New groups keep appearing on the Los Angeles theatre scene, impossible to keep up with. I recently caught up with Coeurage Theatre Company. Their name is derived from “an imaginative understanding of Courage: Coeur (French for heart), and Rage, meaning fervor, on fire: together, Coeurage is a heart enflamed with passion.” The company is mostly young but they have auditions, and in their first year they did seven productions and brought three to the Hollywood Fringe Festival. So far this year they have done three and again participated in the Fringe Festival. 
What distinguishes them from other theatre companies, besides their excellence and commitment, is that their theatre is based on the premise of Pay What You Want.
With The Trouble With Words, they should be doing quite well. The musical is a song cycle by Gregory Nabours and is bound to have a future in New York.
The Trouble With Words is a collection of songs written over time by the immensely talented Gregory Nabours. They are loosely assembled around the theme of what words are capable of expressing and also how inadequate they are to express our deeper experiences. The songs are varied and are showcased by a six-piece band and a cast of six (with four swings). The night I saw it two of the swings were on. These were not understudies but swings to allow the cast to work outside if they got a job and also to give this extremely talented company to utilize more of their members. The cast consisted of Kevin Rose, a thin blonde with big eyes, Caitlin Humphreys, a girl who had considerable depth, Aimee Karlin, a tall sexy sultry woman, Sarah Phillips, a girl who could step right into Legally Blonde, Christopher Roque, a brooding presence with a powerful voice and depth of feeling, and Ryan Wagner, the boy next door. Patrick Pearson who did such a splendid job with last year’s Altar Boys directed the show.
This is a company to watch and I am glad we found each other. The Trouble With Words has had a lengthy run and is scheduled to close August 27 at the Actors Circle Theatre in Hollywood.
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