The Geffen Playhouse News

Paper Mill Playhouse has revealed the cast for the new musical Gun & Powder, with book and lyrics by Angelica Chéri and music by Ross Baum. See who is starring, and learn how to purchase tickets.

Further casting has been announced for the Franklin Performing Arts Company (FPAC)’s  reimagined production of Tarzan the Broadway musical starring Broadway’s original Tarzan Josh Strickland.

The Pillowman, directed by Brian Allman (Director of Education & Community Engagement at the Geffen Playhouse), will open April 4th at THE BROADWATER MAIN STAGE. Learn more here!

J. Jason Daunter of Anaheim, CA, and Judy Martel of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, have been elected to the Board of The Stage Managers' Association Foundation.

Abingdon Theatre Company has announced the four playwrights that they will highlight during the month of February, as a part of their Virtual Festival of Short Plays.

Ensemble Theatre Company of Santa Barbara (ETC), Santa Barbara’s only professional theater company, presents THE PIANIST OF WILLESDEN LANE, a captivating musical journey adapted and directed by Hershey Felder based on the book The Children of Willesden Lane: Beyond the Kindertransport; A Memoir of Music, Love, and Survival by Mona Golabek and Lee Cohen. 

Colman Domingo will direct and star in an upcoming Nat King Cole biopic. Domingo also co-wrote the screenplay for the upcoming movie musical. The film follows a play about Cole that Domingo co-wrote, Lights Out: Nat ‘King’ Cole, which premiered at the Geffen Playhouse in 2019.

Playwright Selina Fillinger’s POTUS Or, Behind Every Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive will be having its Los Angeles premiere at the Geffen Playhouse January 25, 2024 (with previews already started). Jennifer Chambers directs the cast of Ito Aghayere, Alexandra Billings, Lauren Blumenfeld, Shannon Cochran, Jane Levy, Deirdre Lovejoy and Elizabeth Rodriguez. Selina agreed to give me some insights behind POTUS and her other works.

THE GREEN ROOM 42 will present celebrated actress and vocalist Ruby Lewis, star of Broadway’s Cirque du Soleil, Las Vegas headliner and “Shock Value” recording artist, on Wednesday, January 31 at 9:30 PM.

THE NEW GROUP OFF STAGE presents 'Lypsinka: Toxic Femininity,' a new short film written and performed by John Epperson and directed by Chloë Sevigny.

Rogue Machine Theatre presents 'MIDDLE OF THE WORLD' by Juan José Alfonso, directed by Guillermo Cienfuegos. A story of redemption and unexpected alliance.

Geffen Playhouse has announced the full cast for its West Coast premiere of the Broadway production of five-time Tony Award nominee and 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Drama winner Fat Ham. Find out who is starring in the show and how to get tickets here!

Watch as Geffen Playhouse Artistic Director Tarrell Alvin McCraney talks about his plans for the storied theatre's upcoming season and beyond.

Ensemble Theatre Company of Santa Barbara will present THE PIANIST OF WILLESDEN LANE

Los Angeles audiences will have the opportunity to experience six brand new plays—thanks to Center Theatre Group’s L.A. Writers’ Workshop Festival which will take place January 26 to 28, 2024 at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. 

Harry Lennix (The Blacklist, The DC Universe) and Tamara Tunie (Law & Order: SVU, I Wanna Dance with Somebody) will join the cast of its world premiere of Steppenwolf Theatre Company's Purpose.

Discover the recipients of the LANPP awards for local playwrights and producers, celebrating the support of nine new plays. Learn about the impact of LANPP grants on the theater community and their commitment to nurturing original writing.

For The Record’s perennial holiday favorite Love Actually Live returned to The Wallis November 29, 2023. Commemorating the film’s 20th anniversary, Anderson Davis directs the cast of Tomasina Abate, Madison Taylor Baez, James Byous, Chris Cockrill, Audrey Cymone, Anthony Fedorov, Brayden Gleave, Grace Kinstler, Parissa Koo, Doug Kreeger, Austin Lesch, Ruby Lewis, Chris Mann, Jordan Ann Martone, Brian McKnight Jr., Darrell Morris Jr, Nina Nelson, Spencer Schaffe, Drew Seeley, Rex Smith, Alkaio Thiele and Cheyenne Isabel Wells. In the midst of previews, Ruby found some time to answer a few of my queries.

Per playwright Howard L. Craft, the spirit of the human soul has the capacity to return to earth multiple times until it successfully learns…well…whatever it is supposed to learn. Can’t speak for the soul, but the performer J. Alphonse Nicholson needs no do-overs to embody the five incarnations of Abel Green within Craft’s play FREIGHT. Simply put, Nicholson nails each Green ably, in every possible way. Completely.

Director Michael Michetti has put thought and heart into his production and peopled it with a strong cast whose characters opt for playing the strength of their convictions over histrionics. A hurricane force this WIND is not, but there’s plenty to enjoy.