Tis the theatrical season for high-end call girls. First a 16th century Venetian courtesan named Veronica in Dangerous Beauty and now Manhattan-based Charlotte in the premiere of Jane Anderson’s The Escort on April 6 at the Geffen Playhouse. Anderson says she somewhat facetiously subtitled her erotically charged show, “An Explicit Play for Discriminating People,” so audience members who prefer to identify with “high-end naughty things” would take a look. READ MORE
Annie Potts:
Empty Nester Returns to Her Theatrical Roots
by Deborah Behrens | March 2, 2011
Annie Potts is an actress film and television audiences have come to trust. From Janine Melnitz (Ghostbusters) to Mary Jo Shively (Designing Women) to Mary Elizabeth “M.E.” Sims (Any Day Now), the Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominee has repeatedly proven herself both a gifted comedienne and respected navigator of emotionally complex dramatic terrain. In AfterMath, Elliot Shoenman’s new semi-autobiographical play about a family cast adrift by a father’s suicide at Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, she deftly juggles both. READ MORE
The Dangerous Beauty Diaries
Part III: Change & Commitment
by Deborah Behrens | February 9, 2011
Dangerous Beauty Director Sheryl Kaller has a favorite mantra she likes to impart after making adjustments or giving notes: That is a change and change is good. The phrase could easily be a de facto motto for the musical’s 10-year journey from first note to its February 13 Pasadena Playhouse premiere. READ MORE
The Dangerous Beauty Diaries
Part II: Couture Costumed Courtesans
by Deborah Behrens | February 4, 2011
Legendary costume designer Theoni Aldredge died on Jan. 21. The next day, Soyon An began technical rehearsals for the premiere of the musical Dangerous Beauty at the Pasadena Playhouse, which features An’s haute couture attire. Sheldon Epps, artistic director of the Playhouse, saw it as a passing of the torch. READ MORE
The Dangerous Beauty Diaries
Part I: From Academia to Hollywood
by Deborah Behrens | January 28, 2011
LA STAGE Times was given permission to witness the process Dangerous Beauty underwent in the final months leading up to its world premiere opening at the Pasadena Playhouse on February 13, 2011. This is the first in a three-part series of articles prepared via interviews with producers, the creative team and cast, as well as onsite reporting that began with the first group sales presentation in October 2010. READ MORE
Helen Hunt: Much Ado About Shakespeare
by Deborah Behrens | December 8, 2010
Helen Helen discusses the joys of playing Beatrice in The Shakespeare Company of Los Angeles’ Much Ado About Nothing, her bi-coastal theatre roots and why she’s not suited to stage direct. READ MORE
Katey Sagal: Outside Her Comfort Zone
by Deborah Behrens | November 17, 2010
Katey Sagal is outside her comfort zone. It’s been 25 years since she trod a legit stage and she readily confesses to being hip deep in WTF territory. The last theatrical production she did was a 1985 Mark Taper Forum mounting of The Beautiful Lady, making her co-starring role in the current world premiere presentation of Randy Newman’s Harps and Angels a serendipitous homecoming of sorts. Especially when you throw in a teenage gig as the iconoclastic songwriter’s babysitter. READ MORE
Serena Evans & Sarah Woodward:
Merry Wives & Friends
by Deborah Behrens | October 19, 2010
Mistress Page and Mistress Ford might seem like dominatrix names to celebrity tabloid fans but to Shakespeare aficionados they are the two mischievous wives played by Serena Evans and Sarah Woodward in the U.S. premiere production of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre’s The Merry Wives of Windsor currently presented by The Broad Stage through Oct. 24. READ MORE
Jason Alexander: Sparking Supernova Theatre
by Deborah Behrens | September 29, 2010
Jason Alexander talks about slimming down for They’re Playing Our Song, streamlining operations at Reprise Theatre Company and why future success may lie with a certain London chocolate factory. READ MORE
Carey Perloff: No time to shrink
by Deborah Behrens | September 8, 2010
For someone as deeply steeped in the Greek classics as Carey Perloff, directing a site-specific production of Sophocles’ Elektra at the Getty Villa is like being at fantasy immersion camp. Especially when the creative excavation awakens new insight into ancient Greek theatre. READ MORE
Nataki Garrett:
“to either be watermelon or not”
by Deborah Behrens | August 25, 2010
Director Nataki Garrett doesn’t refrain from eating watermelon because she wants to avoid perpetuating a bigoted African American stereotype. She stays away because it makes her mouth itch. READ MORE
Joanna Daniels Drives Becky’s New Car
at Pacific Resident Theatre
by Deborah Behrens | August 5, 2010
Joanna Daniels knows all about life imitating art. The actress/comedienne got a parking ticket while discussing her star turn as a woman who works for an auto dealership in the Steven Dietz comedy Becky’s New Car now making its Southern California premiere to sold out houses at Pacific Resident Theatre. READ MORE
