Day Trader at Bootleg Theater

Thanks Bootleg Theater, Unilocal & Katie B for the tickets to check out something I would have not known about right near my neighborhood! Easy free street parking, easy check in for will call, and plentiful, though sparsely decorated seating for the bar/​waiting area.
Day Trader was about stereotypical LA types with major family drama. Great acting by the daughter and girlfriend.
Overall it Interesting story, in fact the next day at dinner in Silver Lake my husband and I sat next to a couple who reminded me of those crazy characters.
Looks like Bootleg theater has some other events coming up that sound cool, I’ll definitely keep them in mind since most of the shows seem affordable and close to home!

My sincere applause goes out to director Steven Williford, producer Jessica Hanna, Judith Borne (Public Relations), and to the entire cast and crew of Bootleg Theater’s production of «Day Trader.» Your complimentary invitations for Unilocalers was a highly-​welcomed gesture, and I was happy to be included!
As always, I am continually excited to attend live theatre productions, especially in support of smaller venues throughout Southern California. The intimacy, the artistry, and the energy that developes upon these diverse stages is electric; and although the audience may rest comfortably and peacefully, watching the plots unfold from the outside-​looking-​in, the drama onstage disallows passivity. Your simply being there doesn’t render your emotions exempt. You will be drawn in. And «Day Trader» is no exception.
**Spoiler Alert**
If I may, and I say this with due respect to the entire cast, my favorite performance was Tim Meinelschmidt’s «Phil.» His being so likeable and confident as the next door neighbor, I hadn’t expected ulterior motives or hidden agendas on his behalf. I realize the irony, but Tim’s potrayal somehow eluded me. My eyes were directed elsewhere, focused on others while Phil (like the audience) sat seemingly at ease from the «outside-​looking-​in.» You caught me off guard. I’m no Sherlock Holmes, but I usually give myself more credit! =]
I also must include my congratulations for the staging of «Day Trader»: the percussion use during set changes and amidst day trading lessons was refreshing and, in my opinion, novel. Transition subtlety, backed up by a live drummer, was distractingly crisp and entertaining. It worked. Nice touch!
Money’s funny, isn’t it? Sometimes – for many, if not all of us – it’s difficult to turn away from the grift. And concealment, that may be even trickier. What, in fact, would one do when millions of dollars are seemingly up for grabs? «Day Trader,» at its heart, certainly begs the question.
Thank you, again, Bootleg Theater! I had a great time! And thanks, again, to Judith for allowing me permission to post photographer Ed Krieger’s pictures from the performance in my review. =]

First off, a huge THANK YOU to Bootleg theater for my complimentary tickets. My guest and I came to watch this with no expectations and to our surprise, we were both pleasantly entertained from this live performance. The acting was a little hard to grasp in the beginning but after a few minutes in, we thoroughly enjoyed the story line. I don’t really want to spoil the details, so I’ll leave it as is for now and encourage others to come see it.
As for the venue, don’t ever judge a book by its cover. The theater provided a cool and intimate setting. Plenty of street parking after 6pm so there’s no need to enter the gates and pay for parking.

This was a really good play! I didn’t know what to expect before attending or even thought I would like it at all but was very surprised as to how much I enjoyed it. The venue itself is neat as well. It was pretty easy to get to and there were plenty of spaces to park on the streets. The theater is a good size and it seems like anywhere you sit would be a good spot. The restroom offered very little lighting so it would have been nice if it was better lit.
The acting was very good. The ending was very unexpected. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the play and am happy I got to attend. Thanks Bootleg Theater for the tickets!

I’ve been meaning to get out and see more shows lately so I just wanted to say thanks to the Bootleg theater for comp tickets.
Day Trader is the story of Ron Barlow, a Hollywood writer whose career and marriage are plummeting and who copes through trading on the online market and dating a young actress. While the play takes on a lot of classic themes such as greed and desire for validation, the day-​trading motif and the related themes of risk and loss are subtle at best. While lessons of an audio trading course play between scenes to seemingly set up the subject of the next segment of a father-​daughter-​mistress drama, the metaphors are loose when not altogether broken. In fact, the elimination of the day-​trading background story altogether would only serve to clarify the muddled story line.
The acting was largely shaky. With the opening 10 seconds of the play, singing Oklahoma’s «Oh What A Beautiful Morning» in a self-​satisfied, almost drunken manner, Danton Stone (playing Barlow) epitomizes his performance as affected and «too big» even for theater. Brighid Fleming, hot off an Ovation! award for her performance in «The Nether,» falls short of her standard with a one-​note portrayal of Juliana Barlow, Ron’s daughter. The bright spot of the evening is Tim Meinelschmidt («Coastal Disturbances»), whose performance as Ron’s best friend is so smooth and likable that it seemed to put both audience and actors at ease.
Despite flaws in theme and performance, the story line’s several twist and turns makes the play overall enjoyable. That being said, I wouldn’t shell out more than $ 5 to see it even if I lived in the area.

What a cool performance space! What an aweome play! My husband and I attended the Sunday afternoon matinée of Day Trader not knowing what to expect… and we were pleasantly suprised! First of all, parking was easy across the street on a side street. We were a little hesitant as we approached the door to the theatre because the entrance was so non-​descript… it almost seemed like the theatre was closed… we tried the door and it was open! As we entered, the guy at the ticket counter was very inviting. He welcomed us in and directed us towards the lobby and bar. The lobby is also a performance space for music and their little bar was stocked with some really cool beer and better wine than most theatre bars. I had a mimosa and my husband had a beer from Eagle Rock Brewery. Both were fantastic. You can take your drinks into the theatre with you… pity mine didn’t last that long… oh well!
The theatre space itself was really cool, very bootleggy-​looking, indeed… and not a bad seat in the house in this intimate setting! The play was fabulous… I especially enjoyed the women’s acting and characters… they were rich and multi-​layered. I will, on purpose, not give the story away because it is full of twists that you would not expect. One aspect that I thought was particularily interesting was that when the stage was dark and they were changing sets and props they were still entertaining you by having the stagecrew choreographed and changing sets in a very creative way. The play was accompanied by a live drummer, as well, which was a huge plus.
I can’t wait to come back to The Bootleg Theatre for another performance and I highly recommend Day Trader as a great evening or afternoon out! Have fun!

First off, a shout-​out to Unilocal and Bootleg Theater for comp tickets!
Didn’t know what to expect of the theater before we arrived and boy, did it not seem like a theater on the outside. Don’t let the outside façade fool you into thinking that the theater is just a small gray box or warehouse. Once you head on inside through the metal door, there is a ticket area on the left and then it opens to the music stage (as it seems) and bar, and then there is a door to the back right that opens to the actual theater. We had arrived about half an hour early to check in for our tickets and they were still sitting up. Understandable as they had just opened up the show yesterday. Since the tickets weren’t set-​up yet, a few of us just went in and sat at the bar stools/​tables in the music stage area. The bar had not yet been open as well. I really enjoyed the high wooden beam ceiling with natural light pouring in from two cut-​off windows in the ceiling. A very homey atmosphere.
The woman’s restroom was a restroom with a paper taped on the ply wooden door that said «women’s restroom.» A bit dark in there so it may take your eyes to adjust a bit.
The staff are all very kind and once they were set-​up for tickets, we all went to check-​in or pay, and received our playbills.
Truthfully, we kept thinking that the play would be on the music stage since there was no sign, or one that we noticed, that led to the theater. Jessica did come out and welcome us to the Bootleg and gave a few announcements, before having us go to to the theater for the show. The seats were really comfortable and the theater more spacious than I had originally anticipated. Also, did not know what to expect from the play; I was blown away by the acting! It’s rare that I go to plays, and it was an especially nice change from big theaters, with hundreds or thousands of seating. Very intimate.
There were plenty of twists and plots throughout the play that kept me guessing. It really showed the humanity of people and their thought processes. Not sure if the writer wanted to include comedy, since this play was written by a comedy writer, there weren’t too many laugh out loud areas. I know there were a few but not many in the audience laughed out loud too much. To me, it was more of a drama with suspense. Overall, it was an hour and a half show, without any intermissions, that kept us all on edge as no outcome was what I expected.
Parking was a bit difficult but was glad that it was on a Sunday afternoon, as there were some street parking left on Beverly Road. We had first parked near Praise Christian Fellowship church but didn’t see anyone charge $ 5 for parking so was afraid that the gates would be closed by the time we arrived back at our car. It seems a lot of people parked near the church and walked over. The pedestrian walkways are a bit far so you might want to keep that in mind.
Thank you for the wonderful show and best of luck to the rest of the run! I would love to come back to this venue for future plays or musical acts.

Thanks to the Bootleg Theater and Unilocal for comp tickets!
I had never been to this venue before — what a great space! I went to the Friday night preview, and there was lots of easy street parking (free after 6 PM and I believe all day on Sunday, perhaps Saturday too.)
There’s a bar with a great craft beer draft selection, for decent ($ 6 — $ 8) prices, which is awesome, especially for a music venue. The bartender even offered me a sample to help me decide what to drink. Try the Bootlegger Golden Chaos! They let you bring the beer into the theater.
I give the play itself 3.5 stars, rounded up for 4. It was an entertaining, engaging, enjoyable story with a decent script, although the script could perhaps benefit from being workshopped a bit more. The play is straightforward and accessible – nothing too weird or experimental, while still being creative, and surprising in some ways.
The production I saw got off to a bit of a slow start, but really hit its stride by the end; since I saw it in previews, I suspect future shows will be smoother. The supporting actors were great! Unfortunately, the lead actor was the weakest of the bunch, and seemed unnatural in his role. But that didn’t detract from what was overall a good experience. I’ll plan to come back to the Bootleg sometime, for sure!
PS: The venue’s website says that for locals — 90 057 zip code — they have certain shows with tickets available for a buck each! Too bad I live a few streets too far away to qualify for the offer :)