‘The Culture of Now’ returns off Broadway

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Actor-filmmaker Ben Venturina plays the character Turtle, a graffiti artist from Detroit (below). Raw talent.

Actor-filmmaker Ben Venturina plays the character Turtle, a graffiti artist from Detroit (below). Raw talent.

ben in play

“The Culture of Now,” a mixed-media play featuring an international ensemble and an all-female production team will be presented off Broadway at the Acorn Theatre, on September 20th.

“That’s a great accomplishment for the show,” said FilAm actor-filmmaker Ben Venturina who is cast in the production as the character Turtle, a street artist from Detroit.

“The Culture of Now” marks an innovative collaboration between two New York City playwrights Jess Domain and Julianne Lavallee.

Domain began her career in Detroit as a dancer and backup singer for Aretha Franklin. She’s an ASCAP Songwriter Award recipient currently writing and acting in New York City. Her co-writer Lavallee, who hails from Chicago, is a poet, playwright, actor, and visual artist. Currently she works as an English and drama teacher in NYC public schools.

The play starts with characters, Sophie and Joanne, who are friends until they decide to host a charity auction together. Now they must confront their clashing views on race, class, gender, and nationality as Sophie’s father, a local politician, tries to shut them down. In the process they realize that setting a price for artwork reveals more about their own values than the value of what is on a canvas.

“A lack of arts education in our communities created the inspiration behind this play,” according to a press statement. It is directed by Christina Reilly, who is involved in narrative film and documentary production.

Cast member Venturina, director Reilly, and writer Domain all met while working on actor James Franco’s Masterclass for a feature film, “Horror Time.”

‘The Culture of Now’ cast. A statement on the value of arts education.

‘The Culture of Now’ cast. A statement on the value of arts education.

“I was truly humbled and honored when Jess reached out to ask me to audition for a character she had in mind that she said I was perfect for,” said Venturina. “It was a play that at the time she was working on with Julianne.”

“Before I even read the script, I knew the context was going to be something special because I knew how delicate and articulate Jess was as a person, and I knew the dialogue was going to come from a place of truth, that was meant to make an impact,” he continued.

Venturina had 48 hours to memorize a full page monologue and a poem. “Jess didn’t expect for me to be fully off-book, but to just bring my own intense and passionate personality to the character.” After two days, he got the part.

Added Venturina, “Personally, as an artist, I enjoy taking on roles that make people feel and question their everyday ideas are of how the world is or where they stand. My goal as an artist is to make people feel and question their beliefs. Good, bad, happy or sad, If I left you feeling some intense emotions that spill over the show, then I know I did my job. That’s my intention with the character Turtle.”

Domain said her goal is to take this production to Broadway and have “people of every size, shape and color play these roles and break out of typecasting.”

“As a writer, I wanted the actor to bring just one thing to the artist roles — talent. It’s not about looks, age or ethnicity, just raw talent,” she said.

The message of the production is to create awareness of how vital art is to “our culture, our communities, our children, and our well-being,” said the writers.

“The Culture of Now” premiered on September 8 at the Dixon Place Theater.

(C) The FilAm 2018



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