Feature by Tracey Paleo, Gia On The Move
Like many first-timers at the Hollywood Fringe, BEFOK playwright and solo performer Asta Leigh is experiencing the excitement. She’s also feeling the tension. Hearing her speak after just finishing a first rehearsal in the Broadwater Black Box space it is clear, she’s a meticulous actor. At this moment her brain is on fire. The verbalized internal dialog, a swirling mix of her own mental performer beats along with blocking and other technical notes, given to her during the session. For a solo artist, every show is part balancing act, part trial by fire. Leigh is determined to get every tiny detail right.
“I’m coming off of a partial tech in the actual space. I feel like I’m all over the place. I have to be honest. I’m a big old mess right now. But Matt is brilliant of course. He’s taking the material to another level.”
Matt, is award-winning, Fringe veteran Matt Ritchey (“Blackboxing”, “Angel’s Flight”, ‘American Conspiracy”, “Martha Washington Killed a Redcoat”) who, for the last several months, has been helping to shape Leigh’s show through coaching and story crafting. He’s also Leigh’s, BEFOK director. Together they took the material from Leigh’s web series-turned-multi-episode TV show, “Dear Alejandro,” and transformed it into a highly minimalistic, cinematic one-act.
For Ritchey, the defining aspect of it all is like directing movies that have a lot of long takes.
“We wanted to find a way to get that effect on stage. Develop the kind of stillness that makes people lean into an image, then enhance that with a lot of realness. Because Asta is a very good actress, and she’s very real. We want the stillness to draw you in rather than the material explode out into the audience.”
Of course, it’s more than just drama. According to Leigh, the show itself is truly “befok”. For anyone who has pursued a career in Hollywood, it’s a word with which they can identify. “Befok” is an Afrikaans word that can mean a number of things: crazy, awesome, angry, cool, or even, not right in the head, and it certainly applies to her character Lola.
BEFOK (Or The Desperate Attempt to Impress Iñárritu) is a world premiere, dark comedy about a South African actress, Lola Luvv, on the cusp of forty who will do anything to audition for the titular filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu. Lola swore she’d be a world-renowned actress by this momentous birthday. But it’s happening in seven days and she’s no closer to her goal than when she moved to Hollywood. She’s getting, a bit…desperate.
For a moment, I couldn’t help but think that there might be a few parallels to real life for Leigh. Not to mention that even before the script was completed, she bravely committed to no less than nine performances. Befok?
It’s kind of unnerving. A show can be so different on a different night. There’s a lot of stuff going on.
This isn’t her “first rodeo”, however. Leigh is an award-winning actress focused on creating stories that inspire, educate, empower, and bring new perspectives to audiences. Her stage chops include both drama (Agamemnon), and comedy (The Odd Couple). On film, she’s appeared as well as co-produced the award-winning, “Sand Angels”, co-produced “League of Legend Keepers”, and produced and starred in the multi-award-winning, “Running on Empty”. She also wrote and directed the short film, “Perception” and played a role in Golden Globe winner Paul Walter Hauser’s short film, “Heirloom”.
But BEFOK isn’t just funny. It’s also dark. In the first pages of the script, Leigh introduces some pretty scary stuff.
“It’s what Lola went through. It’s about how someone’s childhood impacts every single choice they make later on. It colors everything she does. There are a lot of layers to her. She’s always covering up her issues with, ‘I’m amazing, fantastic, wonderful.’ She’s the kind of person others often find annoying. She does cringe-worthy things from the need to be loved and adored. But there’s a reason. She’s dealing with her insecurities and a lot of loneliness. Her loneliness is profound. It’s crippling. Lola is desperate. She’s not just ambitious for fame. She has morals. But she struggles with certain stuff. And, at the same time, there’s a lot she’s overcoming. She’s also incredibly strong because she’s overcome so much. “
How does this all shift into the comedy?
“As an actor I’ve always really connected to drama. Things that are really dark. TV shows like, “Barry”, “Flea Bag”, and “Succession”, are my obsessions. They’re all a perfect mix of comedy and drama. My friends have always said, ‘But you’re funny’. It always makes me think, ‘What are the things about these shows I cannot forget? What connects into your bones? “Hacks” is another show that does the same thing. There’s something about when you laugh and cry, it’s intoxicating. I wanted BEFOK to be a dark comedy where you’ve got the other side. Because it’s got drama and comedy, it feels more poignant and connected on another level.
Making people laugh is very difficult. People who do are geniuses. But making them laugh and cry at the same time puts me in awe. It hits me much more deeply. With just comedy alone, sometimes I feel something is missing for me. It doesn’t hold me. Because that’s who we all are. The idea that you’re in the worst situation ever and someone makes a joke. This happens all the time. It’s so intriguing to me. It’s messy and I like that. And it’s ultimately what I want for Lola. Lola is a big personality with a lot of heart and I’d like people to get to meet her.”
BEFOK (Or The Desperate Attempt to Impress Iñárritu)
Written and performed by Asta Leigh
Directed and Storycrafted by Matt Ritchey
SYNOPSIS:
In the World Premiere satirical solo show BEFOK (Or The Desperate Attempt to Impress Iñárritu), South African born Lola Luvv swore she’d be a world-renowned actress by the age of forty, but that’s in seven days and she’s no closer to her goal than when she moved to Hollywood. She still walks dogs and cleans up their monster shits. After catching a glimpse of Academy Award-winning director Alejandro González Iñárritu at the Alta Dena Whole Foods, Lola’s convinced it’s a sign she’s destined to play the lead in his new TV show, “The One Percent”. What follows is a manic ride of determination, desperation, ketamine, and chickens, where the only thing at stake…is her life.
DATES AND TIMES:
June 1 – 9:30 p.m.
June 5 – 8 p.m.
une 11 – 12:30 p.m.
June 14 – 8 p.m.
June 16 – 6:30 p.m.
June 18 – 2:30 p.m.
June 23 – 6:30 p.m.
June 24 – 8:30 p.m.
June 25 – 12:30 p.m.
LOCATION: The Black Box at The Broadwater 6322 Santa Monica Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90038
TICKET PRICES: $15
FOR MORE INFORMATION: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/9832
