steve Tyler

Join Playwrights' Arena for their Annual Gala on April 28, 2024. Celebrate the art of playwriting and support the development of new plays in this festive event.

THE SPONGEBOB MUSICAL is now showing through July 31 at Garden Grove's historic GEM THEATRE presented by the award-winning One More Productions - one of Southern California's leading musical theater companies.

I was fascinated from the moment I first heard that Fairfield Center Stage was going to perform a musical called THE SPONGEBOB MUSICAL, as I did not previously know that such a musical existed.  What I knew, however, is that if it is being put on by Fairfield Center Stage, it is going to be a phenomenal production!   On Friday, June 17th, I had the pleasure of experiencing Fairfield Center Stage’s continued commitment to providing excellent theater that goes that extra mile, when I saw THE SPONGEBOB MUSICAL on opening night, at Fairfield Ludlowe High School in Fairfield, CT.   Director Joel Fenster, musical director Benjamin Doyle, choreographer Lindsay Johnson, artistic director Christy McIntosh-Newsom, and Executive Producer Eli Newsom all combine their talents with the rest of the crew and this stellar cast to give the audience yet another first-rate performance!

This Spotlight focuses on Jon Lawrence Rivera, co-founder of Playwrights' Arena with Steve Tyler in 1992 during the LA Riots. At the time, and for at least two decades, we were the only theater dedicated to discovering, nurturing, and producing new works for the stage written exclusively by Los Angeles playwrights to be enjoyed by adventurous minds. I first discovered Playwrights' Arena when their 2017 production of Bloodletting was selected to be presented during Center Theatre Group's 2018 Block Party at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City.

Everyone's favorite invertebrate has surfed into the metroplex in the form of THE SPONGEBOB MUSICAL, bringing a tidal wave of imagination and talent in its wake. The Broadway hit runs through February 23 at Fort Worth's Bass Performance Hall.

Producer Steve Tyler and Los Angeles LGBT Center Artistic Director Jon Imparato announced today that two all-star benefit readings of Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls (screenplay by Dorothy Kingsley) on May 3 and 4 raised $32,000 to be split between Alcott Center for Mental Health Services and the Los Angeles LGBT Center. Directed by Richard Hochberg, Susann's infamous tale of cutthroat careerism, wild sex, and fierce female protagonists was on hilarious display.

Steve Tyler Presents has announced an all-star benefit reading of Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls, directed by Richard Hochberg, for two performances only at the Los Angeles LGBT Center's Renberg Theatre. Susann's infamous tale of cutthroat careerism, wild sex, and fierce female protagonists will be on hilarious display with performances on Friday, May 3, and Saturday, May 4, at 8pm. One hundred percent of the proceeds will benefit Alcott Center for Mental Health Services and the Los Angeles LGBT Center.

Crumble Catering will once again be called upon to prepare thousands of dishes in a monumental feat that only the greatest chefs in North America can pull off. As the official caterers for the Steve Tyler Grammy Awards 2019 Viewing Party benefiting Janie's Fund, they are tasked with serving and pleasing the taste buds of Hollywood's biggest A-listers.

The Playwrights' Arena production of "The Hotel Play," written by seven female Los Angeles playwrights and directed and conceived by Playwrights' Arena Artistic Director Jon Lawrence Rivera will open this Saturday, April 1 at 8 p.m. "The Hotel Play" will be presented in six different rooms and poolside at the Radisson Hotel Midtown at USC and will run through April 16, 2017. (Specific dates and times are below.) The world premiere marks the 25th anniversary of Playwrights' Arena.

Casting is announced for the Playwrights' Arena production of 'The Hotel Play,' written by seven female Los Angeles playwrights and directed and conceived by Playwrights' Arena Artistic Director Jon Lawrence Rivera.

Playwrights' Arena, the only theater created and dedicated to producing new works for the stage written exclusively by Los Angeles playwrights, will be marking its 25th Anniversary at their annual gala HOT NIGHT IN THE CITY on Tuesday, April 11, 2017, at Barnsdall Gallery Theater in Hollywood.

Playwrights' Arena will celebrate 25 years with the world premiere of "The Hotel Play," written by seven female Los Angeles playwrights and directed and conceived by Playwrights' Arena Artistic Director Jon Lawrence Rivera. "The Hotel Play" will be presented in six different rooms and poolside at the Radisson Hotel Midtown at USC and will run April 1 through 16, 2017. (Specific dates and times are below.)

He's earned so many superlatives in his career, it may be best to put it simply: the cat can play. Grammy Award winning trumpeter Chris Botti brings his superb musicianship, his killer band and his on-stage generosity back to The Ridgefield Playhouse stage for one night of can't-miss musical thrills on Today, October 18 at 8 p.m. as part of the Moffly Media Evening of Art, Wine and Jazz Series.

He's earned so many superlatives in his career, it may be best to put it simply: the cat can play. Grammy Award winning trumpeter Chris Botti brings his superb musicianship, his killer band and his on-stage generosity back to The Ridgefield Playhouse stage for one night of can't-miss musical thrills on Tuesday, October 18 at 8 p.m. as part of the Moffly Media Evening of Art, Wine and Jazz Series.

Symphony Space pays exuberant homage to the Great White Way with Project B-way/95, a two-week celebration comprising 14 events, now through April 20. A particular highlight is this year's installment of Symphony Space's signature event, WALL TO WALL STEPHEN SCHWARTZ (tonight, April 16).

Skylight Theatre Company is proud to announce that they will be co-producing the World Premiere of Jesse Mu-En Shao's THE END TIMES, in collaboration with Jon Lawrence Rivera's Playwrights' Arena. This marks Jesse's first produced work. The collaboration between the two companies is a longtime in planning. Both companies pride themselves on nurturing and developing new works.

Symphony Space pays exuberant homage to the Great White Way with Project B-way/95, a two-week celebration comprising 14 events, April 7 - 20. A particular highlight is this year's installment of Symphony Space's signature event, WALL TO WALL STEPHEN SCHWARTZ (Saturday, April 16).

Skylight Theatre Company is proud to announce that they will be co-producing the World Premiere of Jesse Mu-En Shao's THE END TIMES, in collaboration with Jon Lawrence Rivera's Playwrights' Arena. This marks Jesse's first produced work. The collaboration between the two companies is a longtime in planning. Both companies pride themselves on nurturing and developing new works.

On Monday night I attended my 9th Ivey Awards. Yes, even before I started Cherry and Spoon in 2010 and started getting press tickets to the event in 2013, I was still a theater geek (read all the words I've written about the Iveys here). The Ivey Awards are my favorite theater night of the year, not so much for the awards themselves, but because it's a celebration of another year of amazing local theater that gathers all of my favorite theater artists in one room. Even though I've met many of them, I still get starstruck when I walk through the crowd and every other face I see is someone I've enjoyed watching on stage. I love to watch awards shows on TV so it's a thrill to get all glammed up and actually attend one in person. I even painted my toenails with a glittery green called 'One Short Day' - appropriate because of its musical theater geekiness and and because this event that I look forward to all year goes by in a whirlwind of people and honorees and loud music and conversations. And now it's over for another year, but more great theater is still to come which we will be celebrating next year!

Joe Dowling, the Guthrie Theater's recently retired artistic director, was honored at the 2015 Ivey Lifetime Achievement Award, the celebration of Twin Cities theater, on September 21 at the Historic State Theatre in downtown Minneapolis. Critically-acclaimed actor Mikell Sapp received the Emerging Artist Award.