Abigail Marks News

Members of the 'Pro99' movement of Actors' Equity Association have issued an open letter to AEA's newly elected president, Kate Shindle, in response to her victory and to her inaugural address as president of the national union for actors and stage managers. The open letter is signed by over 400 Equity members (listed below), including such notable names as Ed Asner, Francis Fisher, Sally Kirkland and Alfred Molina. The 'Pro99' movement formed in late 2014 in opposition to AEA's rollout of a new plan that will effectively force 'intimate theaters' in Los Angeles to pay Equity actors minimum wage, go 'non-union' or even close - despite an overwhelming vote against the plan by 66% of the Los Angeles membership on an advisory referendum. 'Pro99' members around the nation, who take their name from the current AEA '99 Seat Plan' that allows members to volunteer in smaller venues, oppose AEA's new promulgated plan. They are requesting that Equity leadership put a moratorium on the plan until local members' voices can be heard, and that the union work with its members to develop an alternative plan that will more realistically address the needs of the Los Angeles theater community.

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.

Ribbon of Life is a comedy. Mostly. It is Savannah's 25th birthday and the party erupts when she comes clean with her parents: Her friend, Ezmae, is really a transgender woman - and they are in love.

Playwright Steve Julian dives into the world of transgender acceptance with his new work Ribbon of Life, directed by Alexis Jacknow, SDC. The play depicts Savannah's efforts to get her parents to accept Ezmae, a transgender woman, as her life partner. It might be easy if it were not for confusion, ignorance and abhorrence of non-conservative values.

A Noise Within (ANW), the acclaimed classical repertory theatre company, presents FREE readings of Chekhov's classic comedy Uncle Vanya, directed by Joel Swetow, on Wednesday, June 25 at 7pm; Heroes by Gerald Sibleyras, translation by Tom Stoppard, directed by Susan Angelo, on Wednesday, July 23 at 7pm; and The Lady's Not For Burning by Christopher Fry, directed by William Dennis Hunt, on Monday, August 4 at 7pm.

Playwright Steve Julian dives into the world of transgender acceptance with his new work Ribbon of Life, directed by Alexis Jacknow, SDC. The play depicts Savannah's efforts to get her parents to accept Ezmae, a transgender woman, as her life partner. It might be easy if it were not for confusion, ignorance and abhorrence of non-conservative values.

The Antaeus Company extends its critically acclaimed, double-cast production of Top Girls through May 18.

Top Girls/by Caryl Churchill/directed by Cameron Watson/Antaeus Theatre Company/through May 4

Politics get personal in the go-getting 1980s of Margaret Thatcher's England when Marlene, who has just been made managing director of the Top Girls Employment Agency, discovers that life above the glass ceiling is not all it's cracked up to be. Antaeus, L.A.'s classical theater ensemble, opens its 2014 season with a fully partner-cast production of Top Girls, the Obie Award-winning comedy by Caryl Churchill. Previews begin March 6, with two opening nights set for March 13 and March 14 at the Antaeus Theater in NoHo. Cameron Watson directs.

A Noise Within (ANW), the acclaimed classical repertory theatre company, continues this season's 'Words Within' Wednesday night play reading series with four free, one-night-only readings this summer at its Pasadena theatre: THE HEIRESS by RUTH AND Augustus Goetz, based on the 1880 Henry James novel Washington Square, tonight June 5, 2013, 7 pm; THE GHOST SONATA by August Strindberg, considered one of the world's greatest modern playwrights, on June 19, 7pm; GALILEO, a timeless classic by BERTOLD BRECHT on July 24, 7 pm; and LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT by EUGENE O'NEILL on August 14, 7 pm. The readings feature A Noise Within resident artists as well as artists from the theatre company's current repertory productions.

A Noise Within (ANW), the acclaimed classical repertory theatre company, continues this season's 'Words Within' Wednesday night play reading series with four free, one-night-only readings this summer at its Pasadena theatre: THE HEIRESS by RUTH AND AUGUSTUS GOETZ, based on the 1880 Henry James novel Washington Square, on June 5, 2013, 7 pm; THE GHOST SONATA by AUGUST STRINDBERG, considered one of the world's greatest modern playwrights, on June 19, 7pm; GALILEO, a timeless classic by BERTOLD BRECHT on July 24, 7 pm; and LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT by EUGENE O'NEILL on August 14, 7 pm. The readings feature A Noise Within resident artists as well as artists from the theatre company's current repertory productions.

A Noise Within (ANW), the acclaimed classical repertory theatre company, presents Pulitzer Prize-finalist SARAH RUHL's critically praised play EURYDICE, directed by ANW Producing Artistic Director Geoff Elliott, opening Saturday, March 16 and closing Sunday, May 19, 2013 (previews begin Saturday, March 9). With beautifully spare and poetic imagery, Ruhl retells the classic Greek myth of Orpheus through the eyes of his new wife who plunges into the underworld and finds herself torn between deep devotion to her late father and love for her husband. The run includes a 'Pay What You Can" date on Thursday, March 14.