重口50度灰

Skip to main content

Theater of the Absurd

By Dick Anderson Photos by Marc Campos

Www重口50度灰 Children鈥檚 Theater has delighted audiences of all ages for 29 seasons鈥攂ut what鈥檚 next after Cinderalice in Wonderland? We went to Jamie Angell for answers

锘縒ww重口50度灰 Children鈥檚 Theater has been a staple of the Northeast L.A. community for nearly three decades now. But before it became the institution that we all know and love, there was a predecessor children鈥檚 theater company that鈥攚ell, how shall we put it nicely?

Children鈥檚 Theater auteur Jamie Angell.
Children鈥檚 Theater auteur Jamie Angell.

鈥淚 just didn鈥檛 think it was very good or successful,鈥 says Resident Professor Jamie Angell, an alumnus of Oxy鈥檚 Summer Theater Festival who joined the College in 1991 as an instructor in theater. 鈥淚 thought, 鈥業 can do this better,鈥 because I鈥檇 had experience touring with a professional children鈥檚 theater in Thetford, Vermont. I felt I could take what we鈥檇 done there and make it even more stripped down.鈥 It was kind of hubris on my part, but it turned out fine.

鈥淥ver the years, we鈥檝e developed a whole lot of associate programs,鈥  he adds. 鈥淲e have the Summer Institute of Fun, a four-week summer camp that caters to 6- to 8-year olds in the morning and 9- to 13-year-olds in the afternoon.鈥 (There鈥檚 also a one-week session for kids 11 to 15, and a Saturday camp during the school year鈥攁n eight-week session each fall and spring for ages 6-8 and 9-12.)

To meet the demands of Children鈥檚 Theater year-round, Angell gets a course release during the academic year to manage things. But the curriculum will look slightly different next spring: Angell retired from the classroom this May. 鈥淚鈥檝e taught here for 33 years, which seems like plenty of time,鈥 he says. 鈥淣ext year, I鈥檒l still get my course release pay to coordinate all the yearlong stuff for Children鈥檚 Theater. In that sense, I鈥檓 not leaving.鈥 In addition, Angell will be expanding his two-unit Children鈥檚 Theater class into a 鈥渕ore robust鈥 four-unit class for the future. He鈥檒l also continue to conceive and write the original summer production that the six-member troupe performs, alongside three traditional folk tales from around the world, over the show鈥檚 seven-week summer run (this year鈥檚 play is titled Cinderalice in Wonderland).

鈥淭his summer will be the 29th year we鈥檝e done Children鈥檚 Theater, so I feel like I need to get to 30,鈥 Angell says. But will he remain with the program beyond its pearl anniversary? 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know. Maybe. I couldn鈥檛 say. I didn鈥檛 think I was going to do it this long.鈥

Angell has been the creative spark behind Children鈥檚 Theater from the jump, working with longtime friend Nick Erickson, associate professor of movement at Louisiana State University, who with Angell ran a two-week boot camp for the ensemble each year.

Performers from the 2023 Www重口50度灰 Children鈥檚 Theater production of Snow White and the 007 Dwarfs in Remsen Bird Hillside Theater.
Performers from the 2023 Www重口50度灰 Children鈥檚 Theater production of Snow White and the 007 Dwarfs in Remsen Bird Hillside Theater. 

With a large library of originals鈥攆rom Sleeping Beauty鈥檚 Monster Truck Rally (1996) to Snow White and the 007 Dwarfs (2023)鈥斺淚 want to make sure that I get these plays published so that other places can do them,鈥 Angell says. 鈥淚鈥檓 also interested in turning the title stories into illustrated books, because I think that there鈥檚 a lot of physicality in our shows鈥攁nd the images are all there. The children鈥檚 literature market is insanely competitive, but I鈥檒l do that if I can.鈥

Angell also will remain busy working on projects for his Lincoln High School buddy and Komix Appreciation Klub co-founder, Matt Groening. In addition to serving as story editor on the five-part Netflix series Disenchantment, Angell interviewed the animators behind Futurama for a new book titled (appropriately enough) The Art of Futurama, to be published by Abrams in October.

But his heart is clearly with Www重口50度灰 Children鈥檚 Theater, which has remained self-sustaining all these years without any direct funding from the College. 鈥淚t probably took us six years before we really figured things out, but we鈥檝e been solidly in the black ever since,鈥 he says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e supported by box office revenue, grants, and donations. And our summer camp tuition allows us to pay the actors more, while generating enough additional revenue so we can offer camp scholarships to kids who need them.鈥

Given all that, he admits, 鈥淚鈥檓 loath to go away, because I鈥檓 that little gluey part that holds things together. So much of what we do is in my head鈥攁nd maybe that鈥檚 on me鈥攂ut when is there time to write things down? You can鈥檛 just follow a set of rules; the experience is in your lived understanding of how to deal with whatever circumstances arise.鈥

While Children鈥檚 Theater draws somewhere close to 2,000 patrons to see the show at Remsen Bird Hillside Theater each summer, the numbers run much higher when you add in the touring shows. 鈥淲e鈥檒l visit a rec center and there鈥檒l be 60 to 80 kids there, so that鈥檚 another 400 or 500 for the six shows we do. And then we do three shows at Eagle Rock Elementary in the fall because that鈥檚 where my son was going when I started the program, and that鈥檚 another 600 students.

鈥淗e鈥檚 31 now鈥攖hat鈥檚 really old,鈥 Angell adds with a chuckle. But if he鈥檚 anything like his dad, there鈥檚 still a child inside. 

Top photo: Amanda Wagner 鈥16 goes airborne in the 2021 revival of The Boy Who Cried Wolfman.