HOUSE OF GOLD: 77% – SWEET

Denise Crosby and Jaqueline Wright in "House of Gold" at the Atwater Village Theatre. Credit: Thom Bertelsen.

SWEET
The beauty of McFadden’s and her professional crew’s efforts for this production and the other shows I’ve seen at the Atwater Village Theatre is that they spend the energy and truly invest talent and cash to commit fully to the edgy and innovative productions they opt to mount. This is disturbing material and though not always clear as to the argument of the story, the actors and the tech work beautifully together to fulfill the director’s vision.
Michael Sheehan – On Stage Los Angeles

SWEET
This play is worth seeing for a few simple reasons: Jacqueline Wright’s performance is mesmerizing; the themes, while not fully developed, inspire thought and drudge up important emotions; and the innovative staging, while a bit scattered and sometimes lacking in clear purpose, model for other theater artists the art of risk-taking, because greatness is not achieved without great risk.
Andrea Kittelson – LA Examiner

BITTERSWEET
Instead, we get a series of scenes that could easily be monologues as each character reveals their prurient obsession with JonBenet. While it’s shocking, it’s shocking in a tabloid headline kind of way, and falls short of biting satire or social commentary.
Anthony Byrnes – Opening the Curtain

SWEET
The tale of Ramsey’s sordid life imagined by playwright Gregory S. Moss and interpreted by director Gates McFadden, is gut-wrenchingly awkward at the same time deliciously comical.
Erica White – Socal

SWEET
Playwright Gregory Moss satirizes our endless fascination with JonBenét in his black comedy House Of Gold, now getting its West Coast Premiere by Ensemble Studio Theatre Los Angeles in a production worth a look-see despite considerable shortcomings, thanks to imaginative direction by Gates McFadden, a brilliant performance by award-winning theatre vet Jacqueline Wright as JonBenét, and a sensational production design.
Steven Stanley – StageSceneLA

BITTER
Director Gates McFadden tries to create alchemy with Gregory Moss’ disturbing play House of Gold, but unfortunately it remains a leaden theatrical work. Odd, disquieting and even sickening at times, Moss’ play is marred by lazy and disjointed storytelling.
Pauline Adamek – ArtsBeatLA

SWEET
A harsh and fascinating dream of a play, House of Gold is having its West Coast premiere at the Atwater Village Theatre in East Los Angeles. Gregory Moss has written this 90-minute fantasy with its dark themes of child abuse and children brutalizing children.
Laura Hitchcock – CurtainUp

SWEET
The production’s novelty, however, comes from the intensity of the performances and how the production laces in the play’s horror and absurdity with such visual acuity.
Steven Leigh Morris – LA Weekly

BITTERSWEET
An ambitious multimedia design is technically astonishing, creating provocative and unsettling imagery, though some effects feel arbitrary. Director Gates McFadden and a resourceful cast make admirable contributions to a project that stubbornly fails to cohere.
Les Spindle – Backstage

BITTERSWEET
That this reprehensible play has received an exciting staging by Gates McFadden and a company of excellent actors in no way excuses McFadden’s choice of such immature material. The fact only makes the viewer wish she would have turned her talents instead to a project less disgusting.
Jason Rohrer – Stagehappenings

SWEET
House of Gold is intense, illuminating and powerful. A+ for all.
Tracey Paleo – LA Theatre Review

SWEET
Considering Patsy Ramsey’s shameful treatment by the Colorado authorities, her monstrousness in this context, however offbeat, seems a bit unsporting. Still, if you accept Moss’ work as the bizarre parable that is so obviously intended, such missteps seem secondary, especially in light of adult actor Jacqueline Wright’s portrayal of JonBenet. Over-the-top yet heartbreakingly real, Wright underscores the tragedy in Moss’ funny, creepy and surprisingly profound play.
F. Kathleen Foley – LA Times

HOUSE OF GOLD
Ensemble Studio Theatre / LA
Atwater Village Theatre
3269 Casitas Avenue
Atwater Village, CA 90039
Fridays: 8:00pm, Saturdays: 8:00pm, Sundays: 2:00pm, 7:00pm; Runs through December 4, 2011
Tickets: Seniors and Adults $20 General $25; (323) 644 1929