Jane Carr, Julian Sands, Tara Summers Lead The School for Scandal 1/12-16

If you love to dish and gossip, don't miss the malicious and delicious The School for Scandal. A distinguished British cast, including Jane Carr, Julian Sands and Tara Summers will be directed by Michael Hackett when L.A. Theatre Works' presents Richard Brinsley Sheridan's comic masterpiece at the Skirball Cultural Center, January 12-16. The five performances will be recorded for L.A. Theatre Works' nationally syndicated radio theater series, which airs locally in Southern California on KPCC 89.3 every Saturday from 10 pm - midnight and can be streamed on demand at www.latw.org. .

Sheridan's sparkling comedy of manners made its debut in 1777, but its hilarious examination of human frailty and hypocrisy is as relevant today as it was then. Brimming with witty dialogue, mistaken identities, supposed infidelity, eavesdropping and scandal, both real and invented, The School For Scandal is a delightful, madcap and maliciously catty romp. Centuries before Jerry Springer, Ricki Lake and the National Enquirer appeared on the scene, Sheridan gave us such gossip-mongers as Lady Sneerwell, Widow Snake, Lady Candour and Benjamin Backbite in a comic story filled with complications, ironies, surprises and schemes that go horribly wrong - a prototype of situation comedy that reveals many of the same guilty pleasures and petty obsessions we know today. After all, slander and gossip never go out of style!

Richard Brinsley Sheridan was manager of the Drury Lane Theatre where he had a great influence on the theater of his time. The School for Scandal is studied around the world in high schools and theater schools, making him one of the most well-known traditionalist playwrights, second only to Shakespeare. He later became a distinguished parliamentary orator. The School for Scandal was a favorite play of General George Washington, who was an inveterate theatergoer.

For three decades, L.A. Theatre Works has been the leading radio theater company in the United States, committed to using innovative technologies to preserve and promote significant works of dramatic literature and bringing live theater into the homes of millions. L.A. Theatre Works' radio theater series can be heard locally in Southern California on Saturday from 10pm to midnight on KPCC 89.3 FM, and can also be streamed on demand at www.latw.org/. The series can also be heard on the following stations (check local listings for broadcast times): 89.7 WGBH, Boston; 91.5 FM WBEZ, Chicago; 94.9 KUOW, Seattle; 90.1 WABE, Atlanta; 94.1 KPFA, Berkeley; 91.1 KRCB, North Bay (San Francisco); and many other stations nationwide.

Performances of The School for Scandal take place on Wednesday, January 12 @ 8 pm; Thursday, January 13 @ 8 pm; Friday, January 14 @ 8 pm; Saturday, January 15 @ 2:30 pm; and Sunday, January 16 @ 4 pm. Tickets range from $20.00 to $49.00. L.A. Theatre Works at the Skirball Cultural Center is located at 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd, off the San Diego (405) Freeway in the Santa Monica Mountains (exit Skirball Center Drive). For tickets and information, call the L.A. Theatre Works box office at (310) 827-0889 or go to www.latw.org.

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