Troupe hopes this is just the beginning in Vegas

By Kristen Peterson (contact)

Friday, Jan. 19, 2007 | 6:58 a.m.

By Kristen Peterson

Las Vegas Sun

What: "Wake Up and Smell the Coffee"

When: 3 p.m. Sunday (last performance)

Where: Las Vegas Little Theatre's Fischer Black Box, 3920 Schiff Drive

Tickets: $20, 360-9959

Wayne Wilson is snapping his fingers and shuffling his feet. He's jazzed. The guy has energy. Lots of energy. You can't imagine him not moving. He talks fast. He has big dreams. He has plans and nothing's going to stop him.

The "Le Reve" actor can tackle any role convincingly. He has professional contacts and a posse of partners psyched about bringing contemporary theater - and other performances - to Las Vegas.

"We want to break it wide open," Wilson says in the lobby of the Las Vegas Little Theatre, where his company, the New American Theatre Project, just finished a matinee of "Wake Up and Smell the Coffee."

"We want to put out a body of work and reevaluate the situation. We want our own space."

Standing next to him is Will Sturdivant, an actor with the Guthrie Theatre who moved here temporarily from Minneapolis to co-direct "Wake Up and Smell the Coffee."

Sturdivant says he's coming back - next time with actors and vocal coaches. He sees it as a calling. Las Vegas is fertile. It has space, development and not a lot of competition.

There's money here, and Wilson and Sturdivant are sure they can tap into it.

"Wake Up and Smell the Coffee" is the second production by the cast members from "Le Reve." They took Eric Bogosian's one-man show and divided the monologues among a cast of five and added sound and visuals.

They used their own money, built the set and wrote the music.

They gave up sleep - and health. Las Vegas Little Theatre had no heat going into its Black Box Theatre space during rehearsals or for the first four performances.

The week before the first show, the company would arrive at midnight after "Le Reve" performances and stay until 4 a.m.

Now everyone is sick and a few key players are out.

But Wilson is snapping his fingers and doing a jig as he discusses their next production with Sturdivant and Robin Barcus. They're hoping for a spring production of "The Gazillionaire Show," a kitschy improvised talk show with live music and guests.

"I want to get it into a bar," Wilson says. "If you can have a beer and watch us, all the better."

The New American Theatre Project also is planning a summer event with cast members from several Las Vegas shows.

There are setbacks, of course: "We had to cancel our show yesterday because no one came," Sturdivant says.

But that was just one show, a 3 p.m. Tuesday matinee. They're not worried.

"We're going to keep going to see what happens," Wilson says.