Anthony Eramya
Staff Writer
Ophelia’s Jump Productions is showing the play “Helvetica” by Katie Coleman.
“Helvetica” follows the character Helvetica Burke and her teddy bear, Myron, as they navigate through the highs and lows of life. She is a cynical author, who writes about death in her books targeted towards children. One day, she comes in contact with death face-to-face, and she must find the reality of the world in her past, present and future.
The show was directed by Elina de Santos, an award-winning director and former acting coach for TV actress Eva Longoria.
At the first showing of “Helvetica” Saturday, there were roughly 45 people in attendance. Before the show, a lot of the crowd enjoyed drinks across the street at the Baldy Brewing Co.
The majority of the Saturday night crowd was people who volunteered on the show or board members who’d donated money to keep the theater running.
The stage was within arms reach from the audience, which made viewers feel like they are a part of the play.
Intimate setting aside, the production value was high. The shifts in lighting throughout the entirety of the show was beautiful.
The talented cast maneuvered the small stage with aplomb – using everything in the set and repurposing items throughout the show,
The cast of the show consisted of Raven Scott, Mikki Hernandez, Lisa Robin, Kelly Franett, Olga Konstantulakis, Tony Kim and Peter Mendoza.
“Helvetica” is a story about growing up and how hard it is to not lose your passion.
“I just hope you felt something.” said Lisa Robins, who plays a version of the main character. “I hope you laughed, I hope you wanted to cry,” Robins said.
The show had the crowd laughing a lot – and occasionally holding back tears.
“(The crowd) tells how good some of these jokes are,” Franett said. “We have been practicing this in front of no crowd so it is hard to get a gauge on what is going to happen when we have a full audience in attendance.”
Franett plays Myron, who narrates a majority of the story.
“It used to be all about going to watch plays,” Franett said, “We want to get young people back in the theater.”
“The play had three actresses playing one person in three different stages of life,” Maria Wortham said. “That is hard to execute and they did a great job.”
Wortham is a volunteer for the show and a former costume designer at the University of La Verne.
The show opened by paying respects to the Gabrielino-Tongva Tribe. They acknowledged that there were people on this land before America was even discovered and provided a link on their program that links to the Gabrielino-Tongva Tribe website at gabrielinotribe.org.
After the show was a reception where the audience could talk to each other, members of the cast and the people who worked on the show.
“Helvetica” was the first show of the 12th season of productions from Ophelia’s Jump.
The show runs Friday through Sunday, through March 16.
For tickets and information visit opheliasjump.org.
Anthony Eramya can be reached at anthony.eramya@laverne.edu
Anthony Eramya, a senior journalism major, is a staff photographer for the Campus Times and La Verne Magazine. He has previously served as a staff writer for both publications.
