Matt Shakman News

Geffen Playhouse has exciting news to announce. The critically acclaimed and popular production Bad Jews by Joshua Harmon and directed by Matt Shakman extends by one week through July 26.

Excessively harsh reality is at the core of most current popular dramedies as it is on television. A character cannot be rude or abrasive enough to arouse a viewer's attention or glean laughs. It's particularly characteristic of the irritating females who talk too fast, too loud and scream their shrewish lungs out. It makes me happy that I live alone; and yes, I do care and respect others and their feelings; but, being pleasant nowadays is considered boring and in drama, it will never win awards, so on with the show. In Joshua Harmon's Bad Jews currently onstage at the Geffen Playhouse there is such a character Daphna (Molly Ephraim), Hebrew for Diana, who with her two cousins Jonah (Raviv Ullman) and Liam (Ari Brand) are in New York to pay homage to their dead grandfather, their beloved Poppy, a Holocaust survivor. Daphna is referred to by Liam as a super Jew.

Geffen Playhouse welcomes Ari Brand (Broadway The Neil Simon Plays; Off-Broadway My Name is Asher Lev), Molly Ephraim (ABC's Last Man Standing, Broadway Into the Woods, Fiddler on the Roof; film Paranormal Activity), Lili Fuller (Hulu's Complete Works) and Raviv Ullman (Off-Broadway Sticks and Bones, title character in Disney's Phil of the Future) as the cast for its West Coast premiere production of Bad Jews by Joshua Harmon, directed by Matt Shakman, who is the artistic director of the Black Dahlia Theatre, a Geffen playhouse alumni (Good People, Wait Until Dark) and a noted television director (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Mad Men).

Today, June 12, Arts in Review welcomes Black Dahlia Theatre co-founder/director Matt Shakman and actress Molly Ephraim, discussing the off-Broadway hit comedy, Bad Jews, opening June 17 at Geffen Playhouse in Westwood.

Bad Jews runs tonight, June 9 through July 19, 2015 (opening night is June 17, 2015) in the Gil Cates Theater at the Geffen Playhouse.

Geffen Playhouse announces Ari Brand (Broadway The Neil Simon Plays; Off-Broadway My Name is Asher Lev), Molly Ephraim (ABC's Last Man Standing, Broadway Into the Woods, Fiddler on the Roof; film Paranormal Activity), Lili Fuller (Hulu's Complete Works) and Raviv Ullman (Off-Broadway Sticks and Bones, title character in Disney's Phil of the Future) as the cast for its West Coast premiere production of Bad Jews by Joshua Harmon, directed by Matt Shakman, who is the artistic director of the Black Dahlia Theatre, a Geffen playhouse alumni (Good People, Wait Until Dark) and a noted television director (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Mad Men).

The 12 th annual Vail Film Festival, co-founded by Scott Cross and Sean Cross, takes place March 26 29, 2015, in one of the United States' premier ski destinations, Vail, Colo., is pleased to announce the complete line-up for the 2015 Festival.

On the next episode of ABC's REVENGE titled "Madness", David finally decides to settle his debt to Victoria while Emily helps Nolan with a takedown of his own.

The Off-Broadway hit Murder for Two is the eighth and final play to be announced in the 2014-2015 Geffen Playhouse season. The new musical will run from May 27 through July 7, 2015 in the Geffen Playhouse's intimate Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater. Murder for Two, in which everyone is a suspect, is a hilarious musical murder mystery with a twist: one actor investigates the crime, the other plays all of the suspects - and they both play the piano! This 90-minute whodunit is a zany blend of classic musical comedy and madcap mystery, a highly theatrical duet loaded with killer laughs.

Experience something(s) new: Three world premiere productions and four new play readings during South Coast Repertory's 2014 Pacific Playwrights Festival this weekend, April 25-27.

Today, South Coast Repertory announced the actors cast for four new-play readings as part of SCR's Pacific Playwrights Festival, which runs April 25-27. Single and packaged tickets are available online at www.scr.org.

The Geffen Playhouse has announced four plays for the eight-play 2014-2015 season, including the Co-World Premiere, with the Sydney Theatre Company, of the Geffen commissioned, Switzerland, written by Joanna Murray-Smith (The Female of the Species); the West Coast Premieres of The Night Alive, written by Olivier and Evening Standard Award winner and Tony nominee Conor McPherson (The Weir, The Seafarer) and directed by Geffen Artistic Director Randall Arney; and The Power of Duff, written by Stephen Belber and directed by Peter DuBois (Rapture, Blister, Burn); and The Gospel According to Thomas Jefferson, Charles Dickens and Count Leo Tolstoy: Discord, written by Scott Carter.

49TH Parallel in association the multi-award-winning NoHo Arts Center Ensemble (NoHo ACE), are thrilled to present the Los Angeles premiere of a new play, BE A GOOD LITTLE WIDOW, written by Bekah Brunstetter (OOHRAH!) and directed by Sara Botsford. BE A GOOD LITTLE WIDOW will preview tonight, April 17 at 8pm and will open on Friday, April 18 at 8pm and run for six weeks through Sunday, May 25, 2014 at the NoHo Arts Center, 11136 Magnolia Blvd. (at Lankershim) in North Hollywood.

49TH Parallel in association the multi-award-winning NoHo Arts Center Ensemble (NoHo ACE), are thrilled to present the Los Angeles premiere of a new play, BE A GOOD LITTLE WIDOW, written by Bekah Brunstetter (OOHRAH!) and directed by Sara Botsford. BE A GOOD LITTLE WIDOW will preview on Thursday, April 17 at 8pm and will open on Friday, April 18 at 8pm and run for six weeks through Sunday, May 25, 2014 at the NoHo Arts Center, 11136 Magnolia Blvd. (at Lankershim) in North Hollywood.

The Geffen Playhouse is announcing three plays of its eight-play 2014-2015 season, including the West Coast Premiere of Choir Boy, written by 2013 MacArthur Fellow Tarell Alvin McCraney, directed by Trip Cullman, with its off-Broadway star Jeremy Pope; Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin, directed by Trevor Hay; and the West Coast Premiere of Bad Jews, which received rave reviews for its off-Broadway production, written by Joshua Harmon and directed by Matt Shakman.

On the next episode of ABC's REVENGE titled "Disgrace" , as the notorious Pascal LeMarchal's unexpected visit reverberates throughout the Hamptons, Emily and Victoria go head to head in a very public showdown.

South Coast Repertory has announced an exciting lineup of shows from March to June. Check out the full linup below!

Experience something(s) new: Three world premiere productions and four new play readings during South Coast Repertory's 2014 Pacific Playwrights Festival, April 25-27.