much time

Julio Torres is always in search of the next challenge. The writer, comedian, actor and producer is adding the title of playwright to his ever-growing, multi-hyphenate list of occupations. Since his days as an Emmy-nominated writer for “Saturday Night Live,” Torres has written and starred in the Peabody Award-winning HBO Max original series “Los Espookys,” wrote and starred in the HBO Max original series “Fantasmas” and directed, wrote and starred in his first feature film, “Problemista,” co-starring Tilda Swinton.

For his latest venture, Torres made his way to the stage — admittedly not knowing exactly what goes on in the theater, but willing to take a shot with his first comedic play, “Color Theories.” In it, the audience gets a closer look at the eccentricities that frame his imaginative inner world.

As the son of a civil engineer and architect/fashion designer, Torres’ knack for world building comes as no surprise. In a recent feature for Architectural Digest, Torres opened the doors to his wonderland Brooklyn studio apartment, which contained escapist daydream corners and custom futuristic furniture made of glass, chromatic metals and mirrors, all cut and shaped into squiggles and sharp edges. With elements of retro-elegance and the ambiance of a playhouse, Torres’ vision is nostalgically absurdist and highly refined.

The same can be said about most of his work, including his vision for “Color Theories.” In order to bring his ever unpredictable vision to life, Torres teamed up with longtime scenic design collaborator Tommaso Ortino to create a fantastical surrealist stage for his live theatrical debut, which took place Sept. 3 at the Performance Space New York, located in downtown Manhattan.

Julio Torres performs in “Color Theories” at the Performance Space New York.

(Emilio Madrid)

Before Torres begins his performance, the audience is greeted by a giant book doused in bold, mostly primary colors, a grandfather clock with the numbers melted off its face à la Dalí and tall, blank scrolls. On top of the book lies a giant lipstick-stained wine glass, and an actor lying face down in a bubble-shaped, burgundy satin cloak — or, Drew Rollins playing the role of spilled wine. Rollins is accompanied by Nick Myers, who sits on the side of the stage dressed as a music box in silver foil and oversized pearls. They both play the roles of Torres’ stagehands and narrative helpers. Costumes were designed by Muriel Parra, best known for her work in “A Fantastic Woman” (2017), “Neruda” (2016) and “The Settlers” (2023).

Once the lights come down and the play begins, the whimsical characters crack open the giant book, revealing a stark contrast of blank pages. They proceed to open a flap where the comedian emerges, from the cushioned interior of his own creation. He begins by describing the abstract personalities of different letters of the alphabet, referring to them as staff with “wants, needs, hopes and dreams.” From there, he seamlessly transitions into the definition of the first color on the list: navy blue, which represents (American) bureaucracy, policing and control. Throughout the play, this “law and order” blue encroaches on the existence of every color selected by Torres.

Upon noticing that Torres is spending too much time discussing navy blue, his robotic buddy Bebo — also a recurring character in “Fantasmas” — pops out of the giant clock and serves as a colonel of time and color story order. (He also happens to be blue.)

What Torres dubs as “relaxed” green, “commercial-portrayals-of-joy” yellow, “lusty and ragey” red, “teenage” orange, “soft” beige and “mysterious” purple are all accompanied by playful examples of behaviors, objects and societal conditioning that represent each color. The operatic sound effects paired with each color were created by Lia Ouyang Rusli, who was tasked with the important role of not only composing the sounds for each color, but their respective emotions. Torres explained in a separate interview: “Green should also sound like we combined the sounds of yellow and blue, and so that’s fun.”

One of the most poignant moments of the play is during his green monologue, when Torres reminisces about the video store he grew up visiting in San Salvador. He unashamedly admits he never returned a movie on time, so the owner would bargain the late fee with him based on if the movie was requested during the days it was off the shelf or not.

“This was all working perfectly fine until Blockbuster came in and suddenly we were in a navy blue system,” he explains — with a nod to the U.S. influence on El Salvador, namely in the way American capitalism infringes on countries within reach of its empirical tentacles.

Immigration status is a recurring theme in much of Torres’ work. In his directorial debut, “Problemista,” Torres plays the protagonist Alejandro, who scrambles to find a work visa in 30 days after being fired from his job — and makes desperate attempts to earn quick cash in an effort to pay his legal fees. In “Color Theories,” Torres describes several run-ins with airport immigration authorities and the complications of traveling with a Salvadoran passport.

He recounts being turned away from entering Costa Rica because his passport was too wrinkled — and of being taken to an interrogation room for not knowing he needed a travel visa to enter the U.K. While detained, he noticed authorities had branded the interrogation area as a pseudo-mental wellness safe space — messaging that contradicted the reality of his experience.

Torres uses blue and red to exemplify his anti-capitalist stance by endearingly explaining how those with extreme wealth maneuver tax evasion, how governments allow and excuse war crimes, and how pervasive individualism prevents progress. “Color Theories” reaches its apex when Torres begins discussing the space between the shades black and white — neither representing good nor evil, but rather the known and the unknown.

Julio Torres’ new play “Color Theories” at Performance Space New York.

(Emilio Madrid)

It’s a beautiful way to take what have become very divisive points of view and create an atmosphere of shared humanity among the audience. From here, the colors that become the focal point are bright, airy mixes of pastels, which highlight the beauty in all of our differences and ranges of knowledge.

In just over an hour, Torres delivers a concise portrait of how he navigates and experiences the world in terms an elementary schoolchild can understand — which he jokes about by saying the play will be taken to schools across the U.S. His character development transitions from a justified frustration to the conclusion that humans behaving as though they know it all is the ultimate act of hubris.

“Color Theories” does not communicate as a pessimistic rant about the world but rather examines how government and institutions of power shape our society — and how that power complicates and often oppresses the everyday reality of the average person — by using humorous, universally relatable vantage points and lighthearted pop culture moments.

Eight weeks ago, on the first day of USC football’s summer workout program, Trumain Carroll hoped to drive home one particular message.

How you do one thing, he told the team, is how you do everything.

Carroll had just been hired as USC’s new strength and conditioning coach, replacing Bennie Wylie, who was abruptly let go in April. The late start for Carroll left him with only so much time to lay a foundation. But this lesson was especially critical. Not only was it one of his core beliefs as a strength coach, it was also one of the main reasons he was brought to USC, where discipline, especially late in games, had often unraveled.

Carroll knew, that first day, that he needed to make clear how much details mattered. So when the team was lacking effort during warm-ups, he made players start again. And again. Soon enough, before the workout even started, they were out of time.

USC quarterback Jayden Maiava, third from left, and quarterback Husan Longstreet, fourth from left, join fellow quarterbacks during a preseason camp workout on Wednesday.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

“We were supposed to do some half-gassers that day,” Carroll said Wednesday, “but we didn’t make it to them. We didn’t make it for the simple reason that how you do one thing is how you do everything. That workout was a warm-up, learning the standard for how we warm up, for one full hour.”

The message was received after that, Carroll says. The question now, as USC opened preseason camp on Wednesday, is whether it’ll show on the field.

A year ago, the Trojans inexplicably blew fourth-quarter leads in five of their six losses, often in devastating fashion. They also didn’t win a single conference game outside of L.A. in their debut Big Ten season, their only road victory coming in a close call at UCLA.

How you view those narrow losses is a matter of perspective. At the time, coach Lincoln Riley claimed it was a sign of how close USC was to being a contender.

But by spring, he’d settled on a new explanation. That the team needed someone else demanding discipline and calling for accountability. So he parted ways with Wylie, who’d come with him from Oklahoma four years ago, knowing that something needed to be done.

“We’ve had a lot of success together, a lot of success,” Riley said of Wylie at Big Ten media day. “It was not an easy decision. But I felt like for USC, at this time and place where our program was at, that we needed a new voice down there.”

That voice carried across Howard Jones Field early Wednesday morning, bellowing above the din of a Drake song at the start of USC’s first preseason practice. As he barked out the team’s next moves, Carroll paced between the Trojans’ offense and defense, scanning for anything that might be amiss.

Watching him command the group, it wasn’t hard to see why Riley sought out such a firm hand for the job — and why Carroll has had little trouble thus far in getting the respect others say he demands.

USC coach Lincoln Riley watches the team on the first day of preseason camp at Howard Jones Field on Wednesday.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

“The way Coach T came in here and put his foot down early, we knew we weren’t going to have any problems,” said Trovon Reed, USC’s new cornerbacks coach. “Coach Tru yell at them sometimes, and I get scared.”

But before the yelling could be effective, Carroll wanted the players to know he respected them. He and his staff learned as many names as they could before the first workout, so the players would understand how serious they were about details.

The team was scheduled to run stairs at the Coliseum every Friday this summer. But after one walk-through of the stadium, Carroll decided the players would need to prove they deserved the opportunity first.

“This is such a sacred place,” Carroll said of the Coliseum. “I don’t want to come in and disrespect it before we’re ready.”

Players and staff have raved about Carroll’s influence in the months since. But how much a new strength and conditioning staff can tangibly affect wins and losses for the Trojans remains to be seen.

Count Riley as one who believes Carroll’s hire will help close the gap for a team that was so close, so often last season.

“When you first get started, you’re just teaching guys what this stuff looks like,” Riley said. “Then they start really wanting to win and believing they can win, and that’s great, but at some point, that expectation has got to go through the roof, where they know they’re going to win and they know exactly what to do. That’s obviously a big emphasis point for us. The better job you do at being consistent and demanding that out of the guys, the better job the team does to accept that and understand that every little thing is going to matter, the faster you become a championship team.”

Carroll knows he’s not capable of changing all that on his own.

When it comes to actually closing out games in the fourth quarter, he said, “I’m going to have a Powerade towel in one hand and a Powerade bottle in the other hand.

“But,” he continued, “I firmly believe you don’t rise to the occasion, you fall to the level of your training.”

And with Carroll in the building, no one seems all that worried about that baseline any longer.

Etc.

Adrian Klemm, a former offensive line coach at UCLA, Oregon and in the NFL, has been hired to USC’s staff as a defensive analyst. … Wideout Ja’Kobi Lane was limited for USC’s first practice, but otherwise the Trojans open camp with a mostly clean bill of health.