By Mitch Chortkoff
Observer Editor
Shortly after I entered the Kirk Douglas Theatre Saturday afternoon to see “The Method Gun” ushers approached the audience with a pencil and slip of paper.
We were asked to write the name of a teacher who had inspired us early in life, someone who made a difference.
The play began and for the next 90 minutes there was no mention of the request.
The play was about a popular teacher who suddenly departed for South America, leaving her students and former students questioning her methods over the years.
Well, everything came together at the end when a message appeared on a screen, beginning with “this play is dedicated to…”
Following were the names we had written down, hundreds of them, some with first and last names, some simply Mrs. Scott or Mr. Jones.
It was a tribute to the teaching profession and served as evidence of the quality plays we have in Culver City at both the Kirk Douglas Theatre and Actors Gang.
The name I submitted was Bud Furillo, and if you’re wondering about that Bud was sports editor of the Herald-Examiner in my formative journalism years. A staff of eager kids learned the profession the right way and we owe our careers to him.
Before Furillo died at 80 he mentored a group of journalists who now write for various papers in Southern California.
The 300 or so people at the play could tell similar stories of a mentor who inspired them.
This was a Douglas Plus production, a concept of plays being performed for only a couple of weeks. This one runs only through Sunday.
There were only five cast members, Thomas Graves, Hannah Kenah, Lana Lesley, E. Jason Liebrecht and Shawn sides. All were superb.
Reader Comments(0)