Trouble in Mind, the scathingly funny backstage drama about interracial politics by pioneering African American playwright Alice Childress, will get a revival at Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum beginning July 29.

Ellen Geer directs Childress’ groundbreaking 1955 satire, which follows an integrated theater company in rehearsal for a “progressive” anti-lynching drama. The play-within-a-play, entitled Chaos in Belleville, marks the first opportunity for gifted African American actress Wiletta Mayer (portrayed by multiple NAACP Award-winner Earnestine Phillips) to play a leading lady on Broadway. But what compromises must she make to succeed?

Ironically, Childress was forced to confront nearly the same choice with Trouble in Mind that she dramatized in the play. Following the tremendous success Trouble enjoyed off-Broadway, a commercial run was announced — but only if Childress would write a happier, less-ambivalent ending. Like Wiletta, Childress had to decide: soften her message, follow the formula and sell out for success, or maintain her integrity and risk everything. By standing her ground and not making the requested changes, she sacrificed the opportunity to become the first African-American female playwright produced on Broadway. A Raisin in the Sun would later garner that distinction for Lorraine Hansberry in 1959.

The foreword to the version Childress chose for publication explains that “Trouble is clearly set in the context of the social upheavals of the fifties. Interestingly, some of the references were added after the original production (the Little Rock riots didn’t occur until 1957), suggesting how future events would expand the play rather than render it obsolete.”

In addition to Phillips, the Theatricum production stars Judy Durkin, Rodrick Jean-Charles, Christopher W. Jones, Max Lawrence, Mark Lewis, Constance Jewell Lopez, Gerald C. Rivers and Frank Weidner. Costume design is by Robert Merkel; lighting design is by Zach Moore; sound design is by Ian Flanders; and props are by Sydney Russell. The production stage manager is Kim Cameron.

Trouble in Mind opens on Saturday, July 29 at 7:30 p.m. and continues through Sept. 30, running in repertory with The Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Animal Farm and Other Desert Cities as part of Theatricum’s 2017 “Rising Up” summer season.

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A celestial romance and true story of discovery, this riveting new play explores the life and career of Henrietta Swan Leavitt (1868-1921) as she fearlessly asserts herself in the male-dominated world of early astronomy. Hired by the Harvard Observatory as a human “computer” to catalog the stars, Henrietta’s story plays out against a landscape of early feminism and universe-revealing science, reminding us all what we can achieve when we allow curiosity and wonder into our lives. “Luminously beautiful… an intellectual epic told on an intimate scale. Bottom line: Heavenly.” — Atlanta Journal-Constitution.Runs Aug. 23 through Sept. 10, Thursdays, Fridays and, Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m.. International City Theatre in the Long Beach Performing Arts Center, 330 E. Seaside Way, Long Beach, CA 90802. For tickets and info call (562) 436-4610 or go to InternationalCityTheatre.org.

“American Home” by Stephanie Alison Walker

Showtimes: Friday August 26th- Sunday September 24th, Thursday-Saturday 8pm, Sundays 2pm

One out of every 54 homes in America received a foreclosure notice in 2008. Award winning playwright and author of Love in the Time of Foreclosure, Stephanie Alison Walker, takes us on a deeply personal journey through recent history as she shines a light on three out of the millions of stories of loss. A young couple faces eviction from the dream house they stretched to buy, an elderly widow falls prey to a reverse mortgage scheme, and a minister of the prosperity gospel must face the flock she’s led astray. American Home takes an unflinching look at the impossible choices people make when faced with losing everything and, ultimately, celebrates the powerful resilience of community and the human spirit.

Artistic Team: Little Candle Productions, Directed by Kate Felton, Artistic Director Allison Gorjian, Managing Director Betsy Roth, Assistant Production Manager Paula Deming, Outreach Director Lynn Downey Braswell, littlecandleproductions.com

Facebook: facebook.com/LittleCandleProductions
Twitter: @thelilcandle
Instagram: @littlecandleproductions

‘Til Death Do Us Part: Late Night Catechism. Written by Maripat Donovan with Marc Silvia. Starring Aubrey Manning. Sister returns in this interactive comedy with lessons about Marriage and the Last Rites. Fri. & Sat. at 8:00, Sun. at 2:30. Website/social media link: http://www.sierramadreplayhouse.org

On September 24th, six short comedies written by Allie Costa will have staged readings at Meta Theatre in Hollywood. Directed by Collette Rutherford, produced by Infinite Jest Theatre Company. The plays include:

– Boxes Are Magic: There’s really no debating this.
– Dear Neighbor: Noisy neighbors are a nuisance.
– Failure to Communicate: Inspired by a true story of customer (dis)service.
– Sugar and Spice: Adult siblings Felix and Fiona discover the secret family recipe.
– Party of Two: They both have reservations.
– This Provincial Life: A married couple considers their personal and political future.

Infinite Jest is LA’s only all-comedic theatre company. These readings are part of their New Works Development program, The Koffee Klatch, which offers a week-long rehearsal process for the playwright, director, and actors to explore and refine an unproduced play before presenting it to an audience. The performances are minimally staged, with actors carrying scripts, and are a wonderful opportunity for the playwright to get a sense of the play’s full potential.

After each reading, join Infinite Jest company members, the playwrights, directors, and actors for a coffee social. We’ll serve coffee and nibbles, give valuable feedback to the writers, and chat about theatre.

Admission is FREE! Please come out and support these fun and funny plays!

A naïve young woman falls under the spell of Fred Herko, a brilliant ballet dancer of extraordinary charisma and talent and a fiery denizen of Andy Warhol’s Factory. Written by Fountain Theatre co-artistic director Deborah Lawlor, the world premiere of Freddy runs Sept. 27 through Oct. 14, inaugurating a new partnership between the Fountain Theatre and the Los Angeles City College Theatre Academy at LACC’s Caminito Theatre.

Set in Greenwich Village in 1964 and based on a true story, Freddy fuses theater, music, dance and video to capture the explosive spirit of a passionate artist and a turbulent era. Marty Dew (Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One, Mascot) stars as Fred Herko, a founding member of Judson Dance Theater who was a legendary figure of New York’s avant-garde in the 1960s. Susan Wilder (Still Life at Rogue Machine Theatre) portrays Shelley, whose memories create the framework of the play, while Katie McConaughy (American Idiot at Cupcake Theater) plays her younger self. Mel England (Indie films Best Day Ever and Ron and Laura Take Back America, Swimming with the Polar Bears off-Broadway) takes on the role of dancer, artist and designer James Waring, Herko’s friend and mentor. The cast is rounded out by Los Angeles City College Theatre Academy students Alexandra Fiallos, Jamal Hopes, Tristen Kim, Jackie Mohr, Lamont Oakley, Connor Clark Pascale, Justice Quinn, Savannah Rutledge, Brianna Saranchock, Trenton Tabak and Jesse Trout. Frances Loy directs.

Lawlor, who began her career as a dancer, choreographer and actor in New York, was a personal friend of Herko’s.

“I carried around all those memories for a very long time before I finally sat down to write,” she says. “Freddy and I were students of Jimmy Waring together, and we were both involved with the Judson Church, which was at the heart of the downtown dance scene. Freddy was a brilliant talent and good friend to many people. His death shocked us all.”

Fred Herko (1936-1964) was a central figure in New York’s downtown avant-garde. A musical prodigy, he studied piano at the Juilliard School of Music before switching to ballet at the age of twenty. In 1956 he won a scholarship to study at American Ballet Theatre School and within a few years was dancing with established choreographers including John Butler, Katherine Litz, Buzz Miller, Glen Tetley and James Waring. He was a founding member of Judson Dance Theater, presenting six of his own works in the group’s concerts between 1962 and 1964 and dancing in works by Al Hansen, Deborah Hay, Arlene Rothlein and Elaine Summers. He was a co-founder of the New York Poets Theatre, which staged one-act plays by poets and provided a podium for happenings by Ray Johnson, Allan Kaprow and Robert Whitman; dances by Yvonne Rainer and Trisha Brown; music by La Monte Young, John Herbert McDowell and Philip Corner; and films by Brian De Palma, Stan VanDerBeek and Andy Warhol. Herko starred in seven of Warhol’s earliest cinematic experiments in 1963, including Jill and Freddy Dancing, Rollerskate/Dance Movie and Salome and Delilah. His untimely death in 1964, at the age of 28, robbed New York’s underground scene of one of its most exuberant and versatile performers who was equally at home performing Comb Music by Fluxus composer George Brecht or camping it up in Rosalyn Drexler’s musical comedy Home Movies.

“Freddy was always conceived as an off-site project because it requires a larger performance area than what we can offer at the Fountain,” explains Lawlor’s co-artistic director, Stephen Sachs, who is an alumnus of the LACC Theatre Academy. “In addition to sharing their remarkable facility, this collaboration gives Academy students the opportunity to work with professional actors and designers, and it gives us the chance to mentor young people who will become theater artists of tomorrow.”

Deborah Lawlor began her career as a dancer, choreographer and actor in New York before moving to South India, where she lived for five years. There, she was involved in the initial development of the international township of Auroville and created two full-length outdoor dance/theater pieces celebrating the community. She spent the next ten years in Australia and France studying ancient cultures of India and Egypt and translating several books in these fields from French into English. Returning to the U.S. in 1986, she became deeply involved in the intimate theater scene and, in 1990, she and Stephen Sachs co-founded the Fountain Theatre. Lawlor is responsible for the Fountain’s extensive dance involvement, including the company’s renowned “Forever Flamenco” series. Other dance projects at the Fountain include The Women of Guernica, Lawlor’s flamenco-based adaptation of Euripides’ The Trojan Women, which she also directed, and three full-evening dance-theater pieces which she created and directed: Declarations: Love Letters of the Great Romantics; The Path of Love, which she also directed in South India; and the dance opera, The Song of Songs, with music by Al Carmines. Actor’s Equity Association honored Lawlor with its Diversity Award for her dedication to presenting work at the Fountain that is culturally diverse.

The Fountain Theatre is one of the most successful intimate theaters in Los Angeles, providing a creative home for multi-ethnic theater and dance artists. The Fountain has won over 225 awards, and Fountain projects have been seen across the U.S. and internationally. Recent highlights include the Fountain’s Citizen: An American Lyric being selected by Center Theatre Group for its inaugural launching of Block Party at the Kirk Douglas Theatre; and grant awards from The Greenberg Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, and a $50,000 gift from Drama-Logue founder Bill Bordy. The Fountain’s most recent production, the world premiere of Building the Wall by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Robert Schenkkan, ran for five months and was named “L.A. hottest ticket” by the Los Angeles Times.

Established in 1929, the theater training program at Los Angeles City College is one of the oldest and most respected training programs in the country. It has trained countless numbers of students who have gone on to successful careers in the entertainment industry in acting, directing, casting, production, writing, production coordination, design in lighting, sound, costuming and sets, technical production, technical direction, owners and directors of various theater-oriented businesses and organizations, and numerous technical and costuming specializations. Graduates from LACC have won numerous awards, including recipients of the Academy Award, Emmy Award, Tony Award and Bravo Award. Its teaching excellence has been heralded by the Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival, the California Community College Academic Senate, the California Educational Theatre Association, the Los Angeles Community College District, the County of Los Angeles and the City of Los Angeles. Further, the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle gave LACC a special award for “maintaining consistently high standard of programming and production.”

Freddy runs Sept. 27 through Oct. 14, with performances on Wednesdays at 8 p.m.; Thursdays at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.; Fridays at 8 p.m.; and Saturdays at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. General admission is $25. The Caminito Theatre is located on the campus of Los Angeles City College at 855 N Vermont Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90029. Parking is FREE in Structure 4 on Heliotrope at Monroe (between Santa Monica and Melrose). For reservations and information, call (323) 663-1525 or go to www.FountainTheatre.com.

Greenway Arts Alliance presents THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET, adapted for stage by award-winning playwright Amy Ludwig (2006 LA Weekly Theater Award for “Best Adaptation” of The House on Mango Street) and directed by Alexandra Meda (Artistic Director of Chicago’s Teatro Luna). Based on the New York Times best-selling book of the same name by Sandra Cisneros.

Performances begin September 29, 2017 and play through October 28, 2017. Performance schedule is Fridays at 8 p.m. and Saturdays at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Note: There will be no matinee performance on September 30.

HE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET centers around the life of young Latina Esperanza Cordero, as she undergoes her personal journey into adulthood. As she matures, Esperanza encounters the harsh realities of puberty as well the hardships witnessed in her family and her Mango Street neighborhood. Despite all she witnesses and endures, Esperanza seeks hope and persists toward a better future.

Ludwig’s adaption of THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET received national critical acclaim. The Chicago Tribune said, “Some plays open up their world so completely they cast a thick spell. That’s the triumphant case with director Amy Ludwig’s joyous and generous adaptation of The House on Mango Street.” And, “Amy Ludwig’s respectful stage adaptation honors Cisneros’ eloquent writing,” said the Los Angeles Times.

“THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET is currently banned from Tucson, Arizona schools. Why? Sandra Cisneros’ powerful words take us to the heart of how it feels to grow up as an outsider. In today’s climate, that’s a story we need to share and celebrate, not to silence,” said THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET adaptor Amy Ludwig.

Director Alexandra Meda said, “The story of Esperanza, her young desire to shake the sky and soar above her ‘House on Mango Street’ and the special kind of fear and hate that is directed at immigrant families, is a very personal touchstone for so many readers over the last 20 years — including this cast and creative team. The isolation, violence, and limitations that surround Esperanza feel all too familiar in the current state of affairs we find ourselves in today in the United States. I am thrilled to be working with this exciting talented cast in exploring the contemporary relationships we have as a society to this family and neighborhood that was brought to life over 25 years ago.”

THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET is presented in celebration of Greenway Arts Alliance 20th Anniversary year, which kicks off on October 8, 2017. For two decades, the nonprofit GAA has been uniting communities through art, education and social enterprise. Greenway, a community leader and role model in social enterprise, runs the Greenway Court Theatre (a professional 99-seat theater), the Greenway Institute for the Arts (an arts education program at Fairfax High School, Title 1 high school in Los Angeles) and the Melrose Trading Post (a weekly open-air arts based marketplace). An all-day community celebration of Greenway Arts Alliance’s 20th Anniversary will take place at the world famous Melrose Trading Post on Sunday, October 8.

The cast of THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET features Elizabeth Nungaray as Esperanza, Estella Garcia as Older Esperanza, Alex Alpharoah as Ensemble, Franceli Chapman as Ensemble, Christine Mantilla as Ensemble, Graciela Lizet Rodriguez as Ensemble, Miebaka Yohannes as Ensemble.

Joining Alexandra Meda’s creative team are choreographer Ysaÿe McKeever (Teatro Luna’s Generation Sex), projection and environment designer Corwin Evans, costume designer Beryl Brachman, lighting designer Azra King-Abadi, and sound designer Jesse Mandapat.

For more information call 323-673-0544 or visit GreenwayCourtTheatre.org.

Tickets: http://www.greenwaycourttheatre.org/shows/

Greenway Arts Alliance
Presents
THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET
Adapted by Award-Winning Playwright Amy Ludwig
Based on the Critically-Acclaimed Novel by Sandra Cisneros
Directed by Alexandra Meda

September 29 – October 28, 2017

THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET centers around the life of young Latina Esperanza Cordero, as she undergoes her personal journey into adulthood. As she matures, Esperanza encounters the harsh realities of puberty as well the hardships witnessed in her family and her Mango Street neighborhood. Despite all she witnesses and endures, Esperanza seeks hope and persists toward a better future.

Ludwig’s adaption of THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET received national critical acclaim. The Chicago Tribune said, “Some plays open up their world so completely they cast a thick spell. That’s the triumphant case with director Amy Ludwig’s joyous and generous adaptation of The House on Mango Street.” And, “Amy Ludwig’s respectful stage adaptation honors Cisneros’ eloquent writing,” said the Los Angeles Times.

The Company features Elizabeth Nungaray as Esperanza, Estella Garcia as Older Esperanza, Alex Alpharoah as Ensemble, Franceli Chapman as Ensemble, Christine Mantilla as Ensemble, Graciela Lizet Rodriguez as Ensemble, and Miebaka Yohannes as Ensemble.

Joining Alexandra Meda’s creative team are choreographer Ysaÿe McKeever, projection and environment designer Corwin Evans, costume designer Beryl Brachman, lighting designer Azra King-Abadi, and sound designer Jesse Mandapat.

General admission tickets are $30, and student/senior (65+) discounted tickets are $15. Tickets may be purchased online at GreenwayCourtTheatre.org or by calling (323) 673-0544.