Peter Van Norden News

The first live standings have been announced for the 2022 BroadwayWorld Los Angeles Awards! Nominations were reader-submitted and now our readers get to vote for their favorites.

Actor and Stage Director, Gregg Daniel performs as 'Claudius' in the Antaeus Theatre production of Hamlet alongside his real life spouse Veralyn Jones, who plays the Queen 'Gertrude.' Directed by Shakespearean expert, Elizabeth Swain and featuring long-time company member Ramón de Ocampo, Hamlet is set to run May 20, 2022 and continue through June 20, 2022 at the Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center in Glendale, California.

Antaeus Theatre Company returns to in-person performance with a new production of Hamlet, directed by Shakespearean expert Elizabeth Swain and featuring long-time company member Ramón de Ocampo in the title role. Performances begin May 20 and continue through June 20 at the Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center in Glendale. Low-priced previews begin May 15.

SINGING REVOLUTION is a contemporary production designed to inspire American youth with the ideas that peaceful resistance, social justice, and acts of kindness can change the world.

“Singing Revolution: The Musical,” a thrilling new musical theater production inspired by historical events, is up and running at the  Broadwater Theatre in Hollywood through February 20.

“Lift it up, lift it up: we can sing our country free!” Twenty triple-threat performers and a five piece band will bring an inspirational new musical based on historical events to life this January. Presented by Dreamtone Productions in association with NewYorkRep, the world premiere of Singing Revolution: The Musical sets a tale of star-crossed lovers against the beautiful, moving and timeless true story of Estonia’s 1987 song-filled, peaceful uprising against the Soviet Union. 

The world premiere of Singing Revolution: The Musical sets a tale of star-crossed lovers against the beautiful, moving and timeless true story of Estonia's 1987 song-filled, peaceful uprising against the Soviet Union.

Seasons One and Two of The Zip Code Plays: Los Angeles podcast series are available now!

This December, Ensemble Theatre Company will offer two holiday events the entire family can enjoy. First, ETC welcomes back Porgy and Bess cast members Elijah Rock and Frank Lawson for a rockin' musical Christmas variety show LIVE from Las Vegas.

As part of the 'Much Ado About SOMETHING' series, The Working Actor's Journey podcast presents - in collaboration with the San Diego Shakespeare Society and the City of Coronado Public Library - an all-star cast in a FREE online Shakespeare reading of The Merry Wives of Windsor on Thursday, May 14th at 3 pm PST / 6 pm EST.

In these times of much ado about something, The Working Actor's Journey podcast presents-in collaboration with the San Diego Shakespeare Society and the City of Coronado Public Library-an all-star cast in a FREE online Shakespeare reading of Much Ado About Nothing.

Jon Lawrence Rivera, Artistic Director of Playwrights' Arena a?" the first and oldest theater dedicated to discovering, nurturing, and producing original works written exclusively by Los Angeles playwrights a?" is thrilled to announce the extended run of RED INK by Steven Leigh Morris through Monday, February 24, 2020.

Jon Lawrence Rivera, Artistic Director of Playwrights' Arena – the first and oldest theater dedicated to discovering, nurturing, and producing original works written exclusively by Los Angeles playwrights – is presenting RED INK by Steven Leigh Morris, with a cast that includes Michelle Bonebright-Carter, Steven Culp, Tracey A. Leigh, Leo Marks, Jocelyn Towne, and Peter Van Norden.

Director Brian McDonald does a nice job of keeping the actors rotating around the multiple microphones on stage (or having them add and remove costuming items) to distinguish between multiple characters. The staging is dynamic and the sight gags are clever, and the actors give pleasant and efficient performances, bringing out the warmth and hopefulness of this holiday tale. Ensemble's production highlights humor and heart for an agreeable, well-produced night of festive entertainment.

ENSEMBLE THEATRE COMPANY (ETC) presents the second show of its 2019-20 Season, the can't-miss, holiday event of the season, IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A LIVE RADIO PLAY, adapted by Joe Landry, from the screenplay by Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, Frank Capra & Jo Swerling and directed by ETC's Director of Education and Outreach, Brian McDonald. It's A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play begins previews on Thursday, December 5, opens on Saturday, December 7 at 8:00pm, and runs through Sunday, December 22, 2019 at The New Vic, 33 W. Victoria Street in Santa Barbara.

Jon Lawrence Rivera, Artistic Director of Playwrights' Arena – the first and oldest theater dedicated to discovering, nurturing, and producing original works written exclusively by Los Angeles playwrights – is thrilled to announce the cast for RED INK by Steven Leigh Morris, which includes Michelle Bonebright-Carter, Tracey A. Leigh, Leo Marks, Christopher Salazar, Jocelyn Towne, and Peter Van Norden.

ENSEMBLE THEATRE COMPANY (ETC) presents the second show of its 2019-20 Season, the can't-miss, holiday event of the season, IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A LIVE RADIO PLAY, adapted by Joe Landry, from the screenplay by Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, Frank Capra & Jo Swerling and directed by ETC's Director of Education and Outreach, Brian McDonald. It's A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play begins previews on Thursday, December 5, opens on Saturday, December 7 at 8:00pm, and runs through Sunday, December 22, 2019 at The New Vic, 33 W. Victoria Street in Santa Barbara.

ENSEMBLE THEATRE COMPANY (ETC) presents the second show of its 2019-20 Season, the can't-miss, holiday event of the season, IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A LIVE RADIO PLAY, adapted by Joe Landry, from the screenplay by Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, Frank Capra & Jo Swerling and directed by ETC's Director of Education and Outreach, Brian McDonald.

Play On Shakespeare today announces an expansive list of compelling actors and dynamic directors confirmed to participate in the Play on! Festival, presented in association with Classic Stage Company (CSC) and Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF). Play on! features 39 readings of new, work-in-progress translations of Shakespeare's plays into contemporary modern English by some of today's most exciting playwrights-May 29-June 30 at the Lynn F. Angelson Theater at CSC (136 E. 13th Street). In 2015, Oregon Shakespeare Festival launched an ambitious 39-play, three-year commissioning project, Play on!, tasking 36 playwrights-more than half of whom were women and playwrights of color, each paired with a dramaturg-to translate Shakespeare's canon in celebration of the enduring impact of the Bard's work. Supported by a generous grant from the Hitz Foundation and inspired by long-time patron Dave Hitz's passion for Shakespeare, the project was and continues to be led by Lue Morgan Douthit. For more information, visit playonfestival.org.

La Mirada Theatre For The Performing Arts and McCoy Rigby Entertainment present SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, based on the greatest movie musical of all time with screenplay by Betty Comden & Adolph Green and songs by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed. The fresh new production will be directed & choreographed by Spencer Liff (Emmy nominee for TV's 'So You Think You Can Dance' and Broadway's Head Over Heels, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Falsettos), associate director is Cynthia Ferrer (original 'Kathy Selden' in the first National Tour of Singin' in the Rain) with musical direction by Keith Harrison. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN will preview on Friday, April 19, 2019 (with a press opening on Saturday, April 20 at 8pm) and run through Sunday, May 12, 2019 at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Blvd in La Mirada. Preceding, it will perform Friday, April 12 through Sunday, April 14 at the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts (The Soraya), 18111 Nordhoff Street, in Northridge.