TOGETHER LA: A VIRTUAL STAGE FESTIVAL Announces Playwrights for Week 3

Meet the playwrights from the 3rd week of LA's first TogetherLAFestival. Presented by Alternative Theatre Los Angeles (ATLA) in association with LA Stage Alliance (LASA), "Together LA: A Virtual Stage Festival" is celebrating the vibrant and diverse intimate theatre scene of the greater Los Angeles area.

"While the doors to our theaters may be shut, our artists continue to innovate and utilize new technology to serve Los Angeles and promote the importance of theatre. Join us as we celebrate works that are created specifically for a virtual format. Over the course of three weekends, now thirty-five (35) of ATLA theatre companies will showcase 10-minute works, digitally produced and virtually shared. Each evening will be hosted by celebrity guests." - ATLA.

Hosts: Kirsten Vangsness (Oct 16th); Sharon Lawrence (Oct 17th)

TOGETHER LA FESTIVAL is free to the public to stream via Twitch.tv. The Festival runs through October 17, 2020. ATLA welcomes sponsors and donors. Donations will benefit Color of Change. Participating theatre companies include: 24th Street Theatre, Actors Co-op, Ammunition Theatre Company, Celebration Theatre, Chance Theater, Coin and Ghost, Company of Angels, Echo Theater Company, Ensemble Studio Theatre/LA, IAMA Theatre Company, Impro Theatre, Independent Shakespeare Company, Interact Theatre Company, Lower Depth Theatre Ensemble, Macha Theatre, Open Fist Theatre Company, Ophelia's Jump Productions, Pacific Resident Theatre, Playwrights' Arena, Rogue Machine Theatre, Sacred Fools Theater Company, Sierra Madre Playhouse, Skylight Theatre Company, The 6th Act, The Fountain Theatre, The Group Rep Theatre, The Inkwell Theater, The New American Theatre, The Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, The Road Theatre Company, The Victory Theatre Center, Theatre of NOTE, Theatre West, Towne Street Theatre, and Whitefire Theatre.

Oct 16:

Jaime L. Robledo (Fakespeare - Sacred Fools) created the first Watson, earning him a 2011 LA Weekly Award and an Ovation nomination for his direction, 2011 Saturn Award for Best Local Stage Production, and it was named one of 2010's top rated new plays in Los Angeles by Bitter Lemons. He has often written for Sacred Fools late night serialized sketch comedy show Serial Killers, offering the serials Fresh, Glammer, Black, and Hooverville Serenade. Jaime's historical comedy The Jazz Age: Tales of the Extra premiered at Sacred Fools during the run of the late-night cult hit show Crime Scene. Jaime's direction of Stoneface: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Buster Keaton earned him a 2013 LA Weekly Award for Best Director. The show garnered four other awards including Production of the Year.

Veronica Tjioe (Prefers Bright Indirect Light - The Inkwell Theater) is a proud member and literary manager of The Attic Collective. Her first work, Dead Dog's Bone:A Birthday Play, won the Dharma Grace Playwriting Award in 2012, and the Hollywood Fringe Encore Producer's Award in 2015. The Attic Collective's 2019 Hollywood Fringe production of her play, The Last Croissant, was nominated for five awards and won Best of the Broadwater, Best Ensemble, and Top of Fringe. Veronica's plays have had readings and productions in Santa Cruz, where she earned an MA in Theatre Arts from UC Santa Cruz, in San Francisco, Washington DC, and in Los Angeles.

Faith Imafidon (Co-Author The Theatre Zone - Theatre of NOTE) is known for "Black Bull Entertainment Presents...," (2012), "Spiral" (2013) and "Mino: A Diasporic Myth (2019)."

Mara Shuster-Lefkowitz (Co-Author The Theatre Zone - Theatre of NOTE) co-wrote Jason's Musical, awarded best in-class musical through a ProArts course with Berklee College of Music. In 2019, Mara won a Valley Theatre Award as Best Supporting Actress for her performance in 26 Pebbles from Above the Curve Theatre. She is a current member of Theatre of Note in Hollywood, CA. Mara received her BA: Acting degree from Emerson College in Boston.

David Pinski (1872 - 1959 / Forgotten Souls - Pacific Resident Theatre) was a Yiddish language writer and playwright. He grew up in Russia, studied in Austria and Germany, then moved to New York City in 1899. His work was influenced by the Eastern European Industrial Revolution as well as his travels, and he was among the first playwrights to bring stories of urban Jewish workers to the stage. He is also known for writing about human sexuality with a frankness not usually encountered in Yiddish literature at that time. Works include Isaac Sheftel (1899), Der Oytser (The Treasure), 1902-1906, Family Tsvi (1904), and Yenkel der Shmid (Yankel the Smith, 1906).

Oct 17:

Judith Leorea (You, Me and Margaret Atwood - Victory Theatre Center) has had recent productions of The Hierarchy of Fish at Hillsborough (Tampa, FL) and Shenandoah University (Winchester, VA); Elijah at The Victory Theatre Center (Critics Choice - LA Times); Showpony at The Victory (Critics Choice - LA Times); Elijah at Bristol Valley Theatre; The Cookie Fight at BVT; Gideon - Ego Actus/Paradise Factory and at UMASS Lowell (commission); Icon Plays/Ego Actus, NYC; 1MPF - numerous times. Readings include Painting with Lulu, MadLab/Kraine Theatre; Showpony - Living Room Series/Blank Theatre (Hollywood, CA); Cap Rep Theatre Next Stage Festival, Albany, NY; The X and the Y at BVT; Heart-Shaped Uterus a MadLab/IRT; The Cookie Fight (Last Frontier Theatre Conference). 2020 Project Y Playwrights Group; a Founding Member/Executive Director - New York Madness; Robert Askins Playwriting Fellow/Lone Star Theatre.

Marguerite French (Julie, Alone - Coin & Ghost Co.) is a recent graduate of the Interdisciplinary MFA program at UCLA's school of Theatre, Film, and Television, where she co-produced and starred in the Rabbit Bandini film, "Death," and directed the short, "Intimate Beauty." Her first role after graduation was "Alison" in Francis Ford Coppola's "Distant Vision." As the 2015 Cirque du Soleil Directing/Marketing Fellow, she directed a commercial for the Cirque production "Baz," helped conceive the social media campaign #cirqueway, and learned to hang by her ankles from the aerial tissu. Marguerite's Coin & Ghost credits include Bad Hamlet (Polonius) and Two Gentlemen* of Verona (Director). She is a proud alumnus of Bard College and is the Managing Director of Coin & Ghost.

Garrett Botts  (When We Can't Meet - Actors Co-op Theatre Company) is an actor and playwright, and he teaches theatre and creative writing for the Riverside Arts Council's Arts in Corrections program. For Crystal Jackson, owning her craft as a writer and standing in her truth is a way of opening her soul and sharing those thoughts with the World - breathing life into existence. Linda Kerns is an actress/singer/writer/composer currently teaching in the theater department at UCLA. Greg Allan Martin is a Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney, an actor, and a dad (not in that order of importance), and pleased to be a part of this festival. Nan McNamara is an actor/director/writer and serves as the Artistic Chairperson for Actors Co-op Theatre Company where she has been a member since 1997.

Jerry Lambert (The Jack Twidwell Story - The New American Theatre) is a longtime member of the New American Theatre. His plays Straight Talk and Lipstick Sunset have been performed at N.A.T. and the Road Theatre Company. New American Theatre has also produced his plays Eloise and Joey. Jerry has performed at the Odyssey, the Gene Bua Theater, Acme Comedy Theater and Elephant Stages. He is currently appearing in the long-running ABC comedy "American Housewife." Additional television credits include "Modern Family" "Brooklyn 99" "Family Guy" and "Life in Pieces.

Ann James (Blackberry Wine - Celebration Theatre) has an extensive career in theatre education, stage direction and conflict resolution in corporate and artistic environments. She is a published author on HowlRound, and has been a featured Intimacy Specialist on many other theatre affiliated panels during Covid-19. Ann is devoted to making both stage and screen safer places for Black, Indigenous and People of Color to practice their craft. To that end, Ms. James is pursuing America's first MFA in Performance Pedagogy with emphasis in Intimacy Direction for People of Color at Loyola Marymount University.

Alternative Theatre Los Angeles is a community of 64 professional intimate theaters based in the greater Los Angeles area. Like Los Angeles, the theatre community has always been at the forefront of innovation. ATLA came together five months ago to discuss how to move through the current COVID crisis and come out stronger. ATLA is committed to uplifting unrepresented voices, raising the bar and pushing the boundaries of professional theatre. At weekly virtual roundtables, ATLA continues to remind us that theatre is a collaborative art form, stronger together as one community.

LA Stage Alliance ("LASA") works with the theatre community to expand awareness, appreciation, and support of performance arts. As a new form of theater emerges, LASA will continue to support artists and engage audiences through a series of programs, events, and advocacy efforts. All our initiatives aim to serve and strengthen the sector - both at an individual and public level. LASA will continue to provide resources that facilitate audience engagement, collaborative marketing, community building, and professional development. LASA has modified its event hub, www.onstage.la, to now promote virtual events and share all that Los Angeles is creating.

Each night starts at 7 PM PST, and each piece runs approximately 10 minutes. All shows will take place at twitch.tv

After Hours Theatre Company and Schmedake Lighting Design are leading the recording process for each piece, and producing the live broadcasts.

October 16th

Sacred Fools Theatre Company
Fakespeare by Jaime L. Robledo

The Inkwell Theater
Prefers Bright Indirect Light by Veronic Tijoe
Description: Four houseplants on a window sill contemplate their lives indoors, friendship, mortality, and if they'll ever be watered again.

Theatre of NOTE
The Theatre Zone by Mara Shuster-Lefkowitz and Faith Imafidon
Description: An actress finds herself stuck cycling through the lives of multiple characters, all at the hands of a nefarious Host.

Pacific Resident Theatre
Forgotten Souls by David Pinski

A voice from the great Yiddish Theatre

Description: A meaningful, funny, and touching study of a women's self-sacrifice and reward. It explores the interplay of despair and hope that is so very relevant today.

October 17th

Victory Theatre Center
You, Me and Margaret Atwood by Judith Leorea
Description: Disagreement on the film they should see pushes Adriana & Jake's relationship into a discussion of the inequities and dissatisfactions with their gender roles and gender politics.a??

Coin & Ghost Co.
Julie, Alone adapted by Marguerite French
Description: I have a dream that comes back to me, ever so often...a??

Actors Co-op Theatre Company
When We Can't Meet by Garrett Botts, Crystal Jackson, Linda Kerns, Greg Martin, and Nan McNamara
Description: Five friends meet for virtual cocktails and when the alcohol begins to flow, their relationships are put to the ultimate test.a??

The New American Theatre
The Jack Twidwell Story by Jerry Lambert
Description: When a corporate CEO interviews a mysterious job candidate, she discovers why alligators, poetry, and a stiff drink might boost company morale.a??

Celebration Theatre
Blackberry Wine by Ann James
Description: What Happens when two over-worked medical professionals meet for their weekly zoom sex session. More than wine flows.

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