So much for the debatably wise chap who, when asked for a thoughtful utterance, said: A straight line is the most direct route between two points.
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Michelle Souza and Sazon owner Claudia
Several weeks ago, one Michelle Souza contacted the newspaper to announce a gallery opening at a two-year-old eatery in West Culver City:
Sazon Latin Fusion restaurant,12406 Washington Blvd.,at Centinela, will present a reception to introduce a new series being created for emerging artists. Sazon is creating a gallery space to introduce these new artists to the community with “Low Angle Stories,” featuring the black and white photography of Culver City resident Michelle Souza and Laura Richarz. The event is an opportunity to view new artwork and to sample appetizers. The show will run through New Year’s Eve.
So much for the straight line theory because, after a couple of misfires, Opening Night came and went without the twain or the parties meeting. However, the fascinating dual exhibit on pumpkin-colored walls has six more weeks to run, and it turns out Ms. Souza, the diminutive lady behind the photos, has traveled a circuitous route to Sazon. She has her own meandering, but focused, journey to the middle of Culver City to relate.
Ms. Souza is the first propmaster the newspaper has met, interviewed or sat next to.
“I am primarily propmaster,” she says. “A propmaster is responsible for anything an actor uses in a scene on a film, a television show or in the theatre. My background is community theatre in Hawaii. I have a bachelor’s degree in theatre, did summer stock theatre, got into the ACT, the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, did that for four years, and then they needed women in the IATSE (International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees). In San Francisco, they didn’t have anybody. It’s a very strong union.
“Women had gone kicking and screaming from the room. I was recommended by some guys on the deck of ACT. When I interviewed with them, they said, ‘Hey, we’d like to test you out.’ I said ‘okay,’ and I ended up at the San Francisco Opera for three seasons, from 1979 to ’82. I was with a 50-member stage group, 49 men and me, for three years to prove a woman could do the job. I worked with Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Marilyn Horn and a lot of divas from that time.”
Thirty years ago, Ms. Souza’s weight was only in the upper 90s, but she waves it off with “I was young and strong.
“Then I got into doing other kinds of work for the union. I did apple commercials, big trade shows, I did the Madonna concert. I did movies, and I ended up getting more and more involved because my background was in props. I became a prop assistant, then a propmaster, and then I met my husband up there.
“We came down to Los Angeles. The first non-union television show I worked on went union, and that gave me the ability to get a card down here in Local 44.”
(To be continued)
