Jenny Sullivan News

This Valentines' Day, Ensemble Theatre Company will present performances by renowned artists that look at love and healing. This free on-demand streaming event will feature Meredith Baxter, Michael Gross, Gregory Harrison, T. Coraghessan Boyle, Amanda McBroom, and others who will present an evening of short tales and music that are haunting, comic, bittersweet and uplifting.

The Laguna Playhouse will be streaming a virtual staged reading of D.L. Coburn’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, THE GIN GAME February 14 through February 16, 2021. Jenny Sullivan directs this much-produced two-hander with a pair of very juicy acting roles for Joe Spano and JoBeth Williams as two nursing home residents. The always working Joe (even in these pandemic times) managed to carve out some time to answer a few of my queries.

Laguna Playhouse Artistic Director Ann E. Wareham and Executive Director Ellen Richard are thrilled to announce TV and theatre veterans Joe Spano (“NCIS,” “Hill Street Blues”) and JoBeth Williams (“Poltergeist,” “The Big Chill”) will star in a virtual streamed staged reading presentation of D.L. Coburn’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, THE GIN GAME, directed by Jenny Sullivan.  

The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts presents a digital engagement of WIESENTHAL, the critically acclaimed Off-Broadway production based on the life of Simon Wiesenthal written by and starring Tom Dugan, available digitally from October 20 through 27, 2020.

As part of Rubicon Theatrea??s continuing September Blitz of more than 30 events in 30 days, the company presents the world premiere of a new play written in this moment and for this moment by TAYLOR FAGINS -- A SONG. Helmed by by Rubicona??s new Associate Artistic Director CHRIS BUTLER, A SONG will be livestreamed for free on Saturday, September 19 at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday, September 20 at 2:00 p.m.

As part of Rubicon Theatre's continuing September Blitz of more than 30 events in 30 days, the company presents the world premiere of a new play written in this moment and for this moment by TAYLOR FAGINS -- A SONG.

Starring JoBeth Williams and Joe Spano, the new short play Flapping & Flying premiere's live online Thursday, September 3rd.

a?oeAllergic to Walnuts' written by Michelle Kholos Brooks and directed by Jenny Sullivan for Skylight Live features three-time Emmy Award nominated actress and Academy Award nominated director JoBeth Williams stars with Emmy Award winning Broadway actor Joe Spano as an awkward couple who declare their affection for each other and, in the course of conversation on various topics, discover ita??s their first time being loved. But how do they know that for sure? Is love a logical equation or simply about nuts?

New series, new plays. Free, fun, LIVE online. Skylight Theatre Company brings together some of LA's most talented writers, directors, and actors for weekly presentations of uplifting works, written specifically for this medium.

a??Brian Stokes Mitchell, Andréa Burns, and Lauren Patten have joined Rubicon Theatre Company's Voices of Hope, and evening of songs and stories of conflict, crisis, hope, and healing.

Rubicon Theatre Company of Ventura begins the new year with the West Coast Premiere of NEVER NOT ONCE, a powerful, compelling and timely new drama by CAREY CRIM. The production premiered earlier this season at JEFF DANIELS' Purple Rose Theatre. NEVER NOT ONCE previews February 5-7 and opens February 8 at Rubicon's home, 1006 E. Main Street in Ventura's Downtown Cultural District, continuing Wednesdays through Sundays through February 23. A thought-provoking response to the #MeToo movement, NEVER NOT ONCE is about the families we choose, and the secrets that can pull them apart. The production is helmed by Brit KATHARINE FARMER, who has directed acclaimed Rubicon productions of Gulf View Drive (Ovation Award, Best Production of a Play, Larger Theatre), Incognito (West Coast Premiere), Heisenberg with Faline England and Joe Spano, and South Pacific (all Critic's Choices in the L.A. Times). For tickets, call 805.667.2900 or go to www.rubicontheatre.org. 

The Delray Beach Playhouse announces the nationally touring production of WIESENTHAL (NAZI HUNTER) will be in Delray Beach December 27th through the 29th.

Rubicon Theatre of Ventura has announced a two-week extension of the company's World Premiere presentation of WOMEN BEYOND BORDERS, a funny, poignant and powerful new play about the shared experiences of women everywhere, inspired by the remarkable true journey of a small group of women artists who wanted to find a way to inspire change through creative expression.

From Off-Broadway, North Coast Rep presents WIESENTHAL, a play by Tom Dugan directed by Jenny Sullivan. His 90-minute play is heartfelt, deeply moving and compelling; he makes history come alive. Simon Wiesenthal was a Jewish Austrian Holocaust survivor who became a Nazi hunter after the war. He spent his life tracking down and gathering information on fugitive Nazi war criminals so they could be brought to trial. He was affectionately called 'The Jewish James Bond,' as he recounts his life, like a gripping spy thriller, and how he solved his most sensational cases.

Ensemble Theatre Company (ETC) announces its 2019-20 Season of plays. ETC's 41st Season is the company's seventh year at The New Vic in downtown Santa Barbara, and features a thrilling selection of extraordinary works, including William Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, a radio play version of the beloved holiday story It's a Wonderful Life, a musical adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma, the West Coast premiere of the Broadway play American Son, and an inspirational pop and jazz musical about the legendary Rosemary Clooney. ETC's 2019-20 Season will build upon the momentum of its successful and celebratory 40thAnniversary 2018-19 Season.

Rubicon Theatre continues the company's 21st "Coming of Age" season with the World Premiere of WOMEN BEYOND BORDERS, a play inspired by and loosely based on the remarkable journey of Lorraine Serena and a dynamic group of California-based artists who founded the non-profit Women Beyond Borders (WBB). Determined to "make art as if the world matters," Serena and her friends fell upon the idea of box as metaphor: hope chest, treasure chest, womb, coffin, etc. They replicated a miniature wooden box no bigger than the size of a human heart and sent the boxes to curators and friends in other countries with the goal of encouraging dialogue, collaboration and community among women and honoring creativity. The founders of WBB were astonished at what came back to them - eloquent expressions of the enormous depth and variety, but also the universality, of women's experiences throughout the world. The boxes were accompanied by equally astonishing artists' statements, in the form of letters, poems and stories asking about transcending barriers: geographical, social, racial, economic, emotional, gender-related, spiritual, etc.

Rubicon Theatre continues the company's 21st 'Coming of Age' season with the World Premiere of WOMEN BEYOND BORDERS, a play inspired by and loosely based on the remarkable journey of Lorraine Serena and a dynamic group of California-based artists who founded the non-profit Women Beyond Borders (WBB).

Rubicon Theatre continues the company's 21st "Coming of Age" season with the hilarious and harrowing, politically incorrect comedy FUDDY MEERS by playwright DAVID-LINDSAY-ABAIRE. In this outrageously funny roller-coaster ride of a play, Claire, an amnesiac. wakes up each day having forgotten the details of her life. This morning, like all mornings, her seemingly devoted husband Richard greets her with a cup of coffee and a scrapbook of memories. But when he steps away, a limping, lisping man claiming to be Claire's brother pops out from under her bed and says he is there to save her. He takes her to her mother's home in the country, where Claire meets a naive man with a foul-mouthed puppet, discovers her husband and son have kidnapped an aggressive lady cop, and comes face-to-face with her past.

Rubicon Theatre continues the company's 21st "Coming of Age" season with the hilarious and harrowing, politically incorrect comedy FUDDY MEERS by playwright DAVID-LINDSAY-ABAIRE.

LAGUNA PLAYHOUSE presents a co-production with the Rubicon Theatre Company, HEISENBERG, written by Simon Stephens (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time) directed by Katherine Farmer (South Pacific, Gulf View Drive) and starring Faline England (Valentine's Day) & Joe Spano (Hill Street Blues and NCIS).