BOSTON COURT PASADENA PRESENTS THE WORLD PREMIERE PRODUCTION OF A GOING AWAY PARTY PLAY

Boston Court Pasadena opens the world premiere production of A Going Away Party Play, written by Keyanna Khatiblou and directed by James Fowler on Saturday, September 28.

A Going Away Party Play is a celebration of multicultural identities and an exploration of what it means to leave or lose your home country. The story centers on Mina, who is throwing a party for her closest friends – and the audience. Over the course of the party, the friends play games, reflect on the current American socio-political landscape, and discover truths about the story of Mina’s parents falling in love and staying in love while fleeing the Iranian Revolution.

A Going Away Party Play features scenic design by Stephen Gifford, costume design by Mylette Nora, lighting design by Gavan Wyrick, sound design by John Nobori, and properties design by Cindy Campos. The production is supported by production stage manager Camella Coopilton, dramaturg Adrian Centeno, casting director Julia Flores, cultural consultant Dr. Mehdi Faraji, and dialect coach Keri Safran.

Artistic Director Jessica Kubzansky says, “We are so excited to share this play with the world. Keyanna had moved to Los Angeles just six months prior to when she submitted the play to us through our Los Angeles Playwrights Open Submission Window, and when we read it, the entire artistic team knew we needed to program it in the 2022 New Play Reading Festival. And as the reading concluded, we all turned to each other and said, ‘we just found our next full production.’”

Director James Fowler first met Khatiblou in 2022 when Boston Court asked him to direct the New Play Reading Festival reading at BCP. The partnership was so exciting that two years later, he is back to direct the full production.

Fowler says, “Keyanna’s play is a love letter to this current generation. A mash-up of scenes that focus on multiculturalism, identity, and love. I am grateful to be trusted with a work of such thoughtful depth and intentionality. The joy I have working with this creative team and cast is beyond my wildest imaginings!”

Kubzansky adds, “Full of humor and delicious social commentary, Keyanna’s play is so powerfully speaking to our world today. It’s speaking to the complexity of what it means to be an immigrant in the United States right now, what it’s like to leave or lose your home country, and how we constantly have to define what home means…”

WHEN:
Preview Performances: September 19, 20, 21, 26, 27 at 8PM; September 22 at 2PM

Opening Night Performance: Saturday, September 28 at 8PM

Benefit Fundraiser Performance: Sunday, September 29 at 3PM

Performances:

Friday, October 4, 8PM

Saturday, October 5, 2PM (ASL Interpreted Performance)

Sunday, October 6, 2PM

Monday, October 7, 8PM

Saturday, October 12, 8PM

Sunday, October 13, 2PM

Saturday, October 19, 8PM

Sunday, October 20, 2PM

Monday, October 21, 8PM

Friday, October 25, 8PM

Saturday, October 26, 8PM

Sunday, October 27, 2PM

This production is partially underwritten by our very generous funders: The National Endowment for the Arts, the Pasadena Community Foundation, and the City of Pasadena. The Farhang Foundation is this production’s Cultural Partner.

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Located in Pasadena, California, Boston Court Pasadena is an intimate performing arts center that creates and nurtures innovative, boundary-pushing art that invokes the power of collective imagination to illuminate our common humanity. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Jessica Kubzansky and Executive Director Manuel Prieto, the 70-seat Marjorie Branson Performance Space and the 99-seat Main Stage serve as homes for Boston Court’s season of adventurous theatre, its richly eclectic music series, the annual New Play Reading Festival, and a rotating visual art program, among other engagement and education offerings. Boston Court Pasadena was founded in 2003 by philanthropist Z. Clark Branson and Founding Producing Director Eileen T’Kaye.

Boston Court Pasadena is located at 70 N Mentor Ave., Pasadena, CA 91106. Parking is free in the on-site lot. For reservations and information, call (626) 683-6801 or go to bostoncourtpasadena.org.

Blood/Love
A new, all-original vampire rock popera

The Crimson, 6356 Hollywood Blvd., First Floor
Limited six week engagement September 26 to November 2!

Featuring
Cam Anthony (The Voice winner season 20), Brennin Hunt (Roger in RENT: Live),
and Daniel Franzese (Mean Girls)

Book & Music by Carey Sharpe and Dru DeCaro
Additional Music by Erin Boehme and Adam “Snake” Kobylarz

Choreographed Jonathan & Oksana Platero (DWTS, SYTYCD),
Directed and Produced by Daniel LeClaire

Tickets available now at bloodlove.com

Blood/Love is a new, all-original vampire rock popera featuring twenty-five songs that tell a tale of love, friendship, heartbreak, and redemption. Blood/Love will play The Crimson, a gothic nightclub in a truly immersive staging where vampires roam among the living at 6356 Hollywood Blvd (at Schrader Blvd), First Floor, 90028 from September 26 to November 2. Tickets are available at bloodlove.com.

Fusing vampire lore, pop music, choreography, and nightlife into one entrancing musical experience, Blood/Love offers an ultimate night out. The evening begins in The Crimson’s cocktail lounge with signature craft cocktails. Audiences then move to the intimate theater for the 75-minute immersive performance (VIP seating available). After the 9:30pm performances, a moonlit DJ after-party is available in The Atrium, the Crimson’s night club.

Blood/Love features Cam Anthony (The Voice winner season 20), Brennin Hunt (Roger in Fox RENT: Live), and Daniel Franzese (Mean Girls).

Blood/Love has book and music by Carey Sharpe and GRAMMY® Award-winning songwriter/producer Dru DeCaro (Em Beihold’s platinum radio #1 “Numb Little Bug”) with
additional music by Concord Records artist Erin Boehme and Adam “Snake” Kobylarz.

The choreographers are Jonathan & Oksana Platero (DWTS, SYTYCD), and it is directed and produced by Daniel LeClaire (BOOK OF MORMON, HAIRSPRAY!).

Blood/Love had its original production in 2022 at The Howard in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, hometown theatre to Sharpe, LeClaire, and Boehme, where Sharpe and Boehme performed leading roles under LeClaire’s direction. They take the stage again to repeat their assignments in this new Hollywood production. Blood/Love also had a sold-out concert version in January 2024 at Joe’s Pub at the Public Theatre in New York City.

About Blood/Love

Vampires are ever-present in pop culture especially as the days get shorter: think Interview with the Vampire, The Twilight Saga, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dark Shadows, Dracula, and The Vampire Diaries.

Fans of vampires (and who isn’t?) will want to see this new incarnation, Blood/Love, that speaks as much to human nature as it does to the sultry glamorous lives of the undead. It tells the haunting tale of Valerie Bloodlove (Carey Sharpe), who has lived hundreds of lives across thousands of years. Satan’s former queen, the original vampire, she is condemned to wander Earth for eternity — living in the shadows and forced to survive off of the very humans she has longed to live among.

Valerie’s immortal life feels empty, even as her draconian companions, Cleo (Erin Boehme) and Demetrius (Cam Anthony), attempt to rekindle her desires to thirst and lust — and to remind her of the joys of being immortal.

On the brink of despair, Valerie has a chance encounter with mortal superstar Anzick (Brennin Hunt), who reignites her will to carry on. However, she learns he has his own deal with the devil: in exchange for his eternal soul, he was bestowed with supernatural musical talent, complete with success and stardom. Valerie finds a kindred spirit and a motivation to carry on – but is now forced to choose between love and survival, drawn to someone who also bears the burden of a wish turned into a curse.

Writer and producer Carey Sharpe said to Broadwayworld, “Everybody loves vampires. They’re always popular: they’re sexy, they’re cool. And they are ultimately human, or they at least were human. This is about when the conundrums of life are enlarged by having to negotiate a life going on forever — the amplification of human nature.”

“A pact with the devil takes on a new dimension – giving these creatures plenty to sing about, now influenced with pop and rock genres. It turns out that the emotional life for vampires is not much different than for those of us with shorter life spans — and the action and score were influenced by goings on in our personal lives, during COVID lockdown when we were creating Blood/Love.”

“The story then all fits together because it was really driven by songs about our feelings at the time. For example, ‘Dead to Me’ is basically a fight between two best friends that have been friends for eternity because they are vampires, the breakdown of their relationship with betrayal, anger and hurt. But it’s not of a romantic nature, it’s just their friendship and how painful that can be.”

For more information, please visit bloodlove.com

What’s Behind Door Number 2?

Denise and Matt believe they are the legal owners of the contents of an abandoned storage unit. Then along comes a big dude who begs to differ with their appraisal of their circumstances. Sometimes you just can’t make a deal.

Kim Hlavac directs herself, Jeff LeBeau, and Keith Barber.

Kim is also the playwright. A frequent contributor to Open-Door Playhouse as an actor, director, and writer, she graduated from the famed High School of Performing Arts and then attained her BFA from SUNY/Purchase.

Listen Here:
https://www.opendoorplayhouse.org/opendoortheaterplays/whatsbehinddoornumber2
Run Time: 10:40

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 from 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.

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.

October 3rd – October 27th at The Rosenthal Theater at Inner-City Arts

Preview performance is Thursday, October 3rd at 8:00 p.m.
Opening night is Friday, October 4th at 8:00 p.m. 
Remaining performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m., Saturdays at 2:00 p.m., and *Sundays at 2:00 p.m. through Sunday, October 27th.

*Sunday, October 13th’s performance will be at 5:00 p.m.
*Sunday, October 27th will have an additional performance at 7:00 p.m.

ELECTRIC, I

A WORLD PREMIERE PLAY
AT THEATRE OF NOTE

Theatre of NOTE is excited to announce that tickets are now on sale for the world premiere of Electric, I written by Shayne Eastin and directed by Amanda Sonnenschein.

The show opens on October 3 and runs every Thursday through Saturday at 8pm PST and
Sunday 6pm PST through November 10, including one Pay-What-You-Can performance on
Monday October 28 at 8pm. General admission tickets cost $30. Senior/student tickets cost $20.

Electric, I centers on the plight of an artist and a scientist who, undeterred by the barriers of time, unite to outrun the media’s trajectory while hoping to carve out a path illuminated by nature and genuine human connection. In the play we meet characters based on historical figures like Thomas Edison, Mary Pickford and Nikola Tesla—while also asking where the forefathers of a never-ending stream of sensationalized content are taking us in the future.

The production features the cast of Hannah Arungwa, Brad C. Light, Caitlin Apparcel,
Greenberry Lucas, Oraldo Austin, Christopher Neiman, Joel Scher, Anthony Soliz, Moira
Rogers, Kitten McCreery, and Danielle Smith.

The vision of the playwright, director, and cast is supported and made possible by the production crew: Yi Lin Zhao (Prop Design), Justin Kelley-Cahill (Lighting Design), Jamie Humiston (Sound Design), Shoshi Brustin (Costume Design), Kelsey Kato (Puppet Design and Construction), Austin Beaulier (Projection Design), Jackson Greer (Composer), Melissa
McNamara (Movement and Intimacy Director), Cameron Murphy (Projection Researcher),
Anthony Soliz (Projection Researcher), Peter Newell (Stage Manager), and Jordan Rivera
(Assistant Stage Manager).

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Amanda Sonnenschein (she/her) is a bicoastal director, writer, and producer. She has directed eight short-form projects and produced four features; her experience spans film, TV, theatre, music videos, podcasts and commercials. Her work has premiered on VH1, Amazon, and at Regal LA Live, and she has worked with companies such as HBO, eOne and Overbrook Entertainment. One of her recent projects, The Game, has amassed a dedicated social media following and over 50 million views since its Comic-Con debut. Her upcoming feature Where The Mountain Women Sing (co-written with director Juefang Zhang) recently won an award at Cannes and Fantasia Film Festival’s 2024 Frontières Market. In her free time, Amanda maintains her first love of art, running a side business painting pet portraits. She is a proud alumna of LaGuardia High School and Wesleyan University.

ABOUT THE WRITER
Shayne Eastin (she/they) is a writer from Los Angeles. Their plays include H7: A Hamlet Study, Flirtation Point, States, and The Domestics. Shayne is also a regular contributor to True Crime Night at the Three Clubs in Hollywood and has written dozens of short plays that have been performed throughout Los Angeles. In 2021, Shayne performed their critically acclaimed, one-on-one, interactive show Out There for over 200 remote participants. Their short play Trouble for Miles was turned into an award-winning experimental short film (directed by Jamin Scotti). When not making or studying theatre and films, Shayne enjoys music, fencing and professional baseball.

ABOUT THEATRE OF NOTE:
Theatre of NOTE is a non-profit democratic company that stagedives the arena of theatre arts. Founded in 1981, our ensemble-based organization is dedicated to providing a creative environment in which to collaborate and develop maverick theater.

NOTE produces an average of four mainstage shows a year, with a focus on premiere productions — shows that are brand new to the world, to the West Coast, to California, or to Los Angeles. NOTE also produces the annual Hollywood Performance Marathon, the NOTEworthy new play development workshops, and our educational outreach program, the Young Writers Project.

NOTE has consistently been commended by both Los Angeles and national press, including
American Theatre Magazine, and has earned countless accolades, nominations, and honors from every award-granting theatrical organization in Southern California.

For more information about Theatre of NOTE visit the official website here.

‘Heading Into Night: A clown play about… [forgetting]’
gets West Coast premiere at Odyssey Theatre 

Cirque du Soleil clown Daniel Passer and award-winning director Beth F. Milles bring a clown ode to loss and remembrance to the Odyssey Theatre stage, exploring the unexpected humor and discoveries to be found in the loss of memory, and deeply honoring the experience of people whose memories are fading. The West Coast premiere of Heading Into Night: A clown play about… [forgetting] will run October 5 through November 17 at the Odyssey’s venue in West L.A., with two preview performances on Thursday, Oct. 3 and Friday, Oct. 4.

Longtime collaborators, Milles and Passer devised and developed this interactive piece as an investigation into the work being done at kinder, gentler care dementia villages based on Hogeweyk, an eldercare facility in the Netherlands where people facing cognitive loss are nurtured in a community. Preparing for the work, the two delved into cognitive science research about repetition, connecting the mental looping characteristic of cognitive loss with clowning and commedia dell’arte theater.

“Clowning is often built on repetition, so this seemed a very organic connection,” says Milles. “There is nothing less certain than not knowing. And there is a mystical, tenuous fragility in the state of losing one’s place, as well as an audacious power in just ‘being.’ This work is focused on the joy of rediscovery. Daniel and I want to be adventurers, to explore ways to give to our community each time we create a work.”

Heading Into Night premiered at The Cherry Arts in Ithaca, New York, where Milles is a member of the acting and directing faculty at Cornell University. As a director and theater creator, she specializes in new and devised work investigating the comic impulse. Milles has directed on Broadway and at theaters around the country, including award-winning productions with the celebrated Actors Gang in Los Angeles. Last season, she directed Iva Brdar’s And if I don’t behave then what at Open Fist Theatre Company.

“Looking through the lens of a clown, and bringing a sense of joy and childlike innocence to the theme of memory, has been a rich landscape to explore,” says Passer, who has been a clown and comedy conceptor for Cirque du Soleil and Dragone Entertainment for over a decade; has taught commedia, clown and improvisation at Moscow Art Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Brown University, Harvard, Cornell; and is currently on faculty and associate director of performance at CalArts. “I love collaborating with Beth and dreaming up the impossible and striving to bring it to life.”

Joining Passer on stage at the Odyssey are actor Peter Mark and musician Redfield Clipper Mills.

The creative team includes costume designer Márion Talán de la Rosa; lighting designer Russell Champa; projection designer Gabrieal Griego; technical consultant Pierre Clavel; and graphics designer Luba Lukova. The stage manager is Bella Peters. Beth Hogan produces for Odyssey Theatre Ensemble.

Performances of Heading Into Night take place on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. from October 5 through November 17. There will be two additional weeknight performances, on Wednesday, Oct. 16 and Wednesday, Nov. 6, each at 8 p.m.: Two previews take place on Thursday, Oct. 4 and Friday, Oct. 5, both at 8 p.m. Post-performance discussions are scheduled on Wednesday, Oct. 16 and Friday, Nov. 1. The third Friday of every month is “Wine Night”: enjoy complimentary wine and snacks and mingle with the cast after the show.

Tickets to performances range from $20 to $40 on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Performances on Fridays are Pay-What-You-Can (reservations open online and at the door starting at 5:30 p.m.). The Odyssey Theatre is located at 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., West Los Angeles, 90025

For more information and to purchase tickets, call (310) 477-2055 or go to OdysseyTheatre.com.

ROAD THEATRE COMPANY 

Presents the First Show of its 2024-2025 Season!

The World Premiere of 

ROBBIN, 

FROM THE HOOD

Written by Marlow Wyatt 

Directed by Chuma Gault

Limited Engagement Opens Friday, October 11

at the Road Theatre in North Hollywood

THE ROAD THEATRE COMPANY and Taylor Gilbert, Founder/Artistic Director together with Sam Anderson, Artistic Director, announce the first show of its 2024-2025 season, the world premiere of ROBBIN, FROM THE HOOD, written by Marlow Wyatt and directed by Chuma Gault.  ROBBIN, FROM THE HOOD will begin previews on Tuesday, October 8; will open on Friday, October 11 at 8pm and perform through Sunday, November 10 at 2pm at the Road Theatre, located in The NoHo Senior Arts Colony, 10747 Magnolia Blvd. in North Hollywood. 

In this re-imagined, classic tale, corporate greed dominates the deceptive game of capitalism. Robbin Woods, a 17-year-old math genius, is given the opportunity to enter that seemingly unattainable world. Once inside, she recognizes the massive inequities that exist and creates a plan to level the playing field. Because, sometimes you have to do the wrong thing for the right reason.   

ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM AND CAST 

MARLOW WYATT (Playwright) is an award-winning playwright and actor.  She received her BFA from Howard University College of Fine Arts. Her first full-length play She, debuted at the Antaeus Theatre with critical acclaim and is listed as one of the “12 Best World Premiere Plays of 2023/24” by StageSceneLA.  Her drama Robbin, from the Hood, developed in Moving Arts’ MADLab and Support Black Theatre’s first Pipeline play, premieres as Road Theatre Company’s 2024/25 season opener.  Wyatt is a 2022/23 LA New Play Project grant recipient, a 2022 Lower Depth Commission Fellow, 2022 AGE Legacy Grant recipient, Antaeus 2021 NEXT Commission Artist, Support Black Theatre’s 2021 “As We Grow We Sow” Awardee and a CTG/Humanitas Playwrights Prize finalist. Other works include: Listen, A Black Woman Is Speaking (2024 Ashland Play Festival finalist, 2023 Common Crow Theatre/Dublin, Ireland, Third Rail Repertory readings); Bread and Circus (2023 New Noise Reading Series – A Noise Within/Lower Depth Theatre Co. Cycle of Poverty Fellowship); Red Ribbons (2022 Voices for Victory Series, 2021 Headwaters New Play finalist); and The Things We Leave Behind (NEXT Commission).  

CHUMA GAULT (Director) is an actor, producer and director based in Los Angeles. Upcoming: That Kowalski Kidby Tony Abatemarco (LGBTQ Center Residency), Assistant director Fat Ham at Dezart Performs (Palm Springs); In 2022 he directed Gem Of The Ocean at the University of Georgia that presented a young and vibrant take on the August Wilson classic. He directed an episode of the multi award-winning web-series “In Search of A-P-I-G”. He was the video designer for EST/LA’s hit immersive production of Two Stop by David Johann Kim. Chuma has written, directed and produced for the William Inge Theater Festival. He has directed for The Car Plays at Segerstrom Center for the Arts and countless one act festivals with Moving Arts and EST/LA. “My directing always seeks to find that balance of collaboration that creates space for inspiration.” Chuma played Caesar in Gem of the Ocean (A Noise Within-LADCC award for Best Production). The Gun Show by EM Lewis (Moving Arts – Stage Raw Award nominated for outstanding solo performance nominee); Freedom Summer by Stephen Sachs (Fountain Theatre – Best Male Performance nominee); Tree by Julie Hébert (Ensemble Studio Theatre – LADCC nomination for Best Male Performance).  Chuma was a recurring guest star on “Girlfriends” (Amazon), a regular on the drama “Game of Silence” (NBC), guest starred on “The Rookie,” and recently had a notorious five-episode arc on “Days Of Our Lives.” 

The Cast of ROBBIN, FROM THE HOOD features: Iesha M. Daniels as “Robbin,” Enrike Llamas as “Juan,” Geri Nikole-Love as “Margaret,” Rob Nagle as “Kyle,” Joshua R. Lamont  as “Charles,” and William L. Warren as “Percy.”  

The Design Team for ROBBIN, FROM THE HOOD is as follows: Scenic Design by Amanda Knehans; Lighting Design by Derrick McDaniel; Projection Design by Nick Santiago; Sound Design by John Zalewski; Costume Design by Wendell Carmichael, and the Properties Design by Scottie Nevil.  The Production Stage Manager is Maurie Gonzalez.  ROBBIN, FROM THE HOOD is produced by Danna Hyams, Taylor Gilbert and Cherish Monique Duke. 

SCHEDULE AND PRICING

ROBBIN, FROM THE HOOD will preview on Tuesday, October 8; Wednesday, October 9 & Thursday, October 10 at 8pm and will open on Friday, October 11 at 8pm (press opening) and perform through Sunday, November 10 at the Road Theatre, located in The NoHo Senior Arts Colony, 10747 Magnolia Blvd. in North Hollywood. 

Performances are Fridays & Saturdays at 8pm; Sundays at 2pm. Tickets available online at roadtheatre.org: or or call 818-761-8838.   

Tickets: $15.00 (Previews); $39.00 (General Admission); $25.00 (Seniors); $17 (Students). 

 Ophelia’s Jump Presents The World Premiere of 

Second Death of a Mad Wife by Kelly McBurnette-Andronicos, 

Directed by Beatrice Casagrán

October 12 through November 3, 2024

Ophelia’s Jump Productions (OJP) will present the world premiere of Second Death of a Mad Wife by Kelly McBurnette-Andronicos and directed by Beatrice Casagrán. The production will be performed at Ophelia’s Jump, located at 2009 Porterfield Way, Suite I, in Upland, from October 12 through November 3, 2024.

This “wonderfully creepy and surreal ‘Northeastern Southern Gothic Noir” story brings another production to the OJP stage by this talented storyteller. Previous productions by McBurnett-Andronicos presented at Ophelia’s Jump include A Poison Squad of Whispering Women (2020) and The Hall of Final Ruin (2022). Producing Artistic Director Beatrice Casagrán explains the selection of Second Death for the OJP’s 2024 Season, “Kelly McBurnette-Andronicos is one of my favorite playwrights and people. She creates fantastical stories from historical nuggets. Her plays are populated by delightfully flawed, funny, weird characters with compelling and often dark motivations. Her talent in building darkly funny worlds rings all my bells!”

THE STORY: Whatever happened to Jack the Ripper’s wife? Bunny Maybrick began life in an opulent Alabama mansion and is ending it in a squalid shack full of cats in rural

Connecticut. She’s already given away most of her meager belongings, but the heavy contents of her soul are harder to leave behind. That is, until a local prep school boy, Theo Voss, becomes an accomplice in Bunny’s meandering, mad, death-bed confession that includes adultery, arsenic addiction, and murder.

Kelly McBurnett-Andronicos is a self-described “small town, American playwright raised in Alabama, New Mexico and West Texas. My aesthetic view is a fusion of Southern Appalachian and Southwest U.S. culture and heavily influenced by the literary genres of Magical Realism, Romanticism and Gothicism.” Her full-length plays include the Southern Gothic crime noir, To Tread Among Serpents (Off-Off Broadway production, Winner of the Southern Playwrights Competition, O’Neill Semi-finalist) and the dark comedy western, The Hall of Final Ruin (Stage Raw Los Angeles Playwriting Award, Renaissance Theaterworks Brink! Award, Great Plains Theatre Conference Finalist, Stowe Story Labs Finalist, Two-time Princess Grace Semi-finalist, BAPF Semi-finalist).

Other plays include A Poison Squad of Whispering Women (BAPF Finalist), Second Death of a Mad Wife, and Maria Rasputin in Spangleland as well as many 10-minute plays. Her short play, El Loro, El Gato Y El Espíritu Santo (or The Parrot, the Cat and the Holy Ghost) is published by YouthPLAYS.

SECOND DEATH OF A MAD WIFE

Written by Kelly McBurnette-Andronicos

Directed by Beatrice Casagrán

Featuring: Billie Bryant, Jenny Buchanan, Preston Grant, Graham Kurtz, Jeff Sable, Robert Solomon and Hannah Whiteoak

Location: 2009 Porterfield Way, Suite I, Upland, CA 91786

Preview: March 7, 2024

Regular Run: October 12 through November 3, 2024

Curtain Times:

Saturday, October 12 8:00pm (Opening Night)

Sunday, October 13  4:00pm

Thursday, October 17 7:30pm “Pay What You Can/Pay It Forward

Friday, October 18 8:00pm

Saturday, October 19 3:30pm

Saturday, October 19 8:00pm

Sunday, October 20 4:00pm

Thursday, October 24 7:30pm “Pay What You Can/Pay It Forward”

Friday, October 25 8:00pm

Saturday, October 26 8:00pm

Sunday, October 27 4:00pm

Wednesday, October 307:00pm

Thursday, October 31 8:00pm “Pay What You Can/Pay It Forward”

Friday, November 1 8:00pm

Saturday, November 2 8:00pm

Sunday, November 3 4:00pm

Ticket Information

All seats $35, $25 for college students with ID and children under 10. Thursdays are “Pay What You Can/Pay It Forward” with a $20 minimum. Online ticketing available at opheliasjump.org. Please call 909-734-6565 for tickets and information on group discounts.

About Ophelia’s Jump

Ophelia’s Jump is an award-winning, non-profit regional theatre company based in Claremont and performing in Claremont and Upland. Ophelia’s Jump Productions was founded in 2013 by women and queer artists and educators who believe that the purpose of theatre is to create unending conversations, spark imagination, incite conscience, and elicit a visceral response. OJP aims to invigorate the creativity and intellect of our community by working with local and regional artists to tell compelling stories and educate new generations of theatre lovers.

Ophelia’s Jump is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation.

Additional information available at opheliasjump.org or info@opheliasjump.org

Location: 2009 Porterfield Way, Suite I, Upland CA, 91786

Odyssey Theatre’s ‘Music at the Odyssey’
presents Eleanora Owen in ‘Being Piaf’ 

WHAT:
Odyssey Theatre Ensemble’s ongoing “Music at the Odyssey” series presents a two-weekend engagement of Being Piaf. Actress, singer and writer Eleanora Owen channels the “little sparrow,” sharing her life story and repertoire with the audience. Tim Byron Owen directs this original solo play with music that highlights Piaf’s joie de vivre, resilience, and triumph over a life of abject poverty and despair.

WHO:
• Written and Performed by Eleanora Owen
• Directed by Tim Byron Owen
• Produced by Beth Hogan in association with Georganne Aldrich Heller and The Sarah Fulton Group
• Presented by the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, Ron Sossi Artistic Director

WHEN:
Oct. 18 – Oct. 27:
• Fridays at 8 p.m.: Oct. 18* and Oct. 25
• Saturdays at 8 p.m.: Oct. 19 and Oct. 26
• Sundays at 4 p.m.: Oct. 20 and Oct. 27
*Wine Night Fridays: Enjoy complimentary wine and snacks after the show on the third Friday of every month.

WHERE:
Odyssey Theatre
2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd.
Los Angeles CA 90025

TICKET PRICES
$30 (plus $3 credit card fee if applicable)

HOW:
OdysseyTheatre.com
(310) 477-2055 ext. 2

Company of Angels New Works Fest ’24

Five staged readings of new plays exploring relationships rocked by an outside force.

Four plays are by women playwrights:

WOUND CARE: a crack baby reparations play

Written by Jennie Webb
Directed by Jen Bloom

Friday, October 18 | 8:00 PM

After meeting her troubled, recently deceased mother–who gave her up for adoption as an infant–Terra starts to navigate a little-known California State compensation program and runs into more of life’s surreal hurdles.

Gertrude & Lady M

Written by Emily Brauer Rogers
Directed by Katie Chidester

Saturday, October 19 | 8:00 PM

Gertrude, the mother of Hamlet, and Lady Macbeth find themselves in the afterlife where all the social rules they experienced are no longer there. Not bound by what they have to do as women, they’re free to vie for power–and both have their eyes set on ruling below. Which one will be able to outmaneuver the other and win the crown?

Traffic Report

Written by Tamadhur Al-Aqeel
Directed by Elana Luo

Saturday, October 26 | 8:00 PM

Mia buys a plane ticket on the black market for her father to escape his country and join her family in California. The plan backfires, and instead a stranger with a secret comes to stay.

What Lies Behind

Written by Judy Soo Hoo
Directed by Andy Lowe

Sunday, October 27 | 7:00 PM

An Asian American woman attempts to solve the disappearance of her sister by signing-up her dementia-afflicted father, who was the last person to have seen her, in a gene-editing study that may recall his memory.

The CoA New Works Fest ’24 also includes John Dubiel’s Connection directed by bKellie McIver.

At Company of Angels we’re committed to connecting deeply and authentically with audiences from a broad range of economic backgrounds, ages, ethnicities, and perspectives. To further that commitment, we’re offering our New Works Festival pay-what-you-can at the door (please do RSVP to secure your seat). As a non-profit theater company, we have always relied on our community of supporters. But today, we need them more than ever.

Visit companyofangels.org/newworksfest2024

Let’s face it: Suicide Sucks. And no one knows how to handle it. How do you transform the worst thing that’s ever happened to you…?

“On the eve of his 27th birthday, my brother jumped off a bridge. Ever since then, I’ve been committed to creating something for Robbie … about Robbie… about surviving Robbie. I’ve debated countless different ways to tell the tale. Who wants to talk about death? (I’d rather party!),” admits writer Lisa Robins. “But I made a commitment. Why did the boy jump off the bridge? Why live? What’s my purpose? I created a Ritual for Robbie. But couldn’t finish the damn thing, until now.”

With humor as a shield and community as her anchor, Lisa uses unfiltered honesty and biting wit to share her (imperfect) recovery in this tragicomic journey.

Lisa Robins (Playwright/Performer) was chosen to perform her play Committed? in the Whole Megillah New Play Festival at San Diego Rep, then workshopped it at Soapbox Gallery in Brooklyn, and the Actors Studio in Los Angeles. She has helped develop other writers’ work in professional workshops on both coasts at The Actors Studio, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Rogue Machine, Lab 26, and Theatre East. Noted original plays which she helped bring to fruition include The Blessing of a Broken Heart – a solo play, directed and adapted by Todd Salovey from Sherri Mandell’s book and In Every Generation by Ali Viterbi at the SD Rep; The Catskill Sonata by Michael Elias (d. Paul Mazursky at the Matrix Theatre); River Time by Katherine Cortez; Center of the Star by Yehuda Hyman and Long Bridge (d. Bill Rausch) with Cornerstone; Love, Loss and What I Wore (Geffen Playhouse); Sex…by George Furth (d. John Rubenstein); Good in Bed by Gena Acosta (d. Asaad Kelada); and Tom Bellin’s Shock Therapy (d. Jenny O’Hara). Lisa co-wrote Starshine, a children’s musical performed at The Actors Studio. Film/TV credits include Rum Diary, James Dean, (d. Mark Rydell). She is a member of The Actors Studio, Rogue Machine, and is an Artist in Residence at The Braid.

Mitch Levine (Director) is a stage and film director with credits around the world who led the Directors Unit of the legendary Actors Studio. Off Broadway at Circle Rep in NYC he directed Sorry!, Amorphous George at MCC, Terror America and A Public Service at the Ohio Theatre, and the revival of Lyle Kessler’s Orphans. Mitch collaborated with Peter Gabriel and Moses Pendleton on the creation of Passion, directed A Dream Within a Dream for Pacific Resident Theatre, Jean Anouilh’s Antigone for the Williamstown Theatre Festival and Arthur Kopit’s Wings, which was much-honored in Los Angeles. He was a Fellow at Juilliard and the first James Cameron Directing Fellow at the American Film Institute. His film, “Shadows,” a story of love and loss during the Holocaust, won awards around the globe. Recently, he directed the acclaimed run of Cindy Marinangel’s Dietrich, as well as the multi-year tour of the political comedy, God Help Us!, starring the late, great Ed Asner. His other films include the drama “In Confidence” (Cannes 2015) as well as the documentaries “Hungry is the Tiger,” and “Morphing Gravity.” He was host of AFI’s Great Filmmakers series and is the founder of The Film Festival Group.

Creative Team: Elina de Santos (Producer), Justin Tanner (Dramaturg).

Rogue Machine is the only company to receive the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for “Best Season for a Small to Midsized Theater” three times (2023, 2016, 2011). Additionally, they won the Ovation Award for “Best Season” (2017) and in the last nine years the company has won three Ovation Awards and four LADCC awards for “Outstanding Production of the Year.” Rogue Machine produces new plays, primarily by Los Angeles based playwrights, 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 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 Shubert Foundation, The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, The David Lee Foundation, The City and County of Los Angeles, The Ahmanson Foundation, and The Richenthal Foundation. Rogue Machine Theatre is a recipient of the American Theatre Wing’s 2014 National Theatre Company Grant.

COMMITTED? opens at 8pm on Wednesday, October 23 and runs at 2pm Oct. 26 (Show4Less $15+); 7pm Sunday Oct 27; 8pm Nov 1; 3pm Nov 3. There will be hosted post-performance talkbacks after each performance. Rogue Machine at the Matrix Theatre is located at 7657 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90046. Tickets are $45 (Students $25 / Seniors $35). Reservations: https://www.roguemachinetheatre.org/committed or for more information 855-585-5185.

Blood/Love
A new, all-original vampire rock popera

The Crimson, 6356 Hollywood Blvd., First Floor
Limited six week engagement September 26 to November 2!

Featuring
Cam Anthony (The Voice winner season 20), Brennin Hunt (Roger in RENT: Live),
and Daniel Franzese (Mean Girls)

Book & Music by Carey Sharpe and Dru DeCaro
Additional Music by Erin Boehme and Adam “Snake” Kobylarz

Choreographed Jonathan & Oksana Platero (DWTS, SYTYCD),
Directed and Produced by Daniel LeClaire

Tickets available now at bloodlove.com

Blood/Love is a new, all-original vampire rock popera featuring twenty-five songs that tell a tale of love, friendship, heartbreak, and redemption. Blood/Love will play The Crimson, a gothic nightclub in a truly immersive staging where vampires roam among the living at 6356 Hollywood Blvd (at Schrader Blvd), First Floor, 90028 from September 26 to November 2. Tickets are available at bloodlove.com.

Fusing vampire lore, pop music, choreography, and nightlife into one entrancing musical experience, Blood/Love offers an ultimate night out. The evening begins in The Crimson’s cocktail lounge with signature craft cocktails. Audiences then move to the intimate theater for the 75-minute immersive performance (VIP seating available). After the 9:30pm performances, a moonlit DJ after-party is available in The Atrium, the Crimson’s night club.

Blood/Love features Cam Anthony (The Voice winner season 20), Brennin Hunt (Roger in Fox RENT: Live), and Daniel Franzese (Mean Girls).

Blood/Love has book and music by Carey Sharpe and GRAMMY® Award-winning songwriter/producer Dru DeCaro (Em Beihold’s platinum radio #1 “Numb Little Bug”) with
additional music by Concord Records artist Erin Boehme and Adam “Snake” Kobylarz.

The choreographers are Jonathan & Oksana Platero (DWTS, SYTYCD), and it is directed and produced by Daniel LeClaire (BOOK OF MORMON, HAIRSPRAY!).

Blood/Love had its original production in 2022 at The Howard in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, hometown theatre to Sharpe, LeClaire, and Boehme, where Sharpe and Boehme performed leading roles under LeClaire’s direction. They take the stage again to repeat their assignments in this new Hollywood production. Blood/Love also had a sold-out concert version in January 2024 at Joe’s Pub at the Public Theatre in New York City.

About Blood/Love

Vampires are ever-present in pop culture especially as the days get shorter: think Interview with the Vampire, The Twilight Saga, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dark Shadows, Dracula, and The Vampire Diaries.

Fans of vampires (and who isn’t?) will want to see this new incarnation, Blood/Love, that speaks as much to human nature as it does to the sultry glamorous lives of the undead. It tells the haunting tale of Valerie Bloodlove (Carey Sharpe), who has lived hundreds of lives across thousands of years. Satan’s former queen, the original vampire, she is condemned to wander Earth for eternity — living in the shadows and forced to survive off of the very humans she has longed to live among.

Valerie’s immortal life feels empty, even as her draconian companions, Cleo (Erin Boehme) and Demetrius (Cam Anthony), attempt to rekindle her desires to thirst and lust — and to remind her of the joys of being immortal.

On the brink of despair, Valerie has a chance encounter with mortal superstar Anzick (Brennin Hunt), who reignites her will to carry on. However, she learns he has his own deal with the devil: in exchange for his eternal soul, he was bestowed with supernatural musical talent, complete with success and stardom. Valerie finds a kindred spirit and a motivation to carry on – but is now forced to choose between love and survival, drawn to someone who also bears the burden of a wish turned into a curse.

Writer and producer Carey Sharpe said to Broadwayworld, “Everybody loves vampires. They’re always popular: they’re sexy, they’re cool. And they are ultimately human, or they at least were human. This is about when the conundrums of life are enlarged by having to negotiate a life going on forever — the amplification of human nature.”

“A pact with the devil takes on a new dimension – giving these creatures plenty to sing about, now influenced with pop and rock genres. It turns out that the emotional life for vampires is not much different than for those of us with shorter life spans — and the action and score were influenced by goings on in our personal lives, during COVID lockdown when we were creating Blood/Love.”

“The story then all fits together because it was really driven by songs about our feelings at the time. For example, ‘Dead to Me’ is basically a fight between two best friends that have been friends for eternity because they are vampires, the breakdown of their relationship with betrayal, anger and hurt. But it’s not of a romantic nature, it’s just their friendship and how painful that can be.”

For more information, please visit bloodlove.com

What’s Behind Door Number 2?

Denise and Matt believe they are the legal owners of the contents of an abandoned storage unit. Then along comes a big dude who begs to differ with their appraisal of their circumstances. Sometimes you just can’t make a deal.

Kim Hlavac directs herself, Jeff LeBeau, and Keith Barber.

Kim is also the playwright. A frequent contributor to Open-Door Playhouse as an actor, director, and writer, she graduated from the famed High School of Performing Arts and then attained her BFA from SUNY/Purchase.

Listen Here:
https://www.opendoorplayhouse.org/opendoortheaterplays/whatsbehinddoornumber2
Run Time: 10:40

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 from 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.

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.

ELECTRIC, I

A WORLD PREMIERE PLAY
AT THEATRE OF NOTE

Theatre of NOTE is excited to announce that tickets are now on sale for the world premiere of Electric, I written by Shayne Eastin and directed by Amanda Sonnenschein.

The show opens on October 3 and runs every Thursday through Saturday at 8pm PST and
Sunday 6pm PST through November 10, including one Pay-What-You-Can performance on
Monday October 28 at 8pm. General admission tickets cost $30. Senior/student tickets cost $20.

Electric, I centers on the plight of an artist and a scientist who, undeterred by the barriers of time, unite to outrun the media’s trajectory while hoping to carve out a path illuminated by nature and genuine human connection. In the play we meet characters based on historical figures like Thomas Edison, Mary Pickford and Nikola Tesla—while also asking where the forefathers of a never-ending stream of sensationalized content are taking us in the future.

The production features the cast of Hannah Arungwa, Brad C. Light, Caitlin Apparcel,
Greenberry Lucas, Oraldo Austin, Christopher Neiman, Joel Scher, Anthony Soliz, Moira
Rogers, Kitten McCreery, and Danielle Smith.

The vision of the playwright, director, and cast is supported and made possible by the production crew: Yi Lin Zhao (Prop Design), Justin Kelley-Cahill (Lighting Design), Jamie Humiston (Sound Design), Shoshi Brustin (Costume Design), Kelsey Kato (Puppet Design and Construction), Austin Beaulier (Projection Design), Jackson Greer (Composer), Melissa
McNamara (Movement and Intimacy Director), Cameron Murphy (Projection Researcher),
Anthony Soliz (Projection Researcher), Peter Newell (Stage Manager), and Jordan Rivera
(Assistant Stage Manager).

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Amanda Sonnenschein (she/her) is a bicoastal director, writer, and producer. She has directed eight short-form projects and produced four features; her experience spans film, TV, theatre, music videos, podcasts and commercials. Her work has premiered on VH1, Amazon, and at Regal LA Live, and she has worked with companies such as HBO, eOne and Overbrook Entertainment. One of her recent projects, The Game, has amassed a dedicated social media following and over 50 million views since its Comic-Con debut. Her upcoming feature Where The Mountain Women Sing (co-written with director Juefang Zhang) recently won an award at Cannes and Fantasia Film Festival’s 2024 Frontières Market. In her free time, Amanda maintains her first love of art, running a side business painting pet portraits. She is a proud alumna of LaGuardia High School and Wesleyan University.

ABOUT THE WRITER
Shayne Eastin (she/they) is a writer from Los Angeles. Their plays include H7: A Hamlet Study, Flirtation Point, States, and The Domestics. Shayne is also a regular contributor to True Crime Night at the Three Clubs in Hollywood and has written dozens of short plays that have been performed throughout Los Angeles. In 2021, Shayne performed their critically acclaimed, one-on-one, interactive show Out There for over 200 remote participants. Their short play Trouble for Miles was turned into an award-winning experimental short film (directed by Jamin Scotti). When not making or studying theatre and films, Shayne enjoys music, fencing and professional baseball.

ABOUT THEATRE OF NOTE:
Theatre of NOTE is a non-profit democratic company that stagedives the arena of theatre arts. Founded in 1981, our ensemble-based organization is dedicated to providing a creative environment in which to collaborate and develop maverick theater.

NOTE produces an average of four mainstage shows a year, with a focus on premiere productions — shows that are brand new to the world, to the West Coast, to California, or to Los Angeles. NOTE also produces the annual Hollywood Performance Marathon, the NOTEworthy new play development workshops, and our educational outreach program, the Young Writers Project.

NOTE has consistently been commended by both Los Angeles and national press, including
American Theatre Magazine, and has earned countless accolades, nominations, and honors from every award-granting theatrical organization in Southern California.

For more information about Theatre of NOTE visit the official website here.

‘Heading Into Night: A clown play about… [forgetting]’
gets West Coast premiere at Odyssey Theatre 

Cirque du Soleil clown Daniel Passer and award-winning director Beth F. Milles bring a clown ode to loss and remembrance to the Odyssey Theatre stage, exploring the unexpected humor and discoveries to be found in the loss of memory, and deeply honoring the experience of people whose memories are fading. The West Coast premiere of Heading Into Night: A clown play about… [forgetting] will run October 5 through November 17 at the Odyssey’s venue in West L.A., with two preview performances on Thursday, Oct. 3 and Friday, Oct. 4.

Longtime collaborators, Milles and Passer devised and developed this interactive piece as an investigation into the work being done at kinder, gentler care dementia villages based on Hogeweyk, an eldercare facility in the Netherlands where people facing cognitive loss are nurtured in a community. Preparing for the work, the two delved into cognitive science research about repetition, connecting the mental looping characteristic of cognitive loss with clowning and commedia dell’arte theater.

“Clowning is often built on repetition, so this seemed a very organic connection,” says Milles. “There is nothing less certain than not knowing. And there is a mystical, tenuous fragility in the state of losing one’s place, as well as an audacious power in just ‘being.’ This work is focused on the joy of rediscovery. Daniel and I want to be adventurers, to explore ways to give to our community each time we create a work.”

Heading Into Night premiered at The Cherry Arts in Ithaca, New York, where Milles is a member of the acting and directing faculty at Cornell University. As a director and theater creator, she specializes in new and devised work investigating the comic impulse. Milles has directed on Broadway and at theaters around the country, including award-winning productions with the celebrated Actors Gang in Los Angeles. Last season, she directed Iva Brdar’s And if I don’t behave then what at Open Fist Theatre Company.

“Looking through the lens of a clown, and bringing a sense of joy and childlike innocence to the theme of memory, has been a rich landscape to explore,” says Passer, who has been a clown and comedy conceptor for Cirque du Soleil and Dragone Entertainment for over a decade; has taught commedia, clown and improvisation at Moscow Art Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Brown University, Harvard, Cornell; and is currently on faculty and associate director of performance at CalArts. “I love collaborating with Beth and dreaming up the impossible and striving to bring it to life.”

Joining Passer on stage at the Odyssey are actor Peter Mark and musician Redfield Clipper Mills.

The creative team includes costume designer Márion Talán de la Rosa; lighting designer Russell Champa; projection designer Gabrieal Griego; technical consultant Pierre Clavel; and graphics designer Luba Lukova. The stage manager is Bella Peters. Beth Hogan produces for Odyssey Theatre Ensemble.

Performances of Heading Into Night take place on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. from October 5 through November 17. There will be two additional weeknight performances, on Wednesday, Oct. 16 and Wednesday, Nov. 6, each at 8 p.m.: Two previews take place on Thursday, Oct. 4 and Friday, Oct. 5, both at 8 p.m. Post-performance discussions are scheduled on Wednesday, Oct. 16 and Friday, Nov. 1. The third Friday of every month is “Wine Night”: enjoy complimentary wine and snacks and mingle with the cast after the show.

Tickets to performances range from $20 to $40 on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Performances on Fridays are Pay-What-You-Can (reservations open online and at the door starting at 5:30 p.m.). The Odyssey Theatre is located at 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., West Los Angeles, 90025

For more information and to purchase tickets, call (310) 477-2055 or go to OdysseyTheatre.com.

ROAD THEATRE COMPANY 

Presents the First Show of its 2024-2025 Season!

The World Premiere of 

ROBBIN, 

FROM THE HOOD

Written by Marlow Wyatt 

Directed by Chuma Gault

Limited Engagement Opens Friday, October 11

at the Road Theatre in North Hollywood

THE ROAD THEATRE COMPANY and Taylor Gilbert, Founder/Artistic Director together with Sam Anderson, Artistic Director, announce the first show of its 2024-2025 season, the world premiere of ROBBIN, FROM THE HOOD, written by Marlow Wyatt and directed by Chuma Gault.  ROBBIN, FROM THE HOOD will begin previews on Tuesday, October 8; will open on Friday, October 11 at 8pm and perform through Sunday, November 10 at 2pm at the Road Theatre, located in The NoHo Senior Arts Colony, 10747 Magnolia Blvd. in North Hollywood. 

In this re-imagined, classic tale, corporate greed dominates the deceptive game of capitalism. Robbin Woods, a 17-year-old math genius, is given the opportunity to enter that seemingly unattainable world. Once inside, she recognizes the massive inequities that exist and creates a plan to level the playing field. Because, sometimes you have to do the wrong thing for the right reason.   

ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM AND CAST 

MARLOW WYATT (Playwright) is an award-winning playwright and actor.  She received her BFA from Howard University College of Fine Arts. Her first full-length play She, debuted at the Antaeus Theatre with critical acclaim and is listed as one of the “12 Best World Premiere Plays of 2023/24” by StageSceneLA.  Her drama Robbin, from the Hood, developed in Moving Arts’ MADLab and Support Black Theatre’s first Pipeline play, premieres as Road Theatre Company’s 2024/25 season opener.  Wyatt is a 2022/23 LA New Play Project grant recipient, a 2022 Lower Depth Commission Fellow, 2022 AGE Legacy Grant recipient, Antaeus 2021 NEXT Commission Artist, Support Black Theatre’s 2021 “As We Grow We Sow” Awardee and a CTG/Humanitas Playwrights Prize finalist. Other works include: Listen, A Black Woman Is Speaking (2024 Ashland Play Festival finalist, 2023 Common Crow Theatre/Dublin, Ireland, Third Rail Repertory readings); Bread and Circus (2023 New Noise Reading Series – A Noise Within/Lower Depth Theatre Co. Cycle of Poverty Fellowship); Red Ribbons (2022 Voices for Victory Series, 2021 Headwaters New Play finalist); and The Things We Leave Behind (NEXT Commission).  

CHUMA GAULT (Director) is an actor, producer and director based in Los Angeles. Upcoming: That Kowalski Kidby Tony Abatemarco (LGBTQ Center Residency), Assistant director Fat Ham at Dezart Performs (Palm Springs); In 2022 he directed Gem Of The Ocean at the University of Georgia that presented a young and vibrant take on the August Wilson classic. He directed an episode of the multi award-winning web-series “In Search of A-P-I-G”. He was the video designer for EST/LA’s hit immersive production of Two Stop by David Johann Kim. Chuma has written, directed and produced for the William Inge Theater Festival. He has directed for The Car Plays at Segerstrom Center for the Arts and countless one act festivals with Moving Arts and EST/LA. “My directing always seeks to find that balance of collaboration that creates space for inspiration.” Chuma played Caesar in Gem of the Ocean (A Noise Within-LADCC award for Best Production). The Gun Show by EM Lewis (Moving Arts – Stage Raw Award nominated for outstanding solo performance nominee); Freedom Summer by Stephen Sachs (Fountain Theatre – Best Male Performance nominee); Tree by Julie Hébert (Ensemble Studio Theatre – LADCC nomination for Best Male Performance).  Chuma was a recurring guest star on “Girlfriends” (Amazon), a regular on the drama “Game of Silence” (NBC), guest starred on “The Rookie,” and recently had a notorious five-episode arc on “Days Of Our Lives.” 

The Cast of ROBBIN, FROM THE HOOD features: Iesha M. Daniels as “Robbin,” Enrike Llamas as “Juan,” Geri Nikole-Love as “Margaret,” Rob Nagle as “Kyle,” Joshua R. Lamont  as “Charles,” and William L. Warren as “Percy.”  

The Design Team for ROBBIN, FROM THE HOOD is as follows: Scenic Design by Amanda Knehans; Lighting Design by Derrick McDaniel; Projection Design by Nick Santiago; Sound Design by John Zalewski; Costume Design by Wendell Carmichael, and the Properties Design by Scottie Nevil.  The Production Stage Manager is Maurie Gonzalez.  ROBBIN, FROM THE HOOD is produced by Danna Hyams, Taylor Gilbert and Cherish Monique Duke. 

SCHEDULE AND PRICING

ROBBIN, FROM THE HOOD will preview on Tuesday, October 8; Wednesday, October 9 & Thursday, October 10 at 8pm and will open on Friday, October 11 at 8pm (press opening) and perform through Sunday, November 10 at the Road Theatre, located in The NoHo Senior Arts Colony, 10747 Magnolia Blvd. in North Hollywood. 

Performances are Fridays & Saturdays at 8pm; Sundays at 2pm. Tickets available online at roadtheatre.org: or or call 818-761-8838.   

Tickets: $15.00 (Previews); $39.00 (General Admission); $25.00 (Seniors); $17 (Students). 

 Ophelia’s Jump Presents The World Premiere of 

Second Death of a Mad Wife by Kelly McBurnette-Andronicos, 

Directed by Beatrice Casagrán

October 12 through November 3, 2024

Ophelia’s Jump Productions (OJP) will present the world premiere of Second Death of a Mad Wife by Kelly McBurnette-Andronicos and directed by Beatrice Casagrán. The production will be performed at Ophelia’s Jump, located at 2009 Porterfield Way, Suite I, in Upland, from October 12 through November 3, 2024.

This “wonderfully creepy and surreal ‘Northeastern Southern Gothic Noir” story brings another production to the OJP stage by this talented storyteller. Previous productions by McBurnett-Andronicos presented at Ophelia’s Jump include A Poison Squad of Whispering Women (2020) and The Hall of Final Ruin (2022). Producing Artistic Director Beatrice Casagrán explains the selection of Second Death for the OJP’s 2024 Season, “Kelly McBurnette-Andronicos is one of my favorite playwrights and people. She creates fantastical stories from historical nuggets. Her plays are populated by delightfully flawed, funny, weird characters with compelling and often dark motivations. Her talent in building darkly funny worlds rings all my bells!”

THE STORY: Whatever happened to Jack the Ripper’s wife? Bunny Maybrick began life in an opulent Alabama mansion and is ending it in a squalid shack full of cats in rural

Connecticut. She’s already given away most of her meager belongings, but the heavy contents of her soul are harder to leave behind. That is, until a local prep school boy, Theo Voss, becomes an accomplice in Bunny’s meandering, mad, death-bed confession that includes adultery, arsenic addiction, and murder.

Kelly McBurnett-Andronicos is a self-described “small town, American playwright raised in Alabama, New Mexico and West Texas. My aesthetic view is a fusion of Southern Appalachian and Southwest U.S. culture and heavily influenced by the literary genres of Magical Realism, Romanticism and Gothicism.” Her full-length plays include the Southern Gothic crime noir, To Tread Among Serpents (Off-Off Broadway production, Winner of the Southern Playwrights Competition, O’Neill Semi-finalist) and the dark comedy western, The Hall of Final Ruin (Stage Raw Los Angeles Playwriting Award, Renaissance Theaterworks Brink! Award, Great Plains Theatre Conference Finalist, Stowe Story Labs Finalist, Two-time Princess Grace Semi-finalist, BAPF Semi-finalist).

Other plays include A Poison Squad of Whispering Women (BAPF Finalist), Second Death of a Mad Wife, and Maria Rasputin in Spangleland as well as many 10-minute plays. Her short play, El Loro, El Gato Y El Espíritu Santo (or The Parrot, the Cat and the Holy Ghost) is published by YouthPLAYS.

SECOND DEATH OF A MAD WIFE

Written by Kelly McBurnette-Andronicos

Directed by Beatrice Casagrán

Featuring: Billie Bryant, Jenny Buchanan, Preston Grant, Graham Kurtz, Jeff Sable, Robert Solomon and Hannah Whiteoak

Location: 2009 Porterfield Way, Suite I, Upland, CA 91786

Preview: March 7, 2024

Regular Run: October 12 through November 3, 2024

Curtain Times:

Saturday, October 12 8:00pm (Opening Night)

Sunday, October 13  4:00pm

Thursday, October 17 7:30pm “Pay What You Can/Pay It Forward

Friday, October 18 8:00pm

Saturday, October 19 3:30pm

Saturday, October 19 8:00pm

Sunday, October 20 4:00pm

Thursday, October 24 7:30pm “Pay What You Can/Pay It Forward”

Friday, October 25 8:00pm

Saturday, October 26 8:00pm

Sunday, October 27 4:00pm

Wednesday, October 307:00pm

Thursday, October 31 8:00pm “Pay What You Can/Pay It Forward”

Friday, November 1 8:00pm

Saturday, November 2 8:00pm

Sunday, November 3 4:00pm

Ticket Information

All seats $35, $25 for college students with ID and children under 10. Thursdays are “Pay What You Can/Pay It Forward” with a $20 minimum. Online ticketing available at opheliasjump.org. Please call 909-734-6565 for tickets and information on group discounts.

About Ophelia’s Jump

Ophelia’s Jump is an award-winning, non-profit regional theatre company based in Claremont and performing in Claremont and Upland. Ophelia’s Jump Productions was founded in 2013 by women and queer artists and educators who believe that the purpose of theatre is to create unending conversations, spark imagination, incite conscience, and elicit a visceral response. OJP aims to invigorate the creativity and intellect of our community by working with local and regional artists to tell compelling stories and educate new generations of theatre lovers.

Ophelia’s Jump is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation.

Additional information available at opheliasjump.org or info@opheliasjump.org

Location: 2009 Porterfield Way, Suite I, Upland CA, 91786

Let’s face it: Suicide Sucks. And no one knows how to handle it. How do you transform the worst thing that’s ever happened to you…?

“On the eve of his 27th birthday, my brother jumped off a bridge. Ever since then, I’ve been committed to creating something for Robbie … about Robbie… about surviving Robbie. I’ve debated countless different ways to tell the tale. Who wants to talk about death? (I’d rather party!),” admits writer Lisa Robins. “But I made a commitment. Why did the boy jump off the bridge? Why live? What’s my purpose? I created a Ritual for Robbie. But couldn’t finish the damn thing, until now.”

With humor as a shield and community as her anchor, Lisa uses unfiltered honesty and biting wit to share her (imperfect) recovery in this tragicomic journey.

Lisa Robins (Playwright/Performer) was chosen to perform her play Committed? in the Whole Megillah New Play Festival at San Diego Rep, then workshopped it at Soapbox Gallery in Brooklyn, and the Actors Studio in Los Angeles. She has helped develop other writers’ work in professional workshops on both coasts at The Actors Studio, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Rogue Machine, Lab 26, and Theatre East. Noted original plays which she helped bring to fruition include The Blessing of a Broken Heart – a solo play, directed and adapted by Todd Salovey from Sherri Mandell’s book and In Every Generation by Ali Viterbi at the SD Rep; The Catskill Sonata by Michael Elias (d. Paul Mazursky at the Matrix Theatre); River Time by Katherine Cortez; Center of the Star by Yehuda Hyman and Long Bridge (d. Bill Rausch) with Cornerstone; Love, Loss and What I Wore (Geffen Playhouse); Sex…by George Furth (d. John Rubenstein); Good in Bed by Gena Acosta (d. Asaad Kelada); and Tom Bellin’s Shock Therapy (d. Jenny O’Hara). Lisa co-wrote Starshine, a children’s musical performed at The Actors Studio. Film/TV credits include Rum Diary, James Dean, (d. Mark Rydell). She is a member of The Actors Studio, Rogue Machine, and is an Artist in Residence at The Braid.

Mitch Levine (Director) is a stage and film director with credits around the world who led the Directors Unit of the legendary Actors Studio. Off Broadway at Circle Rep in NYC he directed Sorry!, Amorphous George at MCC, Terror America and A Public Service at the Ohio Theatre, and the revival of Lyle Kessler’s Orphans. Mitch collaborated with Peter Gabriel and Moses Pendleton on the creation of Passion, directed A Dream Within a Dream for Pacific Resident Theatre, Jean Anouilh’s Antigone for the Williamstown Theatre Festival and Arthur Kopit’s Wings, which was much-honored in Los Angeles. He was a Fellow at Juilliard and the first James Cameron Directing Fellow at the American Film Institute. His film, “Shadows,” a story of love and loss during the Holocaust, won awards around the globe. Recently, he directed the acclaimed run of Cindy Marinangel’s Dietrich, as well as the multi-year tour of the political comedy, God Help Us!, starring the late, great Ed Asner. His other films include the drama “In Confidence” (Cannes 2015) as well as the documentaries “Hungry is the Tiger,” and “Morphing Gravity.” He was host of AFI’s Great Filmmakers series and is the founder of The Film Festival Group.

Creative Team: Elina de Santos (Producer), Justin Tanner (Dramaturg).

Rogue Machine is the only company to receive the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for “Best Season for a Small to Midsized Theater” three times (2023, 2016, 2011). Additionally, they won the Ovation Award for “Best Season” (2017) and in the last nine years the company has won three Ovation Awards and four LADCC awards for “Outstanding Production of the Year.” Rogue Machine produces new plays, primarily by Los Angeles based playwrights, 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 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 Shubert Foundation, The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, The David Lee Foundation, The City and County of Los Angeles, The Ahmanson Foundation, and The Richenthal Foundation. Rogue Machine Theatre is a recipient of the American Theatre Wing’s 2014 National Theatre Company Grant.

COMMITTED? opens at 8pm on Wednesday, October 23 and runs at 2pm Oct. 26 (Show4Less $15+); 7pm Sunday Oct 27; 8pm Nov 1; 3pm Nov 3. There will be hosted post-performance talkbacks after each performance. Rogue Machine at the Matrix Theatre is located at 7657 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90046. Tickets are $45 (Students $25 / Seniors $35). Reservations: https://www.roguemachinetheatre.org/committed or for more information 855-585-5185.

THE JAILBAIT CHRONICLES written and performed by Clara York

Whether you wore Ditto jeans back in the day or your girlfriend did or your grandma did or you bought some off Etsy because you think they’re way cool or you don’t care about jeans…this show is for you. Its a mashup of truth is stranger than fiction early years, some straight up avant garde theater with a Greek chorus of 3 amazing  performers, of hope, of generational departures, of a Hollywood cult and more. 

Call (310)622-2046 to reserve your seats and pay at the door!

A play about growing up smack in the middle of the Jailbait zeitgeist in L.A. A twisted, hilariously powerful tale about being a teenage woman in the not so female empowered, pre #metoo 1970’s. A time when jailbait rock ‘n roll was mainstream and we just danced to it. Oh and there’s a greek chorus!

FANATIC SALON 3815 SAWTELLE BLVD. CULVER CITY

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 3rd @7:30PM

Directed by Jane Morris

Cast: Clara York, Connie Chen, Teruko Mitsuhara, Laura Ralston. Choral Director: Kathryn Gallagher

Fanaticsalon.com

@Claracarlayork @JaneMorris #comedy #generationaltrauma #cults #women #empowerment #overcoming #keepgoing

https://fanaticsalon.com/get-a-ticket/

World premiere, family–friendly ‘The Girl Who Made
the Milky Way’ is based on Khoisan myth

Imagine Theatre in partnership with The Colony Theatre presents a world premiere, family-friendly theatrical experience inspired by a Khoisan myth. An original commission by Imagine Theatre, The Girl Who Made the Milky Way is written by acclaimed playwright June Carryl and directed by Imagine artistic director Armina LaManna. Five public performances will empower girls and transfix boys ages five and up from November 9 through November 17 at Burbank’s Colony Theatre. Nine additional weekday matinees are available for school field trips November 12 through November 22.

The Khoisan, an ancient ethnic group with a long and intriguing history, are believed to be the oldest human inhabitants of southern Africa. In the play, a young girl, Little Sister (Stakiah Lynn Washington), evolves from struggling with her place and duties among her people to embracing her uniqueness, voice, courage, and identity. Supported by a cast of archetypal characters in the form of animals, trees, mountains and spirits (Jamela Asha, Edward Hong, Max Lawrence, Carter Michael and Makha Mthembu), Little Sister braves the dangers of the African savanna and confronts the unfair expectations the world has of her because she is a girl. Not only does she help find her father by creating the stars of the night skies, but she also discovers her true self.

“When I heard of this South African folktale about a young girl inventing the stars, it resonated with me,” says LaManna. “It fits right in with Imagine’s mission to immerse young people in theater that is cross-cultural and celebratory of gender equity, diversity, and inclusivity. All Imagine Theatre productions are newly commissioned works and spotlight a female protagonist.”

Imagine Theatre has previously presented critically acclaimed productions of Warrior Queen Anahit the Brave, based on an Armenian fairytale, and The Tale of Turandot, a modern version of a fable, perhaps best known as Giacomo Puccini’s final opera, set in China. Both took place at The Colony Theatre and were directed by LaManna. The Girl Who Made the Milky Way marks the first time the two companies have joined together as co-producers.

The multiple award-winning creative team for The Girl who Made the Milky Way includes scenic designer Tom Buderwitz; costume designer Dianne K. Graebner; projections designer Gabrieal Griego; lighting designer Gavan Wyrick and sound designer Rebecca Kessin. The production stage manager is Elna Kordijan. Griego and LaManna produce for Imagine Theatre.

A professional Actors’ Equity company dedicated solely to producing original and relevant theater for young audiences in grades K through 5, Imagine Theatre strives to build an empathetic and inclusive society across cultures by immersing young people in theater that celebrates gender equity, diversity and civic engagement. The Colony Theatre strives to stimulate, inspire, illuminate and celebrate our common humanity through the shared experience of live, professional theater.

The Girl Who Made the Milky Way will receive five public performances on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 10 at 4 p.m.; Saturday, Nov. 16 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.; and Sunday, November 17 at 4 p.m. In addition, there will be nine student matinees available for school field trips on weekdays November 12 through November 22; interested educators should email [email protected] for more information.

Tickets to the public performances are $30 for adults and $20 for kids ages 5 to 12 (children under 5 not admitted) except opening night (Nov. 9), for which tickets are $50 and $30 and include a post-performance reception. Group and other discounts are also available.

The Colony Theatre is located in Burbank Town Center at 555 N 3rd St. Burbank, CA 91502. Parking is free in the attached Burbank Town Center parking structure. For more information and to purchase tickets, call (818) 649-9474 or go to imaginetheatreca.org

Penelope: A Lesson in Drowning

By Baylee Shlichtman

Penelope: A Lesson In Drowning is a prequel to The Odyssey, centering Penelope.

As an autistic Spartan princess, Penelope has her life figured out: she weaves tapestries on her loom, which helps quiet the raging waters inside her. She has a system in which she prevents any of her many suitors from winning her hand in marriage. Life is not exactly good, but it’s tolerable. But, after Penelope’s cousin and best friend, Helen, sends a new suitor her way, things get complicated. Odysseus seems different from the other suitors somehow. Different enough that she starts to question how much she really likes her life of safe routines: her daily routine, but also the routine cruelty of her controlling father, the Lord Icarius. Penelope must decide whether the chance of happiness is worth the risk of losing everything she knows. Will she overcome her fear of a love-like drowning and a drowning-like love? Or will she forever be stuck on dry land, safe, but alone?

Directed by Jahnavi Aithal

November 15-17 (Fri-Sat 8pm, Sat-Sun 2pm)

https://www.tickettailor.com/events/secondarylocation/1351241

Instagram: @secondarylocation_

Odyssey’s ‘Thresholds of Invention’ offers sneak
peeks of 2 works-in-progress by Sandra Tsing Loh

Odyssey Theatre Ensemble’s Thresholds of Invention series presents two new works-in-progress by iconoclastic writer/performer Sandra Tsing Loh.

A true story, I’ll Burn That Bridge When I Come to It (An Hilarious Self-Immolation by Sandra Tsing Loh) recounts how Loh’s new play was dropped from Center Theater Group’s 2023 all-female season, only to rip through Los Angeles, New York and London in 16 explosive months. In this TED(x!) talk crossed with a “You’ll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again” for theater, shots are taken at “Tony Award-nominated” (sure!) producers, Actors’ Equity (because it deserves it) and, of course, diversity/equity/inclusion (cue Twitter cancellation) by a pudgy 62-year-old CIS-crone who doesn’t give a f*k any more! Absolutely not supported by the Ford Foundation or Doris Duke Charitable Fund. Directed by David Schweizer.

A ‘Post-Apocalyptic’ Home Companion!, est. during Omicron Spike 2022, is a “dena” (Pasadena/Altadena/Santa Mon-adena) spin on Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion.” Hosted by Loh, with Roger Neill conducting TACO (Terrible Adult Chamber Orchestra) and a slew of fun surprise guests, the live radio show format features comedy and classic American songs with a twist. In this special “Post-Apocalyptic” (post-election) edition, we will come together to either celebrate the end of a dark era, or to honor our already-proven human resilience and the fact that Costco box wine will always remain super-affordable (at least in Southern California). Come prepared to laugh, cry, and sing (or even play) along — your instruments welcome!

“My play-in-progress, Madwomen of the West, in which four educated, culturally sidelined women over 50 try to make sense of a post-Hillary Clinton world, was briefly developed by CTG as part of their 2022-2023 all-female season, then dropped,” explains Loh. “I’ll Burn That Bridge is the gossipy, rip-snorting, no-prisoners-taken tale of taking that play, starring Caroline Aaron, Brooke Adams, Marilu Henner and Melanie Mayron, from Los Angeles to New York to London for a dizzying, theater rule-breaking 16 months — proving what can happen when ‘women of a certain age,’ whom the world wants to stay invisible and silent, say ‘F*ck that!’”

The Odyssey Theatre’s ongoing Thresholds of Invention series of first looks at pieces in process by prominent L.A. visionaries is curated by Tony Abatemarco and produced by Abatemarco and Beth Hogan.

Loh’s off-Broadway solo shows include Aliens in America and Bad Sex With Bud Kemp. Repertory theater: Sugar Plum Fairy (Geffen Playhouse, South Coast Rep, Seattle Rep, East West Players); I Worry (Woolly Mammoth/Kennedy Center, Actors Theatre/Louisville); The Madwoman in the Volvo (South Coast Rep, Pasadena Playhouse, Berkeley Rep). Her comic memoirs include The New York Times New and Noteworthy “Madwoman and the Roomba”; The New York Times 100 Notable Books “Madwoman in the Volvo”; “Mother on Fire”; “A Year in Van Nuys”; and “Depth Takes a Holiday.” The Los Angeles Times named her 1998 novel “If You Lived Here, You’d Be Home By Now” a 100 Best Fiction Book. An Atlantic contributing editor, Loh has been heard on NPR’s Morning Edition, PRI’s Marketplace and This American Life. A Caltech physics grad, Loh currently hosts the LAist/NPR daily radio science minute The Loh Down on Science.

Two performances of I’ll Burn That Bridge When I Come to It take place on Saturday, Nov. 16 and Saturday, Nov. 23, both at 8 p.m. One performance of A ‘Post-Apocalyptic’ Home Companion! takes place on Sunday, Nov. 17 at 3 p.m.

The Odyssey Theatre is located at 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025. Parking is free in the in-site lot. Tickets to the Thresholds of Invention series are $25 (plus a $3 credit card fee if applicable). For more information, call (310) 477-2055 ext. 2 or go to www.OdysseyTheatre.com.

Evil Eye by Madhuri Shekar

Artists at Play closes our 2024 season with Evil Eye by Madhuri Shekar, directed by Katherine Chou. Join us for an AAP Salon reading on Sunday, November 17, at 4 pm at the Los Angeles Theatre Center.

Evil Eye is a can’t-miss tale about cultural miscommunications, family secrets, and the lingering echoes of trauma. Told through a series of phone calls and voicemails, this Audible Original penned by award-winning playwright Madhuri Shekar transitions seamlessly from a light-hearted family dramedy to an unexpectedly supernatural thriller.

Artists at Play presents this reading after producing the Los Angeles premiere of Madhuri Shekar’s In Love and Warcraft in 2015. This fundraiser will support Artists at Play’s 2025 Season.

Tickets are pay what you want ($20-50).