Jose Luis Valenzula
NEWS FROM DOWNTOWN… On Tuesday, Jan 17, LA City Council evicted Latino Theater Company (LTC) from city-owned Los Angeles Theatre Center (LATC), the latest wrinkle in LATC’s checkered history since its founding in 1985 at 514 S. Spring Street in downtown LA. In Dec 2005, LTC, founded by Jose Luis Valenzuela, was approved by the council for a 20-year lease to reside within and co-manage LATC (along with Latino Museum of History, Arts and Culture), garnishing as well a $4 million grant from the California Cultural and Historic Endowment to refurbish the building. The council now contends that LTC and Latino Museum were derelict in maintaining “the reasonable expectations of the City, and therefore the Council has a basis to terminate the lease.” The council’s considerable “expectations” were chronicled on Dec 22, 2005 by LA Times staff writer Don Shirley. One day following the City Council’s current edict, Valenzuela was not available to comment. Efforts to obtain further clarification from 9th District Councilwoman Jan Perry, in whose district LATC resides, elicited a polite suggestion from a Perry assistant to send a request by E-mail. As of now, LTC and Latino Museum, who have had a contentious relationship since jointly occupying LATC, have 45 days to get out. More to follow…
Placido Domingo
MORE NEWS… General director Plácido Domingo has revealed new initiatives that Dorothy Chandler Pavilion-based LA Opera will introduce beginning in the 2012/13 season, promising to “expand the Company’s existing audiences.” They include: lower ticket price options, including a base price of $18 for all performances; a community seating initiative, setting aside 250 seats, available through LA Opera’s education and community programs department; the Domingo Family Program, offering affordable customized family ticket packages; and a new logo design that visually encompasses the company’s history and future. LA Opera’s 2012/13 season and complete list of new initiatives will be announced in February…Domingo has also announced the presentation of two free family performances of the medieval music drama The Festival Play of Daniel at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, Mar 16 and 17, conducted by musical director James Conlon. The production replaces the previously announced premiere of Jonah and the Whale by composer Alexander Prior and librettist Velina Hasu Houston, which has been postponed for further development…Over in Pasadena, Directors Lab West, founded in 2000, has announced the dates for the 13th annual Directors Lab West Workshop, in residence at Pasadena Playhouse, May 19-26. Attendance is by application only, and there is no cost to participate in the Lab. Applications and further information may be found at: www.directorslabwest.com. Deadline for receipt of applications is Friday, March 30 at 5 pm…
FROM CTG: The same production of Bruce Norris‘ Pulitzer-winning Clybourne Park that will play the Mark Taper Forum Jan 25-Feb 26 will then move to Broadway for an April 12 opening…Mary Poppins will return to the Ahmanson Theatre for a Aug 9-Sep 2 run.
Barbara Bain
AROUND TOWN… The Second Annual Betty Garrett Memorial Musical Comedy Tribute at Theatre West will consist of two concert performances of the 1941 tuner, Let’s Face It! (the show that introduced the late Danny Kaye), wrought by Herbert and Dorothy Fields (book) and Cole Porter (music and lyrics), helmed by Brian O’Halloran, choreographed by original Broadway cast member Miriam Nelson, playing Mar 3 and 4. Aside from a slew of Theatre West regulars, the production also features the current incarnation of the Pied Pipers, the vocal ensemble that backed Frank Sinatra during his big band crooner days with Tommy Dorsey (1940-41)… Thesp Tanna Frederick, who has enjoyed a long run as the title character in A.R. Gurney’s Sylvia at Santa Monica’s Edgemar Center, is now helming and acting in a revival of the 1993 comedy, Why We Have a Body, scripted by Claire Chafee. Cast includes three-time Emmy winner Barbara Bain, Julie Davis and Christie Lynn, opening Feb 17 at Edgemar…In conjunction with Long Beach Playhouse’s NEW Collaborative Series, Alive Theatre is offering Orson’s Shadow, the play about Welles/Olivier/Leigh/Tynan/Plowright, scripted by Austin Pendleton (conceived by Judith Auberjonois), helmed by Ricci Dedola, opening Jan 20 at LB Playhouse’s Studio Theatre…Rene Rivera’s ever-migrating Ovation-recommended one-hander, The King of the Desert, is soon to sojourn at Josefina Lopez’s Casa 0101 Theater in Boyle Heights, opening Jan 27, following stagings at El Centro Theatre in Hollywood (2010) and El Portal Forum Theatre in NoHo (2011). Scripted by Stacey Martino, helmed by Sal Romeo, the production will be complemented by an exhibition of Milagros (artwork created by young Latino children representing their dreams and aspirations) on display at the theater…And Secret Rose Theatre in NoHo is presenting Not One More Foot of Land, scripted by Art Shulman, helmed by Kristina Lloyd, chronicling the life of 18th century Cherokee leader Major Ridge, opening Feb 10…
PREMIERES…MET Theatre in Hollywood is debuting California Dreamin’, “exploring the events leading up to the infamous Tate-LaBianca murders and their aftermath,” scripted by Jill Charlotte Thomas, helmed by MET AD L. Flint Esquerra, opening Feb 10…Also in Hollywood, Lillian Theatre is hosting the premiere of A Basket Full of Miracles, “a slapstick kung fu comedy set in Macao in the 1930s,” scripted and helmed by Chi Chi Yang, opening Feb 9…Over in Atwater Village, Ensemble Studio Theatre-LA is premiering The Many Mistresses of Martin Luther King, “a darkly humorous play, set in a university town, about a modern American family of second marriages and mixed races,” scripted by Andrew Dolan, helmed by Rod Menzies, opening Mar 17…
Kathleen Turner; Photo by Sylvain Gaboury
EXTENDING… Geffen Playhouse in Westwood is stretching out the West Coast premiere of Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins, through Feb 19. Scripted by twins Margaret Engel and Allison Engel, helmed by David Esbjornson, the bioplay chronicles the self-pronouncing exploits the Texas journalist, portrayed by Tony/Oscar nominee Kathleen Turner…And despite the current travails, LA Theatre Center (LATC) is extending its run of Miguel Pinero’s 1974 Obie-winning prison drama, Short Eyes, helmed by Julian Acosta, produced by Urban Theatre Movement and Latino Theater Company, Feb 2-Mar 11…
Boxtales Theatre Company
SERVING YOUTH… La Mirada Theatre continues its 2011-12 Programs for Young Audiences series with Jambo, Watoto: Tales and Rhythms of Africa, presented by the three-member Boxtale Theatre (storyteller Michael Katz, thesp Jeff Mills, musician Michael Andrews), helmed by Eva Magyar, Feb 26…Snoopy the tuner, based on Charles M. Schulz’s Peanuts comic Strip is coming to Valley Village-based Eclectic Company Theatre, presented by Children’s Theatre Group of Southern California, opening Mar 2. Created by the committee of Warren Lockhart, Arthur Whitelaw and Michael L. Grace (book), Hal Hackady (lyrics) and Larry Grossman (music), production is helmed and choreographed by remarkably prolific Kay Cole…
Joelle Arqueros
THE THING IS… “I guess it isn’t a usual situation to have two directors for a world premiere play but that is just how the circumstances presented themselves. We were originally supposed to open in December with Joe directing and me producing. Then we had some problems with the cast and we had to cancel the production just a few days before opening. Then I had to go to New York to cast my own play and this whole production was put on hold. About four weeks ago, we replaced two of the actors and I took over directing the show. Not a lot has changed since the first go around. We’ve beefed up some plot points. This is a comedy about show business so we’ve been identifying where the laughs are. The show was originally two separate one-act plays based on the same set of circumstances, but in fact, it plays like a two-act play. It helps that one of the co-writers of the play is also an actress and in the cast. We all interact very well. For now, we are going to do a short run of the play. But if all works to our expectations, there is a good chance we’ll bring it back for a longer run. Isn’t that what we always hope for, a longer run? - Joelle Arqueros is co-directing (with Joe Filippone), the premiere of Thanks For Coming and Thanks For Waiting, scripted by Elizabeth Noel Donovan and Milania Austin Henley, opening Jan 20 at the Ruby Theatre in the Hollywood Complex…
INSIDE LA STAGE HISTORY…During the 1850s, the one square block of downtown LA, bordered by 5th and 6th Streets to the north and south, Hill and Olive Streets to east and west, is used as a campground by settlers emigrating to the city. During the early 1880s, it is dubbed La Plaza Abaja by LA Mayor Jose Cristobal Aguilar, designated for free public use by the citizenry. Because of its proximity to the town‘s governing bodies, it becomes a gathering place for public speakers and orators, including presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan. In 1911, the Square is redesigned by John Parkinson to reflect the social and economic growth of the city.
On Nov. 8, 1918, it is formally named Pershing Square in honor of the World War I general. During the period from 1920 to the end of the 1940s, Pershing Square attracts a plethora of social, political, aesthetic and religious free-thinking and free-speaking folk, including “naturalist” eden ahbez who leads a group of followers known as “nature boys,” offering free-form theatrical and musical performances. In 1947, this nine-year-old downtown LA denizen hears ahbez’s haunting song, Nature Boy, for the first time, sung a capella by the composer, sitting cross-legged in the center of the Square. As the town’s populace begins to move west, Pershing Square suffers from extreme neglect. In 1952, the entire park is demolished to make way for an 1800-car underground garage, topped by a thin layer of soil and a broad expanse of lawn. Although the Square continues to suffer from ill public use during the next four decades, it does attract performance ensembles such as the San Francisco Mime Troupe (1966), the Committee Improv Workshop led by Del Close (1969), the touring LA Shakespeare Festival (74-76), Shakespeare Festival/LA (1986, 2000-2004) and a plethora of solo artists and small ensembles. In 1992, Pershing Square closes for a major $14.5 million redesign by architect Ricardo Legoretta of Mexico and landscapist Laurie Olin. It reopens in 1994, sporting a small concert stage and a seasonal ice rink. Today, Pershing Square does not reflect its former vitality as a gathering place for orators and performers, except on Dec 18, 2011 when it serves as a rallying spot for Occupy LA dissenters. The wafting sound of We Shall Overcome is heard for blocks…
…The Julio Martinez-hosted ARTS IN REVIEW, moves to Thursdays (2:30 to 3pm) on KPFK (90.7FM), spotlighting the best in live theater and cabaret in the Greater LA area. Upcoming on Jan 26 ARTS IN REVIEW hosts actor/playwright Raymond J. Barry and cast member Culp, discussing the West Coast premiere of Awake in a World That Encourages Sleep…
