"The One" Program
Sacred Fools Theater Company presents...
THE ONE
written & performed by Joe Hernández-Kolski
*
developed & directed by Benjamin Byron Davis
Designers:
- Lighting Design Matthew Richter
- Sound Design Omar Ramos
- Projections Ben Rock
Stage Manager: Rebecca Schoenberg
Associate Producer: Bruno Oliver
Key Art: Michelle Hanzelova
Promotional Video Director: Jaime Robledo
Publicity: Scott Golden
* Member of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States
This production is presented under the auspices of the Actors' Equity Los Angeles Membership Company Rule.
Produced for Sacred Fools by Scott Leggett
Special Thanks:
Abigail Davis
Aaron Foster
Jonathan Goldstein
Katie Oliver
Rebecca Larsen
Victoria Rani
Seth Sanders
Dana Schwartz
Isaac Stovall
Ben Wiener
Arthur White
Leigh Wulf
This production is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County
Board of Supervisors through the Los
Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture. 
This production is supported, in part, by a grant from the
City of Los Angeles Department of
Cultural Affairs. 
This production is supported, in part, by a grant from
Council District 13, City of Los Angeles. 
Our educational projects are supported in part by the
California Arts Council, a state
agency. Fools at the Fringe 2024!
A LIVE INTERACTIVE FAKE CONCERT COMEDY EVENT!!! When was the last time the climate crisis made you laugh? The tatistics are terrifying, but describing a slow-moving disaster in half-degrees-Celsius, inches of coastline, or insect migration can feel abstract. What if we tried something new? More Info
A comedy inspired by the horrifying realities of our justice system. We follow a wrongfully convicted man in prison and his relationship with the former, guilt-ridden juror who put him away. It'll make you think. About what? That's undefined as of now. Check back after reviews come out. More Info
He's only got five minutes to make you laugh! The pressure is on, but this young comic still has a lot to learn. As he travels from city to city, Byron Coolie questions his self-worth, navigates the entertainment industry, and confronts racial injustice. YOU ARE ENOUGH!!! More Info
Tickets available May 1 at HollywoodFringe.org
A Message from the Sacred Fools Board President
A lot of change has been happening in the Los Angeles theater world. Both for the large producing companies and for the Intimate Theater scene. When our city's flagship, historically important regional theater is forced to suspend its programming one might well wonder how the small companies - those creative outlets actually accessible for the vast majority of L.A. performing artists and important touchstones of art in their neighborhoods - can stand any kind of chance.
The answer for our small theater company, I believe, is to face this changing landscape head on with eyes wide open. To be nimble and opportunistic and determined and optimistic. To honor Sacred Fools history and all the art and hard work company members and staff put in over 27 years as our share of building what we now call the L.A. Intimate Theater Community, even as we came to the difficult truth that it was time to radically change how our company must operate, create and survive moving forward.
Sacred Fools is very fortunate in this challenging moment to have a home and a workable model for survival. And we view our stewardship of The Broadwater Theaters as the most immediate way that we can serve the L.A. theater community - both for our established peers (too often wandering without a home stage) and for emerging theater makers trying to get their first footing in town. Of course, beyond just surviving we are also in the process of reimagining, or perhaps finally doubling down, on exactly what kind of theater Sacred Fools presents and how we use our experience and resources to make space, access and opportunity for a more diverse, dynamic and dedicated group of theater artists than ever before.
As part of our commitment to adapt, change and improve, The Sacred Fools Board has crafted and approved a new Mission Statement which we present for you here:
The Sacred Fools Theater Company is an organization committed to create, sustain and nurture live theatre in Los Angeles. In the evolving reality of the theater of today, we are continually searching for new and inspiring artists to partner with and foster. While our specific focus is on work that is intrinsically theatrical, we also strive to create opportunities for both established peers and emerging artists, especially from historically under-represented backgrounds. We seek to be a theatrical hub, providing and sharing our resources to create a community of communities.
We will be following up with a more in depth statement of purpose and action that gets into how we intend to manifest the words of the mission into the real world. In the meantime, Sacred Fools is awake, excited, driven and very ready to jump into the next chapter of our unique theatrical existence.
Bruno Oliver
Board President
Sacred Fools Theater
CAST & CREW
Joe Hernandez-Kolski | Writer/Performer
Joe Hernandez-Kolski (he/him) is an Emmy award-winner and two-time HBO Def Poet. Joe has performed his unique blend of comedy and poetry at over one hundred high schools, colleges and universities. His first solo show, You Wanna Piece of Me?, is published by the University of Michigan press as part of an anthology, Say Word: Voices in Hip-Hop Theater. Theater credits include Waiting for Waiting for Godot (Sacred Fools), Mr. Burns, a post-electric play (Sacred Fools), The Bomb-itty of Errors (New Ambassadors, London). TV credits include Law & Order and Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life. More info at pochojoe.com or Instagram @pochojoe.
Benjamin Byron Davis | Director
Benjamin Byron Davis (he/him) is an accomplished actor, writer and
director, known for his dynamic range and versatility in portraying complex
characters. Credits include Marvel Studios' Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,
Lionsgate's Borderlands, Marvel's Ant-Man and the Wasp, and
The Belko Experiment, among others. Ben also created and voiced the
iconic character of Dutch van der Linde in the groundbreaking video game series
Red Dead Redemption (2010) and Red Dead Redemption II (2018)
which was named by Twininfinite as "one of the greatest villains of this
generation."
Ben graduated from the Noble and Greenough School (MA),
where he was awarded the Eaton Prize for Excellence in Performing Arts, went on
to attend the University of Chicago where he sat on the board of the University
Theatre, and finally to NYU's Tisch School of the Arts where he graduated with
honors and a Playwrights Horizons Theatre School "Achievement in Acting" award
(1996). Follow Ben on Instagram
@bigbendavis.
Scott Leggett | Producer
Scott Leggett (he/him) appeared in the modern farce Tangerine Sunset at Sacred Fools. He performed multiple characters in Burglars of Hamm's critically acclaimed production of Resa Fantastiskt Mystisk, which won Top of Fringe at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. He was Monster in Cookie and the Monster at the Hollywood Fringe Festival '15, which won Best Ensemble. He earned praise playing Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle opposite French Stewart in the critically acclaimed Pasadena Playhouse production of Stoneface: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Buster Keaton. At Sacred Fools, he played the titular character in Watson: The Last Great Tale of the Legendary Sherlock Holmes as well as its sequel. Other shows include 43 Plays for 43 Presidents and The Swine Show in addition to numerous other productions. He studied theater at Penn State University and has appeared in several films, commercials and TV shows. Scott is also an accomplished director, having staged the hugely successful adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere at Sacred Fools. He also directed The Poe Show, which won Best Comedy at the Hollywood Fringe Festival '15, and Skullduggery: The Musical Prequel to Hamlet. He has also served as Co-Artistic Director of Sacred Fools.
Omar Ramos | Sound Design
Omar Ramos (he/him) received his Master of Fine Arts degree in Theatre Design with a dual focus in lighting and sound from the University of California, San Diego. His design and associate design credits from across the U.S. include the Goodman Theatre and Chicago Shakespeare Theater (Chicago), McCarter Theatre Center (Princeton, NJ), Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Ashland), and San Diego Repertory Theatre. He is invested in theatre that outreaches to children, veterans, survivors of domestic abuse, and their families. He also gravitates to work that sheds light on the politics of race and serves LGBT+ communities. More information about his work can be found at omarramosdesign.com.
Matthew Richter | Lighting Design
Matthew Richter (he/him) is an award-winning designer based in Los Angeles. He serves as the full time technical director and designer in residence for the LA LGBT Center. He has designed for numerous companies around the Los Angeles area, including Rogue Machine, The Echo, Open Fist, Theatre of NOTE, Sacred Fools and Son of Semele. Matt also scores music as autodealer (autodealermusic.net) and as a duo with Jason Lamoreaux under the name Transverse. He lives in the Valley with his wife and two cats. More info at mattrichter.net.
Ben Rock | Projections
Ben Rock (he/him) is an award-winning director and projection designer. Directing credits include Baal, Richard III, Occupation and The Sirens of Titan. He designed projections for Mercury (The Road), Stoneface (Pasadena Playhouse) and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (Sacred Fools), as well as Sci-Fest, Empire Burlesque (Broad Stage) and Driving Wilde (Theatre of NOTE). His film work ranges from production designing The Blair Witch Project to numerous features, shorts, web series, and audio projects. You can see his work at benrock.com.
Rebecca Schoenberg | Stage Manager
Rebecca Schoenberg (she/her) couldn't be happier to be working with Sacred Fools on this production with this wonderful group of people. She previously stage managed Hit the Wall and Search for Signs for the LA LGBT Center. Other productions include A Gulag Mouse and The Behavior of Broadus, both for Sacred Fools. She thanks you for your attendance, and hopes you enjoy the show!
Sacred Fools Staff
Managing Director:
Padraic Duffy
Producing Director | Interim Artistic Director:
Scott Leggett
Technical Director:
Rebecca Schoenberg
Education/Business Manager:
Emily Kosloski
Development:
Bruno Oliver
Webmaster:
Corey Klemow
Board of Directors:
David Baron
Padraic Duffy
Brian
Finkelstein
Bruno Oliver
Detra Payne
Paul Plunkett
Ariadne
Shaffer
John Sylvain
