Ariel Goldberg (L), Isaac Wade (R)

Scene: A boring insurance office in hard times (like these?) Not only downbeat and dreary, but the shloggy company demands that adjusters deny all claims, and no way for them to protest since workers are being laid off. So here  is an office staff trapped between an economic rock and a very scary place, and no way to fight back.

Suddenly one older boring guy, Arthur Quick, snaps. He hears odd transforming music. The next day, he bursts into the office in full regalia: a pasta strainer for a hat, various metal objects strapped about him, and a tattered cape.  He has been miraculously transformed into a knight errant. With his ebullient presence, the mundane becomes illuminated.

Isaac Wade

This is the setting for the young and energetic cast of the Los Angeles Theater Ensemble to present Quixotic, Kit Steinkellner’s contemporary adaptation of Don Quixote. Arthur Quick (Isaac Wade)  is ready to fight “the enemy.” His trusted horse is a rather bent and battered bicycle, I think his sword is a soup ladle and  for his faithful squire he chooses a fellow worker (Ariel Goldberg) , a rather timid soul afraid to court the lady he loves.

Sure, he’s off the edge, but he’s funny and he’s the only one in this office of fear who has the courage to challenge anything, and so he’s tolerated, even supported. When he wants to joust with giants (the buildings next door), the whole office staff cheers him on.

His only real enemy is a mean-spirited temp who desperately needs a job, and she wants his. I won’t be a spoiler to tell you what happens.

Kit Steinkellner’s play is still young and needs polish. Some of the pieces don’t fit, but who cares? That will come.  And the good-spirited cast keeps the story bouncing along.  It’s the youth and energy of the company that’s appealing and makes for an enjoyable evening…with a message for these odd and trying times.

Photos by Chaya Calmus

I think the importance of a little story like Quixotic is that, considering the cynical times we live in, a message of hope from whatever source is most welcome. All through this election and the economic chaos, how on earth do we fight our giants when even we sane ones cannot identify the enemy? There is a lovely spirit of challenge and a hint of energetic hope, even with the downer ending. (Oops, should not have said that, but the last scene  has a redeeming moment.)

Arthur Quick, his office manager (Coco Kleppinger,) and his sidekick, the timid lover, are great, but the whole competent cast also includes: Trevor Algatt, Sarah Gold, Danielle Katz,  Nathaniel Meed and Paige White.

The Powerhouse Theater
3116 2nd Street
Santa Monica, California 90405
(310) 396-3680