Theatre Meets Tech: “Noir” Vignettes Streamed Live

A one-weekend-only theatrical treat looks to the future and LA's fedora-wearing past.

Many things we associate with Southern California, products and sights that seem to be homegrown and as LA as LA gets, have stronger ties elsewhere.

Palm trees are not native to the area (save the Washingtonia filifera) and freeways? We weren't the first to have those, either.

But we do have a serious stake in noir, that connivingest of juicy genres, a form that our sun-stroked city shaped and sold to an appreciative larger audience far outside of our tough-talkin', double-dealin' realm. And we do have a stake in the televised, broadcast-wide arts, which, even if they weren't invented here, were perfected.

Both of those LA-owns-'em things dovetail deliciously in The Heretick Theatre Lab's "The Noir Series," a one-weekend-only "theatrical experience" that features a handful of "thematically linked short pieces" digging into matters of crime, passion, and characters on the brink. And while it is theatre, it shall be live-streamed, too, for lovers of noir do not only live in Los Angeles but, rather, everywhere.

"The Noir Series" fedoras-up at Schkapf on Santa Monica Boulevard for four performances, Nov. 7 through 9.

If ticketed live-streamed theatre sounds familiar, it should, because The National Theatre in London has been experimenting it in recent years, perhaps most famously with "Frankenstein," which starred Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller back in 2011.

The brain power behind "The Noir Series" is also big: Stephen McFeely, co-writer of the Captain America films (and, disclaimer, a pal to this writer) is the scribe behind "Malfeasance," one of the night's vignettes. Ed Brubaker, another acclaimed writer who has been a part of the Captain America franchise, penned "Air-Conditioned Rooms." And the much-loved impsters the Burglars of Hamm have had a merrily malevolent hand in the proceedings.

The Scene

Want to find new things to do in Los Angeles? The Scene's lifestyle stories have you covered. Here's your go-to source on where the fun is across SoCal and for the weekend.

Snack, with style, on the Rose Bowl field and support a great cause

LA says goodbye to the iconic Conga Room

Noir and our city go together like a scheming dame and up-to-no-good guy bent on nabbing themselves some below-board money. And televised theatre and LA seem like twosome with a real chance at success, since we've got something of a rep for broadcasting images out to the wider, entertainment-craving world.

When those two things meet? Why it is as LA as seeking out shade, or a shady story, on an overly sunny day.

Copyright FREEL - NBC Local Media
Contact Us