more at www.compasstheatre.com/The_House_of_Yes.html

THE FEVER 5 Performances Only! Playwright Wallace Shawn has crafted a haunting, harrowing drama in which an unnamed narrator's visit to a beautiful country is marred by political struggles which force him to review the presumptions of a "liberal" existence in the face of harsh, murderous reality.

This is political theater at its finest - unsettling, probing, often disturbing. It is also lyrical, deeply moving, and quite beautiful. NY Newsday calls the play “mesmerizingly theatrical—a profoundly engaging journey through the awakening of a pampered man's conscience.”

In this production, Bryan Bevell reprises his role as the unnamed Traveler, which he performed to great acclaim both in 1999 and 2000. Bevell’s work in The Fever played to sold-out houses in those earlier runs, and was named ‘critic’s choice’ in numerous publications.

In 1999 The Fever was sited as one of “The Year’s 10 Best Shows” by the San Diego Union-Tribune, as well as by online critic and Orange County Weekly theater writer, Brook Stowe.

Bryan Bevell is a Minneapolis based actor and director. From 1995-2000 he was artistic director of the Fritz Theater in San Diego. In 1994 he conceived and co-founded The Fritz Blitz of New Plays, the largest annually held new play festival on the West Coast. On May 2, 2002 the San Diego Union-Tribune wrote, “Bevell has an eye and an ear for the best -- fresh, edgy, relevant works that last. His one-man contribution made San Diego theater in the 1990s a heck of a lot more interesting.”

Local theatre critics had this to say about Bryan Bevell and THE FEVER when it was first produced here in 1999:

"Lodges like a small permanent splinter deep in the mind... critic's choice"
Anne-Marie Welsh, San Diego Union-Tribune

"Intellectually bone-chilling... This is heady, head-spinning stuff. It makes you evaluate your own values and makes you wary, even terrified of getting mired, buried, consumed by the unanswerable questions, lest you, too, lose your soul." -- Pat Launer, KPBS Radio

Outstanding... critic's pick" -- Jeff Smith, San Diego Reader

"Devastating." -- Jennifer de Poyen, San Diego Union-Tribune

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The House of Yes

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Jan 9/10—Feb 14/10 A dark and hilarious comedy. Outside a hurricane roars in a Washington suburb of 1983. Set in the formerly stately mansion of the Pascal family, a neighbor of the Kennedys, the play begins when Marty brings his new fiancée, blonde ingénue Lesly, home for Thanksgiving dinner. Marty's engagement is a threat to the well-being of his family and a greater threat for Jackie-O, who has always wanted her brother all to herself.

THE FEVER by Wallace Shawn

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Feb 6/10—Feb 9/10 Actor Bryan Bevell comes to town to help Compass Theatre raise funds. Playwright Wallace Shawn (The Designated Mourner) has crafted a haunting, harrowing drama in which an unnamed narrator's visit to a beautiful country is marred by political struggles which force him to review the presumptions of a "liberal" existence in the face of harsh, murderous reality. This is political theater at its finest - unsettling, probing, often disturbing. It it also lyrical, deeply moving, and quite beautiful. Newsday calls the play “mesmerizingly theatrical—a profoundly engaging journey through the awakening of a pampered soul.