Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble walks away from the Powerhouse while Luke Yankee returns to Long Beach Performing Arts Center. Saturday Night Live diva Ana Gasteyer does a turn at Catalina’s and Antaeus Theatre continues celebrating Tennessee Williams‘ centennial. Brad Garrett offers his thoughts on being funny and INSIDER history looks back on the legacy of Bill Bushnell... READ MORE
East West Players’ Announces Face of the Future
Playwriting Competition
by LA Stage Alliance | July 28, 2011
East West Players, the nation’s largest producing organization of Asian American artistic work and the longest-running professional theater of color in the country, announces Face of the Future, a playwriting competition with cash prizes awarded to the top three plays, including $5,000 for the first place winner, $2,500 for second place, and $1,000 for third place. All winners will be considered for workshop and/or production at East West Players. READ MORE
Culver City Performing Arts Grant Program Releases 2012 Notice Of Funding Availability
by LA Stage Alliance | July 28, 2011
The application is currently being distributed electronically through e-mail and is available on the Culver City website. Deadline for submission is September 7. Performances may be presented by non-profit performing arts organizations in the disciplines of children’s theater, dance, music or concert, musical theater or opera, or theater performance. A workshop to assist organizations with the completion of the application will be held on Wednesday, August 10 at Culver City City Hall. READ MORE
Bridge and ‘Roid Rage
by Will Manus | July 28, 2011
The inspiration for my new play Bridge came when I read an article about the great tenor sax player, Sonny Rollins. At the height of his career, Rollins stopped playing in public for two years. Instead, he went up on New York’s Williamsburg Bridge at night, found a private corner, a little sanctuary, where he could experiment and improvise to his heart’s content. Rollins, a deeply spiritual person as well as a skilled artist, had a blissful time up there. Free of all commercial restraints, he played solo for hour after hour, expressing all of the sounds and feelings that bubbled up from deep within him. READ MORE
Hal Linden and Christina Pickles Summer
On Golden Pond
by Deborah Behrens | July 27, 2011
Hal Linden and Christina Pickles have circled each other’s orbit since both became Broadway regulars in the early ’60s, then network television stars on Barney Miller and St. Elsewhere — but it took the call of some iconic Maine loons to finally bring them together. READ MORE
Connie Chats
by Connie Danese | July 27, 2011
Despite his new Broadway hit Catch Me If You Can and a trunk load of successful scores representing over 15 years of memorable film music (When Harry Met Sally, South Park, and Sister Act), Marc Shaiman is truly eager to sit front and center when his 2003 winner of eight Tony Awards, Hairspray, takes center stage at the Hollywood Bowl. “The thrill of hearing our songs venturing out into the night sky will be amazing. And, at such a legendary venue, it will surely be quite an event for us.” Shaiman is referring to his co-lyricist and partner Scott Wittman. READ MORE
Director Heidi Helen Davis at Theatricum Botanicum — Rose Cottages is Show #22
by Patricia Foster Rye | July 26, 2011
As she takes a break from rehearsing Rose Cottages in the sylvan setting of the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, director Heidi Helen Davis is in her element. Not only is she directing her 22nd production there, but she has also lived in Topanga for the last 15 years. READ MORE
A Fully Staged Debut for The Devil and Daisy Jane
by Lisa Marinacci | July 26, 2011
I began writing The Devil and Daisy Jane in 2004 when co-creator Jeremy Lewit and I were both living and working in New York City. What began as an unemployed performer’s desire to channel her creativity while waiting for the phone to ring quickly became the full-time project of a first-time writer. Fast-forward to the present — The Devil and Daisy Jane is about to open for a two-week run beginning August 4 at the Actors Co-op as part of the Los Angeles Festival of New American Musicals. READ MORE
Smith’s Show Lets Me Down, D is for Dog Raises Rogue Artists Standard
by Don Shirley | July 25, 2011
Anna Deavere Smith’s Let Me Down Easy, at Broad Stage, is more about the oft-depicted subject of mortality than it is about health care, and it loses some of its edge as a result. D is for Dog is Rogue Artists’ best production yet. Why does the minotaur in Heavier Than… have such a human face? READ MORE
Independent Shakespeare Company’s Zoo Stories
by Gary Ballard | July 22, 2011
All the world’s a stage. You might not agree with that sentiment. You might wish to argue or debate it. But as you like it or not, you’d be foolish to deny its cultural impact given its 410-year history. Of course some stages ring resoundingly clearer than others, especially when peopled by well-trained thespians with soaring vocal timbres. READ MORE
LA STAGE INSIDER
by Julio Martinez | July 21, 2011
INSIDER spotlights International Theatre Festival invasion of LA, Ventura and Calabasas, the premiere of Justin Tanner’s 22nd play, Day Drinkers, the cabaret showcase of Brett Rybeck, the South African journey of the one-person play , A Negro Speaks of Rivers, and the History of the Birdcage Theatre. READ MORE
INSIDER spotlights International Theatre Festival invasion of LA, Ventura and Calabasas, the premiere of Justin Tanner’s 22nd play, Day Drinkers, the cabaret showcase of Brett Rybeck, the South African journey of the one-person play , A Negro Speaks of Rivers, and the History of the Birdcage Theatre.
Lighting Designer Christopher Kuhl Selected For 2011 Richard E. Sherwood Award
by dbehrens | July 21, 2011
Christopher Kuhl, a Los Angeles-based lighting designer, has been selected for Center Theatre Group’s 2011 Richard E. Sherwood Award. The Sherwood Award provides financial support for early career theatre artists living and working in Los Angeles. Created in memory of Richard E. Sherwood, the $10,000 award identifies innovative and adventurous artists in all aspects of the field, and works with them to build a creative relationship with CTG. READ MORE
