Leigh Allen News

You wouldn’t expect a bittersweet, haunting tale to be this laugh-out-loud funny, but it is.  There is so much charm and sensitivity in this Pacific Resident Theatre production.  The Bespoke Overcoat is almost unbearably poignant, a drama of humanity and rare tenderness. You don’t want to miss this exquisite gem.

Currently at Pacific Resident Theatre, Wolf Mankowitz’ The Bespoke Overcoat which opened March 9, 2024. Marilyn Fox & Dana Jackson co-direct the cast of: Harry Herman, Robert Lesser, Bruce Nozick and Tobias Echeverria. Had the chance to cover Bruce with some queries on bespoking his Overcoat. 

The South Pasadena Theatre Workshop remounts their popular production of, A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, which enjoyed a sold-out run last season. Set in London, 1843, the hour-long performance will run three weekends from December 1 to 17.

South Pasadena Theatre Workshop will present two classic plays by Anton Chekhov: The Seagull and The Cherry Orchard. Both productions aim to celebrate the philosophical power of Russian literature while spotlighting a local community of versatile actors in repertory fashion.

South Pasadena Theatre Workshop presents the highly ambitious undertaking of performing two classic plays by Anton Chekhov: The Seagull and The Cherry Orchard.

The South Pasadena Theatre Workshop has announced a new take on, A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens. Set in London, 1843, the hour-long production will run weekends from December 2 to 18.

The South Pasadena Theatre Workshop has announced the cast for a new production of Timberlake Wertenbaker's award-winning dark comedy, Our Country's Good. Set in newly colonized Australia in the late 18th century, the production will run from May 26 to June 26. SPTW Artistic Director and co-founder, Sally Godwin Smythe, will direct the cast of twelve. 

Impro Theatre brings acclaimed “Tennessee Williams Unscripted” to Edinburgh Fringe Festival

During the thought-provoking 90-minute play, made even more visually intense via attention-grabbing historical projections of news headlines to forward the progression of time on Rachel Myers exquisitely transformational scenic design, Feldshuh and Faracy fully embody not only the physical presence of Ginsburg and O'Connor but also their dependency on each other to get their voices heard over the gender-biased male members of the Court. Their dedication to justice and the law was solid, although O'Connor felt the need to take it slowly like a tortoise while Ginsburg always felt the need to charge ahead like the hare when it came to issues of sexual harassment towards women.

The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, in association with Elizabeth Weber, Dale Franzen (Hadestown) and Don Franzen, presents the West Coast Premiere of SISTERS IN LAW, starring Tovah Feldshuh (Golda's Balcony, a?oeThe Walking Dead,a?? a?oeCrazy Ex-Girlfrienda??) as Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephanie Faracy (Hocus Pocus, The Great Outdoors with Dan Aykroyd and John Candy, a?oeSneaky Petea?? and a?oeModern Familya??) as Sandra Day O'Connor.  Directed by Patricia McGregor (Lights Out: Nat a?oeKinga?? Cole, Skeleton Crew), with an all-female design  team,  performances begin Wednesday, September 18 through Sunday, October 13, 2019, in The Wallis' Lovelace Studio Theater.

The west coast premiere of Brian Letscher's SMART LOVE rivetingly posits a truly sci-fi event as a real-life situation in which you're forced to come face-to-face with some serious moral dilemmas. Anchoring this strong cast of four, Melissa Weber Bales totally inhabits the fairly recently widowed Sandy, who's freshly found a new zest for life in Vic (a most memorable Scott Conte in the show's smallest part).

LA Drama Critics Circle Award Winning Director Elina de Santos helms the contemporary comedy SMART LOVE opening January 12th at Pacific Resident Theatre in Los Angeles. The west coast premiere marks the second professionally produced full length play by writer/actor Brian Letscher. This and Letscher's previous work, WHEN THE LIGHTS COME ON, premiered at Jeff Daniels' The Purple Rose Theatre Company.

Artistic Director Pat Taylor's JazzAntiqua Dance and Music Ensemble is a beautiful jazz/dance and soulful enterprise that is so exuberant and exhilarating to watch, that, and this is also because the four jazz musicians who play throughout are just beyond brilliant, you forget every one of your troubles and feel compelled to join in to rejoice the human spirit through music, dance, poetry and the spoken word.

 Understand you? I don't even understand myself. Elina de Santos directs a playful play of ideas that challenges our fundamental understanding of reality. The world premiere of A Misunderstanding by Matt Chait (Disinherit the Wind) opens on Friday, Jan. 4 at The Complex in Hollywood, where performances continue through Feb. 3. Leave all your preconceived notions at the door… this play is sure to turn them inside out.

It contains possibly the last words William Shakespeare ever wrote and chances are you've never seen a production of it. THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN was written around 1613 but not published until 1634, and is attributed to both Shakespeare and John Fletcher, the man who would succeed him as resident playwright for the King's Men (named for the company's benefactor, King James I). Kingsmen Shakespeare Company's production is the perfect opportunity to see it for the first time.

Sex, revenge, betrayal... let the games begin. Antaeus Theatre Company presents a fully partner-cast production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Christopher Hampton's Olivier, Evening Standard and New York Drama Critic's Circle Award-winning adaptation of the scandalous novel by Choderlos de Laclos. Directed by Robin Larsen, Les Liaisons Dangereuses opens on Oct. 26and Oct. 27 (one opening for each cast), running through Dec. 10 at theKiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center in Glendale. Low-priced previews begin on Oct. 19.

This October we honor our Cavod Theatre founder, Stan Deen, with one of his favorite productions, Driving Miss Daisy.

This October we honor our Cavod Theatre founder, Stan Deen, with one of his favorite productions, Driving Miss Daisy.

Sex, revenge, betrayal... let the games begin.

As you age, every wrinkle and liver spot on your face tells a story, and there are some stories you would rather just forget.