Barra Grant News

On September 8, 1945, just months after Germany's surrender and the liberation of Nazi death camps ending the Holocaust, an unlikely and unexpected winner was crowned Miss America in Atlantic City, NJ.

'Fame was like a tongue sandwich to my mother,' is one way Barra Grant puts it in her autobiographical (almost) solo play, MISS AMERICA'S UGLY DAUGHTER: BESS MYERSON AND ME.

Producer Suzi Dietz announced today that on the heels of its successful run in Los Angeles, Miss America's Ugly Daughter written and performed by Bess Myerson's only child, Barra Grant, will open in New York this winter. Miss America's Ugly Daughter is a darkly comedic, poignant two character solo show about the seismic mother-daughter relationship of Bess Myerson and Barra Grant and will be directed by Eve Brandstein.

Digital arts journal Stage Raw announces the nominees for its fifth annual Stage Raw Theater Awards, to be held Monday night September 9, 2019, at Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring Street. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets will go on sale Wednesday August 7, 2019. The Stage Raw Theater Awards honor the finest work performed on Los Angeles area stages of 99-seats or fewer, and are selected by a jury of Stage Raw critics. This year's awards celebrate work performed between June 1, 2018 and May 31, 2019.

Following critically acclaimed, sold out runs, first in 2018 and again earlier this year, writerperformer Barra Grant returns with her darkly hilarious mother-daughter story: the true, inside tale of Grant's seismic relationship with her mother, Bess Myerson. Pageant Productions and Canon Theatricals present Miss America's Ugly Daughter: Bess Myerson & Me written and performed by Grant and featuring Monica Piper. Eve Brandstein directs once again, this time for a June 21 openingat the Edgemar Center for the Arts, where performances will continue through Aug. 4.

Being the daughter of the first Jewish Miss America, Barra Grant sailed through her childhood rebellious and harboring a contentious relationship with mom Bess Myerson. Not until Barra had a daughter of her own, did she understand her mom's methods more clearly. Barra has turned her lemon of her childhood experience into the lemonade of her theatre piece MISS AMERICA'S UGLY DAUGHTER, which begins February 8, 2019 at the Greenway Court Theatre. I had the chance to illicit some bon mots from this enduring writer/performer.

Writer/performer Barra Grant is back with her darkly hilarious mother-daughter story: the true, inside tale of Grant's seismic relationship with her mother, Bess Myerson. Pageant Productions andCanon Theatricals presentMiss America's Ugly Daughter: Bess Myerson & Me written by Grant and performed by Grant andMonica Piper. Eve Brandstein directs for a Feb. 8 opening at the Greenway Court Theatre, where performances continue through March 24.

Now an award-winning writer and director, Barra Grant has created one of the most entertaining, informative, and hysterically funny solo shows I have ever seen. With her marvelous writing style and self-effacing humor, along with the brilliant direction of Eve Brandstein (who worked with Barra for 16 months to create MISS AMERICA'S UGLY DAUGHTER), this behind-the-scenes story will totally envelop you from start to finish. As she answers the many ongoing calls, beginning at two in the morning and continuing until dawn, we are taken on the journey of Barra's life, with Bess ever-present, fixated on 'improving' her daughter by attempting to mold her into a younger version of herself.

Critical acclaim and nightly standing ovations have resulted in an extension of the new play Miss America's Ugly Daughter until Sunday, August 26 at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica.

Ever since the Miss America pageant began, the beautiful contestants embodied the dreams of every young girl in the nation. Except one. Her name is Barra Grant, whose mother Bess Myerson was the only Jewish Miss America and one of the most famous (and infamous) Miss Americas of all time. The story of their comedic, seismic relationship is told in the world premiere of the Miss America's Ugly Daughter, written and performed by Grant and opening July 14 at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica.

The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Andrew D. Hamingson) announced initial casting for Christopher Durang's WHY TORTURE IS WRONG, AND THE PEOPLE WHO LOVE THEM and Craig Lucas's THE SINGING FOREST. Nicholas Martin will direct Why Torture Is Wrong... with a cast of seven that includes Amir Arison, David Aaron Baker, Kristine Nielsen and John Pankow. Mark Wing-Davey will direct a cast of nine that includes Academy Award winner Olympia Dukakis in The Singing Forest. The cast for Why Torture Is Wrong..., which runs March 24 to April 26, will include Amir Arison (Queens Boulevard at Signature), David Aaron Baker (Dead Man's Cell Phone at Playwrights Horizons), Kristine Nielsen (Crazy Mary at Playwrights Horizons), and John Pankow (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie at The New Group). Early casting for The Singing Forest, running April 7 to May 17, will feature Olympia Dukakis (Academy Award winner for Moonstruck) as Loe Reiman. Ms. Dukakis' New York stage credits include the Encores! production of 70, Girls, 70, Barra Grant's A Mother, A Daughter and a Gun, Social Security directed by Mike Nichols, Rose (Outer Critics Award and Drama Desk nom.), Who's Who in Hell, The Aspern Papers, Night of the Iguana, Christopher Durang's The Marriage of Bette and Boo (Obie Award), Sam Shepard's Curse of the Starving Class, Peer Gynt, Titus Andronicus, Electra, Vaclav Havel's Memorandum, Brecht's A Man's a Man (Obie Award), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and A View From the Bridge (Theatre World Award).

Media City Ballet, Natasha Middleton, Artistic Director, will present 'An Evening of Khachaturian: The Composer and His Ballets,' featuring Principal Dancers, Arsen Serobian, Gabrielle Palmatier, Amara Baptist, Edgar Nikolyan, Felicia Guzman, Ellen Rosa and Stephen Nelson, along with Soloists and Corps Dancers from Media City Ballet. Jenkyns Pelaez will appear as a Guest Artist.

Media City Ballet, Natasha Middleton, Artistic Director, will present 'An Evening of Khachaturian: The Composer and His Ballets,' featuring Principal Dancers, Arsen Serobian, Gabrielle Palmatier, Amara Baptist, Edgar Nikolyan, Felicia Guzman, Ellen Rosa and Stephen Nelson, along with Soloists and Corps Dancers from Media City Ballet. Jenkyns Pelaez will appear as a Guest Artist.

Barra Grant's comedy A Mother, A Daughter and a Gun has extended its run through November 27th

Barra Grant's A Mother, A Daughter and a Gun will wrap up its run on November 20th

Veanne Cox makes this attempt at dark comedy a lot funnier than it really is

A Mother, A Daughter and A Gun to play Dodger Stages in October, following run in Nyack, NY.