Notes on the Land of Earthquake and Fire

Three years ago I went to see a reading of Jason Schafer’s “Notes.”  The reading was a final project for his MFA from NYU.  Finally he has personally brought the play to fruition by way of the New York International Fringe Festival, presented in the Players Theatre in Greenwich Village.  Jason spent a few years in Hollywood after the success of his film, TRICK.  His experience dealing with television and movie producers found its way into this small play about an assistant to an important monster of a producer.  The assistant, Chad, played with ideal angst by Ian Scott McGregor, gets a call from the wife of producer Alan Howard (Scott Aiello) that she won’t be returning from a trip in time to pick up their daughter.  Chad can’t find Howard anyplace, so he takes the initiative, picks up daughter Lena (Sarah Grover) and takes her to Howard’s Malibu beach front home. Lena is spoiled beyond control and she and Chad have an antagonistic relationship.  Chad is due at a friend’s birthday party later that evening and is concerned about finding Howard so that he can quit baby-sitting and get going.  Enter Shane (Chad Lindsey), a good-looking hunk who stumbles into the Malibu home higher than a kite.  Turns out he’s one of the producers working with Howard on a new surfer movie.  By reading between the lines we quickly come to the conclusion that Shane is sexually involved with Howard.  This is the set up, and it takes some time to establish it, but once in place, the set up is a sturdy platform to explore the ugly business-meets-personal side of Hollywood.  

Chad would like to graduate from assistant to the development team and can’t understand why a coworker is getting ahead faster.  Shane would like to talk Chad out of pursuing the film business and get out––he’ll be happier.  Howard is maniacal, treats Chad cruelly, and threatens his future career if he doesn’t give up his personal plans to baby-sit his daughter for the weekend.  In battling to be treated fairly, through Chad we get a slice of the unscrupulous side of Hollywood: lies, broken promises, deals, dysfunctional families, power and seeping through the muck––humanity.  Shane, who feels he has lost his soul in Hollywood, shows his true humanity in one selfless gesture of saving a puppy from a burning house.  Chad, who valiantly turned in his resignation to live a happy life far away from show business, is all too quickly lured back by a deal based on the threat of blackmail.  The characters are fun, being that they are safely contained upon a stage, but they emerge as quirky, interesting, problematic people who reveal their true natures when faced with extremities.  The play is a revelation of character and a glimpse at the inner workings of Hollywood distilled into the lives of four lonely characters.  This is a fascinating portrait, handled with good humor and biting commentary from a writer who knows the subject first hand.