Amanda Knehans News

Moving On: The 2019 One Acts features a mix of established playwrights and exciting, emerging younger talent. Here's the program:

Ammunition Theatre Company has announced the world premiere production of Brain Problems, a new comedy by Malcolm Barrett directed by Bernardo Cubria. Opening is set for Friday, April 26, at 8pm, at The Pico in West Los Angeles. The engagement will continue through May 19 only.

Each year, Sierra Madre Playhouse presents a show especially for young audiences. In 2019, the show is Stuart Little, innovatively staged with puppets, projections and original music. Performances for school field trips start on March 11 with over 3000 tickets sold, but the Playhouse will present a limited number of performances to the general public as well, with an official public opening on March 16. The play is ideal for audience members aged 4 to 10, but their entire families can enjoy it as well.

Fierce. Funny. Intense. The Echo Theater Company opens its 2019 season with theLos Angeles premiere of The Wolves, the debut play by "playwright to watch" Sarah DeLappe that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Alana Dietze (Dry Land) directs for aMarch 16 opening at Atwater Village Theatre. Pay-what-you-want previews begin March 13, and performances continue through April 22.

Tuesdays with Morrie/by Jeffrey Hatcher and Mitch Albom/directed by L. Flint Esquerra/Sierra Madre Playhouse/through March 31 Was there a mentor apart from family who gave you the inspiration to change the way you lived your life? Based on Mitch Alboms book entitled Tuesdays with Morrie in which he details his relationship with Professor Morrie Schwartz at Brandeis U in Massachusetts in the late 70s, the two character play is currently receiving an insightful and enjoyable production at Sierra Madre Playhouse through March 31. With meticulous direction from L. Flint Esquerra and splendid performances from Larry Eisenberg as Morrie and Jackson Kendall as Mitch, the play should be a popular hit with audiences young and old.

Fierce. Funny. Intense. The Echo Theater Company opens its 2019 season with theLos Angeles premiere of The Wolves, the debut play by "playwright to watch" SarahDeLappe that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Alana Dietze (Dry Land) directs for aMarch 16 opening at Atwater Village Theatre. Pay-what-you-want previews begin March 13, and performances continue through April 22.

MOVING ARTS is thrilled to announce that their critically acclaimed Los Angeles production of the Joint World Premiere, presented by Moving Arts at Atwater Village Theatre in association with Moxie Theatre of San Diego and Promethean Theatre of Chicago, of BLISS (or Emily Post is Dead!), written by Jami Brandli (Through the Eye of a Needle) and directed by Darin Anthony (Apocalypse Play) is EXTENDING through MONDAY, DECEMBER 10 at the Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave. in Los Angeles, 90039.

Brooding, compelling, funny and startling. Memories unravel and dark truths are revealed in a haunting ghost story by Rattlestick Playwrights Theater's Daniel Talbott(Slipping) when The Echo Theater Company's West Coast premiere returns in a third and final rendition (following productions in April and July) with a third set of ensemble members. This time round, Chris Fields directs Ian Bamberg,Matthew Gallenstein and, at alternate performances,Kenzie Caplan and Mara Klein, for a Sept. 27 opening at Atwater Village Theatre. 

The Echo Theater Company's west coast premiere of playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' Pulitzer Prize-finalist GLORIA receives a sturdy mounting with a very capable cast handling the witty, words-heavy monologues. Plot centers on a group of lower-level publishing employees stuck (for various reasons) in their respective, non-upwardly mobile positions. GLORIA illustrates the various common office behaviors, such as back-stabbing, condescension, 'Mean Girl' insulting, and stressing out.

MOVING ARTS announces the Los Angeles production of the Joint World Premiere, presented by Moving Arts at Atwater Village Theatre in association with Moxie Theatre of San Diego and Promethean Theatre of Chicago, of BLISS (or Emily Post is Dead!), written by Jami Brandli (Through the Eye of a Needle) and directed by Darin Anthony (Apocalypse Play). BLISS (or Emily Post is Dead!) will preview on Thursday, November 1 & Friday, November 2 at 8pm; will open on Saturday, November 3 at 8:00pm and will run through Sunday, December 2, 2018 at the Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave. in Los Angeles, 90039.

Brooding, compelling, funny and startling. Memories unravel and dark truths are revealed in a haunting ghost story by Rattlestick Playwrights Theater's Daniel Talbott(Slipping) when The Echo Theater Company's West Coast premiere returns in a third and final rendition (following productions in April and July) with a third set of ensemble members. This time round, Chris Fields directs Ian Bamberg,Matthew Gallenstein and, at alternate performances,Kenzie Caplan and Mara Klein, for a Sept. 27 opening at Atwater Village Theatre. 

For the 20-somethings working at a chic, unnamed New York magazine, the only thing that matters is style, status - and selling out to the highest bidder. The Echo Theater Company presents a razor-sharp, darkly comic drama about ambition, office warfare and pecking orders by MacArthur "genius" grant recipient Branden Jacobs-Jenkins.Chris Fields directs the West Coast premiere of Pulitzer Prize-finalist Gloria, opening Sept. 15 at Atwater Village Theatre.

Jennifer Barclay's RIPE FRENZY is produced by Greenway Arts Alliance (Whitney Weston and Pierson Blaetz, Co-Founders and Co-Artistic Directors) at Greenway Court Theatre (544 N. Fairfax Avenue, Los Angeles), as part of a National New Play Network (NNPN) Rolling World Premiere with partnering theaters New Repertory Theatre in Boston and Synchronicity Theatre in Atlanta. Winner of the 2016 NNPN Smith Prize for Political Theatre, RIPE FRENZY is directed by Ovation Award-nominee Alana Dietze (Dry Land at the Echo Theater Company and Kirk Douglas Theatre) and projection designs by Obie Award-winner Jared Mezzocchi (Vietgone at Manhattan Theatre Club). Performances will play May 17 through June 17, 2018; with the press opening on Saturday, May 19.

Jennifer Barclay's RIPE FRENZY is produced by Greenway Arts Alliance (Whitney Weston and Pierson Blaetz, Co-Founders and Co-Artistic Directors) at Greenway Court Theatre (544 N. Fairfax Avenue, Los Angeles), as part of a National New Play Network (NNPN) Rolling World Premiere with partnering theaters New Repertory Theatre in Boston and Synchronicity Theatre in Atlanta. Winner of the 2016 NNPN Smith Prize for Political Theatre, RIPE FRENZY is directed by Ovation Award-nominee Alana Dietze (Dry Land at the Echo Theater Company and Kirk Douglas Theatre) and projection designs by Obie Award-winner Jared Mezzocchi (Vietgone at Manhattan Theatre Club). Performances will play May 17 through June 17, 2018; with the press opening on Saturday, May 19.

Jennifer Barclay's RIPE FRENZY is produced by Greenway Arts Alliance (Whitney Weston and Pierson Blaetz, Co-Founders and Co-Artistic Directors) at Greenway Court Theatre (544 N. Fairfax Avenue, Los Angeles), as part of a National New Play Network (NNPN) Rolling World Premiere with partnering theaters New Repertory Theatre in Boston and Synchronicity Theatre in Atlanta. Winner of the 2016 NNPN Smith Prize for Political Theatre, RIPE FRENZY is directed by Ovation Award-nominee Alana Dietze (Dry Land at the Echo Theater Company and Kirk Douglas Theatre) and projection designs by Obie Award-winner Jared Mezzocchi (Vietgoneat Manhattan Theatre Club). Performances will play May 17 through June 17, 2018; with the press opening on Saturday, May 19.

The air between the words is so thick you could cut it with a knife in Daniel Talbott's shadowy play about three siblings attempting to survive their dysfunctional family. Each is broken in his or her own way and, as the hairball unravels, the audience must piece together their fragmented story over a period of six years.

Brooding, compelling, funny and startling. Memories unravel and dark truths are revealed in a haunting ghost story by Rattlestick Playwrights Theater's Daniel Talbott (Slipping). Chris Fields directs theWest Coast premiere of What Happened When for The Echo Theater Company, opening at Atwater Village Theatre on April 12. Following the production's three-week run through April 26, What Happened When will re-open this summer and again in the fall, each time with a different cast.

BOOTLEG THEATER is thrilled to announce the world premiere of THE WILLOWS, written by Kerri-Ann McCalla and directed by Jessica Hanna. THE WILLOWS will preview on Friday, April 6 & Saturday, April 7 at 7pm; Sunday April 8 at 2pm; will open on Thursday, April 12 at 7pm and run through Saturday, May 5 at 7pm at the Bootleg Theater, 2220 Beverly Blvd. in Los Angeles.

Ensemble Studio Theatre/LA's world premiere of playwright Marek Glinski's PIGS AND CHICKENS presents a vivid send-up of exaggerated composites of co-workers Glinski at one time had to work with (as he writes in the program notes). Hard to imagine having to spend forty hours a week working with these unlikeable people, after the two hours in the theatre watching Glinski's PIGS AND CHICKENS.

The world premiere of playwright Yusuf Toropov's AN UNDIVIDED HEART receives a stunning mounting by The Echo Theater Company and Circle X Theatre Co. Director Chris Fields sure-handedly guides his talented cast through the involving story of a passionate young priest striving to do the right thing. In this case, publish an expose on the pedophilia prevalent in the Catholic church.