Julius Caesar Interview

The Irreverent Shakespeare Project presents an all-female version of Julius Caesar, directed by Heather Ann Gottlieb, produced by Steven Brandon, Mark Laird, Bradley Gosnell, Rachel Rios and Ari Stidham. Director Gottlieb and producer Stidham took time out of their busy schedules and talked with us  about the company and this production of Julius Caesar.

Ari Stidham has been writing and performing music and comedy onstage as well as acting on television for all his adult life. You may know him best as genius Sylvester Dodd on CBS’s “Scorpion” or you may also know his music which he releases as Dr. Television. 

Ari has also produced films that have premiered at Fangoria Fear Con (“Curse of the Siren” - also director) and Sundance Film Festival (“Clara’s Ghost”). Original plays performed in L.A. include Theatricus Americanus (Pack, also director) Dick Duquesne Radio Plays (Open Space) 

Tell our readers about the Irreverent Shakespeare Co.

I started the Irreverent Shakespeare Project with a free invite only event that lasted a few weekends at a house in Tarzana, mainly with friends and collaborators I’d worked with previously. Ashley Tavares, Bradley Gosnell, Rachel Rios, Jordan Stidham and Jake Shillan to be accurate. We put on Midsummer Night’s Dream, twice, and Mark Laird helped us produce it that second time.

Our goal was to produce a take on the Bard’s work that connected with modern audiences. After our first run it was clear we had something to nurture in ISP and the idea to do Caesar came about because of the strong female actors we worked with on Midsummer.

Talk more specifically about Julius Caesar and give us a sneak peek at some of the crazy things you are doing with it.

Specifically bo-staff warfare. I repeat: bo staff fighting and warfare. Something also fun and of note that you can expect is a shorter, more intimate take on Caesar than you may be used to. Our abridged cut moves at a decent clip, as do most ISP shows.

Talk about your music and TV gigs.

Dr. Television is Ari Stidham and vice versa, I released an album called “Jacuzzi Louie” independently and have been playing around LA a bit with my talented band, lead by Hughie Stone Fish (Solo Must Die) - currently I’m composing music to Shakespeare’s lyrics for a production of “Twelfth Night” coming soon from ISP.

Back to the play, if I missed anything, add what you wish. 

Bradley Gosnell, our producer/fight choreographer, co-set designed this production with me, and we tailored to the work to his choreography, he’s really done some great work with the staging of the battle at Phillipi.

Heather (Ann Gottlieb) has done a great job of humanizing the story of these conspirators and finding common ground with modern audiences by casting unique performers and directing clear and different performances, defining our conspirators in a way I’ve never seen before. 

Rachel Rios’ costume design is rich and imaginative, which frames our show in a familiar yet dissonant version of golden Rome.

Tell us about your cast. 

Nefe Iredia is portraying Caesar in this production and she plays him so clearly with such ease, it’s a snapshot of the tyrant I am eager to share with the world. Delaney Milbourn, our Brutus, has a wonderful command of the text and stands out in every show I’ve ever seen her in. Same with Michelle Wicklas, our Antony, who performs regularly at Will Geer’s Botanicum. Also talented actor and performer in her own right, Beverlee Jean, our Octavius, can also be heard hosting Shakey Understanding, her podcast.  It explores Shakespeare’s plays with actors portraying his own characters live and in studio. 

Do you wish to add anything?

A song can change and be performed a million ways, but the story stays the same. So too, with Caesar.

Heather Ann Gottlieb is an award winning playwright and poet. Born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, at age 10 she began performing in community theatre across the valley, including Phoenix Theatre, Greasepaint, Metro ,and TheaterWorks. 

At age 15, she won the AriZoni Award for Best Actress in a Lead Role (Children's Theater). Her short play The 3 Little Pigs Meet a Chronically Homeless Man was featured at the Artists Speak ceremony in November 2014. 

In 2015, she received her BA in Theatre Arts from Loyola Marymount University. Beth Henley awarded her the department's "Outstanding Achievement in Playwriting" award.  She also regularly competes at Bootleg Theater's Write Club event, raising money for charity through literary bloodsport. 

Tell our readers how you became involved with the Irreverent Shakespeare Co and Julius Caesar.

I was approached by my friend Rachel Rios, ISP’s Costume Designer, about directing Caesar. We were classmates at Loyola Marymount University, and she’s familiar with both my writing/directing styles and feminist agenda. She threw my name into the mix of potential directors, and I’m happy to say it was a fit! I’ve only directed short-form modern pieces, so it was an interesting challenge for my first full-length production to be in verse. I am extremely lucky to have been supported by such a professional, dedicated team.

Talk about your casting.

When discussing casting, Ari and I went back and forth many times before deciding on an all-female cast. In the end, it was the most powerful choice that simultaneously stripped the script of traditional gender-roles and brought clarity to the true driving force of the story: power, the desire and chase for it, and how it changes once you actually get it.

What has been your greatest challenge as director?

Each cast member had a different level of experience with Shakespeare, so we spent a large portion of the rehearsal process doing table-work. For me, it was important to get everyone on the same page about text and dissect themes together. It was also helpful to have Ari and Bradley, who cut the script together, answer questions that arose throughout our bookwork. 

What would you like audiences to take away?

Honestly, I’d love if the audience left thinking “Wow, women are f*cking powerful."

Describe the overall collaboration.

This process has been extremely collaborative. Producer Bradley Gosnell took the reigns for Act V and crafted great combat moments. Ari, our executive producer and ISP’s Creative Director, helped tremendously with dramaturgy and handled production needs. Producer Mark Laird made himself available for costume and prop needs, and costume designer Rachel Rios worked tirelessly from across the country. Jimmy McCammon, our Tech Director, was able to design an entire show top-to-bottom after one two-hour coffee meeting! Also, the cast is full of badass and extremely talented artists. This show is a labor of love and I’m thrilled to share it.

The Irreverent Shakespeare Project is mounting its third production of 2018 with Julius Caesar. Directed by Heather Ann Gottlieb, with a cast of familiar faces from ISP's Midsummer Night's Dream that fill out the bard's tale of conspiracy and intrigue. 

This show is performed outdoors at a private residence in Tarzana on Nov 29, 30, and Dec 1. It's performed outdoors at a private residence  in South Pasadena on Dec 7, 8 and 9. The run concludes December 15 at the Hudson Loft, 1200 S. Hope Street, Los Angeles.  

For complete info and to purchase tix, go to:

irreverentshakespeare.com

2018 Interview - A Carol Christmas

On November 16, a new musical version of A Christmas Carol entitled A Carol Christmas will open at Group Rep in North Hollywood. Doug Haverty wrote the book and Bruce Kimmel, the music and lyrics. Kimmel is also the director. In the conversation that follows both men discuss the new piece.

Bruce Kimmel, what are your challenges in directing this piece?

BK: As always with a large cast show in 99-seat theater, it's conflicts, endless conflicts. We tried to be clear up front but you just have to know that stuff is going to happen. Early on we cast a swing to cover stuff, so that's been helpful. Otherwise, it's just making sure that everyone is playing the same show, achieving the energy I know the piece needs, and keeping the staging and pace fluid and fast.  

Did you work in close association with Doug (Haverty) in writing the musical numbers? Was it a true collaboration or did you fill in the music by yourself when the script was handed to you?

BK: We had a funny sort of collaboration. He came to me last year with the idea. I normally write by myself, but I thought it would be fun to let someone else do the book and I very much liked the idea of doing a feminized version of A Christmas Carol. He wrote a really long outline, which I read about two lines of and refused to read the rest, as I felt it was too detailed too early and I find, for me at least, that outlines put blinders on people. So, I had an idea for the opening number and asked him to write that sequence first. He presented me with a seventeen page opening scene, I figured out how the song would function within it and we whittled it down to about three pages of actual dialogue that gets done within the song. I love that sort of collaboration. I also knew right away that I wanted to write an anti-I Want song, since it's our female Scrooge. When we got the opening right, then everything was easier and followed pretty quickly.  We had lots of food meetings at the Coral Cafe going through the script, cutting, focusing, all the usual stuff. So it was a true collaboration, although there were times I just knew a certain song would be good for a sequence and we'd shape the scene around it when that happened. Once the writing began in earnest, it all went very quickly.

Why do you think this Dickens piece is timeless and still so appealing?

BK: I think it's timeless and appealing because we've all known people like Scrooge (or in our show, Carol) or we've even been Scrooge-like ourselves. And I think people really respond to the fact that a grouchy old grump can see the error of his/her ways and change for the better and realize that nice is as wonderful a commodity as money.

Tell us about your cast..

BK: We were able to put together a wonderful cast using quite a few Group Rep members and going outside for only a few roles. A lot of people who would have normally auditioned for this already had holiday plans, which is why we ultimately had to have a few outside folks. The Group Rep was also gracious enough and trusting enough that they allowed me to bring in my set and costume people from Levi to do this show, which I very much appreciated.  And because using a real onstage band wasn't feasible for budget reasons, I hired my long-time musical director, Richard Allen, to not only MD but to create the tracks for the show. They're really great and we have a great sound design team as well to make sure the balance is good, which is always the problem when using tracks.  

We hope everyone will come out to spend the holidays with us - it's a very upbeat and fun show, perfect for the family. And these days, we'll take all the upbeat we can get.

Doug Haverty, tell us about the challenges of turning Scrooge into a woman and setting it today.

DH: There have been productions where Scrooge was played by a woman and there have been adaptations where Scrooge was a woman. Setting it in the present actually makes it easier to believe that a woman could be a business owner and have fallen into the trap of getting greedy as they try to run a company. One of my favorite things about the original is the three ghosts as well as the ghost of Marley. Somehow it’s easier to accept ghosts in a story from hundreds of years ago in faraway London. I think we’re more skeptical today. So, I’ve followed the same ghostly structure, but none of them are actual “ghosts.” Jacob Marley (here named Joelle) has recently passed away and as part of her will has set this Christmas Eve adventure into play. We meet her via a pre-recorded DVD. So, in a way this character is reaching out from the grave, but not in a supernatural way. And the three visits she sets up are from people our Scrooge has already met: Ghost of Christmas past is a regressional therapist who hypnotizes our Scrooge/Carol and takes her back in time; our Ghost of Christmas present is an herbalist who dispenses a special, powerful tea that helps people see their lives with crystal clarity; and the Ghost of Christmas future is a Tarot card reader. What successful, modern day mogul does not consult the Tarot?

Tell us about your past associations with Dickens at Group Rep.

DH: In 2009, we did a newer musical version at Group Rep (under the direction of then Artistic Director, Ernest Figueroa). It was unusual, poetic with lots of additional Dickensian prose culled from other essays. The ghosts were puppets. I played Bob Cratchit and it was so gratifying to tell this story during the holidays. So, I thought I would try to make a new musical version and make it contemporary. While it’s wonderful escapism to go back to jolly old England and watch Scrooge in despicable action, there’s definitely a separation. We think, “Oh, there’s no one that extreme nowadays.” And that got me thinking. Are there people out there who would never consider themselves a “Scrooge,” and I think that maybe there are.

Many of my plays have female protagonists, so I thought it would be fun to explore that. I know there are adaptations where Scrooge has been turned into a woman. But I wanted to go a step further; I’ve taken all the major characters from the short story and made them women. And our Scrooge, Carol, does not see herself as a penny-pincher. She is just a driven, successful female entrepreneur who has been forced to be stingy with her time. And she ultimately learns (by visiting the past, looking deeper into the present and looking ahead) that she can be even more successful if she immerses herself into the lives of the people working for her and to enjoy life and its simple pleasures.

Our Carol/Scrooge does not hate Christmas, per se, she doesn’t like the slow down and apathy that accompanies the holidays. People start being less productive because of “the holidays.” In her I Want song, she suggests that Christmas come every four years (like Olympics and elections) so they’d be more special. I’m hoping that people today will actually identify with her.

Why does the Dickensian plot grab people year after year?

DH: Many people have said that it’s the perfect plot. You have a major character who just wants to be left alone and then has an epiphany and realizes the life he’s missing and that there’s great joy in generosity. We all love a major change in a character and there’s great fun in knowing the story and seeing him gradually learn and change. We’ve tried to follow this plot carefully with (hopefully) just a few new curves to let it have its own flavor.

What do you think is the takeaway?

DH: This is like watching a story we all know and love and seeing it dressed up in new surroundings. I hope people find it refreshing. There’s so much negativity out in the world, I wanted to offer something affirming, charming, comfortable and moving. I’ve always had a soft spot for Tiny Tim, his bravery and appreciation of the smallest gifts. I love the way Scrooge’s heart melts when he realizes Tim’s plight and the bond that is formed between the two. In our story, Tim is Trina and she is similar in the plight and how she bonds with Carol/Scrooge.

Are you happy with Bruce Kimmel's music?

DH: Bruce Kimmel’s songs are pure magic. They’re all beautifully crafted with a wry sense of humor. Sometimes we see new musicals and the songs all sound alike. That is definitely not the case here. Kimmel’s songs are all unique, catchy and winning. I predict that audiences will love this music.

Anything you care to add?

DH: I hope that people leave the theater with renewed hope and refreshed and look at their own lives and appreciate what they have and ask themselves if there’s anything they could do to improve the lives of people around them. Change is refreshing and the joy contagious.

https://thegrouprep.com/show/a-carol-christmas/

2018 Interview with Cate Caplin

Cate Caplin has produced, directed and choreographed over 200 productions and her work has been seen on television, in films, music videos, commercials and in theatrical venues world wide from the Paris Opera House to the Broadway Stage. She is a 34 times Regional and International Theatrical Ballroom Dance Champion, is a published writer and has been the recipient of a Garland Award, a Women In Theatre Red Carpet Award, multiple LA Stage Alliance Ovation, Eddon and Scenie Awards and was honored to receive an Award of Excellence from the LA Film Commission for her work as a Writer, Director, Choreographer and Producer. 

Tell me about this production of She Loves Me and what challenges your directing.  

I've always loved this musical. It's beautifully written, artfully constructed, classically romantic, and it's funny in an extremely welcomed way, especially during difficult political times like these... I think the most challenging part of this process quite honestly has been scheduling!  We are blessed with a superb cast, wonderful chemistry between all the players and a particularly positive, joyful and cooperative manner of creatively collaborating. That should be a "given" in all productions but sadly it is not always the case (!) so I am extremely grateful to have that dynamic during our rehearsal process ... but this has definitely been THE most difficult show I have ever experienced in regard to conflicts and scheduling around commitments out of town, work obligations, unexpected booked gigs, and surprise unavailability, and I have quite honestly been going a bit nuts trying to keep the flow and continuity going for the ones who actually ARE present on a consistent basis!  With a situation like this, the name of the game is to keep finessing the details that need attention with the ones who are there and trust that collectively, the pieces of the puzzles will continue to refine and settle into their happy place! Some times it comes down to sheer will, focus and tenacity to pull these things together! 

Musically this is a lovely show. What do you find fascinating about it?  

The music in this show truly advances the plot and the strength of the text is felt throughout the journey of the story unfolding. The characters reveal dimension and a mixture of qualities and shifts in personality more so than some roles in other "old fashioned" musicals. There are more real moments of anger, vulnerability, uncertainty, bewilderment and frustration than you see in a typical feel good musical yet at the same time, the style of comedy is often heightened, almost borderline cartoon-like in sensibilities. It's a fun line to walk artistically .

There is less dancing in this show. What does the choreography add to the story?  

This may have "less dancing" than a show like 42nd Street but to me, all moments of musical staging are a form of dance. I think the challenge is to make musicalized scenes look seamlessly organic evolving out of the action of the scene. Sometimes that is a trickier assignment than a traditional musical number. Looking for the right balance of choreographed moves laced with natural behavior of the character and blending those worlds so it doesn't look too stagey or not carved out specifically enough is the hard part. Some numbers are still in process as I see the actors exploring and trying different things with the given lyrics and others are more clear when the moves make sense and are married to the lyrics and the action of the scene and I then "lock" them in.  The choreography adds humor, theatrics and musicalized punctuation throughout and the "art part" is finding a way to enhance those colors and details without taking you out of the story.

What is your favorite show...that you have worked on?  Why this choice?  

Many moons ago (!) I was brought into the revival of West Side Story in NY, directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins and conducted by Leonard Bernstein - need I say more?! This was an absolute highlight of my career, and besides being one of the all time best musicals ever written, working on that show with those artists was a thrill of a lifetime. I went on to tour Italy and France with the show, always in 15-20,000 seat Amphitheaters and glorious Opera Houses, always with a magnificently full sized orchestra playing that heavenly music. 

Do you have an overall favorite musical?  

That's a very tough question, I love so many but West Side Story may be my number one choice because of my history with the show.There are others that I love for different reasons, Ragtime, Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music, Light in the Piazza, the list goes on....!

Is there a show you really long to direct? 

There are many shows on my Director "Wish List",  musicals, straight plays and comedies.... A few off the top include Kenneth Lonergan's "Lobby Hero", Anna Ziegler's play "Actually", "Tennessee William's "Glass Menagerie", Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird",  there are many more....

I wish you would put together a one person show about your life. You have so much to enchant us with. Any desire to do that? 

I can't say that it is something I've ever seriously considered. I so love being on the other side of the table now and take great pleasure in coaching dancers and actors and designing and collaborating with other artists and designers..That seems to be my strongest pull and inspiration at the moment but you never know what will lead to what on this creative path! Maybe elements of my story will come out in my future writing and personal projects on stage or in film, we'll see....

What else are you involved with at the moment that you care to share?  

I am currently in pre-production for Georgette Kelly's play, "I Carry Your Heart" which I will be directing at 59 E 59th street in the spring of 2019.

I am very excited to finally have an opportunity to direct in NY, something I have wanted to do for a long time now. We have selected our design team and are now proceeding with casting. Day One we received over 800 submissions for 6 roles. Here we go, the adventure continues....!!!

Anything you wish to add about why audiences should come out to see this production of She Loves Me?

There is nothing like good natured comedy and a warm hearted love story to brighten anyone's day. We've worked hard on this delicious confection and we're delighted and looking forward to sharing it with our theatrical family and friends.

NOVEMBER 2 - DECEMBER 16, 2018/DAVID SCHALL THEATRE/SATURDAY MATINEES: 11/10 + 11/17/DARK THANKSGIVING WEEKEND: NOV 23-25

https://sa1.seatadvisor.com/sabo/servlets/TicketRequest?eventId=1211276&presenter=ACTORSCOOP&venue=&event=

Interview with Playwright Ken Ludwig

Playwright Ken Ludwig has gained tremendous popularity over the last few decades. His hysterical Lend Me a Tenor is performed all over the world and translated into a multitude of languages. His stage adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express is about to open October 20 at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts in its West Coast premiere. Ludwig took time out of a super busy schedule to talk about the play and other highlights of his career.

You are perhaps our number one American farceur. Lend Me a Tenor and Moon Over Buffalo are ever so popular. Detective Hercule Poirot is a humorous character in Murder on the  Orient Express, but I am sure you have made him ten times funnier in your adaptation. Do you want to elaborate on creating comedy?

Sure. I'd love to. That's a great question. In a way it just grew out of the text. The kind of humor I try to write is ... tell the story, find a story that innately has humor in it. Mysteries are a lot like comedies. They're highfalutin, very Northrop Frye, who wrote Anatomy of Criticism, books on Shakespeare and stuff. He likens comedies to mysteries as a genre form. Everything gets shaken up. You're sort of in some kind of a normal social situation, and everything gets shaken up. Think of a jigsaw puzzle flying up into the air. When everything comes down, it gets locked together in the right order and makes sense. And there's something innately comic in the larger sense about that journey than say something that ends up with jagged edges and is a psychological tragedy or makes us uneasy in the end. I think what Agatha Christie wrote in essence are comedies or great standard mysteries of the mystery genre being sort of comic because it's so satisfying and has extravagant characters like comedies do. The humor really grew out of those characters.

There are so many characters in Murder on the Orient Express!

Yeah, but less than in the book. The book says that there are twelve suspects. I cut it down to eight, because there are too many people to get on the stage.

Tell our readers more about the process of writing comedy. Expound on what makes comedy so much more difficult to compose than drama.

Well, I think it's who writes it.  For me it's easier than writing drama because it's where I live, it's what I think and feel. I think one is either made to write comedy or made otherwise. Shakespeare did both, but ... For me comedy is a way of looking at the world. I'm innately sort of an optimistic guy but not in a sort of Pollyanna way. I think realistically optimistic. I feel that things will work out all right, and that's really basic to the notion of writing comedy.

You've written about Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot. You must like sleuths. Do you think they make the best comic characters?

They do. They're so colorful; they're so interesting; they're so out of the box. They're not average. God knows, they better not be boring. The two greatest detective characters ever written are indeed Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot. They're as quirky as the dickens. Writing about their quirkiness is a joy and really allows a writer to flex his muscles.

... Tenor and ... Buffalo are specifically about the theatre. However, all of your work is theatrical. You obviously agree that "All the world's a stage". Comment on that if you would.

I got very involved in writing plays about the world of the theatre or backstage at the opera. I grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania that did not have access to the larger sense of being in the theatre. There was a community theatre there. I dreamed about being in the theatre. My mom was from New York and exposed us a little bit to what theatre looked like on the outside.  It was really my dream. I'm psychoanalyzing myself but the reason I loved theatre was it gave me a chance to become a part of this whole world that I loved so much. I wrote about it with so much affection and excitement. It's where I want to be.

I understand and can relate to that. Do you have a favorite play of those you\ve written?

It's a cop-out to say it's the one I'm writing at the moment. It's true in a sense. I'm always so enthusiastic I can't imagine how it's not going to knock 'em dead. .. In some ways my favorite is Leading Ladies, a comedy where Twelfth Night meets Some Like It Hot. I loved writing about characters who are crossdressing. And it was my love and admiration for Twelfth Night, my favorite of all the Shakespeare plays; I'm a big Shakespeare geek. I wrote a book on Shakespeare. Again it was very theatrical about two actors in a backstage comedy....Shakespearean actors from England who end up playing the opposite sex.  It touched on all the things I love most about the theatre.

Do you have a favorite playwright besides Shakespeare?

George Bernard Shaw. Living dramatic writers: Woody Allen, who writes movies not plays, Tom Stoppard in his heyday. Those are my favorites.  Shakespeare is certainly the greatest playwright that ever lived. Shaw is the second greatest. You can study him as if you might have known him.

Moon Over Broadway was a terrific documentary about producing Moon Over Buffalo. Carol Burnett was very brave and I think all good actors should be willing to lay it bare and show the ups and downs of what it's like to produce a play on Broadway. How did you feel about that?

I thought it was remarkable in giving a genuine sense of what it is like to put on a Broadway show. You have to change things all the time, the tensions of opening up dealing with the press, dealing with your producers and actors. 

Is there a play you long to write?

 I have two plays coming up, now in rewrites. In my head there is a comedy about the world of classical acting and Shakespeare and the things that influenced me with great actors of the 18th and 19th centuries. It's been kicking around in my head for a long time. I think that will be next.

On your tombstone it reads:  Here lies a great American farceur. Would you be happy with that or would you want to be remembered differently?

(He laughs.)

That's a great question. I'd like it to read  great American playwright, but if I can't, who can be picky... great American farceur, I'll take it.

Anything you wish to add about La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts where Murder on the Orient Express is being presented?

I'm a great admirer of Tom McCoy and Cathy Rigby. Tom came out to see the play on the East Coast when it opened. I just know he's going to do a great job. He's a terrific producer. I'm very excited.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

AGATHA CHRISTIE’S 

MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS

Adapted by Ken Ludwig

Directed by Sheldon Epps

OPENS:  SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20 at 8pm

and runs through SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2018

PREVIEW:  Friday, October 19 at 8pm

PERFORMANCES: Wednesdays & Thursdays at 7:30pm; Fridays at 8:00pm; Saturdays at 2:00pm and 8:00pm; Sundays at 2:00pm.  

There will be an Open-Captioned performance on Saturday, November 3 at 2pm and an ASL-interpreted performance on Saturday, November 10 at 2pm.  Talkbacks with the cast and creative team will be on Wednesday, October 24 and Wednesday, November 7.  

LA MIRADA THEATRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

14900 La Mirada Blvd. in La Mirada, CA 90638.  

Arrive Early To Find Best Parking -- It's Free!

Tickets range from $20 - $84 (Prices subject to change)

$15 Student Tickets for the first 15 performances of the production.

For tickets, please call (562) 944-9801 or (714) 994-6310 or buy online at www.lamiradatheatre.com. 

Student, Senior and Group discounts are available.

2018 Interview with Monica Mancini

On Saturday October 13 there will be a special tribute concert to the music of Henry Mancini at the Soraya at Cal State Northridge. Monica Mancini, the icon's daughter, took time from her busy schedule to tell us about the event.

What is the reason for the tribute at this particular point in time? 

IN OUR FAMILY, THERE'S ALWAYS A REASON TO CELEBRATE DAD'S MUSIC! OTHER THAN THE ICONIC PINK PANTHER THEME BEING 55 YEARS OLD, HIS MUSIC IS TIMELESS AND CONNECTS WITH GENERATIONS OF MUSIC LOVERS

Give us a sneak peek by talking a little about the program and your special guest.

WE WILL BE PERFORMING ALL OF DAD'S WELL KNOWN SONGS LIKE "DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES", "MOON RIVER", ALONG WITH INSTRUMENTAL THEMES FROM THE THORNBIRDS AND VICTOR VICTORIA...

IF ANYONE HAD THE EXTRAORDINARY EXPERIENCE OF SEEING HAMILTON IN SAN FRANCISCO OR LA, YOU SAW THE AWESOME PERFORMANCE OF JOSHUA HENRY PORTRAYING AARON BURR. HE LITERALLY STOPPED THE SHOW WITH HIS OPENING LINE! I'M EXPECTING THAT HIS CHARISMA AND PIPES WILL BRING A FRESH ENERGY TO SOME OF DAD'S CLASSICS THAT HE WILL BE SINGING. NOT TO MENTION THE THRILL FOR ME TO DO A DUET OR TWO...

What was it like growing up the daughter of Henry Mancini? Did he encourage you to make music your future career?

THANKFULLY, DAD DIDN'T HIT HIS STRIDE MUSICALLY UNTIL WE WERE A BIT OLDER, SO WE  GREW UP IN A REAL NEIGHBORHOOD, PLAYING KICK THE CAN WITH REAL NEIGHBORHOOD KIDS AND DIDN'T HAVE THE "STIGMA" THAT'S OFTEN ASSOCIATED WITH GROWING UP WITH PRIVILEGE. THE THREE OF US KIDS HAD THE PERFUNCTORY PIANO LESSONS THAT MOST MUSICIANS CHILDREN HAD BUT AS FAR AS ANY ENCOURAGEMENT AS A MUSICAL PATH, HE LEFT THAT TO US. I THINK THE DNA PRETTY MUCH DECIDED THAT FOR US, AS WE ALL ENDED UP WITH MUSIC AS CAREERS.

AS FAR AS I REMEMBER, THE ONLY ADVANTAGE HAVING A FAMOUS FATHER WAS THE POSSIBILITY OF MEETING THE BEATLES!

Give a specific incident, humorous if possible, that shows his

dedication to and love for his compositions, like any fun Pink Panther story?

THE ONLY PINK PANTHER STORIES I KNOW ARE FAIRLY X-RATED, GIVEN THAT PETER SELLERS WAS INVOLVED. I CAN SAY THAT TO HEAR "THE PINK PANTHER THEME" IS TO KNOW HENRY MANCINI. HIS WIT, HIS INTELLIGENCE AND HIS HEART ARE ON FULL DISPLAY, WHICH IS PRETTY MUCH THE CASE IN EVERY PIECE OF MUSIC HE WROTE

What was his personal favorite composition? Yours?

DAD'S FAVORITE COMPOSITION WAS "TWO FOR THE ROAD". I DON'T KNOW WHY HE CONNECTED SO WITH THIS MELODY...SHOULD HAVE ASKED HIM! IT VERY MUCH SPEAKS TO THE RELATIONSHIP HE HAD WITH MY MOM, AND IT BECAME "THEIR SONG" FOR LIFE~

I ALWAYS LOVED "THE DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES" BUT FUNNILY ENOUGH, I PREFER TO SING "TWO FOR THE ROAD".

 Anything else you care to add?

THE LOCATION OF THIS CONCERT HAS SPECIAL MEANING AS WE GREW UP RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER FROM THE COLLEGE...YOU KNOW, WHERE WE WERE KICKING THE CAN AND WHERE DAD WROTE "MOON RIVER".

On Saturday, October 13 at 8pm, Mancini’s music comes home to Northridge as The Soraya presents Moon River and the Music of Henry Mancini.  Starring Monica Mancini with special guest three-time Tony nominated Joshua Henry, Moon River and the Music of Henry Mancini features Gregg Field as Music Director and Chris Walden conducting the New West Symphony. 

https://www.thesoraya.org/calendar/details/henry-mancini

2018 Interview with Ken Sawyer

Ken Sawyer is an award-winning director for his productions of Deathtrap and Hit the Wall a few years ago at the LGBT Center. He is getting ready to open Rope at Actors Co-op this Friday September 21. Sawyer took time from a busy tech week to discuss the play that became one of Alfred Hitchcock's curious films. 

How does Rope in play form differ from Hitchcock's movie?

Hitchcock's movie took place in the 40s in New York City. The play originally was set in the late 20s in London. We are returning to that time and location. Interestingly Hume Cronyn and Arthur Laurents worked for months with Hitchcock in adapting the script closer to an American esthetic and in the process made some significant character changes. You will note that though we are returning to the original time and place we have included nods to the Hitchcock version...while also developing a world that is uniquely our own.

What are your challenges as director of the piece?

This is a very rich play with a very old fashioned structure. It is talky. It is three acts. And it only works if it achieves an ever tightening sense of tension. In the playwright's own words "Rope is a thriller. A thriller all the time, and nothing but a thriller." How do you take a play written for a completely different audience sensibility and rhythm and make it tense for a modern day audience? Thrillers operate on precise rhythm after all. What fresh light can we shine on the play so it packs a punch while still honoring and living in the shadow of a classic Hitchcock film?
A challenge indeed!

Talk about the bizarre sense of humor in this work.

I have a saying when directing a thriller. "Entertain 'em. Get 'em to laugh. Then stab 'em in the back." The audience will scream. Then laugh at the fact that they got caught off guard. Then later, if the show was good, ponder why they got sucked in. And why they are a little afraid now of turning out the light. That is the cat and mouse game we play with the audience in a thriller. Humor is always a big part of that.

As a psychological thriller, the murderers must contain their feelings so as not to be suspect.
What, if anything, is your advice to the actors for their specific behavior onstage?

Hmmmm. The murderers do not have to hide much because nothing is suspect. In this show it's not a "who dunnit?" but "Whose figurin it out?" or "Whose gonna realize that there is something to figure out?" Everyone is blissfully unaware. Until that quiet woman seems to pick up some bad psychic vibes. And the maid seems to know something about about her two male employers that's not quite...acceptable. One of the hosts is getting trashed on booze. The other alternates between Redford charm and something ...almost dead behind the eyes. And wait....did that perky young girl just say something off handed about murder? Wait. is there something to figure out? I thought this was a party!

Tell us about your cast. I understand Burt Grinstead, who has worked with you at LGBT, is part of the ensemble.

I love working with my "people". I have worked with Carl J. Johnson and Liz Herron since the very first shows of my career. Don Smith was a part of my extraordinary cast of Hit the Wall as a tough NYPD cop. And of course now I have had the pleasure of working with some new and exciting talent from the Co-op. The family grows.

And yes Burt Grinstead was one of the stars of my Deathtrap at the LGBT center. We have taken the "thriller" ride before. Ha! The last one was actually shut down after a very successful run for being too "controversial". I knew he was a daring actor unafraid to take risks with this kind of material and yet give a grounded and thoughtful performance.

You have had tremendous success at LGBT through the years. Tell us a bit about the plays you directed there and the reaction to them from both critics and audiences.

Under the guidance of artistic director Jon Imperato I have been given a gift of being associated with a huge organization who wants to not only provide health services to the LGBT community, but also wants celebrate its artistic and compassionate place in the world today. Jon is a bold and aware individual and we have collaborated on projects that aspire to entertain, heal, educate, and stir up our audience. How lucky am I? I get to explore art in a place whose purpose is to uplift a community long misunderstood. It feels good to work there.

Do you have a favorite play of those you have directed? 

Each has ingrained itself as a marker of where I was in life...because your life always seeps into your work in some way. I will always have a special place in my heart for The Woman in Black at The Road and later The Coronet Theatre. It was a little horror play I directed that somehow hit a nerve at the time and ran forever. Just last month someone I really respect in our theatre community gushed with praise of the show I directed almost 20 years ago as though he had seen it yesterday. Also Hit the Wall, an immersive play about the Stonewall Riots, was a magical experience.

Let's conclude with anything you would like to add. For example audience takeaway from Rope.

I prefer the audience to figure out what they take away. I have my thoughts on what I would take away and have directed it with a point of view. But I'm not going to tell you what to experience. Just today I heard an excited impressive explanation of why I chose for the set to be all red. My reaction? If that's how it spoke to you...sure. It's an over 80 year old play that is speaking. Goal achieved.

ROPE will preview Thursday, September 20 at 8:00 pm and will open on Friday, September 21 at 8 pm and run through October 28, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 pm, Sundays at 2:30 pm. Special Saturday Matinees are September 29 and October 6 at 2:30 pm. To buy tickets or make reservations please visit www.actorsco-op.org or call (323) 462-8460.  Actors Co-op Crossley Theatre. 1760 N. Gower St. (on the campus of the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood) in Hollywood.

Interview with Director Mark Kemble

Mark Kemble is an award-winning writer/director from Providence, Rhode Island. He has written and directed over twenty stage productions in Providence, Los Angeles and New York. He is about to open Martin McDonagh's The Beauty Queen of Lenane at studio/stage in East Hollywood.


In 1995, Mark’s world premiere play about the Hollywood blacklist, the multi-award winning show NAMES played to sold-out audiences in Los Angeles. Mark also directed the production. NAMES was critic's choice in every major newspaper, and was named one of the Top Plays of 1995 by NPR. In the spring of 1997, Kemble directed his play NAMES Off-Broadway, starring Tovuh Feldshuh, prompting notable New York critic, Clive Barnes to call NAMES “a better play than Odets' The Big Knife”.

Mark is Artist-in-Residence at Actors Studio West.

What do you the director find special about Beauty Queen?

I very much like the authenticity of the material. The characters are delineated and alive, the plot and story are fully realized and the play is "about something", which is never to be taken for granted. Keep in mind that this was written when the playwright was in his mid-twenties, remarkable.

McDonagh's works are compelling to say the least. Is Actors Studio West involved in the production?

Well, it isn't an Actors Studio West production, per se.The actors brought some of the scenes from the play to session at the Studio and many of us involved in the production are Studio members. In many ways it's a perfect production for the Studio because it allows for the opportunity to explore many levels of the work. The wonderful writing will always be there but it is important to go beyond a translation of the author's intent to an interpretation of the author's intent. I think the Studio is well-suited for that exploration.

Talk about the message of the play.

Survival, survival, survival. Not just physical survival, and it is very much about that, this is a hard life we are witnessing and the precarious nature of the character's very existence is always apparent but, perhaps more importantly, it is about the survival of the soul, the spirit, the wonderful doggedness of having even a sliver of hope to carry one through to the next day, the next moment, even.

Tell us about your cast and how they hopefully work as a creative team.

You can't beat big talent and big talent is what I have been fortunate to work with. Casey Kramer, Angela Nicholas, Curtis Belz and Tim Hildebrand are all so very talented. They trust one another and I trust them. They are aware of the importance of trusting their impulses, as opposed to their "talented tendencies", which all actors have, but that can get in the way of true impulses.

Is this your favorite play of this playwright?

I like all of Martin McDonagh's work but I am very much attracted to, "Beauty Queen..." because of the family element. This inescapable need to maintain the family in spite of the continual onslaught on them is very compelling, very hard to keep your eyes away from even as it self-destructs.

What fresh perspective are you bringing to the play...one that will put bodies in the seats as soon as they read about it?

I liked the idea when working on this to let the actors live fully and make the play force them to play the play. Too often, even in good productions,I feel the actor has been left out of the play. They are achieving the play well enough but are too often bound by the play which prevents their own unique talent, unique personality, from emerging. I think we have achieved a situation where the actor's own individuality has been able to come to the play.

What do you hope audiences will take away from seeing the play?

The audience may well say to itself, "Shit, I thought I had it bad...", but it's such a funny and meaningful play. When an audience witnesses something and they then reflect on something in their own lives, then they are witnessing art as opposed to entertainment and the lovely thing about this play is that it is so entertaining, and yet it challenges you to reflect on yourself. Great art.

About show times and tickets: Preview: September 13 at 8:00 pm. Opens September 14 and runs to October 21. Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 pm; Sundays at 7:00. tickets: go to www.plays411.com/leenane or call (323) 960-7774. studio/stage 520 N. Western, Los Angeles. Wheelchair Accessible. Ample street parking