Cabaret, Readings, Festival and More Set for Studio Theatre Season at Long Beach Playhouse

For the past several years, the Long Beach Playhouse has offered its upstairs Studio Theatre, to individuals and theater groups to mount their own shows. There is a nominal cost and tickets sales are split between the presenting group or individual and the Playhouse. Most shows last just one weekend and some are only one night. The offerings range from original works to improv and a recreation of Hal Holbrook's Mark Twain Tonight.

"The LBP Studio Collaborative Season offers outside, local theatre companies and performing arts organizations the opportunity to produce their own shows in our Studio Theater," said Madison Mooney, Playhouse Executive Director. "We're a community theatre and this is one of the ways we fulfill our mission. The Playhouse meets new directors and actors and the audiences who come to see the shows get to know the Playhouse. It's a win-win all around."

"We want the offerings to be diverse," said Sean Gray, Artistic Director for the Playhouse. "It tends to be an eclectic season. In addition to outside groups, two of the offerings are from the Playhouse. Our staff and friends cabaret is a chance to raise money for our regular productions and show off talents that might be less obvious, like juggling and bagpipe playing. And one of our signature programs, the New Works Festival, closes the season with this year's top two plays getting staged readings."

Following is the full list of this year's offerings including a description and pricing. Tickets can be purchased on the Playhouse website.

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JANUARY MUSICAL WITHOUT A NAME

Company: Take the Stage Long Beach

January 5, 6, 12, 13,@ 8pm, Jan. 7, 14 @ 2pm 2018.

Tickets: $24 - Regular Ticket

$20 - Students/Seniors

$15 - Groups of 10 or more

Description:

This funny and unexpected musical weaves together the stories of four New Yorkers searching for love, purpose, happiness, and cabs. Jessica Hayes, Joaquin Nuñez, Jason Holland, and Katie Nicol star in this musical for anyone who's ever struggled to appreciate simple things in a complex place.

Company Statement:

Take the Stage Long Beach is an educational theatre and Production Company with more than 10 years of teaching and production experience in the greater Long Beach area. It is owned and operated by Bethany and Jamieson Price, LongBeach-based theatre professionals and CSULB Theatre Arts Department alumni. Additional information can be found at www.TaketheStageLB.com.

KILL A BETTER MOUSETRAP

Company: Lanny Panlock Productions

Dates: Jan. 19 & 20 @ 8pm, Jan. 21 @ 2pm, 2018

Tickets: $15 Regular Price:

$12 Students and Seniors

Description:

In this one-act play, Miles Merbinoe has reasons and a plan to make the world's longest-running play- Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap- disappear. Unfortunately, Mr. Merbinoe isn't all there himself...

His gentler efforts having all backfired on him, Merbinoe decides to borrow a leaf from Dame Agatha's own works...and resort to murder!

Company Statement:

Lanny Panlock Productions is dedicated to providing literate, high-quality entertainment with an emphasis on celebrating the great artists of the past.

Mark Twain TONIGHT

Company: Jaxson Brashier Producing

Dates: Jan. 26 & 27, 2018 @ 8pm

Tickets: $15

Description:

Recreating the one man show that starred Hal Holbrook on Broadway, Jaxson Brashier portrays Mark Twain as a 70 year old humorist in this 90 minute production. Uses Twain's own words for a commentary on slavery, religion, and politics, mixing the satire with comic yarns about life on the Mississippi.

Company Statement:

Starring Jaxson Brashier & directed by Gregory Cohen in the fashion of Twain himself, "The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter."

STAFF AND FRIENDS CABARET FUNDRAISER

Company: Long Beach Playhouse

Dates: Feb 3, 2018 @ 8pm

Tickets: $10

Description:

The Staff, Volunteers, and Friends are coming together to raise some money for LBP while having fun onstage! From songs, to drama, to puppets, you never know what you may get at a Staff Cabaret. Just buckle up and enjoy the ride!

LYMAN

Company: John Dameron

Dates: Feb 9, 10 @ 8pm, 11, @ 2pm, 2018.

Tickets: $20

Description:

LYMAN is a 2-act play set in a multi-universe. It centers on the life of Lyman Liri, a piano prodigy and Vietnam veteran who becomes homeless in our current universe. Each scene is a different destiny of Lyman based on the choices he makes at universal points in his life. Guest-starring Lou Beatty Jr. (Betty White's "Off Their Rockers").

"If we could accept the truth that all homeless people are capable of being heroes and all people are capable of being homeless, then perhaps homelessness could once and for all be solved." - Anne Johnstonbrown

Company Statement:

LYMAN demonstrates how each of us is only one choice away from being homeless ourselves. It encourages audiences to see their own reflection in the face of every homeless person they meet and, hopefully, inspires them to make a difference.

LONG BEACH SKETCH/PROV FESTIVAL

Company: The Upperclassmen

Dates: Feb 16 & 17 @ 8pm, 2018.

Tickets: $8

Description:

Like peanut butter and chocolate, or the saxophone and 1980s soft rock, some things just belong together. The LongBeach Sketch/Prov Festival celebrates two great tastes together - sketch and improv comedy - from some of the funniest and most original troupes performing today in a two-night extravaganza of absurdity.

Company Statement

Established in 2010, the Upperclassmen is one of America's only (barely) functioning comedy and improv troupes that keeps a lawyer and registered nurse on retainer.

IN PREVIEW!

Company: Composers Lab

Dates: Feb. 23, 24 @ 8pm, Feb. 25 @ 2pm, 2018.

Tickets: $15

Description:

The Composers Lab presents IN PREVIEW! a collection of original musical compositions written for the theater. Featuring new works by Anna Kate Mohler and Andy Zacharias with special guest performers.

Company Statement:

The Composers Lab serves as a platform for local theater composers to collaborate and share ideas.

HELD2GETHER'S FARM-RAISED, FREE-RANGE SKETCH SHOW

Company: Held2gether

Dates: March 1, 2, 3 @ 8pm, 2018.

Tickets: $15 Regular

$10 Preview

Description:

Our dozen all original comedy sketches have been nurtured organically to create the purest, most satisfying laughs for the entire dysfunctional family. Taste the difference for yourself.

Company Statement:

Held2gether, Improv for Life was created to bring out each individual's greatest potential through the power of improvisation. We believe the benefits of improv strengthen every part of our lives.

TROJAN WOMEN: A LOVE STORY

Company: Alchemy Theatre Company

Dates: March 9, 10, 16, 17 @ 8pm, March 11, 18 @ 2, 2018.

Tickets: $20

Description:

Fusing elements of Euripides's Greek tragedy, high art, and pop culture, playwright Charles Mee examines the aftermath of the burning of Troy by focusing on the plight of the women who survive and raising the question of who really suffers in war: those who live, or those who die.

Company Statement:

Alchemy Theatre Company is devoted to advancing the art and experience of theatre in our own community through integrity, quality, and creativity. We look to create opportunities to work with the leading artists of today in an environment that is not only respectful, committed, and welcoming, but also challenges audiences and ourselves artistically to push the envelope of what can be imagined.

We strive to treat our audiences and contributors with respect and cultivate a sense of communal curiosity about life through theatre.

LONG BEACH PLAYHOUSE NEW WORKS FESTIVAL

Company: LBP New Works Committee producing

Dates: March 23 & 24 @ 8pm, 2018.

Tickets: $10

Description:

The annual festival nurtures emerging and established playwrights to develop new scripts. Reading 100+ scripts a year, the New Works Literary Committee chooses two top plays to receive a staged reading with critical feedback from professional theatre critics and audience talk back.

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The Long Beach Playhouse is located at 5021 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach, CA, 90804, right across from the Long BeachRecreation golf course. The Playhouse is community-supported theatre with programs and events that cut across age, gender, ethnic, and cultural boundaries.