Clayton Winters as Cowboy Bob in Texarkana Waltz, University of Oklahoma
LOUIS BROOME
William Salyers, Todd Beadle, in Texarkana Waltz, Circle X Theater, LA. Photo © Erin Fiedler
Texarkana Waltz
"Singing cowboys, inflatable cactuses and echoes of "Hamlet--The unlikely counterpoint of Wild West parody and Elizabethan revenge tragedy--propels Circle X Theater Company's premiere of "Texarkana Waltz" to dazzling lunacy at the Los Angeles Playhouse. One of those rare works that manages to tickle the funny bones while plucking the heartstrings, Louis Broome's well-crafted, semi-autobiographical play employs modern and classical sensibilities to examine the troubled Wicketts, an Oklahoma clan coping with its violent past."
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- LA Times
Manifesto Series V.2:
Vivid Impact
"Louis Broome's Texarkana Waltz is that rare theatrical treasure which brings its fiercely funny myths to life - and then trumps them with the greater myth of its own incomparable originality." Available here.
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Steven Dietz, Editor
Still frame, Brass: Dollymops & French Apaches, Exec Prod., Battleground Productions. Assoc. Prod., Tim Ruzicki, Dazzling Lunacy. Scott Finley, Dir. of Photography
Brass:
dollymops &
french apaches
The Watch & Chain Gang, three women who are accomplished pickpockets, battle vicious French Apaches, a gang of notorious cutthroats. Louis co-wrote, directed, and was Associate Producer. Battleground Productions, 2017, now available on Binge TV and Battleground Productions.
RED MEAT SUBSTITUTES
Louis was a founding member of Red Meat Substitutes, a Tulsa, OK theater ensemble that wrote, directed, produced, and performed original works from 1987-1991. In that time, Red Meat staged 60 short and one-act plays in seven productions and one live radio broadcast. Each show's theme was determined by the ensemble during a night of drunken revelry. What began as a ragtag, unorganized group of scrappy theater junkies playing to almost no one, evolved into a professional ensemble playing to packed houses.
THE RECKONING
Murray the bartender has only one customer, God, who drinks to forget but can't. After God takes the life of her husband, Hester pleads to God to spare her son. After God takes the life of her son, she pays Him a visit. Written in dramatic verse, in a mashup of Christian and Greek myths, The Reckoning explores our relationship--and obligation--to an omniscient power that has more important things to do than concern Himself with our brief, inconsequential lives. Such as having a Last Word.
THE SAD LAMENT OF EDDIE WICKETT ON THE NIGHT OF HIS EXECUTION
Angel is madly in love with Eddie, her penitentiary pen pal husband, who is moments away from being executed for murder. Angel's aunt, Madam Palma, a Psychic Head Reader, is attempting to join Angel and Eddie in the afterlife at the moment of his execution when Darlene, also madly in love with Eddie, arrives and possesses Madam Palma. Who gets an afterlife with Eddie? Who spends eternity in the void? And why is Eddie so laid back?
ROLL AWAY THE STONE
Susan and Tim share a house with David. Susan falls out of love with Tim and into love with David. Tim doesn't take it well. He invites a few old friends over, Elijah Craig, Jim Beam, and Jack Daniels, to help him cope with his heartbreak. Things are mellow until the TV won't turn on. While trying to repair the TV with a large kitchen knife, Tim accidentally stabs himself in the side. On the floor bleeding, Tim has a revelation--the TV's unplugged. Tim plugs it just in time to hear some badly needed advice, and Susan and David show up just in time to save his life. This action-packed short play explores how heartbreak can change us for the better.
LOST
Renault Coupland, running from the mob and lamenting the disappearance of his wife, wanders into the camp of Dalton Roads, legendary Wild West Bandit, who's been waiting 140 years for his brother, Jed, to return after being taken by aliens. Dalton tells Renault the tale of the Roads Gang's last great heist with the help of an all- star cast: Jed, Pepper the Talking Horse, Celeste the Bandit Ballerina, and Misty Veil and Lizzy Smith, former prairie nymphs. When Jed returns in a flying saucer with Miss Fluffy and Kitten, cats from outer space, and Irina, Renault's missing wife, Renault realizes he is "Lost in time/And lost in space/And meaning."