INCITATION TO THE DANCE Has World Premiere at Theatre West in February
Incitation to the Dance is a sexy, dark gay comedy that will make you laugh, blush, and maybe want to dance.
Incitation to the Dance will have its World Premiere engagement, written and directed by Michael Van Duzer. Performanaces run February 13- March 15, 2026 at Theatre West.
This play is a selection in Theatre West's Writers-in-Residence Series, presenting the works of Theatre West's resident playwrights.
Incitation to the Dance is a sexy, dark gay comedy that will make you laugh, blush, and maybe want to dance.
Malcolm and Asher are a long-term couple. Malcolm is a film historian and professor. Asher is an unemployed dance instructor. They're dealing with Asher's depression since losing his job. Malcolm's delight in teaching his class, "Gunsels and Gay Blades" (a survey of homoerotic coding in Film Noir), exacerbates Asher's hopelessness. Finn, a determined young man, upends their world with his provocative blend of candid sexuality and menace.
Oh, and they do dance.
The stage is both the landscape of three minds and a choreographed battlefield. Stylized verbal battles escalate to physical confrontations, characters break the fourth wall, Malcolm's class probes an overwrought 1940s love triangle, while the dances build in intensity and violence.
Michael Van Duzer is the director and playwright. His previous directing credits at Theatre West include The Man Who Saved Everything (world premiere), The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940, and his own plays, Hands Beneath the Table, and Sons of Gad. As resident director of Opera Buffs, he directed concert opera versions of Carmen, La Cenerentola, La Boheme, and The Ballad of Baby Doe. His other directing credits include Edward II, As You Like It, What the Butler Saw, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, his own plays Hopeful Romantic, Recalled to Life, and much more.
Michael Gabiano portrays Malcolm. He has appeared on the Theatre West stage in Saturday Night at Grossinger's, A Sleighful of Songs, and The Loan. He has appeared on stage in 46 of the contiguous United States. His local appearances include The Listing at Theatre 40, Hillary and Monica at the Odyssey Theatre and so much more. On TV, he's appeared on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Days of Our Lives, and General Hospital.
David Mingrino plays Asher. With over 100 stage credits, he has frequently appeared on the Theatre West stage, including performances in The Age of Aquarius, Walking in Space, Thicker than Water, The Man Who Saved Everything, Verdigris, The Petrified Forest, and Under the Shade of the Old Oak. An accomplished musical theatre performer, he appeared in West Side Story, Cabaret, The Drunkard, Pajama Game, Fiddler on the Roof, and Godspell.
Casey Alcoser portrays Finn. Most recently, he played George Gibbs in Group Repertory's recent production of Our Town. His other credits include As You Like It, All's Well that ends Well, Unhappily Married in Valencia, Rant, Arena: A House Music-al, Vivian Vance: Alive and Well, Sympathy for the Devil, and Mirror, Mirror. He received an MFA from Art of Acting Studio LA.
It takes two to tango. What happens when a third cuts in? See Incitation to the Dance, and all will be revealed.
Established in 1962, Theatre West is celebrating its 64th year as the longest continually running professional theatre company in the city of Los Angeles. It is a membership collective of actors, playwrights, directors, and technicians. Theatre West's alumni members include Ray Bradbury, Jim Beaver, Beau Bridges, Richard Dreyfuss, Sally Field, Betty Garrett, Martin Landau, Lee Meriwether, Jack Nicholson, Carroll O'Connor, Sherwood Schwartz, Joyce Van Patten, and Paul Winfield. Theatre West has produced more than 300 plays and musicals. Of these plays, nearly 70% are original works developed in its workshops and many have led to Broadway, regional tours, and feature films including A Bronx Tale by Chazz Palminteri; A Very Brady Musical by Lloyd Schwartz and Hope Juber; Our Man in Santiago by Mark Wilding that transferred to Off-Broadway in the Fall of 2022; and our co-production of Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground that went to Broadway in 2023.. Theatre West is supported in part by The Ahmanson Foundation, California Arts Council, Peter Glenville Foundation, The Green Foundation, Kaplan-Loring Foundation, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, National Endowment for the Arts, Lloyd E. Rigler-Lawrence E. Deutsch Foundation, Sidney Stern Memorial Trust, Dwight Stuart Youth Fund, Leo Buscaglia, Comcast Universal, and L.A. Parent Magazine.
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