conceived & written by Paul Outlaw
a new experimental play with music
REVIEWS
A fantasia spanning three acts and three vastly different time periods in the life of 300-year-old former slave Porphyrion, the piece is a playground for visual exploration, and director Asher Hartman and scenic and lighting designer François-Pierre Couture take full advantage by transforming the theater into three separate, eye-catching performance spaces... Inhabiting those spaces, with his smooth, beguiling manner and seductive singing voice, is Outlaw: crooning at the speakeasy (accompanied by a live band that really grooves), lording over his fawning minions Victor (Derek Chariton) and Killer (Casey James Holmberg) in the club, and struggling to survive the torture of slavery on the plantation. In each act, Porphyrion sports vastly different looks, courtesy of costume designers Angi Bell Ursetta and Brian Getnick, whose imaginative tricks with fabrics and color is a treat to behold.
Mayank Keshaviah, LA Weekly
FULL REVIEW
Paul Outlaw has created a masterpiece, transformative to those who experience it and profoundly eductional. It allowed me to see the fluidity of time, place, personality, identity and gender, opening a space within me to transcend my own limited identity. The Late, Late Show is an exciting, exhilirating, monumental work of genius.
Julia Russell, environmental activist
It was very exciting for us to have the opportunity to work with Paul Outlaw, because he was probably the first of the many artists we've worked with to take advantage of the architecture of California Plaza as fully as he did. He not only used the water—a first for us—but also the steps and made it an environmental piece. He worked intensely with our team to realize his artistic dreams on our stage. Everyone was very proud of what they had accomplished and of the extremely positive response of the audience, who got an opportunity to enjoy this work in a way that audiences in other places cannot.
Michael Alexander
Executive & Artistic DIrector
Grand Performances, Los Angeles
(co-presenter of one section of The Late, Late Show as a work-in-progress in 2012)
The chance to walk from one set to the next, moving through time and space with the story, each time reacquainting ourselves with our drastically new circumstances, suited this show in particular, and made excellent use of my favorite theater space in the city...I highly recommend it.
David Jette, sydiot.com
FULL REVIEW
Brilliantly engaging popular culture, African American history, classical mythology, the symbol of America, and social themes of race, sex and identity, this play is exquisitely conceived, written and produced. Its immediate impact may be to charm, amuse and fascinate. But The Late, Late Show sustains the closer scrutiny that reveals it to be a troubling, challenging and powerful play with the lasting impact that we seek from serious art.
Lauri Ramey, PhD
Director
Center for Contemporary Poetry and Poetics
California State University Los Angeles
Paul Outlaw's The Late, Late Show is constructed in three unique segments, each part featuring aspects of the performer's prodigous talents. We were amazed and illuminated by the virtuosity on display: whether as a singer, a dramatic player, or outrageous peformance artist, Mr. Outlaw is in full command. At once a cri du coeur and tour de force, The Late, Late Show is not be missed!
Mark Thompson (author-activist)
& Malcolm Boyd (clergyman-author-activist)
I was beyond impressed with this truly Grand Performance. Paul Outlaw was flawless, delightful, and seemingly effortless in performance. This was not, however, the most impressive part: The content operated on so many layers of theory at once, I was afraid I would burst—burst into song—or instantaneously write an academic analysis, or maybe do all of those at once. It was an absolute privilege to watch such fun, playful, smart, meaningful performance done so well. He embodies that which all of us performers want to be in our own right: damn good. If Paul Outlaw doesn't have a graduate degree, he should be teaching those of us who do.
Crystal Lane Swift, PhD
Professor of Communications Studies
California State University Northridge
