Theater Review: ‘Earth Sucks: A Cosmic Rock Musical’

Earth Sucks has a campy feel, clever dialogue, humor, and good ‘ol rock n' roll music while addressing broad issues like capitalism, media, and the vapid mindlessness which accompanies and results in this mentality.
Theater Review: ‘Earth Sucks: A Cosmic Rock Musical’
Earth Sucks: A Space Rock Musical
10/30/2008
Updated:
10/1/2015

<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/earthsucks_rock.jpg" alt="Earth Sucks: A Space Rock Musical" title="Earth Sucks: A Space Rock Musical" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1833167"/></a>
Earth Sucks: A Space Rock Musical
Echo Bell (played by Emily Stern), a disenchanted high schooler, sings about being bored and unimpressed by humans, seeking something greater than shopping malls and a narcissistic boyfriend as she yearns for connection out in the cosmos.

When she sends her heartfelt song into space, a fugitive band, lands on Earth trying to save the world from the evil Diva, Ulinia Swords, played by a mesmerizing Nakia Syvonne, who plans on conquering all universes with pop song Obey. Band leader, and Echo’s burgeoning love interest, (Rawn Erickson II) uses their planet’s peaceful and lyrical approach to combat evil, promoting non-violence, communication, and harmony.

Earth Sucks has a campy feel, clever dialogue, humor, and good ‘ol rock n’ roll music while addressing broad issues like capitalism, media, and the vapid mindlessness which accompanies and results in this mentality.

The creative force behind Earth Sucks is writer and director Jonas Oppenheim, award-winning playwright and artistic director of an anonymous guerrilla theater company that produces site-specific political comedies and workshop.

“I have always been in awe of possibilities of outer space. You just look up on a starry night and its so impressive it sets you wondering to what’s happening out there, could it be better out there than it is here?” Oppenheim explained his inspiration for his recent play when we met on a warm October afternoon at a popular Santa Monica café.

“Space” continued Oppenheim, who’s sweet and thoughtful nature is punctuated by bright blue eyes, “is functioning as a stand-in for the imagination, being able to conceive of a better life for yourself, a way to get out of whatever you think sucks so much.”

Communication is a major theme in the play, said Oppenheim, a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts Department of Dramatic Writing. “The way I proposed we bridge the gap between our imagination and our mental shackles is about being able to conceive of what we want and being able to communicate it and manifest it.”

Oppenheim also works with the Virginia Avenue Project, a nonprofit program matching at-risk youth with theater artists, teaching participants the value and power of creative expression. This experience may explain Oppenheim’s intention for his main character Echo.

“Instead of discovering the secrets of space, what ends up being more attractive to her is seeing what happens when she deals with people that she hasn’t been able to get through to before.” In summation perhaps, the human heart and mind is the real next frontier to explore bringing us to.”

‘Earth Sucks: A Cosmic Rock Musical’ plays at the Art|Works Theatre ,6569 Santa Monica Blvd ,Hollywood, CA 90038, October 4—November 2

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