Naked Angels & Furious Theatre Company To Present MONDAYS LA Starting 1/31

Naked Angels is collaborating with the Furious Theatre Company in Pasadena, CA to bring its unique 3-Step Formula for creative development to the West Coast and expand its programming to feature works for film and television in addition to the stage. Located on opposite sides of the country, Naked Angels and Furious Theatre Company share a mission to empower fresh voices through the development of provocative new work. Together the two companies will produce Mondays LA: Naked and Furious, the West Coast equivalent of the second step in Naked Angels' New York-based 3-Step Formula, 1st Mondays. The first step in the development program, Tuesdays@9 - a cold reading program, has been in practice in West Hollywood for the past eight years.

Beginning this month, on the last Monday of the month, a new play, screenplay, or TV pilot is given its first-ever public reading. Audiences are invited to attend free of charge and writers are able to hear their work performed live for the first time. Upon selecting a new piece, Naked Angels and Furious Theatre Company provide a space, director, cast, and brief rehearsal period, bringing the play, screenplay or TV pilot to life for the author and audience alike. A simple yet vital program, "Mondays" gives the writer the essential opportunity to experience his or her words lifted from the page into a performance setting and receive early feedback. The New York edition, 1st Mondays, has read new works by Theresa Rebeck, Warren Leight and David Marshall Grant among many others, and brings in over one hundred devoted audience members each month. Mondays LA: Naked and Furious will take place on the last Monday of every month of the year except for a summer hiatus during the months of June - August. The readings will be upstairs at St. Nick's Pub in West Hollywood (8450 West 3rd Street - LA).

The first two installments of Mondays LA: Naked and Furious will be in January and February, directed by Andy Donald, incoming Artistic Director of Naked Angels, and Dámaso Rodriguez, Co-artistic Director of Furious Theatre Company, respectively.

Monday, January 31, 2011 at 8 PM
THE SEDUCTION COMMUNITY
A new play by Greg Keller
Directed by Andy Donald

Monday, February 28, 2011 at 8 PM
SHATTER STREET
A screenplay by Matt Pelfrey
Directed by Dámaso Rodriguez

Andy Donald, Naked Angels' incoming Artistic Director, said, "Naked Angels has been unofficially bi-coastal for years. For the last two decades, we've followed many of our founding company members out West, producing the Los Angeles premiere of Stephen Belber's TAPE, several original one-act festivals, and our signature Issues Project. Now, paired with our popular Tuesdays@9 cold reading program already in its eighth year in West Hollywood, we hope the introduction of our new multi-disciplinary development series with the extraordinary Furious Theatre Company will help us begin to establish a permanent and unique presence on the West Coast."

Dámaso Rodriguez, Co-artistic Director of Furious Theatre Company, said, "We believe this bi-coastal collaboration is an exciting and logical way for both of our companies to expand upon our individual missions, while collectively providing a new creative outlet for our ensembles and larger community. While there are many new play development programs around Los Angeles, we hope Mondays LA: Naked and Furious will offer an alternative for local theatre artists working in the film and TV business: a reading series that welcomes everything from screenplays to stage plays, focusing on fostering connections between New York and Los Angeles-based writers, directors and actors."

ABOUT Naked Angels
SINCE 1986, Naked Angels has been committed to strengthening a community of artists through the development and production of provocative new work. The company has played a role in developing critically acclaimed new plays including The Substance of Fire, Side Man, Tape, Fault Lines and most recently the Tony Award-nominated Next Fall. From New York to LA, they inspire artists to generate fresh voices and create new work through their popular Tuesdays@9 (cold readings of plays, screenplays, stories and music in early development), 1st Mondays (public readings of new plays), and Angels in Progress (weeklong workshops). Their newest venture, Naked Radio, brings the work of talented new writers from the stage to the digital airwaves through weekly blogs and podcasts.

The most recent success story of Naked Angels' 3-Step Formula is the Tony-nominated play Next Fall, written by Naked Angels Artistic Director Geoffrey Nauffts. Next Fall began its journey ten pages at a time in Tuesdays@9, was developed through the rest of the 3-Step Formula, and was eventually produced Off-Broadway by Naked Angels in the Summer of 2009 before landing a Tony-nominated (Best Play, Best Director) run on Broadway in 2010. The production received rave reviews for both its Broadway and Off-Broadway runs.

Naked Angels celebrates its 25th Anniversary this year as one of the most innovative theatre companies in New York with a full season of exciting new work spanning the 2011 calendar year.

Naked Angels is led by Geoffrey Nauffts (Artistic Director), John E. Alexander (Managing Director) and Andy Donald (Associate Artistic Director).

For more information about Naked Angels' 3-Step Formula and other Naked Angels programs and productions, visit www.NakedAngels.com.

ABOUT FURIOUS THEATRE COMPANY
The critically-acclaimed Furious Theatre Company is an ensemble of artists committed to edgy, innovative and original works. The company debuted in April 2002 after they were generously granted the use of a 9,000 square foot section of Armory Northwest, a former plastics factory. The company converted the raw warehouse into an alternative performance space. Risers were constructed, the lighting grid hung and stage curtains built, all by the ensemble. In that converted warehouse, they rapidly produced five plays in 12 months. These productions earned 6 NAACP Theatre Award nominations, two LA Weekly Award nominations and numerous critics' picks from the Los Angeles media. The company also received the Pasadena Arts Council's Gold Crown Award and The Debut Award from Back Stage West. In September 2003, the City of Pasadena reclaimed the Armory Northwest and Furious needed to move. After a 13-month search, the Pasadena Playhouse granted Furious a residency at its Balcony Theatre (later renamed the Carrie Hamilton Theatre), The Playhouse's 99-seat Second Stage. Since its 2004 debut at The Playhouse, Furious Theatre Company has produced 18 premieres, including the World Premieres of Alex Jones' Canned Peaches in Syrup and Matt Pelfrey's An Impending Rupture of the Belly (4 LA Weekly Award nominations, Garland Award) as well as Los Angeles Premieres of Neil LaBute's The Shape of Things, Yussef El Guindi's Back of the Throat (LA Weekly Award Winner: Best Playwright), Craig Wright's Grace (Los Angeles Drama Critic's Circle Award Recipient: Best Production, Best Direction, Best Writing), Gina Gionfriddo's US Drag (7 LA Weekly Award Nominations), Peter Sinn Nachtrieb's boom and Hunter Gatherers (LADCC Award Winner) and Bruce Norris' The Pain and the Itch (3 LADCC Award Noms). Furious Theatre Ensemble members include: Sara Hennessy, Shawn Lee, Vonessa Martin, Eric Pargac, Brad Price, Dámaso Rodriguez, Nick Cernoch, Katie Davies, Doug Newell, Megan Goodchild, Matt Pelfrey Dana Kelly, Jr., Robert Pescovitz, Christie Wright, James C. Leary, Richard Hilton and Melissa Teoh.

For more info visit www.furioustheatre.org.