‘Hello Stranger’ A Captivating Journey Against The Back Drop of the Day of the Dead

Posted on October 21, 2017 by Joan Alperin
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Photo by Darrett Sanders

“Hello Stranger’ written by Sharon Yablon and directed by Sarah Figoten Wilson is one of the most original, engrossing plays I’ve seen in a long time.

When the play opens we meet Mike (the outstanding Trevor H. Olsen) a man who has returned to his hometown of Fontana, California in the Inland Empire for his 30 year high school reunion. A reunion he did not enjoy.  Mike can’t wait to get back to Los Angeles where he now resides. Only problem is, he’s just totaled his car and with no way to leave, Mike winds up wandering around the familiar locations of his childhood.

Along the way he encounters several mysterious people that set him on a journey through his past, dreams, and memories against the back drop of the Day of the Dead festival leading him to uncover dark secrets about the town, his own childhood and his deceased mother.

Mike first meets a young girl named Audrey (Aliyah Conley) who is sitting on a swing in the backyard of the childhood house.  His conversation with her is cut short when her mother, Carla (Reamy Hall) comes running outside yelling at him to leave.  Of course, he doesn’t. Instead they talk and realize they have a great deal in common.

Soon other strange characters appear to Mike…His dead mother, Mandy (Elinor Gunn), a very funny, animated hispanic man, named Jesus (the fantastic Alexis deLaRosa) a man named Carpy (the excellent Christopher Neiman) and Audrey (Maren O’Sullivan) who seems to be covering up a tragedy that has affected Mike his whole life.

This one act play is one you do not miss. Everything about it, the writing, the acting, the story is just perfect and personally I did not want Mike’s journey to end.

“Hello Stranger’ opened at Theatre of Note located at 1517 N. Cahuenga Blvd in Hollywood, on Thursday evening October 19th and runs through Saturday, November 18th. Performances are: Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 7pm. Alternate cast performances: Thursday, November 2nd at 8pm and Sunday, November 5th at 4pm.

Tickets: Online: www.theatreofnote.com or call 323-856-8611.

Joan Alperin

About Joan Alperin

Joan was born in Brooklyn and spent many years working as an actress in New York City. Even though she traveled extensively, Joan couldn't imagine living anywhere else.. Well one day, she met someone at a party who regaled her with stories about living in L. A. specifically Topanga Canyon. A few weeks later she found herself on an airplane bound for Los Angeles. Joan immediately fell in love with the town and has been living here for the last twenty years and yes, she even made it to Topanga Canyon, where she now resides, surrounded by nature, deer, owls and all kinds of extraordinary alien creatures.. Joan continued acting, but for the last several years (besides reviewing plays and film) she has been writing screenplays. Joan was married to a filmmaker who created the cult classic films, (way before she knew him) Faces of Death. As a result of his huge following, they created a funny movie review show entitled Two Jews on Film, where Joan and her husband, John would review movies and rate them with bagels You can see their reviews by going to youtube.com/twojewsonfilm. Although it's now only one Jew - Joan is occasionally joined by her beautiful Pekingnese and Japanese Chin.
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