Shari Barrett - Page 34

As the eighth production of Little Fish Theatre's 2016 season, THE HOW AND THE WHY written by Sarah Treem, the Emmy-nominated House of Cards writer and producer, continues through September 1, 2016 on select Wednesdays and Thursdays at 8:00pm. The production is directed by Danielle Ozymandies and features Natalie Beisner and Mary Wickliffe. This powerful foursome joins forces to create a deeply intelligent and emotional examination of what it takes to succeed in a man's world and with each other, especially after secrets between them are revealed. It's a fresh and fascinating take on two women biologists - one near the end of her career, and the other whose is just beginning.

Director Gloria Gifford takes her job of inspiring upcoming stars in proper stage presentation, and above all, I must commend her for making sure each actor in MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING at TU Studios understood exactly what they were saying so audience members could not only understand the words but also what was being said in terms of the dialogue's meaning. It is the first production of the play in which I could get the meaning of each line, even though the words as written were foreign to modern English. Some of the actors shared with me that Gloria demanded their line presentation and stage movements make perfect sense, and the actors responded with great care.

Cock Tales: Shame on Me! the new and very personal play from Debra Ehrhardt, the award-winning solo artist and writer of the internationally acclaimed Jamaica Farewell, is a remarkably honest tale about how her repressed and very religious childhood was challenged by her discovery of boys' bodies before she was in her teens. Her 80-minute show is based on Ms. Ehrhardt's colorful history of a lifetime of encounters with a world full of testosterone-fueled gentlemen--and not-so-gentle-men- that has given her plenty of 'source material' from which to create a memorable evening of theater. From her early years as a young girl raised in a religious family, through her sexual awakening as a young adult, she takes us on a bumpy ride over a funny, sexy and emotionally rocky road. I guarantee you will laugh along with her and nod in recognition of our common sexual experiences while fighting with the shame and guilt her experimentation caused her psyche.

Kentwood Players presents WAIT UNTIL DARK, a suspenseful thriller by Frederick Knott, adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher, opening Friday, September 9 through Saturday, October 15 on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm and Sundays at 2:00pm at the Westchester Playhouse, located at 8301 Hindry Avenue in Westchester, CA 90045. The production is directed by Kathy Dershimer and produced by Jenny Boone by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc. Featured in the cast in alphabetical order are Samantha Barrios, Stanley Brown, Ty Budde, Harold Dershimer, Brian Roach, and Ixchel Valiente.

Melanie MacQueen directs actors of Theatre 40 in a staged reading of A Phoenix Too Frequent, written by Christopher Fry in 1946. This event is part of Classics in the Courtyard, a 20-year-old series presented in the inner courtyard of historic Greystone Estate in Beverly Hills. The cast includes Jennifer Laks, Jonathan Medina and LeeAnn Rowe.

The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts presents the critically-acclaimed Hershey Felder as Leonard Bernstein in MAESTRO from August 10 - 28. Felder channels the great composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, drawing audiences deeply into the maestro's fascinating life filled with tragedy, triumph, and extraordinary music. The Wallis' production marks the final West Coast engagement prior to a highly-anticipated transfer to New York City's 59E59 Theaters from August 31 - October 16, 2016. A Special One-Night-Only Audience Sing-Along will take place on August 22.

What makes the current production at the Ruskin Group Theatre in Santa Monica so special is its Tony Award winning director Lita Gaithers Owens cast Tony Award nominee Starletta DuPois as Lena "Mama" Younger. DuPois has a long history with A RAISIN IN THE SUN having first been cast as Beneatha, then became known for her role as Ruth in the acclaimed American Playhouse film version, and now Mama. "A true gift at this point in my career is having experienced the life of this play through three extraordinary women characters that the playwright created," DuPois shared. In fact, her emotional and physical understanding of the role so central to the play was thrilling to experience as her entire physical presence totally embodied Mama right down to every moment of her joys, heartbreak, anger, and love for her children, as if DuPois was channeling Mama from her very soul.

Written by one of Poland's foremost contemporary playwrights, THE SUITCASE at first seems to be nothing more than a fluff piece with things such as balloons being popped and silly songs being sung. But it will surprise you when the story takes hold with the rather comical singing Narrator (Jeff Alan-Lee) and Jackleen (Claire Kaplan) sharing the tale of Franswa Jackoh (Vincent Catellanos) who, while in the process of figuring out his life, wanders into a cafe and meets The Poet (Sigute Miller) who in turn guides him to a Holocaust Museum to seek the truth. There he meets a rather miserable Tour Guide (Alexandra Freeman) who begrudgingly points out a suitcase retrieved from one of the German "work camps." Her tune changes when Jackoh realizes the name on the case is that of his own father from whom he was separated during the Holocaust.

Culver City Public Theatre opened its 2016 summer season on Saturday, July 16, for 6 weekends of free theatre in Carlson Park, with two plays, 'Frog Tails' at noon, and 'As You Like It' at 2:00, every Saturday and Sunday through August 21. Carlson Park is the perfect seeing at transforming it into the Forest of Arden for Shakespeare's lighthearted pastoral comedy. Audience members can relax in the shade throughout the play, enjoying the warm temperature and delightful ocean breeze.

As a former high school teacher who started an alternative program for students who had dropped out, I participated in counselling troubled teens in learning how to deal with challenging circumstances in their lives, be it with parents, siblings, friends, or the desire to find love and respect from that special someone. It's especially difficult when a teen is also dealing with emotional or physical disorders or abuse. And what happens to a foster teen when she ages out of the system? What happens to an adolescent boy with Asperger's when he falls in love? What happens to a Straight-A student who is being sexually molested? In Leda Siskind's world premiere play ALL MY DISTANCES ARE FAR we meet all these characters and others as they confide to the psychotherapist who sees them at their urban high school.

Climbing the corporate ladder has always been easy for some and difficult for others. In 1961, HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING explained the secrets of success included luck, charm, connections and a willingness to use those things to personal advantage. Fans of the TV show Mad Men will certainly feel right at home in the early 60's world of the advertising business complete with pastel dresses and flip style hairdos for the hard-working office girls designed by Donna Fritsche using styles straight out of a 1961 fashion magazine, as well as the brightly colored desks and set pieces designed by Sean Gray and Naomi Kasahara. Watch in amazement as J. Pierrepont Finch's meteoric rise from lowly window washer to high-powered executive happens just by following the steps presented in a business self-help book. If only it were really that easy…

Production teams at Theatre 40 expertly present mid-20th Century British comedy better than almost any other theater in town. So it was no surprise to find out the group decided to present the riotous BREATH OF SPRING by Peter Coke to open their 51st season, directed by Bruce Gray and produced by David Hunt Stafford, the dynamic duo production team who have brought so many great shows to their stage. Written in 1958, BREATH OF SPRING has nothing to do with the season. In fact, it is a type of silver mink highly prized among fur aficionados. And while we may have differing opinions about wearing fur, there is no doubt in the mid-20th Century that lovely fur coats, stoles and jackets were often worn not only to keep warm but to show the wearer had "made it" into high society.

Everyone knows how tough it is to get along with family members after an elderly relative passes away when more than one person covets a family heirloom not mentioned in the will. Such is the case between two cousins in BAD JEWS, written by Joshua Harmon and directed by Sabrina Lloyd, which was presented by NotTheMom Productions at Hollywood's Theatre of NOTE through July 24, 2016. It's my hope the exemplary production will find its way into another theater or perhaps motivate audiences at synagogues around Los Angeles to discuss how Holocaust survivor families choose to honor their relatives who suffered during that awful time period.

When you check in for HISTORY LIST, you will receive a color-coded program which indicates the group with whom and in what order you will walk around the site to witness the plays. The entire audience returns to a central meeting point in front of the historical Fenyes Mansion, led by time period costume-matched Tour Guides who go on to appear as characters within the play at the location where they have led you. Try to stay as close to these guides as you walk with them as their comical banter is not to be missed. I truly enjoy asking them questions as we walked, knowing their improvised answers will perfectly match the characters they are playing.

Downtown Culver City invites you to escape the summer heat with a neighborhood-wide 'SummerTini Tasting' on the Third Wednesday of July, August and September. Check in at any participating business in Culver City's downtown area to pick up your 'Third Wednesday Passport,' then get it stamped each time you cool off with a SummerTini (virgin 'SummerTea-ni' available for the under-21 set). At the end of the night, make your way over to the Kirk Douglas Theatre, where you can turn in your passport and be entered in a raffle to win summertime prizes (no purchase necessary).

Eight-time Emmy® Award-winner Edward Asner (Lou Grant; The Mary Tyler Moore Show; Roots; Rich Man, Poor Man) and Academy Award® nominee June Squibb (Nebraska) star in a staged reading of a play by Christine Rosensteel, WHATEVER YOUR HEART DESIRES as Daniel and Issy, an elderly married couple who have enjoyed a long and happy life together. Daniel is less in control of his faculties with the advance of years, and Issy in painfully aware of their isolation and peril.

Anne Gesling directs many shows, especially musicals, for the Morgan-Wixson. But this time she has outdone herself with the perfect casting of each actor in the entire THE ADDAMS FAMILY production, making the show a guaranteed hit. Along with her show producer Meredith Wright, musical director Daniel Koh and frequent collaborator, choreographer Lauren Blair, be prepared for a spectacular and gloriously fun time. Be sure to bring theatre lovers of all ages so you can celebrate the joy of laughter together.

Centered around the same characters first introduced in his play SUMMER AND SMOKE, Williams now explores how despite their differences, John Buchanan (the almost too handsome Andrew Dits) and Alma Winemiller (Ginna Carter who totally embodies the quirky character who sings like a Southern nightingale), are still magnetically drawn to each other after he returns home to Glorius Hill, Mississippi, following his Summa Cum Laude graduation as a medical doctor from Johns Hopkins University. The preacher's daughter boldly seizes on a chance to follow her heart's inclinations in their small town where, too often, dreams die quickly. Tennessee Williams' subtly seductive play centers on the passionately complex and sometimes cruel relationships to which love becomes vulnerable, when we are strong enough to allow it.

LA Ballet's upcoming 2016/2017 Season launches their second decade and embraces the full-length classical ballets, the Balanchine repertoire that so revolutionized the dance world, and the commitment to identify, nurture and present both emerging and world-renowned choreographers. Co-Artistic Directors Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary have announced the next season includes two full-length story ballets, the family-friendly comic ballet "Coppelia" and the holiday favorite "The Nutcracker" and two mixed bill programs, "Modernists /Directors' Choice" and "Balanchine/Master of the Dance." The upcoming season will also reintroduce pre-performance discussions, hosted by Christensen and Neary and their guests (at select performances).

The West Coast premiere of a theatrical reimagining of the history of the Weather Underground, HOME/SICK was developed and devised by New York City theater collective The Assembly and members of the cast to take a look at the changing political scene from 1969 through 1973 when a group of outcasts disgusted by the Vietnam War and the government's repression of those seeking equality domestically took a stand to affect political change by seizing control of Students for a Democratic Society and reshaping it in the name of overthrowing the United States government. Believing violence to be the only means to transform American politics and society, these passionate idealists accelerated the movement to a revolutionary fervor, but let their internal fears and confusion somehow get in their way.