Director ready to serve up guerrilla theater

Ernie Curcio didn't need to get hit by a New York taxicab to realize that he, along with his brand of guerrilla theater, belonged in Las Vegas.

But shortly after said taxi ran him over, he decided it was time to return to Las Vegas, not to get away from reckless cabs but to go to the audiences he knew who were starved for the kind of theater Curcio wanted to bring to the stage.

The public will get the chance to see his vision of theater Saturday in Cockroach Theatre's "Visions of Electric Perturbia" at the Katherine Gianaclis Park for the Arts, 5900 Boulder Highway. Curcio will be directing and, along with collaborator Barbara Ann Rollins, financing the performance.

The event, a collection of art, theater and music, is Curcio's effort to get Cockroach involved in late night guerrilla theater again. He is one of the founding members of the theater troupe.

"I got burned out in New York," says Curcio, who lived there for five years before returning to Las Vegas in March. "The audience there is kind of tainted, they've seen it all already. The Vegas audience is hungry, that's what drew me back, that the work would be more appreciated."

A reception featuring sculptures by artist Jesse Smigel kicks off the evening at 9 p.m. That's followed by performances from local bands The Las Vegas Club and The Novelty Act.

At 11 p.m., "Vision Ary," the first of three original short plays, will be presented. The one-person play, written by Evelyn Barnett (Rollins' stage name), deals with a psychic accused of a crime.

"Robert & Anna," was written by a friend of Curcio's, Elan Zafir. It deals with a New York couple who feed off of each other's strengths. Anna is a dancer who needs the financial support of boyfriend Robert. He needs Anna's emotional strength and soul. When she tries to break up with him, things get dicey.

The evening closes with "Perturbed," a play written by Curcio, examining the taboo feelings a teacher has for her fifth-grade student.

In Curcio's absence, the local theater scene grew; he's anxious to be part of it again.

"The energy's great, the talent's great, there's just a lot going on right now in Vegas," Curcio says.

Rollins and Curcio's return to Cockroach is a welcome injection of fresh energy that was missed in their absence, says Levi Fackrell, managing director of Cockroach Theatre.

"Perturbia" isn't part of Cockroach's formal season, Fackrell says. The idea for it was born when he, Curcio and others were trying to plan the upcoming season.

"We were trying to steer it towards mainstream. Ernie said that's great but I really want to do this guerrilla theater," Fackrell says. "It's an experiment and we wanted to get people energized about the park again because it's such a unique place to perform."

Contact reporter Sonya Padgett at spadgett@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4564.