Charles Ludlam News

'What could be better than a play that asks you to shout? Well, one that asks you to sing. All this fun is part of an updated version of 'The Brave Little Tailor...' My son also thought of another reason that Seven in One Blow is the greatest play ever: the actors pass out candy at the end.'-The New York Times

The Ovation-Winning theatre company, Actors Co-op opens up its 28th season with Charles Ludlam's two-person comedy 'The Mystery of Irma Vep - A Penny Dreadful'.

Justin Sayre's camp-horror-soap-opera, twelve-episode serial RAVENSWOOD MANOR will take the Celebration Theatre stage beginning October 17, 2019 for a six-week run. Novelist/playwright/TV scripter/performer/host Justin took some time to answer a few of my questioning queries on his various functions as novelist/playwright/TV scripter/performer/host.

Slave Play ventures into subject matter the likes of which this playgoer has never seen presented on Broadway, and does so in a bold, even outlandish manner that should be admired and welcomed. This older straight white critic won't claim to get everything the 30-year-old gay African-American playwright is saying, but if voices like his-those that have long been nurtured and developed by non-profit Off-Broadway-can be commercially successful on Broadway, the fabled boulevard can advance just a little closer to truly being the artistic center of American theatre.

In his curtain speech, Artistic Director of Louisville's newest theatre company and director of this production stated that both the company and The Mystery of Irma Vep were long-held dreams coming true.

Director Carla Cackowski is delighted to be making her Actors Co-op debut with this wonderfully ridiculous play. Recent credits include directing shows at The Second City (LA), Curious Comedy Theater (Portland, OR), and Stephnie Weir's one woman show, Vanona Ray at the Comedy Central Stage. She regularly tours around the world performing comedic improv with her two person show Orange Tuxedo. Recent tours include the Copenhagen International Improv Festival, the Vancouver International Improv Fest, and the Warsaw Improv Festival. Carla proudly serves on the Board of Directors at Kickstand Comedy, a non-profit theater that seeks to serve the needs of the community, providing programming and educational outreach that helps people laugh, connect, and thrive together. www.carlacackowski.com. She is about to open The Mystery of Irma Vep - A Penny Dreadful at Actors Co-op on October 4.

Actors Co-op (Ovation Winner 2018 Best Direction of a Musical - Intimate Theatre) is proud to present Charles Ludlam's The Mystery of Irma Vep - A Penny Dreadful, directed by Carla Cackowski, produced by Carly Lopez. This hilarious two-actor, multi-character comedic thriller is a nod to the classic Gothic melodramas and early fright flicks of the 30s and 40s. The play will run October 4 through November 10 at the Actors Co-op Crossley Theatre in Hollywood

Actors Co-op Theatre Company (Ovation Winner 2018 Best Direction of a Musical - Intimate Theatre) announces its 28th Season of shows!

Emmy Award-winning comedian and writer Judy Gold shares the stage for the first time ever with Boston-area cabaret sensation and Norton Award winner Varla Jean Merman at the Huntington Theatre Company for one night only on Saturday, October 19 at the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA. Performance times are 6pm and 9pm. Produced by Mark Cortale, these two extraordinary talents will deliver what is sure to be an unforgettable evening of music, stand-up, and all-around hilarity. The Judy and Varla show features Gerald Goode at the piano.

Sometimes a trip to the Emergency Room is so awful that it's just made for Theater of the Ridiculous.  That's the premise of 'Singin' in the E.R.,' the newest musical by Ruby Lynn Reyner, a star of John Vaccarro's Playhouse of the Ridiculous who has been called a female Jerry Lewis.

Like Aaron Posner's UNCLE VANYA-inspired LIFE SUCKS, still packing in the disillusioned masses at Theatre Row, the new offering by MCC is more of a freestyle riff on its sullen source material, lifting subtext to the surface in contemporary vernacular and shaving the whole thing down to a quick-paced 90 minutes.

Curio Theatre Company announces its 2019-2020 season, marking its 15th anniversary making affordable, accessible, and professional theatre in West Philadelphia.

'Only my dogs will not betray me,' confesses a world-renowned opera diva in Charles Ludlam's 1983 downtown triumph, GALAS.

Theatre at St. John's, in association with Yorick Theater Company, presents the first ever revival of Charles Ludlam's GALAS, starring and directed by Everett Quinton in celebration of Stonewall 50 and World Pride. GALAS opens on Sunday, June 16th and will play a limited engagement through June 28th at the Theatre at St. John's (81 Christopher Street), a stone's throw from Stonewall and the play's original home, Ridiculous Theatrical Company. In this grand finale of a series saluting Quinton's artistry, opera diva extraordinaire Maria Magdalena Galas (rhymes with Callas) once again storms into the West Village with style, flair, and a whole lot of high comedy. Tickets are $25 and are available online at galas.brownpapertickets.com.

Theater at Monmouth opens its What Dreams May Come Golden Anniversary Season with a killer case just begging to be solved! Murder for Two, with book and music by Joe Kinosian and book and lyrics by Kellen Blair, begins with a BANG! One actor investigates the crime. The other plays all of the suspects. And they both play the piano! A zany blend of musical comedy and madcap mystery, this fast and funny whodunit is a highly theatrical duet loaded with killer laughs. Help us catch the killer from Saturday June 22nd at 7:30 p.m. through Friday, August 16th including matinee and evening performances on both weekdays and weekends.

Actor, playwright and cabaret entertainer Charles Busch's work includes Die Mommie Die, Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, Psycho Beach Party and The Tale of the Allergist's Wife. He's returning to London's Live at Zedel in June with his new show Native New Yorker.

Theatre at St. John's, in association with Yorick Theater Company, is announcing the first ever revival of Charles Ludlam's GALAS, starring and directed by Everett Quinton in celebration of Stonewall 50 and World Pride.

When I left the Studio Theatre at the Horowitz Visual and Performing Arts Center at Howard Community College in Columbia where the Rep Stage is housed, I went up to Director Joseph W. Ritsch with a big smile on my face. He told me he wanted to end their season with a comedy that audiences would enjoy. Well, mission accomplished!

Nathan Lee Graham (Zoolander, "LA to Vegas") Nadia Quinn (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson), Josh Sharp (Comedy Central's "The Opposition"), and Phillip Taratula ("The Outs") have joined the cast of Justin Sayre's camp-horror-soap-opera Ravenswood Manor at JOE'S PUB on Saturday, April 27 and Sunday, April 28 at 9:30 PM. After premiering at the venue last fall, Ravenswood Manor will be continued with episodes 7 thru 9 on Saturday, and episodes 10 through 12 on Sunday.