Ed Harris, Amy Madigan headline premiere of Beth Henley play at Geffen, Celebrity Autobiography channels the tell-alls, La Mirada and Actors Co-op announce seasons, while Michelle Danner helms a film and the final segment of INSIDER history spotlight of Pasadena Playhouse. READ MORE
LA County Arts Commission Awards $4,118,000 In Grants
to 184 County Arts Groups
by LA Stage Alliance | July 7, 2011
The Los Angeles County Arts Commission has announced $4,118,000 in two-year grants to 184 nonprofit arts organizations through its Organizational Grant Program (OGP). These grants are the first under more flexible guidelines that permitted organizations in the small and mid-sized budget categories to request support for current organizational needs rather than projects relating to specific areas of organizational growth. READ MORE
It’s Good to be Crazy
by Joanclair Richter | July 7, 2011
I have acted in plays at drama school. I have been an assistant director for an Off-Off Broadway play in New York. But it was when I was a playwright’s assistant focusing on the script, keeping the actors on book, maintaining the newest version of the script, that I began to realize something that was so basic, yet so telling for my future – there would be no play without this script. No beginning, no middle and no end. READ MORE
Is the 1945 Freeman Actors’ Code Still Valid, or Does It Need an Irreverent Update?
by Steve Julian | July 7, 2011
Kathleen Freeman’s 1945 Code of Ethics for stage actors, the subject of an article on LA STAGE Times in 2009, has been raising additional comment in the blogosphere recently. The commenting continues here, including an irreverent up-to-the-minute rewrite of the code by Shaun Landry of Oui Be Negroes, an improv and sketch ensemble. READ MORE
Funding Opportunity for Emerging Arts Leaders in California
by LA Stage Alliance | July 7, 2011
The Center for Cultural Innovation (CCI), in partnership with The James Irvine Foundation and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, is pleased to announce the next round of the NextGen Arts Initiative, which provides emerging arts administrators in California access to funding resources for professional development through CCI’s Creative Capacity Fund’s NextGen Professional Development Program. Under this program, emerging arts leaders currently working for a California nonprofit arts organization may be eligible to apply for up to $1,000 in grant subsidies to take workshops, attend conferences or work with career coaches or management consultants. READ MORE
Anderson, Cummins and the Broken Wings of Blackbird
by Patricia Foster Rye | July 7, 2011
Sam Anderson and Corryn Cummins discuss finding the humanity within their characters in David Harrower’s one-act psychodrama Blackbird at Rogue Machine. He plays Ray, who abused her character, Una, when she was 12; now the adult Una is confronting Ray at his workplace. READ MORE
Larry Raben Takes the Director’s Chair for
The Wedding Singer
by Samantha Mehlinger | July 6, 2011
Walking into Musical Theatre West’s administrative headquarters in Long Beach, you might wonder if you time-traveled back a few decades—bursting racks of glittering ’80s costumes for MTW’s upcoming production of The Wedding Singer crowd the hallways. The whole building is alive with movement– the rehearsal room is bustling with activity, every desk in the office is occupied, and there is even a happy golden retriever making his way around the place. After giving the pooch a pat on the head, Larry Raben, director of The Wedding Singer, takes a seat. READ MORE
Writing From the Gut: Instinct, Imagination, Determination
by Velina Hasu Houston | July 6, 2011
When I was 20, I did not worry about writing something “new” or “different” in subject matter or form, although my work often was perceived as such. I still do not concern myself with a quest for something different. Then and now, I wrote and write to write, period. READ MORE
Haley Traces Breadcrumbs at Ojai’s Theater 150
by A.R. Cassell | July 6, 2011
For playwright Jennifer Haley, the concept of identity, much like the theater, is a construct of both deeply personal and communal elements. Haley puts her theories of identity under the microscope in her Breadcrumbs, which makes its West Coast premiere in Ojai’s Theater 150 on July 9. READ MORE
Farewell to Fagin, and Other Twists in Twist.
Big Pharma, Little Plays.
by Don Shirley | July 5, 2011
Fagin is missing from Twist — and good riddance. The counterpart to the original Oliver Twist’s Nancy is much changed too, but one really bad guy is worth hissing. The Twist book improves on that of Oliver!. Also, Robin Larsen keeps directing plays that reveal secrets of pharmaceutical employees in some of the closest quarters in town. READ MORE.
Writing A Book by Its Cover
by Damon Chua | July 1, 2011
Like many people of Chinese descent, I have a complex relation with the “motherland”. Do I love Chinese cuisine? Yes. Do I believe in eating dog meat? Of course not. Do I love Chinese history? Most of the time. Do I believe in Mao? Not so much. Do I love the intricate art of the Peking opera? Well, yes, no, uh, not really. READ MORE
If You Want To Clown Around, Meet Me @Metro II
by Darlene Donloe | July 1, 2011
Clowning around on public transportation is usually frowned upon. However, soon there will be a lot of real Bozos riding the Metro Rail. The Watts Village Theater Company (WVTC) in association with the Watts/Century Latino Organization have plans to turn those frowns upside down when they present, Meet Me @Metro II, a nearly three-hour theatrical journey that will take place at five stops on Los Angeles’ Metro Rail system between Long Beach and Watts during the weekends of July 2-3 and July 9-10, 2011. READ MORE
