Ensemble Studio Theatre/LA to Present World Premiere of THE LAST LOOK BACK, 10/4-5

Ensemble Studio Theatre/LA has announced two performances only of The Last Look Back, a world premiere play by Stephen Serpas directed by Gates McFadden, and starring Brent Spiner, Sadie Alexandru, Tracey A. Leigh, and Ramón de Ocampo, on Friday, October 4 and Saturday, October 5 at 8pm. Proceeds will go to support EST/LA, the artistic home for new works from the best established and emerging playwrights in Los Angeles.

It is May 14, 1998. A pretty young intern embroiled in a presidential sex scandal meets with a legendary entertainer on the last day of his life - and so begins a lesson she could learn from no one else. The Last Look Back is a surreal pairing of kindred spirits and a hallucinatory comic ride about mortality, redemption, and the end of the twentieth century.

Brent Spiner is perhaps best known for his portrayal of the android DATA on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. He also appeared in four Star Trek films including Nemesis, for which he also co-authored the story. Spiner's other film credits include The Aviator, Out to Sea, Master of Disguise, Dude, Where's My Car, and Independence Day. TV credits include HBO's Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, Threshold,Geppetto, Frasier, Cheers, Mad About You, Law and Order: CI, Friends, The Simpsons, Leverage and Warehouse13. Broadway: A History of the American Film, Big River, The Three Musketeers, Sunday in the Park with George, Life x 3, and most recently as John Adams in 1776, for which he received a Drama Desk Award nomination.

Sadie Alexandru is perhaps most recognizable as Sadie the sassy secretary on Mad Men. Other credits include Kittens In A Cage, Broken Horses, Femme Fatales, Sinbad: The Fifth Voyage, Starting From Scratch, and Neighbros. Alexandru was recently seen in Love Sucks at the Coast Playhouse and is featured in 26 national commercials.

Tracey A. Leigh is an Obie Award-winning actor and has appeared onstage at South Coast Rep in Death of A Salesman, In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play) and Safe in Hell. Other theatre credits include Elmina's Kitchen, The Many Mistresses of Martin Luther King at EST/LA, Tale of 2 Cities: An American Joyride in Multiple Tracks, The Vagina Monologues, and regional appearances at The Old Globe, La Jolla Playhouse, Arena Stage, A Contemporary Theatre and Intiman Theatre, among others.

Ramón de Ocampo is an Obie Award-winning actor whose theatre credits include Neva, Mrs. Warren's Profession, Macbeth, The Malcontent, King Lear, Pera Palas The Girl Most Likely To, Sick, Dogeaters, and Much Ado About Nothing, among many others. On film, de Ocampo has appeared in Happy Ending, xx: State of the Union, Hamlet, and others. His television credits include Medium, Killer Instinct, Sons of Anarchy, NCIS, NCIS: LA, Gang Related, Castle, Bones, CSI, Grey's Anatomy, and a recurring role on The West Wing.

Playwright Stephen Serpas' most recent work includes Watering Hole, his web series Before We Go To Sleep, and Nestling. West Coast stage credits include Xenogenesis and Smoke The Baby, presented in EST/LA's 2011 WinterFest. Serpas is a member of the Playwrights Union of Los Angeles and a member of Safehouse Writer's Group in Brentwood.

Director Gates McFadden is also Artistic Director of EST/LA. Plays produced under her tenure include Julie Hebert's Tree, Nicholas Kazan'sMlle. God, Tom Jacobson's House of the Rising Son, Crack Whore Galore and House of Gold. Her acting credits include six years and four films portraying Dr. Beverly Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Taking Care of Business, and The Hunt for Red October. McFadden's numerous acting credits include Cloud Nine, A Midsummer Night's Dream, How to Say Goodbye, Emerald City, The Homecoming, To Gillian On Her 37th Birthday, Viva Detroit, and EST/LA's The Shore. On TV: Marker, Mad About You, and numerous guest roles. A well-known teacher of the techniques of Jacques Lecoq, her faculty positions have included AADA, Brandeis, Harvard, NYU, Tisch School of Arts, The Stella Academy in Hamburg, and University of Pittsburgh.

These special performances of The Last Look Back are on Friday, October 4 and Saturday, October 5 at 8pm. Tickets are $150, $250, and $500 (VIP Package-priority seating, pre-show cocktail reception, souvenir program signed by cast, post-show party and photo opportunities with the cast, photo booth opportunity with 1/8th Gates, gift bags, and more). Tickets are on sale now and may be purchased online at www.EnsembleStudioTheatreLA.org or www.brownpapertickets.com/event/454219. The Atwater Village Theatre is located at 3269 Casitas Avenue, in Los Angeles.