Ruskin Group Theater Company: The Work’s The Thing

From Left To Right Mikey Myers, Samantha Thompson, Dennis Dwyre, and John Ruskin, closing night of Loose Ends

Kevin Allardice
Mirror contributing writer
  
   Deep inside the Santa Monica Airport, the Ruskin Group Theater Company has created a small bastion of performance art.
   You would never guess it, to see it from the outside, since a City ordinance forbids the company from putting up a marquee, and the only sign in sight says, “Professional Pilot Course,” but the interior of the old hanger, which once housed airplanes, has been transformed into a vibrant theater.
   John Ruskin (no kin to the 19th century English writer), the founder of the theater, sits in a comfortable maroon office with his managing director Mikey Myers (no kin to the 21st century Hollywood comedian). The two men have an undeniable energy in their eyes — the glint of people who truly love what they do.
   Ruskin, dressed in a black turtleneck and blazer, is surprisingly young, given his extensive resume. After studying at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the British American Drama Academy in England, he trained with Sanford Meisner, whose acting techniques are legendary.
   Ruskin was handpicked by Meisner to be his apprentice at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York, and, in the 1980s, Ruskin brought what he had learned to the west coast and founded the theater group.
   The Meisner technique that Ruskin teaches stresses the selfless quality of performance, stripping the craft of all superficial pretenses. Indeed, its motto is “The theater should be an instrument for giving, not a machine for getting.”
   The Company practices this kind of altruism offstage, too. It is very active in this region, offering at least a half-dozen different outreach programs, and it has performed in children’s hospitals, retirement homes, and a maximum-security prison — redefining the term “tough audience,” though even the prisoners were won over.
   Ruskin speaks of how humbling these experiences have been, how they remind actors of why they chose their profession in the first place.
   Here, the work is what’s important. High profile actors, such as Dylan McDermott, Carol Burnett, and Sir Anthony Hopkins, have taken part in classes for the young students. It is not the spotlight that drives these actors, it is the work.
   Ruskin believes that theater can be life-changing. He recalls seeing the closing scene of Gary Sinise’s production of The Grapes of Wrath, in which a woman breast-feeds a starving man. The scene has stayed with him for years, because it demonstrated the awesome power of art.
   Ruskin and Myers have seen the extraordinary effect of theater on others as well. The Company regularly goes to the Rancho San Antonio Boy’s Home to teach at-risk boys, ages twelve to eighteen, about theater and involve them in improvisations and the Meisner Technique. Ruskin says that the impact the exercises have on the children is profound: “It really takes them into their hearts.”
   Ruskin and his fellow actors have called the old hanger home for about a year and a half, after years of searching for a stage they could call their own.
   Now with a stage under their feet and a roof over their heads, they want to preserve it as a sacred place.
   Unlike other theater companies that lease their stages to outside productions, only homegrown productions will play on this stage, ensuring that whenever people go to the theater at the Santa Monica Airport, they will see a memorable performance.
   Still, the Company remains nomadic, having performed everywhere from prisons and hospitals to the ends of the earth — literally. Last May, Myers directed a production of Moliere’s Sganarelle, the Imaginary Cuckold on the west end of the Santa Monica Pier. It rained the opening night, but the Company is not deterred by such minor setbacks, because, as Ruskin says about the thrill of live theater, “It’s an addiction.”
   This rush is perhaps best exemplified in the Company’s current project, Café Plays, which will be conceived, written, rehearsed, and performed for an audience in less than a day. The first Café Play will be staged on Sunday, February 22nd, the second on March 21st.
   This “instant theater” begins when writers pick actors’ headshots from a hat, and are given three hours to write seven to twelve-page scenes based on nothing but the photos. Chosen by lottery, actors then have six hours to rehearse, after which they perform for an audience.
   The rapid pace of these productions should not be mistaken for carelessness. Members of the Ruskin Group Theater Company go through a rigorous two-year program followed by a Master Class.
   “You won’t believe the quality of the pieces,” Ruskin said.
   Now in rehearsal, the Company’s next full-scale production will be Steve Martin’s play Picasso at the Lapin Agile, opening March 26th.
   The Ruskin Group Theater Company is located at 3000 Airport Avenue. For tickets or other information, phone (310) 397-3244. The Company website is www.ruskinschool.com.