Spill By Leigh Fondakowski

Spill
By Leigh Fondakowski
Narrated by: Elisa Bocanegra, Gilbert Glenn Brown, Nicholas Hormann, Travis Johns, Jane Kaczmarek, James Morrison, Darren Richardson, Kate Steele, Mark Jude Sullivan
Length: 1 hr and 39 mins
Performance
Publisher: L.A. Theatre Works

Let’s get it out of the way:  This is another awesome performance/production from L.A. Theatre Works.   The audio performance puts you right in the middle of the action and the acting is of the high caliber expected.

Okay that’s out of the way, we can talk specifics.

So recent history makes a big impact, I remember when the Deep Water Horizon sank and the days and days of video footage of that well leaking oil into the Gulf of Mexico back in 2010.  Every time you would turn on the news there was that video usually in the lower left corner of most 24 hour news services.  As a normal citizen I was constantly wondering how that area (specifically the Louisiana bayou) would ever recover.  I mean I love going to New Orleans for oysters, but fishing in the gulf was forever changed.  To this day, 10 years later, one can only imagine the oil at the bottom of the gulf and how it is affecting the wildlife.  But the environment wasn’t all that was affected, people lost their lives in the initial fire on the drilling platform, and lifestyles of the people living in the area were forever changed as well.

This play portrays through the lives of those that experienced the event and even through television soundbites and even a speech from President Obama.   The script was written from media sources, court documents and the author’s personal interviews.

The first act covers the events leading up to the tragic event then the second act the consequences come out.  Human tragedy written with some creative writing that makes the listener able to visualize the complete tragedy.

A great cast and very nice use of sources combined with the authors great sense of writing work together to nearly put you back in time re-experiencing this tragedy.

Publisher’s Summary
In April of 2010, British Petroleum gave orders to speed up production on its colossal drilling rig, the Deepwater Horizon. Despite the objections of many on the rig, safety measures were ignored or overlooked. On April 20th, the Deepwater Horizon exploded. Eleven men paid the ultimate price and countless thousands who call the Gulf Coast home found their lives irrevocably altered.
Spill is part of our Relativity Series, presented with major funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, bridging science and the arts in the modern world.
Directed by Martin Jarvis.
An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast recording, starring:
Elisa Bocanegra as Arleen Weise, Andrea Fleytas
Gilbert Glenn Brown as Obama, Jorey Danos, Christopher Pleasant
Nicholas Hormann as Bob Bea, Pat O’Bryan, Gary Bartholemy, Wyman Wheeler
Travis Johns as Keith Jones, Steve Bertone, Jonathan Henderson
Jane Kaczmarek as Narrator, Lillian Miller,
James Morrison as Bill Anderson, Randy Ezell, Billy Nungesser
Darren Richardson as Tony Hayward, Jimmy Harrell, Gordon Jones, Don Vidrine
Kate Steele as Shelley Anderson, Jolene Danos
Mark Jude Sullivan as Jason Anderson, Mike Williams
Production Manager, Nikki Hyde. Music Supervisor, Ronn Lipkin. Associate Artistic Director, Anna Lyse Erikson. Editor, Julian Nicholson. Recording Engineer, Sound Designer and Mixer, Mark Holden for The Invisible Studios, West Hollywood.
©2018 Leigh Fondakowski (P)2018 L.A. Theatre Works