The Alfred Molina-starrer THE FATHER, currently in previews, will have its official opening night February 11, 2020 at the Pasadena Playhouse. Playwright Florian Zeller (translated by Christopher Hampton) illuminates the internal struggles of a very proud man cursed with dementia. Two versions of André's (the father) memory play out on stage that will keep the audience guessing as to which is André's reality. Jessica Kubzansky directs a seasoned cast including: Sue Cremin, Michael Manuel, Pia Shah, Hugo Armstrong and Lisa Renee Pitts. I had the chance to interview Michael Manuel, whom I last saw in his stunning portrayal of The Creature in A Noise Within's FRANKENSTEIN.
The 2020 playwrights include Miranda Rose Hall, Blake McCarty (Book and story), Trevor Bachman (music and lyrics), and Jessica Kubzansky. Free public readings of all three plays will take place Feb. 22 and 23, 2020 at Cygnet Theatre.
Boston Court Artistic Director Emeritus Michael Michetti will direct a rare Los Angeles production of Stephen Sondheim's Tony Award-Winning Best Musical. This production will feature brand new orchestrations created for an intimate chamber orchestra featuring five musicians.
The Directors Lab West Steering Committee is pleased to announce the 21st annual Directors Lab West, once again in partnership with the Pasadena Playhouse, Artistic Director Danny Feldman, and Boston Court Pasadena, Artistic Director Jessica Kubzansky, both contributing to host this eight-day theater intensive conference.
Florian Zeller's play The Father is so topical, for it deals with a father who is suffering from dimentia. It opens for previews on February 5 at the Pasadena Playhouse with the official opening night set for Tuesday February 11. Alfred Molina whose stage and film appearances are laudatory stars as the father Andre, a former tap dancer. He talks succinctly about the role as he settles in to a comfortable rehearsal period.
Pasadena Playhouse, The State Theater of California, has completed casting for The Father, written by Florian Zeller, translated by Christopher Hampton and directed by Jessica Kubzansky, that comes to the Playhouse February 5 to March 1, 2020.
Pasadena Playhouse Producing Artistic Director Danny Feldman announces the Los Angeles premiere of Ann - written by and starring Holland Taylor and directed by Benjamin Endsley Klein from May 27 to June 28, 2020, and the on-sale of tickets for The Father, written by Florian Zeller and starring Alfred Molina, translated by Christopher Hampton and directed by Jessica Kubzansky, from February 5 to March 1, 2020.
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, which is entering its 85th year, today announced the casts for the 2020 season, featuring some of the most beloved performers from OSF's history alongside newcomers from around the country. OSF is one of the most prominent theatre companies across the nation that have joined the Jubilee, a yearlong nationwide commitment by theatres to feature work generated by those who have traditionally been excluded from or marginalized by the theatre industry. Five Shakespeare plays staged as four productions, alongside two new plays inspired by him, take the Festival's stages in 2020. Two more commissions from OSF's multi-decade commissioning program American Revolutions: the United States History Cycle will also premiere.
San Diego Repertory Theatre (San Diego REP) announced today the lineup of free REP Xtras Events surrounding the downtown theatre's production of Hold These Truths. The REP's Xtras Events series includes community-focused conversations, actor talk-backs, musical performances and other activities intended to deepen the audience's engagement with the plays onstage.
San Diego Repertory Theatre (San Diego REP) announced today the cast and creative team for Hold These Truths, the inspiring true story of Gordon Hirabayashi. The production, written by Jeanne Sakata and directed by Jessica Kubzansky, will run November 14 a?" December 8, 2019, in San Diego REP's Lyceum Space Theatre, with previews November 14 a?" 19, and press opening on Wednesday, November 20 at 7:00 p.m.
Today, the Board of Directors of Boston Court Pasadena (BCP) announced a new leadership team, as well as plans to modify the 16-year-old organization's programming cycle. These significant steps in the evolution of one of Los Angeles' leading multi-disciplinary arts producers are aimed at supporting the continued growth of its local, regional, and national impact.
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.
Pasadena Playhouse will partner with TDF, one of the nation's leading theatre support organizations dedicated by bringing the power of performing arts to everyone, in presenting Open Captioning during its 2019-2020 plays and musicals.
Pasadena Playhouse Producing Artistic Director Danny Feldman announces four main stage productions for 2019/2020 including new productions of favorite musicals - Little Shop of Horrors with book and lyrics by Howard Ashman and music by Alan Menken, directed by Mike Donahue, and Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun with book by Herbert and Dorothy Fields, directed by Sarna Lapine - and two plays - the Los Angeles premiere of Lauren Yee's The Great Leap directed by BD Wong, a co-production with East West Players, and Alfred Molina starring in the critically acclaimed West End and Broadway hit The Father by Florian Zeller and directed by Jessica Kubzansky. One more production and additional programming will be announced at a later date.
Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) Incoming Artistic Director Nataki Garrett and Artistic Director Bill Rauch announced the Festival's 2020 playbill today. The season celebrates OSF's ongoing commitment to the work of Shakespeare, imaginative adaptations of beloved classics and illuminating new plays in a Jubilee year that includes two world-premiere American Revolutions commissions for only the second time in the Festival's history.
Boston Court Pasadena continues their 2019 theatre season with the world premiere of Kit Steinkellner's Ladies, directed by Jessica Kubzansky, May 24 - June 30 (press opening: June 1). Ladies features Meghan Andrews (Elizabeth Montagu), Carie Kawa (Elizabeth Carter), Jully Lee (Fanny Burney), and Tracey A. Leigh (Angelica Kauffman).
Boston Court Pasadena announced the full details of its 15th annual New Play Reading Festival, April 13-14, 2019. Curated by Literary Manager Emilie Beck, in concert with Artistic Directors Jessica Kubzansky and Michael Michetti, the New Play Reading Festival is a key component of Boston Court Pasadena's commitment to nurturing playwrights and new work, and continues the company's core mission of developing and programming works that are inherently theatrical, textually rich, and visually arresting.
San Diego Repertory Theatre (San Diego REP) announced today the line-up for its 2019/2020 season at the Lyceum Theatre. For its 44th season, San Diego REP invites audiences to sing along to the top-40 hits made at Gold Star Recording Studios in the 1950s and 60s in the world premiere musical 33 1/3: House of Dreams by Jonathan Rosenberg and Brad Ross. Enjoy the om pa pa of Banda music from Mexico in Playwright-in-Residence Herbert Siguenza's new comedy Bad Hombres/Good Wives. Delve into powerful dramas with the tour-de-force solo performance of Hold These Truths by Jeanne Sakata and the 2016 Tony Award-winner for Best Play, The Humans by Stephan Karam. Get swept away in a mash-up of classical Indian music and contemporary hip-hop from India in the action-packed House of Joy by Madhuri Shekar; and relish in the genius of Hershey Felder, with A Paris Love Story, featuring the music of Claude Debussy. Season 44 tickets are currently available by subscription only and can be purchased by calling the box office at (619) 544-1000.
Never has the relationship between Iago and Roderigo in Shakespeare's OTHELLO stolen the show like it does in the current A Noise Within production, directed by Jessica Kubzansky. With an outwardly nonchalant Michael Manuel as the revenge seeking villain, and Jeremy Rabb, an actor who knows comedy like the back of his hand, as his unsuspecting lackey, the situational humor in Shakespeare's tragedy comes front and center. That's right, humor.
A Noise Within (ANW), California's acclaimed classic repertory theatre, is proud to open its Spring 2019 season this weekend with one of the best-known tragic plays of all time, William Shakespeare's Othello. Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award winner Jessica Kubzansky will direct William Shakespeare's timeless classic, set in the present day, that will examine the consequences of love thwarted. Press opening night of Othello is this Saturday, Feb. 16 at 8 p.m. and runs through April 28.
