Los Angeles Theater
Reviewed by Mavis Manus
It is a rare joy to have a play so well written, acted and directed in our smaller theaters.
Alex Lyras' one-man, five character show entitled "Unequalibium," which he co-wrote with director
Robert McCaskill at the Lillian Theater in Los Angeles, is a treat not be missed.
The first sentence of the play is "It wasn’t exactly a nightmare..." and Lyras takes it from there.
"Unequalibrium" recounts five different but desperate, on the edge, characters who are finally
intertwined for gruesome and wryly humorous climax.
Elaborately layered, brilliantly acted, Lyras builds a structure story of a scientist, a plumber
with a failsafe system for blackjack, a criminally-minded lawyer, and out-of-work web designer with
his love life in ruins, and a man trying to make sense of the insanity he sees around him.
His reluctant conclusion that life is to be grasped the only way it ever should be: tightly and
with both hands.
Lyras' grandparents came to the U.S. from Chios, settling in Chicago and then New York. The
family attended the beautiful Holy Trinity Church in New Rochelle. His mother has written two
popular cookbooks. "Foods of Greece" and "Of course you can cook Greek".
He flirted with the idea of becoming a lawyer but acting was too strong a pull and he was soon
involved in the theater scene in New York. Mike Nichols saw him in his first solo play "desperelics"
and cast him in "What Planet Are You From?" which has lead to featured in lead parts in a half
dozen other productions.
For additional information concerning the remounted production this winter, check the website at
www.unequalibrium.com
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