Go for the ballet, stay for the ballet

The dancers and actors of the Relevant Stage were still getting used to the rococo beauty of San Pedro’s Warner Grand Theatre when we stopped in to catch a rehearsal. Mostly, they were chattering (about the Oscar noms) and stretching, but one hugely muscled man was prancing: He was a buck. (A metaphorical buck.) And, of course—just ask The Queen—the metaphorical buck must die.

Acts of Desperation is a conglomeration of two one-act plays, Roberta McMillan’s film Rats & Bullies—The Dawn Marie-Wesley Story, and dance by the San Pedro City Ballet, all focused on the dangers of bullying. In Act I of Relevant Stage’s production, our heroine offs herself; in Act II, our hero sits in his jail cell and reflects back on when he offed a lot of other people. Bullies are mean! And in the meantime, we dance!

The dance is beautiful. In Act I, three women in black, who I’d guess are Furies, produce elegant and exquisitely matched movement in a beautiful ballet of bullying. But the story of Act I—a girl is threatening to kill Dawn Marie, so she takes the duty on herself—made me itchy. Seriously? A bunch of girls threaten an ass-kicking, so you decide to make it easier on them? Where’s the humiliation, the character assassination, the more subtle threats of loss of status in the group, that defines the actions of all the Mean Girls we’ve ever known and loved?

To be clear, we did not get a complete run-through, nor the film that will play on a screen as the action dances below, that night at the Warner Grand—just pieces of performance at the barest of bones. My son thought the story was tops.

But a threatened beating? So she kills herself? I call gender-psychology bullshit on that. Less slashing fists, Relevant Stage, and more slicing tongues.

ACTS OF DESPERATION WARNER GRAND THEATRE | 478 W SIXTH ST | SAN PEDRO 90731 | 310.929.8129 | THERELEVANTSTAGE.COM | THURS-SAT 7PM, SUN 1PM | THROUGH FEB 3 | $5-15

Tags: ballet, relevant stage, San Pedro, warner grand theatre