By Daily Press staff
Finding the right man can be a laughing matter. The Ruskin Group Theatre will present the world premiere of Cindy Lu’s unique one-woman play — a theatrical experience-cum-dating-tutorial that delivers a comic punch along with practical advice on nabbing the love of your life.
“The Four Man Plan: A Romantic Science,” directed by Paul Linke, will run from July 14 through Sept. 2 at Ruskin Group Theatre, 3000 Airport Dr. at Santa Monica Airport. Performances are at 8 p.m. Fridays and 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Saturdays.
Described as a delightful and sometimes raunchy comedy, “The Four Man Plan” tells the true story of Lu’s 15 years of bad dates and tortured relationships — all the result of her quest for Prince Charming — before she decided to take a more scientific approach.
“I sucked at love. But I loved love. I just needed a logical approach,” said Lu, an accomplished actor with extensive theater and television credits, including “Desperate Housewives” and “Six Feet Under.”
“Through a series of test dates and experimental men, analyzing previously accumulated data and using myself and girlfriends as guinea pigs, I developed a formula for love that can be used by dysfunctional Cinderellas of all ages,” she said. “Yes, the goal is to date four men at a time. But it isn’t as simple as it sounds. The Four Man Plan consists of a carefully developed set of postulates, graphs, charts and theories. For example, there are the ‘Wait for Sex Index,’ ‘The Rule of Chuck,’ ‘The Half Man Imperative’ and ‘The Chick’s Chick Angle.’”
The performance — with cocktails, featuring “Planner’s Punch,” allowed in the theater — is followed by a question-and-answer session after Friday night performances so that audience members can be sure to get “the desired results — loving relationships with yourself and others, a renewed faith in humanity, and someone to save your seat, rub your feet and grill your meats into happily ever after,” Lu said.
Lu said that though her show might seem to be geared toward women, she thinks men — both straight and gay — will learn a lot and have as good a time as the female audience members.
“Besides, what better way to meet motivated women?” she says.
Linke, a professional actor and director for almost 30 years, best known as Artie Grossman on the NBC-TV series “CHiPs,” has directed several critically acclaimed shows at Ruskin, including “That May Well Be True” and “Caterpillar Soup.” He has created, acted in and directed several one-person shows, including directing Ben Gazzara in the one-man play “Nobody Don’t Like Yogi” off-Broadway at The Lambs Theatre. He also directed Charles Nelson Reilly’s hit one-man show “Save it for the Stage.”
Tickets for The Four Man Plan are $20. Call (310) 397-3244 or go to http://www.rusk-ingrouptheatre.com.
In conjunction with the opening of the “The Four Man Plan” is “The Gloaming” — an exhibit of Eric Bogart’s compelling black-and-white photos of the people, landscapes and objects of Santa Monica and Venice. The exhibit will run from July 15 to Sept. 16.
An opening reception will be held from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, July 15. “All of Bogart’s photographs show us the complex beauties of our urban landscape that we miss in our busy cell phone-and car-oriented lives,” said Amelia Mulkey, Ruskin’s gallery director. Bogart, who worked for seven years as a film editor for an advertising company but whose passion is photography, says loneliness is a theme that intrigues him.
“The people or places that convey this feeling of emptiness and isolation are what I gravitate towards,” he said. “Santa Monica and Venice are my favorite places for pictures, partly because I know them so well and partly because there’s so much I’ve still never seen.”
Also produced by the Ruskin Group Theater is “Independence,” the theme of the next monthly installment of the popular “L.A. Café Plays” to be held on Sunday, July 16. The Café Plays have been dubbed the “Fastest Theater in Town” because five short plays go from conception to execution in just 10 1/2 hours.
The “Café Plays” will be staged at 7:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. at Ruskin Group Theatre, 3000 Airport Dr. at Santa Monica Airport.
Past participants in the “Café Plays,” as director or actor, have included such luminaries as Dylan McDermott (“The Practice”); Olivia D’Abo (“The Wonder Years” television show and The Odd Couple on Broadway); and Dan Lauria (“The Wonder Years,”“Jag,” etc.).
Although several theaters throughout the country have staged 24-hour plays, Ruskin producers Mike Myers, Erin Kelly and Michael Laurie have upped the stakes and cut that time by more than half. In addition, the speed plays are produced monthly.
At 9 a.m. the day of the performance, five writers gather at Back on Broadway, a café-restaurant in Santa Monica. Each writer picks, at random, two manila envelopes containing actors’ headshots. They are then given four hours to write a seven-to 10-page one-act play that takes place in a café. The directors then take over, meet their actors, and begin rehearsals.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 7, 2006. Read the original PDF.