When I arrived at the 418 Project on my e-bike I wasn’t expecting to be put in a suit and asked to be an extra in a film. So I was pleasantly surprised when Laura Bishop, artistic director of the 418 Project, fitted me in my Humphrey Bogart best and found a spot for me in front of the camera on the 1940s Hollywood red carpet for a filmed version of a noir mystery.
I was transported to a version of Santa Cruz only seen in the black-and-white photographs that fill Abbott Square hallways and the Boardwalk Casino. A jazzy, colorful world of long cigarettes, swanky swing music and the romanticized vibrance of the pre-plastic age.
Who Killed Simon Braggart?—the 418 Project’s fall offering—is an inclusive, funny and thought-provoking 1940s noir. It follows hard-boiled detective Jo Gumption as they find out who killed Hollywood’s most obnoxious film producer, Simon Braggart.
Was it the movie star? The gangster? The madam?
Described by its production team as “a million-dollar project on a shoestring budget,” Who Killed Simon Braggart? opens with an immersive cocktail party and red carpet in the 418’s lobby, then invites the audience into the renovated movie theater for Act One. Utilizing the screen to project a series of short films detailing each suspect’s backstory, writer/director Aaron Stoetzel finds unique and inventive ways to play with theater and the audience.
“Simon Braggart is based on a real person. We can’t tell you who; I tend to write for space, so I use its confines and they give our team an impetus to create. We have no backstage space in this theater, so we just chose that; the actors aren’t going to go backstage during the films—the actors are on stage the whole time,” Stoetzel says.
During pre-production, a great effort was made to reach out to marginalized communities and tell a 1940s-style story through a 21st-century lens, including actors from communities that would not have been represented in that era.
“We’ve been doing active inclusivity for the stage, reaching out for public participation, and saying to our audiences, every time we do a show, you can be in the show. We go a little further. We reach diverse communities. And all of our audition calls say BIPOC and queer and introverts are invited to audition, to make sure that people know that there’s room for them,” explains Laura Bishop, director of the 418 Project.
One of Stoetzel’s goals in writing and directing Simon Braggart was to introduce and captivate new audiences while connecting the worlds of movie theater popcorn and an evening of live theater.
“We have this dream that people that aren’t theatergoers will come out to our shows, whether it’s the guys at the game shop across the street or people who do cosplay. Theater used to be for everybody. Before movies, Americans went to theaters; that was the entertainment people just went nuts for. I like movies—everyone likes movies—but theater is different,” Stoetzel says.
After a pandemic that starved us of human connection and decimated small theaters, as well as raised prices in what is already one of the most expensive places to live, what has emerged is artists and everyday people inspired to find the connection and support they need. Museoffire and the 418 Project are coming out swinging and bringing forth experimental offerings to bring a creative approach to the community and heal the wounds still left behind.
“The last five years have been unlike anything I’ve ever lived through. Especially for theater. We feel like it’s our opportunity now. We own this building and the sky’s the limit. We’re playing and experimenting, and we hope that Santa Cruz comes out to play. This is the first of many shows. We won’t be a conventional theater company. It won’t be conventionally cast. We’re going to take risks and experiment and see what happens,” Bishop says.
So get your bow tie and pinstripes ready for a night of laughs, all original music, cigarette girls and political commentary, because this October you too can be transported, in your Bogart best, to a new take on Hollywood’s golden age.
Who Killed Simon Braggart runs Oct. 18–19 and 25–26 at 7:30pm. Doors open at 7:15pm. Tickets are $30. the418project.org
