CASA 0101 Theater is proud to present the return of “Clean Start” – a comedy by Kathy Fischer and Josefina López.

When Beverly Hills socialite, Parker Reed, loses her fortune, she is forced to move in with the only person who will take her – her loyal Latina maid, Rosario Rodriguez. Adjusting from Beverly Hills to Boyle Heights is a messy transition for Parker, and making it all the messier is Rosario’s superstitious mother and immature sister, who both want her out. Will these women give in to their preconceptions about how the other half lives? Or will they be able to embrace their differences and make a clean start? It’s Beverly Hills vs. Boyle Heights as worlds collide in this raucous comedy.

Showtimes: Fridays & Saturdays at 8 PM, Sundays at 5 PM

ROGUE MACHINE presents the LOS ANGELES PREMIERE of

Lorraine Hansberry’s Lost Masterpiece
“Les Blancs”
Directed by Gregg T. Daniel

Running at 8:00pm on Saturdays & Mondays, and 3:00pm on Sundays
(No performance on May 29, June 16 & 24)

Lorraine Hansberry considered this to be her most important play. It was her final work. Les Blancs depicts the waning days of colonialism crossing into the 20th century as it reveals the impossible moral choices faced by individuals who must reconcile personal happiness with idealism. It is rich with music and dance and set in and around a mission compound in Africa. The time is yesterday, today, and tomorrow– but not very long after that.

“When Lorraine Hansberry wrote this piece she set the story in Africa but it deeply resonates with the civil rights movement in the United States, including gender equality. It’s astonishingly current in terms of equality issues, and I really can’t think of another play out there that combines all the same elements, over such a vast landscape, and stays so brilliantly relevant” – Gregg T. Daniel; Director

Lorraine Hansberry (Playwright) was the first black playwright to have work produced on Broadway (A Raisin in the Sun – 1959). She became the youngest American, and only the fifth woman to win the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award. In 1965, Lorraine Hansberry died of cancer at age 34. As if prescient, in the six years she had between the triumph of her first play and her death, she was extraordinarily prolific. Her second play to be produced on Broadway, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, was in its early run to mixed reviews; when Hansberry died, the curtain came down on that date. To Be Young, Gifted, and Black, an autobiographical portrait in her own words adapted by her former husband and literary executor Robert Nemiroff, was posthumously produced in 1969 and toured across the country. In 1970, Les Blancs, her play about the inevitability of struggle between colonizers and the colonized in Africa, and the impending crisis that would surely grow out of it, ran on Broadway to critical acclaim. During her career as a playwright, Hansberry wrote many articles and essays on literary criticism, racism, sexism, homophobia, world peace and other social and political issues. At her death, she left behind file cabinets holding her public and private correspondence, speeches and journals, and various manuscripts in several genres: plays for stage and screen, essays, poetry, and an almost complete novel.

Director Gregg T. Daniel is a recipient of the NAACP Best Director award for the International City Theatre’s production of Fences. The production received nominations from the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, Ovation and Stage Scene LA. Selected credits include L.A. premiere of Honky by Greg Kalleres for Rogue Machine Theatre (LADCC Award nominee for Best Director – Comedy), a revival of Alice Childress,’ Wedding Band, A Love/Hate Story in Black and White for the Antaeus Company (Winner 2014 Stage Raw Award for Best Revival and Best Ensemble), Frank McGuinness’s Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me (Broadway World Award nominee for Best Director), and the West Coast premiere of Kwawe Kwei-Armah’s Elimina’s Kitchen (NAACP Award for Best Ensemble) for Lower Depth Theatre Ensemble where he is a founding member and Artistic Director.
What happens when what we want and what we think is right is not what must be done?

Cast: Amir Abdullah, Bill Brochtrup, Anne Gee Byrd, Aric Floyd, Fiona Hardingham, Jason McBeth, Matt Orduña, Jonathan P. Sims, Joel Swetow, Desean Kevin Terry, and ensemble cast.

Production Team: John Perrin Flynn and Amanda Bierbauer (Producers), Stephanie Kerley Schwartz (Scenic Design), Derrick McDaniel (Lighting Design), Jeff Gardner (Original Music and Sound Design), Wendell C. Carmichael (Costume Design), Joyce Guy (Choreography), Edgar Landa (Fight Choreographer), Andrea Odinov Fuller (Dialect Coach)

#LesBlancsLA

The Pasadena Playhouse
In association with East West Players presents
HOLD THESE TRUTHS

Written by Jeanne Sakata
Directed by Jessica Kubzansky

May 30 – June 25, 2017

Tues-Fri 8pm; Sat 4pm & 8pm; Sun 2pm & 7pm

Hold These Truths tells the inspirational true story of a civil rights hero who took his fight all the way to the Supreme Court. An exceptional evening of theatrical storytelling, Ryun Yu’s brilliant solo performance has captivated audiences and sold-out shows from coast-to-coast. Heartwarming and entertaining, don’t miss this powerful and moving story of Gordon Hirabayashi’s fight for freedom for all.

Starring
Ryun Yu as Gordon Hirabayashi

http://www.pasadenaplayhouse.org/

“I’m Not Famous – A Musical Journey with Barbara Minkus” – featuring “tiny, talented terrific Barbara Minkus” (Backstage) in a dynamite world premiere musical, helmed by renowned director Susan Morgenstern (of Jewish Women’s Theatre), with musical accompaniment by Ron Barnett. “Brilliant!” raves the Tolucan Times. “Terrific! Highly recommended!” hails Culture Corner. A funny, poignant and powerful evening of theatre with iconic film, television and Broadway star Barbara Minkus.

Playing Saturdays at 7:00pm & Sundays at 3:00pm through July 22nd

Barbara shares private moments, personal tidbits, and a plethora of musical delights. She may not be “famous,” but she is certainly one of the most widely adored artists in the business. She toured as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl, was Lucy in the recording of You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown, starred on Broadway in The Education Of Hyman Kaplan, was a regular on TV’S Love American Style and Curiosity Shop, and most recently, played Off-Broadway and Los Angeles in Don’t Leave It All to Your Children.

http://www.santamonicaplayhouse.com/im-not-famous.html
https://www.facebook.com/SantaMonicaPlayhouse

Meg just left a man. Lenny never had a man. Babe just shot a man. Warm-hearted, irreverent, funny and touching, Beth Henley’s first play examines the plight of three Mississippi sisters betrayed by their passions as each is forced to come to terms with her “crimes of the heart.” Winner of the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best American Play.

Runs June 7 through June 25, 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.

InternationalCityTheatre.org

GROUP, a play about PTSD, written by Lesley Gouger, created by Defiance Theatre Company, directed by Marjorie LeWit.

GROUP, a play about PTSD, takes place in a group therapy session in Los Angeles, during which a handful of characters explore their traumas in theatrical ways. Guided by JOHN, a caring therapist with his own issues, 5 victims of trauma (SALLY, MARCUS, JESSICA, ALEX and ED) must work through their struggles to discover that their perceptions of each other and themselves are not always what they seem. Addresses issues relating to veterans, domestic abuse, racism, and gender identity.

DATES:
Friday, June 16th
Saturday, June 17th
Friday, June 23rd
Saturday, June 24th
Friday, June 30th
Saturday, July 1st
Friday, July 7th
Saturday July 8th

Tickets: https://defiance.ticketleap.com/group/dates
Website: DefianceTheatreCompany.com
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/defiancetheatrecompany
Twitter: @DefianceNoHo
To be featured on: http://www.leftofstr8.com on May 29th

A Good American by Denise David Williams
Saturday, June 24th 2-4pm

LISE, born a Jew, has converted to Catholicism to be accepted by her husband JOE’s family, but as she watches her children being raised as Catholics, she suffers a crisis of guilt and remorse and creates a secret life of Judaism for herself and her children in the basement. The children, in particular youngest daughter, ANNIE, are torn between an upstairs/downstairs existence and live in terror of their father finding out about their secret life. It’s up to Annie to discover her own identity and break the cycle of prejudice and religious conflict that has emotionally crippled her. A Good American is autobiographical.

Galilee By Christine Evans
Monday, June 26th, 8pm

As coral reefs bleach white across the Great Barrier Reef and the oceans heat up, a young marine scientist fights to save the oceans – but first, she has to save her mother’s hair salon business from a dangerous land shark.

Australian Theatre Company
Summer Reading Series
presents:
Galilee By Christine Evans

ATC’s Summer Reading Series is a community event. Use code Free:
https://www.australiantheatrecompany.org/reading-series/

Facebook: @AussieTheatreCo
Twitter: @AussieTheatreCo
Instagram: @AussieTheatreCo
#buildATC
#ATC

Faith, family and frosting collide in a touching and timely new play by Bekah Brunstetter (NBC’s This Is Us). The Echo Theater Company continues its 20th Anniversary Season with the world premiere of The Cake, running July 1 through August 6 at Atwater Village Theatre.

Debra Jo Rupp stars as Della, a baker who makes cakes, not judgment calls — those she leaves to her husband. But when Jen, the girl Della helped raise comes back home to North Carolina to get married and the fiancé turns out to be another fiancée, Della’s life gets turned upside down. She can’t really make a cake for such a wedding, can she? For the first time in her life, Della has to think for herself.

“This play is my attempt to humanize conservative values,” says Brunstetter, who hails from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. “I feel there’s a lack of empathy, especially in our liberal pocket, a sense of dismissiveness towards people we don’t agree with. There are people in my life who have these values, who I love, who I am always trying to understand.”

“Whenever I’m trying to figure out how to have a conversation, I write a play about it. Plus – I love baking shows. I love eating cakes and baking cakes.”

Following its world premiere at the Echo, The Cake is scheduled to open at Playmakers Repertory Company in Chapel Hill, NC in Sept. 2017; Warehouse Theatre in Greenville, SC in Dec. 2017; La Jolla Playhouse in Feb. 2018; and Houston’s Alley Theater in June, 2018.

According to Brunstetter, “This play was born in the Echo Theater’s Playwright’s LAB and wouldn’t be what it is without their support. I rewrite a lot during the rehearsal process for a first production, so it’s also wonderful to premiere the play in the city where I live and work.”

The cast also includes the voice of Morrison Keddie as the host of the Great American Baking Show.

Dedicated to producing new work, the multiple award-winning Echo Theater Company was anointed “Best Bet for Ballsy Original Plays” by the LA Weekly and was a recipient of a 2016 “Kilroy Cake Drop” – one of only 13 theaters in the country to be surprised by cakes to honor the efforts they are making to produce women and trans writers. Under the leadership of founding artistic director Chris Fields, the Echo has introduced Los Angeles to playwrights such as David Lindsay-Abaire, Adam Rapp, Sarah Ruhl, Adam Bock and Miki Johnson among others. The company is also recognized for its acting ensemble; in the Los Angeles Times, theater critic Charles McNulty wrote, “Echo Theater Company, which has cultivated a community of top flight actors, would be my go-to place in Los Angeles for symbiotic ensemble acting.” KCRW’s Anthony Byrnes stated, “It’s time to start paying attention to the Echo Theater Company… The company has made bold choices and backed them up.” Last season’s production of Dry Land by Ruby Rae Spiegel received the Ovation Award for Best Production and was recently remounted at Culver City’s Kirk Douglas Theatre by Center Theatre Group as part of “Block Party.” The Echo Theater Company is currently celebrating its 20th anniversary.

The Cake runs July 1 through Aug. 6, with performances on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m.; Sundays at 4 p.m.; and Mondays at 8 p.m. Three preview performances are set for Wed., June 28; Thurs., June 29; and Fri., June 30, all at 8 p.m. Tickets are $34 on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and $20 on Mondays; preview performances are pay-what-you-can. A “community night” on Sunday, July 9 at 4 p.m. is sponsored by McConnell’s Fine Ice Creams and Cheerwine; tickets for that performance are $10, and include a post-show “ice cream social” with the cast. Atwater Village Theatre is located at 3269 Casitas Ave in Los Angeles, CA 90039. On-site parking is free. For reservations and information, call (310) 307-3753 or go to www.EchoTheaterCompany.com.