Now Playing @ PLAY7

MEHFIL-E: 'Kathak' Classical Dance and Music from North India

lucypr — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:08:19 -0500

by The Fountain Theatre and Chitresh Das Dance Company
The Fountain Theatre

The Fountain Theatre and Chitresh Das Dance Company present "Mehfil-e," a dynamic ‘Kathak’ classical dance and music series in an intimate setting. North Indian Kathak dance is characterized by lighting fast footwork and pirouettes, rhythmic interplay, and nuanced, graceful movements. No Kathak performance is complete without the rendition of a story - the sensual love between Lord Krishna and Radha, or the wrath of Lord Indra, god of rain and thunder. Second Sunday of every month at 7:30 pm: October 11; November 8; December 13, 2009; January 10, February 14, March 14, April 11, May 9, June 13, July 11, August 8, September 12, October 10, November 14, December 12, 2010. The Fountain Theatre, 5060 Fountain Ave., Los Angeles CA 90029 (Fountain at Normandie); $35; (323) 663-1525 or www.FountainTheatre.com.

Opening 10/11/2009

TITUS ANDRONICUS

rialtopr — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 01:32:18 -0600

by William Shakespeare
Theatre of NOTE

Theatre of NOTE presents William Shakespeare's TITUS ANDRONICUS, directed by Thomas Craig Elliott as the opener to their 28th season! It's been a long, hard road for the General Titus Andronicus as he brings his soldiers home - dead, alive and in pieces - to enjoy the rewards of honorable service. But, what do you do when the civilians you fought for disgrace you, elevate your enemies and subject you and your family to rape, murder and mutilation? What is left for you but madness... and revenge? "Extremities of grief would make men mad."

Opening 02/05/2010

The Ballad of Emmett Till

lucypr — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 02:41:57 -0600

by Ifa Bayeza
The Fountain Theatre

The Fountain Theatre opens its 20th Anniversary Season with the West Coast premiere of Ifa Bayeza's daring, folk and gospel-infused "The Ballad of Emmett Till" in celebration of Black History Month. Part history, part mystery and part ghost story, Bayeza's jazz/gospel/folk integration of past, present, fact and legend turns the story of the 1955 murder of 14-year old Emmett Till, whose shocking death helped spark the nascent civil rights movement, into a soaring work of music, poetic language and riveting theatricality. February 11-March 20; Thurs, Fri, Sat at 8 pm and Sun at 2 pm; $15-$28; The Fountain Theatre , 5060 Fountain Avenue (at Normandie), Los Angeles, CA 90029. (323) 663-1525 www.FountainTheatre.com.

Opening 02/11/2010

SLAUGHTER CITY

sonofsemele — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 23:16:26 -0600

by Naomi Wallace
Son of Semele Ensemble

SON OF SEMELE ENSEMBLE PRESENTS
THE LOS ANGELES PREMIERE OF
"SLAUGHTER CITY" BY NAOMI WALLACE

Los Angeles, CA: Award-winning theatre company Son of Semele Ensemble (SOSE) is presenting the Los Angeles premiere of SLAUGHTER CITY by Naomi Wallace, a political fairytale about race, gender and class. SLAUGHTER CITy will run at Son of Semele Theater in Silver Lake from February 19th to March 21st 2010.

Set in a rural meat factory where management is trying to break the union, SLAUGHTER CITY explores the struggle to remain human in a mechanized, profit-driven culture. The play examines the interpersonal relationships between labor and management, as it focuses on the lives of four workers struggling to earn a living under hellish conditions. Roach and Maggot are childhood best friends, who have worked in the slaughterhouse their entire adult lives. Brandon is a smooth-talking kid who is quickly working his way up the factory ladder, and Cod is a relative new-comer, a non-union worker whom the others resent for crossing their pickets. Alliances shift when Maggot falls in love with Cod, and the labor situation heats up to the boiling point.

SLAUGHTER CITY was awarded the 1995 Mobil Prize and received its world premiere in January 1996 at the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 1999, Wallace received the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship.

The production is directed by Barbara Kallir, with set design by Sarah Krainin, sound design by 2009 Ovation Award-nominee Joseph “Sloe“ Slawinski, costumes by Laura Wong, lighting by Barbara Kallir and Jonathan Williams, original music by Andrew Ingkavet, fight choreography by Edgar Landa and musical direction by Matthew McCray. The production stage manager is Flor San Roman and with production management by Ashley Steed. The cast of SLAUGHER CITY includes William Lewis Baker, Sarah Boughton, Elizabeth Clemmons, Christopher Emerson, Noelle Messier, Christina Ogunade, Bart Petty and LA Weekly Award-winner Alexander Wells.

Opening 02/19/2010

The Bad Arm - Confessions of a Dodgy Irish Dancer

szeitzew — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:14:09 -0600

by Maire Clerkin
Santa Monica Playhouse

If you thought Irish Dancers were all curly-haired cutie-pies with perfect posture – meet a scowling girl from London in this outrageous antidote to ‘Riverdance’.

Celebrate St Patrick’s Day with this uproarious one-woman comedy that asks what it means to be Irish, what it means if you don’t want to be, and what if you’re labeled an Irish Wannabe? London Irish writer-performer Máire Clerkin, who cut her teeth in the 80’s alternative comedy scene with an act called The Hairy Marys, relives her past with tales of the disappointing daughter of an Irish dancing-school mistress, ugly duckling syndrome, cultural confusion and a life dedicated to work avoidance.

‘…tale of identity crises and coming of age as an English-born Irish girl… at times poignant and at times hysterically funny’ Brooke Alberts, Folkworks

‘…glorious riffs of traditional Irish dance…animated impersonations and snapshot transitions in a world that Clerkin captures so meticulously’ Steven Leigh Morris, LA Weekly (Theater Pick)

The focal point of Clerkin's coming of age saga is her right elbow that drifts outward while performing Irish folk dances, a “bad arm” that her mother says is responsible for her placing poorly in so many competitions. The requisite of keeping both arms slammed into one's body emerges as a metaphoric constriction in a world that Clerkin captures so meticulously. Stephen Leigh Morris, LA Weekly

Playwright/Performer Máire Clerkin moved to California in 2003 from London. She is the founder of The Hairy Marys and Clerkinworks Irish Dance Theatre, both of which have toured the UK & Ireland extensively. Credits include Dancing on Dangerous Ground at Radio City Music Hall; Fennels, Flannels, Funnels at John Hegley; Centenary Knees Up at South Bank Centre; Unconnected Soundings at The Royal Opera House; Music Makers on BBC TV; and Revolver on BBC World Service. Clerkin has created five award-winning choreodramas for Irish Dance Academies since 2006. She directed Cadence Dance Theatre in Arizona (2004-05) and A Gaelic Gathering for the World City series at Disney Concert Hall in ‘07. In 2009, she was awarded a Durfee Foundation grant for an eight performance series of The Bad Arm at the Bang Theatre in Hollywood where it played to rave reviews and enthusiastic audiences. Now updated and staged for Santa Monica Playhouse, The Bad Arm – Confessions of a Dodgy Irish Dancer arrives on the Westside in all its glory. Máire Clerkin is a teaching artist with the LA Music Center and Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Director Dan O’Connor is co-founder of Impro Theatre, (Top 10 Best Theatre of 2009, LA Weekly), co-director for Jane Austen UnScripted, Shakespeare UnScripted and Sondheim UnScripted. Theatre credits include Improbable Theatre’s Lifegame (Off-Broadway), A Christmas Carol, Horatio, and Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at A Noise Within (Dramalogue Award for Best Actor), Ferdinand in The Tempest at Shakespeare Santa Cruz, and Joey in The Homecoming at The New Conservatory in San Francisco. TV credits include Seinfeld, Campus Ladies, Malcolm in the Middle, and The Newz. O’Conner co-created the NBC/ION television improv comedy show World Cup Comedy. His TV directing credits include Sons and Daughters and Campus Ladies.

Produced by Heather Woodbury’s Fomenting Arts Unlimited Incorporated

Opening 03/17/2010