Rogue Machine’s Journey Beyond Adversity – An Interview with John Perrin Flynn

John Perrin Flynn - Photo courtesy of Rogue Machine Theatre
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Leading one of L.A.’s most prestigious theatre companies for twelve years, John Perrin Flynn has nurtured Rogue Machine from the seed of an idea into a group of over 300 artists with an impressive array of accolades and awards. Most recently, he helmed two epic productions, the American premiere of Tom Morton-Smith’s “Oppenheimer” and the west coast premiere of Mike Bartlett’s “Earthquakes in London.” John received the LA Weekly “Career Achievement Award,” just one of over one hundred awards during his tenure with the company. He was the executive producer and director of Lifetime’s award-winning series “Strong Medicine” and has produced two other series and 14 television movies or miniseries, including the Emmy nominated “Burden of Proof.” John took time from his busy schedule to interview in April 2020.

Joshua Bitton, Burl Moseley, and Jennifer Pollono in DIRTY FILTHY LOVE STORY – Photo by John Perrin Flynn

WHEN DID ROGUE MACHINE FIRST BEGIN? WERE YOU INVOLVED FROM THE START? WHO/WHAT/WHERE WAS IT FOUNDED?

JOHN PERRIN FLYNN: Our inaugural production was in 2008. The prior year, I had happened to read a new play by a young playwright who was looking for a director. The play was called “Lost and Found” and the playwright was John Pollono. As soon as I read it, I knew that I had to direct it. We ran at the Lounge Theatre. Later that year, I directed the West Coast premiere of Craig Lucas’s “Small Tragedy” at the Odyssey Theatre. Afterwards, I was invited to pitch plays at a couple of local venues. By then, John Pollono was working on another new play. I had also begun to work with Henry Murray, developing his “Tree Fall;” and I quickly learned that none of the companies that I was approaching were interested in producing new work.

I brought together three disparate groups: theater friends I had made during my time as a television producer; theater friends I had made doing the two plays I had recently directed; and theater friends from the time I was artistic director of Theater Exchange in North Hollywood. We all felt that there were already too many theaters in Los Angeles. At the same time, there seemed to be a need for one which would produce new work and the edgier kind of new work which was then coming out of Chicago, New York, and London. In early 2008, the opportunity to share the Theatre/Theater space on Pico Boulevard opened up and we decided to take the leap.

Darrett SAnders, Ann Noble, Billy Flynn, and Jefferson Reid in DISPOSABLE NECESSITIES – Photo by John Perrin Flynn

HOW ABOUT A BRIEF TIMELINE OF CHANGES AS THEY OCCURRED?

JPF: We began running our monthly salon “Rant and Rave,” which has continued to be one of our most popular programs. We converted a classroom at the space into a second smaller stage. Our programming for that stage brought us a great deal of attention. We opened Cormac McCarthy’s “The Sunset Limited” with Tucker Smallwood and Ron Bottitta. Stephanie Kerley Schwartz designed the small one-room urban apartment set that worked brilliantly. The show became an LA Times Critics’ Choice and ran for five months. We modified that set and opened John Pollono’s third play as a late-night show. It was “Small Engine Repair,” which ran for six months until we had to move it to open Joel Drake Johnson’s “Four Places,” for which we received our first Ovation Award for Best Production.

“Small Engine Repair” swept the Los Angeles Award season, winning best production and many other awards. Our fifth season brought us the long-running hit “Dirty Filthy Love Story” by Rob Mersola and our first collaborations with playwrights Samuel Hunter and Enda Walsh. The sixth season brought us Pollono’s “Lost Girls” and Kemp Powers’ “One Night in Miami,” which became our largest box office hit ever. It ended up having multiple productions around the world, including at the Donmar Warehouse in England. We closed that season with Christopher Shinn’s “Dying City,” which won us our second Ovation award for best production. The eighth season was an abbreviated season because rent increases forced us out – but not before we did our second Sam Hunter play, “A Permanent Image.” We moved to The Met Theatre in our ninth season and opened with a strong season of multi-award nominated productions, including Hunter’s “Pocatello,” Greg Kalleres’s “Honky,” and Greg Keller’s “Dutch Masters.”

Our tenth season featured the first ever professional production of Lorraine Hansberry’s “Les Blancs” in Los Angeles, as well as a collaboration with the Getty Villa of a modern-day refugee version of Aeschylus’ “The Suppliant Women.”

We were forced to move once again during our twelgth season, but not before we produced the American premiere of Dionna Michelle Daniel’s “American Saga: Gunshot Medley Part I.” We moved to the Electric Lodge in Venice and in the fall, where we opened Tom Morton Smith’s “Oppenheimer” and Joe Gifford’s “Finks.” We closed our latest season with the world premiere productions of “Disposable Necessities” by Neil McGowan (an LA Times Critics’ Choice) and Mike Bartlett’s “Earthquakes in London.”

Shari Gardner, Desean Kevin Terry, and Jelani Blunt in LES BLANCS – Photo by John Perrin Flynn

OVER THE PAST FEW MONTHS, HOW HAS COVID-19 IMPACTED YOUR THEATER?

JPF: We were fortunate that we had closed the twelfth season in early March. At that time, we weren’t sure if we would open again until July. Now we have no idea when theaters will be allowed to reopen and we don’t know what the final damage to the economy will be. Fundraising may be more difficult. We understand our existence is imperiled; but all of us, Rogue Machine’s Board and staff, are determined to survive. There is a proverb that “Adversity creates opportunity.” Many theaters are attempting to build an online audience during this period of isolation. We will be offering some programming as well.

Corey Dorris and Josh Zuckerman in DUTCH MASTERS – Photo by John Perrin Flynn

ARE YOU DOING ANYTHING RIGHT NOW TO KEEP YOUR LIVE THEATER GOING? STREAMING? HAVING VIRTUAL MEETINGS? PLANNING FOR YOUR NEXT SHOW WHEN YOU REOPEN?

JPF: We have most of our next season in place. We will open with a world premiere production of Justin Tanner’s “Little Theatre,” directed by Lisa James and starring Jennie O’Hara. We are also planning to produce the American premiere of Timothy Daly’s “Man in the Attic,” with French and Vanessa Stewart and Rob Nagle.

I am participating in weekly meetings with LA area artistic directors to see what we can do collectively, now and in the future, when theaters reopen.

Cast of POCATELLO – Photo by John Perrin Flynn

WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL BE THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON LIVE THEATER IN GENERAL IN LOS ANGELES? DO YOU FORSEE ANY PEMANENT CHANGES?

JPF: I suspect that some organizations will not be able to survive this shutdown, particularly if they have leases and rent to pay. I think it might be a long time before things return to a semblance of how they were. Some people that were key to how intimate theatre operated may be forced to take up other careers.

WHAT DO YOU NEED RIGHT NOW TO KEEP GOING FORWARD? WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE FROM THE THEATER PUBLIC?

JPF: Funding. I am concerned about our employees. We have applied for the SBA paycheck protection loan, but the funding ran out before we were approved. If more funding is forthcoming, we will be able to offer some employment to the staff, all of whom have been laid off. I want our theater public to stay safe and come out of this healthy, and hungry for the common bonds that live theater encourages.

John Pollono, Jon Bernthal, Josh Helman, and Michael Redfield in SMALL ENGINE REPAIR – Photo by John Perrin Flynn

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FUTURE PLANS?

JPF: We plan to do some online programming, which includes a joint project called “Common Ground” with The Road Theatre. We may also stream some live readings and something with “Rant and Rave.” In addition to the plays that I mentioned, we are hoping to do another Samuel D. Hunter play; and we are reading a number of new plays during this forced hiatus.

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