Andi Chapman News

Boston Court Pasadena has announced its first in-person, onstage production since early 2020, the world premiere of Both And (a play about laughing while black) by Carolyn Ratteray. Directed by Andi Chapman and performed by Ratteray, opening is set for Saturday, April 16, at 8pm and the run will continue through Sunday, May 15. The performance schedule is Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 2pm.

Boston Court Pasadena has announced a series of special events during the run of Both And (a play about laughing while black) by Carolyn Ratteray. This world premiere production, directed by Andi Chapman and performed by Ratteray, opens on Saturday, April 16 and is scheduled to run through Sunday, May 15. Through clowning, poetic text, and a tour-de-force performance, Both And deeply investigates the nucleus of Black joy. This unique and powerful story, rich with humor, raw honesty, and passion, becomes a brilliant meditation on how to reconnect with joy.

Boston Court Pasadena has announced its first in-person, onstage production since early 2020, the world premiere of Both And (a play about laughing while black) by Carolyn Ratteray. Directed by Andi Chapman and performed by Ratteray, previews will begin on Thursday, April 7 and continue through Friday, April 15. Opening is set for Saturday, April 16, at 8pm and the run will continue through Sunday, May 15. The performance schedule is Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 2pm.

Boston Court Pasadena is ready to brighten up 2022 with a spring season of live, in-person events and complementary virtual programming.

Boston Court Pasadena is embarking on a year of significant new play development in 2021. The year will feature presentations of theatrical projects at various stages. Some scripts have had previous workshops, while others are beginning as first drafts.

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, twenty one artists and arts leaders recite Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legendary I Have A Dream speech.

Center Theatre Group launches Not a Moment, But a Movement, a series of events that amplify and center Black artists.

IAMA Theatre Company is partnering with Celebration Theatre, DOMA Theatre Company, Echo Theater Company, Highways, The Inkwell Theater, Lower Depth Theatre, Skylight Theatre Company and the L.A. Stage Alliance to present a free, live Zoom reading of Vincent Terrell Durham's bold and timely new play Polar Bears, Black Boys & Prairie Fringed Orchids. To view the Juneteenth reading on Friday, June 19 at 6 p.m. PT, register at zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_K3JA0ksmTuODKuU3bL4tsQ.

A well-acted ensemble gives THE ABUELAS its relatable humanity. Stephanie Alison Walker has written a unflinching look at realistic, flawed relationships under the most atypical circumstances. THE ABUELAS (THE GRANDMOTHERS) - a follow-up of Walker's THE MADRES (THE MOTHERS) also deals with the Dirty War in Argentina in the mid-1970s.

“If you have doubts about your identity, contact Las Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo.” So read billboards across Argentina, where thousands of people were “disappeared” between 1976 and 1983 under a brutal military dictatorship. Questions of truth and identity are explored when Antaeus Theatre Company presents the West Coast premiere of Stephanie Alison Walker's striking new play, The Abuelas. Andi Chapman directs for an Oct. 11 opening at the Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center in Glendale, where performances continue through Nov. 25. Low-priced previews begin Oct. 3.

a?oeIf you have doubts about your identity, contact Las Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo.a?? So read billboards across Argentina, where thousands of people were a?oedisappeareda?? between 1976 and 1983 under a brutal military dictatorship. Questions of truth and identity are explored when Antaeus Theatre Company presents theWest Coast premiere ofStephanie Alison Walker's striking new play, The Abuelas. Andi Chapman directs for anOct. 11 opening at the Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center in Glendale, where performances continue through Nov. 25. Low-priced previews begin Oct. 3.

Best known for its productions of classical theater, Antaeus Theatre Company will try something different in 2019-20, kicking off the season at the Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center in Glendale with two new plays that will run in repertory this fall, then following up with two classical works in 2020.

NATIVE SON, a novel written in 1940 by Richard Wright, tells the story of 20-year of Bigger Thomas, an African American youth living in utter poverty in a poor area on Chicago's South Side in 1939. While not apologizing for Bigger's crimes, Wright portrays a systemic inevitability behind them, making the case that there is no escape from his destiny since he is the inevitable product of the society in which he has lived since birth, faced by expectations imposed upon him by others tasked to teach him the proper way for a Black man to live in society. It is often said that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. This is certainly the case in Wright's original story which could have been written today, given the similar news stories filling the airwaves right now involving police beatings of Black men and gun violence leading to senseless murders.

Antaeus Theatre Company's production of "Native Son," which Center Theatre Group is remounting at the Kirk Douglas Theatre as part of the third annual Block Party: Celebrating Los Angeles Theatre, will open Saturday, April 20 at 8 p.m. Written by Nambi E. Kelley, based on the novel by Richard Wright and directed by Andi Chapman, "Native Son" is currently in previews and will close April 28.

Antaeus Theatre Company's 2018 Southern California premiere of NATIVE SON has been chosen as the third and final production of Center Theatre Group's BLOCK PARTY 2019, beginning April 18, 2019 at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. Nambi E. Kelley's adaptation of Richard Wright's classic novel Native Son will be reprised with its entire original Antaeus cast of nine, again with director Andi Chapman at its helm. I had the chance to ask some delving questions of Jon Chaffin, who portrays NATIVE SON's most integral character, Bigger Thomas.

Casting is set for Antaeus Theatre Company's production of "Native Son," which Center Theatre Group is remounting at the Kirk Douglas Theatre as part of the third annual Block Party: Celebrating Los Angeles Theatre. Written by Nambi E. Kelley, based on the novel by Richard Wright and directed by Andi Chapman, "Native Son" will begin previews April 18, open April 20 and continue through April 28, 2019.

Natural Shocks The Fountain Theatre kicks off 2019 with its Fem Fest reading series. First up: Lauren Gundersons provocative Natural Shocks gets four weeks of staged readings at the Fountain, eachweekend spearheaded by a different theater company. In addition to the Fountain, Echo Theater Companyand Lower Depths Theatre Ensemble will cast performances of this darkly hilarious tour-de-force by the most-produced playwright in America.

Center Theatre Group has selected three local productions for the third annual Block Party: Celebrating Los Angeles Theatre at the Kirk Douglas Theatre from March 7 through April 28, 2019. Block Party 2019 will remount Theatre of NOTE's "For The Love Of (or, the roller derby play)," Skylight Theatre Company's "Rotterdam" and Antaeus Theatre Company's "Native Son." Each production will have a two-week run with 12 performances. The three visiting companies will receive the full support of Center Theatre Group and its staff in order to fund, stage and market each production.

Tickets on sale today for three plays in the Carrie Hamilton Theatre of the Pasadena Playhouse, the State Theater of California, this fall. The Los Angeles premiere of Bess Wohl's darkly comic American Hero, a Pasadena Playhouse Guest Production from IAMA Theatre Company, directed by James Eckhouse performs September 15 to October 31 (press opening September 21).  Next, The USC School of Dramatic Arts and Pasadena Playhouse continue their exciting partnership by presenting two productions for the School's MFA in Acting program at the Carrie Hamilton Theatre: Detroit 67 by Dominique Morisseau, directed by Gregg T. Daniel November 8-10, and The Receptionist by Adam Bock, directed by Andi Chapman November 16-17.

The 2018 Stage Raw Theater Awards celebrate excellence on the Los Angeles stages in venues of 99-seats or under. This fourth annual edition included productions that opened between January 1, 2017 and May 31, 2018. Stage Raw is a community funded professional journalism website that was created in response to the decline of arts coverage in local mainstream and alternative media.The Awards ceremony was held Monday night, August 20, at Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles, hosted by Coeurage Theatre Company, and co-directed by Jer Adrianne Lelliott, Thaddeus Shafer and Lauren Ludwig. Winners notated in red below.