THE FIX-IT-IF-YOU-CAN MAN is part of the Me & My Masks Festival (monologues based on a pandemic theme). The online festival is produced by Roland Tec, formerly of the Dramatists Guild.

Story: A brilliant but homeless tech guy decides to live at his workplace, a Goodway donation center, during the pandemic, while he battles panic attacks and finds spiritual solace in a donated Gideon Bible.

The video is 15″ in length.

An early version of the monologue was performed at an LAFPI micro read at Samuel French.

Blood/Sugar  Created and directed by Diana Wyenn Written by Diana Wyenn and Guy Zimmerman and developed in collaboration with Lauren Campedelli, John Zalewski, Jason H. Thompson, Joey Guthman, Rebecca Carr, Aaron Saldaña, and Laban Pheidias Performed by Diana Wyenn and Laban Pheidias Voiceover by Lauren Campedelli Video design by Jason H. Thompson Sound design by John Zalewski Costume Design by Rebecca Carr Live broadcast and recording by PXT Studio Produced by Plain Wood Productions Blood/Sugar has been supported in part by the California Arts Council, a state agency, and the National Arts and Disability Center at UCLA. Note: Any findings, opinions, or conclusions contained herein are not necessarily those of the California Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Arts and Disability Center.

Plain Wood Productions is thrilled to announce that its groundbreaking theater and film hybrid Blood/Sugar—created, directed, and performed by theater artist Diana Wyenn—is now available on-demand to the public. Historical perspectives, staggering statistics, and personal narrative collide with video effects, Shakespearean texts, and original movement to create a vivid account of the life-sustaining care that diabetes currently demands from one out of every 10 American adults. Creator Diana Wyenn, who has Type 1 diabetes, places her story and body at the center of the work, as both a carrier of the disease and a vehicle for theatrical transmission. Originally conceived in 2017 for the stage, Blood/Sugar was reworked in 2020 to be performed live from Wyenn’s own home due to the COVID-19 pandemic and is now available for on-demand streaming in 2021. “After more than a decade of living with diabetes, I learned that roughly  90% of cases are preventable and reversible,” shares creator and director Diana Wyenn. “Immediately, I turned all my skills as a storyteller toward creating a theatrical response that dispels the lies, mystery, and shame surrounding diabetes in all its forms.” “Then COVID-19 pandemic hit, and I saw people living with diabetes on the CDC’s list of vulnerable communities. I knew I couldn’t just pause and wait for the pandemic to pass. Blood/Sugar had to evolve and telling my story from within my own home and incorporating film techniques to do so has resulted in the most intimate and shareable version of the project possible. I believe this evolution of Blood/Sugar is the one I was always working towards. I just didn’t know it.” In conjunction with the on-demand recording, Wyenn is hosting free monthly conversations for audience members to ask questions and share reflections with her and diabetes experts. “I created Blood/Sugar to spark a much-needed conversation about this disease, so the post-show discussion between the audience, myself, and medical professionals has always been central to the Blood/Sugar experience. It was here that the audience could share their own experiences with one another and ask questions that they weren’t necessarily comfortable asking their own doctors. So I’m looking forward to continuing that tradition for this on-demand experience.”   The theater and film performance hybrid of the award-winning stage production was created by Wyenn and her production company Plain Wood Productions in collaboration with Blood/Sugar’s video designer Jason H. Thompson and his company PXT Studio. Utilizing multiple laptops, cell phones, USB microphones, hundreds of feet of cable, film production lighting equipment, and a green screen at Wyenn’s home in Echo Park, and five computers, plus a myriad of sound, video, and live streaming software—including vMix, Ableton, WatchOut, Qlab, and Vimeo for the live broadcasts—all programmed and triggered by Thompson at PXT Studio five miles away in Downtown Los Angeles, they spent the summer of 2020 physically distant adapting the stage experience for an online audience to watch safely from their homes. To get a glimpse into how they made it happen, here’s a recent Spectrum News 1 TV segment by Nic Cha Kim: https://spectrumnews1.com/ca/la-west/arts/2020/11/19/theater-artist-creates-virtual-show-to-understand-diabetes Blood/Sugar was initially conceived for the stage in 2017 and has since been presented at Highways Performances Space, Bootleg Theatre, REDCAT, New York University, and the Planet Connections Theatre Festivity where it was awarded The Planet Activist Award, Outstanding Production, and Outstanding Playwriting. The live virtual iteration was presented live by Boston Court Pasadena in September 2020 and Caltech Live! in November 2020 and is now available on-demand at dianawyenn.com and vimeo.com/ondemand/bloodsugar

WHAT:
Sarah Drew (Grey’s Anatomy, upcoming Freeform drama Cruel Summer), Seamus Dever (Castle), Joanne Whalley (Daredevil on Netflix, The White Princess on Starz, Showtime’s The Borgias) and Darren Richardson (Ryan Murphy’s Hollywood, over 40 radio plays for the BBC) star in the L.A. Theatre Works state-of-the-art audio theater recording of Extinction, a new play by Australian playwright and newspaper columnist Hannie Rayson about the urgent need to combat man-made climate change to protect biodiversity. Martin Jarvis directs.

In Extinction, a zoologist in Australia gets funding to save an endangered species from the very company that threatens its existence. Will this deal with the devil allow her to save the species, or will it destroy her entire life’s work?

Purchase of the recording includes access to a Zoom interview with playwright Hannie Rayson.

Extinction is part of L.A. Theatre Works’ Relativity Series of science-themed plays, with lead funding provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, bridging science and the arts in the modern world.

According to AudioFile magazine, “L.A. Theatre Works sets the gold standard for fine audio theater recordings.” The Philadelphia Inquirer calls L.A. Theatre Works “a national theatrical treasure.”

The world’s leading producer of audio theater, L.A. Theatre Works stands apart in its approach to making great theater widely accessible and affordable, bringing plays into homes and classrooms of millions of theater lovers, teachers and students each year. LATW’s syndicated radio theater series broadcasts weekly on public radio stations across the U.S. and daily in China on the Radio Beijing Network. The L.A. Theatre Works catalog of over 500 recorded plays is the largest archive of its kind in the world.

HOW:
Purchase today at https://latw.org/digital-season; recording release date: Jan. 31.

PRICE:
• $20
• Subscribe to the entire 9-play, 2020-21 Digital Season for $150, and receive additional bonus features throughout the season, including a special video conversation with L.A. Theatre Works founding members Edward Asner, Richard Dreyfuss, Hector Elizondo, Stacy Keach, Marsha Mason and JoBeth Williams.

L.A. Theatre Works is releasing a state-of-the-art audio theater recording of Bump, a new comedy by Chiara Atik. Based on the true story of Jorge Odón and the birthing device he invented in his garage, Atik’s play spans time and space in an effort to grapple with the mystery and miracle of maternity.

When Claudia gets pregnant she has a very clear plan for how she wants to give birth. Her pre-natal anxieties inspire her father to create a device for safer deliveries, and Claudia realizes that nothing ever goes quite as expected.

“I’m so excited that L.A. Theatre Works is bringing my play to this medium,” says Atik. “At first, I had no idea how they would be able to translate the play to audio. But I was so impressed when I heard the first cut. They are the consummate producer of audio theater, and it really works. Now, audio plays seem to be more relevant than ever. I’m always walking around listening to something.”

The L.A. Theatre Works recording stars Ana Ortiz (Hulu’s Love, Victor; Ugly Betty; Devious Maids), Herbert Sigüenza (Culture Clash) and Alma Martinez (Gentefied, The Terror). Also in the cast are Lucy DeVito, who was in the original cast of Bump, as well as Anna Lyse Erikson, Anna Mathias, André Sogliuzzo, Devon Sorvari, Inger Tudor and Moira Quirk. Rosalind Ayres directs.

Bump premiered off-Broadway at New York City’s Ensemble Studio Theatre in 2018. “In centuries-spanning ‘Bump,’ it’s always Labor Day,” wrote The New York Times. “If you are pregnant, if you have been pregnant, if you have resulted from a pregnancy, you will probably find [Bump] very funny… If you are a mother, “Bump” is guaranteed to give you flashbacks as to how you became one.”

Bump is part of L.A. Theatre Works’ Relativity Series of science-themed plays, with lead funding provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, bridging science and the arts in the modern world. Purchase of the recording includes access to Zoom interviews with Atik and renowned gynecologist Dr. Judith Reichman.

The world’s leading producer of audio theater, L.A. Theatre Works stands apart in its approach to making great theater widely accessible and affordable, bringing plays into homes and classrooms of millions of theater lovers, teachers and students each year. LATW’s syndicated radio theater series broadcasts weekly on public radio stations across the U.S. and daily in China on the Radio Beijing Network. The L.A. Theatre Works catalog of over 500 recorded plays is the largest archive of its kind in the world. According to AudioFile magazine, “L.A. Theatre Works sets the gold standard for fine audio theater recordings.” The Philadelphia Inquirer calls L.A. Theatre Works “a national theatrical treasure.”

The recording of Bump is now available for purchase for $20 at https://latw.org/digital-season, with the release date set for March 10. Subscribe to L.A. Theatre Works’ entire 9-play, 2020-21 Digital Season for $150, and receive additional bonus features throughout the season, including a special video conversation with L.A. Theatre Works founding members Edward Asner, Richard Dreyfuss, Hector Elizondo, Stacy Keach, Marsha Mason and JoBeth Williams.

Two fiercely funny Latinx-American women, two compelling solo comedies about female identity, each written, performed and directed by members of Los Angeles’ acclaimed IAMA Theatre Company and filmed live at L.A.’s Pico Playhouse for virtual viewing.

In Anyone But Me, Sheila Carrasco dissects the psyches of women who struggle with self-identity, exploring the personas we create in order to get by. From the local grocery clerk, to your neighbor’s teenage daughter, to that lady from the cult — this play is about women who want to be someone they’re not. Someone better, easier, stronger… anyone but them.

Set during the 500th day of quarantine, Anna LaMadrid’s The Oxy Complex is a dark comedy exploring love, sex, loneliness, trauma and the hormone that affects it all — Oxytocin, also known as “the cuddle” or “love” hormone.

• Anyone But Me — written and performed by Sheila Carrasco, directed by Margaux Susi
• The Oxy Complex — written and performed by Anna LaMadrid, directed by Michelle Bossy
• Filmed live at the Pico Playhouse
• Presented by IAMA Theatre Company

Both shows stream on demand March 21 through April 18.

www.iamatheatre.com.

Spite & Malice is a theatrical fantasy adventure and interactive fiction that utilizes playing cards, audio drama, found objects, 1800-numbers and mail-based interaction to lead you through a tangled correspondence between the King, the Queen, and Jack, who are racing to win the longest-running card game in the universe. A rogue ex-player is breaking the rules as she searches the stars for her disappeared grandmother. You’re part of the game now. Good luck.

This is a play through the mail; there is no live performance, but the story will unfold March 22-April 30.

This project is a part of Post Theatrical (posttheatrical.org), a national wave of plays-by-mail conceived and coordinated by RealTime Interventions. To learn more about RealTime, please visit realtimeinterventions.org.

WHAT:           A GARDEN OF TERRIBLE BLOOMS

WE’RE JUST PASSING THROUGH. . .SHORT PLAYS OF THE WEIRD AND SURREAL SET IN LOS ANGELES

CREATED BY: SHARON YABLON/PLAYWRIGHT & DIRECTOR

                        THOMAS CHAN/SOUND DESIGNER & COMPOSER

WHERE:           www.terribleblooms.net & podcast hosting sites, links on website

PODCAST DESCRIPTION

Created during the pandemic, A Garden of Terrible Blooms is a passion project between two artists of different disciplines working together to bring radio plays to fruition. The work is for audiences who enjoy more unusual and imaginative material that leaves some mystery, straddles the dream and the waking world, and is still emotionally grounded. With elements of noir, the fantastical, horror, tragedy and comedy, each play takes place in a different part of Los Angeles, focusing on locations and people that are not often spotlighted in this iconic city. The characters wander the city and its periphery, haunted by something or someone. Murdered Jane Does, middle age singles, a police helicopter pilot, a wife of a mass murderer – the characters haunt alleys, siren-soaked Hollywood nights, suburbs, coyote outskirts, and dive bars, all where a glimmer of connection might be found, or their story might end. The soundscapes and music that have been carefully created for each play serve as another parallel story, that goes beyond the usual sound effects found in typical radio plays. When combined with the dialogue, the soundscapes and music create beautiful and multilayered worlds of darkness and redemption. The plays are cast with a variety of talented actors from the vibrant Los Angeles theater community.

PODCAST CREATORS

Sharon Yablon is an award-winning playwright, director, published writer, and seminal member of the underground Los Angeles theater scene. She has a history of collaborating with other artists, including painters, dancers, and photographers. She is a frequent writer in Library Girl, a “best of the Westside” monthly literary series centered around a music theme. Her one acts inspired by crimes in LA history have appeared in the quarterly cabaret shows of LA True Crime since its inception in 2015.

Thomas Chan has a long and celebrated history in multimedia sound design, editing, composition, and live performance. He has frequently performed in The Tomorrow! Show and the long-running live alternative comedy review The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show, with guest appearances on Conan O’Brien, Kimmel, and others. Thomas’ 35-year career in post production and sound design includes multiple awards and nominations from Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE).

The Word @ The Road presents a virtual reading of Jennie Webb’s Space Available, directed by Mia Y. Anderson.

This is the story of Jane, who’s managed to survive an absurd litany of profound misfortunes in a world where the words “womanhood” and “motherhood” are used interchangeably. But when she comes face to face with a surreal future that no one should have to live with, she takes a closer look at what it means to have options. Space Available is a play about a woman’s place and what (& who) we let define us.

Featuring: Cherish Monique Duke, Audrey Cain, Janet Chamberlain, Ruman Kazi, and Krishna Smitha.

THE WORD AT THE ROAD
As part of the Company’s mission to foster the development of new plays, The Road hosts readings on Monday evenings (now online) that are open to the public with a suggested donation of $15. Readings are followed by a talkback with the playwright (if available).

More info: roadtheatre.org

TW @roadtheatre & IG @roadtheatre

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