Steve Peterson

The new musical 57 BUS by RYAN M. LUEVANO has been selected for a mainstage reading as part of the Colorado New Musical Festival. The performance will occur on July 26th 2021 at McIlvoy Park in Olde Town Arvada, Colorado. The performance will also be streamed on the festival's Twitch channel.

Director/actress Linda Alznauer directed Trapped at Tea Time at the 2018 Hollywood Fringe Festival and Arthur Miller's All My Sons at Upstairs-at-the-Group-Rep (2018). Also Upstairs at the Group Rep, she directed and appeared in And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little by Paul Zindel (2017) and Another Antigone by A.R. Gurney (2016). Other LA credits include Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing at Two Roads Theater in Studio City (2014) and Visiting Oliver at JET Studios in NoHo (2014). NY credits include Blind Date at Open Pulse One Act Festival on Theater Row. Linda is a graduate of the USC Film School. She has recently opened Otherwise Engaged at Upstairs at the Group Rep.

Bobby Moresco (Producer) Bobby is an Academy Award-winning writer, director and producer, hailing from Hell's Kitchen, New York. In 2007, Moresco received an Oscar for co-writing the feature film 'CRASH'. Other features include, Academy Award-winner 'MILLION DOLLAR BABY' and '10TH & WOLF', starring James Marsden, which was his directorial debut. Moresco's TV credits include 'EZ Streets', 'Falcone', 'The Black Donnellys', and a soon TBA Comedy Special with Colin Quinn.

Art Shulman has produced many full-length plays including The Rabbi's Mission; The Rabbi & The Shiksa; The Yentas Wear Red Hats; I Got Troubles; Doubting Thomas; I'm Not Just A Comic Genius; Rebecca's Gamble; Not One More Foot Of Land!; Bagels; Boxcar & Eugenia; Sex Is Good For You!; Old Broads Can't Dunk; God, Bring Me A Miracle; The $4 Million Giveaway; Misconceptions; Joe Carbone's Job; September 10; Career Day; and the Xmas musical, Trolls Stole The North Pole. Additionally, he's written many one-act plays, too numerous to list here.

FIRE IN A DARK HOUSE opens tonight at the Whitefire Theatre in Sherman Oaks and runs every Thursday. Co-Creators Mona Z. Smith and Traci Mariano chat with us about the play and their collaboration. Written by Steve Peterson You live on opposite coasts and have worked together before.  How did you meet and how did this partnership come to be?

A graduate of Northern Arizona University, Bert Emmett has taught, acted in, produced, written, and directed plays for over 35 years. Bert's favorite acting roles in L.A. include Col. Armadillo in The Armadillo Necktie (Last Straw Award), Karl Lindner is A Raisin in the Sun (A Noise Within), Kanute in Don't Hug Me I'm Pregnant (Eddon Award).  Other LA shows include Sherlock Through the Looking Glass, Lombardi,  Someone Who'll Watch Over Me, Sherlock's Last Case (Scenies Award), and Cobb.  Film: 'The Forsaken," 'Alien Hunter," 'Outside Ozona," and "Our Next Caller" (with Eric Roberts). Member of SAG/AFTRA and AEA.  This is Bert's directorial debut at The Group Rep.  When did you get interested in directing?

A native of San Francisco, Doug Engalla first joined The Group Rep in 1997 as an Actor; while directing projects outside of the Company. In 2007, Doug's first full-length play as Director at the Group Rep was Arsenic and Old Lace, with Rumors being his seventh production as Director there. Other directorial projects included Harvey, A Nice Family Gathering, A Nice Family Christmas, Bless Me, Father (by late Playwright and Group Rep member, Craig Alpaugh); and four World Premieres in the Don't Hug Me musical comedy series by Phil Olson and Paul Olson. When did you first get interested in doing theatre or working on the stage?

You may know Ari Stidham best as genius Sylvester Dodd on CBS's 'Scorpion' fourth season just completed, or possibly as Ian Schonfeld from ABC Family's 'Huge'. Other TV credits include 'Insecure', 'Mick and Molly', and 'Glee'. You may also know his music which he releases as DRTV. Ari has also produced films that have premiered at Fangoria Fear Con ('Curse of the Siren') and Sundance ('Clara's Ghost'). Original plays include Theatricus Americanus (Pack) and Dick Duquesne Radio Plays (Open Space). As director, he is currently rehearsing Solo Must Die: A Musical Parody to play the Hudson Backstage Theatre beginning Friday May 4.

Anniversaries are customarily times to reflect on the past, but for Maine State Music Theatre's Artistic Director, Curt Dale Clark, the 2018 gala celebration of the company's sixty years is not only a time to celebrate history, but also to use the significant milestone as an opportunity to look to the future. 'We are thinking forward and not resting on our laurels. We are accentuating what works, trying to fix what doesn't, and trying to find new ways to engage the community and make them happy,' Clark explains his philosophy about the Brunswick-based theatre's upcoming historic season.

Playwright Phil Olson is best known for his popular, hilarious DON'T HUG ME musical plays written with brother Paul Olson, that are crowd favorites wherever they are performed.  His comedy, A NICE FAMILY GATHERING, played at Group Rep Lonny Chapman Theatre in 2016, has been nominated for an NAACP LA Local Award for Best Ensemble.   Phil shares with us some details about his life as a writer and how "Don't Hug Me, We're Family" came about.

Linda Kerns has a made a name for herself as both an actress and director. As an actress: Broadway: NINE (Original Cast), Big River, National Tours: Les Miserables, Beauty and the Beast (LA), Wicked (LA). The movie TITANIC, LAWeekly Award (Best Musical Performance) for Into the Woods at Actors Co-op. As a director: World Premiere Matthew Goldsby's Makin' Hay, Pride and Prejudice, I Do, I Do!, And Then There Were None, Going to St. Ives, among others. She is currently directing the classic The Man Who Came to Dinner at Actors Co-op to open Friday November 3.

CHRISTINE DUNFORD made her directorial debut with last year's production of Good People at the Hudson Guild. She trained as an actor at Juilliard, making her debut in Joe Papp's Two Gentlemen of Verona. Broadway: Serious Money. Off-Broadway: Love's Labors Lost (Public Theater);Serious Money (Public Theater);Tamara; Infidelities (Primary Stages.) LA: I Carry Your Heart (BootlegTheater);The Cryptogram; Old Neighborhood (Geffen Playhouse);7Blow Jobs; Erotic Curtsies (Bottom's Dream Theater Company); Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike (Edgemar Theater.) Film: Ulee's Gold Love & Basketball American Dream Bandit Hound Hello Herman August Creek and award-winning shorts Dos Corazones and Lost People of Mountain Village. Ms. Dunford has appeared in over 100 episodes of television. Series Regular: Good Sports Bob Hudson Street Something So Right and Secret Lives of Men . Guest Star: The Gifted, Longmire, The Mentalist, Bones: & many others. Solo Performance: HBO Aspen Comedy Festival. She is currently directing a production of Donald Margulies' Collected Stories to open at the Dorie Theater at the Complex Friday October 13.

Bobby Moresco is an Academy Award-winning writer, director and producer, hailing from Hell's Kitchen, New York. In 2007, Moresco received an Oscar for co-writing the feature film CRASH . Other features include, Academy Award-winner MILLION DOLLAR BABY and 10TH & WOLF , starring James Marsden, which was his directorial debut. Moresco's TV credits include EZ Streets , Falcone , and The Black Donnellys . He is currently producing WORKING at the Whitefire Theatre to play Thursdays October 12-November 9. by Steve Peterson

Director/Actor/Writer LARRY EISENBERG earned his MFA from CalArts, received a DramaLogue Award for the world premiere adaptation of Isaac Bashevis Singer's Stories for Children and has directed numerous productions at GRT. His favorites include The Poor of New York, Trip to Bountiful, Over the River and Through the Woods and his original play, Nautilus, which was later turned into a feature film. He currently serves as one of the two co-artistic directors at the Group Rep. He is currently directing Lost in Yonkers at Group rep which will have its official opening Friday, September 8. Written by Steve Peterson

Jay Johnson made his Broadway debut at the Helen Hayes Theatre starring in the show he both wrote and performed, "Jay Johnson: The Two and Only" which garnered him the 2007 Tony Award for Best Theatrical Event. Four months prior to the Broadway opening, the show played the Colony Theatre in Burbank and won the Los Angeles Ovation Award for Best Solo Show. The previous season, the show had been produced Off-Broadway at the Atlantic Theatre Company where it earned rave reviews and a coveted Lucille Lortel Award. Jay Johnson is a writer, comic, ventriloquist, poet, magician, and puppeteer. He has written and performed in TV specials for NBC, CBS, and HBO, and has hundreds of appearances on variety specials and talk shows including "The Tonight Show" (with Johnny Carson and with Jay Leno) and "The David Letterman Show." He has been featured in more than 30 national commercials. Jay's acting credits include appearances on "CSI", "That 70's Show", "Dave's World", "Night Court" and others too numerous to mention. Jay Johnson is best remembered for his role as the schizophrenic ventriloquist Chuck and Bob' on the ABC classic TV comedy "Soap".

Bruce Kimmel wrote, directed and starred in the cult movie hit, "The First Nudie Musical."  He also co-created the story for the hit film, "The Faculty," directed by Robert Rodriguez.  As an actor, Mr. Kimmel guest-starred on most of the long-running television shows of the 1970s.    Mr. Kimmel is a legendary Grammy-nominated producer of theatre music on CD, having produced over 180 albums. Most recently he has directed the shows L.A. Now and Then, Hit Song, The Musical, Welcome to My World, Li'l Abner, and Inside Out.  Mr. Kimmel is the author of seventeen books, many musicals, and is an award-winning songwriter. Bruce Kimmel serves as director on the Group Rep's upcoming production of Frederick Knott's mystery thriller Dial "M" for Murder which opens on the Main Stage, June 30th, at the Lonny Chapman Theatre in North Hollywood at the edge of the NoHo Arts District.  Written by Steve Peterson

Playwright Brent Beerman is A UCLA MFA graduate;his Gabriel's Rapture won the Corner Stage National Theater Contest; Millionaires opened Off-Broadway; Dancing in the Shadows won the Pacificus Foundation of Los Angeles Literary Award; his libretto for Jesus' Daughter and Womin, touring Europe and the United States, were featured on CNN. In Los Angeles, Another Washington Affair was recently directed by Kay Cole. A Dull Pain, Turned Sharp was a prizewinner at the MOXIE Films New Play Competition and a reading featured at the HOWL festival in New York City. He is the director of theater at Crescenta Valley High School which annually produces over 14 plays with five guest directors. Written by Steve Peterson

Writer/Director/Producer Gordon Bre4ssack is a veteran of the NY Off-Off Broadway scene as a member of The Playhouse of the Ridiculous. He toured Europe three times with that group and was with them in 1971 when they were all arrested for obscenity in Brussels. He came to Los Angeles in 1983 and was soon hired at Hanna-Barbera writing such shows as 'Scooby- Doo' and 'The Smurfs'. He went on to Warner Bros. Animation and won three Emmys for his work on 'Animaniacs' and 'Pinky & the Brain.' His two previous plays in LA, 'Fuggedaboudit' and 'Missing Dick' were audience and critical favorites. by Steve Peterson

Amanda began her career as an actress in New York City working for the late Sidney Lumet.  Amanda has appeared in numerous films and TV shows and earned a SAG Award for Ensemble Cast for the Academy Award-winning film Crash. Pursuing her real passion, writing, Amanda has learned from the best by working behind the camera for Woody Allen, Bobby Moresco, and David Chase, and in writer's rooms as assistant for Paul Haggis, Todd Field, John Lee Hancock, Mark Johnson, and Gil Adler. Amanda wrote two episodes for the first season of NBC's The Black Donnellys. She has had two feature films produced.  Amanda has written and produced numerous one-act plays.  Most recently, she directed the L. A. production of William Hoffman's 'Cal in Camo' which went on to a critically acclaimed Off-Broadway run. Amanda is raising two sons and splits her time between New York and Los Angeles.