Michael A. Shepperd News

Celebration Theatre Artistic Director Michael A. Shepperd has been set to host the 31st Annual LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Awards Ceremony, this year to be presented in a virtual format, on Tuesday, March 30, at 8pm.

Ucross, a prestigious artist residency program and creative laboratory for the arts in Wyoming, and The Blank Theatre, a Los Angeles institution celebrating 30 years of imaginative theatre, today announced the semi-finalists for the newly created Ucross + The Blank Theatre – Future of Playwriting Prize, a one-of-a-kind award for young playwrights nationwide.

CELEBRATION THEATRE will present, as part of its Celebrating New Works reading series, NORA HIGHLAND by Ryan Spahn and performing one night only on Tuesday, December 15th at 7:30pm online at Celebration Theatre's YouTube Channel.

Now more than ever is the time to consider what the foundation of democracy means to you, especially with the Presidential election less than a week away with our country so divided it seems there is no middle ground on which to stand. Perhaps it's been more years than you can count, if ever, when you last read the Constitution upon which our democracy is based and our rights as American citizens are outlined. I encourage you to tune in to WE THE PEOPLE streaming through Monday, November 2.

Conceived by Tony Abatemarco, Gary Grossman, Wendy Kout, Jeff Reno and Cameron Watson, We the People will run approximately 45 minutes and feature prominent theatrical artists & community leaders gathering together to talk personally about our Constitution and what voting means to them. Followed by a Q&A where the online audience is encouraged to join in and be part of the conversation.

Casting has been announced for the final weeks of The Blank Theatre's 28th Annual Young Playwrights Festival. Being presented this year as digital shorts, the final four of 13 winning plays by young playwrights aged 15a?"19 from nine different states will be available to stream on Vimeo August 29a?"September 19.

Skylight Theatre presents a stream of the play WEST ADAMS. Written by Penelope Lowder & Directed by Michael A. Shepperd, 3:00pm Thursday, July 30, 2020.

KPFK'S Arts In Review welcomes playwright Penelope Lowder and actress Allison Blaize, discussing Skylight Theatre Company's presentation of the archival video of West Adams by Penelope Lowder, directed by Michael A. Shepperd, a play about the absurdity of racism, the first of a three play season of Skylight's SkyLab developed plays that were planned for 2020. It will run for free on FB and YouTube on Thursday, July 30th at 3pm, Skylight Live: https://skylighttheatre.org/event/skylight-live/.

Now celebrating its 28th Anniversary, The Blank Theatre's Nationwide Young Playwrights Festival is set to present 13 plays by playwrights aged 15a?"19 from nine different states. These plays will be presented as digital shorts on Vimeo by professional actors and directors, running from August 8 through September 19. They will then migrate to The Blank's 3rd Stage on Patreon.

KPFK Radio's Arts in Review, Los Angeles's longest-running radio showcase on live theater and cabaret, presents a plan by Artistic Directors of over 55 Intimate (aka 99-Seat) non-profit theaters for the post Covid-19 re-emergence of theater in Los Angeles. Guests include Beatrice Casagan, Gary Grossman and Michael A. Shepperd. Hosted by entertainment journalist Julio Martinez, the program airs Friday, July 3 (2 to 2:30pm­­­­­­­­­­), on KPFK 90.7.FM, streamed live worldwide on kpfk.org.

'The Receipts w/ Davon Williams,' a virtual forum created and moderated by actor, singer and artist Davon Williams to enact vital and necessary change in the American theatre, will return tomorrow, July 2, with a new episode.

Celebration Theatre announces its first-ever online theatre festival CELEBRATING PRIDE. The nation's oldest continuously-producing LGBTQ+ theatre will host a FULL SEVEN DAYS of online programming dedicated to remind the community to live out loud, to be proud of our past and to look forward to the future!

Celebration Theatre's Chuck Rowland Pioneer Award Ceremony celebrating Black Queer Writer/Performer Roger Q. Mason is now available for viewing for a limited time only.

Celebration Theatre announced its star-studded cast for this year's virtual Chuck Rowland Pioneer Award Ceremony celebrating black queer writer/performer Roger Q. Mason. The award ceremony will be broadcast online Tuesday, June 9, 2020 at 6 pm PST.

With many Pride celebrations cancelled due to the pandemic, Celebration Theatre recognizes their importance to the LGTBQ+ community and is going virtual with the Chuck Rowland Pioneer Award Ceremony celebrating queer writer/performer Roger Q. Mason.

As part of the official kick-off to West Hollywood's 'One City One Pride,' West Hollywood's Art Division (in collaboration with the Celebration Theatre) presents a free live-stream reading of Patricia Loughrey's DEAR HARVEY on Harvey Milk Day, May 22, 2020. Produced and directed by Celebration Theatre's artistic director Michael A. Shepperd, DEAR HARVEY recalls the too-short political career and the lasting impacting of the first openly gay elected politician, as told through the eyes of those who had the privilege of knowing him.

Center Theatre Group is expanding their Art Goes On project with L.A. Theatre Speaks, a biweekly series of live-streamed public discussions bringing together members of the local theatre community to discuss the issues and opportunities they are facing in this time of crisis.

Fraser Entertainment Group's AN EVENING OF CLASSIC BROADWAY will be back at LA's Rockwell Table and Stage with another new cast of performers. Nominated for multiple BroadwayWorld.com Awards for Special Theatre Event, the show tune songfest will take place on Thursday, March 19th at 8PM (doors open at 6:30).

CELEBRATION THEATRE presents, as part of its Celebrating New Works reading series, AT THE WAKE OF A DEAD DRAG QUEEN by Terry Guest and performing one night only on Tuesday, February 25th at 7:30pm at The West Hollywood City Chambers, 625 N. San Vicente Blvd in West Hollywood.

Penelope Lowder's WEST ADAMS is a keenly observed look at race, class, and privilege seen through a magnifying glass that elevates it to an over-the-top state, for both better and worse. The timely show focuses on two interracial married couples: pregnant Caucasian Sarah (Allison Blaize) and Latin Edward (Andrés M. Bagg), and Asian Julie (Jenny Soo) and Caucasian Michael (Clayton Farris). They live in the burgeoning West Adams district of Los Angeles, thrilled to be part of the community's gentrification. But when a very wealthy black family moves in across the street, they struggle to even pretend they can keep up with the Jones', and the pressure devolves them into a spiral of resentment, racism, and, ultimately, revenge.