Idyllwild’s Steven Leigh Morris, former LA Weekly critic and founding editor of Stage Raw, wrote a play, “Red Ink,” on stage now at the Atwater Village Theatre in Los Angeles.
In a press release, Morris writes “Red Ink looks at the corrosive pressures of click-bait journalism and cut-throat competition on an imploding newspaper recently purchased by a private equity firm. The paper is further bludgeoned, or perhaps redeemed, by the intrusion of a deranged gunman, seeking revenge for a news article he found offensive.”
One of the newspaper’s journalists, “newly admitted to a mental ward, re-enacts scenes from the life of his newspaper with fellow inmates, capturing the moment when social media swerved into the fast lane of public information and perception.”
The cast includes Michelle Bonebright-Carter (“A Mother’s Love” and “Reboot”), Steven Culp (“The West Wing” and “Gray’s Anatomy”), Tracey A. Leigh (“Modern Family” and “Criminal Minds”), Leo Marks (“The Maestro”), Jocelyn Towne (“The Kominsky Method” and “Gilmore Girls”) and Peter Van Norden (“The Accused” and “Police Academy 2”).
The play is directed by Nike Doukas, who has received 10 Ovation nominations and three Drama Critics’ Circle nominations.
“We were told this morning that the production of ‘Red Ink’ just made the coveted L.A. Times Critics’ Choice list,” wrote Morris in an email Jan. 27. “The Times’ review should be out in the next few days.”
Ticket Holders L.A. writes: “Steven Leigh Morris’ ‘Red Ink’ is beyond simply a biting, often hilarious, on-the-money treatise laying bare the immorality of corporate greed. It echoes everything wrong in our society as its ‘leaders’ step over us all while cavalierly destroying everything we should be desperately holding dear. We need such courageous and thought-provoking artistic expression more than ever if we are going to get through this discouraging period in our existence.”
Morris and some of the above-mentioned actors will be here in Idyllwild to discuss the play from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 4 at Idyllwild Library, but check the library’s schedule before to confirm the time.
The show has been extended to Feb. 24. For tickets, visit https://playwrightsarena.org/theater/red-ink/.