Geoff Elliott and Julia Rodriguez-Elliott
NEWS… Moving forward from a noteworthy 2011, A Noise Within founders/artistic directors Geoff Elliott and Julia Rodriguez-Elliott are now being honored with the inaugural “Contributions to the Field Award” by their alma mater, American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) in San Francisco. As the result of the Elliotts’ leadership, A Noise Within launched its milestone 2011-12 Season and 20th Anniversary in its permanent new home, hailed as “an arts anchor for East Pasadena.” The Elliotts, who are being cited for contributing “significant leadership in the field of theater locally and nationally beyond their role as actors,” are among an elite group of A.C.T. alumni and supporters to be honored by the prestigious company at its Conservatory Awards luncheon on Jan 24, at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco. Other LA area based honorees include four-time Academy Award-nominee and A.C.T. graduate Annette Bening and Emmy-nominated actress and recent A.C.T. alumna Elizabeth Banks (recipient of The Rising Star Award)…Looking far ahead, the Old Globe in San Diego is announcing the premiere of Allegiance – A New American Musical as the opening salvo of its 2012-13 winter season, debuting Sep 16. Created by Jay Kuo (music, lyrics, book) and Lorenzo Thione (book), helmed by Stafford Arima, the tuner chronicles the history of a Japanese American family interned during World War II. Slated to star are Tony winner Lea Salonga (Miss Saigon), TV icon George Takei (Star Trek) and Broadway vet Telly Leung. Complete cast and subsequent Old Globe 2012-13 schedule are TBA…The 5th annual Festival of New American Musicals is adding some political flavor to its presentation of tuner workshops, staged readings and special events (TBA) next year. The 1969 historical musical, 1776, wrought by Sherman Edwards (music and lyrics) and Peter Stone (book) is having an all-star concert performance in the midst of the 2012 presidential campaign, staged at the Culver City lot of SONY Pictures (formerly MGM Studios). This is also TBA…
Bess Rous
WINTER PREMIERES… Melrose Ave-based Zephyr Theatre is hosting Ovation-nominated Echo Theater Company’s LA premiere of 2007 Susan Smith Blackburn Award-nominated God’s Ear, “a lyrically absurd journey of love, loss, and laughter,” scripted by Jenny Schwartz, helmed by Rory Kozoll, opening Jan 14…Based at Beverly Hills High School, Theatre 40 continues its 2011-12 season with the West Coast premiere of Dreams of the Washer King, described as a “story of lost love and childhood dreams,” scripted by Christopher Wall, helmed by Andre Barron, opening Jan 26…Blank Theatre Company is offering the West Coast premiere of The Cost of the Erection, scripted by Jon Marans (Old Wicked Songs), helmed by Blank founding AD Daniel Henning, opening Feb 11 at 2nd Stage in Hollywood. It’s about the competition to design an apartment out of a woman’s “raw space” unit. It features three-time daytime Emmy winner Michael E. Knight (All My Children), Robin Riker, Kal Bennett and James Louis Wagner. Incidentally, this play is having its world premiere under the title. A Raw Space, at the Bristol Riverside Theatre in Bristol, PA on Feb 3…Stage/TV thesp Bess Rous completes the star-packed cast of The Jacksonian, scripted by Pulitzer winner Beth Henley, helmed by Robert Falls, premiering Feb 15 at Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater at the Geffen Playhouse. Rous joins previously announced Ed Harris, Amy Madigan, Bill Pullman and Glenne Headly…And Troubadour Theater Company founder Matt Walker is taking a step away from his own ensemble to join the cast of The 39 Steps, “a fast-paced whodunit,” having its LA regional theater premiere at LA Mirada Theatre, adapted by Patrick Barlow (based on the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock film), helmed by Jessica Kubzansky, opening Jan 20…
AROUND TOWN… The latest local thesp foursome to take on the personas of the badly behaving adults inhabiting Yasmina Reza’s God of Carnage are Leslie Stevens, Greg Derelian, Alet Taylor and David Nevell, opening Long Beach-based International City Theatre’s (ICT) 27th season, helmed by ICT AD caryn desai…Hollywood’s Fountain Theatre is launching the new year with its recurring Forever Flamenco! on Jan 8 at Gallery in Barnsdall Park. The lineup includes dancers Lakshmi Basile, Adriana Maresma-Fois and Ricardo Cortez, guitarist Juan Antonio Gomez, cantaor Jesus Montoya, and percussionist Gerardo Morales…Cramming a lot of effort into the last day of 2011, Valley Village-based Eclectic Company Theatre is presenting the full-length One Day Play, created from inception to curtain call within 24 hours, opening and closing on Dec 31. Helmed by Chelsea Sutton, the production is scripted and performed by members and associates of the company…That perennial 20th century Christmas fantasy, It’s A Wonderful Life, scripted by James W. Rodgers (based upon the film by Frank Capra and the story by Philip Van Doren Stern), helmed by Christina Harris, is extending its run at Sierra Madre Playhouse through Jan 14…Also extending is the premiere run of On Holy Ground, scripted by Stephanie Liss, helmed by L. Flint Esquerra, featuring Salome Jens, Lisa Richards and Abbe Rowlins, until Jan 22, at the MET Theatre in Hollywood…
Cullen Kirkland; Photo by Ed Krieger
THE THING IS… “When I graduated from LA County High School for the Arts in 2008, I knew I wanted to be free to go out on auditions, but I also wanted a steady income. So, I took a year to get certified as a fitness trainer and then went to work at a fitness center in Pasadena. Well, I am kind of making it happen. In the last three years, I’ve done some day work on films, guested on a TV series, managed to do two plays, as well as participating in the once-a-month LA Café Plays at the Ruskin Group Theatre in Santa Monica, all the while keeping a consistent schedule at work. To tell you the truth, I’m exhausted a lot. But I love acting and I get great satisfaction out of training people. I’m also good at it. I am really happy I can pay my own bills. I know my parents are delighted with that. I am not concerned about ‘making it.’ I can’t even get up the mental energy to think about it. I just try to make each day work as best I can. If someday I realize I need to do something else, then I will. Until then, it’s all good.” – Cullen Kirkland is portraying Robert L. May (the creator of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer) in the premiere radio drama, To All A Good Night, scripted by Cullen’s dad Julio Martinez and helmed by his mother Irene Arranga, who both affirm their great pleasure that Mr. Kirkland is making his own way in the world). To All a Good Night airs Friday, Dec 23 at 2:30 pm on KPFK (90.7FM).
John Steven McGroarty
INSIDE LA STAGE HISTORY… John Steven McGroarty (1862-1944), born and educated in Pennsylvania, moves to Los Angeles in 1901, having already established himself as a lawyer, a city administrator and a corporate executive with a mining company. So naturally, upon settling in LA, he takes up poetry, playwriting and journalism, becoming a columnist with the LA Times. In 1909, McGroarty edits the LA Times edition celebrating the centennial of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, which includes McGroarty’s introspective editorial on blacks living in LA. His growing interest in local history leads him to script The Mission Play (1911), a three-hour pageant on the history of the California missions, chronicling their founding in 1769 through secularization in 1834, ending with their “final ruin” in 1847. Beginning in 1912, the play is presented in the township of San Gabriel’s Plaza Park, adjacent to its historic mission, attracting audiences from around the world. During the ensuing years, McGroarty expands the work to 4½ hours with a cast of 150, far beyond the effective capacity of Plaza Park. By the 1927 season, McGroarty completes construction of 1450-seat San Gabriel Mission Playhouse, with stage and dressing rooms adequate in size to accommodate the performance and its cast. Due to the increasing hard times of the encroaching Depression years, The Mission Play ceases production in 1933, having given over 3,500 performances. McGroarty goes on to become a two-term U.S. Representative and is named poet laureate of California from 1933 until his death in 1944. The Playhouse is deeded to the city of San Gabriel in 1945, fulfilling McGroarty’s wish, and the theater gets a new name — the San Gabriel Civic Auditorium. It’s subsequently updated into a modern facility, which becomes the home of the San Gabriel Valley Civic Light Opera in 1984. The company changes its name to Music Theatre of Southern California in 1994 but folds in 2001. However, a newly constituted San Gabriel Valley Music Theatre is organized in 2006 and has used the auditorium since then for a few one-night or two-night events. The venue is also home to sporadic concerts, dance recitals and other programs. The city officially revives the theater’s original name, San Gabriel Mission Playhouse, in 2007, and its 1927 Wurlitzer organ is fully restored in 2009…
…The Julio Martinez-hosted ARTS IN REVIEW, broadcast Fridays (2 to 2:30 pm) on KPFK (90.7FM), spotlights the best in live theater and cabaret in the Greater LA area. Upcoming on Dec 23, ARTS IN REVIEW presents its annual one-hour Holiday Special (2-3 pm), repeated Sunday Christmas Day at noon…
