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Note from Producing Artistic Director John Lant – Season
2009-2010 Season Continues
Greetings-
Attending a play is an essential collaboration
between patrons and artists, and we appreciate you supporting Write
Act Repertory during this economically turbulent time. Your
generosity helps us keep our doors open, and keeps live theatre
thriving in Los Angeles.
I am excited to continue the 2009-2010 Season. I
encourage you to come with us as we venture deeper into our 11th
Season. Write Act Rep continues to electrify the Los Angeles Theatre
Community by developing excellent material written by and for our
Write Act Rep artists.
I am proud of the great response to our 2009 Season
Opener, the socially relevant Measure for Measure,
which examined the sanctity of love, and the twisted nature of
oppression. Measure for Measure was a daring fight
against hate. Characters fought passionately for a world where race
and class, gender and sexuality, fear and boundaries no longer exist
-- and all that’s left is the freedom to discover transcendent love.
As during Shakespeare's time, Measure for Measure
still challenges us today, with its volatile characters, racy
situations, magnetic relationships, and controversial themes. The
play remains powerful, heartbreaking, and ultimately profound.
Currently up is the second installment of The
Freeway Series 2009 – Keep the Ball Rolling. The
Freeway Series is an innovative production showcasing the
distinctive voices of Southern Californian Playwrights and the
diverse talent of Write Act Rep artists. We have created a
provocative and impassioned evening, revealing glimpses into the
lives of the people all around us. Their stories can be found in
the coffee shop down the street, in the apartment above you, in the
park where you picnic… a second later, or a moment sooner. Life,
and sometimes death, continues.
We are honored by the Los Angeles theater veterans
who will write and direct the 2009 installment of The Freeway
Series. Dead Angel by Dale Andersen, will be
directed by Rebecca Doppelt; Cupidity by Thomas J.
Misuraca will be directed by Bennett Cohon; Up On The Roof
by Mark Harvey Levine will be
directed by Louise Kroot-Haukka; Table For One by
Hindi Brooks will be directed by Bennett Cohon; Dear John
by Herman Poppe will be directed by Herman Poppe; and Skipper
by Robert Beiderman will be directed by Susan Eiden.
Our 2009 season continues with acclaimed playwright
JudiAnn Mason’s dramatic piece How Katrina Plays. This
multi-media docu-play is a compilation of monologues about Hurricane
Katrina. These stories were documented through letters, emails,
phone calls, newspaper articles and personal family accounts of what
has been termed the storm of the century. How Katrina Plays
is dedicated to JudiAnn Mason's brother, BJ Mason, who died helping
the victims of Hurricane Katrina. This is not only BJ Mason's story,
but the story of a national calamity. We commemorate the bravery of
those involved, observe their sacrifice, and try to understand,
through their stories. On the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina,
Write Act Rep offers a special sneak preview of How Katrina
Plays.
In November and December, Write Act Rep will feature
the world premiere of Just A Song At Twilight, Willard
Manus' autobiographical family drama about the challenges of growing
up in a deaf household. To commemorate Black History Month, Willard
Manus produced his musical Blues For Central Avenue
earlier this year at Hollywood Civic Light Opera.
Just a Song at Twilight
will star Lene Pedersen, whose performance in Winter
made the L.A. Times' 2008 "ten-best" list. Willard Manus is a
Los Angeles-based
novelist, playwright, and journalist. He is the author of Mott
the Hoople, the novel from which
the British
70s rock band took their name, and This Way to
Paradise: Dancing on the Tables, a memoir of life in
Lindos,
Rhodes,
Greece
from the 1960s to the 1990s. Manus
has had a dozen other books published, most recently a young adult
novel, A Dog Called Leka, about a boy sailing
the Aegean islands in the company of an exceptional dog. Over three
dozen of Manus' plays have been produced in Los Angeles, regionally,
and in Europe.
Autumn is filled with fright and danger, as
Quoth the Raven: Edgar Allan Poe revels in the brilliant and
twisted mind of the Master of Macabre, focusing on Edgar Allan Poe’s
life and work, as seen through the eyes of today’s artists. Write
Act Rep reanimates Poe’s most infamous characters on stage, and
turns the sinister on its head. This night of one-acts promises to
tingle your spine and split your sides. Amidst the mirth, madness,
and mayhem, you may even come to understand Poe’s belief that life
itself “is but a dream within a dream.”
Start your Holiday Season with a bang and a shout as
we present the courtroom drama Dr. Francinscence and the
Christmas Monster, written by Sean Abely, based on the
story, The Holiday Account of Dr. Frankincense by Ray Kampf.
Dr. Francinscence is a misunderstood mad scientist
(not an evil scientist). With his trusted assistant Myrrh, he
stands before the Christmas Supreme Court, on which sit the Jack
Frost (the Chief Justice), and judges Rudolph the Red-Nosed
Reindeer, the Ghost of Christmas Past, Frosty the Snowman, and the
Sugarplum Fairy. Dr. Francinscence must convince the court that he
is not trying to ruin Christmas by building a Christmas monster from
the leftovers of Christmases past.
Dr. Francinscence's accusers are the Noels, the
Evergreens, Santa and Mrs. Claus, and the townspeople who threaten
him with pitchforks and torches, whenever he invents something,
including his latest, an eggnog latte. “It’s totally delish!”
Can we all just get along, or will Santa hoard all of
the Christmas Joy and Holiday Spirit? Come see for yourself, in
this thrilling court-room drama, with flashback laboratory
sequences, and surprise last-minute witness for the defense.
Playwright Sean Abely spent the better part of the
90s in Chicago, writing, directing and producing theater for his
company,
The Factory Theater. Some
of Sean's long-running productions include Santa Claus Conquers
the Martians: The Musical, Attack of the Killer B's (also
produced here in Los Angeles), and Nuclear Family. Sean
moved to LA writing for children's television on So Weird
(Disney Channel), Sabrina, The Animated Series (ABC), Mega
Babies and Digimon (Fox Family). He also wrote a bunch
of pilots for Klasky-Csupo, including Bench Pressly, with
Ahmet Zappa, starring Bruce Campbell and Tim Curry.
As Write Act Rep moves into 2010,
we look ahead to the upcoming season and beyond, with a glimpse of a
long-term future, and commitment to our actor members: the new
2x4 Series. Not only do we want to give writers,
directors, and designers opportunities to develop their work, we
want our actors to have a chance to shine.
Ever wanted to produce your own play? Here's your
chance to stage the play you have always wanted to perform, and be
completely in charge of the production, from gathering the rights,
to the audition, to rehearsals, to opening night. 2x4 Series
will feature an individually chosen production, so that the actor
may find their full artistic voice. This series of workshops to
full productions of published plays will have a very limited run
with limited production time and a limited budget.
Two different shows will be staged each week, running
four weeks in succession, for a total of eight separate productions
of the best works imaginable. It is my belief that economic
constraints enhance creativity, and by teaching artists
cross-discipline theatrical skills, we will help them on this
journey called show business.
Throughout the 2009 -2010 year, a troupe of Write Act
Rep artists develop and perform a sketch and improv combination
called Best In Show. Company member Grace Fraga will
run the improv sessions, with company Dramaturge Ken Cosby running
the sketch writing session. This ninety-minute show will focus on
the writing aspects of our sketch comedy workshop sessions.
Ultimately, this will grow into a Comedy Festival hosted at Write
Act Rep, where our comedy troupe will compete against other comedy
groups in Los Angeles, such as Upright Citizens Brigade,
Groundlings, and Second City. A panel of independent judges will
determine which group is the Best in Show.
In addition to our exclusive programming, Write Act
Rep collaborates with other artistic organizations, including
Hollywood Civic Light Opera, Dungeon Master, 3rd
Degree Burn, 800 Pound Gorilla, 2 Drink Minimum, Urban Legends,
Traffic Jam, Arts and Reconciliation, The Burlesque Hall of
Fame's Bodacious Burlesque -- and our new
relationships with West of Broadway, Bobby Boone’s Productions,
Nathan Murphy Productions, and the Duende Collective.
Write Act Rep and Hollywood Civic Light Opera will
continue to produce new works in conjunction with LA composers and
musical theatre artists, promoting and energizing the Los Angeles
community with musical productions from writers west of the
Mississippi. HCLO is a membership company of theatrical
professionals, producing and performing a variety of new and
rediscovered musical theatre works. HCLO presents musicals with
innovative lyrics, staging, music, and dance. Past productions
include: Hollywood! Hollywood! with Book, Music and
Lyrics by Lou Briggs, and Blues for Central Avenue
with Book by Willard Manus and Music and Lyrics by Lou Briggs. For
more information about HCLO, please visit
www.hollywoodciviclightopera.com.
Upcoming events at Write Act Rep include Karma
– the Musical, workshopping in July. Karma
tells the story of a middle-aged woman who travels
through time to convince her younger self to change her karma by
making different choices. The two are at odds as they move through
the decades, but by the end they come to terms with the path they
have chosen.
Electric Youth – The Musical
is a 1980s comedic romp, following the adventures of Tasha and
Randy, a young couple who travel to the rural community of Fern
Hill, Minnesota to announce their engagement to the Randy's parents.
The couple discovers that the whole town is facing bankruptcy,
thanks to the mean-spirited machinations of wealthy town spinster.
Electric Youth features fourteen of Debbie Gibson's
most-loved songs, including "Electric Youth," "Out of the Blue,"
"Only in My Dreams," and "Lost in Your Eyes."
Dungeon Master is
a hybrid of theater and improv performed on a stage, using actors as
the background… and starring YOU as one of the main characters. For
every show, a six-person party of adventurous audience members is
chosen from a list of volunteers. The party is supplied with
costumes, weapons (foam of course), and the use of ten spells (which
must rhyme), and given a task which must be completed in the
allotted time. Although each Dungeon Master is
scripted and rehearsed, the audience members are always wild cards.
For more information, visit
www.dungeonmasters.com. |
