The Harold Clurman Lab Theater to Present ROCKET TO THE MOON This January

The Harold Clurman Lab Theater has announced its 5th anniversary production, returning to its roots with Clifford Odets' Rocket to the Moon.

The play was first presented by the Group Theater in 1938 and the cast included Luther Adler, brother of Stella. Rocket to the Moon asks audiences "how can you untie the chains that hold you back?' The play runs from January 6 to January 21, 2017 for 12 performances.

The cast features HCLAB alums Jesse Steccato, Fakeer, Dana Martin, Jacques Freydont, and Johnny Patrick Yoder, with debuts of Kristin Couture and Scott Norton. Managing Artistic Director Don K. Williams will direct. Williams recently directed the Harold Clurman Lab Theater's Ovation-nominated productions of Lebensraum and Long Way Go Down.

All shows will offer a "pay what you can" ticket structure in an effort to make theater-going accessible to patrons of all income levels.

Artistic Director Tom Oppenheim on the production: "Harold Clurman, the Lab Theater's namesake, directed the original production of Rocket to the Moon. Almost eighty years later, Rocket to the Moon's message is incredibly timely and speaks to the pulse of our times. In Don K. Williams's capable hands, the Lab Theater's Rocket to the Moon will make audiences feel that Odets is speaking directly to them about their lives, their work, their friends and family, their challenges, their questions and their dreams."

The Lab Theater's most recent work in Los Angeles includes Road to Nirvana, Talking to Terrorists, the Ovation-Recommended and Ovation-Nominated run of Lebensraum by Israel Horovitz, and the Ovation-nominated run of Long Way Go Down by Zayd Dohrn. In New York, the Harold Clurman Lab Theater recently presented the Edinburgh Festival Fringe First Award winning one-man show Mercy Killers by Michael Milligan and the off-Broadway production of Israel Horovitz's Lebensraum.

All around Ben Stark, people are losing their livelihoods and he is barely holding on. When a professional relationship takes a romantic turn, will he lose everything that is holy to him or will he be liberated by following his heart? Set in 1938 Depression-era New York City, Rocket to the Moon will make audiences confront what they most value and question the meanings of freedom and ambition.

IF YOU GO:

Rocket to the Moon

By Clifford Odets

Directed by Don K. Williams

12 Performances, January 6 - January 21, 2016.

Tickets $20 in advance, 'Pay what you can' at the door.

For more information, visit www.artofactingstudio.com.

The Harold Clurman Lab Theater Company will present Rocket to the Moon at The Art of Acting Studio is located at 1017 North Orange Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90038.

THE Harold Clurman LABORATORY THEATER COMPANY is the Stella Adler Studio of Acting's/Art of Acting Studio's professional theater company. The Lab aims to produce socially relevant theater committed to the standards and ideals set out by Stella Adler, Harold Clurman and the Group Theater. The mission of the Lab is to provide the community, through theater and discussion, with a place of exploration and experimentation of what it means be a human being. Select production history: Talking to Terrorists, Mercy Killers by Michael Milligan (Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2013, Fringe First Award), Lebensraum by Israel Horovitz (off-Broadway, Ovation-Nominated in Los Angeles), Long Way Go Down by Zayd Dohrn (West Coast premiere, Ovation Award Nominee), Our Town by Thornton Wilder, What Shall I Give My Children? by Don K. Williams (world premiere).