For more than 30 years, John Blondell has been creating wondrous theatrical artistry in the Santa Barbara community and beyond, conceptualizing and directing shows for Lit Moon Theatre and heading the theater arts department at Westmont College (among other endeavors around the world). This year marks the end of an era: Blondell is retiring and heading overseas to devote his time to international projects. To commemorate this last turn as a Santa Barbara director, Lit Moon is presenting a theater festival of four plays January 22-25 at the Community Arts Workshop. The works are, as Blondell says, “All part of the past and present Lit Moon web. These pieces are tied together methodologically and stylistically.”
The plays include Uncle Vanya and King Lear, both Lit Moon shows directed by Blondell. Uncle Vanya (for which the tagline reads: “the heart aches and dreams fade, but there’s vodka”), one of Chekhov’s many plays about quiet dissatisfaction, runs the evening of January 25. King Lear was created by the company in a Macedonian artists’ villa. “It’s an intimate show,” says Blondell, “with a lot of puppet and toy and paper elements.” Lear will play January 22-24.
Prospero’s Black Box, performed by onetime Lit Moon player Jeff Mills, runs the afternoon of January 25. The piece was inspired by Geoffrey Hinton’s relationship to AI (the “new magic”) and Prospero from The Tempest. The show, says Blondell, is physical, poetic, and provocative, with AI and VR at the forefront of thought. Finally, A Real Elephant, a toy, paper, and object-based theater piece created and performed by Yulya Dukhovny (who also made the paper-based props for King Lear), runs on January 24.
“It’s a celebration, homecoming, goodbye, Saturn return,” says Blondell. “We wanted to bring it to an end in a really meaningful way … it’s been a great run.”
Lit Moon Theatre Festival runs January 22-25 at the Community Arts Workshop (631 Garden St.). Register for tickets at litmoontheatre.com.
‘A Real Elephant’ (left), and ’Prospero’s Black Box’ | Photo: Courtesy
