Andrew Dits

Whether you know 'whodunnit' or not, you're bound to enjoy this rollicking MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS adapted by Ken Ludwig at the Ogunquit Playhouse. Fans of Agatha Christie, or murder mysteries in general, will find plenty of false identities, red herrings and over-the-top suspense to keep them guessing till the infamous mustached detective Hercule Poirot (a pitch-perfect Steven Rattazzi) inevitably solves the crime.

While it might seem sacrilegious to host a non-musical at the famed Ogunquit Playhouse, modern day audiences should know that the early years of the theater hosted a slew of non-musical productions. In fact, it was many years ago that I saw a production of Love Letters and an adaptation of Dracula.

All aboard! Ogunquit Playhouse announces the first non-musical production at the theatre in over 12 years, Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express, on stage August 14 through August 31.

Beetlebung Road LLC, a new theater production company, will launch November 15 to December 9 with a bi-coastal production of Sam Shepard's 'Fool for Love,' to be presented November 15 to December 2 by Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave., Manhattan and December 6 to 9 by The Lounge Theatre, 6201 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles.  The production, directed by Kymberly Harris, will arise from a careful artistic process of immersion on many levels.  The company chose to debut at Theater for the New City (TNC) as part of that process: to honor and recapture the path of Shepard's 'Buried Child,' which was commissioned by TNC and premiered there in 1978.

The Pasadena Playhouse (Danny Feldman, Producing Artistic Director) continues it FOUR BY TENN: A TENNESSEE WILLIAMS READING SERIES in celebration of Tennessee Williams with CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF. Performed in association with East West Players and directed by Snehal Desai, the reading will feature Suzy Nakamura of ABC's DR. KEN as Mae Pollitt. Also joining Nakamura are Laura Kai Chen, Ryun Yu, C.S. Lee, Amy Hill, Dana Lee, Jenapher Zheng, Greg Watanabe and Anil Kumar Bhardwarj. CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF will be read on Monday, March 13 at 8:00 PM at The Pasadena Playhouse (39 S. El Molino Avenue, Pasadena).

Actress Judith Light certainly needs no introduction. A familiar face to television audiences, she co-starred in the soap One Life to Live winning two Daytime Emmy Awards and in prime time with Tony Danza in Who's the Boss?She has also won two Tony Awards for her stellar work on Broadway. She is a gay rights activist and she and her husband Robert Desiderio have contributed greatly to the gay community in Los Angeles over the years. Co-starring in Amazon's web series Transparent, she is currently performing double duty: the TV show by day and at night a workshop play God Looked Away at the Pasadena Playhouse sharing the stage with none other than icon Al Pacino. I caught up with her this week, and she talked briefly but joyously about the play, her role in it and working with Pacino.

The Pasadena Playhouse presents their first development production, under the theater's new play development program PlayWorks, Dotson Rader's GOD LOOKED AWAY starring Academy Award- and two-time Tony Award-winner Al Pacino (Scent of a Woman) as 'Tennessee Williams' and co-starring two-time Tony Award-winner Judith Light (Transparent) as Williams' close friend 'Estelle' and Miles Gaston Villanueva (CBS's The Young and the Restless) as 'Baby.'

The Pasadena Playhouse presents its first developmental production, under the theater's new play development program PlayWorks: Dotson Rader's GOD LOOKED AWAY starring Academy Award- and two-time Tony Award-winner Al Pacino (Scent of a Woman) as 'Tennessee Williams' and co-starring two-time Tony Award-winner Judith Light (Transparent) as Williams' close friend 'Estelle' and Miles Gaston Villanueva (CBS's The Young and the Restless) as 'Baby.'

The Pasadena Playhouse has announced a new partnership with TodayTix, the theater ticket app, to launch a mobile Rush program for Dotson Rader's GOD LOOKED AWAY, directed by Robert Allan Ackerman, and starring Al Pacino and Judith Light.

The Pasadena Playhouse announced today that their first development production, under the theater's new play development program PlayWorks, will be Dotson Rader's GOD LOOKED AWAY starring Academy Award- and two-time Tony Award-winner Al Pacino (Scent of a Woman) as 'Tennessee Williams' and co-starring two-time Tony Award-winner Judith Light (Transparent) as Williams' close friend 'Estelle' and Miles Gaston Villanueva (CBS's The Young and the Restless) as 'Baby.'

Glenne Headly (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Dick Tracy, Mr. Holland's Opus), James Kyson (NBC's Heroes, voted one of "Hollywood's 25 Hottest" by TV Guide), Michael Yama (Betty White's Off Their Rockers) andRob Yang (The Americans, Twisted) join the cast when The Garage re-opens its acclaimed world premiere production of BLOOD. Written and directed by Obie and New York Outer Critics Circle Award-winner/ DGA Award, two-time Golden Globe and five-time Emmy Award nominee Robert Allan Ackerman, BLOOD returns to the The Complex in Hollywood beginning Oct. 28.

Glenne Headly (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Dick Tracy, Mr. Holland's Opus) and James Kyson (NBC's Heroes, voted one of "Hollywood's 25 Hottest" by TV Guide) join the cast when The Garage re-opens its acclaimed world premiere production of BLOOD. Written and directed by Obie and New York Outer Critics Circle Award-winner/ DGA Award, two-time Golden Globe and five-time Emmy Award nominee Robert Allan Ackerman, BLOOD returns to the The Complex in Hollywood beginning Oct. 14.

Glenne Headly (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Dick Tracy, Mr. Holland's Opus) and James Kyson (NBC's Heroes, voted one of "Hollywood's 25 Hottest" by TV Guide) join the cast when The Garage re-opens its acclaimed world premiere production of BLOOD. Written and directed by Obie and New York Outer Critics Circle Award-winner/ DGA Award, two-time Golden Globe and five-time Emmy Award nominee Robert Allan Ackerman, BLOOD returns to the The Complex in Hollywood beginning Oct. 14.

1948's Summer and Smoke was rewritten in the 60s by Tennessee Williams and what resulted was a more clearly structured/themed play with the same central characters entitled The Eccentricities of a Nightingale. Music teacher Miss Alma (Ginna Carter), daughter of an Episcopal minister Reverend Winemiller (Brad Greenquist), was passionately in love with her neighbor young Dr. John Buchanan (Andrew Dits) and when that love was unrequited rather than become a miserable spinster, she turned to  prostitution. Now in a rare and lovely production of the refined play at PRT, poetic spirit is alive and well in Miss Alma, the Spanish word for soul.

Centered around the same characters first introduced in his play SUMMER AND SMOKE, Williams now explores how despite their differences, John Buchanan (the almost too handsome Andrew Dits) and Alma Winemiller (Ginna Carter who totally embodies the quirky character who sings like a Southern nightingale), are still magnetically drawn to each other after he returns home to Glorius Hill, Mississippi, following his Summa Cum Laude graduation as a medical doctor from Johns Hopkins University. The preacher's daughter boldly seizes on a chance to follow her heart's inclinations in their small town where, too often, dreams die quickly. Tennessee Williams' subtly seductive play centers on the passionately complex and sometimes cruel relationships to which love becomes vulnerable, when we are strong enough to allow it.

 Pacific Resident Theatre (Marilyn Fox, Artistic Director) celebrates their 30th season by announcing the opening of THE ECCENTRICITIES OF A NIGHTINGALE by Tennessee Williams. Dana Jackson (Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle and LA Weekly nomination - The Cherry Orchard) directs.

The Spare Change Series presents 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' Hollywood's new charitybased play reading series, The Spare Change Series, will be presenting their very first production on Monday, June 2, 2014 at 7pm at the Art of Acting Studio, located at 1017 N. Orange Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90038.

Lampkin Music Group is proud to present a special encore performance of 'Memoir', a play by Father Harry Cronin of Notre Dame. Featuring Andrew Dits and Directed by Dana Vagg.

Lampkin Music Group is proud to present a special encore performance of 'Memoir', a play by Father Harry Cronin of Notre Dame. Featuring Andrew Dits and Directed by Dana Vagg.