The Falcon Theatre, Abbie Phillips and Jan Kallish in association with the Lookingglass Theatre Company are thrilled to announce that their critically-acclaimed (LA Times CRITIC'S CHOICE), West Coast Premiere of THE LAST ACT OF LILKA KADISON, written by Nicola Behrman, David Kersnar, Abbie Phillips, Heidi Stillman and Andrew White and directed by Dan Bonnell is EXTENDINGthrough SUNDAY, APRIL 27 at the Falcon Theatre, 4252 Riverside Dr. in Burbank. This is the first association between the Falcon Theatre and Lookingglass Theatre Company of Chicago, 2011 recipient of the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre.
At age seventeen, Lilka Kadison flees Poland on the eve of World War II. Seventy years later in her modest North Hollywood home, she's spending the afternoon hassling her son, wrestling her caregiver, and arguing with a ghost who keeps rearranging her furniture - and her memories. Join us on this transcendent journey from present to past, carefully handcrafted and told through magic illusion, toy theatre, music and imagination. It's a story of love, loss, the creative impulse and memories that must never be denied.ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM
Co-Playwrights:
ABBIE PHILLIPS (Co-Author and Co-Producer) has always enjoyed spinning yarns herself as well as encouraging others in that divine enterprise. What began as reconstructing facts into narrative as an environmental engineer progressed to choir director and teacher. She then made a sharp left turn as a co-founder of Every Picture Tells a Story and Storyopolis-two innovative Los Angeles gallery/bookstore/salons that celebrated storytelling in all media. This inevitably lead to the circuitous, gravity-defying path of producing film, animation, and public radio programs. She started ListenUp Radio with her oldest friend, Johanna Cooper, and together they created the radio series, One People, Many Stories. Thus began the story of how once upon a time Abbie wandered through a Lookingglass, fell down a rabbit hole, and encountered those incredible People of the Water Tower. Wherein we all finally uncovered, layer by layer, The Last Act of Lilka Kadison.
DAVID KERSNAR (Co-Author) is a founding Lookingglass Ensemble Member and has performed, designed, directed, instructed and written for the company since it was founded in 1988. Kersnar directed the world premiere production of The Last Act of Lilka Kadison at Lookingglass. Other writing and directing credits include Sita Ram, La Luna Muda, Brundibar, Goodnight Moon,Iphigenia 2.0, and Through the Looking Glass. Kersnar most recently directed Chrismas Carol: The Concert for PBS.
HEIDI STILLMAN (Co-Author) is a director, writer, actor, Lookingglass Ensemble Member and Artistic Director of New Work. Some writing and directing credits at Lookingglass: Hard Times, The Brothers Karamazov, Hephaestus, The North China Lover,Cascabel.
ANDREW WHITE (Co-Author) Lookinglass Artistic Director and Ensemble Member, Andrew has appeared in more than thirty productions at Lookingglass, adapted and directed the award winning production of George Orwell's 1984, and most recently wrote the book and lyrics for Eastland: A New Musical.
DAN BONNELL (Director) work has been seen in Los Angeles at Pacific Resident Theater (Happy End - Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle 2005- Best Revival and Anatol, Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle 2007-- Directing Award), the Matrix, the Met, Cornerstone, [Inside] @ The Ford, Ensemble Studio Theatre-LA, Highways, Moving Arts, The Echo, Theatre @ Boston Court, The Colony, Nexus Theatre Company, Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, HBO Workspace (Sarah Silverman's pilot project, Sarah Says Cheese, and the live theatrical version of Mr. Show with Bob and David), and ASK Theatre Projects. He served as the Artistic Director at Arcade, a workspace for theatre and media from 1995-2001, and was the Co-Artistic Director of Ensemble Studio Theatre-LA from 2006-2008. In addition to the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards, Mr. Bonnell has been honored with the LA Weekly Directing Award, the NAACP Directing Award and the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Theater in Los Angeles. He has been nominated for the Ovation Directing Award and for Theatre Communications Group "Alan Schneider Award", a national award focusing on freelance directors. Prior to LA, Dan was a Resident Company Director at Circle Repertory Company in New York City and staged plays for notable institutions across the country including: The Actors Studio, Long Wharf, the Asolo, Atlanta's Alliance Theatre, Pioneer Theatre Company. Internationally, Dan's work has been performed at the Bronfman Center in Montreal, Theatre Les Deschargeurs in Paris and the National Youth Theatre in Hanoi, Vietnam. He has taught at UCLA, USC, CalArts, UC-Riverside and Denison University.
ABOUT THE CAST AND DESIGN TEAM
Photo Credit: Michael Lamont
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