L.A, UNIFIED Plays United Solo Fest Tonight

L. A. Unified, a solo show written and performed by David Newer, will play at the Theatre Row Complex (410 W. 42nd St.) as part of the United Solo Festival tonight, October 11th and 20th starting at 7:30PM. Erica Silberman directs Newer as he embodies 16 characters while recounting the chapter in his life as a substitute teacher in the often brutal L.A. Unified School System.

It's 1994 and David Newer, an actor who began a promising career in New York, travels to L.A. with his wife to obtain higher profile acting jobs. But when managers ask to "see him in something else" too many times he turns to substitute teaching for fast money to replenish a dwindling bank account without considering the consequences of subbing in South Central L.A.'s chaotic and often unpredictable elementary schools. Once on the job he encounters the derision of kids who know no discipline, profess not to speak English or are so young they can't reach a bathroom in time without an accident. Meanwhile his wife decides to leave him and his father's health problems go from bad to critical. One day he's assigned to teach a group of kids who are seemingly so impossible to educate that they only have substitutes. Just as he is about to give up in despair, one depressed little boy asks him to teach him how to kill himself. His sympathy is wasted on a hardened school supervisor who accuses him of being a white elitist when he suggests that the child receive counseling. After a few more challenging assignments David concludes that the best lesson he can give is to try to encourage a kid to like himself...only then realizing that he actually likes his job.

A bi-coastal actor for more than 25 years, David Newer's film/TV credits include the lead in Performance Anxiety that won the Critics Choice Award for Best Short Film at the Cannes Film Festival, supporting roles on Law and Order and Law and Order SVU, the lead in the TV pilot Preying for Mercy and a co-starring role in the new film Thinking With Richard. He's also been on numerous soaps and directed in film by Todd Haynes, Woody Allen and Raul Ruiz. Off-Broadway he's been seen in Gun Club (Cherry Lane), The Asbestos Bride (Ensemble Studio Theatre) and Parker Family Circus (Abingdon Theatre) among other credits. Playwriting credits include his one act play The Blessing (Ensemble Studio Theatre's OctoberFest, The Network's One Act Play Festival) and a staged reading of the full-length play Skeletons at Ensemble Studio Theatre's Summer Intensive. This past January L.A. Unified ran for three performances at the DeSotelle Studios. David also teaches acting at the William Esper Studio and has taught at North Carolina School of the Arts, Asolo University's MFA Program and Rutgers University Professional Actor Training Program where he also obtained his MFA. He recently won the "Backstage Readers' Choice Awards 2014" for Best Monologue Coach in New York.

Erica Silberman associate produced Ghetto Babylon at 59 E 59 Theaters and co-produced Eating Theatre with Abigail Zealey Bess. She's directed Good Lessons From Bad Women at United Solo Festival, Chiquitina at Manhattan Theatre Source and Party Devil and The Death of Fun at Dixon Place. Her plays have been produced or developed at Ensemble Studio Theatre, Crossroads Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, New York Musical Theatre Festival, New World Stages and HERE.

L.A. Unified will be performed at United Solo Festival in the Theatre Row Complex (410 West 42nd Street between 9th and 10th Avenues) on Saturday October 11th and Monday October 20th at 7:30PM. All tickets are $19.25. For tickets go to https://www.telecharge.com/Off-Broadway/United-Solo-Theatre-Festival/Overview or call Telecharge at (212) 239-6200.

Photo by Lisa Silberman