Los Angeles, CA

Rogue Machine’s West Coast Premiere of Bacon, by Sophie Swithinbank, takes an unflinching and unexpectedly humorous look at power and sexuality, through the dizzying lens of youth. Directed by Michael Matthews, and running February 8 – April 13 upstairs on the Henry Murray Stage, the play stars Jack Lancaster (Darren) and Wesley Guimarães (Mark).

Mark is new at school and too scared to make friends. Darren is out of control and too scary to make friends. Worlds apart, but more similar than they realize, the pair form a complex and manipulative relationship. Before they know it, they’re embarking on a dangerous experiment that will alter the course of their lives.

“Utterly compelling. Beautiful and devastating to watch.” – The Stage

“Bacon is about what happens when teenagers learn to bully and humiliate each other before they learn to love and accept themselves, says playwright Sophie Swithinbank. “The two central characters, Mark and Darren, were born from an act of bullying I witnessed, which led me to explore the idea of learned negative behaviors. I began to connect the bullying incident to an intense and semi-toxic relationship I had experienced growing up. It was a confusing, dangerously exciting time. The play also explores the binaries of class in relation to sexuality, and how confidence and acceptance can be closely related to social standing, from family to family. Bacon is a relationship drama for the modern age.”

Sophie Swithinbank (Playwright) is a multi-award-winning playwright and screenwriter, based in London. She is the 2023 winner of the Peggy Ramsay/Film4 Award. Her play Beans won the 2024 Sonia Friedman Prize for Best Play, and her play Bacon (Tony Craze Award Winner 2018) ran at Finborough Theatre in 2022, winning four Off West End Awards. Bacon has toured the UK, Australia, Canada and USA. Sophie has recently completed an attachment at the National Theatre, with whom she is developing an NT Connections play. Sophie has two new plays and a musical in development. For Theatre: Even in Arcadia (longlisted for Verity Bargate Award 2020), Circle Game (SouthwarkTheatre, shortlisted for Phil Fox Award 2020), Where There Is Smoke (National Theatre Learning), Come Inside (Bush Theatre) and The Superhero (Lyric Hammersmith). For TV: BACON (development with NBC Universal), L/OVER (MTV Finland), Sting (development with The Lighthouse film and TV). For film: Body Brokers (development with Eleven/No Ordinary).

Michael Matthews (Director) recently directed the World Premiere of June Carryl’s Blue at Rogue Machine before remounting the play at Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the 7 Dials Playhouse in London’s West End. Selected credits include: Matilda, Billy & Ray, and End of the Rainbow at La Mirada, Failure: A Love Story at CTG/Kirk Douglas Theatre. At Laguna Playhouse, The Seafarer, 12 Angry Men, The Graduate (w/ Melanie Griffith), Funny Girl at 3D Theatricals, Sons of the Prophet (LA Premiere), Psyche: A Modern Rock Opera (World Premiere) Peter Pan: The Boy Who Hated Mothers (LA Premiere), Very Still & Hard To See (World Premiere). Celebration Theatre: Cabaret, Dream Boy (LA Premiere), Bootycandy (LA Premiere), The Color Purple, What’s Wrong With Angry? (LA Premiere), Take Me Out!, The Women of Brewster Place, The Musical (West Coast Premiere), Stupid Kids (LA Premiere), Beautiful Thing, The Bacchae. Broadway: Butley (Assistant Director). International: Sleeping Giant and The Bacchae (Edinburgh Festival Fringe). Michael is the recipient of 2 Ovation Awards and 9 nominations, 1 LA Weekly Award and 2 nominations, 2 NAACP Theatre Awards, 1 Stage Raw Award, 3 Joseph Jefferson Award Nominations, and is the recipient of the 2015 LADCC Award for Career Achievement in Direction.

Justin Okin (Producer) serves as the executive director of Rogue Machine Theatre, where he has produced On the Other Hand, We’re Happy (LADCC award for Outstanding Production) and Heroes of the Fourth Turning (LA Times’ “Best Theater of 2023”). At Rogue Machine, Justin has appeared in Stop Kiss, MilkMilkLemonade, Monkey Adored and Pocatello. He has served on the Board of Directors at Theatre of NOTE, where he performed in Entropy and Eat the Runt. At The Road Theatre Company, Justin co-produced four seasons of the Summer Playwrights Festival and performed in At the Table. Additionally, he associate-produced Tiny Little Town and performed in Hot Cat with Theatre Movement. Other acting credits include appearances at Center Theatre Group, Lincoln Center’s Directors Lab, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and The Public. He is the founder of Rogue Machine’s Playwright’s Roundtable which focuses on developing new works by some of theatre’s most creative new voices.

CAST: Jack Lancaster and Wesley Guimarães.

PRODUCTION TEAM: Stephen Gifford (Production Design), Chris Moscatiello (Sound Design), Christine Cover Ferro (Costume Design), Jen Albert (Fight Choreographer), Joy DeMichelle (Intimacy Director), Tuffet Schmelzle (Dialect Coach), Victoria Hoffman (Casting), Rich Wong (Stage Manager).

Rogue Machine is the only company to receive the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Polly Warfield Award for “Best Season” three times (2023, 2016, 2011). Additionally, they won the Ovation Award for “Best Season” (2017). Rogue Machine produces new plays and important contemporary plays not yet seen in Los Angeles. Nine of their productions have been published by Samuel French, Dramatists Play Service or Broadway Play Publishing, and six of the productions have had subsequent staging’s at significant theatres, including Off Broadway, major regional houses and the Donmar Warehouse in London. Four world premieres, Razorback, Small Engine Repair, Lone-Anon, and One Night in Miami… were made into feature films, and playwright Kemp Powers was nominated for an Academy Award in the category of “Best Adapted Screenplay.” In recognition of its artistic achievement, administrative strength, development of new work and other significant contributions to the field of professional theatre in the United States, Rogue Machine is supported by the Perenchio Foundation, Shubert Foundation, Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, David Lee Foundation, the City and County of Los Angeles, The Ahmanson Foundation, and the Richenthal Foundation. Rogue Machine is a recipient of the American Theatre Wing’s National Theatre Company Grant.

“Bacon” opens at 5pm on Saturday, February 8 and runs at 8pm Fridays, Saturdays, Mondays; 3pm Sundays through April 13, 2025. Reservations: https://www.roguemachinetheatre.org/ or for more information 855-585-5185.

Fountain Theatre presents L.A. premiere
of funny, poignant ‘Alabaster’
The Fountain Theatre presents the Los Angeles premiere of Alabaster, a funny and poignant new play about healing and the power of women by Audrey Cefaly. Directed by Casey Stangl, this darkly comic Southern drama runs February 16 through March 30.

For three years since the death of her family in a tornado that left her covered in scars, June has been living and creating “outsider” art in an isolated Alabama farmhouse, with only her goats for company. When a New York photographer working on a series about women with scars arrives, the attraction between June and Alice is palpable — but what they need from each other transcends anything physical. Nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, named to “The Kilroy’s List” of excellent new plays by women, and winner of the Calicchio Prize, Alabaster is an irresistible comic drama about women, art and healing.

“I love the play’s edgy theatricality and deft mix of comedy and drama,” says Stangl. “It attacks some very complex subjects — trauma, grief and the healing power of art — with a complete lack of sentimentality that is filled with humor and humanity.”

The all-woman cast features Virginia Newcomb, last seen at the Fountain in On the Spectrum and A House Not Meant to Stand, as June and Erin Pineda, whose L.A. credits include The Tempest, Love and Information and As You Like It at Antaeus Theatre Company, as Alice. The two goats, Weezy and Bib, are played respectively by Carolyn Messina, who originated the role in the world premiere production at Florida Repertory Theatre; and Laura Gardner, known for Marilyn, Mom & Me at International City Theatre, King Charles at the Pasadena Playhouse, and Razorback at Rogue Machine.

Since its launch at Florida Repertory Theatre as part of a record-breaking, 11-theater National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere, Alabaster has gone on to productions and rave reviews across the country. Reviewing that first production, Charles Runnels wrote in the Fort Myers News-Press, “First someone messaged me on Facebook. Then a text from a friend. Then a phone call. Then another message. And another. They all said the same thing: You HAVE to see ‘Alabaster’… I wasn’t planning on reviewing the show [but] finally ventured out to see what all the fuss is about… [and] Yes…‘Alabaster’ is terrific.” The Florida Weekly wrote, “It’s easy to see why theaters from Oregon to Illinois to Texas are all lining up to stage this new play… Ms. Cefaly rips your heart out of your chest, shatters it, then mends it.” The Chicago Tribune calls Alabaster “a nuanced, darkly comedic play… that examines how people cope with trauma and what recovery can look and feel like.”

The creative team at the Fountain includes scenic designer Frederica Nascimento; lighting designer Alison Brummer; sound designer Andrea Allmond; video designer Ly Eisenstein; costume designer Rebecca Carr; and properties designer Jenine MacDonald. The production stage manager is Angela Park, assisted by Gina DeLuca.

The Fountain Theatre creates, develops, and produces new plays that bring to life the urgent social, political, and cultural issues of our time, reflecting the vibrant diversity of Los Angeles and the nation. Its educational outreach programs inspire young people to become engaged citizens and leaders of tomorrow. The L.A. City Council commended the Fountain for “achieving a position of leadership in the Los Angeles theatre community… producing meaningful new plays of social and political importance that enrich the lives of the citizens of Los Angeles.” The Fountain is the recipient of the Los Angeles Drama Critic Circle’s Margaret Harford Award for sustained excellence in theater, presented for “outstanding productions of meaningful new plays and first-class performances spanning three decades.” Los Angeles Times theater critic Charles McNulty hailed the Fountain, stating, “No L.A. theater has done a better job of asking us to reexamine our lives through the lens of acute contemporary drama.” The Fountain Theatre’s most recent world premiere, Fatherland, conceived and directed by Stephen Sachs, just closed an off-Broadway run at Manhattan Theatre Club (New York City Center) with the original cast, where it received rave reviews as well as national and international coverage including from The New York Times, MSNBC, NPR and PBS.

Alabaster opens on Sunday, Feb. 16 at 7 p.m., with performances thereafter on Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. through March 30 (dark Monday, Feb. 10. Tickets range from $25–$45; Pay–What–You–Want seating is available every Monday night in addition to regular seating (subject to availability); all previews are Pay-What-You-Want.

The Fountain Theatre is located at 5060 Fountain Avenue (at Normandie) in Los Angeles. Patrons are invited upstairs to relax before and after the show at the Fountain’s café. For reservations and information, call (323) 663–1525 or go to FountainTheatre.com.

West Coast Premiere of

‘FEAST.’ 
Unique Solo Play Offering a
Contemporary Vivid Reimagining of the Epic Poem Beowulf – as a Cautionary Tale

Opens March 8; The Count’s Den, DTLA

Leonix Movement Theatre in association with Immersive Art Collective present the West Coast premiere of FEAST., a vivid reimagining of the epic poem Beowulf, as a cautionary tale. True to the ancient myth, Grendel, a monstrous creature described as ‘mankind’s enemy’ is killed by Beowulf, but it is here that FEAST. diverges. In this immersive and visceral theatre experience, Grendel’s mother throws a dinner party to seek justice for her son’s murder, only to confront her own guilt and rage. Oscillating between witty banter and pointed exploration, this heightened high fantasy crashes into the contemporary political landscape, asking the audience to collectively contemplate climate change, income inequality, and the rising forces of authoritarianism. FEAST. will have its West Coast premiere for a five-week run, March 8 through April 6, at The Count’s Den in downtown Los Angeles.

Experience this provocative one-woman, live theatrical event during an actual ‘feast,’ with charcuterie/small bites and themed drinks. The FEAST.’s host is the sea-hag mother of Grendel, an ancient magickal creature thirsting for revenge, played by Erin Schlabach. Grendel’s mother has observed humanity for centuries, and through her lens the absurdities of human behavior are illuminated. Bewildered by humanity’s choices, her perspective is both curious, comical and unrelenting. Embodying a middle-aged woman, she champions the value of women and mothers, challenging the audience to look inward while also staying connected to the power and hope found in community.

The tale of Beowulf has been recirculated for over one thousand years; the brutal victory of man over monster resonating with people across millennia. This solo play was written (and originally performed) by playwright and comedian Megan Gogerty. Gogerty shifts the perspective of the story in FEAST., which first premiered in Iowa City at the Riverside Theatre in 2019, taking the spotlight away from the slaying hero, giving it to the mother of the slain instead.

“One of the many interesting aspects about FEAST. for me, has been the exploration of how we view the idea of heroism,” says Director Laura Covelli. “The archetype of a ‘hero’ throughout history has distinguishing qualities: they are noble, courageous, selfless and desire to help others. But this all depends on who is telling the story. Beowulf is described with these characteristics, but if we reimagine the story, as the playwright asks of us, through the lens of imperialism and the destruction of life and natural resources in the name of acquisition, the heroes and villains in this epic story shift. While Grendel, as illuminated by his mom, is shown to be both a diplomat and a defender of nature, Beowulf and his band of merry soldiers suddenly become the true monsters we’ve inaccurately lauded throughout time. History is set forth by the winners, and this concept is what excited me about FEAST.,” explains Covelli. “The play shows us why the voices of the voiceless MUST be heard; and the epic poem Beowulf, when held up as an example of every incident of imperialism throughout time, suggests there is always a side we have not been allowed to know.”

The creative team includes Producers Erin Schlabach & Laura Covelli; Creative Consultant Meredyth Hunt; Props Designer Rachel Adams; Lighting Designer Niki Armato; Sound Designer Niki Armato. The Executive Producer is Jolie Kobrinsky.

Erin Schlabach (performer) is a Los Angeles-based performer, director and educator whose work centers around storytelling, presence, possibility, and ritual. She is a founding member and Artistic Director of Leonix Movement Theatre. Erin has also collaborated with Invertigo Dance Theatre and Happy Chicken Theatre. Erin’s theatrical work has been featured in Los Angeles at REDCAT, The Ford Amphitheatre, Son of Semele Theatre, Moss Theatre, Highways Performance Space, The Electric Lodge, Espace, The Hollywood Fringe Festival, and iDFest; the Annex Theatre in Seattle, The Earth House in Indianapolis, and the Notting Hill Arts Club in London, among others. She holds an MFA from Naropa University/LISPA in Lecoq-based Actor-Created Theatre, a BS from Ball State University in Theatre Performance and Studio Art, and certification from Helikos Scuola Internazionale di Creazione Teatrale in Italy for Advanced Training in the Pedagogy of Movement Theatre. She is an alumnus of Directors Lab West and is a member of the Association of Movement Theatre Educators.

Laura Covelli (director) enjoys every aspect of storytelling and will often switch up her hats depending on the project. She has worked as a director, actor, dancer, writer and producer in multiple mediums, selecting or creating projects that she feels are impactful, inspiring and meant to incite discourse and change. Laura jumped at the chance to direct FEAST. The play’s heightened text, movement, humor, and provocative themes all align with the aspects of art she loves most. Laura co-directed Paradise Lost at the Greenway Court, which was nominated for nine Stage Raw awards in 2018, and won three. She directed her first short film in 2019 and has acted in a number of award winning films and tv shows. In 2022 Laura co-wrote and co-produced the short film “Crucible Island” as a part of the “Give Me an A” anthology. Born from the reaction of the overturning of Roe v Wade, “Give Me an A” received Best Feature and Best Writing awards at the Renegade Film Fest and is currently streaming on Amazon Prime and several other platforms.

Megan Gogerty (playwright) is a playwright and comedian. Her solo show Lady Macbeth and her Pal, Megan played at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and won the Audience Pick of the Fringe at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival. Her play Bad Panda (Theatre Without Borders, Beijing; Iron Crow Theatre Co.; WordBRIDGE Boomerang Playwright honoree) is published by Original Works Publishing and was translated into Spanish for a five-month run at Del Teatro Milan in Mexico City. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution listed her solo show Hillary Clinton Got Me Pregnant in their yearly Top Ten Best Plays. Megan’s musical drama Love Jerry was produced in the New York Musical Theatre Festival where it won three Talkin’ Broadway Citations and four NYMF Excellence Awards including Excellence in Writing (Book). Her ten-minute play Rumple Schmumple (Dramatic Pub.) was a Kennedy Center/National ACTF honoree. Other plays include Housebroken (Riverside Theatre, Hollins University); Save Me, Dolly Parton (Riverside Theatre, Synchronicity Theatre; named among Best Plays in Atlanta by Creative Loafing). Her musical tribute album to the TV show Buffy The Vampire Slayer is widely available online. Megan was a Playwright’s Center Jerome Fellow, A WordBRIDGE alum, and she earned her MFA in Playwriting from the University of Texas at Austin. She currently teaches playwriting at the University of Iowa and is regularly returning visiting faculty for the Playwright’s Lab at Hollins University.

Performances of FEAST. take place from March 8 through April 6, 2025, on Saturdays at 7 p.m. and Sundays at 5 p.m. Tickets (general admission) are pick your price: $45, $55, or $65 and include a pre-performance ‘feast’ of charcuterie/small bites and themed drinks (there will be options for dietary restrictions). The selected ticket price will not affect the experience. If you can afford to pay more for your ticket, please do as you will be supporting the artists and staff who make risky, relevant, and unique theatre productions possible. Ultimately, programming should be accessible and Leonix Movement Theatre encourages guests to select the price point that best fits their budgets. The Count’s Den is located at 1039 S. Olive Street, Los Angeles CA 90015.

FEAST. contains overt references to sex and violence, and occasional profanity. The performance is intense, and the audience is physically close to the performer. Due to the above, FEAST. is suggested for ages 16 and older. Advance reservations are requested as tickets may not be available at the door.

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit https://www.leonixtheatre.org/

Tectonic Theatre Project’s Here There Are Blueberries

Written by Moisés Kaufman & Amanda Gronich

Conceived & Directed by Moisés Kaufman

Playing at  the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts for 17 Performances Only!  March 13 to 30 (opening night March 14). Tickets are at TheWallis.Org.

In Here There Are Blueberries, a mysterious album featuring Nazi-era photographs arrives at the desk of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum archivist Rebecca Erbelding.  As Rebecca and her team of historians begin to unravel the shocking story behind the images, the album soon makes headlines around the world and ignites a debate that reverberates far beyond the museum walls. Based on real events, Here There Are Blueberries tells the story behind these historical photographs—what they reveal about the perpetrators of the Holocaust and, ultimately, about our own humanity.

About Here There Are Blueberries 

Here There Are Blueberries was named a 2024 Pulitzer Prize Finalist for Drama, is the focus of a top-rated CBS “60 Minutes” piece by Anderson Cooper, and became the highest-grossing production in the 45 year history of New York Theatre Workshop during its celebrated limited engagement.  The current international tour includes engagements in London and Germany.

The cast in Los Angeles includes Scott Barrow, Nemuna Ceesay, Delia Cunningham, Luke Forbes, Barbara Pitts, Jeanne Sakata, Marrick Smith, Grant James Varjas, Anna Shafer and Sam Reeder.

Performances March 13 to 27, 2025.

Opening Night is Friday, March 14
Wednesday, Thursday, Fridays at 7:30 pm
Saturdays at 2:00 pm and 7:30 pm
Sunday March 16 at 7:00 pm; Sundays March 23 and 30 at 2:00 pm

More Info: TheWallis.Org.

FASPE (Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics), Holocaust Museum LA, and Simon Wiesenthal Center have collaborated to create an series of Performance Extras for the engagement.

These Performance Extras begin March 14 with an Opening Night Party sponsored by LA Arts Online for the entire audience. On March 15, a post-performance conversation is held with playwright, conceiver and director Moisés Kaufman and playwright Amanda Gronich.  They will talk about the eight year journey of how they made this play from an album of photographs.  Following the March 26th performance, the discussion is with descendants of survivors and Nazi officials organized with Holocaust Museum LA, The Wallis season creative partner.  Participants include Audrey Stimson and Jordanna Gessler.  The Simon Wiesenthal Center is The Wallis community partner.  Five more post-performance discussions organized by FASPE are during the run.

Here There Are Blueberries is produced by Tectonic Theater Project in partnership with Brian and Dayna Lee and Sonia Friedman Productions.” The Wallis and Tectonic have partnered with the FASPE, the production’s Content & Conversation partner, to curate this series of post-show discussions with leading ethicists and scholars to discuss the complex issues raised in the play—and consider their relevance for today.  These discussions provide a unique historical lens to study contemporary ethics.

About FASPE Post Performance Discussions

After the show on March 20^th, the topic is What can we learn about ourselves from the professionals in and around Nazi Germany.  The lawyers, doctors, business executives, clergy, engineers, journalists, and other professionals designed, enabled, and executed the policies of National Socialism. Panelist is David Goldman, Chair, FASPE.

Following the March 21evening performance, the topic is How Do We Deal with the Sins of Our Fathers?  How can seemingly normal people commit horrific acts during weekdays and enjoy family and professional relaxation on weekends?  Can evil be compartmentalized? Could the Kommandant of Auschwitz have been a good father to his children—who lived in a comfortable villa a short distance from their father’s office at Auschwitz?

After the March 22 matinee the topic is Why Continue to Study the Holocaust? Auschwitz was liberated 80 years ago; there have been further genocides since 1945.   The Holocaust remain a larger part of contemporary pedagogy, literature, ethics and more; what is the role of Holocaust study in a post-survivor world?  Panelists: David Goldman, Chairman, FASPE, Helen I. Bendix, Associate Justice, Division One, Second District Court of Appeal, and Danijel Skrelja, Deputy Consul General, Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany, Los Angeles.

The March 22 evening, continues this discussion with The Transformation of Norms and Complicity as the New Normal. In the 1930s and 1940s, German society experienced a gradual, comprehensive, ever-accelerating transformation of its system of ethical and moral values. Their role is central to the play, and raises pressing questions about contemporary professional ethics.  Panelist: Thorsten Wagner, Executive Director for Academics, FASPE

FASPE was piloted in 2009 and has over 900 Alumni across the globe. Each year, FASPE awards 80-90 fellowships to graduate students in business, clergy, journalism, law, medicine, and design & technology to spend two weeks in Germany and Poland, visiting Auschwitz and key sites, examining the roles their counterparts played in Nazi Germany and explore the ethical issues in their fields today.  www.faspe-ethics.org

At Open-Door Playhouse, we bring the theater to you. Now Playing Remembrance by Allie Costa

After the death of his father, a grief-stricken Hamlet is plagued by psychotic delusions making him think several others have died and that he is at fault. He finds comfort in an unexpected source: the dearly not departed Ophelia.

Rachel Berney Needleman directs Kim Hlavac as Ophelia and Omari Williams as Hamlet.

Allie Costa is the playwright. Remarkably prolific, her many, many plays include Two Girls, Rise Up, Boxes Are Magic, This Used to Be My Playground, Mindstream, A Taste of the Future, Music of the Mind, Safe Distance, and more. She is also a director and actor.

Listen Here:
https://www.opendoorplayhouse.org/opendoortheaterplays/remembrance
Run Time: 13:34

Founded by playwright and filmmaker Bernadette Armstrong, Open-Door Playhouse is a Theater Podcast- like the radio dramas of the 1940s and 1950s. The Playhouse launched on September 15, 2020. At the time, Open-Door Playhouse provided Playwrights, Actors, and Directors a creative outlet during the shutdown. Since its inception, Open-Door Playhouse has presented short and one-act plays by playwrights across the country and internationally. In 2021 Open-Door Playhouse received a Communicator Award for Content for the play Custody. In 2023, the play What’s Prison Like was nominated for a Webby Award in the Crime & Justice Category.

16,000 downloads since published!

If you would like to make a donation and support our podcast, you can go here. 

Sound Production: Oak House Recording Studio in Altadena, CA with Sound Engineer David Peters. The team behind the mic, Producer and Founder of Open-Door Playhouse Bernadette Armstrong, Assoc. Producer Laree Griffith, who manages our website and newsletter.

“Beatnik Girl” by Leda Siskind.

This world premiere play by one of Theatre 40’s most accomplished playwrights tells the story of a young woman of vision and principle, Edi Gordon, as she struggles with misogyny, antisemitism, and an unwanted pregnancy while trying to be a Beat poet. Set in New York’s lower east side in 1957, this sweet and touching new play is filled with lyrical original poetry, poignant humor and insight into the human condition that will stir the heart and take you back to the time of the Beat Generation – Kerouac, Ginsberg, Miles … and women too! Get in the groove!

Directed by Ann Hearn Tobolowsky.

Thurs.- Sat. at 7:30. Sun. at 2:00.

http://theatre40.org

facebook.com/theatre40

Rubicon Theatre Company of Ventura Presents

the World Premiere Drama

CRAZY MAMA

A True Story of Love & Madness

By Sharon Scott Williams

March 26th – April 6th, 2025

Starring Acclaimed Stage & Screen Actress Linda Purl

Directed by Golden Globe Nominee Anson Williams

RUBICON THEATRE, Ventura County’s premier professional not-for-profit theatre company, committed to providing entertainment, enrichment and educational opportunities for local residents and visitors, continues its blockbuster 2024/2025 Dare to Dream Season with the World Premiere of CRAZY MAMA: A TRUE STORY OF LOVE & MADNESS, written by Ojai resident SHARON SCOTT WILLIAMS. This deeply personal, darkly funny, and profoundly moving solo play will run March 26 – April 6, 2025, at Rubicon’s intimate Karyn Jackson Theatre, 1006 E. Main Street, located in Ventura’s Downtown Cultural District. The production is directed by Golden Globe nominee ANSON WILLIAMS (“Happy Days” and “Melrose Place”/”Beverly Hills 90210” as director), and stars celebrated stage and screen actress LINDA PURL (“Happy Days”, “Matlock,” “The Office,” “Homeland,” “True Blood”). Purl returns to Rubicon for her ninth production with the company, calling the theatre her “West Coast artistic home.” This one-woman, 16-character, tour-de-force is about a daughter’s decades-long dream of saving her mother from the soul-crushing grip of mental illness. A testament to the steely resilience of the human heart and the enduring nature of hope, Crazy Mama will leave audiences breathless, moved, and inspired.                               

Performance Details

Performances for Crazy Mama at Rubicon begin with low-priced previews March 26-28, 2025, leading up to the Gala Opening Night on March 29, which includes a post-show reception with star Purl, creative team, and special guests. Regular performances take place on Wednesdays at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., Thursdays and Fridays at 7:00 p.m., Saturdays at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. Ticket prices range from $25 to $84.50 (including a $5 processing fee), with discounted student tickets available. Special discounts are also available for seniors, military members, and Equity performers. To purchase tickets, visit www.rubicontheatre.org or call 805.667.2900.

More About the Play – A Story of Love, Madness, and the Enduring Power of Hope

Crazy Mama is a true story inspired by Sharon Scott Williams’ award-winning memoir. “The statistics on sanity are that one out of four people is suffering from some kind of mental illness,” according to the script.  “Look at your three best friends. If they’re okay, it’s you…” 

This exquisitely crafted, emotionally riveting tale begins with young Sharon racing home a few days after her 8th birthday for the last piece of cake. But when she enters the kitchen, she finds her mother wielding a knife and lost in a frenzy. As the Sheriff escorts her mother away, the deputy tells Sharon that her mama “is not right in the head.” As Sharon’s mother becomes more delusional and lost in the soul-crushing grip of mental illness, Sharon, her father, and teenage brother Spikey hope and pray for a cure. As Mama continues to be committed to mental institutions, convinced she’s working for the FBI, her father blurs his pain with Kentucky bourbon and her brother struggles with his faith. For 46 years, Sharon lives shackled to her Mama’s pain and her own suffering. Crazy Mama offers an unflinching yet tender exploration of the impact of mental illness on a family, navigating the heartbreak and humor of loving someone who exists in an alternate reality. 

Says Director Anson Williams, “Laced with humor and pathos, this powerful play is a testament to the steely resilience of the human heart and the enduring nature of hope. Crazy Mama is more than a play; it’s a poetic journey through the labyrinth of love, despair, and redemption that will leave audiences breathless, moved, and profoundly inspired.”

A Reunion Decades in the Making

Crazy Mama marks the highly anticipated reunion of Purl and Director Anson Williams, who became lifelong friends while working together on the iconic television series “Happy Days.” Purl played Ashley Pfister, a single mother and love interest to HENRY WINKLER’S character Fonzie, while Williams starred as the beloved Potsie Weber. This World Premiere marks their first creative collaboration in decades — a heartfelt and full-circle moment for two lifelong friends. Their shared history brings a unique warmth and authenticity to this deeply personal story. 

“There’s always been a magical thread connecting all of us “Happy Days” alumni,” says Director Williams. “It’s such a thrill sparking that magic again directing the brilliant Linda Purl as she plays 16 parts in Crazy Mama. Our collaboration is powerful because of the trust and camaraderie we share going back to “Happy Days.” Linda brings a real authenticity and depth to the role that helps amplify the emotional core of the show.”                                                                                                                                        

The production also marks Purl’s return to Rubicon, where she has starred in numerous productions, starting with Love Letters opposite Stacey Keach, and continuing with The Little Foxes, A Streetcar Named Desire, Love, Loss and What I Wore, Copenhagen, Women Beyond Borders, Samuel Beckett’s Footfalls, The Diary of Anne Frank, and many others. Purl has also shared her vocal talents with Rubicon audiences through cabaret performances and special events. 

Says KARYL LYNN BURNS, Rubicon’s Co-Founder & Producing Artistic Director, “Linda is a singular, versatile talent, and the perfect artist to premiere this play and bring the multiple characters to life. From the first reading, her artistry was rich and moving — we are thrilled to share her magnificent talents again with our audiences.

Cast & Creative Team

Linda Purl was raised in Japan and began her career there, becoming the only foreigner to have trained at the Toho Geino Academy. Her studies continued at LAMDA and later at both the Neighborhood Playhouse and Lee Strasberg Institute. Stage credits include Broadway’s Tony nominated The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Getting and Spending; and The Baby Dance and Hallelujah, Hallelujah! Off-Broadway. Her international credits include Seven Deadly Sins at the Princess Grace Theatre, Monaco; and Oliver and The King and I at Toho Imperial Theatre in Tokyo. Purl has graced the stages of many of the nation’s top regional theatres. In addition to her extensive work with Rubicon, Purl appeared in the original production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Dinner With Friends Humana Festival at Actors Theatre of Louisville; Getting and Spending at Old Globe Theatre; The Road to Mecca (with Miss Julie Harris) and The Baby Dance at Long Wharf; John Brown’s Body at the Lobero Theatre; Nora (with Michael York), All the Way Home (with Miss Kim Hunter), The Three Penny Opera (with Miss Betty Buckley), and The Baby Dance (also at the Pasadena Playhouse) at Williamstown Theatre Festival; The Real Thing and Hedda Gabler for Mark Taper Forum Rep; Beyond Therapy andRomeo and Juliet at L.A. Public Theatre; A Doll’s House for Allied International Productions; The Man Who Could See Through Time at South Coast Repertory. She starred in The Merchant of Venice at the Globe Theatre; Grease at Sacramento Music Theatre; On a Clear Day at San Bernardino Civic Light Opera; Love Letters with Desi Arnaz, Jr.; Tusitala at Berkshire Theatre Festival; The Guys at Berkeley Rep; Mariana Pineda at Santa Fe Opera; Phaedra in the inaugural performance of the Getty Classical Arena; and The Glass Menagerie at Cleveland Playhouse. 

Purl has received six Drama-Logue Best Actress Awards and two Drama-Logue Awards as Best Producer. She has received two Santa Barbara Independent Awards and is a three-time nominee of the Los Angeles Drama Critics Award for Best Actress. Purl is the recipient of the Connecticut Critics’ Award for Outstanding Performance in a Play. 

As a mainstay of television, Linda has starred in over 40 television Movies of the Week, although is probably best known as Charlene Matlock from the series “Matlock” and as Ashley Pfister, Fonzie’s fiancée, from “Happy Days.” Other TV highlights have been “The Office,” “The Oath” with Sean Bean, “Homeland,” “True Blood,” “The Bold and the Beautiful,” “Born Free,” “The Last Days of Pompeii” (with Sir Laurence Olivier), “The Manions of America” (with Pierce Brosnan), and “Like Normal People,” the award-winning docu-drama about a mentally challenged couple. Purl is currently appearing in recurring roles on “After Forever” and “General Hospital.”                                                                                                                   

Purl’s feature film credits include Disney’s “Mighty Joe Young,” “The Walking Major” (with Toshiro Mifune) and “Leo and Loree” (produced by Ron Howard). 

Purl tours with her solo concert Come Rain or Come Shine nationally and internationally. Additionally, she is currently touring in a centenary salute to Great American songwriter Johnny Mercer with Lee Lessack, and Rhapsody for Two, a dancing tribute to romance from the ‘40s with Kevin Spirtas. Purl’s recordings include Alone Together and Out of this World – Live with Special Guest Artist Desi Arnaz, Jr. 

She served as Founding Executive Director of the Colorado Festival of World Theatre and Festival Director of the 2008 Rubicon International Theatre Festival. Crazy Mama marks Purl’s 9th Mainstage production with Rubicon, her “home” West Coast theatre.

Anson Williams (Director) is an established actor, singer, producer and director, best known for his role as Warren “Potsie” Weber on the television series “Happy Days” (1974–1984), a role for which he was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film. Among Williams’ producing credits is the critically acclaimed “Skyward,” starring the legendary Bette Davis and directed by Ron Howard. Williams has since become a prominent and prolific award-winning television director, starting with short programs for adolescent-age children, including afterschool specials “No Greater Gift” and “The Drug Knot,” and TV-movie “Lone Star Kid.” He has gone on to direct many episodes for a variety of television series, including “The Pretender,” “Beverly Hills, 90210,” “Melrose Place,” “SeaQuest 2032,” “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” “Star Trek: Voyager,” “Xena: Warrior Princess,” “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys,” “The Secret Life of the American Teenager,” “Sabrina the Teenage Witch,” and “Charmed.” He also directed several episodes of the TV series “7th Heaven.” Williams is also a businessman and Congressionally recognized philanthropist and humanitarian.  Williams is the author of “Singing to a Bulldog: From Happy Days to Hollywood Director, and the Unlikely Mentor Who Got Me There.”

Sharon Scott Williams (MaHarry) (Author/Playwright), a native Virginian, studied English and Performing Arts at Roanoke College and landed her first job as a copywriter with a local ad agency. After getting national recognition as a writer, she moved to a Richmond agency, then was recruited by Young and Rubicam. Within ten years of starting her career, she had risen to be the first female Creative Director at Y&R, the largest ad agency in the world. At Y&R, she worked on iconic brands like Kodak, Xerox, Bausch & Lomb, and Chase Bank, and won hundreds of national and international awards including Clios, ANDYs, and The One Show. In 2003, Williams moved to Ojai, California where she focused on developing her own material and became a published author. Her short memoirs about growing up with a paranoid schizophrenic mother in a southern railroad town have won numerous literary awards and serve as the inspiration for the upcoming World Premiere of Crazy Mama: A True Story of Love and Madness. 

Other members of the Creative Team are as follows: TOMMY HOLCOMB (Composer), MATTHEW HERMAN (Set Designer), BRIAN GALE (Lighting & Projection Designer), LINDSAY JONES (Sound Designer), ABRA PILAR FLORES (Costume Designer), HANNAH RAYMOND (Production Stage Manager), JULIA DONLON (Production Manager), STEPHANIE COLTRIN (Associate Artistic Director & Line Producer), and JIMMY CALLAHAN (Technical Director).                                                                           

Special Support

Rubicon Theatre and the company’s premiere of Crazy Mama is supported in part through a generous Social Impact Theatre Grant from the SHERI AND LES BILLER FAMILY FOUNDATION. The program supports theatres in Western states that ignite positive change in their communities through timely and compelling productions.

“Rubicon shares our Foundation’s belief in the power live theatre has to expand opportunities for dialogue, build bridges between different viewpoints, and help audiences grapple with the challenges we face in our communities today,” says Sheri Biller, President of the Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation. “We are so appreciative of their commitment to raise up important voices and give visibility to critical issues.”

More About The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation
The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation works to expand access to systems and solutions that expand economic opportunity, supportive care for life-threatening illnesses, and the transformative power of the arts. Founded in 2001 by Sheri and Les Biller, the Foundation supports leaders with bold ideas and explores innovative approaches that can be tried locally and, if successful, implemented nationally.

Season Sponsors

Sponsors for Rubicon’s 2024-2025 “Dare to Dream” Season, of which Crazy Mama is a part, are DR. JEANNE P. ADAMS, MARY ANN COHEN, DR. JEFFREY GROVE, WILLETTE AND MANNY KLAUSNER, JORDAN LABY AND FAMILY, BARBARA MEISTER and CUMULUS MEDIA.   

Tickets, Prices and Special Performances 

Performances of Crazy Mama begin with low-priced previews March 26-28, 2025, leading up to the Gala Opening Night on March 29, which includes a post-show reception with star Purl, the creative team, and special guests. Regular performances take place on Wednesdays at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., Thursdays and Fridays at 7:00 p.m., Saturdays at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. Ticket prices range from $25 to $84.50 (including a $5 processing fee), with discounted student tickets available. Special discounts are also available for seniors, military members, and Equity performers. To purchase tickets, visit www.rubicontheatre.org or call 805.667.2900.

Subscribe & Save

Discounted tickets are available to those who purchase a 3-play subscription to Rubicon’s 2024-2025 “Dare to Dream” Season. Subscribers enjoy a range of benefits, including 10% off regular ticket prices, priority seating, advance access, and discounts to special events like the VENTURA LIVE concert series. Subscription packages are available at multiple price points to accommodate diverse audiences. For information, call Guest Services at (805) 667-2900. 

To purchase tickets online, or for more information, visit www.rubicontheatre.org. Tickets are also available by phone at 805.667.2900, or may be purchased in-person at Rubicon’s Karyn Jackson Theatre, located at 1006 E. Main Street, Ventura, CA 93001 (Laurel entrance). Guest Services is open from Noon to 6:00 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. 

Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival presents solo female actor/playwrights performing their own works.

Friday, March 28 at 8 p.m.

MAGGIE CEE in Ladies at a Gay Girls’ Bar: 1938-1969. This dance/theatre piece explores the strength and determination of women who paved the way for the Queer Rights Movement by creating space to be themselves out of sheer necessity.

JANICE CRENETI in My Year of Saying No. During Covid-19, a woman’s journey rejects patriarchy, perfection, and guilt to find her way back to herself.

SMITA RUSSELL in Odds Are. This autobiographical story navigates the tumultuous terrain of multiple miscarriages as told through the lenses of honesty, humor, and curiosity.

Saturday, March 29 at 3 p.m.

VANESSA ADAMS HARRIS in Rosa Parks

            HOPE LEVY in The Connie Converse Universe. In August of 1974 after turning 50, Connie Converse, the first female modern folk singer-songwriter wrote a cryptic letter to loved ones and mysteriously was never to be seen again.

MELISSA LUGO in For You. A story that weaves through grief, addiction, and the bond between mothers and daughters.

Saturday, March 29 at 8 p.m.

MAYURI BHANDARI in The Anti-Yogi. This blended show of yoga, dance, live percussion, and poetry peels back the yoga mat to reveal the recolonization and commercialization of yoga in the West and nationalization in the East.

LAURA ELAINE ELLIS in A Black Woman’s Truth. This poetic dance piece explores the many dimensions of the Black Woman.

CAROLINE HAWTHORNE in The iPhone Arias. The mezzo-soprano singer recounts her chaotic relationship through a cell phone.

SIGUTE MILLER in Tragic Magic. The story of someone who most of her life tries to balance the good girl versus the party animal in her wild ride from addiction to recovery,  and ultimately finds redemption and triumph.

This event will include ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation.

Sunday, March 30 at 3 p.m.

LIZA DEALEY-THOMASON in Supernova. A fanciful musical excerpt that explores the need to be the hero who tries to take care of everyone else and ultimately arrives at the celebration of the joy of taking care of self.

SHARON NYREE WILLIAMS in Legacy. A poet’s explanation of her life’s journey honoring family legacy, standing firmly in the present and envisioning the future.

Sunday, March 30 at 7 p.m. T

KATIE CHIN in Holy Shitake! A Wok Star Is Born. Raised by a seamstress mother turned successful and well-known chef, Katie follows in her mother’s footsteps to also become a Wok Star in the culinary world.

DEE FREEMAN in Poison Gun. A six-year-old remembers being placed in the impossible position of telling what she knew about her grandfather’s secret to authorities in the Deep South.

VICTORIA KELLEHER in Daddy James. This Gen-X-er who was raised on hose water and neglect, finds her life is changed after a “23 and Me” DNA identity test.

ALICE MANNING in Manning’s Madhouse. Alice weaves both hilarious and traumatic memories of her family with two parents and nine children living in three bedrooms and 1.5 bathrooms on Allison Road in Cleveland, Ohio.

Fri. at 8:00, Sat. at 3:00 and 8:00, Sun. at 3:00 and 7:00.

http://lawtf.org

http://facebook.com/LosAngelesWomensTheatreFestival

B Faire Music & Production presents the World Premiere of

ADANZA
Show Me Your Dreams

A New Take on a Musical Where Aerial Artists meet Music, Dance, Circus, Storytelling, and Bubbles

It’s never too late to be the person you were always meant to be

B Faire Music and Production presents the premiere of Adanza, an innovative original new musical circus journey on the main stage at the recently restored Eastwood Performing Arts Center in Los Angeles. A story about exploration, Adanza follows the hero who travels the world finding inspiration everywhere he goes and ultimately learns that it’s never too late to be the person he was always meant to be. Where aerial artists meet original music, dance, circus, storytelling and bubbles, yes, bubbles, Adanza will have a limited run of eight shows over two weekends only, between March 28 — April 5.

This new interpretation of what has been the standard of musical theatrical productions, Adanza takes the genre into another dimension with the addition of juggling, unicycles, breakdancing, flipping, animation, bubbles, glow sticks, drumming, aerial artists, audience participation, and so much more. With an original music score written and composed by Brooke and Jilbér Ferri, the soundtrack features a mix of styles and genres that fit together to create a contemporary take on musical theatre. If the traditional musical is an album, Adanza is a playlist; where each number is unique and fresh, but they still come together, while keeping audiences on the edge of their seats.

Adanza was created by producer and songwriter Brooke Ferri and singer and songwriter Joseph (Jilbér) Ferri. Jilbér Ferri, a trilingual triple threat, danced professionally in Miami, performed musical theater Off Broadway in New York and is an accomplished songwriter. Jilbér was the star of the long-running “Night Of The Black Cat” at the Edgemar Center for the Performing Arts and has performed bubble shows throughout California for over 15 years including a residency at the El Capitan Theater for the film “Finding Dory.” Along with being a cast member, Jilbér is the co-writer and co-producer of Adanza as well as the owner of the well-known event planning company Bubble Mania and Company. Brooke received her BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and her JD from Southwestern Law School. She has worked in Film, TV, Music Publishing and A&R for 15 years and has been songwriting for over 13 years. She produced the music for Adanza and, along with Jilbér wrote all of the songs and the script. Along with directing and producing Adanza, Brooke currently works as a song coach and producer and runs her entertainment legal practice.

“After getting really positive responses to the music and overall concept for Adanza we knew we had to find a way to get it into theaters. We have been developing, fine tuning, revising and reworking this musical for a while now and it is deeply satisfying to see it come together. We always said, ‘if we can find the cast, we can make this great,’ and we did. We have a phenomenal cast and we are so excited to see them bring our story, music and concept to life,” explains Adanza co-writer and co-director Brooke Ferri.

“For me, there’s nothing more fulfilling than entertaining an audience,” Said Adanza co-writer and co-director Jilbér Ferri. “To get to do it with the songs and story I developed with my wife makes it even more special and to be able to integrate so many styles and disciplines really makes this very fulfilling.”

In addition to Jilbér Ferri starring as the Son, the cast of Adanza includes Sage Buchalter as a Take the Crown Singer, Music Box Dancer; Melissa Caravajal as the featured Flamenco Dancer, Take the Crown Dancer; Gonsalo Bboy Chalo is the Break Dancer; Bella Hamm as the Woman; Elizabeth Kate Hernandez as the Tap Dancer, Winged Dancer; Alex Honorato as the Man; Cristina Malakhai as a Take the Crown Singer, featured Spanish Singer; Tate Navarro as a Take the Crown Singer; Tristan Nguyen as a Take the Crown Dancer, Winged Dancer; Sharyn Scott as the Aerialist, Roller Skater; Jorchual Gregory Vargas as the Emcee, Tumbler, Take the Crown Dancer, Roller Skater; Christopher Yates as the Juggler, Unicyclist, Stilts.

With a limited run of only eight performances between March 28 — April 5, 2025, Adanza takes place on Friday March 28 and April 4 at 7 pm.; Saturday March 29 and April 5 at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.; and Sunday, March 30 at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Tickets are $46. Adanza is suitable for ages six and older.

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit AdanzaMusical.com.

Mystery and romance abound in Gothic horror tale
‘Jane Eyre’ opening March 29 at A Noise Within

Mystery and romance abound in a thrilling and heart wrenching tale of self-determination adapted by Elizabeth Williamson from the classic novel by Charlotte Brontë. A Noise Within artistic director Geoff Elliott helms Jane Eyre for a March 29 opening at the company’s home in Pasadena, where performances continue through April 20. Previews begin March 23.

“I read the adaptation first, having never read the novel, and I couldn’t put it down—it set me on fire,” says Elliott. “It’s a deeply affecting love story that’s also a Gothic horror tale, at once stirring, terrifying, with an impending sense of violence, and, in the end, uplifting. Williamson did a remarkable job of distilling the novel, which I’ve since read three times, into a sweeping, fast-moving two hours that moves like a river.”

Orphaned as a child and determined to live life on her own terms, strong-willed Jane (Jeanne Syquia) takes a position at Thornfield Hall working as a governess for the brooding Edward Rochester (Frederick Stuart). There, she falls in love with her mysterious employer… until the discovery of a dark secret leads to a devastating aftermath. This bold and dynamic production offers a compelling portrayal of one woman’s quest for freedom and fulfillment in the face of devastating adversity.

The cast also includes Deborah Strang as Mrs. Fairfax, and Bert Emmett, Julia Manis, Trisha Miller and Riley Shanahan, who each take on multiple roles. Young Stella Bullock plays Jane as a child, as well as Mr. Rochester’s ward, Adele.

The creative team includes scenic designer Frederica Nascimento; costume designer Angela Balogh Calin; lighting designer Ken Booth; composer and sound designer Robert Oriol; wig and make up designer Tony Valdés; properties designer Stephen Taylor; dialect coach Andrea Odinov; and dramaturg Miranda Johnson-Haddad. The production stage manager is Candice Segarra-Stroud, assisted by Katelyn Hampton.

A Noise Within has been called “an oasis for those who love classic stories” by the Los Angeles Times and is a leading regional producer based in Pasadena, California. Under the leadership of Elliott and Rodriguez-Elliott, the award-winning resident theater company is honored to represent the entire community at its state-of-the-art, 324-seat performance space. In addition to producing world-class performances of classic theater, the organization runs robust education programs with the goal of inspiring diverse audiences of all ages. ANW is committed to anti-racist policies and practices across the entirety of the organization. By interpreting its mission to fully engage audiences through community and artist-centered work in multiple creative disciplines, ANW is striving to be a theater that better serves the entire community.

Performances of Jane Eyre take place March 29 through April 20 on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., with matinees on Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. (no matinee on Saturday, March 29). Four preview performances take place on Sunday, March 29 at 2 p.m., and on Wednesday, March 26; Thursday, March 27; and Friday, March 28, each at 7:30 p.m.

A one-hour INsiders Discussion Group will take place prior to the matinee on Sunday, March 30, beginning at 12:30 p.m. Post–performance conversations with the artists will take place every Friday (except the preview) and on Sunday, April 6. Student matinees are scheduled on select weekdays at 10:30 a.m.; interested educators should email [email protected].

Tickets to Jane Eyre start at $51.50 (including fees). Student tickets start at $20. Tickets to the preview performances on Wednesday, March 26 and Thursday, March 27 will be Pay What You Choose starting at $10 (available online beginning at noon the Monday prior, and at the box office beginning at 2 p.m. on the day of the performance) Discounts are available for groups of 10 or more.

A Noise Within is located at 3352 E Foothill Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91107. For more information and to purchase tickets, call (626) 356–3100 or go to www.anoisewithin.org.

Los Angeles, CA

Rogue Machine’s West Coast Premiere of Bacon, by Sophie Swithinbank, takes an unflinching and unexpectedly humorous look at power and sexuality, through the dizzying lens of youth. Directed by Michael Matthews, and running February 8 – April 13 upstairs on the Henry Murray Stage, the play stars Jack Lancaster (Darren) and Wesley Guimarães (Mark).

Mark is new at school and too scared to make friends. Darren is out of control and too scary to make friends. Worlds apart, but more similar than they realize, the pair form a complex and manipulative relationship. Before they know it, they’re embarking on a dangerous experiment that will alter the course of their lives.

“Utterly compelling. Beautiful and devastating to watch.” – The Stage

“Bacon is about what happens when teenagers learn to bully and humiliate each other before they learn to love and accept themselves, says playwright Sophie Swithinbank. “The two central characters, Mark and Darren, were born from an act of bullying I witnessed, which led me to explore the idea of learned negative behaviors. I began to connect the bullying incident to an intense and semi-toxic relationship I had experienced growing up. It was a confusing, dangerously exciting time. The play also explores the binaries of class in relation to sexuality, and how confidence and acceptance can be closely related to social standing, from family to family. Bacon is a relationship drama for the modern age.”

Sophie Swithinbank (Playwright) is a multi-award-winning playwright and screenwriter, based in London. She is the 2023 winner of the Peggy Ramsay/Film4 Award. Her play Beans won the 2024 Sonia Friedman Prize for Best Play, and her play Bacon (Tony Craze Award Winner 2018) ran at Finborough Theatre in 2022, winning four Off West End Awards. Bacon has toured the UK, Australia, Canada and USA. Sophie has recently completed an attachment at the National Theatre, with whom she is developing an NT Connections play. Sophie has two new plays and a musical in development. For Theatre: Even in Arcadia (longlisted for Verity Bargate Award 2020), Circle Game (SouthwarkTheatre, shortlisted for Phil Fox Award 2020), Where There Is Smoke (National Theatre Learning), Come Inside (Bush Theatre) and The Superhero (Lyric Hammersmith). For TV: BACON (development with NBC Universal), L/OVER (MTV Finland), Sting (development with The Lighthouse film and TV). For film: Body Brokers (development with Eleven/No Ordinary).

Michael Matthews (Director) recently directed the World Premiere of June Carryl’s Blue at Rogue Machine before remounting the play at Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the 7 Dials Playhouse in London’s West End. Selected credits include: Matilda, Billy & Ray, and End of the Rainbow at La Mirada, Failure: A Love Story at CTG/Kirk Douglas Theatre. At Laguna Playhouse, The Seafarer, 12 Angry Men, The Graduate (w/ Melanie Griffith), Funny Girl at 3D Theatricals, Sons of the Prophet (LA Premiere), Psyche: A Modern Rock Opera (World Premiere) Peter Pan: The Boy Who Hated Mothers (LA Premiere), Very Still & Hard To See (World Premiere). Celebration Theatre: Cabaret, Dream Boy (LA Premiere), Bootycandy (LA Premiere), The Color Purple, What’s Wrong With Angry? (LA Premiere), Take Me Out!, The Women of Brewster Place, The Musical (West Coast Premiere), Stupid Kids (LA Premiere), Beautiful Thing, The Bacchae. Broadway: Butley (Assistant Director). International: Sleeping Giant and The Bacchae (Edinburgh Festival Fringe). Michael is the recipient of 2 Ovation Awards and 9 nominations, 1 LA Weekly Award and 2 nominations, 2 NAACP Theatre Awards, 1 Stage Raw Award, 3 Joseph Jefferson Award Nominations, and is the recipient of the 2015 LADCC Award for Career Achievement in Direction.

Justin Okin (Producer) serves as the executive director of Rogue Machine Theatre, where he has produced On the Other Hand, We’re Happy (LADCC award for Outstanding Production) and Heroes of the Fourth Turning (LA Times’ “Best Theater of 2023”). At Rogue Machine, Justin has appeared in Stop Kiss, MilkMilkLemonade, Monkey Adored and Pocatello. He has served on the Board of Directors at Theatre of NOTE, where he performed in Entropy and Eat the Runt. At The Road Theatre Company, Justin co-produced four seasons of the Summer Playwrights Festival and performed in At the Table. Additionally, he associate-produced Tiny Little Town and performed in Hot Cat with Theatre Movement. Other acting credits include appearances at Center Theatre Group, Lincoln Center’s Directors Lab, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and The Public. He is the founder of Rogue Machine’s Playwright’s Roundtable which focuses on developing new works by some of theatre’s most creative new voices.

CAST: Jack Lancaster and Wesley Guimarães.

PRODUCTION TEAM: Stephen Gifford (Production Design), Chris Moscatiello (Sound Design), Christine Cover Ferro (Costume Design), Jen Albert (Fight Choreographer), Joy DeMichelle (Intimacy Director), Tuffet Schmelzle (Dialect Coach), Victoria Hoffman (Casting), Rich Wong (Stage Manager).

Rogue Machine is the only company to receive the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Polly Warfield Award for “Best Season” three times (2023, 2016, 2011). Additionally, they won the Ovation Award for “Best Season” (2017). Rogue Machine produces new plays and important contemporary plays not yet seen in Los Angeles. Nine of their productions have been published by Samuel French, Dramatists Play Service or Broadway Play Publishing, and six of the productions have had subsequent staging’s at significant theatres, including Off Broadway, major regional houses and the Donmar Warehouse in London. Four world premieres, Razorback, Small Engine Repair, Lone-Anon, and One Night in Miami… were made into feature films, and playwright Kemp Powers was nominated for an Academy Award in the category of “Best Adapted Screenplay.” In recognition of its artistic achievement, administrative strength, development of new work and other significant contributions to the field of professional theatre in the United States, Rogue Machine is supported by the Perenchio Foundation, Shubert Foundation, Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, David Lee Foundation, the City and County of Los Angeles, The Ahmanson Foundation, and the Richenthal Foundation. Rogue Machine is a recipient of the American Theatre Wing’s National Theatre Company Grant.

“Bacon” opens at 5pm on Saturday, February 8 and runs at 8pm Fridays, Saturdays, Mondays; 3pm Sundays through April 13, 2025. Reservations: https://www.roguemachinetheatre.org/ or for more information 855-585-5185.

West Coast Premiere of

‘FEAST.’ 
Unique Solo Play Offering a
Contemporary Vivid Reimagining of the Epic Poem Beowulf – as a Cautionary Tale

Opens March 8; The Count’s Den, DTLA

Leonix Movement Theatre in association with Immersive Art Collective present the West Coast premiere of FEAST., a vivid reimagining of the epic poem Beowulf, as a cautionary tale. True to the ancient myth, Grendel, a monstrous creature described as ‘mankind’s enemy’ is killed by Beowulf, but it is here that FEAST. diverges. In this immersive and visceral theatre experience, Grendel’s mother throws a dinner party to seek justice for her son’s murder, only to confront her own guilt and rage. Oscillating between witty banter and pointed exploration, this heightened high fantasy crashes into the contemporary political landscape, asking the audience to collectively contemplate climate change, income inequality, and the rising forces of authoritarianism. FEAST. will have its West Coast premiere for a five-week run, March 8 through April 6, at The Count’s Den in downtown Los Angeles.

Experience this provocative one-woman, live theatrical event during an actual ‘feast,’ with charcuterie/small bites and themed drinks. The FEAST.’s host is the sea-hag mother of Grendel, an ancient magickal creature thirsting for revenge, played by Erin Schlabach. Grendel’s mother has observed humanity for centuries, and through her lens the absurdities of human behavior are illuminated. Bewildered by humanity’s choices, her perspective is both curious, comical and unrelenting. Embodying a middle-aged woman, she champions the value of women and mothers, challenging the audience to look inward while also staying connected to the power and hope found in community.

The tale of Beowulf has been recirculated for over one thousand years; the brutal victory of man over monster resonating with people across millennia. This solo play was written (and originally performed) by playwright and comedian Megan Gogerty. Gogerty shifts the perspective of the story in FEAST., which first premiered in Iowa City at the Riverside Theatre in 2019, taking the spotlight away from the slaying hero, giving it to the mother of the slain instead.

“One of the many interesting aspects about FEAST. for me, has been the exploration of how we view the idea of heroism,” says Director Laura Covelli. “The archetype of a ‘hero’ throughout history has distinguishing qualities: they are noble, courageous, selfless and desire to help others. But this all depends on who is telling the story. Beowulf is described with these characteristics, but if we reimagine the story, as the playwright asks of us, through the lens of imperialism and the destruction of life and natural resources in the name of acquisition, the heroes and villains in this epic story shift. While Grendel, as illuminated by his mom, is shown to be both a diplomat and a defender of nature, Beowulf and his band of merry soldiers suddenly become the true monsters we’ve inaccurately lauded throughout time. History is set forth by the winners, and this concept is what excited me about FEAST.,” explains Covelli. “The play shows us why the voices of the voiceless MUST be heard; and the epic poem Beowulf, when held up as an example of every incident of imperialism throughout time, suggests there is always a side we have not been allowed to know.”

The creative team includes Producers Erin Schlabach & Laura Covelli; Creative Consultant Meredyth Hunt; Props Designer Rachel Adams; Lighting Designer Niki Armato; Sound Designer Niki Armato. The Executive Producer is Jolie Kobrinsky.

Erin Schlabach (performer) is a Los Angeles-based performer, director and educator whose work centers around storytelling, presence, possibility, and ritual. She is a founding member and Artistic Director of Leonix Movement Theatre. Erin has also collaborated with Invertigo Dance Theatre and Happy Chicken Theatre. Erin’s theatrical work has been featured in Los Angeles at REDCAT, The Ford Amphitheatre, Son of Semele Theatre, Moss Theatre, Highways Performance Space, The Electric Lodge, Espace, The Hollywood Fringe Festival, and iDFest; the Annex Theatre in Seattle, The Earth House in Indianapolis, and the Notting Hill Arts Club in London, among others. She holds an MFA from Naropa University/LISPA in Lecoq-based Actor-Created Theatre, a BS from Ball State University in Theatre Performance and Studio Art, and certification from Helikos Scuola Internazionale di Creazione Teatrale in Italy for Advanced Training in the Pedagogy of Movement Theatre. She is an alumnus of Directors Lab West and is a member of the Association of Movement Theatre Educators.

Laura Covelli (director) enjoys every aspect of storytelling and will often switch up her hats depending on the project. She has worked as a director, actor, dancer, writer and producer in multiple mediums, selecting or creating projects that she feels are impactful, inspiring and meant to incite discourse and change. Laura jumped at the chance to direct FEAST. The play’s heightened text, movement, humor, and provocative themes all align with the aspects of art she loves most. Laura co-directed Paradise Lost at the Greenway Court, which was nominated for nine Stage Raw awards in 2018, and won three. She directed her first short film in 2019 and has acted in a number of award winning films and tv shows. In 2022 Laura co-wrote and co-produced the short film “Crucible Island” as a part of the “Give Me an A” anthology. Born from the reaction of the overturning of Roe v Wade, “Give Me an A” received Best Feature and Best Writing awards at the Renegade Film Fest and is currently streaming on Amazon Prime and several other platforms.

Megan Gogerty (playwright) is a playwright and comedian. Her solo show Lady Macbeth and her Pal, Megan played at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and won the Audience Pick of the Fringe at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival. Her play Bad Panda (Theatre Without Borders, Beijing; Iron Crow Theatre Co.; WordBRIDGE Boomerang Playwright honoree) is published by Original Works Publishing and was translated into Spanish for a five-month run at Del Teatro Milan in Mexico City. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution listed her solo show Hillary Clinton Got Me Pregnant in their yearly Top Ten Best Plays. Megan’s musical drama Love Jerry was produced in the New York Musical Theatre Festival where it won three Talkin’ Broadway Citations and four NYMF Excellence Awards including Excellence in Writing (Book). Her ten-minute play Rumple Schmumple (Dramatic Pub.) was a Kennedy Center/National ACTF honoree. Other plays include Housebroken (Riverside Theatre, Hollins University); Save Me, Dolly Parton (Riverside Theatre, Synchronicity Theatre; named among Best Plays in Atlanta by Creative Loafing). Her musical tribute album to the TV show Buffy The Vampire Slayer is widely available online. Megan was a Playwright’s Center Jerome Fellow, A WordBRIDGE alum, and she earned her MFA in Playwriting from the University of Texas at Austin. She currently teaches playwriting at the University of Iowa and is regularly returning visiting faculty for the Playwright’s Lab at Hollins University.

Performances of FEAST. take place from March 8 through April 6, 2025, on Saturdays at 7 p.m. and Sundays at 5 p.m. Tickets (general admission) are pick your price: $45, $55, or $65 and include a pre-performance ‘feast’ of charcuterie/small bites and themed drinks (there will be options for dietary restrictions). The selected ticket price will not affect the experience. If you can afford to pay more for your ticket, please do as you will be supporting the artists and staff who make risky, relevant, and unique theatre productions possible. Ultimately, programming should be accessible and Leonix Movement Theatre encourages guests to select the price point that best fits their budgets. The Count’s Den is located at 1039 S. Olive Street, Los Angeles CA 90015.

FEAST. contains overt references to sex and violence, and occasional profanity. The performance is intense, and the audience is physically close to the performer. Due to the above, FEAST. is suggested for ages 16 and older. Advance reservations are requested as tickets may not be available at the door.

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit https://www.leonixtheatre.org/

At Open-Door Playhouse, we bring the theater to you. Now Playing Remembrance by Allie Costa

After the death of his father, a grief-stricken Hamlet is plagued by psychotic delusions making him think several others have died and that he is at fault. He finds comfort in an unexpected source: the dearly not departed Ophelia.

Rachel Berney Needleman directs Kim Hlavac as Ophelia and Omari Williams as Hamlet.

Allie Costa is the playwright. Remarkably prolific, her many, many plays include Two Girls, Rise Up, Boxes Are Magic, This Used to Be My Playground, Mindstream, A Taste of the Future, Music of the Mind, Safe Distance, and more. She is also a director and actor.

Listen Here:
https://www.opendoorplayhouse.org/opendoortheaterplays/remembrance
Run Time: 13:34

Founded by playwright and filmmaker Bernadette Armstrong, Open-Door Playhouse is a Theater Podcast- like the radio dramas of the 1940s and 1950s. The Playhouse launched on September 15, 2020. At the time, Open-Door Playhouse provided Playwrights, Actors, and Directors a creative outlet during the shutdown. Since its inception, Open-Door Playhouse has presented short and one-act plays by playwrights across the country and internationally. In 2021 Open-Door Playhouse received a Communicator Award for Content for the play Custody. In 2023, the play What’s Prison Like was nominated for a Webby Award in the Crime & Justice Category.

16,000 downloads since published!

If you would like to make a donation and support our podcast, you can go here. 

Sound Production: Oak House Recording Studio in Altadena, CA with Sound Engineer David Peters. The team behind the mic, Producer and Founder of Open-Door Playhouse Bernadette Armstrong, Assoc. Producer Laree Griffith, who manages our website and newsletter.

“Beatnik Girl” by Leda Siskind.

This world premiere play by one of Theatre 40’s most accomplished playwrights tells the story of a young woman of vision and principle, Edi Gordon, as she struggles with misogyny, antisemitism, and an unwanted pregnancy while trying to be a Beat poet. Set in New York’s lower east side in 1957, this sweet and touching new play is filled with lyrical original poetry, poignant humor and insight into the human condition that will stir the heart and take you back to the time of the Beat Generation – Kerouac, Ginsberg, Miles … and women too! Get in the groove!

Directed by Ann Hearn Tobolowsky.

Thurs.- Sat. at 7:30. Sun. at 2:00.

http://theatre40.org

facebook.com/theatre40

Rubicon Theatre Company of Ventura Presents

the World Premiere Drama

CRAZY MAMA

A True Story of Love & Madness

By Sharon Scott Williams

March 26th – April 6th, 2025

Starring Acclaimed Stage & Screen Actress Linda Purl

Directed by Golden Globe Nominee Anson Williams

RUBICON THEATRE, Ventura County’s premier professional not-for-profit theatre company, committed to providing entertainment, enrichment and educational opportunities for local residents and visitors, continues its blockbuster 2024/2025 Dare to Dream Season with the World Premiere of CRAZY MAMA: A TRUE STORY OF LOVE & MADNESS, written by Ojai resident SHARON SCOTT WILLIAMS. This deeply personal, darkly funny, and profoundly moving solo play will run March 26 – April 6, 2025, at Rubicon’s intimate Karyn Jackson Theatre, 1006 E. Main Street, located in Ventura’s Downtown Cultural District. The production is directed by Golden Globe nominee ANSON WILLIAMS (“Happy Days” and “Melrose Place”/”Beverly Hills 90210” as director), and stars celebrated stage and screen actress LINDA PURL (“Happy Days”, “Matlock,” “The Office,” “Homeland,” “True Blood”). Purl returns to Rubicon for her ninth production with the company, calling the theatre her “West Coast artistic home.” This one-woman, 16-character, tour-de-force is about a daughter’s decades-long dream of saving her mother from the soul-crushing grip of mental illness. A testament to the steely resilience of the human heart and the enduring nature of hope, Crazy Mama will leave audiences breathless, moved, and inspired.                               

Performance Details

Performances for Crazy Mama at Rubicon begin with low-priced previews March 26-28, 2025, leading up to the Gala Opening Night on March 29, which includes a post-show reception with star Purl, creative team, and special guests. Regular performances take place on Wednesdays at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., Thursdays and Fridays at 7:00 p.m., Saturdays at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. Ticket prices range from $25 to $84.50 (including a $5 processing fee), with discounted student tickets available. Special discounts are also available for seniors, military members, and Equity performers. To purchase tickets, visit www.rubicontheatre.org or call 805.667.2900.

More About the Play – A Story of Love, Madness, and the Enduring Power of Hope

Crazy Mama is a true story inspired by Sharon Scott Williams’ award-winning memoir. “The statistics on sanity are that one out of four people is suffering from some kind of mental illness,” according to the script.  “Look at your three best friends. If they’re okay, it’s you…” 

This exquisitely crafted, emotionally riveting tale begins with young Sharon racing home a few days after her 8th birthday for the last piece of cake. But when she enters the kitchen, she finds her mother wielding a knife and lost in a frenzy. As the Sheriff escorts her mother away, the deputy tells Sharon that her mama “is not right in the head.” As Sharon’s mother becomes more delusional and lost in the soul-crushing grip of mental illness, Sharon, her father, and teenage brother Spikey hope and pray for a cure. As Mama continues to be committed to mental institutions, convinced she’s working for the FBI, her father blurs his pain with Kentucky bourbon and her brother struggles with his faith. For 46 years, Sharon lives shackled to her Mama’s pain and her own suffering. Crazy Mama offers an unflinching yet tender exploration of the impact of mental illness on a family, navigating the heartbreak and humor of loving someone who exists in an alternate reality. 

Says Director Anson Williams, “Laced with humor and pathos, this powerful play is a testament to the steely resilience of the human heart and the enduring nature of hope. Crazy Mama is more than a play; it’s a poetic journey through the labyrinth of love, despair, and redemption that will leave audiences breathless, moved, and profoundly inspired.”

A Reunion Decades in the Making

Crazy Mama marks the highly anticipated reunion of Purl and Director Anson Williams, who became lifelong friends while working together on the iconic television series “Happy Days.” Purl played Ashley Pfister, a single mother and love interest to HENRY WINKLER’S character Fonzie, while Williams starred as the beloved Potsie Weber. This World Premiere marks their first creative collaboration in decades — a heartfelt and full-circle moment for two lifelong friends. Their shared history brings a unique warmth and authenticity to this deeply personal story. 

“There’s always been a magical thread connecting all of us “Happy Days” alumni,” says Director Williams. “It’s such a thrill sparking that magic again directing the brilliant Linda Purl as she plays 16 parts in Crazy Mama. Our collaboration is powerful because of the trust and camaraderie we share going back to “Happy Days.” Linda brings a real authenticity and depth to the role that helps amplify the emotional core of the show.”                                                                                                                                        

The production also marks Purl’s return to Rubicon, where she has starred in numerous productions, starting with Love Letters opposite Stacey Keach, and continuing with The Little Foxes, A Streetcar Named Desire, Love, Loss and What I Wore, Copenhagen, Women Beyond Borders, Samuel Beckett’s Footfalls, The Diary of Anne Frank, and many others. Purl has also shared her vocal talents with Rubicon audiences through cabaret performances and special events. 

Says KARYL LYNN BURNS, Rubicon’s Co-Founder & Producing Artistic Director, “Linda is a singular, versatile talent, and the perfect artist to premiere this play and bring the multiple characters to life. From the first reading, her artistry was rich and moving — we are thrilled to share her magnificent talents again with our audiences.

Cast & Creative Team

Linda Purl was raised in Japan and began her career there, becoming the only foreigner to have trained at the Toho Geino Academy. Her studies continued at LAMDA and later at both the Neighborhood Playhouse and Lee Strasberg Institute. Stage credits include Broadway’s Tony nominated The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Getting and Spending; and The Baby Dance and Hallelujah, Hallelujah! Off-Broadway. Her international credits include Seven Deadly Sins at the Princess Grace Theatre, Monaco; and Oliver and The King and I at Toho Imperial Theatre in Tokyo. Purl has graced the stages of many of the nation’s top regional theatres. In addition to her extensive work with Rubicon, Purl appeared in the original production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Dinner With Friends Humana Festival at Actors Theatre of Louisville; Getting and Spending at Old Globe Theatre; The Road to Mecca (with Miss Julie Harris) and The Baby Dance at Long Wharf; John Brown’s Body at the Lobero Theatre; Nora (with Michael York), All the Way Home (with Miss Kim Hunter), The Three Penny Opera (with Miss Betty Buckley), and The Baby Dance (also at the Pasadena Playhouse) at Williamstown Theatre Festival; The Real Thing and Hedda Gabler for Mark Taper Forum Rep; Beyond Therapy andRomeo and Juliet at L.A. Public Theatre; A Doll’s House for Allied International Productions; The Man Who Could See Through Time at South Coast Repertory. She starred in The Merchant of Venice at the Globe Theatre; Grease at Sacramento Music Theatre; On a Clear Day at San Bernardino Civic Light Opera; Love Letters with Desi Arnaz, Jr.; Tusitala at Berkshire Theatre Festival; The Guys at Berkeley Rep; Mariana Pineda at Santa Fe Opera; Phaedra in the inaugural performance of the Getty Classical Arena; and The Glass Menagerie at Cleveland Playhouse. 

Purl has received six Drama-Logue Best Actress Awards and two Drama-Logue Awards as Best Producer. She has received two Santa Barbara Independent Awards and is a three-time nominee of the Los Angeles Drama Critics Award for Best Actress. Purl is the recipient of the Connecticut Critics’ Award for Outstanding Performance in a Play. 

As a mainstay of television, Linda has starred in over 40 television Movies of the Week, although is probably best known as Charlene Matlock from the series “Matlock” and as Ashley Pfister, Fonzie’s fiancée, from “Happy Days.” Other TV highlights have been “The Office,” “The Oath” with Sean Bean, “Homeland,” “True Blood,” “The Bold and the Beautiful,” “Born Free,” “The Last Days of Pompeii” (with Sir Laurence Olivier), “The Manions of America” (with Pierce Brosnan), and “Like Normal People,” the award-winning docu-drama about a mentally challenged couple. Purl is currently appearing in recurring roles on “After Forever” and “General Hospital.”                                                                                                                   

Purl’s feature film credits include Disney’s “Mighty Joe Young,” “The Walking Major” (with Toshiro Mifune) and “Leo and Loree” (produced by Ron Howard). 

Purl tours with her solo concert Come Rain or Come Shine nationally and internationally. Additionally, she is currently touring in a centenary salute to Great American songwriter Johnny Mercer with Lee Lessack, and Rhapsody for Two, a dancing tribute to romance from the ‘40s with Kevin Spirtas. Purl’s recordings include Alone Together and Out of this World – Live with Special Guest Artist Desi Arnaz, Jr. 

She served as Founding Executive Director of the Colorado Festival of World Theatre and Festival Director of the 2008 Rubicon International Theatre Festival. Crazy Mama marks Purl’s 9th Mainstage production with Rubicon, her “home” West Coast theatre.

Anson Williams (Director) is an established actor, singer, producer and director, best known for his role as Warren “Potsie” Weber on the television series “Happy Days” (1974–1984), a role for which he was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film. Among Williams’ producing credits is the critically acclaimed “Skyward,” starring the legendary Bette Davis and directed by Ron Howard. Williams has since become a prominent and prolific award-winning television director, starting with short programs for adolescent-age children, including afterschool specials “No Greater Gift” and “The Drug Knot,” and TV-movie “Lone Star Kid.” He has gone on to direct many episodes for a variety of television series, including “The Pretender,” “Beverly Hills, 90210,” “Melrose Place,” “SeaQuest 2032,” “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” “Star Trek: Voyager,” “Xena: Warrior Princess,” “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys,” “The Secret Life of the American Teenager,” “Sabrina the Teenage Witch,” and “Charmed.” He also directed several episodes of the TV series “7th Heaven.” Williams is also a businessman and Congressionally recognized philanthropist and humanitarian.  Williams is the author of “Singing to a Bulldog: From Happy Days to Hollywood Director, and the Unlikely Mentor Who Got Me There.”

Sharon Scott Williams (MaHarry) (Author/Playwright), a native Virginian, studied English and Performing Arts at Roanoke College and landed her first job as a copywriter with a local ad agency. After getting national recognition as a writer, she moved to a Richmond agency, then was recruited by Young and Rubicam. Within ten years of starting her career, she had risen to be the first female Creative Director at Y&R, the largest ad agency in the world. At Y&R, she worked on iconic brands like Kodak, Xerox, Bausch & Lomb, and Chase Bank, and won hundreds of national and international awards including Clios, ANDYs, and The One Show. In 2003, Williams moved to Ojai, California where she focused on developing her own material and became a published author. Her short memoirs about growing up with a paranoid schizophrenic mother in a southern railroad town have won numerous literary awards and serve as the inspiration for the upcoming World Premiere of Crazy Mama: A True Story of Love and Madness. 

Other members of the Creative Team are as follows: TOMMY HOLCOMB (Composer), MATTHEW HERMAN (Set Designer), BRIAN GALE (Lighting & Projection Designer), LINDSAY JONES (Sound Designer), ABRA PILAR FLORES (Costume Designer), HANNAH RAYMOND (Production Stage Manager), JULIA DONLON (Production Manager), STEPHANIE COLTRIN (Associate Artistic Director & Line Producer), and JIMMY CALLAHAN (Technical Director).                                                                           

Special Support

Rubicon Theatre and the company’s premiere of Crazy Mama is supported in part through a generous Social Impact Theatre Grant from the SHERI AND LES BILLER FAMILY FOUNDATION. The program supports theatres in Western states that ignite positive change in their communities through timely and compelling productions.

“Rubicon shares our Foundation’s belief in the power live theatre has to expand opportunities for dialogue, build bridges between different viewpoints, and help audiences grapple with the challenges we face in our communities today,” says Sheri Biller, President of the Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation. “We are so appreciative of their commitment to raise up important voices and give visibility to critical issues.”

More About The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation
The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation works to expand access to systems and solutions that expand economic opportunity, supportive care for life-threatening illnesses, and the transformative power of the arts. Founded in 2001 by Sheri and Les Biller, the Foundation supports leaders with bold ideas and explores innovative approaches that can be tried locally and, if successful, implemented nationally.

Season Sponsors

Sponsors for Rubicon’s 2024-2025 “Dare to Dream” Season, of which Crazy Mama is a part, are DR. JEANNE P. ADAMS, MARY ANN COHEN, DR. JEFFREY GROVE, WILLETTE AND MANNY KLAUSNER, JORDAN LABY AND FAMILY, BARBARA MEISTER and CUMULUS MEDIA.   

Tickets, Prices and Special Performances 

Performances of Crazy Mama begin with low-priced previews March 26-28, 2025, leading up to the Gala Opening Night on March 29, which includes a post-show reception with star Purl, the creative team, and special guests. Regular performances take place on Wednesdays at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., Thursdays and Fridays at 7:00 p.m., Saturdays at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. Ticket prices range from $25 to $84.50 (including a $5 processing fee), with discounted student tickets available. Special discounts are also available for seniors, military members, and Equity performers. To purchase tickets, visit www.rubicontheatre.org or call 805.667.2900.

Subscribe & Save

Discounted tickets are available to those who purchase a 3-play subscription to Rubicon’s 2024-2025 “Dare to Dream” Season. Subscribers enjoy a range of benefits, including 10% off regular ticket prices, priority seating, advance access, and discounts to special events like the VENTURA LIVE concert series. Subscription packages are available at multiple price points to accommodate diverse audiences. For information, call Guest Services at (805) 667-2900. 

To purchase tickets online, or for more information, visit www.rubicontheatre.org. Tickets are also available by phone at 805.667.2900, or may be purchased in-person at Rubicon’s Karyn Jackson Theatre, located at 1006 E. Main Street, Ventura, CA 93001 (Laurel entrance). Guest Services is open from Noon to 6:00 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. 

B Faire Music & Production presents the World Premiere of

ADANZA
Show Me Your Dreams

A New Take on a Musical Where Aerial Artists meet Music, Dance, Circus, Storytelling, and Bubbles

It’s never too late to be the person you were always meant to be

B Faire Music and Production presents the premiere of Adanza, an innovative original new musical circus journey on the main stage at the recently restored Eastwood Performing Arts Center in Los Angeles. A story about exploration, Adanza follows the hero who travels the world finding inspiration everywhere he goes and ultimately learns that it’s never too late to be the person he was always meant to be. Where aerial artists meet original music, dance, circus, storytelling and bubbles, yes, bubbles, Adanza will have a limited run of eight shows over two weekends only, between March 28 — April 5.

This new interpretation of what has been the standard of musical theatrical productions, Adanza takes the genre into another dimension with the addition of juggling, unicycles, breakdancing, flipping, animation, bubbles, glow sticks, drumming, aerial artists, audience participation, and so much more. With an original music score written and composed by Brooke and Jilbér Ferri, the soundtrack features a mix of styles and genres that fit together to create a contemporary take on musical theatre. If the traditional musical is an album, Adanza is a playlist; where each number is unique and fresh, but they still come together, while keeping audiences on the edge of their seats.

Adanza was created by producer and songwriter Brooke Ferri and singer and songwriter Joseph (Jilbér) Ferri. Jilbér Ferri, a trilingual triple threat, danced professionally in Miami, performed musical theater Off Broadway in New York and is an accomplished songwriter. Jilbér was the star of the long-running “Night Of The Black Cat” at the Edgemar Center for the Performing Arts and has performed bubble shows throughout California for over 15 years including a residency at the El Capitan Theater for the film “Finding Dory.” Along with being a cast member, Jilbér is the co-writer and co-producer of Adanza as well as the owner of the well-known event planning company Bubble Mania and Company. Brooke received her BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and her JD from Southwestern Law School. She has worked in Film, TV, Music Publishing and A&R for 15 years and has been songwriting for over 13 years. She produced the music for Adanza and, along with Jilbér wrote all of the songs and the script. Along with directing and producing Adanza, Brooke currently works as a song coach and producer and runs her entertainment legal practice.

“After getting really positive responses to the music and overall concept for Adanza we knew we had to find a way to get it into theaters. We have been developing, fine tuning, revising and reworking this musical for a while now and it is deeply satisfying to see it come together. We always said, ‘if we can find the cast, we can make this great,’ and we did. We have a phenomenal cast and we are so excited to see them bring our story, music and concept to life,” explains Adanza co-writer and co-director Brooke Ferri.

“For me, there’s nothing more fulfilling than entertaining an audience,” Said Adanza co-writer and co-director Jilbér Ferri. “To get to do it with the songs and story I developed with my wife makes it even more special and to be able to integrate so many styles and disciplines really makes this very fulfilling.”

In addition to Jilbér Ferri starring as the Son, the cast of Adanza includes Sage Buchalter as a Take the Crown Singer, Music Box Dancer; Melissa Caravajal as the featured Flamenco Dancer, Take the Crown Dancer; Gonsalo Bboy Chalo is the Break Dancer; Bella Hamm as the Woman; Elizabeth Kate Hernandez as the Tap Dancer, Winged Dancer; Alex Honorato as the Man; Cristina Malakhai as a Take the Crown Singer, featured Spanish Singer; Tate Navarro as a Take the Crown Singer; Tristan Nguyen as a Take the Crown Dancer, Winged Dancer; Sharyn Scott as the Aerialist, Roller Skater; Jorchual Gregory Vargas as the Emcee, Tumbler, Take the Crown Dancer, Roller Skater; Christopher Yates as the Juggler, Unicyclist, Stilts.

With a limited run of only eight performances between March 28 — April 5, 2025, Adanza takes place on Friday March 28 and April 4 at 7 pm.; Saturday March 29 and April 5 at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.; and Sunday, March 30 at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Tickets are $46. Adanza is suitable for ages six and older.

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit AdanzaMusical.com.

Mystery and romance abound in Gothic horror tale
‘Jane Eyre’ opening March 29 at A Noise Within

Mystery and romance abound in a thrilling and heart wrenching tale of self-determination adapted by Elizabeth Williamson from the classic novel by Charlotte Brontë. A Noise Within artistic director Geoff Elliott helms Jane Eyre for a March 29 opening at the company’s home in Pasadena, where performances continue through April 20. Previews begin March 23.

“I read the adaptation first, having never read the novel, and I couldn’t put it down—it set me on fire,” says Elliott. “It’s a deeply affecting love story that’s also a Gothic horror tale, at once stirring, terrifying, with an impending sense of violence, and, in the end, uplifting. Williamson did a remarkable job of distilling the novel, which I’ve since read three times, into a sweeping, fast-moving two hours that moves like a river.”

Orphaned as a child and determined to live life on her own terms, strong-willed Jane (Jeanne Syquia) takes a position at Thornfield Hall working as a governess for the brooding Edward Rochester (Frederick Stuart). There, she falls in love with her mysterious employer… until the discovery of a dark secret leads to a devastating aftermath. This bold and dynamic production offers a compelling portrayal of one woman’s quest for freedom and fulfillment in the face of devastating adversity.

The cast also includes Deborah Strang as Mrs. Fairfax, and Bert Emmett, Julia Manis, Trisha Miller and Riley Shanahan, who each take on multiple roles. Young Stella Bullock plays Jane as a child, as well as Mr. Rochester’s ward, Adele.

The creative team includes scenic designer Frederica Nascimento; costume designer Angela Balogh Calin; lighting designer Ken Booth; composer and sound designer Robert Oriol; wig and make up designer Tony Valdés; properties designer Stephen Taylor; dialect coach Andrea Odinov; and dramaturg Miranda Johnson-Haddad. The production stage manager is Candice Segarra-Stroud, assisted by Katelyn Hampton.

A Noise Within has been called “an oasis for those who love classic stories” by the Los Angeles Times and is a leading regional producer based in Pasadena, California. Under the leadership of Elliott and Rodriguez-Elliott, the award-winning resident theater company is honored to represent the entire community at its state-of-the-art, 324-seat performance space. In addition to producing world-class performances of classic theater, the organization runs robust education programs with the goal of inspiring diverse audiences of all ages. ANW is committed to anti-racist policies and practices across the entirety of the organization. By interpreting its mission to fully engage audiences through community and artist-centered work in multiple creative disciplines, ANW is striving to be a theater that better serves the entire community.

Performances of Jane Eyre take place March 29 through April 20 on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., with matinees on Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. (no matinee on Saturday, March 29). Four preview performances take place on Sunday, March 29 at 2 p.m., and on Wednesday, March 26; Thursday, March 27; and Friday, March 28, each at 7:30 p.m.

A one-hour INsiders Discussion Group will take place prior to the matinee on Sunday, March 30, beginning at 12:30 p.m. Post–performance conversations with the artists will take place every Friday (except the preview) and on Sunday, April 6. Student matinees are scheduled on select weekdays at 10:30 a.m.; interested educators should email [email protected].

Tickets to Jane Eyre start at $51.50 (including fees). Student tickets start at $20. Tickets to the preview performances on Wednesday, March 26 and Thursday, March 27 will be Pay What You Choose starting at $10 (available online beginning at noon the Monday prior, and at the box office beginning at 2 p.m. on the day of the performance) Discounts are available for groups of 10 or more.

A Noise Within is located at 3352 E Foothill Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91107. For more information and to purchase tickets, call (626) 356–3100 or go to www.anoisewithin.org.

“Happily Divorced” by Ruth Brandt.

Ruth had married for love, had a husband, a home, three kids, and an outlet for her creativity in her masterful abilities in cooking. She thought she had it all. Then she discovered her husband had interests outside the home that were not compatible with marriage. Coming to grips with the fact that her life was not going according to plan, she confronted her husband. She knew that she needed to make a change, and now she’s….Happily Divorced. She learned the most important lesson about love, and it liberated her, providing a world open to infinite possibilities.

Produced and performed by Ruth Brandt. . Directed by Mark Hatfield.

Saturday at 8 p.m.

http://whitefire.stagey.net/projects/11256

Just Like Us is a gripping, non-fiction play inspired by Helen Thorpe’s bestselling book. It follows four Latina teenage girls whose close-knit friendship is tested by the realities of immigration status—and the opportunities or barriers it creates.

Set in Denver, the story follows Clara and Elissa, who hold legal documents, while Yadira and Marisela do not. As they navigate high school and work toward college, they confront the stark differences in their paths. Student loans are not an option without a Social Security number, and when deportation looms over their families, even a dorm room may not provide refuge.

A true coming-of-age story, Just Like Us raises urgent and essential questions about identity, opportunity, and what it truly means to be American. More timely than ever, this powerful play is a must-see.

https://www.latinotheaterco.org/justlikeus

FURLOUGH’S PARADISE
WEST COAST PREMIERE
Written by a.k. payne
Directed by Tinashe Kajese-Bolden
Featuring Kacie Rogers & DeWanda Wise

Cousins Sade and Mina used to be inseparable. Now leading very different lives, they return to their childhood town for the funeral of their mother and aunt. While Sade is on a three-day furlough from prison and Mina experiences a brief reprieve from her career and life on the West Coast, the two try to make sense of grief, home, love, and kinship. As the clock ticks down, the cousins grapple with their conflicting memories of the past and their shared hopes for the future. Poetic and theatrical, Furlough’s Paradise explores family dreams of a utopia yet to be realized.

Previews: April 16, 2025 – April 23, 2025
Opening Night: April 24, 2025
Closing Night: May 18, 2025

LOCATION
Gil Cates Theater at Geffen Playhouse
10886 Le Conte Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024

ICT continues 40th anniversary season with
American premiere of ‘The Violin Maker’

True story of luthier Amnon Weinstein
is testament to hope and survival in dark times

International City Theatre presents the American premiere of The Violin Maker, a new play based on the true story of Israeli violin maker Amnon Weinstein, who gathered and restored ruined violins that survived the Holocaust to create a remarkable collection known throughout the world as the “Violins of Hope.” Written by Lisa Pearl Rosenbaum and Ronda Spinak (artistic director of The Braid), with musical curation by Dr. Noreen Green (founding artistic director and conductor of the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony), and directed by ICT artistic director caryn desai [sic], The Violin Maker opens April 25 for a three-week run through May 11. Performances take place at ICT’s home in the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center. Two low-priced previews are set for April 23 and April 24.

Weinstein (Bruce Nozick) began repairing violins rescued from the Holocaust as a way to keep their histories alive. This new play masterly weaves Weinstein’s extraordinary story with the true tales behind each of the violins — as well as with music, performed live on stage by Dr. Green on piano and Jonathan Rubin on the Shony Alex Braun violin. (Although the Shony Alex Braun violin is not one of the instruments that make up the Violins of Hope collection, it too survived the Holocaust, and we will learn its story during the course of the play.) But before Weinstein can bring these instruments back to life and to the world, he must wrestle with his own ghosts, and with those of his family. In addition to Nozick, the cast includes Sheer Aviram, Matthew Bohrer, Matthew Henerson, Lielle Kaidar, Morgan Dean Lauff and Aviva Pressman, each of whom plays multiple characters in Israel and the U.S. as well as, in memory, in Lithuania and Germany before and during World War II.

According to Rosenbaum and Spinak, “Luthier Amnon Weinstein took what might have become an exhibit of ruined instruments, restored them and put them into the hands of musicians all over the world so that a new generation can hear them. The survivors of the Holocaust will not be here forever, but these violins will continue to tell their stories for generations to come.”

Inspired by conversations Rosenbaum had with Weinstein, The Violin Maker received its world premiere in 2023 at the Bondi Theater in Sydney, Australia. An earlier version, written by Rosenbaum and developed with Spinak at The Braid, was presented as a theatrical work-in-progress under the title Stories from the Violins of Hope. This new, fully-staged play dives deeper, with more stories, scenes and additional music, to follow the arc of Weinstein’s life — from a proud Israeli boy who wanted nothing to do with the Holocaust and his family’s pain, to a man who devotes his life to repairing “stringed survivors” whose voices are now heard in concerts around the world, restoring the dignity of their owners for generations to come.

Since 2008, concerts featuring the violins in the collection have taken place around the world, in cities in Israel, Spain, Italy, England, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Netherlands, Romania, Mexico and the U.S. — including one given in conjunction with the Long Beach Symphony, which desai attended.

“Weinstein’s story is deeply moving, as are the stories behind the violins,” she says. They are a true testament to the role music can play to keep hope alive during desperate times.”

As explained on the Violins of Hope website, “The Nazis used music and especially violins to humiliate and degrade Jews in ghettos and camps. They confiscated many thousands of instruments from Jews all over Europe. Our concerts are the ultimate answer to their plan to annihilate a people and their culture, to destroy human lives and freedom. The sound of violins is often compared to the beauty of the human voice. When played with talent and spirit, it is known to reach out and touch hearts. This was the role of violins in the war – to touch hearts, kindle hope for better times and spread it around. Wherever there was music, there was hope.”

ICT’s creative team for The Violin Maker includes set designer Destiny Manewal, lighting designers Donna and Tom Ruzika, costume designer Kim DeShazo, sound designer Dave Mickey and prop designer Patty Briles. Casting is by Michael Donovan, CSA and Richie Ferris, CSA. The stage manager is John Freeland, Jr.

The Violin Maker runs April 25 through May 11 on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Two preview performances take place on Wednesday, April 23 and Thursday, April 24 both at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $56 on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, except opening night (Friday, April 25), and $59 on opening night and at Sunday matinees. Low-priced tickets to previews are $44.

International City Theatre is located in Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center’s Beverly O’Neill Theater at 330 East Seaside Way, Long Beach, CA 90802.For more information and to purchase tickets, call (562) 436-4610 or go to InternationalCityTheatre.org.

LA MIRADA THEATRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS & 

McCOY RIGBY ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCE FULL CASTING FOR 

LEGALLY BLONDE: THE MUSICAL

Music and Lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin

Book by Heather Hach

Based on the novel by Amanda Brown 

and the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer motion picture

Choreography by Dana Solimando

Musical Direction by Ryan O’Connell

Direction by Cynthia Ferrer

ELLE & BRUISER ARRIVE FRIDAY, APRIL 25

AND IT’S GOING TO BE “SO MUCH BETTER”

AT LA MIRADA THEATRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS!

OMIGOD YOU GUYS! Get ready to “Bend and Snap” as LA MIRADA THEATRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS & McCOY RIGBY ENTERTAINMENT announce full casting for their “pinkest” show of the season, LEGALLY BLONDE: THE MUSICAL, music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin, book by Heather Hach, based on the novel by Amanda Brown and the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer motion picture, with choreography by Dana Solimando, musical direction by Ryan O’Connell and direction by Cynthia Ferrer.  LEGALLY BLONDE: THE MUSICAL will preview on Friday, April 25 at 8 pm and Saturday, April 26 at 2 pm, have its official Press Opening on Saturday, April 26 at 8 pm and run through Sunday, May 18, 2025 at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Blvd in La Mirada.   

A fabulously fun award-winning musical based on the beloved movie, LEGALLY BLONDE: THE MUSICALfollows the transformation of Elle Woods as she tackles stereotypes and scandal in pursuit of her dreams.  Action-packed and exploding with memorable songs and dynamic dances – this musical is so much fun, it should be illegal!                                                                                 

Elle Woods appears to have it all. Her life is turned upside down when her boyfriend Warner dumps her so he can attend Harvard Law. Determined to get him back, Elle ingeniously charms her way into the prestigious law school. While there, she struggles with peers, professors, and her ex.  With the support of some new friends, though, Elle quickly realizes her potential and sets out to prove herself to the world. 

ABOUT THE CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM

The Cast of LEGALLY BLONDE: THE MUSICAL features Kathryn Brunner as “Elle Woods,” Michael Thomas Grant as “Emmett Forrest,” Nicholas James McDonough as “Warner Huntington, III,” Anna Mintzer as “Vivienne Kensington,” Anthea Neri Best as “Pauline,” Ed Staudenmayer as “Professor Callahan,” Jane Papageorge as “Brooke Wyndham,” Dahlya Glick as “Enid,” Grace Simmons as “Margot,” Bella Hicks as “Serena,” and Aurelia Michael as “Pilar.”  The Ensemble will feature (in alphabetical order) Cristyn Dang, Grant Hodges, Nathan Madden, Donovan Mendelovitz, Bailey Renee Miller, Taylor Mettra, Davon Rashawn, Anthony Sanchez, Callula Sawyer, Rochelle Scudder (“Bruiser” Handler), Amir Jabari Bailey-Simmons, Krystle Rose Simmons, Rodrigo Varandas, and Rianny Vasquez.  Swings are Emmy J. Lane and Ben Raanan. 

CYNTHIA FERRER (Direction) has directed/choreographed major musicals around the country, including Singin’ in the Rain, 9 to 5, Damn Yankees, 42^nd Street, Peter Pan, Camelot, King and I and Louisiana Purchase.  She played leading roles in over one hundred musicals and in four Broadway/National Tours, including Singin’ in the Rain as the original “Kathy Selden.”  Cynthia appeared in the films Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Georgia Rule, and television shows “Cougartown,” “Crossing Jordan,” “General Hospital” (Dr. Rachael Ryan), and “B Positive” with Garry Marshall, Julia Roberts, Carol Burnett, Alec Baldwin, and Courtney Cox. 

DANA SOLIMANDO (Choreography) has earned numerous awards including three Los Angeles Stage Alliance Ovation Awards, seven Ovation Award nominations, a NAACP award nomination, and three L.A. Drama Critics Circle nominations for her choreography.  International awards include the 2023 Koryfeusz award and 2022 Kiepura award nomination.  Credits include: World Premiere of IRENA – The Irena Sendler story for Teatr Muzyczny Poznan (2023 Koryfeusz award and 2022 Kiepura award nom), Cabaret (2019 Ovation and L.A. Drama Critics Circle nominations), Rebel Genius (2019 World Premiere), American Idiot (Ovation nomination), Jersey Boys (McCoy Rigby), Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame (5th Ave. Theater), Parade (Ovation nomination), Spring Awakening (Ovation nomination), Billy Elliot (L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award nomination), Ragtime (Ovation nomination), Damn Yankees (Ovation nomination), Swing! (L.A. Stage Alliance Ovation Awards – Best Choreography), Miss Saigon at Macau International Arts Festival/McCoy Rigby Ent. (Ovation nomination), and many more. 

RYAN O’CONNELL (Musical Direction) has worked on more than 75 productions as a musical director, orchestrator, and composer.  Favorite credits: Ernest Shackleton Loves Me (2nd Stage NYC), Ragtime (First National Tour), Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (La Mirada Theatre/McCoy Rigby Entertainment), Mary Poppins (Musical Theatre West) and Private Jones (Signature Theatre).  He has helped create music for NBC, CBS, Fox, Netflix, Cartoon Network, Disney World, and Disneyland, where he currently works as a music director and teaching artist. www.ryanomusic.com. 

The Design Team for LEGALLY BLONDE: THE MUSICAL is as follows: Scenery Rental Provided by Front Row Theatrical Rental; Lighting Design by Anne McMills; Sound Design by Josh Bessom; Costume Design by Adam Ramirez; Hair/Wig Design by Katie McCoy Yagen; Projection Design by Jon Infante; Prop Rental is by The Music and Theatre Company; Properties Coordination by Kevin Williams.  Animals by William Berloni Theatrical Animals.  The Casting Director is Julia Flores.  The Production Stage Manager is Bree Sherry.            

ABOUT THE SCHEDULE AND PRICING

LEGALLY BLONDE: THE MUSICAL will preview on Friday, April 25 at 8 pm and Saturday, April 26 at 2 pm, have its official Press Opening on Saturday, April 26 at 8 pm and run through Sunday, May 18, 2025 at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Blvd in La Mirada.   

Performances are Thursdays at 7:30 pm; Fridays at 8 pm; Saturdays at 2 pm & 8 pm; and Sundays at 1:30 pm & 6:30 pm.  There is no performance on Sunday, April 27 at 6:30 pm.           

There will be an Open-Captioned performance on Saturday, May 10at 2:00 pm.  Talkbacks with the cast and creative team will be on Thursday, May 1 at 7:30 pm and Thursday, May 15 at 7:30 pm.    

Tickets range from $25 – $95 (prices subject to change) and can be purchased at La Mirada Theatre’s website www.LaMiradaTheatre.com or by calling the La Mirada Theatre Box Office at (562) 944-9801 or (714) 994-6310.                                                                                     

Group, student, and military discounts are available.  Children under 3 will not be admitted into the theatre.         

LA MIRADA THEATRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS is located at 14900 La Mirada Boulevard in La Mirada, near the intersection of Rosecrans Avenue where the 91 and 5 freeways meet.  Parking is FREE.

Just Like Us is a gripping, non-fiction play inspired by Helen Thorpe’s bestselling book. It follows four Latina teenage girls whose close-knit friendship is tested by the realities of immigration status—and the opportunities or barriers it creates.

Set in Denver, the story follows Clara and Elissa, who hold legal documents, while Yadira and Marisela do not. As they navigate high school and work toward college, they confront the stark differences in their paths. Student loans are not an option without a Social Security number, and when deportation looms over their families, even a dorm room may not provide refuge.

A true coming-of-age story, Just Like Us raises urgent and essential questions about identity, opportunity, and what it truly means to be American. More timely than ever, this powerful play is a must-see.

https://www.latinotheaterco.org/justlikeus

FURLOUGH’S PARADISE
WEST COAST PREMIERE
Written by a.k. payne
Directed by Tinashe Kajese-Bolden
Featuring Kacie Rogers & DeWanda Wise

Cousins Sade and Mina used to be inseparable. Now leading very different lives, they return to their childhood town for the funeral of their mother and aunt. While Sade is on a three-day furlough from prison and Mina experiences a brief reprieve from her career and life on the West Coast, the two try to make sense of grief, home, love, and kinship. As the clock ticks down, the cousins grapple with their conflicting memories of the past and their shared hopes for the future. Poetic and theatrical, Furlough’s Paradise explores family dreams of a utopia yet to be realized.

Previews: April 16, 2025 – April 23, 2025
Opening Night: April 24, 2025
Closing Night: May 18, 2025

LOCATION
Gil Cates Theater at Geffen Playhouse
10886 Le Conte Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024

ICT continues 40th anniversary season with
American premiere of ‘The Violin Maker’

True story of luthier Amnon Weinstein
is testament to hope and survival in dark times

International City Theatre presents the American premiere of The Violin Maker, a new play based on the true story of Israeli violin maker Amnon Weinstein, who gathered and restored ruined violins that survived the Holocaust to create a remarkable collection known throughout the world as the “Violins of Hope.” Written by Lisa Pearl Rosenbaum and Ronda Spinak (artistic director of The Braid), with musical curation by Dr. Noreen Green (founding artistic director and conductor of the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony), and directed by ICT artistic director caryn desai [sic], The Violin Maker opens April 25 for a three-week run through May 11. Performances take place at ICT’s home in the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center. Two low-priced previews are set for April 23 and April 24.

Weinstein (Bruce Nozick) began repairing violins rescued from the Holocaust as a way to keep their histories alive. This new play masterly weaves Weinstein’s extraordinary story with the true tales behind each of the violins — as well as with music, performed live on stage by Dr. Green on piano and Jonathan Rubin on the Shony Alex Braun violin. (Although the Shony Alex Braun violin is not one of the instruments that make up the Violins of Hope collection, it too survived the Holocaust, and we will learn its story during the course of the play.) But before Weinstein can bring these instruments back to life and to the world, he must wrestle with his own ghosts, and with those of his family. In addition to Nozick, the cast includes Sheer Aviram, Matthew Bohrer, Matthew Henerson, Lielle Kaidar, Morgan Dean Lauff and Aviva Pressman, each of whom plays multiple characters in Israel and the U.S. as well as, in memory, in Lithuania and Germany before and during World War II.

According to Rosenbaum and Spinak, “Luthier Amnon Weinstein took what might have become an exhibit of ruined instruments, restored them and put them into the hands of musicians all over the world so that a new generation can hear them. The survivors of the Holocaust will not be here forever, but these violins will continue to tell their stories for generations to come.”

Inspired by conversations Rosenbaum had with Weinstein, The Violin Maker received its world premiere in 2023 at the Bondi Theater in Sydney, Australia. An earlier version, written by Rosenbaum and developed with Spinak at The Braid, was presented as a theatrical work-in-progress under the title Stories from the Violins of Hope. This new, fully-staged play dives deeper, with more stories, scenes and additional music, to follow the arc of Weinstein’s life — from a proud Israeli boy who wanted nothing to do with the Holocaust and his family’s pain, to a man who devotes his life to repairing “stringed survivors” whose voices are now heard in concerts around the world, restoring the dignity of their owners for generations to come.

Since 2008, concerts featuring the violins in the collection have taken place around the world, in cities in Israel, Spain, Italy, England, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Netherlands, Romania, Mexico and the U.S. — including one given in conjunction with the Long Beach Symphony, which desai attended.

“Weinstein’s story is deeply moving, as are the stories behind the violins,” she says. They are a true testament to the role music can play to keep hope alive during desperate times.”

As explained on the Violins of Hope website, “The Nazis used music and especially violins to humiliate and degrade Jews in ghettos and camps. They confiscated many thousands of instruments from Jews all over Europe. Our concerts are the ultimate answer to their plan to annihilate a people and their culture, to destroy human lives and freedom. The sound of violins is often compared to the beauty of the human voice. When played with talent and spirit, it is known to reach out and touch hearts. This was the role of violins in the war – to touch hearts, kindle hope for better times and spread it around. Wherever there was music, there was hope.”

ICT’s creative team for The Violin Maker includes set designer Destiny Manewal, lighting designers Donna and Tom Ruzika, costume designer Kim DeShazo, sound designer Dave Mickey and prop designer Patty Briles. Casting is by Michael Donovan, CSA and Richie Ferris, CSA. The stage manager is John Freeland, Jr.

The Violin Maker runs April 25 through May 11 on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Two preview performances take place on Wednesday, April 23 and Thursday, April 24 both at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $56 on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, except opening night (Friday, April 25), and $59 on opening night and at Sunday matinees. Low-priced tickets to previews are $44.

International City Theatre is located in Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center’s Beverly O’Neill Theater at 330 East Seaside Way, Long Beach, CA 90802.For more information and to purchase tickets, call (562) 436-4610 or go to InternationalCityTheatre.org.

LA MIRADA THEATRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS & 

McCOY RIGBY ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCE FULL CASTING FOR 

LEGALLY BLONDE: THE MUSICAL

Music and Lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin

Book by Heather Hach

Based on the novel by Amanda Brown 

and the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer motion picture

Choreography by Dana Solimando

Musical Direction by Ryan O’Connell

Direction by Cynthia Ferrer

ELLE & BRUISER ARRIVE FRIDAY, APRIL 25

AND IT’S GOING TO BE “SO MUCH BETTER”

AT LA MIRADA THEATRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS!

OMIGOD YOU GUYS! Get ready to “Bend and Snap” as LA MIRADA THEATRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS & McCOY RIGBY ENTERTAINMENT announce full casting for their “pinkest” show of the season, LEGALLY BLONDE: THE MUSICAL, music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin, book by Heather Hach, based on the novel by Amanda Brown and the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer motion picture, with choreography by Dana Solimando, musical direction by Ryan O’Connell and direction by Cynthia Ferrer.  LEGALLY BLONDE: THE MUSICAL will preview on Friday, April 25 at 8 pm and Saturday, April 26 at 2 pm, have its official Press Opening on Saturday, April 26 at 8 pm and run through Sunday, May 18, 2025 at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Blvd in La Mirada.   

A fabulously fun award-winning musical based on the beloved movie, LEGALLY BLONDE: THE MUSICALfollows the transformation of Elle Woods as she tackles stereotypes and scandal in pursuit of her dreams.  Action-packed and exploding with memorable songs and dynamic dances – this musical is so much fun, it should be illegal!                                                                                 

Elle Woods appears to have it all. Her life is turned upside down when her boyfriend Warner dumps her so he can attend Harvard Law. Determined to get him back, Elle ingeniously charms her way into the prestigious law school. While there, she struggles with peers, professors, and her ex.  With the support of some new friends, though, Elle quickly realizes her potential and sets out to prove herself to the world. 

ABOUT THE CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM

The Cast of LEGALLY BLONDE: THE MUSICAL features Kathryn Brunner as “Elle Woods,” Michael Thomas Grant as “Emmett Forrest,” Nicholas James McDonough as “Warner Huntington, III,” Anna Mintzer as “Vivienne Kensington,” Anthea Neri Best as “Pauline,” Ed Staudenmayer as “Professor Callahan,” Jane Papageorge as “Brooke Wyndham,” Dahlya Glick as “Enid,” Grace Simmons as “Margot,” Bella Hicks as “Serena,” and Aurelia Michael as “Pilar.”  The Ensemble will feature (in alphabetical order) Cristyn Dang, Grant Hodges, Nathan Madden, Donovan Mendelovitz, Bailey Renee Miller, Taylor Mettra, Davon Rashawn, Anthony Sanchez, Callula Sawyer, Rochelle Scudder (“Bruiser” Handler), Amir Jabari Bailey-Simmons, Krystle Rose Simmons, Rodrigo Varandas, and Rianny Vasquez.  Swings are Emmy J. Lane and Ben Raanan. 

CYNTHIA FERRER (Direction) has directed/choreographed major musicals around the country, including Singin’ in the Rain, 9 to 5, Damn Yankees, 42^nd Street, Peter Pan, Camelot, King and I and Louisiana Purchase.  She played leading roles in over one hundred musicals and in four Broadway/National Tours, including Singin’ in the Rain as the original “Kathy Selden.”  Cynthia appeared in the films Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Georgia Rule, and television shows “Cougartown,” “Crossing Jordan,” “General Hospital” (Dr. Rachael Ryan), and “B Positive” with Garry Marshall, Julia Roberts, Carol Burnett, Alec Baldwin, and Courtney Cox. 

DANA SOLIMANDO (Choreography) has earned numerous awards including three Los Angeles Stage Alliance Ovation Awards, seven Ovation Award nominations, a NAACP award nomination, and three L.A. Drama Critics Circle nominations for her choreography.  International awards include the 2023 Koryfeusz award and 2022 Kiepura award nomination.  Credits include: World Premiere of IRENA – The Irena Sendler story for Teatr Muzyczny Poznan (2023 Koryfeusz award and 2022 Kiepura award nom), Cabaret (2019 Ovation and L.A. Drama Critics Circle nominations), Rebel Genius (2019 World Premiere), American Idiot (Ovation nomination), Jersey Boys (McCoy Rigby), Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame (5th Ave. Theater), Parade (Ovation nomination), Spring Awakening (Ovation nomination), Billy Elliot (L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award nomination), Ragtime (Ovation nomination), Damn Yankees (Ovation nomination), Swing! (L.A. Stage Alliance Ovation Awards – Best Choreography), Miss Saigon at Macau International Arts Festival/McCoy Rigby Ent. (Ovation nomination), and many more. 

RYAN O’CONNELL (Musical Direction) has worked on more than 75 productions as a musical director, orchestrator, and composer.  Favorite credits: Ernest Shackleton Loves Me (2nd Stage NYC), Ragtime (First National Tour), Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (La Mirada Theatre/McCoy Rigby Entertainment), Mary Poppins (Musical Theatre West) and Private Jones (Signature Theatre).  He has helped create music for NBC, CBS, Fox, Netflix, Cartoon Network, Disney World, and Disneyland, where he currently works as a music director and teaching artist. www.ryanomusic.com. 

The Design Team for LEGALLY BLONDE: THE MUSICAL is as follows: Scenery Rental Provided by Front Row Theatrical Rental; Lighting Design by Anne McMills; Sound Design by Josh Bessom; Costume Design by Adam Ramirez; Hair/Wig Design by Katie McCoy Yagen; Projection Design by Jon Infante; Prop Rental is by The Music and Theatre Company; Properties Coordination by Kevin Williams.  Animals by William Berloni Theatrical Animals.  The Casting Director is Julia Flores.  The Production Stage Manager is Bree Sherry.            

ABOUT THE SCHEDULE AND PRICING

LEGALLY BLONDE: THE MUSICAL will preview on Friday, April 25 at 8 pm and Saturday, April 26 at 2 pm, have its official Press Opening on Saturday, April 26 at 8 pm and run through Sunday, May 18, 2025 at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Blvd in La Mirada.   

Performances are Thursdays at 7:30 pm; Fridays at 8 pm; Saturdays at 2 pm & 8 pm; and Sundays at 1:30 pm & 6:30 pm.  There is no performance on Sunday, April 27 at 6:30 pm.           

There will be an Open-Captioned performance on Saturday, May 10at 2:00 pm.  Talkbacks with the cast and creative team will be on Thursday, May 1 at 7:30 pm and Thursday, May 15 at 7:30 pm.    

Tickets range from $25 – $95 (prices subject to change) and can be purchased at La Mirada Theatre’s website www.LaMiradaTheatre.com or by calling the La Mirada Theatre Box Office at (562) 944-9801 or (714) 994-6310.                                                                                     

Group, student, and military discounts are available.  Children under 3 will not be admitted into the theatre.         

LA MIRADA THEATRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS is located at 14900 La Mirada Boulevard in La Mirada, near the intersection of Rosecrans Avenue where the 91 and 5 freeways meet.  Parking is FREE.

“Frida- Stroke of Passion- The Immersive Experience” by Odalys Nanin.

Odalys Nanin’s acclaimed 2017 show Frida- Stroke of Passion is revived for a limited engagement at Casa 0101 Theater in a reimagined immersive staging. Immerse yourself into the world of the world-famous artist Frida Kahlo, where her paintings of vegetation and animals come alive in front of you, enhanced with the sounds of Frida’s world.  A revealing look at Frida’s physical and emotional state of mind during the last week of her life, where reality and fantasy blend together imbued with enough haunting elements to make it a living dramatic experience.

The play begins on July 6, 1954, Frida’s 47th birthday. She will die exactly one week later. The narrative will explore the mysterious circumstances surrounding her death. (There is an official account of her cause of death, but how did she die really?) This is not all, however. It is the story of a woman living as vibrantly as she can despite dwindling health and a world of pain.

She attempts to continue painting. Partially anesthetized by a mixture of tequila and painkillers, she is visited by many lovers, male and female, singer Chavela Vargas, movie star Maria Felix, Communist politician Leon Trotsky, entertainer Josephine Baker, Cuban spy Teresa Proenza, photographer Tina Modotti, and Frida’s husband, painter and muralist Diego Rivera. Some are physically present in her room, others are recreated and present in her vivid memory.

The relationship between Frida and Diego is deeply complex. Diego is incapable of sexual monogamy, so much so that he practically pushes Frida into the arms of other lovers. Yet their emotional attachment to each other is surpassingly deep and a thing of wonder.

Odalys Nanin is the playwright, director, and portrays Frida.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/frida-stroke-of-passion-the-immersive-experience-tickets-1257720579109

“From a Yardie to a Yankee” by Sardia Robinson.

Proceeds from this special performance will benefit a family of ten who were deeply affected by the Eaton Fire. Your support will help them rebuild and recover during this challenging time.

Sardia Robinson is originally from Jamaica. Wikipedia defines “yardie,” : ‘In the  most innocuous sense, “yardie” can simply refer to a Jamaican national; as “yard” can mean “home” in Jamaican Patois, Jamaican expatriates who moved abroad to countries such as the U.K. and U.S. would often refer to themselves and other Jamaicans as “yardies”.’

Born into a poverty-stricken Jamaican neighborhood where crime, gangs and political revolution were the norm, Sardia had to step over corpses in the street on her way to school. Then an unplanned pregnancy led to yet more hurdles. Sardia’s engaging and unique storytelling style takes audience members on an emotional rollercoaster ride fraught with peril, pain, suffering, but also filled with humor, endearing characters, and the undeterred spirit to survive.

This vivid presentation portrays writer and performer Sardia Robinson’s epic struggles from the murderous streets of Kingston, Jamaica to the deadly consequences of Chicago’s drug wars. The one-woman show starring Robinson is full of colorful characters (she portrays eleven different roles), powerful portrayals, obstacles overcome, and heartwarming humor. This show will grip your heart and imagination.

From a Yardie to a Yankee has won awards across the country, among them the Best in Show Award at the TAG Studio Solo Festival,  the Innovative Women in Theatre Award (Hollywood Fringe Festival), and Best Solo Production Award (Broadway World),  It was listed as one of the Top Ten Shows to see in Los Angeles by Broadway World. The show recently toured New York, London, Jamaica and the Bahamas. A graduate of Columbia College Chicago, Sardia received the Great Black Women Alumni Award in recognition of her contributions to young performers from Chicago’s Mahogany Scholarship Heritage Foundation. Her stage credits include A Raisin in the Sun, Black Caesar, Lady M, For Colored Girls, and T3 Trojan. Her film credits include Justice Delayed, in which she stars as Amy Jacques Garvey, wife of activist Marcus Garvey; Neighbors Who Kill, and  on TV, the hit sitcom  airing in the Caribbean, House Out of Order, Double Cross, and Murder in the Thirst.

A few words about Altadena: Altadena is a haven of hope and inspiration, particularly for its middle-class Black residents. Nestled just north of Pasadena and less than 15 miles from downtown Los Angeles, this unincorporated suburb offers a unique blend of history, resilience, and natural beauty. (Unincorporated areas operate without city governments, relying instead on county services and resources.)

Surrounded by lush forests, diverse wildlife, and rolling hills, Altadena holds a special place in California’s history. It was one of the first areas in the state where middle-class Black families could own homes and thrive—at a time when restrictive housing policies barred many African Americans from property ownership. Though the Eaton Fire devastated parts of the community, erasing some of its rich legacy, Altadena remains a symbol of perseverance.

The area has also been home to many prominent Black and Caribbean figures, including the legendary Bahamian American entertainer, the late Sidney Poitier.

Here’s another way you can donate to assist Eaton fire survivors. Go to

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-restore-our-haitian-legacy?attribution_id=sl:0948b0d9-6e55-48af-a4cc-a9d4a3da5808&utm_campaign=fp_sharesheet&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=copy_link

Sardia explains why she is doing this performance: “My grandmother always said that we are here to be of service, and that wisdom has stayed with me throughout my life. Whenever I see people in crisis, in any way that I can help, I always jump at the opportunity. Being of service is what we are here to do, and to me, it always feels better to give than to receive.”

Directed and performed by Sardia Robinson.

Saturday at 8 p.m.

http://theatrewest.org

facebook.com/theatrewest