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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.
Medieval Times is an exciting, family-friendly dinner attraction inspired by an 11th century feast and tournament. Guests are served a four-course banquet and cheer for one of six knights as they compete in the joust and other tests of skill. Expect lots of jousting, swordsmanship, thrilling hand-to-hand combat, and displays of extraordinary horsemanship as part of an exciting story set in Medieval Spain.
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf by Ntozake Shange. The Tony Award nominated and Obie Award-winning play weaves lush movement and graceful verse into a truly stirring portrait of seven amazing black women trapped in their sex, color and consciousness. Each woman’s journey is unique, yet each seamlessly blends with the stories of the other six women to form one, united voice of pride and power. The play, which premiered on Broadway in 1976, was the inspiration for Tyler Perry’s recent film For Colored Girls.
Strangers find their lives suddenly intertwined by acts of violence and corruption in Timboctou, a wryly humorous and provocative new play written by Alejandro Ricaño and set against the volatile backdrop of the Mexican drug wars and intense border politics. This world premiere production imagines Timboctou as a mysterious, unreachable refuge at the end of the earth and illustrates the narrow line between victim and victimized. Celebrated Mexico City director Martín Acosta leads a binational cast and creative team for this highly visual multimedia work, a unique collaboration between the CalArts Center for New Performance and its bilingual theater initiative Duende CalArts and the University of Guadalajara's Cultura presenting organization. In Spanish and English with subtitles.
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!
Two towering figures with spirits as expansive as planets are caught in each other's orbit, unable to break away from an irresistible yet deadly embrace...
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.
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.
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+.
The life of the Buddha assembled from the original texts as a one-man play. The man we know as the Buddha lived in Northern India around 500BC and introduced the teaching known as Buddhism. After his death, an extensive oral history of the movement was written down and carried throughout Asia, becoming the taproot for all Buddhist traditions. Framed in a most unusual and personal context, writer/performer Evan Brenner brings selections from these texts to the stage, unchanged, to enact the extraordinary life of the man from start to finish. It’s an epic story of personal struggle, supreme enlightenment and horrific tragedy.e life of the Buddha assembled from the original texts as a one-man play.
In this comedy classic (George Bernard Shaw’s personal favorite) Shaw tells the story of Candida, a vivacious woman faced with a choice between the two men in her life. Candida is married to the popular pastor with Socialist leanings, Reverend James Morell. When the young poet Eugene Marchbanks enters their home an ardent romantic triangle unfolds exposing questions of love, loyalty, and what constitutes a conventional marriage. A delicious blend of passion, politics, laughter and wit are explored in this spirited romantic comedy.
Ghost Players Theatre Co. is presenting a stage version of CLOSER in The Avery Schreiber Theatre (North Hollywood). Many people know the film version of CLOSER directed by Mike Nichols, featuring Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Natalie Portman and Jude Law. The original play was made long before the film. The play has more dynamics to the story. This version is, of course, more exciting, and live on stage! "In its cutting contemporary picture of sexual desire and emotional failure, CLOSER is a brilliantly unusual virtual reality that rings true." - NY Observer
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.
Legendary ball player Ty Cobb set records that are still unbroken but his accomplishments were often overshadowed by the fact that he was the most personally despised player of his generation. In this play Cobb meets himself at various stages in his life. Are there seminal moments from our past, signposts that we can identify which shape the person we are today; and, if discovered, can we hold them up to the world as a justification for who we were? This is a story about the nature of successful men and the influences of their upbringing that drive or defeat them.
In The Cost of the Erection, wealthy Susu Ziegler has purchased an exclusive Manhattan raw space apartment overlooking the Hudson. She hopes to have her architect husband design this tricky space, but with their marriage on the rocks, she forces him to compete against a younger, hotshot architect. This sexy, funny tale is told in a heightened theatrical style, compressing and playing with time and space, and ultimately examines what makes a marriage work. Or not work.
“An explosive, deeply affecting study of alienation and the redemptive power of love.” –NY Daily News STARRING: Juliet Landau* (BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, ANGEL, ED WOOD) Matthew J. Williamson (SEDONA, HELTER SKELTER) DIRECTED BY: John McNaughton (MAD DOG AND GLORY, WILD THINGS, HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER) AUTHOR: John Patrick Shanley (DOUBT, MOONSTRUCK, JOE VS. THE VOLCANO) Shanley describes this play as an Apache dance and dedicates it to, “everyone in the Bronx who punched me or kissed me, and to everyone whom I punched or kissed.” THE STORY: The play revolves around the dilapidated lives of Danny and Roberta, two tortured strangers who meet by chance at a dive bar in the Bronx. Danny, an emotionally unstable, street brawling truck driver, and Roberta, a self-loathing, troubled woman, collide in a morbidly humorous, violent and vulgar fairy tale about a frightening and ultimately fascinating relationship. A BRUTALLY, SWEET LOVE STORY
From David P. Johnson, the creator of the award-winning Sally Spectre: The Musical, comes Deli Cats, a new comedy about a bitter 29-year-old waitress who's stuck behind the counter of a deli with a sage-like bus boy when she'd rather be out traveling the globe. Into their world walks Emily, an customer with some odd habits, and a pair of women who proceed to relentlessly complain about their own lives and issues. The cast includes Leslie Duke, Elizabeth Bradshaw, Maria Kress, Heather Alyse Becker and Michael Yarbro.
A 12-character, one-man show about the realities of the modern urban classroom, Did You Do Your Homework? returns to Los Angeles following its acclaimed 2009 run at the Beverly Hills Playhouse. In turns comic, tragic and inspiring, Homework is staged by writer-director Aaron Braxton, who has 14 years of experience teaching in L.A. schools. The reality-based show, which follows a substitute teacher's journey through the bureaucracy of the system, garnered a 2010 NAACP National Theatre Award, among other accolades, and caused Back Stage to hail the show as "powerful" and commend Braxton as "a compelling spokesperson."
A. R. Gurney's The Dining Room is a two-act play consisting of eighteen overlapping and unrelated vignettes, all staged in one elegant dining room at different time periods. In what has been described as "a seamless collection of moments," the show presents a spectrum of glimpses into the human condition: the joys, sorrows, love and comedy that accompany family life. The play's 57 characters are portrayed by just six actors.
DREAMS OF THE WASHER KING is Christopher Wall’s story of people who live far away from wherever it is you are right now. They don’t have computers - they barely have electricity. These four people who are caught in the space between the past and present, revisit one life-changing event in this powerful, mind-bending drama. Wall’s unique vision unfolds among a field of capsized washing machines and a rainstorm of grass to reveal a haunting story of lost love and childhood dreams. “…A beautifully crafted exploration of time and memory that will be haunting you for quite some time” ”Critic’s Pick” - BackStage.
Inspired by Anton Chekhov's classic "The Cherry Orchard". Three women come home to claim their family’s land in modern Mexico. A funny and moving story about family, class, and the choice between adapting to the changing world or being left behind.An explosive tale of humor and heartache in a changing Mexico. When the Galvan family returns home to Mexico after years in the U.S., they must come to terms with encroaching drug cartels, economic upheaval and a new class order. The deeply felt story of changing times and class divide is vividly portrayed using a mix of English, Spanish, Spanglish and Espanglés – but audiences will have no trouble understanding Saracho’s funny and complex characters.
Expecting to Fly is a dark and sometimes humorous journey through the young minds and memories of Jared (Mortelliti) and his former lover, Sean (Kringlen). As the two men look back on their time together, they try to come to terms with what they lost, and experience that one last perfect kiss, to set each other free.
Remember learning your lessons from stories read to you by teachers and parents? Well, grown-ups need lessons too, from sex to relationships to financial stability to Smartphone addictions. Join Percy Rutherford and his trusty trio of Puppeteers as they bring to life hilarious fairy tales.
A meditation on family bonds and a whole lot more. JoBeth Williams stars in Chicago playwright Joel Drake Johnson's funny and harrowing play which examines the treacherous terrain of parent/child relationships, where everything changes, yet always stays the same.
“A Fight For Love is a play that lends itself across all color lines and ages.” -LOS ANGELES SENTINEL In a world where famous does not always mean rich, Michael, a boxing contender, sets out to realize his dreams. Along the way, Michael is caught in a political web. What does a boxing contender do when the BIGGEST fight of his life isn’t fought in the ring?
GRAND DREAMS become intertwined with Michaels worst NIGHTMARE. One false step and his life can become a living hell. Who can Michael TRUST? Can he find support and LOVE in those who are fighting their own demons?
LOVE and adoration are fleeting. Public opinion is the order of the day, Lose it and it can cost Michael his LIFE. Just when Michael thinks he has it figured out, LIFE throw’s him a curve. Could LOVE be Michael’s LAST chance to win this FIGHT?
City Garage presents the West Coast Premiere of Filthy Talk for Troubled Times, by the controversial playwright/screenwriter Neil LaBute (In the Company of Men, The Shape of Things). Set in an art gallery and featuring the paintings of Cameron Jordan, Filthy Talk finds a group of drunk male patrons contemplating nude art objects and facing their anger and conflicts over the mystery of women. This project is a collaboration with the Robert Berman Gallery, running in conjunction with its show featuring the work of photographer Gerald Slota and the prose of LaBute.
Finding Fossils tells the story of an estranged father and his gay son in the wake of the death of a family member. The two meet up at the family's cabin over the July 4th weekend and explore their rocky past, attempt to find common ground in their grief and determine what the future holds for each of them. In the end the ties between father and son are too powerful to deny. The play is a journey that at times is sorrowful, yet also funny, entertaining and deliciously human
Mrs. Helen Alving’s struggle with the ghosts of her past is about to come to an end. Tomorrow, commemorating the tenth anniversary of her husband’s death, a new orphanage will be dedicated in his name. For twenty-nine years, since her mother and two aunts arranged for her to marry the wealthy, charming Captain Alving, Helen has kept a dark secret – the reality of her late husband’s deviant excesses and his disease. Now, with her son Osvald finally home to stay after many years abroad, a triumphant new life begins. The past will be buried forever. But her spiritual liberation is about to meet a catastrophic fate in one of the great plays of the world stage by one of its greatest dramatists, Henrik Ibsen. This English language adaptation of “Ghosts” will prove as haunting for modern audiences as its title.
In God’s Ear, a couple suffers a tragic accident, and their grief propels them into a fantastical world where the Tooth Fairy sings, their flight attendant is a cross dresser, and GI Joe offers family counseling. It’s a lyrically absurd journey of love, loss, and laughter. Playwright Jenny Schwartz is a New York-based playwright and a graduate of Juilliard, where she received a fellowship in the Lila Acheson Wallace Playwrighting Program. God’s Ear premiered at New Georges in 2007, was subsequently produced by the Vineyard Theatre in 2008, and was a finalist for the 2007 Susan Smith Blackburn Award.
Waiting in a purgatory of his mind and holding court on his bed, Roy Cohn is haunted by tragi-comic visions of Ronald Reagan and Barbara Walters; his lover, G. David Schine and Julius Rosenberg, with wife, Ethel, on the phone. Only after his dancing inner child implores him to "come out", are we able to see Roy as he might have been. A World Premiere fantasy play by Joan Beber about Roy Cohn, the brilliant attorney whose hunger for power and prominence ultimately destroyed him. Directed by Jules Aaron, choreography by Kay Cole and original music by Max Kinberg.
Travel back to the 1950s and the Desilu Studios where Rick Sparks directs the “filming” of two episodes of the iconic and beloved sitcom, complete with a television studio host and vintage-style live musical commercials. In addition to the classic comedy that takes place in Lucy and Ricky Ricardo’s New York apartment, musical director Wayne Moore conducts The Ricky Ricardo Orchestra live from the “Tropicana Nightclub.”
Explores the unique bond of three generations of women. On the eve of the release of her latest book, writer Jessica Cohen has just lost her live-in lover of eight years, the one who "gets her" but not the father of her daughter. On the morning that her latest book appears in the bookstores and she is packing up her lover's clothes, her daughter has yet to return from her last night's date. A strong dichotomy to the path of success we are shown in Cobb, women deal with their failures and successes like, well, women. Through the lens of "modern" women, we explore race, class, non-traditional families and how will be know when are happy.
San Francisco, November 1984. Reagan has just won by a landside. This World Premiere Comedy about art and ambition pits a father’s aspirations and a daughter’s dreams against one another – in this funny and touching new play about family, politics, opera and understanding. Written by Jennifer W. Roland and directed by Julia Fletcher, this is the third show of their 25th season.
Written and directed by NAACP award-winner Kenyetta Lethridge, Innocent Flesh shines a light into the dark corners of sexual exploitation, teen prostitution and human trafficking in America today. Loosely based on the real-life stories of four young girls and the hardships they face as underage prostitutes in the U.S., Innocent Flesh unfolds in a multilayered style that incorporates drama, humor, poetry, dance, a modern take on the classical Greek chorus and more. This haunting one-act reveals the bleak truth of "the life" -- abandonment, rape, abortion, molestation -- while keeping an eye toward a brighter future.
It's Just Sex, the long-running comedy smash about wife-swapping couples, is a ‘hilarious and thought-provoking’ romp that follows three married couples, during one fateful night, as they get together for an innocent cocktail party. But as the liquor flows, games are played, secrets are revealed, boundaries are broken and fantasy gets swapped for reality. In the end, all involved must deal with the consequences of their actions and the effects on their marriages.
Repertory East Playhouse opens its 2012 season with another stellar production of Jewtopia, the longest-running off-Broadway comedy in both New York and Los Angeles history. Jewtopia chronicles the story of Chris O'Connell, a gentile, who wants to marry a Jewish girl so he'll never have to make another decision. To achieve his goal, he enlists the help of his Jewish buddy Adam Lipschitz to bring him into the Jewish world "undercover." Cultures clash, stereotypes collide and hilarity ensues. This new production is an extended run of Repertory East Playhouse's 2011 show with an all-new cast.
Based on a true story of a Mexican American boy’s journey of self-discovery through adulthood and the realization of his dreams. Learning to survive by becoming anyone other than himself in times of crisis, from a Mexican Revolutionary poet, to a Mayan Shaman, to a Werewolf. His journey begins in a small Texas barrio and eventually leads to The Julliard School and appearances on Broadway. Portion of ticket proceeds benefit: National Latino Children's Institute, Youth Policy Institute, and the Oscar De La Hoya Foundation.
Hailed by Time Out New York as "a masterpiece" and nominated for a 2001 Drama Desk Award for Best Play, Lobby Hero finds drama, comedy and romance colliding in the lobby of a Manhattan high-rise apartment building. Written by Kenneth Lonergan (You Can Count on Me, This is Our Youth), the play follows ordinary people caught in extraordinary circumstances, as hapless security guard Jeff gets caught up in a power struggle between his boss and two police officers investigating a murder. Jeff's boss, William, runs a tight ship, strictly upholding the laws and ethics of the building. But when William is suddenly called to bear witness against his troubled brother, the local cops and apartment occupants intertwine while an attractive rookie cop must stand up to her seasoned partner. Truth becomes elusive and justice proves costly. Christine Macedo directs this production for the Red Brick Road Theatre Company.
An idealistic and flawed young man stumbles into the lurid world of two brothers, who are locked in an endless cycle of petty grudges. He puts his life on the line in an effort to get them to reconcile. Is there hope for the brothers…in this comedy of unexpected proportions.
Phantom Projects presents Rick Miller performing his international hit one-man show MacHomer at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts. This sublimely silly multimedia update of Shakespeare's chilling tragedy Macbeth combines a largely faithful text with Miller's hilarious impressions of over 50 characters from The Simpsons. Imagine Homer Simpson as the Scottish traitor, Marge as Lady Macbeth, Mr. Burns as the doomed King Duncan and Moe the Bartender as Witch #2. In the last 15 years, Miller has performed MacHomer to sold-out theatres in over 130 cities.
One of the all-time great musicals, featuring "The Impossible Dream," one of the all-time great standards. At the height of the Spanish Inquisition, author Miguel de Cervantes is imprisoned and uses the story of knight-errant Don Quixote to defend himself. Full of indelible characters and a beautiful Latin-tinged score, Man of La Mancha ran for six years on Broadway and won the Tony for Best Musical. Starring Davis Gaines as Don Quixote and Lesli Margherita as Aldonza.
A large-scale revolving set magically transforms into dozens of different locales as a quartet of characters tracks a decade of love, loss and adventure in this internationally acclaimed work from Argentine writer-director Mariano Pensotti. In a fast-paced, multilayered “mega-fiction”, The Past follows the evolution of its complex characters as Argentina’s economy collapses and their lives and hopes take unexpected twists and turns. Pensotti avoids sentimental stereotypes at the same time that he reveals a generation’s self-regard with emotional profundity and searing humor. Ingeniously, the circular set is in near-constant motion, allowing for key moments of the drama to be foregrounded until they recede from view, reminding the characters—and us—how quickly a given moment can turn into a distant fiction only to emerge again.In Spanish with English subtitles.
Moon Over Buffalo is a madcap comedy that centers on George and Charlotte Hay, fading stars of the 1950's. They are in Buffalo NY doing Private Lives and Cyrano De Bergerac in rep and on the verge on a disastrous split-up due to George's dalliance. But they learn Frank Capra is coming to see their show and may cast them in a remake of the Scarlet Pimpernel. It may be their last shot at stardom. Unfortunately, everything that could go wrong does, with the help of their daughter's clueless fiance and the uncertainly about which play they're actually performing, caused by Charlotte's deaf old stage-manager mother who hates every bone in George's body. This is the play that brought Carol Burnett back to Broadway after 30 years and is being directed by Bjorn Johnson who gave us Room Service last year, the hit of the Open Fist's 2011 season.
The world premiere of a gritty and savagely humorous live-on-stage action adventure that is part theater and part graphic novel. In Furious Theatre Company’s bold exploration of the way junk news and media hype thwart the best efforts of real life heroes, no good deed goes unpunished when teen illustrator Josh Jackson transforms into a superhero – only to face mortal consequences for his actions in an epic battle of good vs. evil. (Mature audiences)
Based on a true story, this compelling period piece follows the life of Major Ridge over about a 50 year period from the late 1700’s to the late 1830’s. a central figure in the Trail of Tears, he risked his life to save his people. But was he a savior or a traitor?
Stephen is a young, brilliant American pianist who has come to Vienna with the hope of regaining his shattered confidence. His teacher is a lonely, eccentric, elderly professor with a shadowy past. As the glorious music of Robert Schumann floods the professor’s studio, the past collides with the present, deep secrets are revealed, and the men slowly discover they have more in common than just the music they love. Nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Old Wicked Songs travels an emotional journey that weaves together profound sorrow, boundless joy, and soaring inspiration.
The new show “On Holy Ground” brings the Israeli-Palestine conflict into sharp focus from the wildly different perspectives of three women.
In Act One, Salome Jens portrays Henrietta Szold (1860-1945). Szold, a co-founder of Hadassah, founded the first Jewish hospital in Palestine, then under Turkish rule and later under British Mandate. Szold established social services accessible to both Jews and Arabs and proposed a bi-national (Jewish and Arab) state in Palestine, a dream she did not live to see fulfilled. She helped run Youth Aliyah, an organization that rescued 30,000 Jewish children from certain death at the hands of the Nazis.
In Act Two, Lisa Richards portrays Shula, an Orthodox Jewish woman from the settlement of Efrat who has lost her teenage daughter, slain in a bombing by a Jihadist. Separated by a fence, she meets with Reim, the Palestinian mother of the bomber, portrayed by Abbe’ Rowlins.
When Friday, November 22, 1963, comes to an end, John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States & Police Officer, J.D. Tippit, both lie dead in Dallas. An evasive Lee Harvey Oswald is arrested & becomes the number one suspect. It is the job of Captain William Fritz to extract a confession. As evidence mounts, defiance is Oswald’s only defense. Based on the bristling & explosive actual interrogation of Lee Harvey Oswald by Dallas Chief of Homicide, Captain William J. Fritz, what unfolds in OSWALD is one of the most engrossing battles ever brought to the stage, as a defiant 24 year-old, tight-lipped young man goes up against the best homicide detective the Dallas Police Department has to offer. There was no stenographer & no film or audio tapes of those interrogations, just handwritten notes by Fritz. Forty eight hours & seven minutes after the President of the United States was shot & killed, there was another shot in Dallas. That shot was for Lee Harvey Oswald.
Allan Felix, film critic and recently-deserted husband, lives in a lonely apartment and talks to his imaginary idol, Humphrey Bogart. When his friends Dick and Linda try to set him up with women, his attempts to be suave and sexy lead to a series of comic disasters – until Allan starts to fall for Linda, his best friend’s wife…. Woody Allen's hilarious and actually rather moving comedy was a Broadway smash, nominated for three Tony Awards before it was turned into a memorable film.
This imaginative adaptation asks the question you've always wanted an answer to: "What if Shakespeare had written Pulp Fiction?" Set in Elizabethan England, Pulp Shakespeare weaves the story of a pair of murderous hit men, their boss's alluring wife and a desperate knight, all brought to life by a cast of acclaimed Los Angeles Shakespearean actors. Clever and hysterical, this production is the work of Her Majesty's Secret Players and allows audiences to experience the Bard on a whole new level.
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, a Tony Award nominee for Best Play and a film starring Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole tells the story of a husband and wife trying to cope with the recent death of their child. Playwright David Lindsay-Abaire crafts a believable portrait of family conflict with poignancy, depth, and humor. Rabbit Hole is a fresh, compelling play not to be missed!
Two-time Tony and Oscar nominee Kathleen Turner sizzles in Red Hot
Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins as the brassy Texan reporter whose liberal journalism skyrocketed her to the national stage. From writing Elvis Presley’s New York Times obituary to becoming the most widely-read selfproclaimed “pain in the ass to whatever powers come to be,” Ivins – often described as a modern-day Mark Twain– made rabid fans and enemies alike with her sharp-tongued humor and unabashed political criticism. Written by twin sisters Margaret Engel and Allison Engel and helmed by acclaimed director and Geffen alum DavidEsbjornson (Neil Simon's Rose & Walsh and Bill Cain’s Equivocation), this acclaimed production captures the red-headed reporter’s indomitable character by weaving personal anecdotes with her colorful take on national
politics.
Exactly one year after a boffo opening night where the beautiful leading lady (also the playwright's fiancee) threw herself off of a 10th story balcony, the playwright reassembles the cast and crew to rehearse a new play when startling connections to the death begin to unfold. The growing tension reaches the boiling point after a series of surprising revelations about what really happened that fateful night. Adapted from the Edgar Award-winning 1982 teleplay.
Richard III by William Shakespeare, directed by Ellen Geer – The story of the most charismatic villain ever to command the stage. Daunted by a life of physical challenges, Richard weaves a fiery web of intrigue, removing all obstacles – and all people – that stand between him and his designs on the throne of England. Shakespeare's delightfully bloody and brutal history follows the corrupt path of a twisted man with equally twisted ambitions as Richard manipulates, marries and murders his way to the top with unmatched charm and zeal.
The tough, unforgiving environment of a New York City detention center is the setting for the play’s story. The population of the institution is an assembly of racially and ethnically divided cliques in an internally constructed society with its own rules and boundaries, peopled with violent felons, thieves and killers, whom the world at large has locked away for its protection. Into the midst of these desperate men is inserted a new prisoner, a middle-class white man named Clark, accused of child rape. Men like Clark are dubbed “Short Eyes” by the other prisoners and even among criminals are considered the vilest of the vile. Gentle-mannered Clark, surrounded by tough customers, had better make some friends fast, if he is to survive at all. He gets the ear of an inmate named Juan, but Juan must keep Clark at arm’s length for Juan’s own protection. Clark is clearly a sick man, thrust in the midst of career criminals. Can he possibly survive? Given the extreme nature of his offense, can even the theatre audience recognize his underlying humanity?Adult themes, some rough language. Suggested for audiences 13 to adult.
Set in the Golden Age of Hollywood -- when stars of the silver screen were still glamorous and travel was still luxurious -- Sharon Michaels' Sidetracked presents a timeless whodunit on stage at the Macha Theatre. Directed by Ray A. Rochelle, Sidetracked finds five passengers waiting to board the train at L.A.'s Union Station -- and each of them has a motive for the murder that's just been discovered. It's a gripping dramedy that pays homage to an earlier era while still feeling fresh and modern, with nods to film noir, Bogart and Bergman, and Fred and Ginger, too.
In this retelling of the classic story, as with all Storybook Theatre presentations, there are plenty of songs and audience participation as children from the audience become the seven dwarfs and try to prevent Snow White from biting the wicked queen’s apple. The show is especially appropriate foe children 3 to 9 and their families.
From Pulitzer Prize finalist and writer of such acclaimed TV drama’s as “NYPD Blue” and “Law and Order: Criminal Intent” comes a searing family drama about loss, grief and revenge, with a shocking twist.
Undressing, cross-dressing and sexual innuendoes abound in English playwright Joe Orton’s send-up of the mental health profession, along with stabs at government, religion, literary aspiration, heterosexuality and homosexuality creating a breakneck comedy of licensed insanity.
In this world-premiere dark comedy written by and starring Johnny O'Callaghan, a ladies' man who happens to prefer men has just become single. He receives a last-minute invitation to go to Africa, and what happens next is a roller coaster ride straight to the heart. O'Callaghan is a writer and actor (TV's We Were the Mulvaneys) whose latest theatrical piece, Ladies and Gents, was performed in and around the public restrooms of Central Park in New York City -- to sold-out audiences.
Lili’s a private eye. Her specialty is divorce cases, investigating adulterous husbands. But Lili herself is having an affair with a married woman, Renee, who is (or was, up until this point) a heterosexual. Lili has a sister, Mary, a career criminal who compulsively robs convenience stores at gunpoint. But Mary is trying to make an effort at having a non-criminal life. For this, she will have Lili’s assistance. More than anything, Lili and Mary want to be family. But their mother, Eleanor, is forever exploring cultures in some other country or on some other continent, while Mary and Lili long for their Mom. Claire Chafee’s elegant, richly humorous comedy is all about love: romantic love, family love, sibling love, lesbian love, sexual love (see the title), and the sometimes strange but wonderful things that we do to satisfy our deepest desires and longings. Funny, sexy and occasionally poignant, “Why We Have A Body” will make you, like Lily and Renee, want to keep coming back for more. Why We Have A Body is Claire Chafee’s best-known play. It premiered in San Francisco in 1993, when it enjoyed a very long run, and was successfully revived there last year. It also played off-Broadway. Ms. Chafee’s other plays include “5 Women on a Hill in Spain,” “Darwin’s Finches,” and “Even Among These Rocks.”
The most recent edition of Arden Shakespeare, beautifully introduced and edited by David Bevington, states that Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida is "hard to fit into the usual Shakespearean categories comedy, history, tragedy, romance 'because it has so many elements of all four' an experimental play, characterized throughout by an intermingling of mode, tone, genre and style." The Porters of Hellsgate have chosen this rarely produced and beautifully diverse "problem" play as the opener of their sixth season, running a full six weeks in the winter of 2012, directed by Artistic Director Charles Pasternak.
On the fifth night of Kwanzaa, the African-American holiday celebrating Black heritage, unity and culture, Santa Monica Playhouse and Stogie Kenyatta present a special one night return engagement of Kenyatta's acclaimed solo show about African-American artist/activist Paul Robeson, a powerful and poignant, entertaining and educational, heartfelt and humorous evening of theatre. Robeson was witness to the artistic wonders of the Harlem Renaissance and the Jazz- Be bop era, the horrors of the slave trade, the shame of the Holocaust, McCarthyism, blacklists, racism and oppression. His life's work celebrates our common humanity as he fought globally for social justice. "Armed with nothing more than the strength of his convictions and his vision of a world where men live as brothers. His message was his life," says Kenyatta. "He shows us that in spite of our differences; we still have more in common than we do in conflict."
Inspired by letters written by Isabel McMeniman to her husband, Nicholas D’Angelo, and set during World War II, YOURS ISABEL is the poignant and moving story of a marriage from the perspective of a man at war on the other side of the world and the headstrong young woman he has left at home. Can their relationship withstand the time, distance and profound changes of a world at war? YOURS, ISABEL received its World Premiere in August of 2011 as an invited work of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. The production received five star reviews from Broadway Baby and Edinburgh Guide. In addition to YOURS, ISABEL, playwright Christy Hall collaborated with American Theatre Wing Jonathan Larson Award-winners Jeff Thomson and Jordan Mann on the musical TRAILS, for which she wrote the book. TRAILS received Los Angeles and New York productions, and was awarded the Stage Entertainment USA Development Award. A member of Actors Co-op, Ms. Hall is currently writing the book for HOME, a new musical with music and lyrics by world renowned composer/lyricist Scott Alan.
YOURS, ISABEL is performed by Heather Chesley and Rick Marcus. The production is directed by Marianne Savell and produced by David Scales.
Zanna, Don't! is set in a world where homosexuality is the norm, and heterosexuals are considered an oddity. The town is called Heartsville, USA. All of the characters are homosexual, or so we think, until one bold student writes a musical about forbidden heterosexual attraction in the army, and the true, closeted desires of two of the cast members come to the surface. A world much like our own, and the chaos that ensues when people love who they want to, gay or straight.
