Ken Sawyer News

?For the first time in the 35-year history of Jane Wagner's iconic play The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, the author and her creative and life partner Lily Tomlin have given their approval for it to be reinvented as a fully staged production performed by a company of 12 actors as opposed to its original solo format.

3-D Theatricals, Orange County's most distinguished regional musical theatre production company, presents the Tony Award-winning spectacular HELLO, DOLLY! starring Valerie Perrias Mrs. Dolly Gallagher Levi. The second opening took place at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center on August 6, 2016.  BroadwayWorld brings you a first look at the curtain call and stage door photos below!

This week, we go around our Broadway World to feature stories in Boston, St. Louis, Los Angeles and more. Check out our top 10 stories around our Broadway World below, which include THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, FOOTLOOSE in Cleveland, and HELLO, DOLLY! in L.A., just to name a few.

Director Ken Sawyer cemented his show's success when he cast Valerie Perri as the wily matchmaker and backed her up with a host of exceptional players.

3-D Theatricals, Orange County's most distinguished regional musical theatre production company, presents the Tony Award-winning spectacular HELLO, DOLLY! starring Valerie Perri as Mrs. Dolly Gallagher Levi. Previewing July 15, with its official opening July 16 at Fullerton's historic Plummer Auditorium and continuing there through July 31, the Fullerton run is followed by a second opening at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center where it will preview August 5, and officially open August 6, 2016.

THE ROAD THEATRE COMPANY and Taylor Gilbert, Founder/Artistic Director together with Sam Anderson, Artistic Director, are thrilled to announce that they will be starring in the first show of its 2016-2017 season, EDWARD ALBEE'S THE PLAY ABOUT THE BABY, written by Tony award-winning playwright Edward Albee and directed by Andre Barron, reuniting the three for the first time since the critically acclaimed The Other Place.  EDWARD ALBEE'S THE PLAY ABOUT THE BABY will begin previews on Tuesday, September 13 at 8pm; will open on Friday, September 16 at 8pm and run through Saturday, November 5 at the Road Theatre Company's second home, The Road on Magnolia, located in The NoHo Senior Arts Colony, 10747 Magnolia Blvd. in North Hollywood.

The Pasadena Playhouse (Sheldon Epps, Artistic Director), in association with Broadway producer Suzi Dietz, announced today that they will present Tony Award-nominee and multi-platinum recording artist Sam Harris' critically acclaimed Off-Broadway production HAM: A MUSICAL MEMOIR.  Directed by Ken Sawyer (Founding Member of The Road Theatre Company) and Billy Porter (Tony Award-winner for Kinky Boots), the musical comedy takes us from a conflicted childhood in Bible-Belt Oklahoma to the dizzying roller coaster ride of a life in show business and the precarious balancing act of fatherhood. The production features musical direction by Todd Schroeder. HAM will play a limited engagement of three performances only on Saturday, July 9 at 2 pm and 8 pm and Sunday, July 10 at 2 pm at The Pasadena Playhouse (39 S. El Molino Avenue).

Professional Los Angeles intimate theater companies and their friends sold out Los Angeles Theatre Center to support the second-ever STAGE RAW THEATRE AWARDS.  Picking up where the LA WEEKLY Awards left off, and hosted by the Independent Shakespeare Co. and Dr. Pinch and Pinchtones, the best of 99-seat theatre was celebrated in an exuberant and emotional evening that put a "Raw" spotlight on the year's best work.

The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle named the multi-nominated Hit the Wall and Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles as 2015's Outstanding Productions at the organization's 47th annual awards event, held on Monday evening, March 14 at the Moss Theatre of New Roads School in Santa Monica.

The answer to last year's question of whether the digital arts venture STAGE RAW could bring back its awards ceremony celebrating the best of LA's up-to-99-seat theaters, the answer is YES. STAGE RAW is pleased to announce the SECOND ANNUAL STAGE RAW LOS ANGELES THEATER AWARDS, championing the best work of 2015 in L.A.'s still-embattled theaters of up to 99-seats.

The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle (LADCC) has announced its nominations and special awards for excellence in Los Angeles and Orange County theatre for the year 2015 (Dec. 1, 2014 - Nov. 30, 2015).

In his early days circa 1984, when he won 13 consecutive weeks on TV's Star Search, Sam Harris was flatly denied work on TV and in film because he was labeled 'too theatrical'. This quality - and I say quality - is what makes a performer exceptional; it sets him apart from the crowd, separating the men from the boys, so to speak. But casting people and agents frankly did not know what to do with him; his enormous talent defied categorization. He can sing, he can dance, he can act the bejesus out of a piece, injecting so much raw energy and passion into it that its substance literally leaps off the stage, directly into our hearts. Well, times did change. He has worked on television and on Broadway to great acclaim, and now he is back onstage once more with his autobiographical show HAM: A Musical Memoir for a limited run at the Renberg Theatre of LGBT, Hollywood through February 7 only.

There are undoubtedly other productions worthy of merit in 2015 which I did not cover. This list is based only on what I saw and reviewed. (alphabetical listings; Equity, Equity-waiver & Non-Equity productions are mixed) (artists performing outside LA may be included in performance categories) No set, costume, or technical awards. I leave that to the bigger awards and to the expertise of those who really know those fields inside out.

The Los Angeles LGBT Center and Sixth Avenue have announced the final nine performances of the West Coast premiere of Hit the Wall by Ike Holter. Directed by Ken Sawyer, Hit the Wall has been playing to sold-out houses since opening on September 18. Now extended for the second time, the run must end December 13.

Nominees for the 2015 LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Awards were announced on Thursday, September 24 on @ This Stage Magazine [ThisStage.la]. This year's Ovation Awards ceremony will take place Monday, November 9 at the Ahmanson Theatre at The Music Center. The curtain will rise at7:30pm.

The West Coast premiere of Ike Holter's HIT THE WALL vividly illustrates what might have happened that fateful night in 1969  when Stonewall became the flashpoint for what many consider the start of the gay liberation movement. With director Ken Sawyer's inventive staging, the audience becomes almost fully immersed in the play's actions. The stage seems to be every available space where an audience member's not physically sitting.

The Los Angeles LGBT Center and Sixth Avenue have announced the West Coast premiere of Hit the Wall by Ike Holter. This acclaimed play brings audiences into the famed 1969 Stonewall riots, credited historically as the beginning of the modern LGBT rights movement. Directed by Ken Sawyer with a cast of 10, a live three-piece band, and original music by Anna Waronker (former singer for That Dog) and Charlotte Caffey (guitarist for The Go-Go's), Hit the Wall will play three previews on September 15, 16, and 17, and opening is set for Today, September 18 at 8pm. Hit the Wall will run through October 25 in the Davidson/Valentini Theatre.

The Los Angeles LGBT Center and Sixth Avenue have announced the West Coast premiere of Hit the Wall by Ike Holter. This acclaimed play brings audiences into the famed 1969 Stonewall riots, credited historically as the beginning of the modern LGBT rights movement. Directed by Ken Sawyer with a cast of 10, a live three-piece band, and original music by Anna Waronker (former singer for That Dog) and Charlotte Caffey (guitarist for The Go-Go's), Hit the Wall will play three previews on September 15, 16, and 17, and opening is set for Friday, September 18 at 8pm. Hit the Wall will run through October 25 in the Davidson/Valentini Theatre.

The Los Angeles LGBT Center and Sixth Avenue have announced the West Coast premiere of Hit the Wall by Ike Holter. This acclaimed play brings audiences into the famed 1969 Stonewall riots, credited historically as the beginning of the modern LGBT rights movement. Directed by Ken Sawyer with a cast of 10, a live three-piece band, and original music by Anna Waronker (former singer for That Dog) and Charlotte Caffey (guitarist for The Go-Go's), Hit the Wall will play three previews on September 15, 16, and 17, and opening is set for Friday, September 18 at 8pm. Hit the Wall will run through October 25 in the Davidson/Valentini Theatre.

The Los Angeles LGBT Center's Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center has announced the LA premiere of D'Lo in D'FunQT (pronounced Defunct) at the Davidson/Valentini Theatre. Written and performed by acclaimed political theatre artist, writer, director, comedian, music producer, and queer transgender Sri Lankan-American D'Lo, and helmed by award-winning director Ken Sawyer (The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later/The Goat or, Who Is Sylvia?), D'FunQT will play two preview performances on April 1 and 2 at 8pm. Opening is set for Friday, April 3 at 8pm.