Shari Barrett - Page 48

Beneath the genteel suburban surface in A DELICATE BALANCE, the real questions raised are existential, abstract, and dangerous - from the unknown fear that taunts their neighbors to the response they receive from Agnes and Tobias, a couple who has been living in separate bedrooms for years in their own home. 'The play is concerned with the isolation of people who have turned their backs on participating fully in their own lives and therefore cannot participate fully in anyone else's life,' explained Albee to biographer Mel Gussow.

On August 4, 1892, Lizzie Borden's father and stepmother were found bludgeoned in their family home. Lizzie was arrested for murder and the trial date set for June 5, 1893. The trial lasted 14 days and caused a national sensation as it was the first public trial in the United States to be covered extensively by the media. Although Lizzie Borden was acquitted, the question still remains: "Did she or didn't she?" We challenge you to make your own decision after seeing BLOOD RELATIONS.

It's ALIVE!!! A hilarious, high energy Broadway musical based on the Oscar-nominated smash hit 1974 film, YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN is the wickedly inspired re-imagining of the Mary Shelley classic from the comic genius of Mel Brooks. A Tony award-winner in 2008, YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN is just what the doctor ordered - a real prescription for outlandish humor, now onstage at the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center.

The show is a celebration of the life of Maurice Hines, his brother Gregory, and their parents who Maurice fondly remembers throughout the show. Adding to emotional content, moveable screens that divide the orchestra from the performing area were often used to display photographs of the Hines family in their early days. And throughout the show, Hines, now a young 70 years old, expresses sheer joy in entertaining his audience, singing and dancing with a passion from deep within his soul. You can't help but be pulled into the magic!

Samantha Barrios and Kiah Gordon have joined the Kentwood Players cast of Agatha Christie's THE HOLLOW, opening at the Westchester Playhouse on May 16 for a six-week run on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm with Sunday matinees at 2:00pm through June 21, 2014.

In her world premiere comedy COMING OUT KINKY: A GROWN-UP STORY, Jean Franzblau portrays some 20 characters in her sexual memoir adventure story for curious and open-minded adults to enjoy. She began writing the play in 2009, not knowing how she would ever be able to share it. Thanks to her collaboration with director Karen Aschenbach, Jean's complex journey and commitment to keeping it real is now onstage at the Promenade Playhouse in Santa Monica.

First produced in 1939, ARSENIC AND OLD LACE by American playwright Joseph Kesselring is a farcical black comedy revolving around the Brewster family, descended from the 'Mayflower,' but now composed of insane homicidal maniacs. This classic play has been produced around the world and will continue to be done as long as audiences love to laugh at the outrageous situations and over-the-top characters, especially the eccentric, and frequently murderous and disturbed, family.

FAT PIG tells the story of Tom (Jonathan Bray), a young career guy who hits it off with Helen (Deidra Edwards), a bright, sexy woman who happens to be plus-sized. As he reluctantly finds himself falling in love, Tom's colleagues (Kirsten Kollender and Nick Stabile) are brutal in their assessment of his new love. LaBute probes our carb-counting, extreme makeover nation by asking tough questions. How much has our relentless pursuit of beauty turned us into an uglier species?

Adapted from two Anton Chekhov short stories, Man in a Case and About Love, MAN IN A CASE is a pair of haunting love stories - one of an officious, anti-social man and his involvement with an extroverted woman. The second, a tale of moral ambiguity in which the protagonist forgoes his love for a married woman. Though seemingly different, both are tales of fear trumping the pursuit of life's most promising possibilities, with Baryshnikov playing the two very different leading men.

THE DROWSY CHAPERONE offers audiences a toe-tapping trip back to the golden age of musicals, and took Broadway by storm, winning five Tony Awards. It spoofs musical-comedy fanatics and the genre itself, as well as the extravagant musicals of the 1920s. Critics have called 'The Drowsy Chaperone' one of the wittiest, craziest shows ever to hit Broadway. It's all fluff and fun!

In FALSE SOLUTION, Anton Seligman (Daniel J. Travanti) is a renowned architect, working on his designs for a new Holocaust museum to be built in Poland. He encounters Linda Johansson (Amanda Saunders), a beautiful young intern and first-year architecture grad student, who challenges his conceptions. The tensions created by their differing ideas are complicated by their mutual attraction to each other:

Kentwood Players proudly presents Agatha Christie's 'THE HOLLOW' from May 16 to June 21, 2014 for a six-week run on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm with Sunday matinees at 2:00pm at the Westchester Playhouse, located at 8301 Hindry Avenue, Westchester, CA 90045. The production is directed by George Kondreck.

On August 4, 1892, Lizzie Borden's father and stepmother were found bludgeoned in their family home. Lizzie was arrested for murder and the trial date set for June 5, 1893. The trial lasted fourteen days, and caused a national sensation as it was the first public trial in the United States to be covered extensively by the media. Popular opinion was split on her innocence or guilt. Did she or didn't she do it? See BLOOD RELATIONS and decide for yourself.

The production is visually stunning, blending live actors, puppets and keenly choreographed movement that breathe life into everyday inanimate objects. The puppetry involves a huge range of ground-breaking techniques and variety of creations - from the smallest mechanical creatures to the huge god-like masks and limbs that represent Oberon and Titania, King and Queen of the Fairies.

Set in Poland circa 1890, WHITE MARRIAGE is a surreal and erotic coming-of-age fairytale that follows a young girl's poignant emergence into womanhood and frightened resistance to her impending marriage. Two sisters, sensitive Bianca (Kate Dalton) and precocious Pauline (Emily Goss), are on the verge of adulthood. Bianca is betrothed to Benjamin (Austin Rogers) and the preparations for her imminent wedding send the girls into a flurry of excitement and confusion.

Although a work of fiction, DOCTOR ANONYMOUS was inspired by a watershed moment in LGBT history when Dr. John E. Fryer, wearing a mask and using a voice-distorting microphone, declared himself a homosexual in front of the American Psychiatric Association's 1972 convention - leading to the decision to de-list homosexuality as a mental illness.

Every once in a while an extraordinary story and performer comes along where we can explore the human condition from a new perspective. Such a performer is Bailey Mason and such a show is !HOOKED which blends wacky yet real comedy with episodes of somber events from Bailey's life. She is a strong person who has experienced more than she would have wanted, but came out better for it in the end.

On the first Sunday of each month, Bruce Kimmel's Kritzerland Records' presents a supper club musical cabaret at Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal in NoHo. Sunday, April 6, 2014, the group celebrated its two-year anniversary with THESE APRIL FOOLISH THINGS with not only foolish songs but ones having to do with Spring or the month of April in general.

The 9th longest-running off-Broadway musical of all time, ALTAR BOYZ is a foot-stomping, rafter-raising musical comedy satire about a fictitious Christian boy-band on the last night of their national 'Raise the Praise' tour during which they attempt to reduce the number of burdened souls in the theatre to zero by the end of the concert.

Certainly anyone who has worked in a corporation, and especially those who are so hooked into the online world via Twitter, will identify with the characters and situations in THE MEMORANDUM. And even though parts of it may go over your head politically, the clear message that corporations zap individuality will come through loud and clear.