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

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

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 at Atwater Village Theatre.

Extended through Aug. 13 with added performances on Wednesdays and Thursdays:
• Wednesday at 8 p.m.: Aug. 9 ONLY
• Thursdays at 8 p.m.: July 27, Aug. 3, Aug. 10
• Fridays at 8 p.m.: July 28; Aug. 4, Aug. 11 (dark July 21)
• Saturdays at 8 p.m.: July 29; Aug. 5, Aug. 12 (dark July 22)
• Sundays at 4 p.m.: July 23, July 30; Aug. 6, 13
• Mondays at 8 p.m.: July 17, 24, 31

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.

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.

It’s Only Lipstick is my story of surviving the dysfunction of an Italian-American family in Brooklyn, NY to weathering the instability of being a marketing executive in the beauty industry in corporate America. You’ll laugh and cry as you journey with me to the life-changing event that led me to my destiny. It’s never too late to go after your dreams.

Written and Performed By: Claudia DiMartino

Directed By: Jessica Lynn Johnson

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/claudiad91/
Twitter: @ClaudiaDiMarti1

THE FILIGREE THEATRE AND EVN PRODUCTIONS
PRESENT THE LOS ANGELES PREMIERE OF
ANY NIGHT
WRITTEN BY DANIEL ARNOLD AND MEDINA HAHN
STARRING ZAC THOMAS AND MARIE FAHLGREN
DIRECTED BY ELIZABETH V. NEWMAN
PRODUCED BY STEPHANIE MOORE

A Guest Production Of Sacred Fools Theater Company, 1076 Lillian Way, Hollywood, CA 90038
Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m.
And Sundays at 5:00 p.m., July 13 – 30, 2017

Hollywood, CA – (June 15 2017) – The Filigree Theatre and EVN Productions of Austin, TX will present the Los Angeles Premiere of critically acclaimed play, ANY NIGHT, written by Daniel Arnold and Medina Hahn, starring Zac Thomas as Patrick, and Marie Fahlgren as Anna, directed by Elizabeth V. Newman, and produced by Stephanie Moore. A Limited Run of the two-handed psychological thriller will be presented as a Guest Production at Sacred Fools Theatre Company, 1076 Lillian Way, Hollywood, CA 90038, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and Sundays at 5:00 p.m., July 13 – 30, 2017.

This production of the play ANY NIGHT hails from Austin, TX, where CTX Live Theatre wrote: “While (Marie) Fahlgren and (Zac) Thomas are before you in the dark rooms of their minds amid the powerfully symbolic disorder and randomness of
Vanessa Montano’s set design, you’ll be holding tight to your seat as the action builds to a decisive and unequal confrontation of threat and violent surprise. There’s a steady build in the tension here, precisely managed by director Elizabeth Newman and the two actors.”

Of the play itself, The New York Times has written: “…a play that zips by, maintaining suspense by keeping the audience slightly off balance…” while New York Magazine has written: “Theatrical magic…deserves your attention…channeling the spirits of Alfred Hitchcock, Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer. A highly entertaining evening of fleet-footed psychological shadow-play, tautly written….” Toronto Now has written: “Part thriller, part psychological study, part hallucination, and totally engaging. Grabs us from the start and never lets go.” The Toronto Star has written: “A tense, modern thriller…raising serious questions about trust and discretion. Take in ANY NIGHT for a chilling two-person character study with action and suspense to spare.”

In ANY NIGHT, when a troubled young dancer moves into a new apartment she finds herself inexorably drawn into the world of her seductive upstairs neighbor. Soon she begins to suffer from nightmares and strange behaviors in her sleep. ANY NIGHT is a ‘through-the-looking-glass’ psychological thriller about love, trust, and the immeasurable power of the subconscious.

Elizabeth V. Newman, the show’s Director, said: “The script of ANY NIGHT calls for the play to be set in ‘Limbo’. For our production, I was inspired by the work of Surrealist painters to try to create ‘Limbo’ as a dreamscape of sorts – the physical manifestation of a shattered mind and restless sleep. As the character, Anna, says in the show: ‘I want the whole thing to feel like a puzzle, a maze – a nightmare.’”

Stephanie Moore, ANY NIGHT Producer, said: “The positive response to ANY NIGHT during our Austin premiere was breathtaking. From the intense engagement of the audience with the show and the discussions sparked during the post-show talkbacks, we knew we had to share our production of ANY NIGHT with a broader audience.”

Newman continued, “The world has changed dramatically in the two years since we first began our work on ANY NIGHT for its official Austin premiere. The themes presented and questions posed by ANY NIGHT about trust, truth, psychological manipulation and violence against women have all taken on a chillingly deeper, more urgent, resonance. Never have we needed the arts more than now as a way to shed light on some of these darker aspects of our current society and culture. We are thrilled to bring this production from Austin to Los Angeles to broaden this discourse.”

ANY NIGHT’s Los Angeles Premiere marks the Inaugural Production for The Filigree Theatre in anticipation of the company’s launch of its first full season this September in Austin, TX. Elizabeth V. Newman is the company’s Artistic Director/Co-Managing Director and Stephanie Moore is the Co-Managing Director. Moore continued, “The Los Angeles Premiere of ANY NIGHT is a great way to ‘live’ our company’s mission of creating a bridge between artistic communities in Austin and Los Angeles.” Newman added: “It fits with our company’s aim to foster collaboration between artists in these two cities. I lived and worked in Los Angeles for several years and I am thrilled to be back for this show, and look forward to creating opportunities for artists in Austin and Los Angeles to share and support each others work. Stephanie Moore and I are both filmmakers as well as theatre-makers and so we are excited to create work across media as well as across geography.”

Tickets are $30.00 each for General Admission, $25.00 each Seniors and Students with identification and $20.00 each for Groups of eight or more and can be purchased through The Filigree Theatre by calling 512-496-5208, by E-mailing filigreetheatre@gmail.com. To purchase tickets online and to learn more about the show, please visit the website, www.anynightaustin.com
Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter: @AnyNightAustin and @EVNProductions and on Instagram: filigreetheatreaustin

The Production Team includes: Elizabeth V. Newman, Director and Producer, EVN Productions; Stephanie Moore, Producer, The Filigree Theatre; Daniel Arnold and Medina Hahn (Playwrights, DualMinds); Gary Thomas, Stage Manager;
Karl Leone, Assistant Stage Manager; Ben McLemore, Cast Voice Offstage;
Erica Gionfriddo, Choreographer; Vanessa Montano, Set Designer; Chris Conard, Technical Director and Lighting Designer; Eliot Gray Fisher, Sound Designer;
Joshua Scott, Production Photographer and Steve Moyer Public Relations, Press Representative.

About The Artists:
Zac Thomas (Patrick) is a native of Butte, MT. He studied Acting at the University of Montana. He is the Artistic Director of the Buttenik Ensemble and Founder of the Covellite Theater in Butte, MT. Since arriving in Austin he has been seen as Joe in Waiting For Lefty with Street Corner Arts, Lee Harvey Oswald in The Sniper’s Nest with EVN Productions, Steve in Welcome To The Moon with Austin Hot Nights, Alphonse de Saligny in The King of Texas with Hyde Park Theater, Bebe in The Explorer’s Club and the Mime in The Arkansaw Bear with Austin Playhouse, an Ensemble member in Circle The Wagons, Sacred Space and Again with The Exchange Artists, and as an Ensemble member in Random Acts of Magic with Scriptworks. His recent film credits include: The Orphan Girl with Chisel Industries, Love Like Gold with Skye Grace Bennett Productions, Strange Birds with The Table Assembly, Feral with Sorcery Films, and Seven Eves with Wheel of Fire Productions. Thomas also works as a Technical Director and has recently built for Cold Water Army with Tegan McCloud, Skylight with Street Corner Arts, The Realistic Joneses with Hyde Park Theater, Trevor and Hand To God with Capital T Theater, and The Wolf and The Woodstove with MT+NYC Collaborative. He is also the Lead Carpenter for The BKPK Co. Lab. He is the lead singer for the band Table. He is the Founder of RabbitRung Puppetry and Design.

Marie Fahlgren (Anna) is an Austin Playhouse Acting Company member and an Equity Member Candidate. She was recently seen in the Austin Playhouse production of Sense and Sensibility as Marianne, and in productions of Baskerville, The Arkansaw Bear, The Philadelphia Story, and The Real Thing. She holds a BFA in Acting with a minor in Psychology and Dance from the University of Montana-Missoula. She toured with the Montana Repertory Theatre’s productions of Lost in Yonkers (Arty Kunitz) and To Kill a Mockingbird (Scout). Other performance credits include: Any Night (Anna), Gypsy (Louise), The Wizard of Oz (Dorothy), One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Candy Starr), Dog Sees God (Trish), The 39 Steps (All Women), The Odd Couple: Female Version (Vera), The Little Shop of Horrors (Crystal), Gypsy (Dainty June), Grease (Jan), The Merry Wives of Windsor (Nim), Hello, Dolly! (Ermengarde), Mocha (Carol) and Exchange Artists’ Circle the Wagon. Fahlgren is also Austin Playhouse’s Theatre For Youth Coordinator, a program that provides FREE Theatre to young audiences. When she isn’t performing she teaches Kids Yoga at The Little Yoga House and is Founder of her own yoga company, Love,Yoga.

Elizabeth V. Newman (Director/Producer) graduated from Yale University with dual B.A. degrees in History of Art and Theater Studies. She earned her M.F.A. degree in Film Production at Boston University. Her stage directing credits include: Body of Work by Christine Hoang, (World Premiere, Austin); Mocha by Eleanor Burgess (World Premiere, Austin); The Amenable Stage by C. M. Gill (World Premiere, Austin); The Sniper’s Nest by Lisa Soland (Austin Premiere); Goodnight Children Everywhere by Richard Nelson, (London, ON, Canada); The Park Bench Linda Lee Armstrong (World Premiere, London, ON, Canada); Fragments by Murray Schisgal (Los Angeles).

Elizabeth V. Newman has written and directed a dozen short films in New York, New Haven, Boston and Los Angeles. Her short film Hatched: A Tale of Great Egg-spectations premiered at the New Filmmakers New York and Toronto Women in Film & Television Short Film Showcase. Her MFA thesis project, The Yellow Wallpaper was a finalist at the Redstone Film Festival. Her feature script, Shattering, was included as an Emerging Narrative at the IFP Conference. Her theatrical producing credits include the World Premiere of Mocha by Eleanor Burgess (Austin); the World Premiere of Nights of Noir! by Casey Wilson (Los Angeles); the West Coast Premiere of Orange Lemon Egg Canary by Rinne Groff (Los Angeles); the American Premiere of Clocks and Whistles by Samuel Adamson, (NewYork); Dutchman by Leroy Jones (New York). She serves on the B. Iden Payne Awards Council of Austin as well as the board of Yale in Hollywood. She has worked in numerous capacities in both film production and development. She is currently the Principal of EVN Productions, an independent film and theatre production company, and the Artistic Director of The Filigree Theatre in Austin, TX. To learn more, please visit http://www.elizabethvnewman.com

Stephanie Moore (Producer) has been involved in the film industry for seven years. She has experience as both a production assistant and producer on web-series, features, music videos, and shorts. Her credits include a producing role on Love’s Labour’s Lost and Dawg Daze. as well as the upcoming 5 Steps to Heaven, and production assisting on Synkhole and #ATown. Her passion for film and filmmakers comes from her work with festivals such as Austin Film Festival and South by Southwest, where she works directly with the filmmakers as a Filmmaker Liaison and Theater Manager for many years. She has worked with such films as Winter in the Blood, Black or White, Beneath the Darkness. Hunger and Burning Bodhi as a Filmmaker Liaison. She is also a festival consultant for The Golden Rut. Stephanie Moore is Co-Managing Director of The Filigree Theatre, and producer of ANY NIGHT in Los Angeles with a slate full of upcoming productions for both theatre and film.

About the Production Companies:
The Filigree Theatre embraces the dual roots of the word ‘filigree’ (seed and thread) in its mission with an aim to serve both as a ‘seed’ by incubating, supporting and celebrating emerging artists in Austin and as a ‘thread’ by forging artistic ties between Austin and theatre communities in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and London. Elizabeth V. Newman serves as Artistic Director and Co-Managing Director and Stephanie Moore serves as Co-Managing Director. To learn more, please visit www.filigreetheatre.com

EVN Productions is an independent production company with the goal of creating innovative projects through championing new voices and emerging talent in film and theatre. To date, EVN Productions has produced critically acclaimed works in New York, Los Angeles and in the company’s new home of Austin, Texas. To learn more, please visit, www.evnproductionsatx.com

DualMinds is the creative team of Daniel Arnold and Medina Hahn. Their debut play Tuesdays & Sundays premiered at Theatre Network’s NextFest in 2000, directed and dramaturged by Wojtek Kozlinski. Tuesdays & Sundays has since toured Canadian Fringes and professional theatres worldwide—including the National Arts Centre, the Edinburgh Festival, Prague, New Mexico, and New York—has garnered numerous awards, and has been listed among the “Best Plays of the Year” in Toronto, Edmonton, Vancouver, and New York. Tuesdays & Sundays was published twice, broadcast as a radio play on CBC and BBC, and has been optioned for a feature film. Any Night is DualMinds’s second production. Arnold and Hahn were twice nominated as the Edmonton Mayor’s Emerging Artists of the Year, have received ATP’s Emerging Artist Scholarship, and for three years mentored with Daniel MacIvor. In 2008 MacIvor bestowed them with the protégé portion of Canada’s most prestigious theatre award: the Elinore and Lou Siminovitch Prize. They currently live in Vancouver, BC. For more information, visit www.dualminds.com.

Production History of the play, ANY NIGHT:
The World Premiere of ANY NIGHT was produced by DualMinds, the production company of the playwrights Daniel Arnold and Medina Hahn, presented at the Belfry Theatre in Victoria, British Columbia on their Main Stage, February 26 – March 1, 2008. This production was then revised and invited to the National Series of Summerworks Theatre Festival in Toronto, Ontario, August 7 – 17, 2008, sponsored by the Stratford Festival of Canada. The play won Jury Prize for Outstanding New Play at the Summerworks Festival in 2008. Also in 2008 Daniel MacIvor named Daniel Arnold and Modina Hahn as the protégé winners of Canada’s most prestigious theatre award, The Elinore and Lou Siminovitch Prize. The play was the Winner of Five Toronto Now Awards for Best Production, Best Direction, Best New Play, Best Performances and Best Design. The Vancouver Courier also named the play one of the Best Productions of the Year.

The production was then remounted, and presented by The Cultch and Touchstone Theatre in Vancouver, British Columbia, October 6 – 17, 2009, and a Edmonton’s FTA, October 21 – 31, 2010.

ANY NIGHT premiered Off-Broadway at Theater at the 14th Street, presented by Starry Night Entertainment and The Bridge Theatre Company, June 1 – 19, 2011. ANY NIGHT was developed in part by the British Columbia Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, Theatre Network in Edmonton, Alberta, Workshop West in Edmonton, Alberta, Magic Theatre in San Francisco, CA, Shetler Studios in New York, NY, the Banff Centre Playwrights Colony, the Vancouver Playhouse and the Spirit of British Columbia commission and development program. Versions of ANY NIGHT have received staged readings at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco, the Arthur Seleen Theatre in New York, and at the Vancouver Playhouse. Production and touring of ANY NIGHT have been funded by the British Columbia Arts Council and Canada Council for the Arts. Daniel Arnold and Medina Hahn have written a screenplay adaption of ANY NIGHT and it has won the Canada-wide CFF Super Channel Screenplay Award.

ANY NIGHT was presented Austin, TX debut by EVN Productions at The City Theatre, September 22 – October 9, 2016. The current production of the play marks its Los Angeles debut, July 13 – 30, 2017 at The Sacred Fools Theatre in Hollywood, CA. To learn more about the playwrights, Daniel Arnold and Medina Hahn, please visit www.dualminds.com

Theatre Calendar Listing
THE FILIGREE THEATRE AND EVN PRODUCTIONS
PRESENT THE LOS ANGELES PREMIERE OF
ANY NIGHT

WHO &
WHAT: The Filigree Theatre and EVN Productions of Austin, TX will present the Los Angeles Premiere of critically acclaimed play, ANY NIGHT, written by Daniel Arnold and Medina Hahn, starring Zac Thomas as Patrick, and Marie Fahlgren as Anna, directed by Elizabeth V. Newman, and produced by Stephanie Moore.

In ANY NIGHT, when a troubled young dancer moves into a new apartment she finds herself inexorably drawn into the world of her seductive upstairs neighbor. Soon she begins to suffer from nightmares and strange behaviors in her sleep. ANY NIGHT is a ‘through-the-looking-glass’ psychological thriller about love, trust, and the immeasurable power of the subconscious.

WHERE,
WHEN &
HOW: A Limited Run of the two-handed psychological thriller, ANY NIGHT, will be presented as a Guest Production at Sacred Fools Theatre Company, 1076 Lillian Way, Hollywood, CA 90038, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and Sundays at
5:00 p.m., July 13 – 30, 2017.

Tickets are $30.00 each for General Admission, $25.00 each Seniors and Students with identification and $20.00 each for Groups of eight or more and can be purchased through The Filigree Theatre by calling 512-496-5208, by E-mailing filigreetheatre@gmail.com. To purchase tickets online and to learn more about the show, please visit the website, www.anynightaustin.com
Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter: @AnyNightAustin and @EVNProductions and on Instagram: filigreetheatreaustin

# # #

“Blinded” by Joni Ravenna. Fri. & Sat. at 8:00, Sun. at 2:00. Starring Cindy Marinangel, Chris Muto, Marilyn Sanabria and Rico Simonini. Directed by T.J. Castronovo. www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2993431
www.facebook.com/writeactrepertory
Seventeen years ago, Donald walked in on his mother in bed with someone other than his father. Whatever he saw that day was so devastating that his psyche refused to see another thing from that moment on. At 35, the hysterically blind Donald visits NYC’s best shrink, Bob Schneiderman. Donald’s last ditch hope before throwing in life’s towel. However the doctor’s highly unorthodox remedy includes an affair with Schneiderman’s younger, beautiful wife, Bridget. There’s only one caveat; Bridget can never find out Donald is blind.

Short plays about characters from the Wizard of Oz. Saturdays and Sundays at noon in July and August. Free. In a park in Culver City.

King of the Yees
By Lauren Yee
Directed by Joshua Kahan Brody
World Premiere Production
July 9 – August 6, 2017
Produced in association with Goodman Theatre

A Madcap Celebration of Family and Cultural Identity

For nearly 20 years, playwright Lauren Yee’s father Larry has been a driving force in the Yee Family Association, a seemingly obsolescent Chinese American men’s club formed 150 years ago in the wake of the Gold Rush. But when her father goes missing, Lauren must plunge into the rabbit hole of San Francisco Chinatown and confront a world both foreign and familiar. At once bitingly hilarious and heartbreakingly honest, King of the Yees is an epic joyride across cultural, national, and familial borders that explores what it truly means to be a Yee.

Santa Monica Rep presents
Summer Staged Readings of plays celebrating LOVE in a world gone MAD!

All performances at 4pm at the Edye Second Space at The Broad Stage

Sunday, July 16th – Rapture, Blister, Burn
by Gina Gionfriddo, Directed by Jen Bloom

After grad school, Catherine and Gwen chose polar opposite paths. Catherine built a career as a rockstar academic, while Gwen built a home with her husband and children. Decades later, unfulfilled in polar opposite ways, each woman covets the other’s life, commencing a dangerous game of musical chairs-the prize being Gwen’s husband. With searing insight and trademark wit, this comedy is an unflinching look at gender politics in the wake of 20th-century feminist ideals.

Sunday, August 13th – The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window
by Lorraine Hansberry, Directed by Tanya White

This is the probing, hilarious and provocative story of Sidney, a disenchanted Greenwich Village intellectual, his wife Iris, an aspiring actress, and their colorful circle of friends and relations. Set against the shenanigans of a stormy political campaign, the play follows its characters in their unorthodox quests for meaningful lives in an age of corruption and cynicism. With compassion, humor and poignancy, the author examines questions concerning the fragility of love, morality and ethics, interracial relationships, drugs, rebellion, conformity and especially withdrawal from the world.

And on Sunday, September 24th – Madwoman of Chaillot by Jean Giraudoux, Directed by Eric Bloom

More info visit www.santamonicarep.org or www.thebroadstage.org

www.facebook.com/santamonicarep

twitter.com/SantaMonicaRep

www.instagram.com/santamonicarep

Martha Graham simply refused to quit. Her influence on dance, which is often compared to Picasso’s influence on modern art and the impact that Frank Lloyd Wright had on architecture, has unequivocally transformed the art form. She pursued her vision with unwavering dedication in spite of the difficulties and challenges it brought to her life. Which were many.
“Each one of us has all of life in us, and it is our choice to decide what we will reveal. How many drops of blood have gone into making you? How much memory is in that drop of blood?” – Martha Graham

Ellen Melaver’s quintessential glimpse into the passionate heart and history of the woman who revealed a “hidden language of the soul of the body,” mines the triumphs and struggles faced by this pioneer of modern dance. Graham’s work manifested the complexities of human society, emotion, frailty, and perseverance as never before interpreted in dance. The first dancer invited to perform at the White House, the first choreographer to regularly employ a multiracial ensemble; she revolutionized set design, and was a champion for women.

“Moments of magic…Carlisi’s performance can be incandescent” – LA Times

Playwright Ellen Melaver has had her work produced at Williamstown Theater Festival, SPF, New Georges, Teatronetto in Tel Aviv, and Le Cirque Roman in Paris. Her play, Little White Mice from Broken Homes, was commissioned by Juilliard and Calendar was published by Smith & Kraus. Readings and workshops have been hosted by theaters such as Cherry Lane, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Florida Stage, Marin Theater Company, The Zephyr Theater, and Westside Arts. Television work includes pilots for Spyglass, Touchstone, CBS, and Fox, and she was a staff writer on What About Brian (ABC) and Paul Reiser’s Love Bites (TBS). She is a graduate of The Juilliard School.

Director Stewart J. Zully has helmed new works by David Lindsay-Abaire (Pulitzer Prize winner, 2007), Romulus Linney, Peter Tolan (Analyze This, The Larry Sanders Show), Rolin Jones (Weeds) and Marco Ramirez (Orange Is The New Black, The Royale). Most recently he directed the Los Angeles premiere of White Guy On the Bus, by Bruce Graham, at the Road Theatre. He garnered a Scenie Award (Direction of a Comedy – Intimate Theater) for his work on American Wee-Pie, by Lisa Dillman. Regional directing credits include the East Coast Premiere of Kent R. Brown’s In The Middle of Nowhere (recipient of the Julie Harris Award), three new works at City Theatre’s Summer Shorts Series at The Arsht Center in Miami, part of America’s Short Play Festival in conjunction with Actor’s Theater of Louisville. Stewart co-wrote the feature film Perfect Opposites, which stars Piper Perabo, Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad), Joe Pantoliano, and Jennifer Tilly. The movie is based on the stage play A Piece of My Heart, by Matt Cooper, which Stewart directed at The Odyssey Theater in Los Angeles.

A dancers career is usually short, but Martha Graham continued to dance into her seventies and choreographed until her death at age 96. For most artists, a life away from the arts feels impossible but when is it time to say…”when?”

From the moment she steps on stage, she grabs our attention and doesn’t let go“ – Cultural Weekly
Christina Carlisi (Martha) has worked as a dancer along side notables such as Chita Rivera, Bernadette Peters, Stanley Donen, Gower Champion, Ringo Starr, Rod Stewart, and Kenny Ortega. She has toured the world for Disney Productions and starred as the ballerina in the acclaimed production of Tamara in Los Angeles. Selected stage credits include Burn This, The Rivals, Juno and the Paycock,(Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award Nomination – Best Actress) Lady-Like (Drama Logue Award – Best Actress), Reckless, Shivaree (Drama Logue Award Best Actress), Seascape, The Boor, The Immigrant, Trojan Women, and A Midsummer’s Night Dream. Recent film and television credits include All About Steve, The Soul Collector, Wave Babes, Hear No Evil, and ELI (Winner Best Short – Comic-Con). (Web Series) Luke 11:17 (Series regular, nominated for two Webby Awards), (Television) Bones, Supernatural, Rizzoli & Isles, Criminal Minds, CSI, Glee, Six Feet Under, Ugly Betty, NYPD Blue, Providence, Picket Fences and Crystal Empire (series regular).

“Brava, Ms. Christina Carlisi!!! Possesses all the creative elements…stunning” – Broadway World

MARTHA runs Wednesdays at 8pm on July 19, August 16, and September 20, 2017. The Whitefire Theatre is located at 13500 Ventura Blvd. Sherman Oaks, CA 91423. Tickets are $25 and can be reserved at www.marthasoloplay.brownpapertickets.com . For more information: (818) 990-2324.

WE ARE NOT THESE HANDS by Sheila Callaghan

ENCORE! performances Friday July 21, 8pm; Thursday July 27, 8pm; Saturday July 29, 8pm; Sunday July 30, 7pm

Two cagey 15 year olds, Moth and Belly, live in the ruins of a dystopian society where filth is abundant and the addiction to consumerism and porn is incessant. But, they have each other – a relationship bound by love, an Internet café, and a slew of inside jokes. If they could only “cross the river,” and be in the capitalist society where an ostensible future exists. When they meet Leather, the journey veers in unconceivable directions as a series of humorous events unfold.

Directed by Larry Biederman.

Cast: Albert Dayan, Cicily Glouchevitch, and Emily James

Produced by John Perrin Flynn and Heather Tyler

“Plenty of dark wit. Feels like something Caryl Churchill might have written — after dipping her quill in the blood of Neil LaBute. Poetic…her portrait of transactional sexual politics…the result is a hypnotic, defiantly opaque — and surprisingly tender — portrait of the endgame of globalization and rampant consumerism” – Chicago Tribune

Sheila Callaghan has had her work produced and developed with Soho Rep, Playwright’s Horizons, Yale Rep, South Coast Repertory, Clubbed Thumb, The LARK, Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, New Georges, The Flea, Woolly Mammoth, Boston Court, and Rattlestick Playwright’s Theatre, among others. Sheila is the recipient of the Princess Grace Award for emerging artists, a Jerome Fellowship from the Playwright’s Center in Minneapolis, a MacDowell Residency, a Cherry Lane Mentorship Fellowship, the Susan Smith Blackburn Award, and the prestigious Whiting Award. Her plays have been produced internationally in New Zealand, Australia, Norway, Germany, Portugal, and the Czech Republic. These include Scab, Crawl Fade to White, Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake), Dead City, Lascivious Something, Kate Crackernuts, That Pretty Pretty; or, The Rape Play, Fever/Dream, Everything You Touch, Roadkill Confidential, Elevado, Bed, and Women Laughing Alone with Salad. She is published with Playscripts.com and Samuel French, and several of her collected works are published with Counterpoint Press. She has taught playwriting at Columbia University, The University of Rochester, The College of New Jersey, Florida State University, and Spalding University. Sheila is an affiliated artist with Clubbed Thumb and a member of the Obie winning playwright’s organization 13P.

http://www.roguemachinetheatre.net/fringe-2017

Boston Court’s 13th Annual  New Play Reading Festival presents readings of exciting new works in progress that are in keeping with Boston Court’s mission, which urges artists to fearlessly and passionately pursue their unique voice and vision. Play selection encompasses a wide variety of genres, with a special emphasis on works, which are inherently theatrical, textually rich, and visually arresting. This year’s festival features four works by women playwrights:

July 22 @ 11am

Hitler’s Tasters, by Michelle Kholos Brooks, directed by Michael Michetti

Three times a day, every day, a group of young women have the opportunity to die for their country. They are Adolph Hitler’s food tasters. And what do girls discuss as they wait to see if they will live through another meal? Like all girls throughout time, they gossip and dream, they question and dance. Deliberately anachronistic, stretching across time to autocracy today, these young women want to love, laugh, and above all, they want to survive.

July 22 @ 2:30pm

This Floating World, by Tira Palmquist, directed by Beth Lopes

When a woman of means crashes her car in a no-man’s land, she finds herself on a long, strange trip home. Wasn’t she always lucky? Didn’t she always know how to make her way in the world? But this place is bewildering, and, weirdly, there’s a creature who seems to understand her better than the humans. There, on the margins of here and there, between suburbia and wilderness, she meets a Curandera and desperately clings to the things that seem to be slipping away from her. Or, maybe, it’s all already gone, and she just couldn’t see it.

July 22 @ 5pm

Sweet Maladies, by Zakiyyah Alexander, directed by Dominic Taylor

Two years after slavery has been abolished, three recently freed girls play with the only game they know: history. What does it mean to be “freed”? Power struggles erupt as the women play an increasingly dangerous game of mistress and servant, especially when the mistress purports to love her servants. Everything changes when the lines of role-play and truth blur and then collide. A dark comedy set in the time of Reconstruction. Inspired by Jean Genet’s The Maids.

July 29 @ 11:30am

Cricket Woman Mother Earth (or) A Nasty Comeuppance, by Tiffany Antone, directed by Emilie Beck

Aura Bloom can’t sleep. She’s consumed with grief over our ever-warming planet and in despair over recent social/political events. So, when Aura seduces an unsuspecting Census Worker and claims he’s impregnated her, it’s no wonder that her husband, Billy, thinks she’s gone over the edge. In the months that follow, Aura prepares to birth an extinction-level plague: Mother Earth’s final punishment for mankind’s carelessness. A play about crickets, politics, sex, unemployment, and… oh yeah, the end of the world.

The festival also includes Night Dust Journey by Mickey Birnbaum.

For more info: bostoncourt.com/nprf 

http://www.Twitter.com/BostonCourt
http://www.instagram.com/weplaydifferent

New dates/times:
Sunday July 23 @ 7pm
Wednesday July 26 @ 8pm
Friday July 28 @ 8pm

“The love child of The Vagina Monologues and Mars Attacks”

PICK OF THE FRINGE

100% SWEET Critic’s Rating on BETTER LEMONS

Winner of the ENCORE PRODUCER’S AWARD

In this hilarious, irreverent and sexy one-woman show, written and performed by Ava Bogle, five aliens preparing to leave earth in light of an impending nuclear war pose the question: can the clitoris save humanity?

Directed by Rachel Avery

A World Premiere co-production of Rogue Machine Theatre

http://hff17.com/4741

Open your heart and soul to the legendary life and times of Sister Rosetta Tharpe in this world premiere musical, conceived and directed by Randy Johnson, the creator of the hit A Night with Janis Joplin. Hailed the godmother of rock and roll, Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s unique gospel voice and virtuoso guitar influenced some of the greatest musicians of all time, from Elvis Presley to Little Richard, Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash. Shout, Sister, Shout is a soulful and joyous noise that will inspire, entertain and leave you wanting more.

SHOUT SISTER SHOUT!
Jul 26 – Aug 20
Book by Cheryl L. West
Created & Directed by Randy Johnson

www.pasadenaplayhouse.org/event/shout-sister-shout

BROWNER QUEERER LOUDER PROUDER written & performed by Monica Palacios
Thurs-Sat 8PM, Sun 5PM
This work in progress is a comedic-dramatic spoken word rant narrative with a splash of experimental performance of Monica’s reaction and resistance to our current fucked up White House administration. Chaotic crap, racism, homophobia, misogyny, hate gets slashed with Monica’s wit, words, wisdom and mighty maracas. Witness a queer brown woman’s survival when America goes from somewhat normal to completely insane. Monica is sharing the night with two other performers: Dan Berkowitz & Roger Q. Mason, doing their individual pieces.

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Misty Lee- Bold Magic.
Female magician performs large-scale illusions.
Fri. at 8:00, Sat. at 3:00 and 8:00, Sun. at 3:00.
www.boldmagic.show
“Bold Magic is taking inspiration from your fantasies and fears and bringing them to life on stage.” Lee bewitchingly smiles in a manner best described as Mary Poppins meets Maleficent. “What’s it like to face the unknown? To tempt destruction and barter with dark forces for your soul? What happens when you reawaken your childlike desire to fly, to conjure shooting stars or talk with ghosts? Magic is a journey and the path isn’t always bright and sunny.”
This is evident as Misty’s repertoire includes a game of Russian Roulette with razor-sharp knives and mystical excursions into divinations, transformations, and good old fashioned revenge. “In any magic story, the way to dawn is through darkness.” Misty explains, “There is a happy ending, but to get there the audience will have to follow me through light and shadow.”

“The Italiian In Me.” Written and performed by Dina Morrone. Sat. July 29 at 8:00 p.m. and Sun. July 30 at 2:00 p.m. Directed by Peter Flood. Website and social media links: www.theatrewest.org

In The Italian in Me, a doe-eyed aspiring actress from Canada – who has been raised on a heaping dose of old-fashioned values & Roman Catholic guilt – upends her life by moving to Italy. With her, she brings a tiny bit of cash and grandiose dreams of working in Italian Cinema. Once in Rome, she quickly discovers that things in the Eternal City are not quite as holy or as romantic as she had imagined. Her days are filled with countless fruitless encounters with perverts, priests, producers and statues of Saints in old churches, to whom she pleads for help. But help does not come. Not even a chance siting of the Pope at St. Peter’s brings her any closer to her dream. When all hope seems lost, she meets the cinematic Maestro himself, Federico Fellini at Cinecitta’ Studios for what turns out to be a very “illuminating” encounter, but will it be the ‘Dolce Vita’ she was searching for?

Dina Morrone is the writer-performer. Dina also wrote and acted in the long-running hit stage comedy Moose on the Loose. You’ve heard her voice before; She’s one of the busiest voice artists in Hollywood, lending her voice to dozens of films, TV shows and as the Announcer of several awards shows. The graduate of Ryerson University (Toronto) has also appeared on screen in numerous films and television shows in the U.S., Canada and Italy.

The Italian in Me is a funny, sexy romp as its beautiful heroine pursues globe-trotting adventures with hints of danger and mystery in pursuit of a dream. She will ultimately encounter…magic.
“Morrone is a skillful, attractive comedienne.”—Neal Weaver, L.A. Weekly

“It abounds with wit and humor, and Dina’s characterizations are superb.”— Carol Kaufman Segal, Entertainment Today

“A compelling, comic, poignant and riveting exposition.”—Jose Ruiz, ReviewPlays.com

“Morrone is attractive, convincing and captivating as each character and has a real feel for dialog and comedy as anyone with an Italian background will attest.”—Sherry Dodd, Beverly Hills Courier

Peter Flood directs. His directing credits include shows at Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights Horizons, Lincoln Center, and the Public Theater (NYC) and locally at South Coast Rep, the Odyssey, and Theatre West, where he directed Dina’s play Moose on the Loose.

Lighting designer: Yancey Dunham.

The Italian in Me is filled with laughter, romance, glamor and beauty….much like Italy itself. Come along for the ride, and enjoy.

The Italian in Me is an accelerated full immersion Italian lesson about Cinema, Sex, Saints and Federico Fellini, all set in the Eternal City, Rome.

“Her scene with Federico Fellini is written and rendered to perfection.”—Dave DePino, Backstage West

A portion of the proceeds from The Italian in Me will go to support the ongoing artistic and educational activities of Theatre West, a non-profit organization supporting artists and impacting community for over half a century.

This show is part of Portraits of Humanity- A Series of Solo Shows at Theatre West.

Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival: Defining Moments—
Carla Delaney, “Voices.” Voice-over artist contends with the voices in her head; Wendy Hammers, “i Survived Cancer and All I Got Was This Lousy President.” Cancer survivor received her diagnosis the same week a reality-show host announced his candidacy for the Presidency,; Clarinda Ross, “Spit Like A Big girl.” Memoir of a Southern childhood.; Rachae Thomas, “Pieces of Carra Remix.” The evolution of a biracial young woman’s life.
Evening is hosted by Karen A. Clark.
Website/links to social media: www.lawtf.org
7 p.m. on July 30.