Evelyn Rudie

Jerry Mayer, a nonagenarian from St. Louis has written and/or produced for many classic TV shows and specials. In 1986, his first play, Almost Perfect, debuted at Santa Monica Playhouse which has led to almost a dozen more - so far! I decided to speak with him about his latest comedy, Jews R 2 Much Fun, at the Santa Monica Playhouse as well as his long-running and extremely successful TV writing career.

Why Worry? Jews R 2 Much Fun! world premiere engagement of a new comedy, written by Jerry Mayer and directed by Chris DeCarlo, has been announced at Santa Monica Playhouse.

The 30th Annual Los Angeles Women's Theatre Festival (LAWTF) will honor seven women for their exceptional career and life achievements in the Opening Night Champagne GALA and Awards Ceremony on March 23, 2023 at 8:00 pm, preceded by a reception at 6:30 pm, at Barnsdall Gallery Theatre.

Fifty years ago this month, Evelyn Rudie and Chris De Carlo assumed their posts as Co-Artistic Directors of Santa Monica Playhouse. Under their stewardship, the sixty-three-year-old theatre has become a treasured cultural institution in the beachside community.

Kathy and Stanley are deeply in love. They want to get married. Stanley is Jewish, Kathy's a Catholic. Interfaith marriages happen all the time in America. But Kathy's father Chris considers Stanley's father Marv to be a hated, sworn enemy and has felt this way for many years. Kathy and Stanley's families are to be united in matrimony. In order to prevent Chris' hate from derailing their happiness, they devise a plan. Stanley's family, aided by Kathy's mother Mary, are about to give Chris a very special education. Hilarity ensues. Chris will ultimately have to deal with the question Why Be an Uptight Anti-Semite? Jews R 2 Much Fun.

Santa Monica Playhouse returns to live theatre with the premiere of a new incarnation of Jerry and Steve Mayer's musical about the trials and tribulations of 'aging' directed by veteran (and frequent Mayer) director Chris DeCarlo opening March 12, 2022 for a limited run.

Asian comedy troupe CRAZY WOKE ASIANS created by Kiki Yeung will be celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month with a schedule full of shows at the Santa Monica Playhouse. Kiki managed to find some time to answer a few of my inquiries between producing the various May shows, rehearsing her own stand-up and taking care of her toddler son.

This Spotlight focuses on Christine Joëlle, an actress I first saw onstage in the summer of 2004 as Madge Owens in Picnic, directed by Gail Bernardi for Kentwood Players at the Westchester Playhouse. Christine and I went on to work together in many productions for the community theatre group, both onstage and on production teams. Since then, I have been fortunate to follow her path across the stages of professional theatre companies all over town, always enjoying her ability to transform herself into a great variety of characters a?" often during the same show! And I am also a very happy customer of her pet care service, Movin' Paws.

This Spotlight focuses on Shelley Fisher, a down home diva better known as The Hebrew Hillbilly, her solo music play which is the longest running in the USA. Believing that music is the universal language which brings healing and encouragement to everyone, performing her show fuels the flames of creativity and hope for Shelley, and comedy provides a welcome break from the weight of life as it is today. So, what is she up to until she can back inside the Santa Monica Playhouse to perform for an audience again?

This Spotlight focuses on Barbara a?oeBobbiea?? Keegan, an Emmy Award-winning actress who always says a?oeyesa?? to the Santa Monica Playhouse and Theatre 68 who always travels with her adopted son, good luck charm and alter- ego, a?oeSmitty the Magical Flying Purple Turtle.a?? I first met both of them during the second Hollywood Fringe Festival when Keegan took Best in Fringe honors headlining in the world premiere of Jon Courie's JENNIFER ANISTON STOLE MY LIFE, which Courie wrote specifically with her in mind.

As is true with almost every one of The Bard's plays, magic and mayhem, fops and fairies, mistaken identity, romance and humor abound in this tongue-firmly-in-cheek evening with elements of pantomime, Commedia dell'arte and conventions of classical theater woven together with DeCarlo and Rudie narrating the tale as the elvish mischief makers Orion and Talia. While there are quotes and references from several of The Bard's creations, LOVE IN BLOOM takes its biggest story line from a?oeA Midsummer Night's Dreama?? with three sets of lovers dealing with mistaken identities due to cross-dressing, who eventually get lost in the woods in order for the fairies' spell to be cast so that all ends well and love rules the day.

Brush up your Shakespeare. Santa Monica Playhouse's bawdy musical comedy tribute to the rogues and wenches of the Bard, Love in Bloom, celebrates its 10th anniversary to insure that all's well that ends as you like it. Magic and mayhem, fops and fairies, mistaken identity, romance and humor abound in this tongue-firmly-in-cheek evening of theatre opening Saturday, October 26th

ALEICHEM SHOLOM! The Wit and Wisdom of Sholom Aleichem, a new musical written by the internationally acclaimed team of Chris DeCarlo and Evelyn Rudie with lilting songs by Ben Weisman, is now playing at the Santa Monica Playhouse. It follows the life of the beloved Yiddish story-teller and everyone is his entourage, especially his wife, spinning tales of his loves and losses, his fame and his failures, his travels, his travails and the tremendous joy and optimism that kept him going against all odds.

Santa Monica Playhouse presents the World Premiere of ALEICHEM SHOLOM! The Wit and Wisdom of Sholom Aleichem -The fifth offering in the Playhouse Sholom Aleichem catalog of musicals, part of the Playhouse Jewish Heritage Project at Santa Monica Playhouse - opening Today, May 19th 2018

Santa Monica Playhouse presents the World Premiere of ALEICHEM SHOLOM! The Wit and Wisdom of Sholom Aleichem -The fifth offering in the Playhouse Sholom Aleichem catalog of musicals, part of the Playhouse Jewish Heritage Project at Santa Monica Playhouse - opening Today, May 19th 2018

Santa Monica Playhouse presents the World Premiere of ALEICHEM SHOLOM! The Wit and Wisdom of Sholom Aleichem -The fifth offering in the Playhouse Sholom Aleichem catalog of musicals, part of the Playhouse Jewish Heritage Project at Santa Monica Playhouse - opening Saturday, May 19th 2018

Feel the Love. Jerry Mayer's critically acclaimed, award-winning romantic 'A Love Affair' extends at Santa Monica Playhouse through Saturday, April 29, 2018. Featuring Playhouse Co-Artistic Directors Evelyn Rudie (TV's Eloise, Playhouse 90, A Touch of Love, Audition: The Musical!) and Chris DeCarlo (Author! Author! an evening with Sholom Aleichem, Moliere's The Fools, Aspirin & ELEPHANTS) as the mature Alice and Jimmy, and Andrea Adnoff (Sunday on the Rocks, Pasadena Playhouse; The Lucky 6; Legend of Woodview Road), and Jacob Cooper (We Are Marshall - Warner Bros; Clybourne Park; La Bete) as their younger-selves joined by Rachel Galper (Turning Thirty, A DeLUSIONAL Affair, How to Love a Republican). This production is part of the Playhouse Jerry-Mayer-A-Thon celebrating Mayer's 30 years of play writing.

Have you and your partner ever thought how nice it would be to go back and have a conversation with your younger selves that might be able to change the course of your lives together? No doubt playwright Jerry Mayer, whose plays deal with the 'ups, downs and sideways' of male/female relationships, must have wondered the same thing and created the comedy A LOVE AFFAIR to address the idea of one couple, at two different stages of their marriage, meeting in the midst of relationship upheaval when selling their family home and sorting through years of marriage mementos. Witty sexual innuendos abound as the business of aging is handled with great humor and understanding from both the youthful and more mature viewpoints.

Santa Monica Playhouse presents the latest in its Jerry Mayer-a-thon Celebration with a new production of Mayer's award-winning romantic comedy 'A Love Affair' featuring Playhouse Co-Artistic Directors Evelyn Rudie (Eloise, Playhouse 90, A Touch of Love, Audition: The Musical!) and Chris DeCarlo (Author! Author! an evening with Sholom Aleichem, Moliere's The Fools, Aspirin & ELEPHANTS) , Andrea Adnoff (Sunday on the Rocks, Pasadena Playhouse; The Lucky 6; Legend of Woodview Road), Jacob Cooper (We Are Marshall - Warner Bros; Clybourne Park; La Bete) and Rachel Galper (Turning Thirty, A DeLUSIONAL Affair, How to Love a Republican) on stage now through November 19th.

Commemorating its 57th Anniversary, Santa Monica Playhouse's Actors' Repertory Theatre (ART), the company that introduced the works of acclaimed playwright Eugene Ionesco to Los Angeles, brings back to the boards the double-bill with which the Playhouse opened its doors in 1960.