Rhiannon Williams
Contributing Writer
Actors rehearse for Little Tree Theatre’s first production— The Moon, the Sun and the Empty Space
On Friday, March 6, the company debuted their first play, The Moon, the Sun and the Empty Space, as a collaborative effort between fellow production company ClownMa dell’Arte and the Long Beach Playhouse.
For the past several years the playhouse has hosted The Collaborative Season, an event that lasts from December to March, when, for half of the box office revenue, the theatre offers their space and equipment to a guest theatrical company so that they can fully produce and stage their own performance.
“It’s entirely their production,” said Playhouse Executive and Producing Artistic Director Andrew
Vonderschmitt. “They’re producing it, they are doing it all, all the marketing!on their own,ÂÂ and we just split the door with them.”
Anis and Sevaly launched Little Tree Theatre in collaboration with other local artists as a way to grow and broaden their experience as well as providing new theatre performances to the local community.
Although the company’s first production debuted at the playhouse, this is not the first season that Anis has helped produce a play with the playhouse. Two years ago, he and several others helped produce the show “Misshapen” during that year’s Collaborative Season. His new theatre group’s first performance debuted during that same event because he values the opportunities such an event can provide new and growing theatre companies.
“The collaborative season is just a really good opportunity for new theatre companies or independent artists to get their feet wet putting on a show,” Anis said. “It’s a really cool opportunity, and it allows a lot of new theatre to happen.”
With many of Anis’s and Sevaly’s friends and acquaintances being active members in the craft of theatre, the pair started the company to provide a place for performing artists without the financial means or social connections to come together and put on a show.
“We have a lot of friends in Long Beach through theatre,” Anis said. “And there are a lot of people that we know that are actors, designers, directors, and all of them are able to do really good work but don’t necessarily have the means to produce or put on a show, so we thought if we came together and helped make that happen it would give them an opportunity to grow, and us as well.”
The Moon, the Sun and the Empty Space was not written with much dialogue. Instead it includes mostly song, dance, movement and shadow play.
The show was mainly devised and created by Alexander Makardish, who, along with Jeremy Hohn, members of ClownMa dell’Arte, codirected the play with Anis.
After their run at the Long Beach Playhouse, Little Tree Theatre, which is more project-based than season-based, plans to do as many small productions as possible throughout the year.
When their fundraising campaign ends, the company intends to use the funds to plan more productions including video projects, stage shows and creative, dramatic performances.
“For a full-fledged production, it might take a couple of months,” Anis said. “But we’re looking to do smaller productions, possibly some Shakespeare in the Park for free over the summer!just experimenting and creating in the meantime before we have a venue in production, booked and planned.”
