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IN Magazine: "ASTOUNDING."
"...Cappiello infuses (Johnson) with a sense of vulnerability that makes his journey all the more emotional, so that ultimately we realize there is no such thing as the common man."
"The bar has been set high for this brand-new company, and as long as their enthusiasm remains at this level, we will be seeing good things from them in the future."
LA Weekly: "AUDACIOUS."
"It’s hard to imagine a more audacious and apt debut for the Unknown Theater Company... a stylishly evocative production that highlights, not overwhelms, Priestley’s musings on wonder, duty, memory, greed, and the shadowy ground between animal and god, between adult and child. The production design and ensemble are first-rate. "
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Los Angeles Small Theater News: "DELIGHTFUL"
"If the first act presages a company that means business, the second act seals it."
"Vanessa Waters is a perfect Donna Reed, waltzing through shared memories good and bad before gliding off."
"This is Unknown Theater's debut performance and the company has served notice that it is a force."
"The name (Unknown Theater), however, is a conceit. The founders must know full well that they will be known in short order. "
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Backstage West: "INSPIRED."
"Unknown Theater won't stay that way for long if it continues offering theatre of the high caliber evidenced by its mighty impressive inaugural production... Director Chris Covics has an inspired way of making Priestley's surreal exploration of the unknown not only palatable but also as intelligible as the genre allows. Here, Covics has the asset of a splendid, large ensemble -- 20 in all -- in which Cappiello's energetic quizzical portrayal of Robert sets the standard. The visually intoxicating design for this sprawling production is credited to Covics, who makes marvelous use of the huge stage area provided by the new venue. There are tall swiveling wall units, rear screen projections, miles of red flowing fabric, and set pieces dropped in from above. There are also endless nifty costumes (Zale Morris), original music (David Permenter), and fine lighting and sound designs (Covics). Brett Webster and Maia Guest serve as assistant directors.
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Los Angeles Times: "POIGNANT...MOVING"
"Director Chris Covics and his committed ensemble skillfully mine an unexpectedly simple, heartfelt parable of human connectedness."
"The piece builds surprising dramatic momentum and emotional impact."
"Choosing [Johnson Over Jordan] over safer, more familiar material for a debut says much about the ambitions of this new company, which has put additional sweat equity into retrofitting its 55-seat venue, a former industrial space just off Hollywood's theater row. Ample stage space, excellent sightlines and rotating after-show music and arts events suggest this Unknown Theater won't stay that way for long."
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About Johnson Over Jordan
Written in 1939, JB Priestley’s Johnson Over Jordan follows the afterlife of Robert Johnson, a seemingly ordinary man who has died of pneumonia at the age of 51. Inspired by the Tibetan Book of the Dead, Priestley puts Johnson in a condition of what the Book of the Dead calls bardo, a kind of purgatorial intermediate state after the body has died but before the soul has been subsumed into the universe. And in this state of bardo, Johnson takes an extraordinary journey, a post-mortem dream of memories, hopes and regrets in which he is forced to recognize his failings and flaws and strip away all sentiment to see his true self.
Far more Franz Kafka than Frank Capra, Johnson Over Jordan is a surreal and spiritual trip into the absurdities, mundanities, and epiphanies of a life examined. It is, as its author described it, “an adventure in theatre.” It is a drama, a mystery, a meditation on life and death and everything in between.
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