Stage Alliance News

On September 22nd, the 2008 Ovation Award Nominees were announced. Now in its 19th year, the LA Stage Alliance Ovation Awards will celebrate the 168 theatre companies, 390 registered productions, and over 2,000 individual artists who participated in the September 1, 2007 to August 31, 2008 season

Primary Stages (Casey Childs, Executive Producer; Andrew Leynse, Artistic Director; Elliot Fox, Managing Director), in association with Martin Hummel, present the New York premiere of the new comedy, Love Child, written and performed by Daniel Jenkins (Mary Poppins, Big River) and Robert Stanton (The Coast of Utopia, All in the Timing), as an added event of the 2008-2009 season. Under the direction of Carl Forsman, performances are set to begin Sunday evening, October 12, 2008 at 5:00 p.m. and will run in repertory with A Body of Water by Lee Blessing for a limited engagement through November 19, 2008. Opening night is October 26, 2008 at 7:00 p.m.

Based on several high profile news stories, MAN.GOV centers around a senior arms inspector -- the quintessential government man -- whose life is turned upside-down when he is suspected of leaking damaging information to a celebrity reporter. Previews begin October 10 with opening night slated for October 17.

Arena Stage presents the world premiere of Daniel Beaty's Resurrection, a drama with a unique blend of music, poetry and dance. A co-production with Connecticut's Hartford Stage, Resurrection explores the interwoven lives of six African-American men struggling to make a living and to make their lives worth living. Beaty dazzled Arena audiences last summer with sold-out performances of his award-winning solo show Emergency (formerly Emergence-SEE!). He now returns to Arena with his first ensemble production-a talented cast of six actors led by director Oz Scott (director of Broadway's original for colored girls... and the Goodman Theatre's recent premiere The Ballad of Emmett Till). The production harmonizes with an innovative score by Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR), a Haitian-American composer who blends classical violin with piano and bass. To keep the interplay between text and score dynamic, Roumain's original score will be musically styled live each performance by his collaborator Elan Vytal a.k.a. DJ Scientific. Resurrection runs August 29-October 5, 2008 at Arena Stage in Crystal City. The press opening performance is Thursday, September 4 at 8:00pm.

Primary Stages (Casey Childs, Executive Producer; Andrew Leynse, Artistic Director; Elliot Fox, Managing Director), Off-Broadway's preeminent theater company, will honor Tony Award-winning actress Patti LuPone and The Baruch-Routh-Frankel-Viertel Group at this year's Primary Stages 24th Anniversary Gala Benefit to be held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel (109 East 42nd Street) on Monday, October 27, 2008.

Tania Camargo, who has worked for the past three years as the Management Associate of Roundabout Theater Company, has been named as the new Executive Director of Off-Broadway's Soho Rep, it has been announced today by John Dembrow, Chairman of the Board at Soho Rep.

The Festival of New American Musicals, a two-month musical theatre festival, will be held in May and June, 2008, throughout Southern California. Marcia Seligson and Bob Klein are the Executive Producers of the Festival.

The 24th Annual Southland Theatre Artists Goodwill Event-S.T.A.G.E-will present 'Blame It On Bacharach!', a celebration of the magic that is composer Burt Bacharach, on Saturday, March 8 and Sunday, March 9 at the Wilshire Theatre Beverly Hills.

The 24th Annual Southland Theatre Artists Goodwill Event-S.T.A.G.E-will present Blame it on Bacharach!, a celebration of the magic that is composer Burt Bacharach, on Saturday, March 8 and Sunday, March 9 at the Wilshire Theatre Beverly Hills...

Los Angeles theatre veteran and three-time Tony nominated Broadway producer Susan Dietz joins Reprise! Broadway's Best as its producing director. She will work alongside artistic director Jason Alexander and succeeds Jim Gardia, who moves to the Northern California, having served Reprise! for the past six years. Danny Feldman continues as Managing Director.

The 2007 Los Angeles Stage Alliance Ovation Awards ceremony was held November 12 at downtown's The Orpheum Theatre. The nights big winners included Sleeping Beauty Wakes (World Premiere Musical), Film Chinois (World Premiere Play) and Jersey Boys (Touring Production)...

Previews begin November 6, for La Jolla Playhouse's Broadway-bound world premiere musical adaptation of the Universal Pictures John Waters cult classic film Cry-Baby; Opening Night scheduled for November 18.

'Entourage's' Rex Lee, Mackenzie Phillips, Beth Grant and Aram Rappaport star in a staged reading of the screenplay, Daybreak, Monday, October 29 at 8PM at The Hayworth. Directed by Lynne Moses, and written by Moses and Aram Rappaport, Daybreak is a production of The Hayworth Theatre's popular Bruno Kirby Celebrity Reading Series.

La Jolla Playhouse brings the Broadway-bound world premiere musical adaptation of the Universal Pictures John Waters cult classic film Cry-Baby to the stage; beginning previews November 6 with an Opening Night scheduled for November 18, performances through December 16.

The 2007 LA Stage Alliance Ovation nominees have been announced. Celebrating excellence in Los Angeles Theatre, the awards will be presented on November 12 at 7:30PM at The Orpheum Theatre (842 S. Broadway, Downtown LA).

The Center for Cultural Innovation has announced that the 2007 Los Angeles Arts Town Hall will take place June 16 at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center in Little Tokyo...

Rubicon Theatre Company's 10th Anniversary Season has been cloaked in secrecy, with the company planning a private preview event in May to announce next year's offerings. However, earlier this week company officials named two of the productions, which will be a part of the just-announced Southern California Festival of New American Musicals.

Alicia Silverstone, Jon Tenney and Greg Germann will star in the Geffen Playhouse's upcoming staging of David Mamet's Hollywood farce Speed-the-Plow, running from January 30th through March 18th

Sterling's Upstairs at Vitello's in Studio City, CA - which presented its first talent search entitled LA's Next Great Stage Star November 20 through December 12, 2006 - is pleased to announce that after over a hundred submissions and auditions to become one of 17 contestants in what will become an annual talent competition, Merissa Haddad was voted LA's Next Great Stage Star

The Drowsy Chaperone, which played the Center Theater Group's Ahmanson Theatre before moving to its current hit run on Broadway, was among the big winners of Los Angeles' Ovation Awards, which took place on November 13th at the Orpheum Theatre in a ceremony hosted by Neil Patrick Harris and presented by the L.A. Stage Alliance