L.A. Review: 'Live Theatre Blog: Milk From Stone'

Playwright Eric Czuleger is on a two-year assignment in Bajram Curri, Albania, teaching English in a crumbling high school where signs posted near exposed wiring proclaim "Danger! Will kill you!" After a month in that environment, wondering if he was there because he's a warm, giving person or just likes being perceived as a warm, giving person, he came up with the idea of creating a narrative about his experiences. With the able aid of director Sara Perry and actor Deven Simonson, Czuleger created "Live Theatre Blog," offering his stories for Simonson to perform onstage and simultaneously broadcasting each episode on the Internet.

Episode 7, "Milk From Stone," derives from an Albanian legend, but even though it's a gently majestic little folk parable, it is Czuleger's take on the differences and similarities between life in L.A. and in Bajram Curri that fascinate. Simonson is mesmeric as he seamlessly retells Czuleger's stories of villagers slaughtering a goat to welcome him or arriving at the realization, as the Albanian teenagers thirst for anecdotes about Tupac and Lil Wayne, that America, "especially Los Angeles,” imports one thing: dreams. The most significant thing Czuleger and his fiercely committed collaborators come to recognize, however, is that the conduit for achieving world peace is "hearing each other's stories."

Presented by the Coeurage Theatre Company as part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival at the Actors Circle Theatre, 7313 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood. June 14–23. Remaining performance: Sat., June 23, 11 p.m. www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/930.