Latest Love Negotiated Review

From SanDiego.com:

"Don’t expect major insights. Six’s characters, however, do offer some
lesser ones, like Ronnie’s observation that 'Dancing and drinking were
invented for sex' or Rich’s philosophy: 'Truth is better than lying.
You have to remember less.' And Six’s script cleverly milks a gag about
how obvious a couple’s surreptitious kiss was."

Read the full review here. Photo by Kathleen Masse, quote by Don Braunagel, San Diego.com.

Love Negotiated Pix in Slideshow format.

Reviews

From Total Theater:

"The 'bargaining' begins almost immediately. Are these established relationships fixed or are they variable? Does love need redefinition every so often? Just what is love? The playwright explores a variety of love options in this 90-minute laugh riot."

Read the full review here.

Photo by Kymri Wilt, quote by Robert Hitchcox, Total Theater.

From the San Diego Reader:

"The Lotus Theatre Collective has given the play a lively production in which the entire cast contributes (Marc Biagi, as Richard, Jennie Olson, as Veronica, and Melanie Sutherlin, as Maria, merit special mention). Sheila Rosen's costumes define character to a T. And Marie Miller's lighting's the best I've ever seen at Swedenborg Hall."

Read the full listing here.

Photo by Kathleen Masse, quote by Jeff Smith, San Diego Reader.

From San Diego City Beat:

"But this play contains little about law, at least the kind you find between the covers of a stupid book. We can lay down all the rules we want, and we can modify them as our conduct requires, but romantic love—often against its better judgment—is the central force of nature in our public lives. That’s what makes playwright Kevin Six’s concept (i.e., lawyers in love) so appropriate. He’s got an ideal partner in director D.J. Sullivan, probably the best all-around drama coach in the city. The story takes it from there—and while it occasionally backs into its characters, it’s a spirited tale, blessedly devoid of cliché, that augurs well for Six and, importantly, for University Heights’ Swedenborg Hall."

Read the full review here.

Photo by Kymri Wilt, quote by Martin Jones-Westlin, San Diego City Beat.

From San Diego News Service, Feb. 15, 2009:

"If you want to experience a really funny look at love, this play Love Negotiated is an absolute must."

Read the full review here.

Photo by Kathleen Masse, Quote by Leo E. Laurence, San Diego News Service.

Total Theater Totally Loves "Love Negotiated"!

And another great review from Robert Hitchcox at Total Theater:

"It's so simple. Veronica (Jennie Olson) and Richard (Marc Biagi), a couple for the last few years, invite three of their favorite marrieds or almost-marrieds over for cocktails. It's a tradition. Maria (Melanie Sutherlin) and Mark (Tyler Joshua Herdklotz), a nice engaged couple with just a few deep-seated problems, are invited. There's Luke (Thomas Hall), living with the charming Kate (Teresa Beckwith). And, finally, John (Stephen Rowe) and Ann (Savvy Scopeletti) join the group, with their own serious problems.

These are the loveable characters in Kevin Six's hilarious new play, Love Negotiated, premiering at the Swedenborg Hall under the capable direction of San Diego icon D. J. Sullivan. Six has forewarned you of things to come by virtue of his title; negotiate does mean bargaining with another.

The 'bargaining' begins almost immediately. Are these established relationships fixed or are they variable? Does love need redefinition every so often? Just what is love? The playwright explores a variety of love options in this 90-minute laugh riot.

Six populates his story with a few lawyers: a divorce attorney, a corporate type, a contract specialist, and one that doesn't practice. Yes, you already know there is trouble in River City. The others include a song-writing cop, a singing investigator who works for Richard, a fairly well know actor, and, last, a very, very angry cellist.

Some of the characters have a separate history together, such as being previously married to the host and hostess. Other characters have, shall we say, roving eyes. Some may just be interested in gender bending. There appear to be no rules. However, by virtue of the fact of no rules, rules seem to develop. Now don't get confused, this is all about love.

The joy is the script. Six likes to scare people with those commitment words like the D, C, and H words (dog, children, and honesty). One of his characters refers to sex as taking off your clothes and bumping into each other. He also gets into quasi and real legal terms: pre-nuptials, post-nuptials, and, my favorite, preemptive divorce.

Love Negotiated is a delightful play on words about the infinite permutations of love. Veronica and Richard are the stabilizing factor throughout the play...if by stabilizing one means fighting, bickering, screaming, and, eventually, making up. The cast moves from ensemble to duo and solo performances easily. Excellent portrayals by all, with their speeches just right. The pauses are perfectly timed, and the overlapping dialogue plays well. Director Sullivan moves her ever changing couples about the set, defining who is with whom as they ready for their moments of discovery. These moments are well defined by lighting director Marie Miller, who solo-spots each couple.

In sum, Love Negotiated should be required viewing for anybody contemplating cohabitation and/or marriage. It's also an excellent 90 minutes for marrieds. They can have moments of revelation as well as moments to laugh at their own history."

City Beat Reviews Love Negotiated

Small world

Funny Love Negotiated doesn’t say much, but it says it pretty well

By Martin Jones Westlin

The opening scene of Lotus Theatre Collective’s Love Negotiated is apparently set in the early evening, which makes it a little late in the day for a nooner. Richard and Veronica squeezed it in a few minutes ago anyhow, and that says a lot about the persistence that marks their lives. They’re divorce and family attorneys, after all. As such, it’s not stretching things to presume they’ve nooned their share of clients and then some, a few of whom probably had it coming.

But this play contains little about law, at least the kind you find between the covers of a stupid book. We can lay down all the rules we want, and we can modify them as our conduct requires, but romantic love—often against its better judgment—is the central force of nature in our public lives. That’s what makes playwright Kevin Six’s concept (i.e., lawyers in love) so appropriate. He’s got an ideal partner in director D.J. Sullivan, probably the best all-around drama coach in the city. The story takes it from there—and while it occasionally backs into its characters, it’s a spirited tale, blessedly devoid of cliché, that augurs well for Six and, importantly, for University Heights’ Swedenborg Hall.

The headstrong Dick and Ronnie (Mark Biagi and Jennie Olson) fuel history’s most grueling love relationship (their own); ironically, they stay together amid the maelstrom that descends on their stylish home. Before the play’s over, three other couples weigh in on sex, lifestyles, family and every other element so crucial to romantic foundations. Some (like Ann, played by the hilarious Savvy Scopelleti) will begrudgingly draw their own conclusions about the gay experience. All will agree that romantic involvement raises more questions than it answers.

Six would likely be the first to note that this show breaks nothing near new ground. Playwrights from Aeschylus to Philip King have tackled love and its intimacies from every conceivable angle, with every conceivable result. That’s where Sullivan comes in with a vengeance—her uncanny sense of style keeps the interludes interesting, creating happy distractions as she adjusts body languages to fit the rising and falling action. Sullivan is truly a San Diego treasure; the fact that she’s coached two Tony winners and an Oscar nominee is but a whisper amid her accomplishments.

She and Six do tend to falter a bit on the use of the set. Much is made of Richard and Veronica’s front door as part of the action, with the couples posing in the frame as it opens. Some scenelets might have gone better if some of the principals had let themselves in instead of ringing that blasted bell. That may seem like a quibble, but it’s not. Doors are highly metaphorical in middle farces like these; that’s why they’re always getting slammed, poor things.
In any event, please do enjoy this taut, well-executed piece on a topic that never seems to go away. It’s earnestly funny, and it’s also a feather in Swedenborg Hall’s cap; more and more, the venue is holding itself out as a major public performance space. Nice to think that eclectic University Heights has a little arts district in the making, with the acclaimed Diversionary Theatre as its flagship.

This review is based on the opening-night performance of Feb. 14. Love Negotiated runs through March 1 at Swedenborg Hall, 1531 Tyler Ave., University Heights. $12-$15. 619-952-1416, www.lovenegotiated.com.

Write to marty@edarts.info and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

The San Diego Reader Sounds Off on Love Negotiated

From the San Diego Reader Website:

"The Lotus Theatre Collective has given the play a lively production in which the entire cast contributes (Marc Biagi, as Richard, Jennie Olson, as Veronica, and Melanie Sutherlin, as Maria, merit special mention). Sheila Rosen's costumes define character to a T. And Marie Miller's lighting's the best I've ever seen at Swedenborg Hall."

Read the full listing here.

Photo by Kathleen Masse, quote by Jeff Smith, San Diego Reader.

First Review of Love Negotiated

From San Diego News Service, Feb. 15, 2009:

"If you want to experience a really funny look at love, this play Love Negotiated is an absolute must."

Read the full review here.

"PHOTO shows gay kissing scene, rare in San Diego theatre, as policeman
Mark (Tyler Josua Herdklotz, left) embraces soap-opera star Luke
(Thomas Hall), in the new and very funny stage play Love Negotiated. It opened on Valentine’s Day at the Swedenborg Hall theatre."

Photo, caption and quotes by Leo E. Laurence, San Diego News Service.

Love Negotiated Production Stills

Here is one of a number of photos of the Love Negotiated cast at work under the lights.

To see them all, click this link: Kat Masse's Love Negotiated Stills

NBC Morning Show features "Love Negotiated"

For those of you not awake and watching tellie at 5:45am, then you missed our feature on NBC Early Morning News with Jason Austell. But no worries! Your loving A.D./Producer woke up at the ungodly hour of 4:00am and picked up your nervous-grumpy-not-a-morning-person-playwright Kevin Six and delivered him to the NBC Studios where our professional and chronically-early-everywhere-actress Savvy Scopelleti was waiting, and within moments we were joined by equally professional arriving-with-coffee-in-hand-actor Tom Hall. Phew. Ok Kevin, you can relax now!!!!

Just in case my camera wouldn't be allowed on set, we took this picture as we waited in the lobby for our escort to bring us into the studio:

(note how great everyone looks for 5:00 in the morning!)

We went down the hall of editing rooms and sound rooms and rounded the corner of newsroom cubicles and right into the live taping studio. I must have missed the red "on the air" light, because they were broadcasting live as we shuffled in and our host gathered chairs for us. Here's the co-anchor leading in to the weather update:



Speaking of lead-ins, or "teasers", that's just what they had our two actors do before the commercial break. Here's the tape from my angle, which was fun to watch as the camera man was having fun with their shot:



Well finally, the moment arrived, and they were ready to air the live interview! Just one thing though. Kevin had to get to his spot:



There, much better!



Ok, now everyone is in place and, it's GO TIME! (remember, it's all LIVE on air!)

First, Jason Austell interviews the playwright Kevin Six, who explains that the show is about lawyers, non-lawyers, and people just trying to figure out what love is. He says basically it's about relationships, and we hope that's funny!





So 30 seconds of that then a preview scene from the show by our talented actors. Fortunately for us, it just so happens that both Savvy and Tom have backgrounds in broadcasting, so they knew exactly how to stand, what to do, what to say, and how to get it all out in exactly 60 seconds. They were awesome. I mean, just look at them, they're naturals!





Notice behind them, outside, how dark it is? Yep, the sun had not even risen yet, and before you could even say "breakfast", it was a wrap!

So where's the tape of the actors doing the scene, you ask? Well, if you weren't up at 5:00am to watch it on tv for yourself, then you'll just have to come see the show!

Love Negotiated on TV

Love Negotiated will be the subject of a story on NBC 7/39's Morning News on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2009. Now, here's the fun part. Actors Thomas Hall and Savvy Scopelleti are doing a scene from the show (one of the few that can be done on TV) and they're interviewing playwright Kevin Six.

We're on at5:35 a.m. So! Warm up the recording devices or look for a link here late Tuesday. We'll see you on TV!

Nasty Divorce

Here's a divorce settlement that would have all the lawyers in Love Negotiated working over time. Check it out.

Madoff investor Steven Simkin sues ex-wife for post judgment equitable distribution

Love Negotiated Takes Second Place

Tulsa, OK

The Heller Theatre has announced the winners for their 2008 Heller Theatre Playwriting contest. Love Negotiated by Kevin Six came in second. See the results here.

The management of the Heller Theatre a nice note detailing how Love Negotiated might take first place in 2009 and possibly be produced. The good news is that changes made for the upcoming San Diego production have already been made and will result in a crisper, better play and a possible future production.

Kate's Website

Kate's Website is done. Kate is a character in Love Negotiated. See it here:

Kathryn H. Kugelbrecher

Bonus points to anyone who can translate her last name...

Crunch time

So we're starting tech, technically this Saturday. Tech is always the most interesting time of a show, I feel, because here is where your ideas about a show and the reality of your space really meet for the first time. Having been in a few and seeing some big and small (done some backstage work at La Jolla Playhouse, Lamb's Players Theatre and San Diego Rep), it's always "interesting" to see how the show evolves at this point. Oh, yes, that idea about having that over there won't work because we can't move that light over because this thingy is blocking the light from the ceiling, yes, that thingy is the sprinkler system, and no we can't move it.

You need to have your sense of humor when going into tech.

As an actor, I know that I need to have my patience. I'm here for the designers so they can do their thing, their art, their vital contribution to the piece. Here is where the magic happens, the set emerges, the lights come up and tada, it all comes together.
Or not....
But regardless, we open on February 14th. That's the beautiful thing about theatre, one of the ONLY industries that has a deadline and meets it EVERY TIME. That curtain will rise, and there will be a show.
So whether the ideas about the thingies work or not, the light hangs this way or that way, or that curtain that was supposed to look like...well...whatever, it's happening.

And we're all a part of it.

Check Out This Link

Here is the Love Negotiated Postcard/Flyer/Poster/E-mail

Love Negotiated Marketing Piece