Skip to main content

Pandemic-Defying ‘The Present’ Conjures Ticket Sales from Thin Air

Helder Guimarães in the Geffen Stayhouse production of The Present, directed by Frank Marshall. | Geffen Playhouse
Support Provided By
Father and Son Bakery
Known for their fruit tart platters, Father and Son Bakery serves up fresh sweets and pastries daily as well as a delicious selection of authentic Russian and Armenian foods like perashki, khachapuri and ponchik.
Related Story
Sapp Coffee Shop
Despite its name, coffee is not on the menu at Sapp Coffee Shop. The humble Thai food joint got its start in the late 1970s in a gritty Hollywood motel, functioning as a coffee shop by day and transforming into a nighttime Thai food haven. Since then, Sapp Coffee Shop has evolved, relocating just a few blocks away to establish itself as a standalone Thai restaurant where it continues to serve up authentic Thai comfort eats like their signature beef "boat" noodle soup.
Related Story
Tabula Rasa Bar
Tabula Rasa Bar in Thai Town is a natural wine bar offering reds, whites, rosés and a wide selection of beers from indie and local breweries.
Related Story
Pineapple Mama Vintage
Pineapple Mama Vintage in East Hollywood is a vintage clothing store offering resale and consignment items, many of which are one-of-a-kind.
Related Story
Coffee del Mundo
Related Story
Baba's Vegan Cafe
Related Story
The Beehive (former Goodyear Plant)
Related Story
Augustus F. Hawkins Nature Park
Related Story
Planet Health Compton
Planet Health Compton is a community hub in Compton consisting of a juice bar (The Juice Trap), vegan restaurant (Planet Health), wellness shop (House of Self), and streetwear retail (Vegan State of Mind Clothing). <br/>
Related Story
Patria Coffee Roasters
Patria Coffee Roasters serves up coffee slushes, flash brews, Mexican mochas and more — which you can use to wash down a gooey chocolate chip cookie.
Related Story

A box is delivered to your doorstep with instructions not to open it until showtime. The show is “The Present,” illusionist Helder Guimarães’ runaway hit on Zoom, which has just announced an extended run through October 10. It sold out The Geffen Stayhouse — not the playhouse, but its virtual programming platform during quarantine — and has now been extended thrice. It could be described as live theater that comes to you, but some might call “The Present” enhanced television. Others might say it’s theater-television, or is it something else? 

The Geffen Stayhouse production of The Present. Written and performed by Helder Guimarães, directed by Frank Marshall. | Geffen Playhouse
The Geffen Stayhouse production of The Present. Written and performed by Helder Guimarães, directed by Frank Marshall. | Geffen Playhouse

“Every time something new is created, I don't think the people creating it have a definition for it. History and time will be in charge of naming what we are doing,” Guimarães tells KCET. What he is doing is blowing minds with card tricks that viewers complete at home using a deck and a mysterious box of materials delivered to ticket buyers. Admission is $85 per link and audiences are limited to 25 participants. 

“There is a quality in this that I don't feel belongs to the universe of television or movies. There is a theatrical quality to this,” Guimarães continues. “Because of the situation we’re in, we have to broaden the definition of theater, or understand what makes theater interesting and provide those elements to create something that even if it's not theater still has those elements.” 

Director Frank Marshall, legendary producer of such films as “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Jurassic Park,” is a five-time Oscar nominee for Best Picture. In 2019 the 73-year-old veteran and his wife and partner, Kathleen Kennedy, were honored with the Irving Thalberg Award. He directed Guimarães in last year’s “Invisible Tango,” also at the Geffen, but is directing “The Present” from home while the illusionist performs from his Glendale apartment where they built a set and Guimarães’ fiance, Catarina Marques, acts as camerawoman. 

Marshall is glad to be directing again, but as a producer of Broadway hits like “Escape to Margaritaville” and more recently, “Diana,” which began previews March 2 then stopped with the pandemic, he’s anxious to be back in a theater with a live audience. “I don’t know how you get things in a place where people feel comfortable sitting with a thousand people in a theater. Unless we have a vaccine or treatment in place, I think we are severely limited by how many people will be in a room together,” he ruminates. “It's a little bit easier on the movie exhibition side than in live theater ‘cause live theater really depends on the audience reaction. And you also have the actors on the stage; everybody has to feel safe. In a movie, you can probably social distance people.”

If theater is being transformed during the pandemic, the most obvious change is from light to dark as Broadway is closed until at least January, likewise L.A. theaters. The Geffen is planning a cabaret show this October in the smaller Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater with proper social distancing observed, but is in the process of rescheduling its original production of “Macbeth” starring “Game Of Thrones” actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, as well as another illusion show, “The Enigmatist.” Among the highlights of its 2021 slate is Matthew Lopez’s critically-acclaimed two-part gay-themed epic, “The Inheritance.”

Helder Guimarães in the Geffen Stayhouse production of The Present, directed by Frank Marshall. | Geffen Playhouse
Helder Guimarães in the Geffen Stayhouse production of The Present, directed by Frank Marshall. | Geffen Playhouse

The Geffen’s success with “The Present” can in part be attributed to the fact that the audience isn’t limited to Los Angeles, but to anyone anywhere with a computer and a credit card. The surprise revenue stream during such uncertain times is a blessing to artistic director Matt Shakman. 

“We’re thinking of running it as long as they all have the energy to do it and people want to see it,” he says, adding that the Geffen benefitted from the Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program and has been in close touch with its foundation support. “The longer it takes us to get back to business, the harder and harder it will be.”

In spite of it all, Shakman is two things: curious and optimistic. Curious to see that kind of writing comes out of the quarantine experience, and optimistic that things will return to normal soon enough. “There were certainly plagues in Athens, there were plagues in the Elizabethan Era, and Shakespeare and some of the great Greek plays came out of those periods and have stood the test of time. I’m excited for the future and optimistic for a return to a communal experience.”

Guimarães has been selling out shows at the Geffen and off-Broadway since 2013, earning enough street cred to train Sandra Bullock and Cate Blanchett for their sleight of hand in the movie “Ocean's 8.” It took a different kind of sleight of hand to connect with an audience despite social distancing, but he’s satisfied “The Present” does exactly that. “Overall the show talks a lot about the way we connect with each other. In that, I'm extremely proud of what we created,” he says with a shrug, still undecided whether it’s theater or something else, adding, “I’m not worried about what to call it.”

Top Image: Helder Guimarães in the Geffen Stayhouse production of The Present, directed by Frank Marshall. | Geffen Playhouse

Support Provided By
Read More
Kenny Burrell is an older man holding a guitar smiling wholeheartedly

Jazz Legend Kenny Burrell Turns 90

A jazz great Kenny Burrell belongs to a galaxy of great musicians including Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock, but it all began in Detroit, continued on to countless single-day recording sessions and eventually grew to a venerable university-level jazz program.
A barefoot man and woman dance together.

How Artist-Parents Are Nurturing Culture – and What We Can Learn From Them

Columnist Anuradha Vikram talks to artists about how being an artist has made them better parents and the reverse, and how they bring their artistic know-how to their families, including what they've learned in the pandemic that they intend to carry forward in their personal and professional lives.
Participants stand on a platform placed on top of the sand at Santa Monica Beach. The participants are waving around different colored scarves in the air. The sky above them is overcast.

Climate Change-Focused Artist Residency Maps Out a New Future in the Pandemic

In the pandemic, Air, an arts residency focused on climate change, transforms into a nomadic institution.