Susan Stangl News

Kentwood Players presents Ken Ludwig's Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery opening Friday, March 17 through Saturday, April 8 on Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, and Saturdays and Sundays at 2pm at the Westchester Playhouse.

Kentwood Players presents Ken Ludwig's Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery opening Friday, March 17 through Saturday, April 8 on Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, and Saturdays and Sundays at 2pm at the Westchester Playhouse, 8301 Hindry Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90045. Check out photos here!

Kentwood Players presents Ken Ludwig's Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery opening Friday, March 17 through Saturday, April 8 on Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, and Saturdays and Sundays at 2pm at the Westchester Playhouse, 8301 Hindry Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90045.

​​​​​​​Theatre Palisades was founded in 1963, making 2023 their 60th anniversary. They will be opening the anniversary season with 'Other Desert Cities' by Jon Robin Baitz. The play made its Broadway debut in November 2011 and was a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

 Inspired by the little-known, larger-than-life true story of Robert Smalls, the first African American hero of the Civil War, Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum presents the world premiere of Trouble the Water, freely adapted by Ellen Geer from the 2019 award-winning historical novel by Rebecca Dwight Bruff.

Inspired by the little-known, larger-than-life true story of Robert Smalls, the first African American hero of the Civil War, Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum presents the world premiere of Trouble the Water, freely adapted by Ellen Geer from the 2019 award-winning historical novel by Rebecca Dwight Bruff. Longtime.

Here is your first look at onstage photos of the Kentwood Players cast of VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE, a comedy by Christopher Durang, opening Friday, September 17 through Sunday, October 10, 2021 on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm and Saturdays and Sundays at 2:00pm. Originally slated to open in March 2020, the cast has been rehearsing virtually since the shutdown began immediately after their final dress rehearsal, and is very excited to finally be back onstage inside the newly refurbished Westchester Playhouse, located at 8301 Hindry Avenue in Los Angeles, CA 90045.

Meet the Kentwood Players cast of Christopher Durang's hilarious comedy VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE, opening at the newly refurbished Westchester Playhouse on Friday, September 17 to Sunday, October 10. The cast features (from left) Isabella Petrini (Nina), Chris Morrison (Vanya), Valerie Sullivan (Sonia), Jeff Dewitt (Spike), Sarilee Kahn (Masha), Giovanni Navarro (Spike) and Susan Stangl (Cassandra). .Photo by Shari Barrett

During the past year's shutdown, Kentwood Players has been diligently working on significant repairs, renovations, and upgrades to the Westchester Playhouse. And now, Kentwood Players, one of the longest continuously operating Los Angeles theater groups, is pleased to announce the re-opening of VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE, a comedy by Christopher Durang, on Friday, September 17 and continuing through Sunday, October 10, 2021 on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm and Saturdays and Sundays at 2:00pm.

Are you ready to get back onstage in front of a live, indoor audience at the newly renovated Westchester Playhouse?  Kentwood Players is casting the role of CASSANDRA in Christopher Durang’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, directed by Susan Stangl and produced by Alison Boole and Myron Klafter. Now is your chance to join in the fun!

During the past year's pandemic shutdown, Kentwood Players has been working on very necessary upgrades to their home, the Westchester Playhouse, so that when the time is right to reopen it will be totally up-to-date and compliant with all necessary safety protocols to ensure the enjoyment of live indoor theatre again! To assist in raising funds for the ongoing and much-needed major renovations, the public is invited to attend A NIGHT WITH GILBERT & SULLIVAN, a very special online benefit event of music and entertainment written by the Kings of Patter, presented on the Kentwood Players You Tube channel on Friday, May 28 at 7pm at youtube.com/kentwoodplayers

The non-profit Kentwood Players, founded more than 70 years ago, is one of the longest-lasting community theatre companies in Los Angeles (and the nation.) Through the decades, Kentwood Players has staged more than 400 productions, touching the lives of tens of thousands of people throughout the region and beyond. It has been a haven for artists, a home for creativity and expression, and a reliable resource for high-quality community theatre in the southland, now showcased on the Kentwood Players Virtual Theater Series on You Tube.

Kentwood Players Virtual Theater Series Continues in 2021 with “Three Syllables of Shame,” “Surf’s Up,” “State of Independence” and “Happy and Gay.” Also seeking new Zoom-formatted plays and directors interested in helming future VTS plays, as well as graphic artists interested in submitting a new logo design!

Kentwood Players presented their annual Marcom Masque Awards during this yeara??s ceremony held on Zoom on Saturday, August 15, 2020, honoring the shortened 2019-2020 season of five productions: Pippin, Blithe Spirit, Dial M for Murder, Little Women, and The Giver. It was a wonderful evening of entertainment, filled with the community theater spirit which has fueled Kentwood Players during its 70 years of presenting quality live theatre in Westchester. Here is the complete list of winners.

With the current theatre world on hiatus, I have created a Spotlight Series of interviews with some of am the many talented artists who make our Los Angeles theatre community so exciting and vibrant thanks to their ongoing contribution to keeping the arts alive in the City of the Angels. And like all of us, how are they dealing with the abrupt end of productions in which they were involved? This Spotlight focuses on Peter Miller, a Musical Theater and Voiceover Actor Who Spends Time as a Theme Park Carnival Barker.

With the current theatre world on hiatus, I have created a Spotlight Series of interviews with some of the many talented artists who make our Los Angeles theatre community so exciting and vibrant thanks to their ongoing contribution to keeping the arts alive in the City of the Angels. And like all of us, how are they dealing with the abrupt end of productions in which they were involved? Today I would like to introduce you to Susan Stangl: Director, Sound Designer, Actress, Singer and Medical School Professor

Kentwood Players, one of the longest continuously operating Los Angeles theater groups, continues to celebrate its 70th Anniversary Year by presenting VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE, a comedy by Christopher Durang, opening Friday, March 13 and continuing through Saturday, April 18, 2020 on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm and Sundays at 2:00pm. Performances take place at the Westchester Playhouse, located at 8301 Hindry Avenue in Los Angeles, CA 90045, home of the Kentwood Players, voted the #1 Live Theater Group on the Westside in 2019 by readers of the Argonaut newspaper.

Playwright Robert Harling based the STEEL MAGNOLIAS story on his experience with the death of his diabetic sister. As her best friend and closest sibling, Harling found it difficult to cope with losing her, and his friends advised him to write about his feelings as a coping method. What began as a short story then evolved into a full-length play due to the complexity of the relationships and emotions that existed among the female characters who are a?oeas delicate as magnolias but as tough as steela?? who utilize humor and lighthearted conversations to cope with the seriousness of life's underlying situations.

RUTHLESS! THE MUSICAL originally opened Off-Broadway in 1992, created as an over-the-top dark comedy spoof of the films The Bad Seed and All About Eve, and well-known Broadway musicals Gypsy and Annie. Similar to the dark comedy in musicals such as Little Shop of Horrors and Sweeney Todd where characters are murdered and then eaten, RUTHLESS! THE MUSICAL centers on 8-year old Tina Denmark, who knows she was born to play the lead in her school's third grade show and will do anything to win the part. And I do mean anything. Now onstage at Theatre Palisades, directed by Alta Abbott who first fell in love with the show during its 1993 West Coast premiere at the Canon Theatre in Beverly Hills, I can only say that the over-the-top production sometimes seemed so dark that the comedy became invisible.

10-year-old Martin loves to scare people. He tells terrifying ghost stories at Cub Scout campouts, he fills the neighbor kids heads with tales of demons and monsters, and subjects his 6-year-old sister Simone to each and every one of his yarns. He watches scary movies obsessively. The kids' 14-year-old babysitter Lucy Rish, a nervous sort already, is a reluctant viewer of these films and is clearly more traumatized by them than either Martin or Simone. The movies and stories have so affected Lucy that an everyday occurrence such as a knock at the door, a phone ringing, or a floor board creaking can send her into a fearful hysteria, leaving Martin and Simone to 'baby-sit the babysitter.'