Leila Navidi

John Beane is an actor, director and leader of Onyx Theatre.

By Joe Brown

Mon, Oct 6, 2008 (2 a.m.)

John Beane is director of the alternative Onyx Theatre in Las Vegas and artistic director of the Insurgo Theater Movement, a “wild west avant-garde acting ensemble,” which presented its first season of plays at Onyx this year. Its current season includes a variation on Kafka’s “Metapmorphosis,” a musical adaptation of “Reefer Madness” and Shakespeare’s “Pericles, Prince of Tyre.”

What is the mission of Onyx Theatre?

To provide a home for socially progressive work, celebrate community and create new art — and for unrestrained expression and entertainment. We’re trying to instigate a professional, daring, bold culture scene.

Where does Onyx fit in the Las Vegas entertainment ecosystem?

We run the gamut from Mickey and Judy putting on a show in the uncle’s barn to Cirque du Soleil and $50 million sets. We’re local but we provide the alternative, visceral arena that artists from all over can play in. Cirque is using the place for a few weeks. They say the place reminds them of their gutsy roots.

Who else is helping make alternative culture happen in Las Vegas?

Atlas Theatre Ensemble and Cockroach Theatre do amazing work. And of course there’s Little Theatre of Las Vegas and their black box.

Is there an audience for challenging theater here?

Absolutely. If you think about the number of people involved in putting up shows on the Strip, working with people working on those shows, it’s an arts-heavy town. You’ve got world-class talent in acting and directing and technical areas, and you’ve got this kind of small town mentality. In Los Angeles, a theater company in a garage doing great work would be white noise. Here, that’s something to celebrate.

Does the Strip help or hinder?

The Strip adds high stakes to the idea of theater in Vegas. One of the mistakes little theater companies make when they launch here is announcing, “We’re going to reinvigorate the landscape of theater in Las Vegas and give an alternative to the Strip, and we’ll show these culture-starved freaks in the desert ...” I don’t think any of that is necessary.

What are the next steps for the Onyx?

The most important thing is to be as creative, driven and courageous about business as you are about the content of your stage. And it’s not just selling a show to the public, or selling a season or selling seats. The thing theater has to do, that no other art form does, is sell the idea of the art form’s worth in itself every time you do another show.