Tom Buderwitz News

There is a casting change in The Second City's "A Christmas Carol: Twist Your Dickens!" presented at the Center Theatre Group's Kirk Douglas Theatre. Ron West will join the cast to play the role of Ebenezer Scrooge. Joe Flaherty was originally announced in that role but needed to leave the production for personal reasons. The twisted telling of Charles Dickens' holiday classic will open November 29 and continue through December 30, 2012. Previews begin tonight, November 24.

The Second City cast has put together a series of short chats, interviews and goofing-around videos for A Christmas Carol: Twist Your Dickens!, opening at Center Theatre Group's Kirk Douglas Theatre on November 29th (previews begin on November 24th) and continuing through December 30th, 2012. Watch all 10 below!

Noted television personality, author and political gadfly Stephen Colbert has an issue with Charles Dickens over The Second City's "A Christmas Carol: Twist Your Dickens!" The two writers of the new holiday classic, Peter Gwinn and Bobby Mort, are former and current writers, respectively, of "The Colbert Report."

The LA Stage Alliance Ovation Awards, celebrating theatrical excellence and achievement during the 2012 season, were presented last night, November 12, at the Los Angeles Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. Check out photos from inside the ceremony below!

There is a casting change in The Second City's "A Christmas Carol: Twist Your Dickens!" presented at the Center Theatre Group's Kirk Douglas Theatre. Ron West will join the cast to play the role of Ebenezer Scrooge. Joe Flaherty was originally announced in that role but needed to leave the production for personal reasons. The twisted telling of Charles Dickens' holiday classic will open November 29 and continue through December 30, 2012. Previews begin November 24.

Playwrights Kaufman and Hart saw the vitality and urgency of comedy within drama when they penned You Can't Take It With You in 1936. It won a Pulitzer for Drama in 1937 and then a Best Picture Oscar for the film version in 1938. Their other big hit The Man Who Came to Dinner in 1939 has a similar theme and tone. In both plays it's wild, zany over-the-top characters and off-kilter incidents that blow the lid off the humdrum existence of the well to do middle class, and to meaningful avail. In Y.C.T.I.W.Y., the wealthy Kirbys are about as unlike the crazy free-living Sycamores as black is to white. Yet, when meshed together, merriment and unexpected happiness abound. With a spectacular cast (double) and brightly paced direction from Gigi Birmingham, Antaeus' Y.C.T.I.W.Y. is a splendid tonic for our depressing economic times and simply a whole lot of fun.

The Second City scoured their address book to assemble a cast of seven luminary L.A.-based alumni for their hilarious take on the beloved Charles Dickens tale of hope and redemption. The world premiere of The Second City's "A Christmas Carol: Twist Your Dickens!" is written by Second City alums, Peter Gwinn (formerly of "The Colbert Report") and Bobby Mort (currently of "The Colbert Report"), and opens November 29, 2012, at Center Theatre Group's Kirk Douglas Theatre. Previews begin November 24 and performances will run through December 30.

This show was absolutely fun to watch with a huge cast and so much action, melodrama, mystery, intrigue and comedy occuring onstage, it would make your head spin!

The MainStreet Theatre Company has announced that it has received three LA Stage Alliance Ovation Award Nominations for its work during the 2011/2012 Season, including a "Best Production" nomination for their May production of A Wrinkle in Time.

The Denver Center Theatre Company (DCTC) will present the Alexandre Dumas classics, THE THREE MUSKETEERS, adapted by Linda Alper, DCTC resident dramaturg Douglas Langworthy and Penny Metropulos, playing The Stage Theatre tonight, September 21 - October 21, 2012. Tickets may be purchased now, by calling 303.893.4100 or visiting www.denvercenter.org.

The Denver Center Theatre Company (DCTC) will present the Alexandre Dumas classics, THE THREE MUSKETEERS, adapted by Linda Alper, DCTC resident dramaturg Douglas Langworthy and Penny Metropulos, playing The Stage Theatre September 21 - October 21, 2012. Tickets may be purchased now, by calling 303.893.4100 or visiting www.denvercenter.org.

Nominees for the 2012 LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Awards were announced Tuesday evening at the Renberg Theatre inside the Gay and Lesbian Center in Los Angeles. The 2012 Ovation Awards ceremony will take place on Monday, November 12, at the historic Los Angeles Theatre, 615 South Broadway, in downtown Los Angeles at 7:30 pm. For more information, visit www.LASTAGEOvations.com.

Find out who's really crazy when a couple of lovebirds bring their mismatched families together. The Antaeus Company, L.A.'s multiple award-winning classical theater company, presents You Can't Take It With You, the timeless comedy about love, life and living by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. Gigi Bermingham directs the fully double cast production Oct. 18 through Dec. 9, with low-priced previews beginning Oct. 11.

The funeral of a baby, the grieving parents look for reasons why their child should be taken from them. Finding no reason but the caprice of fate, the couple moves forward to exercise that caprice on those around them. Their hope for immortality through their child dashed, they will live on through infamy. As one begins in amoral certitude and descends to a moral madness, the other travels the road from moral doubt to a profane confidence to awful self-knowledge, neither losing sight of the love and loss that propelled their actions.

The Antaeus Company, L.A.'s multiple award-winning classical theater company, takes on William Shakespeare's gripping psychological drama, Macbeth. Jessica Kubzansky directs the fully double-cast production, with Bo Foxworth and Rob Nagle sharing the title role and Tessa Auberjonois and Ann Noble partnering as Lady M. Performances take place tonight, July 12 through August 26. Talk-backs will follow the performance every Thursday night beginning July 19: stay after the performance to ask questions and discuss the play with various cast members.

The Antaeus Company, L.A.'s multiple award-winning classical theater company, takes on William Shakespeare's gripping psychological drama, Macbeth. Jessica Kubzansky directs the fully double-cast production, with Bo Foxworth and Rob Nagle sharing the title role and Tessa Auberjonois and Ann Noble partnering as Lady M. Performances take place July 12 through August 26, with low-priced previews beginning July 5. Talk-backs will follow the performance every Thursday night beginning July 19: stay after the performance to ask questions and discuss the play with various cast members.

True friendship is a journey - there is no roadmap. Award-winning playwright Richard Martin Hirsch takes us back to the Summer of '69, exploring the fragile nature of friendship in a world premiere dramedy inspired by true events. Darin Anthony directs The Closeness of the Horizon for a six-week run tonight, May 18 through June 24, presented by CoffeeHouse Productions at the Odyssey Theatre in West Los Angeles.

True friendship is a journey - there is no roadmap. Award-winning playwright Richard Martin Hirsch takes us back to the Summer of '69, exploring the fragile nature of friendship in a world premiere dramedy inspired by true events. Darin Anthony directs The Closeness of the Horizon for a six-week run May 18 through June 24, presented by CoffeeHouse Productions at the Odyssey Theatre in West Los Angeles.

Family dynamics and the importance of connection will rule the stage when Steven Drukman's The Prince of Atlantis has its world premiere March 30 - April 29. The production is part of the 15th Annual Pacific Playwrights Festival (PPF), which featured a staged reading of Drukman's instant comic hit last year.

Family dynamics and the importance of connection will rule the stage when Steven Drukman's The Prince of Atlantis has its world premiere March 30 - April 29. The production is part of the 15th Annual Pacific Playwrights Festival (PPF), which featured a staged reading of Drukman's instant comic hit last year.