Jeff Gardner News

With still the absence of live theatre audiences, Antaeus Theatre Company creatively pivots with THE ZIP CODE PLAYS: LOS ANGELES, its series of six new plays as podcasts. ZIP CODE's audio producer/sound designer/foley artist Jeff Gardner broke away from his artistic multitasking to answer a few of my queries.

Celebrate the culture and history of the diverse neighborhoods of Los Angeles from the safety of your home. Antaeus Theatre Company presents The Zip Code Plays: Los Angeles, a series of six original audio plays, each set in a different L.A. zip code.

The Matrix Theatre Company's award-winning production of Scraps by Geraldine Inoa is now available for viewing on the company's Youtube page.

The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle has announced the nominees for theatrical excellence for the year 2019. This year they are forgoing their annual event ceremony and will instead post the award recipients online in the upcoming weeks: 

Clare is just a regular noblewoman living in medieval Italy, trying out hairstyles and waiting to get married... until a man named Francis starts ranting in the courtyard. The Echo Theater Company presents the world premiere of Poor Clare, a play by Chiara Atik about what happens when your eyes are opened to the injustice of the world around you - and you can't look away. Alana Dietze (Dry Land, The Wolves) directs for a March 14 opening, with performances continuing through April 20 at Atwater Village Theatre. Three 'pay what you want' previews take place on March 11, March 12 and March 13.

The 30th Annual LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Awards, celebrating theatrical excellence and achievement throughout Los Angeles, were presented on Monday, January 13, at the Theatre at Ace Hotel in downtown LA.

ENSEMBLE THEATRE COMPANY (ETC) presents the second show of its 2019-20 Season, the can't-miss, holiday event of the season, IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A LIVE RADIO PLAY, adapted by Joe Landry, from the screenplay by Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, Frank Capra & Jo Swerling and directed by ETC's Director of Education and Outreach, Brian McDonald.

Antaeus Theatre Company's stunning world premiere of Jennifer Maisel's EIGHT NIGHTS vividly details the life of Holocaust survivor Rebecca Blum from the day she arrives to New York City at age 19, through significant life milestones, to becoming a great-grandmother at age 86. And all this accomplished rather smoothly with increasing intensity and gravitas in less than two hours without an intermission! Developed in Antaeus Playwrights Lab, the play's title EIGHT NIGHTS, I believe, refers to the eight individual nights/scenes during Chanukah over a period of 67 years, spanning four generations. Or, more literally, the eight-day, Jewish wintertime festival of lights.

A German Jewish refugee is haunted by her past, but resiliently moves toward the future. Antaeus Theatre Company presents the world premiere of Eight Nights, a story developed in the Antaeus Playwrights Lab that honors the global refugee experience. Written by Jennifer Maisel and directed by Emily Chase, Eight Nights opens at the Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center in Glendale on Nov. 8, where performances continue through Dec. 16. Low-priced previews begin Oct. 31.

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.

A German Jewish refugee is haunted by her past, but resiliently moves toward the future.Antaeus Theatre Company presents the world premiere of Eight Nights, a story developed in the Antaeus Playwrights Lab that honors the global refugee experience. Written by Jennifer Maiseland directed by Emily Chase, Eight Nights opens at the Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center in Glendale on Nov. 8, where performances continue through Dec. 16. Low-priced previews begin Oct. 31.

The 2019 Stage Raw Theater Awards celebrate excellence on the Los Angeles stages in venues of 99-seats or under. This fifth annual celebration included productions that opened between June 1, 2018 and May 31, 2019. 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, September 9, at Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles, and was co-hosted by IAMA Theatre Company and Ammunition Theatre Company (a?oeAmmoa??).

The Echo Theater Company presents a stunning world premiere of Erik Patterson's HANDJOB. Echo Theatre's artistic director Chris Fields quite ably directs his talented cast, as two sets of actors alternately depict the scenario of a curious, middle-aged gay man hiring a shirtless housekeeper/cleaner for a session of cleaning, leering and lusting. Patterson's very witty and smart script of clever puns and sharp observations gets even more witty and even smarter after a big reveal, that I won't be spoiling.

When a gay writer hires a man to work as a a?oeshirtless cleaner,a?? homophobia, racism and issues of consent bubble to the surface in the world premiere of Handjob, an outrageous comedy by Erik Patterson. Chris Fields directs the Echo Theater Company production, set to open on Sept. 7 for a seven-week run through Oct. 21. Three a?oepay what you wanta?? previews take place on Sept. 4, Sept. 5 and Sept. 6.

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.

Director Stephanie Shroyer's innovative staging and updating of Bertolt Brecht's 1944 THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE (using the translation of Alistair Beaton) features a solid ensemble using old-time, theatre magic to fascinate the audience with its tales of World War II tragedies.

MOVING ARTS is delighted to announce the world premiere of EARLY BIRDS, written by Dana Schwartz and directed by Elizabeth Swain. EARLY BIRDS will preview Friday, August 16 at 8pm; will open on Saturday, August 17 at 4:00pm & 8:00pm and will run through Monday, September 7, 2019 at the Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave. in Los Angeles, 90039.   

The city burns in the heat of civil war and a servant girl sacrifices everything to protect a forsaken child. Antaeus Theatre Company presents Bertolt Brecht's1944 masterpiece, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, in a contemporary translation by award-winning playwright Alistair Beaton.Stephanie Shroyer directs for a July 11opening at the Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center in Glendale, where performances continue through Aug. 26. Low-priced previews begin July 5.

What we always hear: "Black Male Shot by White Police Officer." What we never see - how loved ones struggle to cope in the aftermath.The Matrix Theatre Company presents theWest Coast premiere of a daring new play from a significant emerging voice in theater. Scraps, written by Geraldine Inoa and directed by 2019 Obie Award winner Stevie Walker-Webb, opens at the Matrix Theatre onJuly 6, with previews beginning June 27. 

The city burns in the heat of civil war and a servant girl sacrifices everything to protect a forsaken child. Antaeus Theatre Company presents Bertolt Brecht's1944 masterpiece, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, in a contemporary translation by award-winning playwright Alistair Beaton.Stephanie Shroyer directs for a July 11opening at the Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center in Glendale, where performances continue through Aug. 26. Low-priced previews begin July 5.