The Brain From Planet X Debuts With Spirtas In LA in Dec

By: BWW News Desk Nov. 27, 2006

Los Angeles City College Theatre Academy (LACCTA) will present the World Premiere of a new musical comedy, "THE BRAIN FROM PLANET X," with a book by award-winning writers, David Wechter and LACCTA alumna, Bruce Kimmel, who also wrote the Music and Lyrics for the show.

Fred Fate, LACCTA Chair and Producing Director, has announced that the new musical, which is the final production of the 78th Fall Season, will feature four Guest Artists in the cast, including Kevin Spirtas, Lauren Rubin, Merrill Grant and Alet Taylor, along with advanced students from LACCTA.

The musical is a send-up of the 1950s outer space alien film craze. Under the direction of Bruce Kimmel, performances will be given in LACCTA's Camino Theatre; 855 N. Vermont Avenue (between Santa Monica Blvd. and Melrose Ave.) in Hollywood, CA on Fridays and Saturdays, December 8, 9, 15 and 16, 2006 at 8:00 p.m.; Saturdays, December 9 and 16, 2006 at 2:00 p.m. and Wednesday and Thursday, December 13 and 14, 2006 at 7:15 p.m.

The cast for the World Première of "The Brain From Planet X" includes:
Egbert Bernard of Los Angeles (The Brain); Benjamin Clark of South Pasadena (Narrator and Professor Leder); Michael Hausner of Beverly Hills (General Mills); Cason Murphy of Los Angeles (Zubrick); Lauren Rubin of Los Angeles (Joyce); Kevin Spirtas of Los Angeles (Fred); Alet Taylor of Los Angeles (Yoni); Merrill Grant of New York (Donna) and Grady Williams of Los Angeles (Rod).

Members of the ensemble include: Aundréa Colfield, Svetlana Kisiyan, Ksenia Litomisky, Bryan Macrina (Stand By for Kevin Spirtas), Masafumi Matsumoto, Chie Saito, Efrén Sanchez, Alfonso Toxqui and Eric Brown.

Production personnel include: Richard Berent (Musical Director); Larry Moore (Orchestrator); Kevin Morrissey (Set Designer and Production Manager); James Moody (Lighting Designer and Technical Director); Diane Sisko (Costume Designer); Cricket Myers (Sound Designer); Shari Jordan Choreographer for The Brain Tap); Sheena Duff (Stage Manager); Amber Harris (Assistant Stage Manager); Terri Reh (Student Costume Designer); Brad Enochs (Sound and Lighting); Deena Mullen (Props Supervisor); Efrain Corona (Scene Shop Coordinator); Kathleen Becket (House Manager) and Steve Moyer Public Relations (Publicity and Marketing).

On the creation of his new musical Kimmel says: "'The Brain From Planet X' is a sci-fi musical, one that has sport with all my favorite bad sci-fi films of the 50s, which include 'Invaders From Mars,' 'The Brain From Planet Arous,' 'Plan Nine From Outer Space,' and 'The Creeping Terror' (which features the first monster entirely made out of carpet), and so many other fine works of cinema. I grew up loving those movies, and I love them still, and now through the magic of musical comedy, I'm getting to relive them all. We have an actual singing Brain, we have two aliens named Zubrick and Yoni (Yoni being the man-hungry female, and Zubrick being the man-hungry male), we have an All-American Family, we have a General, we have an elderly Professor, we have 17 musical numbers and, best of all, the show is set in the San Fernando Valley in 1958."

Tickets are $15 each for General Admission, and $6 each for Students, Seniors, Staff and Veterans. Group Rates are also available. Tickets may be purchased by calling the LACCTA Box Office at 323-664-ARTS (2787).

LACCTA Box Office hours are Monday through Thursday from 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. and on Fridays from 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. The Box Office is closed on Saturdays and Sundays. The Box Office is located in the Theatre Building on the Los Angeles City College campus, located at 855 N. Vermont Avenue (between Santa Monica Boulevard and Melrose Avenue) in Hollywood, CA.

There is free, well-lit, on-campus parking at Snyder Field, located off Vermont Avenue, between Santa Monica Boulevard and Melrose Avenue. Beverages and light fare refreshments will be available for purchase at all productions. To learn more about this production and the LACCTA, please visit http://theatreacademy.lacitycollege.edu or www.lacitycollege.edu.

Bruce Kimmel (Director, Co-Writer, Composer and Lyricist) wrote, directed and starred in the cult movie hit, "The First Nudie Musical" (currently available in a Special Edition DVD). With David Wechter, he co-created the story for the hit film, "The Faculty," directed by Robert Rodriguez. As an actor, Kimmel guest-starred on most of the long-running television shows of the Seventies, including "Happy Days," "Laverne and Shirley," "The Partridge Family," "The Donny and Marie Show" and many others.

Since 1993, Kimmel has been one of the leading producers of theater music on CD, having produced over 140 albums. He was nominated for a Grammy Award for producing the revival cast album of "Hello, Dolly!" and he also created the critically acclaimed "Lost In Boston" and "Unsung Musicals" series. He has produced many Broadway and Off-Broadway cast albums, solo albums with some of the musical theatre's finest singers, and has his own label, Kritzerland.

A graduate of Los Angeles City College's Theatre Academy, Kimmel is the author of five novels - his critically-acclaimed coming of age trilogy, "Benjamin Kritzer," "Kritzerland" and "Kritzer Time," as well as his two mysteries, "Writer's Block," and "Rewind." His latest tome is, "How To Write A Dirty Book and Other Stories," which was released in November of 2006. Kimmel is the creator of the critically acclaimed "What If? - A Musical Revue," and has served as a writer and segment producer for "Penn & Teller's: Bullshit!" He has recently directed one-person shows for Kevin Spirtas and Linda Purl.

David Wechter (Co-Writer) co-wrote and co-directed Disney's cult film, "Midnight Madness." Of late, has served as executive producer of "Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making The Team," "Cowboy U" and "Scariest Places on Earth." He co-executive produced "Tricks of the Trade" and was the supervising producer and writer of "Penn & Teller: Bullshit!" for Showtime, which won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Comedy - Variety Series.

His field directing credits include: "Beyond Chance," "Penn & Teller: Bullshit!," "Scariest Places On Earth," "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus," "Home For The Holidays," "Exploring The Unknown," "The Keenen Ivory Wayans Show," "America's Funniest People," "Candid Camera," "America's Funniest Videos," "America's Greatest Pets," "One Night Stand" and "The Mickey Mouse Club," among others. As a writer, his credits include: "Exploring The Unknown," "The Book of Love," "Life In Black and White" and "Candid Camera," among others. He wrote the script for the Miramax motion picture, "The Faculty," with Bruce Kimmel.

Kevin Spirtas has been seen on Broadway in "A Chorus Line" and in "Meet Me in St. Louis." The Drama-Logue award-winning actor is best known to television audiences for his seven and half year stint as Dr. Craig Wesley on "Days Of Our Lives." Lauren Rubin is making her Los Angeles acting debut in this show. She has been seen Off-Broadway in "The Donkey Show," "Little By Little," "The Guise Exhibit" and "Escape From Pterodactyl," among others. Alet Taylor has appeared at Carnegie Hall as Emmy Lou in "Louisiana Purchase" and as Teacher in "Tip-Toes." She has also appeared in productions of "The Boys From Syracuse," "Li'l Abner," "Sweet Adeline" and "One Touch of Venus," all with Encores! City Center in New York City. Merrill Grant recently appeared on the Disney Cruise Lines in "Disney Dreams" and in Theatre of the Stars production of "Beauty and the Beast" with Christy Carlson Romano.

Since its founding in 1929, the nationally recognized Los Angeles City College Theatre Department and Theatre Academy has provided hands-on theatre training, technology and production experience unrivaled by larger universities and private performing arts academies. All areas of the Theatre Academy's professional training and educational programs are showcased each year in 7 - 8 professional level productions mounted in one of the three state-of-the-art theatres: a 305-seat proscenium theatre, a 92-seat Equity-plan "Black Box" space, and an intimate 75-seat proscenium stage. Over 830 productions have been produced at the Theatre Academy. In 2006, the Theatre Academy inaugurated its new "Summer Evenings of Cabaret" series, bringing together the finest cabaret talent in the country to perform at Los Angeles City College during the summer. The Theatre Department's alumni roster is stellar. The Theatre program provides two training/academic tracks for students interested in theatre training in acting, technical theatre and costuming. The first track is the full-time Theatre Academy, the professional conservatory wing of the Theatre program, which is a two to three year conservatory training program for actors, technicians and costumers. All theatre productions at Los Angeles City College are part of the Theatre Academy. The second track is known as "Departmental," and is available to students who wish to take courses that suit their individual needs and time schedules. Training for the full-time conservatory begins each September and February. Auditions for entry into any of the Theatre Academy's three programs is by audition and/or interview only.


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