Frank Lloyd Wright - The Stage Play In Los Angeles

By Author: Don and Kim Tatera
Total Articles: 3
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Frank Lloyd Wright - The Stage Play in Los Angeles

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Have you ever had one of those experiences that really made you believe that you were born too late?

You know, not a few days or weeks late like a normal birth, but a number of years late, like 40 - 50 years.

As devoted Jetsetters Travel Writers, always on the go, we had not one, but three experiences in which we had déjà vu trippy experiences that really make us think we were born 40 - 50 years too late. For both of us having grown up in the good old, corn-fed Midwest in Chicago, we're huge fans of architecture created by the rightly self proclaimed "Greatest Architect in American History."

Who is this, you ask and why? Read on, my friends and we'll explain in our three-part karma journey for our latest Jetsetters Magazine feature article.

First, we went to the always cutting edge Los Angeles Museum ...
... of Contemporary Art to view an excellent 90-minute theater production presented by The Theatre of Will Foundation. It was a one-person play about the then 68-year-old Frank Lloyd Wright that occurred during a three-hour timeframe in 1935. The setting for this play was in the drafting room at Spring Green, Wisconsin at Taliesin, the initial hilltop architectural home for Mr. Wright's fellowship of architectural and landscape architect apprentices. This brilliant two-act play examines Wright's life, from personal adversities and professional set backs to design innovations and architectural achievements to his outrageous comments about American popular culture.

In the intimate Ahmanson Auditorium at MOCA, having approximately 160 seats, mostly filled with an eclectic, artsy crowd of thirty-somethings, we were privileged to experience this special engagement of this amazing theatrical production starring John Crowther. Not only did he write and perform the entire play, but he even looks like a spitting image of Frank Lloyd Wright while he is decked out in his beret, gold ascot, and gray suit.

Having personally seen interviews with F.LL.W, John is a very gifted and talented actor who convinced us that we were back in time witnessing the real Frank Lloyd Wright. His body movements, mannerisms, and speech pattern were uncannily on the mark. John cleverly portrayed F.LL.W.'s bombastic personality as this architectural visionary reminisced to his students for three hours while he speedily hand-drafted, or as he said, "shook the design out of his sleeve," for one of his masterpieces - Fallingwater in Bear Run, Pennsylvania.

This imaginative and very charismatic character felt that "Truth should come before beauty," yet he self-absorbedly believed that his clients only thought they knew what they wanted in a home. Having been delayed for over one year, this frustrated department store owner and client, Edgar J. Kaufmann, was in the car and racing towards Spring Green to view his set of plans. Little did he know, they were going to be well worth the wait and would later be hailed as one of the complete masterpieces of 20th century art that was Frank Lloyd Wright's most sublime integration of man and nature.

Having recently read Frank Lloyd Wright's 620 page, "An Autobiography", I was struck by how many details of this book were mentioned in this 90 minute play. Had I known, I would have saved the torture of constantly putting the book down in frustration due to Frank's over-the-top personality and egotistical ramblings. Don't get me wrong; I love Frank Lloyd Wright and deeply admire his horizontal lines echoed in his Prairie style of architecture. I was merely overwhelmed by his attitude of "honest arrogance" that accompanied his pure genius; yet, I finished reading the book and soaked it up like a sponge. Now, having seen the play, I concur with the rave reviews that the critics have lavished John Crowther with for bringing this hardworking, opinionated artist's life to the stage. After the production, I was told by Janis Hashe from Betty PR that it is being considered as an upcoming theatrical production at The Guggenheim Museum in New York City. You'll definitely want to put this on the top of your must see list for New York theater!

Immediately following the production, the Director, Willard Simms, treated the audience with a special guest, Mr. Julius Shulman, who did a brief poetic reading by Walt Whitman and then reminisced about his twelve days photographing with Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Arizona in 1950.

To read this entire feature FREE with photos cut and paste this link:
http://jetsettersmagazine.com/archive/jetezine/classic/calif/frank/frank.html

Kim and Don Tatera, Jetsetters Magazine Correspondent - Read Jetsetters Magazine at www.jetsettersmagazine.com To book travel visit Jetstreams.com at www.jetstreams.com and for Beach Resorts visit Beach Booker at www.beachbooker.com


About the Author Kim and Don Tatera, Jetsetters Magazine Correspondent. Join the Travel Writers Network in the logo at www.jetsettersmagazine.com Leave your email next to the logo for FREE e travel newsletter.