Gregory Harrison, Dan Lauria, French Stewart and More to Lead TESLA: A RADIO PLAY FOR THE STAGE at Laguna Playhouse

Laguna Playhouse has announced a very special theatrical event, Bruce Davison, Gregory Harrison, Dan Lauria, Charles Shaughnessy, French Stewart & Vanessa Stewart starring in TESLA: A RADIO PLAY FOR THE STAGE, written by Dan Duling and directed by Michael Arabian.

"We are delighted to offer an extra special event for our audiences of a very timely play with a truly extraordinary cast," comments Laguna Playhouse Executive Director Ellen Richard. Adds Artistic Director Ann E. Wareham "We could not be more thrilled than to present Dan Duling's play with director Michael Arabian (Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks) taking the helm. This radio play about the life of inventor Nikola Tesla, with 6 stellar actors and 1 sound effects specialist playing, combined, over 50 roles is not-to-be-missed!"

TESLA: A RADIO PLAY FOR THE STAGE will perform four performances only on Friday, May 26 at 7:30pm; Saturday, May 27 at 2:00pm & 7:30pm & Sunday, May 28 at 1:00pm at the Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road in Laguna Beach.

The story of Nikola Tesla's life as an inventor and futurist during the late-19th and first half of the 20th century is recounted in a series of rapid-fire scenes intended to be performed as a radio play with multiple voices and Foley sound effects before a live audience. Tesla's volatile relationship with Thomas Edison, his allegiance with George Westinghouse and his eventual confrontation with the power brokers of American business are recounted from the perspective of Tesla's death during World War II and the possible implications to national security of his personal papers and effects.

The epic scale of his inventions and experiments is suggested with only sound and the voices of those involved, leaving their mystery and potential to the imagination, where much of Tesla's inscrutable legacy endures to this day.

ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM AND CAST:

Dan Duling (Playwright) His plays have been produced throughout the U.S. and honored with a number of awards including the Oregon Playwrights Award for Stranglehold. He earned his Ph.D. in drama from the University of Texas, Austin. Dan is also a former journalist, having written for publications such as the L.A. Weekly, Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Herald-Examiner. His writing for television, film and new media has included work for Oregon Public Broadcasting, MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central. The feature film, Last Lives, based on his screenplay, originally premiered on the SyFy Channel and is available on DVD. For additional information and excerpts from his works, please visit www.danduling.com. Dan is probably best-known to Laguna audiences for his many years of scriptwriting for the Pageant of the Masters. As always, a labor of love, this summer's production, "The Grand Tour," will be his 37th as scriptwriter.

Michael Arabian (Director) has directed and produced numerous west coast and world premieres in New York and Los Angeles winning over 50 awards. In 2016 he directed Disgraced at San Diego Rep which received a San Diego Critics Award nomination for Best Production. Also for the Rep, in 2012 he directed Red starring John Vickery... both shows were in the San Diego Stage Beat's top 10 list. Earlier in 2016, he directed the critically acclaimed production of Kingdom Of Earth by Tennessee Williams at the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles where the head critic for the LA Times, Charles McNulty said, it was a discovery of a hidden gem by TW. Some additional recent credits include, directing dance icon Leslie Caron in Six Dance Lessons In Six Weeks at the Laguna Playhouse; Staging The Unstageable (centennial of the Armenian Genocide) at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, God Of Carnage at La Mirada. His production of Waiting For Godot at the Mark Taper Forum was honored with five Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards including outstanding production and direction; was nominated for 10 Ovation Awards, winning five, including best production; and was cited as one of the ten most memorable productions of 2012 seen in either New York or LA by Los Angeles Times critic Charles McNulty who called it a "luminous revival." Other productions at the Taper include Samuel Beckett's Krapps Last Tape, Edward Albee's The Sandbox, Harold Pinter's A Slight Ache and workshops of new works.

His site-specific company, Theatre InSite, formed a partnership with CBS (Radford) Studios (a first for L.A. theater), to produce live TV pilots ("Third Rock From The Sun" picked up) and inventive, large-scale productions... an updated Romeo And Juliet where audiences followed scenes and car chases through the backlot's suburban streets, and The Trojen Women, starring Mariette Hartley and an amphibious Humvee from the Marine Corp, set during the Gulf War and staged in 400,000 gallons of water at the old Gilligan's Island Lagoon. Also at CBS a musical about menopause, Is It Just Me Or Is It Hot In Here, and A History Of Shadows starring Bernie Kopell, Bill Christopher and Robert Mandan. Other local LA credits include John Patrick Shanley's Danny And The Deep Blue Sea (14 critics choices), The Laramie Project, Ten Years Later starring Barbara Bain for the Tectonic Project in one of 150 presentations around the world, Some Kind Of Love Story by Arthur Miller produced by Martin Landau and Mark Rydell for The Actors Studio.

His film "King Of The Ants" shot on 35mm is distributed by Vanguard Cinema.

Bruce Davison is known for his starring role in the cult horror film "Willard" (1971), as well as his Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe-winning performance in "Longtime Companion" (1989). He featured prominently in the X-Men film franchise - through "X-Men" (2000) and "X2" (2003) - as antagonist Senator Robert Kelly. More recently, Davison appeared in Fred Schepisi's "Words and Pictures" (2013), had a recurring role on ABC's "The Fosters" (2015-2016) and shares the screen with Miles Teller and Anna Kendrick in "Get a Job" (2016). Extremely winning and versatile, the award-worthy actor, now enjoying an over four-decade career, has included everything from Shakespeare to "Seinfeld." He has also served as a writer, producer and director.

Gregory Harrison - His four-decade career spans television, film, and theater. He has starred in over 500 hours of television, including nearly fifty movies-of-the-week, a dozen mini-series, and countless episodic guest appearances. Series leads include "Logan's Run," "Trapper John M.D.," "Falcon Crest," "Family Man," "One Tree Hill," "Ringer," "Reckless," "Rizzoli & Isles" and the current "Signed, Sealed, Delivered." Gregory stars in Hallmark Channel's upcoming "My Christmas Love," airing this December. Feature films include "North Shore," "Razorback," "It's My Party," "The M Word" and "Fair Haven" (premiering this May on Showtime). Broadway - Steel Pier, Follies, and Chicago. Regional credits include The Hasty Heart, Picnic, The Snake Can, Child's Play, Of Thee I Sing, Paper Moon, Festival, Guys and Dolls, The Music Man and Carnal Knowledge. An avid surfer and environmentalist, Gregory is on the advisory board of The Surfrider Foundation.

Dan Lauria has appeared as a guest star in over seventy television episodic programs and more than twenty Movie of the Week productions plus a score of motion picture credits. Dan is a very familiar face to the off-off, off and regional theatre scene having performed, written or directed over 50 professional stage productions, recently at Laguna Playhouse in Love Letters. In 2010/11 Dan was seen on Broadway as the legendary coach Vince Lombardi in the long running production of Lombardi, with the beautiful and talented Judith Light playing Marie Lombardi. The production was directed by Thomas Kail of Hamilton fame. Dan returned to Broadway in the 2013 & the 2014 productions of the Tony nominated; A Christmas Story: The Musical directed by John Rando. However, Dan is most recognized as the Dad on the highly acclaimed Emmy winning, ABC television show, The Wonder Years. Dan and dear friend, the lovely and talented Ms. Wendie Malick have performed the play The Guys (about our first responders) for numerous theatre and firemen departments, around the country. Dan is currently on the new Fox TV show, Pitch, about the first woman pitcher in major league baseball. For ten years Dan served as the artistic director of, The Playwright's Kitchen Ensemble (PKE) of Los Angeles. With partners, Joe Cacaci and Richard Zavaglia, PKE produced over 450 public readings of new plays with the finest actors in the business in order to promote the development of the new American playwright and to seek literary representation for new writers.

Charles Shaughnessy was last seen recurring on the new SyFy series The Magicians and was recently seen in a guest star role on the CBS series, NCIS, and their other series, Rush Hour. Previously, he was most seen guest starring on Revenge, Super Fun Night opposite Rebel Wilson, recurred on TBS' Sullivan & Son, ABC's Castle and TV Land's Happily Divorced. Last year, he shot the indie features Maidensof the Sea and Moontrap: Target Earth. He was also most recently seen in the Mar Vista film, A Midsummer's Hawaiian Dream. Recent performances on the stage include his role as 'King Francis' in the based-on-the-movie play Ever After at the Paper Mill Playhouse, Act 3 at the Laguna Playhouse, leading opposite Rita Rudner, Joe Orton's comic masterpiece What The Butler Saw at the Mark Taper in Los Angeles and Harvey at multiple theatres. Charles Shaughnessy is a great comedic and dramatic actor with decades of experience, ranging from his days as a series regular playing the memorable Maxwell Sheffield on CBS' long running The Nanny to his multi-episode arc as St. John Powell on the AMC series Mad Men. He also hosts an online radio talk show for TRadioV called "Here's A Thought," which you can watch & listen to at the following link: http://tradiov.com/la/videoscategory/thought/ www.charlesshaughnessy.com

French Stewart - For the past 30 years, Mr Stewart has been a proud participant in L.A. theatre: both as a member of Justin Tanner's legendary Cast Theatre (Zombie Attack, Pot Mom, Party Mix, Teen Girl and Happy Time X-mas) and a current member of The SacRed Fools. Recent stage credits include: Mathew Modine Saves The Alpacas (Geffen Playhouse), Watson (SacRed Fools Theater Company), Voice Lessons (with Laurie Metcalf) Off Broadway at Theatre Row and most recently the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago. French also appeared as Buster Keaton in Stoneface at The Pasadena Playhouse.

French is best known for his work on the classic T.V. series "Third Rock From The Sun." He has also appeared on "Seinfeld," "The Larry Sanders Show," "Just Shoot Me," "The Drew Carey Show" and "News Radio." Other credits include: "NCIS," "Trial and Error," "Community," "Psych," "Bones," "The Closer," "Castle," "Pushing Daisies," "Private Practice," "The Birthday Boys," "Comedy Bang Bang," a recurring role on "The Middle" and Chuck Lorre's new hit comedy "Mom." Film credits include: "Stargate," "Leaving Las Vegas," "Surveillance," "The Flock" and cult favorite "Love Stinks."

Vanessa Claire Stewart - In 2008, Vanessa co-wrote and starred as Keely Smith in Louis and Keely: Live at the Sahara for SacRed Fools (Ovation Award for best actress and Best Musical, LA Weekly Award for Best Musical). Louis and Keely later moved to the Geffen Playhouse, Royal George Theater in Chicago and Laguna Playhouse. In 2012, Vanessa penned a play about Buster Keaton called Stonefacefor her husband French Stewart (Pasadena Playhouse, 2012 Stage Raw award for Production of the Year) As a performer, Vanessa has hosted the Ovation Awards and the LA Weekly Awards and has been a featured act at the Newport Beach Jazz Festival, Big Brother/Big Sister Annual Fundraiser, Society of Singers fundraiser and the Legends Concert at the Maccallum Theater in Palm Springs. Other Roles: Louise, Gypsy; Laura, The Glass Menagerie; Olivia, Twelfth Night and mom to Helene Claire. FILM/TV Credits include: "The List" with Jennifer Morrison, "Girls Girls Girls" with Octavia Spencer, and appearances on "Rules Of Engagement," "The Wanda Sykes Show" and the upcoming show "Sensitive Men."

ANTHONY E. PALERMO (Sound Effects Artist) is a professional sound effects artist, radio dramatist, director, composer and educator. He has done over 2500 shows on-air and on-stage. His work has been heard on NPR, XM/Sirius, audiobooks, Audible, iTunes and live with L.A. Theatre Works, California Artists Radio Theater and nationwide tours. Tony directed the 60th anniversary production of Norman Corwin's On a Note of Triumph, for which he single-handedly recreatEd Bernard Herrmann's orchestral score. He hosts the RuyaSonic Radio Drama Resources website, offering info on radio drama writing, directing, scoring, engineering and sound effects. www.RuyaSonic.com.

TESLA: A RADIO PLAY FOR THE STAGE will perform four performances only on Friday, May 26 at 7:30pm; Saturday, May 27 at 2:00pm & 7:30pm & Sunday, May 28 at 1:00pm at the Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road in Laguna Beach.

Tickets range from $35 - $45 and can be purchased online at www.lagunaplayhouse.com or by calling (949) 497-ARTS (2787). Group discounts are available by calling 949-497-2787 ext. 229. Prices subject to change.

The box office is open Mondays - Saturdays: 12p.m. to 5 p.m. (open until showtime on performance days); Sundays: 11a.m. - 4p.m. For more information on all shows and programming, visit www.lagunaplayhouse.com. Laguna Playhouse is located at 606 Laguna Canyon Road in Laguna Beach.

Founded in 1920, the historic Laguna Playhouse is one of the oldest continuously-operating not-for-profit theatres on the West Coast and is proud to be an active participant in the celebrated Laguna Beach arts community. From classic plays and musical comedies to the current off-Broadway smash, cutting edge and traditional music exhibitions, dance festivals and stand-up comedy performances, Laguna Playhouse brings the magical experience of the performing arts direct to over 80,000 patrons each season.

Laguna Playhouse educational programming includes year-round classes, productions by and for children and teens (Youth Theatre) and is one of the few companies in the region that offer a curriculum-based professional theatre-touring program, TheatreReach, which aligns with the California State Standards for literature, history and performing arts curriculum.

Laguna Playhouse has been recognized in 2016 and 2015 as one of Orange County Register's "Best of OC" in the category of Live Theatre. The Playhouse has featured many talented performers on stage, including Ed Asner, Leslie Caron, Hershey Felder, Harrison Ford, Val Kilmer, Dan Lauria, Wendie Malick, Rita Rudner, Charles Shaughnessy, Loretta Swit, and Bette Davis.