{"id":86561,"date":"2025-07-31T09:09:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T16:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=86561"},"modified":"2025-07-31T09:30:32","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T16:30:32","slug":"staging-their-own-original-play-2-poly-high-grads-want-to-spark-a-theater-revolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/art\/staging-their-own-original-play-2-poly-high-grads-want-to-spark-a-theater-revolution","title":{"rendered":"Staging their own original play, 2 Poly High grads want to spark a \u2018theater revolution\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Welcome to Theater News, a regular column by longtime reviewer Anita W. Harris. Look for it most Thursdays. Or sign up<\/a> for our Eat See Do newsletter to get it in your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recent Poly High School graduates Dashiell McFarr and Giorgio Buono wonder why stage plays seem stigmatized by the people they know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy aren\u2019t plays a form of media that\u2019s popular?\u201d McFarr and Buono ask. \u201cMusicals are a big thing, but at least at our age, we\u2019re not like \u2018Oh, we\u2019re gonna go see a play.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They believe they can solve that problem with their physically comic \u201cThe Legend of Mt. Hurr,\u201d a play about a cult of Houdini they say will appeal to younger audiences as well as older and make everyone feel plays are \u201cactually cool.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want to make something that\u2019s accessible across any age range, any demographic of people,\u201d McFarr said. \u201cSomething that\u2019s classic, that everyone from a 5-year-old to grandparents would want to come see. We\u2019ll spark a theater revolution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After successfully performing \u201cThe Legend of Mt. Hurr\u201d at Poly during their senior year, McFarr and Buono \u2014 now rising sophomores at their respective colleges \u2014 are reprising the play at the Illusion Magic Lounge in Santa Monica on Aug. 9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n Link<\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBoth students showed outstanding talent as creative and hilarious actors,\u201d Poly\u2019s Drama Director Linda Bon said. \u201cThey both were in every possible show and experienced many styles of theater over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poly\u2019s theater program<\/a> offers up to four years of progressive academic classes in theater plus after-school plays, poetry slams, improv shows and musicals, Bon said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During their three years in the program, Buono became captain of the school\u2019s improv team, The Polyesters, and stood out as William Shakespeare in \u201cSomething Rotten,\u201d while McFarr shined as Nostradamus in that same production, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both also wrote and directed their own 10-minute plays while in the program, Bon noted, with McFarr playing the lead rock star in \u201cTrue Rock\u201d and Buono winning the department award for best play for his satirical \u201cRevelation for the Lamb.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their \u201creally cool\u201d process of writing and directing short plays inspired McFarr and Buono to write \u201cThe Legend of Mt. Hurr\u201d as a longer play during a creative writing class junior year. McFarr had seen a YouTube video about a cult started by two brothers in the 1960s and \u2014 intrigued by how they could get a bunch of people to believe in them \u2014 suggested to Buono that they write a play based on that idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buono\u2019s \u201cirrepressible optimism\u201d then convinced Bon to begrudgingly let them stage the play in the school\u2019s theater despite its already full season, she said, having enlisted a group of eager drama students to bring it to life. Audiences \u201claughed uproariously\u201d and begged for another showing, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe characters are rustic, the humor cornball, and the characters have such heart and passion you can’t help but fall in love with them, despite their foibles,\u201d Bon said. \u201cBut the biting commentary about the gullibility of the masses being conned by Houdini’s lust for power feels simultaneously classic and relevant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She credits the play\u2019s success to McFarr\u2019s \u201csly, intelligent humor\u201d and Buono\u2019s \u201cexplosive creativity and strong directorial hand\u201d as well as their chemistry as friends and shared work ethic and persistence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the process of revamping the play to perform again with more than a dozen current and former Poly students, McFarr and Buono suddenly realized they had no venue. Finding the Illusion Magic Lounge fit the Houdini angle of the play, though that theater was initially hesitant to allow a student-led production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe fact that they secured the Illusion Magic Lounge as a venue is pure genius and gumption,\u201d Bon said. \u201cThey really are extraordinary kids.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But developing their play for this new staging has become a collaborative effort with the cast, McFarr said, something he appreciates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is a total community thing, like everybody has a role in it,\u201d McFarr said. \u201cIt would not be what it is without them because there’s gotta be some part of them in their characters.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
From left to right: Evelia Blanco, Jaidah Irving, Natalie Tannen, Francisco “Frankie” Calderon, Giorgio Buono, Dashiell McFarr and Aubrey Bedford rehearse at Discovery Well Park in Signal Hill, Tuesday, July 29, 2025. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

During a recent rehearsal in a local park, several of the clearly invested cast members said the play has allowed them to express themselves through acting as their characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just love that I’m able to be someone I’m not, but I can also put some of myself into different characters, especially in this play,\u201d said cast member Frankie Calderon. \u201cI\u2019m playing a grumpy a–hole and it’s fun to exaggerate that for other people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aubrey Bedford, a rising sophomore and computer science major at Baylor University, says he\u2019s similarly able to showcase a side of himself he doesn\u2019t get to otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI’m able to be a lot more eccentric, a lot more bold, a lot more emotional with my performance,\u201d Bedford said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bedford said he\u2019s also grateful to reconnect with his Poly drama friends and make new ones, saying it\u2019s been \u201cgenuinely beautiful to see the sprouting of interconnectedness\u201d among cast members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jaidah Irving, who plays the pastor\u2019s wife and plans to major in psychology with a minor in theater arts as a rising sophomore, says theater offers a place where she can be \u201c100% myself and no one cares.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI feel like in the society we’re in, especially in our age group, everything is judged and scrutinized and looked at weird if it’s not the norm,\u201d Irving said. \u201cSo, especially as a Black female, I feel like being in theater is definitely a little strange for my community. But I don’t care because it\u2019s the one place where I can truly be myself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The students are also conscious that this is their first production outside of a school, which they feel is empowering, and credit McFarr and Buono for making them feel welcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHigh school is very different from that because you have some peers who want to suppress you and keep you down,\u201d said Calderon. \u201cBut these two are allowing \u2014 I feel needed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides emphasizing community, McFarr and Buono said keeping the audience in mind is one of the foundational theater lessons they learned at Poly, and how Charlie Chaplin serves as a model for how physical comedy does that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on a rehearsal scene, the play is dynamic, including actors frequently running across the stage, getting into and out of a barrel and interacting in funny and combative ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t knock physical humor,\u201d McFarr and Buono say, adding that when they wrote the play, they were also conscious of the rhythm and tempo of the language and \u201cbeats\u201d in the dialogue, as they had also learned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Giorgio Buono hides in a wine barrel as the team rehearses for a play at Discovery Well Park in Signal Hill, Tuesday, July 29, 2025. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow do we get this across in this amount of syllables?\u201d they had to consider with every line, they said, using Shakespeare\u2019s iambic pentameter as a model but adding their own flavor to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many cast members emphasized how hard McFarr and Buono have been working on the play, late into the night (based on their Instagram postings), inspiring the rest of the cast to make it the \u201cbest it can be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though McFarr is majoring in legal studies at Berkeley, he says the experience of reprising this play makes him want to revisit theater and the cooperative embrace it offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI feel like I haven’t really been in a community like this where everybody just wants you to succeed,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd with acting, you give your whole self to it, and everybody loves you for that. I feel like that\u2019s probably the best part about it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Legend of Mt. Hurr\u201d will perform on Aug. 9 at 7 p.m. at the Illusion Magic Lounge, 1418 Fourth St., Santa Monica. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased through <\/i>EventBrite.com<\/i><\/a>. Paid parking is available for $6 across from the venue. Run time is 2 hours, including intermission. <\/i>Instagram: <\/i>@Mt.Hurr<\/i><\/a>; TikTok: <\/i>@<\/i>thelegendofmthurr<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Through pure gumption, two local students secured a Santa Monica venue to perform their uproarious comedy \u201cThe Legend of Mt. Hurr.\u201d They say it\u2019s \u201csomething that\u2019s classic, that everyone from a 5-year-old to grandparents would want to come see.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":207,"featured_media":86560,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"Through pure gumption, two local students secured a Santa Monica venue to perform their uproarious comedy \u201cThe Legend of Mt. Hurr.\u201d","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[32310],"class_list":["post-86561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/207"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86561"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86569,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86561\/revisions\/86569"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86561"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=86561"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=86561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}