Mix a Hitchcock masterpiece with a juicy spy novel, add a dash of Monty Python and you have The 39 Steps, a fast-paced whodunit for anyone who loves the magic of theatre! This 2-time Tony and Drama Desk Award-winning treat is packed with nonstop laughs, over 150 zany characters (played by a ridiculously talented cast of 4), an onstage plane crash, handcuffs, missing fingers and some good old-fashioned romance! A riotous blend of virtuoso performances and wildly inventive stagecraft, The 39 Steps amounts to an unforgettable evening of pure pleasure!
What is more valuable - good art or good friends? Serge, Marc and Yvan are about to find out. When Serge drops a small fortune on a controversial painting, the sparks (and words) begin to fly as each experience the dire consequences of adhering to one's taste in art. Written by white-hot playwright Yasmina Reza (GOD OF CARNAGE), this acclaimed international hit will be directed by nine-time Emmy Award-winner David Lee. David has directed many of The Playhouse's biggest hits, including CAN-CAN, LIGHT UP THE SKY and CAMELOT.
When an assisted living retirement home suddenly closes, among the seniors being forced to re-locate are Irving and Milly, a long-married couple; and Sylvia, a woman suffering bouts of dementia aggravated by the long absence of her now-grown son. The three seniors are more connected than they might first appear. Dark, mysterious, ugly secrets thought submerged for decades suddenly rise to the surface, uncovering a history of sex, blood and deceit. When justice demands that debts be paid and accounts settled, can love possibly survive?
Awake In a World That Encourages Sleep is a dark comedy set in an atmosphere of doubt and suspicion about our country grasping to hold on to world power. A surprising romantic triangle unfolds as a couple (Paul and Erica) argue about their son joining the army at his father’s urging; the same man who was himself a draft dodger. Enter Edward, who works for Paul but is now quitting his highly sensitive position. Erica is strongly drawn to Edward. As the two men contend for her favor, the play conveys the eerie feeling that things are way out of our control. War is raging within hearing distance while our characters perch on park benches, reading Tolstoy between spurts of intense and humorous conversation.
Set in Frank's café, a greasy spoon diner in New York City's Upper Broadway neighborhood, Balm in Gilead loosely centers on Joe, a cynical drug dealer, and Darlene, a naïve new arrival to the big city, over the course of three days. Joe seduces Darlene hours after they meet (although who seduces whom is debatable), but he soon pushes her away, overwhelmed by his debt to a local kingpin named Chuckles. Darlene, meanwhile, finds herself completely ill-equipped to handle life in a New York slum, and she becomes increasingly vulnerable to the attentions of the various low-rent men who hang around the café looking for an easy target. Joe, seeing in Darlene a chance for a fresh start, briefly considers giving up dealing. Just as he is about to return Chuckles' money, however, he is killed by one of the dealer's thugs. The play ends with all the principal characters droning their lines from the first scene over and over again in a circle, implying that their lives are stuck in a demoralizing rut.
After a sold-out run during the Hollywood Fringe Festival 2011, Best of the Fringe Award-winner Be Careful! The Sharks Will Eat You! returns to Art|Works Theatre. Jay Alvarez's acclaimed one-man show chronicles his family's alternately harrowing and humorous escape from 1960s Cuba. Sharks captures the sultry beats of the Tropicana in the '50s, the danger of Fulgencio Batistas fall and Fidel Castro's rise to power, the uncertainty of political revolution, the longing for a better life, and the fear and excitement of the unknown.
Simply saying what the play is about, at least on the surface, is inadequate. A plain middle-aged woman, trapped in a life as a caretaker to her infirm but iron-willed mother in rural Ireland, is offered a last chance at love. But wait. If BEAUTY QUEEN is a bucolic cousin to The Heiress' it also has the more toxic elements found in Grand Guignol films like Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?. And Mr. McDonagh has a master's hand at building up and subverting expectations in a cat-and-mouse game with the audience. The play offers the satisfactions of a tautly drawn mystery, yet it is by no means airless. There's plenty of room for ambiguity and for the intricacy of character that actors live for. And the cast of BEAUTY QUEEN is a powerhouse foursome from The Production Company: Judy Nazemetz, who dazzled in last year’s Fifth of July, and Ferrell Marshall, who was revelatory in TheProdCo’s To Kill a Mockingbird, play mother and daughter Mag and Maureen, caught in an ever twisting dance of victim and torturer. Ovation nominated actor Rob Herring returns to our stage as Ray after starring in The Diviners and Sweeney Todd. The cast is complete with the subtle and intricate performance of Alex Egan as Maureen’s last hope, Pato; last seen in The Diviners alongside Mr. Herring.
This little known mystery will surprise and delight Christie fans. The story concerns a physicist named Sir Claude Amory who has come up with a formula for an atom bomb (Black Coffee was written in 1934!). In the first act, Sir Claude is poisoned (in his coffee, naturally) and Hercule Poirot is called in to solve the case. He does so after many wonderful twists and turns in true Christie tradition.
In this hilarious farce, Bernard, a successful architect, juggles three flight attendant fiancées: one American, one Italian, and one German. He tracks their airlines’ timetables, and his long-suffering housekeeper reluctantly resets the menus and bedroom decor depending on the arrivals and departures. Bernard has been successful at convincing each woman that she is the only one. Bernard’s old school friend Robert arrives unexpectedly, and Bernard proudly explains to his friend how he makes his busy romantic schedule run smoothly. Unfortunately for Bernard, a new, faster Boeing jet has been introduced, changing the timetable. Weather delays occur, and complications arise when things do not match Bernard’s careful planning. Robert steps in to help by keeping the women busy as they arrive. It becomes increasingly difficult for the team to keep the women separate once they all arrive, and the lies told become ever more difficult to reconcile. Recommended for ages 13+.
BRILLIANT TRACES takes the audience on an unforgettable emotional journey. In a remote cabin in the wilds of Alaska a lonely figure lies sleeping under a heap of blankets as a blizzard rages outside. Suddenly, a distraught young woman who has fled her impending marriage, bursts into the cabin dressed in full bridal regalia. Thrown together in the confines of the snowbound cabin, these two strangers share their reasons for fleeing the world they knew only to find the desperation and longing they both have in common. As they dig through each others lives what unfolds is a deep, thought-provoking, and often painful look into what separates us and ultimately what brings us together. Through incisive dialogue, humor, and heartache Brilliant Traces is a riveting portrait of the human condition that will stay with you long after you leave the theater.
Renowned jazz vocalist Jane Fuller stars in the title role of “Cinderella,” a new musical version of the classic tale that features her original songs. This musical proved so popular with adults as well as children in its two previous engagements, that we’re bringing it back again.
Cirque du Soleil makes an exciting return to its Grand Chapiteau at Santa Monica Pier, and some of the best seats are being offered to Goldstar members to buy at full price before they go on sale to the general public. OVO takes you into the colorful, energetic world of insects in these amazing artists' latest breathtaking extravaganza. The insects' daily routine is shaken up by a gawky, quirky new arrival, and a fabulous ladybug catches his eye. With stunning aerial acrobatics and music, this Cirque du Soleil production of OVO is a whimsical wonderland for the whole family.
Two different generations of characters tip-toe the delicate dance of social politics and two seminal events—50 years apart—in the same Chicago neighborhood. The 1959 landmark drama A Raisin in the Sun provides a contextual center for this rich and darkly satirical Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy. Jokes fly and hidden agendas unfold as two vastly different generations of characters tip-toe the delicate dance of social politics, pitting race against real estate at the crux of two seminal events—50 years apart—in the same North Chicago habitat.
A blistering new play from John Hodge, writer of Trainspotting. Moscow in 1938 is a dangerous place to have a sense of humor – even more so a sense of freedom. Novelist Mikhail Bulgakov, living among dissidents, stalked by secret police, has both. And then he's offered a poisoned chalice: a commission to write a play about Stalin to celebrate his sixtieth birthday. Inspired by historical fact, Collaborators embarks on a surreal journey into the fevered imagination of the writer as he loses himself in a macabre and disturbingly funny relationship with the omnipotent subject of his drama.
Write Act Repertory Theatre’s Producing Artistic Director John Lant presents, CONNECTIONS, featuring talented local female playwrights. Produced by Diane Chernansky and Susan Eiden with Write Act Rep. Between the Lines written By Mari Falcone Cantos Directed by Richard Pierce Can You Hear Me Now? written By Lynne Moses Directed by Michael Eiden Baby Blues written By Rhea MacCallum Directed by Rocco Vitacco The Broken Ones written By Elayne Heilveil Directed by Melanie Cruz Benny and Pearl Loving in a Gold Fish Bowl written By Linda L. Rand Directed by Louise Kroot-Haukka Taken for a Ride written By Jan O’Connor Directed by Diane Chernansky In My Dress written By Rochelle Perry Directed by Barika A. Croom Featuring: Amy Alleson, E.D. Brown, Natalie Camunas, Joe Cedillo, Anna Douglas, Colin East, Mari Falcone Cantos, Nicole Foti, Jessica Gardner, Liz Heathcoat,James Lawson, Larry Lederman, Chris Lee, Mary Beth Pape, Anthony Rutowicz, Jenn Swirtz, and Ramona Young.
