| LA. Theatre Works Announces 2002 Spring
Season of Star-Studded Live Recordings at Skirball Cultural Center
for Future Broadcast on KPCC.
LOS ANGELES, CA - Beginning March 2, Southern California Public
Radio broadcasts L.A.
Theatre Works' The Play's The Thing radio theater series on
89.3(FM) KPCC every Saturday evening from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m., following
Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion."
"Now, for the first time ever, Southern California can tune
in 52 weeks a year to hear first-rate theater that combines the
best of Hollywood and Broadway, simply by turning the dial to 89.3
FM," says Producing Director Susan Albert Loewenberg. "Being
in Los Angeles affords us the opportunity to make unique recordings
by some of the best actors in the English-speaking world. Our library
of over 300 plays represents a state-of-the-art record of the finest
work in the American canon interpreted by superb, world-renowned
actors. Listeners will hear brand new works like Synergy and God's
Man In Texas; important contemporary plays like True West, Betrayal,
Marvin's Room, and Zoot Suit; and classics like The Cherry Orchard,
The Voysey Inheritance, and The Lion In Winter, all performed by
preeminent actors including Alfred Molina, Laura Linney, Marsha
Mason, Richard Kind, Eric Stoltz, JoBeth Williams, Stacy Keach,
Mary Steenburgen, Hector Elizondo, Jennifer Tilly, and Peter Coyote."
"L.A. Theatre Works is an invaluable cultural institution,"
agrees Bill Davis, President of Southern California Public Radio.
"This opportunity for our listeners to hear superior, contemporary
radio drama on a weekly basis, all year long, is exclusive in the
U.S. and rare in the world. It's part of our public service to Southern
California."
Audiences also have the chance to watch their favorite celebrities,
including Hilary Swank, Elliott Gould, Glenne Headly, and Richard
Schiff, record plays for the KPCC series by attending live performances
at the Skirball Cultural Center. The 2002 Spring Season of The Play's
The Thing kicks off March 20 and continues through July 14; all
performances are recorded live, using state-of-the-art sound effects,
for future broadcast on 89.3(FM) KPCC and XM satellite radio.
The season opens with Elliott Gould, Carol Kane, Amy Pietz, and
Kenneth Alan Williams in Middle of the Night by Paddy Chayefsky
(author of Academy Award winners Marty and Network). Veteran actor/director
John Rubinstein directs this unforgettable story of true love about
an older widower who falls in love with his young secretary. Five
performances take place Wednesday, March 20 at 8:00 p.m.; Thursday,
March 21 at 8:00 p.m.; Friday, March 22 at 8:00 p.m.; and Sunday,
March 24 at 4:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. (There is no performance on
Saturday, March 23.)
Rebecca Gilman is one of the most exciting new playwrights to
emerge on the scene, with four new plays that have electrified Chicago,
New York, and London over the last two years. Gilman's Spinning
Into Butter, is a provocative, funny exposé of political
correctness at a picture-perfect Vermont college. When threats against
an African American freshman unleash a whirlwind of student and
faculty emotions, dean of students Sarah Daniels scrambles to contain
the crisis in a satirical, but ultimately searing exploration of
America's liberal conscience. Performances take place Wednesday,
April 10 at 8:00 p.m.; Thursday, April 11 at 8:00 p.m.; Friday,
April 12 at 8:00 p.m.; and Sunday, April 14 at 4:00 p.m. and 7:30
p.m. (There is no performance on Saturday, April 13.)
"ER's" Yvette Freeman reprises her Obie Award-winning
role as Dinah Washingon in Oliver Goldstick's musical biography
of the self-described "Queen of the Blues." Dinah Was
explodes with the rhythms, tough breaks, and tender notes that fired
the life and music of this passionate performer. Features "What
a Diff'rence a Day Makes," "I Wanna Be Loved," "Come
Rain or Come Shine" and many other songs rendered unforgettable
by Washington's singular style. Gordon Hunt directs the original
off Broadway cast, including Freeman, Lanny Hartley, Adriane Lenox
(who also received an Obie for her performance), Bud Leslie, and
Darryl Alan Reed. Wednesday, May 8 at 8:00 p.m.; Thursday, May 9
at 8:00 p.m.; Friday, May 10 at 8:00 p.m.; and Sunday, May 12 at
4:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. (There is no performance on Saturday, May
11.)
It's 1960, and renowned theater critic Kenneth Tynan tracks down
the reclusive Orson Wells in London, convincing him to direct Laurence
Olivier and Olivier's new love, Joan Plowright, in a revival of
Ionesco's "Rhinoceros." Orson's Shadow, by Steppenwolf
Theatre ensemble member Austin Pendleton, brings that production,
and its now-legendary rehearsal process, to splendidly impossible
life. Rosalind Ayres directs Glenne Headly (as Olivier's wife, Vivian
Leigh) and Simon Templeman (Olivier) on Wednesday, June 12 at 8:00
p.m.; Thursday, June 13 at 8:00 p.m.; Friday, June 14 at 8:00 p.m.;
and Sunday, June 16 at 4:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. (There is no performance
on Saturday, June 15.)
Academy Award-winning actress Hilary Swank stars with Chad Lowe
and Kathleen Chalfant in the West Coast premiere of The Credeaux
Canvas, a wry and romantic tale of ambition, friendship, and betrayal
by Keith Bunin. Three young New York dreamers devise a reckless
get-rich-quick scheme to jump start their lives. When their forged
Impressionist painting is revealed as a fake, a complex web of secrets
and lies is unraveled. Abby Epstein directs Wednesday, June 26 at
8:00 p.m.; Thursday, June 27 at 8:00 p.m.; Friday, June 28 at 8:00
p.m.; and Sunday, June 30 at 4:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. (There is no
performance on Saturday, June 29.)
On Sunday July, 14, L.A. Theatre Works and Spoken Interludes present
Stories After Dark, a special evening of provocative, dramatic,
and inspirational stories written and read by Los Angeles writers
including: Michael Blieden (called "frequently stimulating"
by The New York Times); Larry Charles (writer/producer of Seinfeld);
Luis Alfaro (MacArthur grant genius); Carol Muske-Dukes (director
of the graduate program in literature/creative writing at USC);
Erika Schickel (author of L.A. Theatre Works' favorite, Wild Amerika);
DeLauné Michel (actress and award-winning writer); Margaret
Smith (writer/stand-up comic, Aspen Comedy Festival); Cathryn Michon
(stand-up comic/author of The Grrl Genius Guide to Life and star
of The Grrl Genius Movie on AMC); and Richard Schiff (actor, The
West Wing). Two performances take place at 4:00 p.m. and at 8:00
p.m. From 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., there will be a twilight reception
and book signing with the authors.
Initial funding for the series on KPCC is provided by a start-up
grant from the California Community Foundation. L.A. Theatre Works
also receives additional major support for The Play's The Thing
from the Capitol Group Companies Charitable Foundation, the National
Endowment for the Arts, and the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.
L.A. Theatre Works' multiple award-winning The Play's The Thing
live radio theater series is now in its 14th year. Productions are
broadcast nationally over NPR stations and satellite radio; worldwide
over Voice of America and other English language stations; and,
beginning March 2, locally on 89.3(FM) KPCC. LATW's production of
Neil Simon's The Prisoner of Second Avenue, starring Richard Dreyfuss
and Marsha Mason, was nominated for a GRAMMY Award in the category
of Best Spoken Comedy Album. Last June, LATW received three "Audies"
from the Audio Publishers Association including Best Theatrical
Performance (Agnes of God), Best Multi-Voiced Presentation (Cakewalk),
and an "Audio Hero" award for the "Alive and Aloud"
and "Library Access" programs through which LATW donates
audio recordings of classic and contemporary plays and accompanying
materials to 2,000 public secondary schools and 700 libraries nationwide.
Other productions in the series have won awards from the Corporation
for Public Broadcasting, Sony, the New York Festivals, the Writers
Guild of America, Publishers Weekly, and Audiofile Magazine.
89.3(FM) KPCC is the flagship station of Southern California Public
Radio. It reaches 345,000* weekly listeners and airs all of the
signature public radio news and talk programs, along with locally
produced news and talk, including "AirTalk" with Larry
Mantle weekdays from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. and "Talk of the City"
with Kitty Felde weekdays from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m.
The Skirball Cultural Center, whose mission is to celebrate American-Jewish
life and American democratic values, is located at 2701 N. Sepulveda
Boulevard, in the Santa Monica Mountains just off the San Diego
Freeway (exit Skirball Center Drive). Ticket prices range from $10.00
to $42.00. For reservations and information, call the L.A. Theatre
Works Box Office at (310) 827-0889.
*Data are Copyright Arbitron, Inc. Metro Cume Persons 12+, M-Su.,
6a-12m, Winter 2002. Arbitron data are estimates only. Produced
by the Radio Research Consortium, Inc.
|
