Long-distance directing an interesting concept

Director/producer Ruth Pe Palileo was chatting about a soon to open production for which director/writer Adam Burnett hadn't attended a single rehearsal. In fact, he won't get into town until the day before the first performance, and he's playing the lead role.

If I hadn't experienced some of Pe Palileo's excellent stage work, I would have thought her either nuts or naive.

But things may not be as sacrilegious as they seem.

In 2010, several people from Butcher Block Productions attended the Kansas City Fringe Festival. They discovered a show by Buran Theatre Company that was greatly influenced by Augusto Boal, the founder of what's been called "Theatre for the Oppressed." Boal was a Brazilian who wanted to erase the artificial boundaries between actor and audience.

The adult play is an hourlong physical comedy about filmmaker Werner Herzog's mammoth (maniacal?) attempts to achieve unheard of visual effects during his making of the infamous 1982 spectacle "Fitzcarraldo." (There's been a lot of press about what the madness of that movie set was like.)

Titled "House of Fitzcarraldo," Burnett's script is, according to Pe Palileo, a light-hearted tribute to the faults and strengths of a man who would stop at nothing to realize his vision.

The cast is made up of five actors: two locals (Thomas Chrastka and Ariana Helaine Miner), three out-of-towners.

But how do the locals rehearse without a director?

"I would not have taken the risk with actors who hadn't seen the show," Pe Palileo said. "The two local performers saw the fringe production, and understand what Burnett is looking for. Also the (Buran/Boal) techniques are designed to get actors quickly up to snuff."

In addition to the two performances of the play -- one at 8 p.m. Thursday at The Box Office (1129 S. Casino Centre Drive) and another at 8 p.m. Jan. 20 at Las Vegas Little Theatre Studio (3920 Schiff Drive) -- the Buran company will present a curtain raiser on Jan. 20 which will be the result of a mere one-day workshop with Vegas actors.

The 40-year-old Pe Palileo, who holds a Ph.D. from the Samuel Beckett Centre in Dublin, has been kicking around Vegas for a couple of years, freelancing (or "interning" as she calls it). She directed two celebrated productions: the funny and ominous "Dead Man's Cell Phone" at Las Vegas Little Theatre, and Ibsen's celebrated "The Chairs" with Born and Raised Productions at The Box Office.

"I didn't want to just jump into Vegas and start directing when I didn't know the community," she said. "Vegas is unique as far as shows go. You've got the Strip, with all the spectacle, and then you've got the little theaters barely getting by. I think things are developing, though. It's an interesting time to be here."

It'll also be interesting to see if this long-distance directing concept works.

Tickets are $12-$15 and can be ordered in advance at drama.products@gmail.com.

Anthony Del Valle can be reached at vegastheaterchat@ aol.com. You can write him c/o Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125.