Skylight Theatre to Stage REASONS TO LIVE

Chosen by the press as a "Favorite Play of 2012" when first presented at Provincetown Theater, Reasons To Live will now make its West Coast debut in Los Angeles at the Skylight Theatre. Two like-minded theatre companies join together to present this thought provoking comedy on overcoming adversity.

At the Silverstein wedding, crazy is relative. Jane's groom has gone missing. Her sister Emily's "life partner" may be just a one-night stand. Her brother lives upstairs in his pajamas selling something suspicious-and Mom tries to rally the troops by singing show tunes. But, when a surprise arrives, the family may just find the meaning they've been desperately seeking.

"I wanted to write a play about the desire to find hope and humor after something difficult happens. I didn't know it would take the form of a funny theatrical family, each of whom feels alone in their despair until they come together. My own tendency to temper darkness with humor comes from being part of a chaotic family that was sometimes a little mean, but always funny," says playwright Meryl Cohn.

Meryl Cohn (playwright) Meryl was awarded the ATHE Jane Chambers Award and has twice been a semifinalist for the O'Neill National Playwrights Conference; a finalist for the Massachusetts Cultural Council Playwriting Grant; The Curve Magazine Lesbian Theater Award; and a Lark Play Development Center Semifinalist. Meryl's recent plays have been produced or developed at W.H.A.T., The Provincetown Theatre, The Soho Playhouse, Counter Productions, The Road Theatre, Skylight Theatre, Open Fist Theatre, N.Y. International Fringe Festival, and TOSOS. Other work includes non-fiction, a long-running humorous advice column as Ms. Behavior, and a book published by Houghton Mifflin, Do What I Say: Ms. Behavior's Guide to Gay and Lesbian Etiquette.

Susan Morgenstern (Director) worked with Tom Lehrer at U.C. Santa Cruz when she began directing, and co-teaching the "American Musical Comedy." In Los Angeles, she received critical acclaim for her direction of David Vowell's The Ascension of Lili at the Two Roads Theatre. At Theatre West, Susan has directed All in the Timing, Just Too Cool, and Saturday Night at Grossinger's. At the Falcon Theatre, she directed Leap, Surviving Sex, and The Psychic. At the Cabrillo Music Theatre Susan helmed Happy Days, A New Musical, book by Garry Marshall, music/lyrics by Paul Williams. She is an artist in residence with Jewish Women's Theatre where she directs numerous projects. At Walt Disney Parks & Resorts, she is a live show director, and is beginning work on their 60th Anniversary Celebration in 2015.

REASONS TO LIVE opens October 25th and runs at 8pm Fridays and Saturdays, 3pm on Sundays through November 23, 2014. The Skylight Theatre is located at 1816 1/2 N. Vermont Ave, LA, 90027. Tickets are $30. Reservations: 213-761-7061 or online at http://skylighttix.com

Gary Grossman/Skylight Theatre Company (Executive Producer) develops and produces new, exhilarating works while nurturing and educating the writers who create them. A vibrant and expanding family of artists giving voice to original perspectives of today's world, Skylight earned 8 Ovation Nominations in 2014 for The Wrong Man and Pray To Ball, while last year LA Weekly named their productions of Years To The Day, Open House and Sexting to their Top Ten Plays list of 2013. Skylight's first year as a company dedicated to developing new plays was 2011, their production of Hermetically Sealed made the LA Times annual list of Top Ten Plays, and Mad Woman moved from Los Angeles to La MaMa in New York. Since then plays developed by Skylight have played Chicago, New York, Edinburgh, Paris and local venues. Twitter: @SkylightThtr, Facebook: Skylight Theatre Company, Instagram: SkylightTheatre

Martha Demson/Open Fist Theatre Company (Executive Producers) is best known for tackling ambitious and often large-scale ensemble plays. The Company is a collective, self-producing artistic enterprise with all facets of its operation run by its artist members. The Open Fist Theatre Company name comes from two principles. The first is the notion that an Open spirit, embracing all people and all ideas is essential. The second is that the Fist, a sign of determination and even force, is necessary for the theatre to remain a vital voice for social change and awareness. Twitter: #openfisttheatre, Facebook: openfisttheatre

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