Eye on Entertainment Covers Opening Week of Loft Ensemble Production of Groundbreaking Play TRACERS

Dawna Lee Heising of EOE on Time Warner Cable Interviews Playwright John DiFusco, Artistic Director Christina Howard and TRACERS’ Stars Tucker Smallwood, Adam Chambers and Sean Durrie during Opening Week Rehearsals of the Critically Acclaimed Play at the L.A. Fringe Theatre

Dawna Lee Heising, Gordon Michael and Paul Heising covered The LOFT Ensemble opening week run-through of TRACERS at the L.A. Fringe Theatre in the Little Tokyo Arts District on May 23, 2010.  Loft Ensemble and playwright John Di Fusco team up to present the groundbreaking, critically acclaimed play, which opens on Memorial Day weekend.  There will be an Opening Night Reception on Saturday, May 29th. Tickets will be $30 and will include wine from Suacci Carciere Winery and Curtis Winery and beer from Weiland Brewery.  On Sunday, May 30th, LOFT ensemble will join forces with the National Veterans Foundation for a Veteran’s Night. Veterans and Active Service Members will get in for free and there will be a panel discussion featuring John DiFusco and Shad Meshad (President and Founder of the National Veterans Foundation) following the performance, which begins at 6:00 PM.

TRACERS tracks the surreal journey of six enlisted men through the Vietnam experience and it’s after effects. These six “maggots” fight to maintain their humanity amid the body bags, drugs, rats, prostitutes, death and all the horrors they have encountered. Artistic Director Christina Howard directs using Viewpoints techniques to dig deeply into each actor’s soul, finding the truth and spirit of each character. Howard uses tribal and ritualistic elements to dramatize the spirit of the soldier that lies within us and the spirits of the soldiers who have passed.

TRACERS was conceived by writer/director John DiFusco who created the play through workshops with a group of Vietnam veterans/actors, including Vincent Caristi, Richard Chaves, Eric E. Emerson, Rick Gallavan, Merlin Marston, Harry Stephens  and writer Sheldon Lettich.  DiFusco has received several awards, including the New York Drama Desk Award and The Los Angeles Drama Critics’ Circle Award.  TRACERS was published in Otis Gurney’s Ten Best Plays of 1984/85, by Dramatists Play Service and by Hill & Wang Publishers.  Di Fusco’s most recent play WALK’N THRU THE FIRE premiered at the Hayworth Theatre in Los Angeles, CA with rave reviews, and is now on LA Weekly Steven Mikulan’s 2007 New Plays Ten Best list.  DiFusco has also served as Technical Advisor on the Emmy-Award winning HBO film, DEAR AMERICA: LETTERS HOME FROM VIETNAM and has worked as a director/part-time faculty member of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Tucker Smallwood, a Vietnam Vet and accomplished actor, joins the LOFT ensemble as Sergeant Williams, bringing his own personal experience and wisdom to the production. In 1967, Smallwood was a television director for WBAL in Baltimore when he was drafted into the Army.   Following his training and commissioning as an Infantry Officer, and six more months as an Infantry Tac Officer at Ft. Benning, Smallwood attended Jump School, Special Warfare School at Ft. Bragg and Vietnamese Language School at Ft. Bliss. He then commanded a five-man Advisory Team (MAT-36) to Vietnamese Regional Force troops in the Mekong Delta. Following months of hospitalization, surgeries and recovery, he extended his Army commitment for three more months to teach patrolling and counter-insurgency tactics to Engineer Officer Candidates at Ft. Belvoir, in Virginia.  Today, Smallwood has developed an impressive and extensive acting resume, with roles on shows such as Star Trek: Enterprise and The Sarah Silverman Program, and has performed in several productions for the Mark Taper, Cast Theater and Odyssey Theater.

Two LOFT ensemble members who have become viral celebrities, Adam Chambers (I <3 Vampires) and Sean Durrie (Easy to Assemble) join the cast as Dinky Dau and Scooter, respectively.  TRACERS also features Brett Erickson, Kevin Meoak, Edwin Garcia II, Geoffrey Hillback, Jason Ryan Lovett and Kenneth Phenix. 

TRACERS opens on Saturday, May 29, 2010, and continues through Sunday, June 29, 2010, at the L.A. Fringe Theatre at 929 E. 2nd St. Studio 105 (Corner of 2nd St. and Vignes) in Los Angeles, CA 90012.  Ticket prices are $20 General Admission and reservations can be made by calling:  (213) 680-0392.  For more information, please visit: www.LOFTensemble.com or contact Tristan Daly at: tristindaley@gmail.com or 516.581.4863.

To see videos of the EOE interviews, please go to:

www.youtube.com/eyeonentertainment

About Eye on Entertainment
"Eye on Entertainment", a division of Eye on Excellence™ Productions, is aired twice weekly on Time Warner Cable in Southern California. The EOE team covers entertainment and music events, film festivals, red carpets and award shows, and features interviews with successful people in all walks of life, exploring the traits they have in common. Dawna Lee Heising, EOE executive producer and host, is a member of SAG & AFTRA, has an MBA and PhD and is Ms. Universe 2010. The EOE team includes Linda Maxwell of Time Warner Cable, producer/photographer David J. McNeil, a former United Artists executive who was one of the developers of Pay-per-View, director/ editor John Cox, director Steve Van Wormer, editor Larry Cota, editor Gordon Michael, music director Dino Maddalone, Canadian reporter Keith Harris,  business director Paul Heising and photographer Kevin Le.  For more information, please visit http://www.eyeonentertainment.tv/, http://www.dawnaleeheising.tv/  and www.youtube.com/eyeonentertainment