The Fountain Theatre Presents OPUS 6/19- 7/25

Sex, drugs and chamber music! The Fountain Theatre continues its 20th Anniversary Season with the Los Angeles premiere of Opus by Michael Hollinger. This multiple award-winning, behind-the-scenes look at a "high strung" string quartet stars Daniel Blinkoff, Jia Doughman, Gregory G. Giles, Christian Lebano and Cooper Thornton. Simon Levy directs the six-week run, June 19 through July 25, with low-priced previews beginning June 12.

Opus is a smart, funny and insightful portrait of the fictional Lazara String Quartet. As the foursome prepares for a high profile performance at the White House, tensions mount and personalities clash. When their brilliant, but unstable, violist disappears, the others must seek someone new to perform with them. Will the talented young woman they select fit into a group of men with a complex history? With only days left to prepare, the musicians must navigate the creative, yet often disharmonious, path of creating a masterpiece. Violist-turned playwright Michael Hollinger skillfully establishes how four very distinct personalities must, in the pursuit of artistic excellence, synthesize with one another to create one seamless sound.

"The play is about how people work together to create something greater than the sum of their parts," explains the playwright. "Every small group, a university department faculty or small touring theater ensemble or string quartet or rock band is going to run into the same kinds of ditches. I've been in all of those groups. There are universals."

We're used to seeing documentaries about rock bands breaking up, but not about string quartets. The real-life Audubon Quartet went through just such a high profile split in 2005-06, confirming that Hollinger's play, which was premiering in Philadelphia at the time, is right on the mark.

A graduate of Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Michael Hollinger is a classically trained violist who later became captivated by playwriting. He received his masters in theater at Villanova University, where he is now an associate professor of theater. Opus returns him to his first passion, capturing all the richness and power of a great piece of music in a play.

"I've always thought about musical instruments as characters," Hollinger continues. "I recently started playing chamber music again, and getting back into it reawakened that idea. With fifteen years of playwriting under my belt, I was able to revisit it with a better understanding of how a script might represent musicality, and be musical, in a structural way."

Director Simon Levy also has a background in music. A music major who played both trumpet and sax, Levy was considering graduate school with a focus in conducting when he became intrigued by theater and made the switch.

"Opus is just a terrific play," he says. "It's true to the world of classical music, but also very human."

Opus received a 2007 Harold and Mimi Steinberg New Play Citation from the American Theatre Critics Association, and the Arden Theatre production in Philadelphia was nominated for seven Barrymore Awards, winning for Outstanding New Play.

In conjunction with Opus, The Fountain Theatre will present two live concerts by Los Angeles-based string quartets, on Sunday, June 27 (Quarteto Fantastico) and Sunday, July 11 (TBA), both at 8 pm. Quarteto Fantastico (Chris Woods and Paul Cartwright, violin; Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, viola; Peter Jacobson, cello) is known for the skill of its members in the art of improvisation on themes, or "quotations," from classical pieces as well as from jazz, Indian ragas, hiphop, and world music.

Set Design for Opus is by Frederica Nascimento; Lighting Design is by Ken Booth; Costume Design is by A. Jeffrey Schoenberg; Sound Design is by Peter Bayne; Prop Design is by Goar Galstyan; Music Advisors are Roy Tanabe and Larry Sonderling; Production Stage Manager is Jinny Parron; and Stephen Sachs and Deborah Lawlor produce for The Fountain Theatre.

Michael Hollinger's other plays include An Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf, Red Herring, Tiny Island, Tooth and Claw and Incorruptible. He has written seven touring plays for young audiences, as well as numerous short works. For PBS, he has scripted three short films and co-authored the feature-length Philadelphia Diary. Other awards include the Roger L. Stevens Award from the Kennedy Center's Fund for New American Plays, the F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Theatre Artist, a Mid-Atlantic Emmy Award, the Frederick Loewe Award for Musical Theatre, a commission from the EST/Sloan Science and Technology Project, and fellowships from the Independence Foundation, Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, and Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Hollinger is an alumnus of New Dramatists and Associate Professor of Theatre at Villanova University.

Simon Levy's directing credits at the Fountain include: Photograph 51; The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore; The Gimmick, starring Dael Orlandersmith (winner, 2007 L.A. Ovation Award for Solo Performance); Master Class (winner, Ovation Award for Best Production); Daisy in the Dreamtime; Going to St. Ives (which went to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival); The Night of the Iguana; Summer & Smoke (winner, Ovation Award for Best Production); The Last Tycoon, which he wrote and directed (5 Back Stage West Garland awards, including Best Adaptation and Direction); and Orpheus Descending (6 Drama-Logue awards, including Best Production and Direction). What I Heard About Iraq, which he wrote and directed, has been produced worldwide, including at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival where it won the 2006 Fringe First Award; the Adelaide Fringe Festival where it won the 2007 Fringe Award; by BBC Radio; and received a 30-city UK tour culminating in London. His stage adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby inaugurated the new Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis and is in planning stages for a London production. His trilogy of Fitzgerald stage adaptations includes Tender is the Night, winner PEN USA Award for Drama.

Daniel Blinkoff's (Dorian) L.A. credits include American Tales (Antaeus), A Distant Shore (Kirk Douglas), Pera Palas (Boston Court), as well as An Italian Straw Hat, Major Barbara, The School for Wives, The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow, Nostalgia, and over seven years in A Christmas Carol (South Coast Rep.). Regionally he has appeared at The Williamstown Theatre Festival, McCarter Theatre, Cleveland Playhouse, New York Stage & Film, Yale Repertory Theatre, as well as many others. He received a Joseph Jefferson Nomination for Best Actor for his work in Flesh and Blood.

Jia Doughman (Grace) received her MFA from American Repertory Theatre/Moscow Art Theatre School Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University in 2008. She appeared in the short film Jet Lag; a member of Pork Filled Player sketch comedy group; Seattle Fringe festival; Phoenician Women at Moscow Art Theatre in Moscow; The Room and the The Lacy Project at ART.

Gregory G. Giles (Carl) appeared as Sam Rosenman in The Accomplices at The Fountain and in the remount at the Odyssey Theatre. He toured nationally with The Children's Theatre Company of Minneapolis and has worked at the Guthrie and many other theaters in the Twin Cities before relocating to Los Angeles.

Christian Lebano (Elliot) appeared in Facing East (International City Theater), the world premiere Lie With Me (Mutineer Theatre Co.) and Romeo & Juliet directed by Joe Regalbuto. He has performed at the Oregon, Utah, and Montana Shakespeare Festivals; Shakespeare Repertory and Court Theatre in Chicago; PCPA TheatreFest; and the Madison Repertory and American Players Theatre in Wisconsin. Favorite roles: Stephen in Major Barbara, Dromio of Ephesus in Comedy of Errors, Suffolk in Henry VI pts. 1 & 2, Oberon/Theseus in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Malvolio in Twelfth Night, Lloyd in Noises Off, the title role in Cymbeline, and God #2 in The Good Person of Setzuan directed by Heinz-Uwe Haus of the Berliner Ensemble.

Cooper Thornton (Alan) received an LA Weekly award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in After The Fall at The Fountain Theatre. Recent film work: Changeling, with director Clint Eastwood, and Fracture with Anthony Hopkins. TV work includes guest starring roles on Arrested Development, Cold Case, House, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Three Rivers, The Office and, currently, the role of Dr. Harris on ABC's Parks and Recreation.

Celebrating its 20th year, The Fountain Theatre is one of the most successful intimate theaters in Los Angeles. Housed in a charming two-story complex in Hollywood, California, the Fountain provides a nurturing, creative home for multi-ethnic theater and dance artists. The Fountain serves as an artistic home for such noted playwrights as Athol Fugard, Lee Blessing, Dael Orlandersmith, Israel Horovitz, and enjoys successful relationships with the literary estates of Tennessee Williams, F. Scott Fitzgerald and August Wilson. Fountain projects have been seen in several major theaters around the country, including Victory Gardens (Chicago), the Guthrie (Minneapolis), Off-Broadway at Primary Stages (New York), and internationally at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland (winner of the Fringe First Award). Under the guidance of Producing Artistic Director Deborah Lawlor, the Fountain is also the premier venue for Flamenco music and dance in Los Angeles. Since 1990 it has produced over 500 world-class Flamenco concerts on its intimate stage and seven seasons at the 1200-seat Ford Amphitheatre. The Fountain has also toured Flamenco projects throughout the Western United States. Over its two-decade history, the Fountain has won over 200 awards for theater excellence in Los Angeles. Heralded as one of the "Best Theater Companies of the Decade" by the LA Weekly, The Fountain has been honored by the Los Angeles City Council for "enhancing the cultural life of Los Angeles."

Opus opens on Saturday, June 19 with performances Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 2 pm through July 25. Previews run on the same schedule, June 12-18. Tickets are $25.00 on Thursdays and Fridays and $30.00 on Saturdays and Sundays, except opening night (June 19), which is $35.00 and previews which are $15.00. On Thursdays and Fridays only, Students with ID are $18.00 and seniors over 62 are $23.00. The Fountain Theatre is located at 5060 Fountain Avenue (at Normandie) in Los Angeles.Secure, on-site parking is available for $5.00.The Fountain Theatre is air-conditioned and wheelchair accessible. For reservations and information, call (323) 663-1525 or go to www.FountainTheatre.com.