Malibu Playhouse Presents WONDERFUL LIFE! and More

"WONDERFUL LIFE!" - A new holiday classic, premiering benefit November 28 at the Malibu Playhouse, launches their 2015-16 season under the helm of Jeremy Skidmore, world-renowned theater director and formerly Artistic Director of Theater Alliance in Washington, D.C. "Wonderful Life!" George Bailey's struggle to grasp why life is worth living finds a fresh voice in this enchanting one-person (Jason Lott) retelling of Frank Capra's classic film "It's A Wonderful Life." "Wonderful Life"reinterprets the well-known screenplay and reintroduces audiences to the residents of Bedford Falls, New York on a fateful Christmas Eve in 1945. Audiences, young and old, well versed in the movie and not, will find plenty to love. The show is adapted for stage by Lott and Helen Parfumi. Parfumi also serves as director. Closing night, Dec. 20 is also a benefit performance.

Skidmore blazes the trail as inaugural Guest Artistic Director with programming through June 2016 that brings a variety of expertise and fresh artistic vision. (Additional events will be listed on the Malibu Playhouse website and Facebook page throughout the season). The 2015-2016 season will include three limited-run critically acclaimed productions: "Wonderful Life!" "Mary's Wedding" and "Pavillion." Other projects include several one-night benefits, a multi-disciplinary new work mini-festival, collaborations with area universities, and Members Only promotional events (i.e. private dinners with Jeremy and casts, private cocktail parties and "meet and greets").
There will also be an actual wedding to precede the "Mary's Wedding" show and a high school reunion party unlike any other (since you never know which of Malibu's celebrity local heroes will show up) to get audiences in the right frame of mind for Pavillion. For information about how to become a member, please go to: www.malibuplayhouse.org or contact: info@malibuplayhouse.org.

Tickets for Wonderful Life! Stage production - Nov. 28 - Dec. 20: http://malibuplayhouse.org/wonderful-life/

Nov. 28 - Opening night benefit (with red-carpet photo-op) and reception: $50 side seats, $75 center seats

Dec. 20 - Closing night benefit: $50 side seats, $75 center seats

All other dates (12 shows through Dec 20):

$30 for side, $35 for center

Senior citizens: $20

Students: $10

Jason Lott (George Bailey) is thrilled to bring Bedford Falls to Malibu. A recent transplant from Washington, DC, Lott has worked with numerous regional theaters over the years, including productions with The Kennedy Center, Folger Theatre, Studio Theatre, Studio Theatre 2ndStage, Theater Alliance, The Hub Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, Everyman Theatre, Longacre Lea Productions, and Imagination Stage. Lott is a two-time Helen Hayes Award nominee and a proud member of AEA and SAG-AFTRA.

Helen Murray Pafumi (Director) is the Artistic Director and co-founder of The Hub Theatre in Virginia. Since the Hub's inception Helen has produced and directed multiple World, U.S. and Area Premiers, an annual free staged reading series, new play festivals, and commissioned original work from area artists. Her original plays have been produced by The Hub, Theater Alliance, ArtsWest, JCCNV and been seen at the Kennedy Center's Page to Stage Festival. Her newest play, Redder Blood, will have its World Premiere next summer at The Hub. In addition to writing and producing, Helen has worked as an actor in many DC area theatres, including Folger Theatre, Woolly Mammoth, Theater J, Forum Theatre, Theater Alliance, Rorschach Theatre, Keegan Theatre, Didactic Theatre, The Inkwell, the Source Festival, and the Beckett Centenary Festival. She has appeared in numerous independent films and commercials. Helen holds a BA in Theater from Virginia Tech. Her co-adaptation of Wonderful Life was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding New Play. Most recently, Helen's play Abominable was nominated for the Steinberg New Play Award. She is the recipient of the Puffin Foundation Award and the Washington Canadian Partnership Award

About Jeremy Skidmore:

Before moving to Los Angeles this year, Jeremy Skidmore was based in Washington, DC where he served for six years as the Artistic Director of Theater Alliance, two years as Artistic Producer of the Source Festival, and two years as Co-Founder and President of the Capital Talent Agency. As a freelance director and producer in the Washington area his productions have received 34 Helen Hayes nominations. He is an Associate Artist with the Tony Award winning Signature Theatre and is a company member at Keegan Theatre were he directed the Irish national tours of both A Few Good Men and Glengarry Glen Ross. Outside of DC, Jeremy has directed or taught in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Nebraska, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta, London, Oslo, Galway, Kilimanjaro, Tokyo, Macau and Tai Pei. Jeremy was the first American to assistant direct at the Globe Theatre in London and the Subaru Theatre in Tokyo. He is a Member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society and an alumnus of the North Carolina School of the Arts (BFA) and American University (MBA). Later this fall he will be directing Mansfield Park with the BFA actors at the University of Southern California.

Malibu Playhouse, (formerly known as the Malibu Stage Company) was founded by Charles Marowitz and Jacqueline Bridgeman in 1990 as Malibu's only professional theater company. Mr. Marowitz, an internationally renowned director, playwright, author and theater critic, served as Artistic Director until 2002. Productions were staged at Pepperdine University until 2002 when the company took up residence at the former Shepherd-by-the-Sea Lutheran Church, which was converted into a fully equipped, state-of-the-art 99-seat Equity theater. In 2013, the Malibu Stage Company board of directors elected to change the name of the company to Malibu Playhouse. From 2002 until 2014, the artistic leadership has changed multiple times, leading to the decision by the Board of Director to assume control of the organization for 2014-2015 and institute the current business model of hosting a Guest Artistic Director. Jeremy Skidmore is the first person to assume this role. Malibu Stage has been nominated for many Los Angeles Stage Alliance Ovations Awards, winning for "Featured Actress in a Play" for Tasha Ames' performance in Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay Abaire and directed by former Malibu Playhouse board member, acclaimed film director, Graeme Clifford.

2016 LINEUP

January 29 - February 21, 2016

MARY'S WEDDING

By Stephen Massicotte

Directed by Jeremy Skidmore

Website for tickets: http://malibuplayhouse.org/marys-wedding/

"One of those theatre experiences to which you can wholly give yourself over with no fear of disappointment. If this production had been a film I would have watched the whole thing all over again the minute it ended." - New York Theatre Wire

A brilliant, romantic and historical dream play.When Mary and Charlie unexpectedly find one another sheltered in a barn during a thunderstorm, a tentative love is born. But the year is 1914, and their first flirtations ignite right as World War I begins to engulf the western world. Nevertheless, their bond begins to fracture the hard rules of time as their story unfolds across vast prairies, on the decks of silently sailing war ships, and entwined with the chaotic trenches of Europe's no-man's land. Mary's Wedding captures an extraordinary moment of innocence and courage with rare sensitivity and beauty.

FEB. 27EINSTEIN'S GIRL a one night benefit Tickets: http://malibuplayhouse.org/einsteins-girl/

Smart, sexy, sassy actor/vocalist Gia Mora, a.k.a. Einstein's Girl, unleashes her signature blend of intellectual prowess and animal instinct on an unlikely pair of human languages: love and theoretical physics. Combining beloved jazz standards with standup comedy and original music, Mora uses cutting edge mathematics as a metaphor for 21st century interpersonal relations. Come see why audiences and reviewers alike are raving about this hilarious and deeply touching original one-woman tour-de-force. Featuring Charlie Barnett on piano. Einstein's Girl is currently playing in selected cities across the United States.

May 6 - May 29, 2016

THE PAVILLION

By Craig Wright

Directed by Jeremy Skidmore

Website for tickets: http://malibuplayhouse.org/the-pavilion/

"A gloriously theatrical treat by Craig Wright, The Pavilion turns the dramas of ordinary lives into the patchwork pattern of the universe." South Florida Sun-Sentinel

From the Emmy nominated and WGA winning writer for Six Feet Under and Lost

Peter returns to his twenty-year high school reunion with dreams of winning back Kari, the girl he left behind after an unexpected pregnancy ended their relationship. Standing in Peter's way are the mistakes of the past, an entire village of characters (all played by a single virtuosic Narrator), and the momentum of space and time as it converges on a single moment in one small American town.

Theater Location:

29243 Pacific Coast Highway Malibu, CA 90265

Ticket Information:

Ticket prices will vary.

Tickets for Wonderful Life! Stage production : http://malibuplayhouse.org/wonderful-life/
Website: www.malibuplayhouse.org Email: info@malibuplayhouse.org Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MalibuPlayhouse?fref=ts

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