Willow Geer News

Seeing a play where Shakespeare's unfortunate characters escape the city and seek refuge in the Forest of Arden is even more enjoyable when experienced in the idyllic setting of Theatricum Botanicum's natural outdoor theater. Every time I go, I am reminded what an oasis it is in a city overwhelmed with urban sprawl.

The final entry in Theatricum Botanicum's 2015 'Americana' repertory season, Green Grow the Lilacs by Native American playwright Lynn Riggs is the rarely produced 1931 play that vied for the Pulitzer Prize and inspired the first mega-musical, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!. A rough-and-tumble love story with singing cowboys and classic folk music of the pioneering era, Green Grow the Lilacs will be directed by Ellen Geer for a July 11 opening.

Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum continues its 2015 "Americana" season with August: Osage County, the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play by Tracy Letts that unflinchingly - and uproariously - exposes the dark side of the Midwestern American family. Mary Jo DuPrey directs for a June 20 opening.

Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum continues its 2015 'Americana' season with August: Osage County, the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play by Tracy Letts that unflinchingly - and uproariously - exposes the dark side of the Midwestern American family. Mary Jo DuPrey directs for a June 20 opening.

Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum kicks off its 2015 'Americana' season with an all-American staging of William Shakespeare's As You Like It, re-set in the divided South of the post-Civil War era and featuring traditional American folk music and dance from that period. As You Like It opens on Sunday, June 7 at 3:30 p.m.

Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum is gearing up for another summer of theater, music and performance under the California oaks and summer skies of Topanga. The theme of Theatricum's 42nd annual Summer Repertory Season is 'Americana,' as the company sets out to explore who we are as Americans with a mix of American plays, Shakespeare performed with an American twist, toe-tapping Americana roots and folk music, buffet dinners in the gardens and more - making Theatricum a unique destination spot for locals and visitors alike.

Romance, intrigue and crackling verbal wit. Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum continues its celebration of the Bard's 450th birthday when Much Ado About Nothing joins the All-Shakespeare Summer Repertory Season tonight, July 12.

In Theatricum Botanicum's ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, the action begins and ends with a song. At rise it is the somber lamentation that accompanies a funeral procession and at the play's conclusion, an uplifting madrigal 'Sing We Enchant It.'

Romance, intrigue and crackling verbal wit. Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum continues its celebration of the Bard's 450th birthday when Much Ado About Nothing joins the All-Shakespeare Summer Repertory Season on July 12.

Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicumcontinues its celebration of the Bard's 450th birthday with a new production of All's Well That Ends Well that joins the All-Shakespeare Repertory Season tonight, June 21. Scroll down for a first look at the cast in action!

A frightening thing happens when a woman plays the title role in a gender-reversed King Lear; the betrayal and revenge between mother and sons takes on an added level of horror. What was already tragic to begin with, as originally written for a father and daughters, now feels even more threatening in the reverse.

Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum kicks off its All-Shakespeare Summer Season in celebration of the Bard's 450th birthday with a gender-reversed Lear for the 21st century, opening tonight, Saturday, June 7 at 8 p.m. in the theater's spectacular outdoor amphitheater in Topanga Canyon.

Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum continues its celebration of the Bard's 450th birthday with a new production of All's Well That Ends Well that joins the All-Shakespeare Repertory Season on June 21.

Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum kicks off its All-Shakespeare Summer Season in celebration of the Bard's 450th birthday with a gender-reversed Lear for the 21st century, opening on Saturday, June 7 at 8 p.m., and the return of the company's signature rendering of A Midsummer Night's Dream, with performances beginning Sunday, June 8 at 3:30 p.m. The two productions will continue to run in repertory through the end of Sept. in the theater's spectacular outdoor amphitheater nestled in a Topanga Canyon ravine, and will be joined later in the season by three additional mainstage offerings.

James Avery, Beau Bridges, Jamie Hector, Helen Hunt, Jason Isaacs, William H. Macy, Wendie Malick and Brent Spiner starred in a staged reading of Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen's acclaimed docudrama THE EXONERATED as the closing event of Theatricum Botanicum's 40th Anniversary Season on November 9. BroadwayWorld has photos from the reading below!

A Noise Within (ANW), the acclaimed classical repertory theatre company, presents a free reading of Ferenc Molnar's Liliom, the play upon which the popular 1950's musical Carousel was based. Apollo Dukakis, a resident artist with the company, directs the piece, using the Benjamin F. Glazer translation, with a cast of sixteen portraying multiple roles. Admission for the reading is free. RSVP via phone to 626-356-3100 x1 to reserve your seat. This reading takes place during the run of The Guardsman, another well-known work by Ferenc Molnar, at A Noise Within, now playing through November 30.

A Noise Within (ANW), the acclaimed classical repertory theatre company, presents a free reading of Ferenc Molnar's Liliom, the play upon which the popular 1950's musical Carousel was based. Apollo Dukakis, a resident artist with the company, directs the piece, using the Benjamin F. Glazer translation, with a cast of sixteen portraying multiple roles. Admission for the reading is free. RSVP via phone to 626-356-3100 x1 to reserve your seat. This reading takes place during the run of The Guardsman, another well-known work by Ferenc Molnar, at A Noise Within, now playing through November 30.

A young druid wizard destined for greatness comes of age during Britain's bloodiest age. Written and directed by Ellen Geer and featuring an original electronic score byMarshall McDaniel and Kellen McDaniel, the world premiere of Merlin: The Untold Adventures opens tonight, July 20 at Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum in Topanga.

Okay, I'll say it. I haven't seen a production of THE TAMING OF THE SHREW that comes anywhere close to this vivid interpretation of the story. It is spectacular!

Actors who dedicate their life to the theatre are a passionate, unique and rare breed. Art imitates life imitates art when Theatricum Botanicum artistic director Ellen Geer stars alongside her sister Melora Marshall, daughter Willow Geer and daughter-in-law Abby Craden in THE ROYAL FAMILY, an uproarious comedy about a family of actors.