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

Join LAFPI Instigators for pre-show community and connections on on Thursday, May 1 for our next LAFPI Night at the Geffen! Info here: lafpi.com/events

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

Skylight Theatre Company premieres Tracy Young’s modern verse translation of William Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale opening at Skylight Theatre on Thursday, April 24 at 8:00pm (with previews on April 18, 19, and 23) running through Saturday, June 14, 2025.

In the Los Angeles debut of Play On Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale has been reimagined in an accessible, 90-minute modern English translation adapted by Young and Lisa Volpe. This vibrant retelling of a story about love, loss, and rebirth is helmed and directed by Young whose innovative and award-winning work has been seen in productions at Actor’s Gang, Cornerstone Theater Company, and the celebrated Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

The Winter’s Tale will run most Thursdays at 8:00pm, 8:30pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and at 3:00pm on Sundays, but irregularities exist in the schedule starting in May; always check online. Skylight Theatre is located at 1816 ½ N. Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027. Opening night tickets are priced at $48+. Regular shows are priced between $20-$42 (students: $20; seniors 50+: $35.) Preview tickets are priced at $15+. There are a limited number of Pay-What-You-Can tickets to any performance, using code ACCESS (advance sale only). For more information and reservations, please visit: https://www.skylighttheatre.org/thewinterstale.

Set in the present day, Young’s music-infused translation of The Winter’s Tale tells the story of Leontes, a tyrannical ruler consumed by delusion who defies the law of Apollo and plunges his kingdom into darkness. Amidst the terror that ensues, a princess emerges, wielding extraordinary power to heal the land and its people. “It is required you do awake your faith!” cries Paulina, the witch, as the dead return to life in this magical tale of hope and forgiveness.

Skylight’s production of The Winter’s Tale is forging the first collaboration between Skylight Theatre Company and Play On Shakespeare, a non-profit organization that began as part of Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s initiative to examine plays through the lens of the English we speak today, which was launched in 2015 under Bill Rauch.

“I was first drawn by Play On Shakespeare’s commitment to commissioning dozens of contemporary playwrights and translations made by playwrights who embodied many different lived experiences and share a deep love and curiosity about language,” says Armando Huipe, Skylight’s Executive Director. “They were all tasked with matching Shakespeare’s linguistic rigor as they approach the text and structure,” Huipe adds, “in order to make Shakespeare’s plays engaging and accessible to today’s audiences.”

“Right now, the picture is bleak, and it’s growing bleaker every day. The Winter’s Tale offers up a story where people find hope, forgiveness, and music in the face of tyranny. It reminds us how things that die in the winter are reborn in the spring,” said Gary Grossman, Skylight Producing Artistic Director.

Play On Shakespeare translations aim to follow the same rigor and pressure as the original, which means honoring the meter, rhyme, rhetoric, image, metaphor, character, action and theme. The work must be structured in iambic pentameter. Within this context productions of the translations can still go through the same creative process that all classics go through: the director’s vision and creative interpretation. The Oxford Dictionary definition of translate is “to carry on.” The Play On Shakespeare series is intended to “carry on” the successful communication between actor and audience.

Skylight embraces the tenets of Play On Shakespeare and is proud to introduce this important non-profit organization to LA audiences.

Joining Tracy Young, Skylight and Play On Shakespeare in their inaugural association are scenic designer Christopher Scott Murillo (Princess Grace Foundation Award); Brandon Baruch, lighting design; C. Yuri Son, Costume Design; Celina Lee Surniak, Intimacy & Fight Coordination; and Benjamin Pryor as Dramaturge. Casting is by Victoria Hoffman and includes a diverse array of artists including Trans actors who help shape the world that Young has imagined. The acting ensemble is comprised of Audrey Cirzan, Shaan Dasani, Israel Erron Ford, Victoria Hoffman, Spencer Jamison, Iman Nazemzadeh, Misha Osherovich, Miguel Perez, Quest Sapp, KT Vogt, and Daniel Deyoung.

“[Play On Shakespeare] translations transform the theatergoing experience from Shakespeare’s time to ours by updating the language, wordplay, and wit to engage audiences the way they would have been engaged in the early modern theater.”
– New York Times

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 present 

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 Ferre

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.

At Open-Door Playhouse we bring the theater to you. Now Playing …

Penny Slots Part 4 by Kim Hlavac

Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre Group proudly presents the Return of the Acclaimed Horror Hit!

MOTHER: An Extreme Horror Experience

(2) Nights Only – Mother’s Day Weekend: SAT & SUN Evenings, MAY 10 & 11, 2025

With multiple showtimes each evening (6:00 PM, 6:45 PM, 7:30 PM, 8:15 PM, 9:00 PM, 9:45 PM, and 10:30 PM), MOTHER promises an unforgettable, high-intensity journey into the darkest corners of maternal love.

Written and directed by Charlotte Cocker and Produced by Zombie Joe, this darkly twisted tale features Charlotte Cocker and Jorge Vaca, delivering raw, haunting performances that will stay with you long after the night ends.

The story follows a mother devastated by the loss of her child—willing to defy life, death, and reason to bring her back. With the audience pulled directly into her desperate ritual, the question becomes not just if she can succeed… but at what cost?

“Love’s resurrection knows no terror like a mother’s grief.”

MOTHER: An Extreme Horror Experience is For Ages 18+ only – Viewer discretion is heavily advised: Contains graphic and mature, “triggering” themes, and light physical contact with persons and objects; Mandatory Waivers to be signed at door, prior to entry.

TICKETS:

 $25 advance TIX at:  ZombieJoes.TIX.com ($30 at the door)

WEBSITES:  zombiejoes.com | urbandeath.com

Step into the ritual. She needs your help—whether you like it or not.

Skylight Theatre Company
Presents The World Premiere of
Roger Q. Mason’s
Hide & Hide

Directed by Jessica Hanna

Thursday, May 15 – Sunday, June 29, 2025

Skylight Theatre Company proudly presents the World premiere of Hide & Hide, written by Roger Q. Mason and directed by Jessica Hanna. Previews begin May 9, 10, and 14, with opening night on Thursday, May 15. The production runs through Sunday, June 29, 2025, at Skylight Theatre. This new work marks the playwright’s return to Skylight Theatre Company following the success and critical acclaim of their 2022 production, Lavender Men. Hide & Hide is the second in Mason’s Califas Trilogy. It is a Homeric critique of the American Dream told through Billy (played by Ben Larson), a queer rent-boy from Texas fleeing a Christian sex conversion camp, and Constanza (played by Amielynn Abellera, The Pitt), a Filipina immigrant with a soon-to-expire visa, who together form a sham marriage to pursue their version of that dream in seedy 1980 Los Angeles.

“Hide & Hide excavates the myth of the American Dream, how it motivates, corrodes, and ignites people to do the unspeakable in the name of freedom,” shares the playwright and creator, Roger Q. Mason. “The piece is based in 1980, the year my mother immigrated to the United States from the Philippines. In times like these, she—and our family at large—wonder, ‘Was the plane ride even worth the journey?’ I think so, but we have to fight for the freedom promised in the dream.”

“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

Ophelia’s Jump Theatre Presents THE SLOW DRAG, a Jazz Play

by Carson Kreitzer
May 30 through June 29, 2025

Ophelia’s Jump (OJP) celebrates Pride Month with it’s production of The Slow Drag – a Jazz Play by Carson Kreitzer. The production will be performed at the OJP Theater located at 2009 Porterfield Way, Ste I, Upland, from May 30 through June 29, 2025. The Slow Drag is a play with a full complement of musical selections from the jazz era along with one original composition written for Ophelia’s Jump’s production by resident Music Director/Composer Janette Combs in consultation with Kreitzer.

About The Slow Drag – a Jazz Play: Inspired by the real-life story of Billy Tipton, a jazz musician, bandleader, and talent promoter who upon his death at home in 1989 of a bleeding ulcer, was discovered to have been a biological woman. A fact that he had kept secret even from his common-law wife and three adopted sons. Though varying ac-
counts exists about the events surrounding Tipton’s transition from female to male sometime during his high school, many stories mention his having wanted to play in his high school band, but not having been allowed because it was not considered an ap-
propriate activity for a girl. Though the details are hazy, there is not question that a few years after he graduated from high school, Tipton was working in bands as a musician and had transitioned to life as a man. Over the years, Tipton found a measure of success in music and was involved with three women who each during their time together referred to themselves as his wife. He adopted three sons with his third wife and later died at the age of 74 after refusing to go to a doctor for treatment.

Kreitzer’s play draws inspiration from Billy’s story in creating three fictional characters, a
cornet playing bandleader named Johnny Christmas, his beautiful and vibrant wife,
June Wedding, and their friend pianist Chester Kent, who is a black man passing as
white. The play picks up Johnny at the moment of death. As life is seeping away from him, he enters a liminal “cabaret” space where he performs his final show for the gathered audience-a survey of his life and love with June told through dialogue and the music that underscored all the important moments of his life and for which he may have kept the biggest secret of all.

The play includes jazz standards such as The Man I Love, The Way You Look Tonight,
Love Me Or Leave Me, Tea for Two, More than You Know, My Blue Heaven, They Can’t
Take that Away From Me and others, along with two original songs, Sweet Melinda and
Dream Waltz with lyrics by Carson Kreitzer.

2009 Porterfield Way, Suite I,
Upland , CA 91786
909-734-6565
opheliasjump.org
@opheliasjump

Production history: The Slow Drag was first performed at the American Place Theatre
in New York in 1996. It was subsequently performed in London at the Freedom Theater on February 4, 1997 and then moved to the Whitehall Theater in the West End in November, 1997. In the United States, the play requires that rights be separately acquired for each of the songs which has resulted in few US productions of The Slow Drag since the conclusion of it’s West End run.
About the Playwright:
Carson Kreitzer is an award winning playwright whose works center women often in messy, complicated, and/or extreme circumstances. Plays include: Freakshow, Self Defense or the death of some saleman, The Love Song of J. Robert Oppenheimer, Slither, 1:23, Flesh and the Desert, and Lempicka among others.

Ticket Information: $57 general admission, High School & College Students 25% off,
College Student Rush– 50% discount at the box office starting 15 minutes to curtain;
Kids (13 and under) $46.
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 a non-profit Performing Arts Theatre producing plays, the Midsummer
Festival in Claremont and music and various performances at our OJP Music Lounge.
Ophelia’s Jump Productions was founded by artists and educators who believe that the purpose of theatre is to create unending conversations, spark imagination, incite conscience, and elicit a visceral response. Ophelia’s Jump aims to invigorate the creativity and intellect of the community by working with local emerging artists. Ophelia’s Jump is
a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. Additional information available at opheliasjump.org
or [email protected]

Skylight Theatre Company premieres Tracy Young’s modern verse translation of William Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale opening at Skylight Theatre on Thursday, April 24 at 8:00pm (with previews on April 18, 19, and 23) running through Saturday, June 14, 2025.

In the Los Angeles debut of Play On Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale has been reimagined in an accessible, 90-minute modern English translation adapted by Young and Lisa Volpe. This vibrant retelling of a story about love, loss, and rebirth is helmed and directed by Young whose innovative and award-winning work has been seen in productions at Actor’s Gang, Cornerstone Theater Company, and the celebrated Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

The Winter’s Tale will run most Thursdays at 8:00pm, 8:30pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and at 3:00pm on Sundays, but irregularities exist in the schedule starting in May; always check online. Skylight Theatre is located at 1816 ½ N. Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027. Opening night tickets are priced at $48+. Regular shows are priced between $20-$42 (students: $20; seniors 50+: $35.) Preview tickets are priced at $15+. There are a limited number of Pay-What-You-Can tickets to any performance, using code ACCESS (advance sale only). For more information and reservations, please visit: https://www.skylighttheatre.org/thewinterstale.

Set in the present day, Young’s music-infused translation of The Winter’s Tale tells the story of Leontes, a tyrannical ruler consumed by delusion who defies the law of Apollo and plunges his kingdom into darkness. Amidst the terror that ensues, a princess emerges, wielding extraordinary power to heal the land and its people. “It is required you do awake your faith!” cries Paulina, the witch, as the dead return to life in this magical tale of hope and forgiveness.

Skylight’s production of The Winter’s Tale is forging the first collaboration between Skylight Theatre Company and Play On Shakespeare, a non-profit organization that began as part of Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s initiative to examine plays through the lens of the English we speak today, which was launched in 2015 under Bill Rauch.

“I was first drawn by Play On Shakespeare’s commitment to commissioning dozens of contemporary playwrights and translations made by playwrights who embodied many different lived experiences and share a deep love and curiosity about language,” says Armando Huipe, Skylight’s Executive Director. “They were all tasked with matching Shakespeare’s linguistic rigor as they approach the text and structure,” Huipe adds, “in order to make Shakespeare’s plays engaging and accessible to today’s audiences.”

“Right now, the picture is bleak, and it’s growing bleaker every day. The Winter’s Tale offers up a story where people find hope, forgiveness, and music in the face of tyranny. It reminds us how things that die in the winter are reborn in the spring,” said Gary Grossman, Skylight Producing Artistic Director.

Play On Shakespeare translations aim to follow the same rigor and pressure as the original, which means honoring the meter, rhyme, rhetoric, image, metaphor, character, action and theme. The work must be structured in iambic pentameter. Within this context productions of the translations can still go through the same creative process that all classics go through: the director’s vision and creative interpretation. The Oxford Dictionary definition of translate is “to carry on.” The Play On Shakespeare series is intended to “carry on” the successful communication between actor and audience.

Skylight embraces the tenets of Play On Shakespeare and is proud to introduce this important non-profit organization to LA audiences.

Joining Tracy Young, Skylight and Play On Shakespeare in their inaugural association are scenic designer Christopher Scott Murillo (Princess Grace Foundation Award); Brandon Baruch, lighting design; C. Yuri Son, Costume Design; Celina Lee Surniak, Intimacy & Fight Coordination; and Benjamin Pryor as Dramaturge. Casting is by Victoria Hoffman and includes a diverse array of artists including Trans actors who help shape the world that Young has imagined. The acting ensemble is comprised of Audrey Cirzan, Shaan Dasani, Israel Erron Ford, Victoria Hoffman, Spencer Jamison, Iman Nazemzadeh, Misha Osherovich, Miguel Perez, Quest Sapp, KT Vogt, and Daniel Deyoung.

“[Play On Shakespeare] translations transform the theatergoing experience from Shakespeare’s time to ours by updating the language, wordplay, and wit to engage audiences the way they would have been engaged in the early modern theater.”
– New York Times

At Open-Door Playhouse we bring the theater to you. Now Playing …

Penny Slots Part 4 by Kim Hlavac

Skylight Theatre Company
Presents The World Premiere of
Roger Q. Mason’s
Hide & Hide

Directed by Jessica Hanna

Thursday, May 15 – Sunday, June 29, 2025

Skylight Theatre Company proudly presents the World premiere of Hide & Hide, written by Roger Q. Mason and directed by Jessica Hanna. Previews begin May 9, 10, and 14, with opening night on Thursday, May 15. The production runs through Sunday, June 29, 2025, at Skylight Theatre. This new work marks the playwright’s return to Skylight Theatre Company following the success and critical acclaim of their 2022 production, Lavender Men. Hide & Hide is the second in Mason’s Califas Trilogy. It is a Homeric critique of the American Dream told through Billy (played by Ben Larson), a queer rent-boy from Texas fleeing a Christian sex conversion camp, and Constanza (played by Amielynn Abellera, The Pitt), a Filipina immigrant with a soon-to-expire visa, who together form a sham marriage to pursue their version of that dream in seedy 1980 Los Angeles.

“Hide & Hide excavates the myth of the American Dream, how it motivates, corrodes, and ignites people to do the unspeakable in the name of freedom,” shares the playwright and creator, Roger Q. Mason. “The piece is based in 1980, the year my mother immigrated to the United States from the Philippines. In times like these, she—and our family at large—wonder, ‘Was the plane ride even worth the journey?’ I think so, but we have to fight for the freedom promised in the dream.”

Ophelia’s Jump Theatre Presents THE SLOW DRAG, a Jazz Play

by Carson Kreitzer
May 30 through June 29, 2025

Ophelia’s Jump (OJP) celebrates Pride Month with it’s production of The Slow Drag – a Jazz Play by Carson Kreitzer. The production will be performed at the OJP Theater located at 2009 Porterfield Way, Ste I, Upland, from May 30 through June 29, 2025. The Slow Drag is a play with a full complement of musical selections from the jazz era along with one original composition written for Ophelia’s Jump’s production by resident Music Director/Composer Janette Combs in consultation with Kreitzer.

About The Slow Drag – a Jazz Play: Inspired by the real-life story of Billy Tipton, a jazz musician, bandleader, and talent promoter who upon his death at home in 1989 of a bleeding ulcer, was discovered to have been a biological woman. A fact that he had kept secret even from his common-law wife and three adopted sons. Though varying ac-
counts exists about the events surrounding Tipton’s transition from female to male sometime during his high school, many stories mention his having wanted to play in his high school band, but not having been allowed because it was not considered an ap-
propriate activity for a girl. Though the details are hazy, there is not question that a few years after he graduated from high school, Tipton was working in bands as a musician and had transitioned to life as a man. Over the years, Tipton found a measure of success in music and was involved with three women who each during their time together referred to themselves as his wife. He adopted three sons with his third wife and later died at the age of 74 after refusing to go to a doctor for treatment.

Kreitzer’s play draws inspiration from Billy’s story in creating three fictional characters, a
cornet playing bandleader named Johnny Christmas, his beautiful and vibrant wife,
June Wedding, and their friend pianist Chester Kent, who is a black man passing as
white. The play picks up Johnny at the moment of death. As life is seeping away from him, he enters a liminal “cabaret” space where he performs his final show for the gathered audience-a survey of his life and love with June told through dialogue and the music that underscored all the important moments of his life and for which he may have kept the biggest secret of all.

The play includes jazz standards such as The Man I Love, The Way You Look Tonight,
Love Me Or Leave Me, Tea for Two, More than You Know, My Blue Heaven, They Can’t
Take that Away From Me and others, along with two original songs, Sweet Melinda and
Dream Waltz with lyrics by Carson Kreitzer.

2009 Porterfield Way, Suite I,
Upland , CA 91786
909-734-6565
opheliasjump.org
@opheliasjump

Production history: The Slow Drag was first performed at the American Place Theatre
in New York in 1996. It was subsequently performed in London at the Freedom Theater on February 4, 1997 and then moved to the Whitehall Theater in the West End in November, 1997. In the United States, the play requires that rights be separately acquired for each of the songs which has resulted in few US productions of The Slow Drag since the conclusion of it’s West End run.
About the Playwright:
Carson Kreitzer is an award winning playwright whose works center women often in messy, complicated, and/or extreme circumstances. Plays include: Freakshow, Self Defense or the death of some saleman, The Love Song of J. Robert Oppenheimer, Slither, 1:23, Flesh and the Desert, and Lempicka among others.

Ticket Information: $57 general admission, High School & College Students 25% off,
College Student Rush– 50% discount at the box office starting 15 minutes to curtain;
Kids (13 and under) $46.
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 a non-profit Performing Arts Theatre producing plays, the Midsummer
Festival in Claremont and music and various performances at our OJP Music Lounge.
Ophelia’s Jump Productions was founded by artists and educators who believe that the purpose of theatre is to create unending conversations, spark imagination, incite conscience, and elicit a visceral response. Ophelia’s Jump aims to invigorate the creativity and intellect of the community by working with local emerging artists. Ophelia’s Jump is
a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. Additional information available at opheliasjump.org
or [email protected]

“A Rose Called Candace” by Candace Nicholas-Lippman.

A Rose Called Candace is the remarkable life story of a woman in bloom.

Born in Baltimore, Maryland and raised in Sacramento, actress and spoken word poet Candace Nicholas-Lippman shares her story of family, faith, fear, and freedom—and finds her truth and transformation along the way.

Performed by Candace Nicholas-Lippman. Co-directed by Bernadette Speakes. Presented by JuVee Productions and The Robey Theatre Company in association with Los Angeles Theatre Center.

Fri. & Sat. at 8:00, Sun. at 3:00.

http://therobeytheatrecompany.org

facebook.com/therobeytheatrecompany