PHOTO FLASH: Kentwood Players Presents MAME, Opening 3/13 at the Westchester Playhouse

Kentwood Players presents the Tony Award winning musical MAME with book by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, music and lyrics by Jerry Herman, from Friday, March 13 to Saturday, April 18, 2015 with performances on Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 2pm. Due to popular demand, there is an additional 2pm matinee on Saturday, April 18. All performances take place at the Westchester Playhouse located at 8301 Hindry Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90045.

The production is directed by Ben Lupejkis with musical direction by Catherine Rahm, choreography by Lawrence Hatcher, with the show produced by Lori A. Marple-Pereslete for Kentwood Players by special arrangement with Tams-Witmark Music Library, Inc.

MAME, the 1966 multiple Tony Award winning musical, based on the biographical novel Auntie Mame: An Irreverent Escapade by Patrick Dennis and subsequent play and film Auntie Mame by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, is a wonderful, warm, and witty narrative enhanced with Jerry Herman's evocative, lively, and sentimental music and lyrics. Bohemian Mame Dennis is a larger-than-life personality living in New York City during the Great Depression. Mame has a collection of eccentric, wealthy society friends and her life is one endless party; that is until her young nephew Patrick "walks into her life." Her mad-cap, free spirited lifestyle with its focus on "today" changes while looking after her brother's son, leading to a "new window" opening for both in this life-affirming tale seen through Patrick's eyes.

The cast features, in alphabetical order: Elizabeth Bouton, Erika Brauer, Mark Bruce-Casares, Patricia Butler, David Callander, Sheridan Cole-Crawford, Harold Dershimer, Samuel Goldman, Thomas Guastavino, Lynn Gutstadt, Jessie Harrison, Lawrence Hatcher, George Kondreck, Ben Lupejkis, Roy T. Okida, Anderson Piller, Catherine Rahm, Janet Lee Rodriquez, and Brittany Sindicich.

The show is appropriate for all ages. Children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult in the theater.

Tickets are $25.00 with a $2.00 discount for seniors and students. To purchase tickets, please call (310) 645-5156 during box office hours, Wednesday through Saturday from 4-7 PM. You may also purchase tickets online at www.kentwoodplayers.org. For group ticket sales, please call Lori Marple-Pereslete at (310) 216-9094 or the box office.

For more information about Kentwood Players including our current production and upcoming auditions, please visit the Kentwood Players website at www.kentwoodplayers.org. You can also find Kentwood Players information on Facebook and Twitter.

To meet the MAME production team and learn more about Kentwood Players and what goes on at the Westchester Playhouse, the public is invited to attend our general membership meetings, which are free and held on the third Wednesday of each month at 7:30pm at the Westchester Playhouse, located two blocks west of the San Diego Freeway and two blocks north of Manchester at 8301 Hindry Avenue in Westchester, CA 90045

Photos by Shawn K. Summerer