A. Jeffrey Schoenberg News

What is the path we take to find love in a harsh world? Colleen Camp Productions and CRAZYface Productions LLC present a fresh new production of GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES, directed by John Hindman and starring Sara Rae Foster (Showtime's Masters of Sex) and Jeff Ward (Lifetime's Manson's Lost Girls). Rajiv Joseph's poignant and darkly comic tale about love, pain and friendship opens May 20 at the Hudson Backstage Theatre in Hollywood. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

What is the path we take to find love in a harsh world? Colleen Camp Productions and CRAZYface Productions LLC present a fresh new production of GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES, directed by John Hindman and starring Sara Rae Foster (Showtime's Masters of Sex) and Jeff Ward (Lifetime's Manson's Lost Girls). Rajiv Joseph's poignant and darkly comic tale about love, pain and friendship opens May 20 at the Hudson Backstage Theatre in Hollywood. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

What is the path we take to find love in a harsh world? Colleen Camp Productions and CRAZYface Productions LLC present a fresh new production of Gruesome Playground Injuries, directed by John Hindman and starring Sara Rae Foster (Showtime's Masters of Sex) and Jeff Ward (Lifetime's Manson's Lost Girls). Rajiv Joseph's poignant and darkly comic tale about love, pain and friendship opens May 13 at the Hudson Backstage in Hollywood, with low-priced previews beginning May 6.

Musical geniuses of yesteryear like Vivaldi, Handel, Mozart or Bach ... ah, a chosen few who left an unparalleled legacy...but not without bitter resentment and treachery from rivals, some talented, some not... Remember Amadeus by Peter Schaeffer? Salieri stopped at nothing to thwart Mozart's success. Well, now Itamar Moses pits not one, but seven musicians against one another for the coveted position of choirmaster/organist after Johann Kunau dies literally at the organ at Thomaskirche, Leipzig in 1722. There's a flurry of fanciful farce amongst the competitiveness currently onstage in Moses's Bach at Leipzig at Group rep, directed by the brilliant Calvin Remsberg and boasting a devilishly versatile cast, through May 1.

Caryl Churchill's 1982 Obie Award-winning CLOUD 9 receives a hilarious, yet heartstring-tugging revitalization from the always reliable Antaeus Theatre Company. Casey Stangl expertly directs her very talented cast as they skillfully navigate the complexities of each undertaking dual roles. What an incredible showcase for these actors to display their diverse acting ranges.

Sex and gender. Race and power. Politics and family. Plus Queen Victoria! Antaeus Theatre Company presents Caryl Churchill's outrageous, hilarious and bitingly satirical Cloud 9 in a fully partner-cast production. Casey Stangl directs for a March 10 opening at the Antaeus Theater in NoHo, with low-priced previews beginning March 3.

Popular across the country for many years, Always Patsy Cline celebrates country/pop singing superstar Patsy Cline, her music and her warm down.to.earth persona. Endearing from the get go, the show's success depends on the right casting. Its two actresses must be perfect fits for their roles. Louise Seger is a diehard fan of Patsy Cline. She's all Texan, has an exuberant personality and is over.the.top humorous, and of course, Patsy is Patsy. The actress playing her must look pretty and just right in those curly black wigs, and most urgently be able to duplicate Cline's unique vocal stylings. Well, the Sierra Madre Playhouse and director Robert Marra have hit the jackpot with its two leading ladies, Nikki   D'Amico as Louise and Cori Cable Kidder as Cline. With the overabundant charm exuded by both stars and backed by a superb five-piece combo that includes terrific musical director Sean Paxton at the piano, Always Patsy Cline should take audiences over the rainbow, through September 12.

In the summer of 1918, as the Great War rages in Europe, two individuals wage their own battle against injustice in America, risking their lives for the right to marry. Winding up the 2014 Antaeus season of modern classics, Gregg T. Daniel directs a fully partner-cast revival of Wedding Band: A Love/Hate Story in Black and White by Alice Childress. Wedding Band runs today, Oct. 18 through Dec. 7 at the Antaeus Theater in NoHo, with low-priced previews beginning Oct. 9.

Nominees for the 2014 LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Awards were announced on the evening of Monday, September 22 at Native Voices at the Autry National Center in Los Angeles. The nominations were revealed by past Ovation Award recipients Gigi Bermingham, Brighid Fleming, Parmer Fuller, Jennifer Haley, Brian Kite, Glynn Turman, and John Zalewski, along with LA STAGE Alliance Chief Executive Officer Terence McFarland.

Nominees for the 2014 LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Awards were announced on the evening of Monday, September 22 at Native Voices at the Autry National Center in Los Angeles. The nominations were revealed by past Ovation Award recipients Gigi Bermingham, Brighid Fleming, Parmer Fuller, Jennifer Haley, Brian Kite, Glynn Turman, and John Zalewski, along with LA STAGE Alliance Chief Executive Officer Terence McFarland.

In the summer of 1918, as the Great War rages in Europe, two individuals wage their own battle against injustice in America, risking their lives for the right to marry. Winding up the 2014 Antaeus season of modern classics, Gregg T. Daniel directs a fully partner-cast revival of Wedding Band: A Love/Hate Story in Black and White by Alice Childress. Wedding Band runs Oct. 18 through Dec. 7 at the Antaeus Theater in NoHo, with low-priced previews beginning Oct. 9.

Set in Poland circa 1890, WHITE MARRIAGE is a surreal and erotic coming-of-age fairytale that follows a young girl's poignant emergence into womanhood and frightened resistance to her impending marriage. Two sisters, sensitive Bianca (Kate Dalton) and precocious Pauline (Emily Goss), are on the verge of adulthood. Bianca is betrothed to Benjamin (Austin Rogers) and the preparations for her imminent wedding send the girls into a flurry of excitement and confusion.

When a show moves me like this one did, it's worth raving about. Minus the bombardment of glitz and flash so often shoe-horned into modern day musicals, the remount of Open Fist Theatre Company's James Joyce's THE DEAD is instead that rare production that breathes life into our hearts with its singular connection to our humanity.

Kiss Me Kate/book by Sam & Bella Spewack/music & lyrics by Cole Porter/directed by Richard Israel/Cabrillo Music Theatre, Thousand Oaks/through October 27

You will not find a more impassioned version of Shakespeare's Hamlet than the one Los Angeles Women's Shakespeare Company is currently offering at the Odyssey Theatre. And with the very real possibility that this may be the company's final work comes the necessity of experiencing what these dedicated professionals have created while under the influence of Shakespeare's words.

An all-female, multi-cultural aesthetic offers new insight when Odyssey Theatre Ensemble andLos Angeles Women's Shakespeare Company co-presentHamlet in celebration of LAWSC's 20th anniversary. Featuring a cast of 16 LAWSC favorites and talented newcomers - including producing artistic director and celebrated Shakespearean actressLisa Wolpe in the title role and award-winning film, television and theatrical star Eve Gordon as Gertrude - Hamlet opens for press tonight, Aug. 30 at the Odyssey Theatre in West L.A.

Since 1993, the award-winning Los Angeles Women's Shakespeare Company (LAWSC) has carved out a unique niche in the landscape of L.A. theater. Led by Producing Artistic Director, Lisa Wolpe (pictured right), they examine contemporary issues and cultural perceptions of women through an all-female theatrical lens. In many ways it mirrors the original all-male playing company for whom Shakespeare wrote, at a time when women were not allowed to perform on stage.

An all-female, multi-cultural aesthetic offers new insight when Odyssey Theatre Ensemble andLos Angeles Women's Shakespeare Company co-presentHamlet in celebration of LAWSC's 20th anniversary. Featuring a cast of 16 LAWSC favorites and talented newcomers - including producing artistic director and celebrated Shakespearean actressLisa Wolpe in the title role and award-winning film, television and theatrical star Eve Gordon as Gertrude - Hamlet opens for press on Aug. 30 at the Odyssey Theatre in West L.A.

Triple threat actress/singer/dancer Betty Hutton is perhaps one of the greatest yet lesser known musical film stars of the 40s and 50s. Star of Annie Get Your Gun and The Greatest Show on Earth, Hutton possessed a uniquely energetic style that can be most realistically described as 'manic'. It seems that she was in constant motion, never stopping for an instant and propelling her musical numbers through her electric singing and dancing to new heights of excitement. Diane Vincent was so taken by Robert Osborne's 2000 interview with Hutton on TCM (Turner Classic Movies) that she knew she had to research and put together a show to celebrate the lady's immeasurable talent. And here it is, some 13 years later, the world premiere of Nuttin' But Hutton, a revue in two acts with music both familiar and unfamiliar from all of Hutton's films.

Kitty Warren has worked hard to provide a good life for her daughter. But when Vivie finds out the truth about her mother's profession, sparks fly. The Antaeus Company, L.A.'s multiple award-winning classical theater company, presents Mrs. Warren's Profession, the superbly intelligent-and still shocking- powerhouse of a play by George Bernard Shaw that was banned for eight years on the English stage. Robin Larsen directs the double-cast production now through April 21, 2013. BroadwayWorld has a first look at both casts onstage below!