Warren Harding

The Manor- Murder and Madness at Greystone is by now a Los Angeles/Beverly Hills institution. The play, returning for a nineteenth season, surpassed its 200th performance in 2014. This will mark its first engagement since 2020.

Longtime columnist for the New York Post, host of “Theatre Talk” on PBS, and celebrated author Michael Riedel, along with Sarasota’s own “Mr. Chatterbox,” Robert Plunket, will share candid and colorful stories of famed artistic projects in early development.

A total of 216 music teachers from 199 cities have been announced as quarterfinalists for the Music Educator Award presented by the Recording Academy® and GRAMMY Museum®. In total, nearly 2,000 initial nominations were submitted. In addition to our quarterfinalists, 91 legacy applicants from 2020 will also be eligible to win the award this year.

Now celebrating its 18th year, the annual production of THE MANOR has become a Los Angeles/Beverly Hills institution with several performances selling out even before tickets go on sale to the public. Its popularity, no doubt, is due to the scandalous true story as told by the talented actors who each inhabit their characters to a tee, costumed to time-period perfection, as well as the chance to be inside the grand and glorious architectural landmark in which the events of 91 years ago actually took place, performed in two acts taking place 10 years apart. The names of all characters in the tragic Doheny family saga have been changed, of course, a?oeto protect the guiltya?? as we are told before the play begins by the mansion's loyal butler, James, portrayed this year by David Hunt Stafford who also produces the show for Theatre 40 in association with The City of Beverly Hills.

The Manor- Murder and Madness at Greystone is by now a Los Angeles/Beverly Hills institution. The play, now in its eighteenth year, surpassed its 200th performance in 2014. The show is a roman a clef, a fictionalization based on real events with the actual historical characters given new names. To lend authenticity to the presentation, the show is presented in the grand and glorious architectural landmark in which the events of 90 years ago actually took place.

The brand-new Rave Theater Festival has announced a reading series bringing an additional three shows to the inaugural festival's slate of twenty.  Beginning tomorrow, August 9, through August 25, 2019 at Clemente Soto Veléz Cultural and Educational Center (107 Suffolk Street) on the Lower East Side, Rave Theater Festival has selected a diverse roster of plays, musicals, family-friendly shows, and cross-disciplinary projects.  Several performances are already sold out. 

Every January I look forward to attending THE MANOR by Katherine Bates, presented by Theatre 40 inside the historic Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills where the story upon which it is based actually took place. Now celebrating its 17th year, the annual production has become a Los Angeles/Beverly Hills institution with several performances selling out even before tickets go on sale to the public. Its popularity, no doubt, is due to the scandalous true story as told by the talented actors, costumed to time-period perfection, as well as the chance to be inside the grand and glorious architectural landmark in which the events of 90 years ago actually took place, performed in two acts taking place 10 years apart. The names of all characters in the Doheny saga have been changed, of course, "to protect the guilty" as we are told before the play begins by the mansion's loyal butler, James (Daniel Lench who has masterfully played the part for 6 years).

The Manor- Murder and Madness at Greystone. Return engagement of the hit immersive crime/scandal drama.

The Manor- Murder and Madness at Greystone. Return engagement of the hit immersive crime/scandal drama.

A dark horse candidate with little political acumen lacking in smarts is battling to become the Republican candidate for president, while keeping silent one in a series of illicit affairs. Sound familiar? In 'Fifteen Men In a Smoke-Filled Room,' playwright Colin Speer Crowley focuses on the candidacy of Warren Gamaliel Harding, who would become the 29th President of the United States. The play examines his loveless marriage and lack of appetite for the political machinations that would eventually result in his election.

Every January I look forward to attending THE MANOR by Katherine Bates, presented by Theatre 40 inside the historic Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills where the story upon which it is based actually took place. Now celebrating its 16th year, the annual production has become a Los Angeles/Beverly Hills institution with several performances selling out even before tickets go on sale to the public. Its popularity, no doubt, is due to the talented actors, costumed to time-period perfection, who make up the cast of characters about the oil-rich Doheny family, as well as the chance to be inside the grand and glorious architectural landmark in which the events of 89 years ago actually took place, performed in two acts taking place 10 years apart.

"The Manor" is by now a Los Angeles/Beverly Hills institution, now in its 14th year and having surpassed its 200th performance in 2014. The show is a roman a clef, a fictionalization based on real events with the actual historical characters given new names. "The names have been changed to protect the guilty," is shared during the show's introduction to the audience. To lend authenticity to the tale, the show is presented in the grand and glorious architectural landmark in which the events of 87 years ago actually took place. Audience members are led from room to room in the lovingly restored marvelous Greystone Mansion as different scenes of the narrative are portrayed, leading up to a shocking and apparent murder and suicide.

Marquis Publishing, an affiliate of the Marquis Gallery announces the release of the edition 'The Topography of Evil: Notorious Northern California Murder Sites.' The paperback and eBook is California author and photographer Marques Vickers' visual return to 43 infamous crime scenes detailing the shocking narratives behind each tragedy. Over 95 visual images amplify the experience by escorting the reader to the precise physical location, offering a critical context and perspective for understanding. 'Obscured by time and collective memory,' notes Vickers' preface, 'revisiting a dormant crime scene is a process of comprehending the convergence of evil absorbed into a physical space. Crime scenes typically revert back into unremarkable landscape or unassuming buildings over the ensuing years and decades. Many are passed daily by pedestrian and vehicular traffic unaware of a location's unique significance. The captured snapshots portray searing testimonies of extinguished lives removed by acts of violence.' Northern California has been the residence for many notorious individual and serial killers including the Zodiac, Ted 'Unabomber' Kaczynski, Dan White, Edmund Kemper III, Jim Jones, Richard Allen Davis, David Carpenter, Juan Corona and Scott Peterson. The media has renamed some such as the Trailside Killer, Co-ed Killer, Children of Thunder, Vampire of Sacramento, Zebra Killers and the Death House Landlady. Over 40+ convicted or deceased murderers are profiled including 24 who remain incarcerated and 5 awaiting execution at San Quentin Prison. The region has also buried notables among the profiled victims including San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, Supervisor Harvey Milk, Black Panther Huey P. Newton, Journalist Chauncey Bailey, Oscar Grant III, Polly Klaas, Lacy Peterson and 412 unclaimed bodies from the People's Temple Massacre in Jonestown, Guyana. "The Topography of Evil" edition is segmented into seven categories including assassinations, abductions, historical legacies, reckless homicides, unsolved murders, rampage and serial killers. Within the context of each profile, crucial issues and questions are raised regarding capital punishment, American racial perceptions, parental influences, media reporting, public bias, self-incrimination protections and the fairness of judicial sentencing. A controversial alternative of voluntary euthanasia for the condemned is raised following the observation of California's hopelessly backlogged number of inmates awaiting execution. Currently 743 inmates are sentenced to Death Row. Florida is second with 403 and Texas third at 276. The last California execution was in 2006. An extensive listing of fatality victims is included along with convicted and deceased killers. Each living convict still registered in the California penal system is identified by their respective current penitentiary, verdict and length of original jury sentencing. Vickers' own introduction to the consequences of murder commenced with the 1968 killings of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jenson by the Zodiac killer in the author's hometown. Faraday was an acquaintance of the author through Boy Scouts and his older sister knew both victims. His reflections on the trauma inflicted on his intimate suburban community correspond with the realization that a single homicide affects far more individuals than simply the victim. Hundreds and ultimately thousands may be touched by the arbitrariness and unfairness of life being terminated abruptly and prematurely. The 294-page paperback edition is available through Amazon.com and in electronic format via the Amazon Kindle and Barnes and Noble Nook stores. Supplementary promotional videos on numerous chapter including Huey Newton, Brooke Hart, Fishhead Beach Killings and the Marin County Courthouse Massacre are available on YouTube.com and Vimeo.com. A southern California version is current in the production stages. For further information regarding Marquis Publishing, visit TopographyofEvil.com and InsiderSeriesBooks.com. Cases Profiled (By Sequential Order and Category) Assassinations: Oakland School Superintendent Dr. Marcus Foster, San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, Oakland Times Journalist Chauncey Bailey, The Marin County Courthouse Shootout Massacre and The Contract Killing of Joseph 'The Animal' Barboza. Abductions: San Francisco's Kevin Collins, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Student Kristin Smart, Brooke Hart and the Resulting 1933 San Jose Public Lynching, Heiress Patty Hearst, Petaluma's Polly Klaas and San Luis Obispo's Rachel Newhouse and Aundria Crawford. Historical Legacies: Dashiell Hammett's Miles Archer, Chinatown Gangster Fung 'Little Pete' Jing Toy and Mysterious Rumors involving Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, Mary Ellen Pleasant and American President Warren Harding Reckless Homicides: Oscar Grant III, O'Farrell Theatre's Artie Mitchell, Diane Whipple Dog Mauling, Black Panther Huey P. Newton, Laci Peterson and Multiple Police Officer Killer Lovelle Mixon Unsolved Murders: Ashkenaz Performance Owner David Nadel, The Santa Rosa Hitchhiking Murders, Lindsay Cutshall and Jason Allen on Fish Head Beach. Rampage Mass Murders: Reverend Jim Jones and the People's Temple Massacre, The Helzer Brothers and the Children of Thunder, The 101 California Building Rampage, Dr. Victor Ohta mansion burning and mass slaying, The 1977 Golden Dragon Bloodbath, Carmel Valley's Mel and Elizabeth Grimes, The Oikos University Shootings, Eastside Salinas Gang Killings and Morro Bay's Lynwood 'Jim' Drake rampage. Serial Killers: 'Unabomber' Ted Kaczynski, 'Co-ed Killer' Edmund Kemper III, 'Sacramento Vampire' Richard Trenton Chase, Juan Corona, Herbert Mullin, 'Death House Landlady' Dorothea Puente, 'Trailside Killer' David Carpenter, The San Francisco Zebra Killings and Zodiac Killer.

In celebration of the 75th anniversary of Thornton Wilder's great dramatic homage to small-town American life and the greater universal experience of life, The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey presents Our Town beginning October 17th and continuing through November 17th at the F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre, 36 Madison Ave. (at Lancaster Road) in Madison. Tickets are now on sale and can be purchased by calling the Box Office at973-408-5600 or by visiting www.ShakespeareNJ.org. Performances are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Sundays at 7:30 p.m.; Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. Individual tickets range from $35 to $70; student rush tickets are available 30 minutes prior to curtain for $15.