Phil Johnson News

Kicking off with two shows in September, Artists Rep's 2018/19 season features seven compelling contemporary plays in their subscription series, plus two bonus shows. These plays are highly entertaining theatrical experiences, written by some of the nation's most acclaimed playwrights.

What happens when Shakespeare's iconic, star-crossed lovers get a third wheel? A tangled triangle of unrequited love! In this fun and fizzy romantic comedy, a rehearsal room becomes a hilarious hothouse for palpable passion, witty repartee, and comedic conflict as the Bard's glorious language inspires the hopeless romantic in us all.

The Roustabouts Theatre Co. presents the world premiere of ROMEO, ROMEO & JULIET written by co-founder Ruff Yeager at the MOXIE Theatre from June 14 through July 8, 2018. Starring Brian Mackey, Michelle Marie Trester & Michael Silberblatt and co-directed by Phil Johnson & Kim Strassburger.

What happens when Shakespeare's iconic, star-crossed lovers get a third wheel? A tangled triangle of unrequited love! In this fun and fizzy romantic comedy, a rehearsal room becomes a hilarious hothouse for palpable passion, witty repartee, and comedic conflict as the Bard's glorious language inspires the hopeless romantic in us all.

Los Angeles premiere of You In Midair - Danna Schaeffer brings her uniquely Hollywood story - an intimate, harrowing, often funny and ultimately joyful story of loss, memory and hard-won wisdom - to the Hollywood Fringe Festival. On July 18, 1989, the blooming Hollywood career of actress Rebecca Schaeffer was cut tragically short when she was murdered on her front step by an obsessed fan. 

Winner at the United Solo Fest in New York City & touring the US, The Roustabouts Theatre Co. presents A JEWISH JOKE starring Phil Johnson at the MOXIE Theatre from March 14 through April 8, 2018. Written by Phil Johnson and Marni Freedman and directed by David Ellenstein.

You'll find plenty of humor and drama in playwrights Marni Freedman and Phil Johnson's A JEWISH JOKE, which is now playing at the New Jewish Theatre. Set during the McCarthy 'red scare' hearings during the early 1950's, the play offers up an examination of a Jewish comedy writer named Bernie Lutz who, along with his partner Morris, suddenly finds out about his name appearing in Red Channels, which published the names of individuals who had been implicated, or in anyway affiliated, with groups that promoted Socialism and Communism. For most, the results, if true (and even if it wasn't), resulted in an immediate blacklisting. That was it. Your career was over. But some survived, and under other names continued to work on films and TV, while others named names and slipped off the hook to continue working as themselves. This is an excellent examination of how quickly a career could fly off the rails during that period in time, and here, taking place in a single, stressful day. It's powerful and relevant material, laced with great helpings of humor, and it deserves a hearty recommendation.

Starting at New Jewish Theatre, November 29 December 10, is the one man play A Jewish Joke written and performed by Phil Johnson. The play looks at a dark time in US political history. In 1950's Hollywood, at the height of the Communist Blacklist, when careers were ruined by a whisper, we meet irascible comedy screenwriter Bernie Lutz. A Jewish Joke catalogs the most important afternoon in Lutz's life. He's a 50-something half of the comedy screenwriting duo of Lutz and Frumsky. Having worked together since they were both 13, they have moved upward from a Newark Nickelodeon, then on to vaudeville, the Catskills, New York Yiddish theatre and finally sunny LA where they are supplying scripts for the Marx Brothers, Danny Kaye and NBC. The icing on their cake is their big fancy Hollywood premiere that evening for their latest movie, The Big Casbah!

Artists Rep presents the 2016 Tony Award winner for Best New Play The Humans, by Stephen Karam, directed by D maso Rodr guez from November 19 through December 17 on the theatre's intimate Morrison Stage. Artists Rep is one of the first regional theatres in the nation to produce The Humans featuring a local cast and design team.

Artists Rep presents the 2016 Tony Award winner for Best New Play The Humans, by Stephen Karam, directed by D maso Rodr guez from November 19 through December 17 on the theatre's intimate Morrison Stage. Artists Rep is one of the first regional theatres in the nation to produce The Humans featuring a local cast and design team.

Next up for New Jewish Theatre, November 29 December 10, is the one man play A Jewish Joke written and performed by Phil Johnson.

Artists Rep presents the 2016 Tony Award winner for Best New Play The Humans, by Stephen Karam, directed by D maso Rodr guez from November 19 through December 17 on the theatre's intimate Morrison Stage.

Artists Repertory Theatre launches its 2017/18 season with Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' provocative An Octoroon. An incendiary satire, this bold start to their 35th theatre season is co-directed by Lava Alapai and Artistic Director Damaso Rodriguez.

Artists Repertory Theatre launches its 2017/18 season with Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' provocative An Octoroon. An incendiary satire, this bold start to their 35th theatre season is co-directed by Lava Alapai and Artistic Director Damaso Rodriguez. An Octoroon is currently in previews for an opening tomorrow, September 9, and the play runs through October 1 on the Alder Stage. BroadwayWorld has a look behind the scenes in the video below!

Artists Repertory Theatre launches its 2017/18 season with Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' provocative An Octoroon. An incendiary satire, this bold start to their 35th theatre season is co-directed by Lava Alapai and Artistic Director Damaso Rodriguez.

On four weekends in June, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, presents the fifth edition of Jazz on Film. Organized by returning guest curator Peter Lucas, this year's Jazz on Film series includes eight films highlighting jazz soundtracks and legendary musicians.

The Roustabouts Theatre Company presents a comic retelling of a classic romance WITHERING HEIGHTS, based on 'Withering Heights' by Emily Bronte, written and performed by Phil Johnson and Omri Schein and directed by David Ellenstein, bringing together two notable local actors and North Coast Rep's Artistic Director to direct the World Premiere at Diversionary Theatre from June 11 to July 9.

Playwrights Project will produce its 32nd annual festival of Plays by Young Writers, sponsored by the Sheila and Jeffrey Lipinsky Family Fund, at The Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre in the Conrad Prebys Theatre Center at The Old Globe on January 19 - January 29, 2017.

Bringing together notable local actors, directors and playwrights, they have formed a new theatre company called THE ROUSTABOUTS. A non-profit San Diego theatre company dedicated to entertaining, educating, and inspiring audiences in southern California by producing fresh visions of classics, well-known contemporary plays and new works.

Are you looking for something different for Christmas this year? Tired of Christmas Carol and Gift of the Magi? True confessions from Santa's eight reindeer come to North Coast Repertory Theatre in the reading of The Eight: Reindeer Monologues by Jeff Goode on December 16-17 2016, at 10:00 pm.