Hollywood Food Chain Productions, producer of the six-time Ovation Nominated, U.S. Premiere of Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle at the El Portal Theatre in 2006, in association with Elephant Stageworks (David Fofi. Artistic Director) are thrilled to present THE VIOLET HOUR, written by Richard Greenberg. Darin Anthony who most recently directed critically acclaimed world premiere productions of Sidhe and London's Scars directs the cast led by John Billingsley ("Star Trek: Enterprise"), Travis Schuldt ("Scrubs") and Karole Foreman (Jelly's Last Jam). THE VIOLET HOUR will close Sunday, March 13 at the Lillian Theatre, 6322 Santa Monica Blvd. in Hollywood.
It's April 1st, 1919, and the young independent publisher John Pace Seavering is setting up his office. With only enough capital to put out one book, John finds himself besieged by two authors. Denny McCleary, John's brash and gifted college friend, has produced a manuscript so unruly it lives in a trio of crates. He's fallen in love with the enchanting heiress Rosamund Plinth, and if John doesn't agree to publish his book today, he'll lose her forever. But John is also being strenuously lobbied by Jessie Brewster, the popular black jazz singer who is also John's very secret mistress. She's written her memoirs and is determined to have her story known. As John temporizes with these two, another drama is playing out in the anteroom: A machine of mysterious provenance and purpose has arrived and is spewing out stacks of pages while John's hapless assistant, Gidger, strives vainly to stem the flood and leaves John to ponder if knowing the future will allow him to change it? THE VIOLET HOUR was commissioned and originally produced by
South Coast Repertory, and had its Broadway debut in November, 2003.
ABOUT THE CAST
JOHN BILLINGSLEY is well known to television audiences for his portrayal of Dr. Phlox on Star Trek: Enterprise. He was a series regular on The Nine and The Others and has made countless recurring and episodic appearances on such show as True Blood, 24, Prison Break, The Practice, The X-Files, Judging Amy, The West Wing, Six Feet Under, and Nip/Tuck. His numerous theatre credits include the West Coast Premiere of Mauritius at The
Pasadena Playhouse, Candide,
David Mamet's Bobby Gould in Hell, The Seagull, Great Expectations and Twelfth Night.
Karole Foreman was an original cast member in
Mark Taper Forum's Jelly's Last Jam and starred as "Tanya" in the Las Vegas production of Mamma Mia! Her other regional theatre credits include The Denver Center Theatre, The
Goodspeed Opera House, The
Pasadena Playhouse, San Jose Rep. and two seasons with the renowned Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
TRAVIS SCHULDT is perhaps best known for his work as
Sarah Chalke's forgiving boyfriend on the hit TV series Scrubs. He played the original "Ethan Winthrop" for four seasons on the hit daytime series Passions and "Deputy Chase Williams" on Aaron Spelling's short lived series 10-8: Officers on Duty. He is a founding member of The Lone Star Ensemble Theatre Company.
Rounding out the cast are Peter Larney (A Noise Within, Theatricum Botanicum) and Lisa Valerie Morgan (The Matrix, El Portal Theatre, Antaeus).
ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM
Richard Greenberg (Playwright) is the author of TAKE ME OUT (Drama Desk Award; NY Drama Critics Circle Award; Outer Critics Circle Award;
Lucille Lortel Award; Tony Award for Best Play), recently on Broadway after successful runs at
The Public Theater in New York City and The Donmar on London's West End. Other works include THE VIOLET HOUR, THE DAZZLE (Outer Critics Circle Award;
John Gassner,
Lucille Lortel nominations), EVERETT BEEKIN, THREE DAYS OF RAIN (L.A. Drama Critics Award; Pulitzer finalist; Olivier, Drama Desk, Hull-Warriner nominations), HURRAH AT LAST, NIGHT AND HER STARS, THE AMERICAN PLAN, LIFE UNDER WATER and THE AUTHOR'S VOICE, among many other plays. His adaptation of Strindberg's DANCE OF DEATH was seen on Broadway starring
Ian McKellen,
Helen Mirren and
David Straithairn.
Mr. Greenberg received the Oppenheimer Award for a new playwright as well as the first PEN/
Laura Pels Award for a playwright in mid-career. He is an associate artist at
South Coast Repertory and a member of Ensemble Studio Theater.
DARIN ANTHONY (Director) made his feature film and his New York theatre directorial debuts this summer with the feature film, Hitting the Cycle, which is currently in post-production and The Incident Report by E.M. Lewis for The Samuel French One-Act play festival in New York. Darin is a resident director and literary manager of The Syzygy Theatre Group where he most recently directed the West Coast premiere of Rachel Axler's Smudge. Previous work with Syzygy includes, My Thing of Love and Talley's Folly. Last spring Darin directed the back-to-back world premieres of Sidhe by
Ann Noble (Road Theatre) and London's Scars by
Richard Martin Hirsch (Odyssey Theatre). Other recent credits include the west coast premiere of US Drag (Furious Theatre -7 LA Weekly nominations), the world premiere translation of
Carlo Goldoni's The Antiquarian's Family (Shakespeare Santa Cruz), the world premieres of Leonard's Voice (Moving Arts Car Plays), Seven Santas (The Open Fist), HEADS (The
Blank Theatre -LA Times "Best of 2007"), American Way (The
Blank Theatre) and Street Angel Diaries (Boston Court). Other west coast premieres include A Hole in the Dark (The
Blank Theatre), The Boarding House by
Ann Noble (Interact), and the LA premiere of The Book of Liz by David and
Amy Sedaris (The
Blank Theatre-LA Times "Best of 2005"). For four years Darin was the Artistic Director of The
Blank Theatre's new play workshop: The Living Room Series. During his tenure, he was responsible for over 100 readings and workshops, several of which went on to full productions. He also directed four plays for The
Blank Theatre's Young Playwrights Festival. He has recently directed Becoming Memories, Blue Window and Scenes from American Life for The American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He is a proud husband, father and member of the SDC.
THE VIOLET HOUR features an award-winning design team. The set design is by Joel Daavid. The lighting design is by
Luke Moyer. Original music and sound design are by Doug Newell. The costume design is by
Shon LeBlanc. Hair and wig design is by Diane Martinous. The casting direction is by
Julia Flores. Laura Perez is the production stage manager and Joshua Ansley assistant directs.
ABOUT THE SCHEDULE AND PRICING
THE VIOLET HOUR will preview on Friday, February 11 at 8pm and and will open on Saturday, February 12 at 8pm and run through Sunday, March 13, 2011 at the Lillian Theatre, 6322 Santa Monica Blvd in Hollywood.
Performances are Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 pm; Sundays at 3:00 pm. Ticket prices are $30 for all Performances; $20 for the Preview. Tickets may be purchased online by visiting www.plays411.com/violethour or by calling (323) 960-1054.
