The set for Jill Pangallo’s new play “Swallows,” which is coming up for a brief run at La MaMa in the East Village, consists of one room — and the show’s time frame is one day.
Played out in a crumbling McMansion in Los Angeles, its themes of “fame, aging and sexual harassment” are brought to life by an “aging ’90s heartthrob named Brodie and his middle-aged girl band, The Swallows.” Working with a script that was written for, and sometimes inspired by the four main actors, the cast brings their life experience as well as their acting chops to their roles.
The action takes place as the principals prepare to film a music video that they hope will kickstart their fading lives. Becca Blackwell as Brodie Glazer, Heather Litteer as Sloan Stone, Anni Rossi as Iris Wolff, and Jill Pangallo as Brie Glazer mixes comedy, drama, and music (although Pangallo stresses, it’s definitely not a musical) to make a statement about the entertainment industry’s “obsession with and exploitation of youth.”
“I’ve been thinking about this subject for ten years,” Pangallo says. “I got obsessed with videos of teen stars of the ’80s.”
Not only that but during the pandemic lockdown, she spent quality time watching Brett Michaels’ “Rock of Love,” Playboy’s “Girls Next Door,” and Flavor Flav’s “Flavor of Love.” If that wasn’t enough (and apparently it was not), she made a point of investigating “impresario” bands such as Prince’s “Vanity 6”, Kim Fowley’s “Runaways” and Corey Feldman’s “Corey’s Angels” (Let us know if you can make it all the way through “Angelic 2 The Core” – we couldn’t).
Pangallo balanced that COVID reality show obsession with the music of her friend Rossi and Litteer’s self-made audition tapes, which she found inspiring.
“I wanted to write a showcase for Heather – I wanted more people to see this other side of her,” she explained.
Blackwell, who has been a friend for 15 years, was attached to the project before Pangallo started writing it.
“It’s really fun making something with my friends,” Blackwell notes. “It’s the way that I wish more theater was. All of our joy and impetus comes from when we get to play together.”
Litteer firmly states that “the best part about the play is Jill Pangallo — we have a real sisterhood and friendship that has lasted over 20 years. I’m grateful that she wrote this part for me — she saw that I had a much wider acting ability than most people know. They always think of me as the sexy “Requiem For a Dream” girl – it has been a real stigma.”
Pangallo describes the character of Sloan as “having been chewed up and spit out by the industry.”
Rossi plays a character who “has a playful, childlike spirit” but also intuitive wisdom—what the playwright, Jill Pangallo, calls the oracle of the play: “She’s a talented musician who has spent years honing her craft, yet she’s been more of a passenger in her own life, going along with the ambitions of those around her. Over the course of the play, we see her shift from passivity to agency, stepping into her own power while still holding onto her sense of wonder.”
Once the main characters were established, Pangallo added three additional characters to enhance the narrative.
“We got 3,000 actors who submitted for those three roles!” she says. “Twenty-five people read for the role of Lucky.”
Pangallo, who wrote, produced and stars in the play, knew that she wasn’t going to be able to direct it as well, so she handed that task over to Rosie Glen-Lambert, who is luckily pretty enthusiastic about the work.
“It’s exciting for a play to showcase imperfection in its characters,” she offers. “Every character in this play has blindspots; every character has redeeming qualities; every character has something that is likable about them. It’s exciting to play in that complexity.”
“I wanted someone younger to direct it,” Pangallo explains. “And she enhanced it, building on what I was getting across from my Gen X perspective”.
“What’s unique about this play is how it blends familiar comedic structures with layered, nuanced themes,” Rossi muses. “It’s wildly entertaining, yet it explores complex issues like sexual harassment, the realities of aging as a female performer and the ways that women across generations navigate patriarchal systems. The dynamic between the three women in the band, The Swallows, has a bit of a Golden Girls energy—but instead of a cozy Florida home, they’re living in a rundown mansion in the Valley as part of a harem surrounding an ex-child star.”
“Swallows is a play that will keep you laughing,” says Glen-Lambert. “But, like the best comedies, it is rooted in real human circumstances and real human pain. It touches on heavy topics but gives you access to the way people process those events, which is so often through humor.”
Pangallo puts it simply, after noting that she is a dark comedy fan: “Dramedy,” she says, “is my jam.”
“Swallows” runs from March 28 through April 6. Show info at www.lamama.org/swallows/
