Christopher Scott Murillo News

Renowned British actor/writer/director Steven Berkoff will direct a rare production of Eugene O'Neill's 1922 expressionist play The Hairy Ape, opening May 14 at West L.A.'s Odyssey Theatre.

Can personal bonds bridge political chasms? John Henry Davis directs Tony Abatemarco and David Nevell in a brilliant and funny play of ideas by Lee Blessing. A Walk in the Woods opens April 29 at International City Theatre, with two low-priced previews set for April 27 and April 28.

Skylight Theatre Company is proud to announce that they will be co-producing the World Premiere of Jesse Mu-En Shao's THE END TIMES, in collaboration with Jon Lawrence Rivera's Playwrights' Arena. This marks Jesse's first produced work. The collaboration between the two companies is a longtime in planning. Both companies pride themselves on nurturing and developing new works.

America has had a long tragic history of sending brave young people off to foreign lands to fight in life-endangering wars, only to see those who have survived come home forever changed. This idea lingers over the new engaging musical DOGFIGHT, now having its Los Angeles/Orange County-area premiere at the Chance Theater in Anaheim through March 6. Adapted from the 1991 Warner Bros. film of the same name and featuring music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul and a book by Peter Duchan, this 2013 Lucille Lortel Award-winning off-Broadway musical shows how even the most confident, self-assured people can still be severely affected not only physically but also emotionally by the harsh realities of explosive, in-the-trenches combat.

The East West Players' latest, the world premiere of Giovanni Ortega's CRIERS FOR HIRE, most entertainingly introduces a wonderful injection of Filipino culture in early 1990's Los Angeles via a fusion of laugh-inducing situations and tear-duct-emptying relationships. Jon Lawrence Rivera quite ably directs his talented ensemble in Ortega's depiction of a group of professional funeral criers.

Anaheim's official resident theater company, Chance Theater presents the Los Angeles and Orange County premiere of DOGFIGHT, with book by Peter Duchan, music & lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, directed by Matthew McCray, with music direction by Taylor Stephenson, and choreography by Angeline Mirenda. DOGFIGHT previews now through February 12, with regular performances February 13 through March 6 on the Cripe Stage at Chance Theater at Bette Aitken theater arts Center. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast onstage below!

Full of the Obie-winning playwright's amusingly observant and stirringly poignant portraits of ordinary people in extraordinary flux, Samuel D. Hunter's 2010 play A BRIGHT NEW BOISE is now being staged in a terrific production currently in performance at Orange County's Ovation-winning Chance Theater in Anaheim Hills through October 25.

What ever happened to Abigail Williams? Combining a provocative parable of sin and redemption with a good, old-fashioned ghost story, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Carrie, Spider-man: Turn Off the Dark, Fox's Glee) explores what might have come next for the real-life Puritan villainess at the center of Arthur Miller's The Crucible. ICT artistic director caryn desai [sic] directs the West Coast premiere of Abigail/1702, opening May 1 at International City Theatre in the Long Beach Performing Arts Center. Two low-priced previews are set for April 29 and 30.

Playwrights' Arena, in association with Greenway Arts Alliance at Greenway Court Theatre, presents the World Premiere of PAINTING IN RED by Luis Alfaro, opening Saturday, October 18, 2014. Directed by Jon Lawrence Rivera, the production will star Elisa Bocanegra, Cristina Frias, Joe Hernandez-Kolski, Justin Huen, Jayme Lake, West Liang and Rodney To.

THE ROAD THEATRE COMPANY and Taylor Gilbert, Founder/Artistic Director together with Sam Anderson, Artistic Director, are thrilled to announce the fourth and final show of its 2013-2014 and 23rd season of premieres with the West Coast Premiere of FLOWER DUET, written by Maura Campbell and directed by Jeffrey Wienckowski. FLOWER DUET will preview on Saturday, May 31; Tuesday, June 3 & Thursday, June 5 at 8pm and will open on Friday, June 6 at 8pm and run through Saturday, July 26 at the Road Theatre Company's new second home, the Road on Magnolia, located in The NoHo Senior Arts Colony, 10747 Magnolia Blvd. in North Hollywood.

East West Players (EWP), the nation's largest producing organization of Asian American artistic work and the longest-running professional theatre of color in the country, concludes its 48th Anniversary Season Making Light, with 'Beijing Spring,' lyrics by Tim Dang and music by Joel Iwataki. Tim Dang is directing, Noriko Olling Wright is musical director, and choreographer is Marcus Choi.

Chance Theater presents the second show of its 16th Anniversary Season - the humorous and inventive glimpse behind-the-scenes of the traditional Passion play produced in three distinctively different locations and times. Written by two-time Pulitzer Prize Finalist Sarah Ruhl, with direction by Trevor Biship (director of Chance's Ovation Award-winning Jerry Springer: The Opera). Passion Play will preview from April 25 through May 2, open May 3 and continue through May 25 at Chance Theater @ Bette Aitken Theater Arts Center.

Playwrights' Arena, in association with Greenway Arts Alliance at Greenway Court Theatre, presents the World Premiere of CINNAMON GIRL by Velina Hasu Houston and Nathan Wang, opening Today, March 15, 2014. The show will be directed by Jon Lawrence Rivera with musical director Marc Macalintal.

Playwrights' Arena, in association with Greenway Arts Alliance at Greenway Court Theatre, presents the World Premiere of CINNAMON GIRL by Velina Hasu Houston and Nathan Wang, opening Saturday, March 15, 2014. The show will be directed by Jon Lawrence Rivera with musical director Marc Macalintal.

What do you get when you mash-up an ancient Greek play with the contemporary, meta-sarcasm of Mean Girls, Legally Blonde, and Bring It On? Why, the buoyant musical confection LYSISTRATA JONES, of course! Filled with witty dialogue, amusingly droll characters, and a high-energy pop score, this Tony nominated musical continues its West Coast Premiere performances at Chance Theater's brand-spankin' new theater space in Anaheim Hills through March 9.