Los Angeles Premiere

Welcome to Boomtown, circa 1849, population 661 - no, 665 - make that 689 - and rising! William Shakespeare's great Tragedy of King Lear is transformed into fun family foolery in the time of the California Gold Rush when The Actors' Gang presents "King O'Leary," its third annual Summer-in-the-Park production. Performances take place outdoors in Culver City's Media Park (adjacent to the Ivy Substation) every Saturday and Sunday morning from August 9 - 31 at 11 am, and admission is FREE.

The Actors' Gang's wild and woolly take on Shakespeare's tale of sibling rivalry and madness is reminiscent of the music hall shows of the Old West with songs, slapstick and a surprising love story. The outdoor production, which runs just under an hour, incorporates live music, masks, puppets and lots of spectacle to create a Lear that's loads of fun for all ages.

"King O'Leary" runs Saturdays and Sundays at 11 am, August 9 - 31. Admission is FREE. Media Park is located next to the Ivy Substation at 9070 Venice Boulevard (near the intersection of Culver and Venice Blvds.) in Culver City. Two hours free parking is available throughout downtown Culver City; the Ince Parking Lot (corner of Culver and Ince) is directly across the street from the park. For more information, call The Actors' Gang Box Office at 310-838-GANG (310-838-4264) or go to www.theactorsgang.com.

An exciting new adaptation by the Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble of Frank Wedekind's masterpiece, "Spring's Awakening", will run July 3 though July 26 at The Powerhouse Theatre in Santa Monica.

Written in 1891, "Spring's Awakening" follows the lives of three teenagers, Melchior, Moritz and Wendla, as they navigate their entry into sexual awareness. First performed in Germany in 1906, Wedekind's controversial play closed after one night in New York in 1917 amid charges of obscenity and public outrage. For the better part of the twentieth century Wedekind's intense body of work was largely unpublished and rarely performed. Yet the play's subject matter - teenage desire, suicide, abortion, and homosexuality - is as explosive and important today as it was a century ago.

"With the Tony Award-winning musical version coming to Los Angeles in the fall, we wanted to offer L.A. audiences the chance to experience the original, groundbreaking script in all its urgency," commented director Evan Drane.

In 1890s Germany, three children embark on a mission to explore their newfound interest in sex, a subject actively suppressed by the adults in their lives. The children's experimentation leads to grave consequences, culminating in the erasing of all that is familiar. Wedekind called his play "a tragedy of childhood" and dedicated the work to parents and teachers.

"Spring's Awakening" runs Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm, July 3 through July 26, except Friday, July 4 which is dark. There will be one Wednesday evening performance on July 23 at 8 pm. All tickets are $20.00. The Powerhouse Theatre is located at 3116 2nd Street in south Santa Monica, just off Main Street between Rose and Marine. For reservations and information, call (310) 396-3680 x3 or visit www.latensemble.org.

PEACHES EN REGALIA, written by Steven A. Lyons, a Bay Area playwright and a favorite of new play festivals nationwide, takes a facetious stab at how our current culture of “Self-Help” actually makes people all the more crazy. Peaches en Regalia won the Best of the Blitz ’05 award, and now L.A. audiences can reap the benefits.

SCOTT STEIN'S FIRST PLAY: A NEW PLAY BY SCOTT STEIN - by Scott Stein - is far from being Mr. Stein’s first play, but is a biting, hilarious commentary about navel-gazing playwrights and the effect that memory and imagination have on our lives.

BACK STAGE WEST CRITIC'S PICK - "Graham Farrow's searing drama is like a sharp punch to the gut"
"A MODERN DAY MASTERPIECE... The best play I've seen in twenty years" -- LA Times Blog
"Heart wrenching and fist clenching" -- What The Butler Saw

CALIFORNIA PREMIERE!
Following the murder of his only child, a man is forced to endure the attention that accompanies the release of the killer’s best-selling autobiography. How far will a father go to get even? And how does the woman who published the novel defend her actions? Timely and controversial, Talk About the Passion is an engaging drama that bravely confronts society’s morbid fascination with terrible crimes and our habit of forgiving the criminal and criminalizing the victim.

Please note: This play contains adult language and mature themes.

“School House Rock” was an ABC TV series that enchanted late boomers and Gen Xers for thirteen seasons from 1973 to 1986, returning to the air in 1992. It developed a cult following, featured on literally a dozen fan sites with the emergence of the Internet. It was referenced in motion pictures (“Reality Bites”, “Detroit Rock City”, “Never Been Kissed”) and in the ultimate form of tribute, spoofed by “The Simpsons”, “Family Guy” and Drew Carey.

What was “School House Rock”? One of the select few of television series ever to possess redeeming social value, it was comprised of fifty-one animated short films that combined cartoon animation with bouncy pop songs with remarkably infectious hooks that addictively entertained while simultaneously educating its audience on a wide variety of subjects, including mathematics, science, American history, civics and government and even progressive gender politics ( via a segment on women’s suffrage and the contributions of women).

Despite being educational, it was, above all else, loads of fun. The music would be considered pop rather than rock by 2007 standards, but it was rocky at the time of the series’ genesis.

A company in Chicago called Theatre BAM created the stage version of the show “School House Rock Live!” in 1993, taking it off-Broadway in 1995, where it was a hit and ran for 11 months. The new 2007 L.A. production by Greenway Arts Alliance marks the show’s professional Los Angeles Premiere.

The show’s plot is simple: Tom, a young teacher newly credentialed, nervously anticipates teaching his first class. Trying to relax with a video game, he encounters five characters who are actually different aspects of Tom’s personality emerging from various objects in the room as Tom’s imagination takes flight. The five are there to prepare Tom for his first day of teaching. The story is, of course, a device to launch twenty-or-so musical numbers from the original TV series, performed live on stage with the magical immediacy that only live theatre can provide. Will Tom ultimately emerge fully prepared to fill the bright young minds of his students with useful and fun information? You betcha.

Director Mark Savage’s concept updates the original proceedings to bring the show into the 21st Century. The original audience interaction is still there, but the introduction of gadgetry and technological innovation will bring additional visual appeal into this wonderful new staging.

Although “School House Rock Live!” is eminently suitable for the entire family, it should NOT be dismissed as kiddie theatre. Adults, especially those who watched and remember the original telecasts, will enjoy this live show at least as much as the kids, if not more so.

Meadows Basement is thrilled to conclude its 2005 season with the Los Angeles Premiere of Jordan Harrison’s comedy KID-SIMPLE: A Radio Play In The Flesh, directed by co-artistic directors Aaron Ginsburg & Wade McIntyre.

Fresh from the 2004 Humana Festival of New American Plays, this theatrical sound spectacle marks the opening of the new Theatre/Theater space, located on Pico just west of La Brea.

Kid-Simple follows Moll, a child prodigy who invents a machine for hearing sounds that can't be heard. But when a shapeshifting Mercenary steals the invention (and her heart), she must embark on a quest to save sound as we know it. Accompanied by the last boy-virgin in the eleventh grade, Moll crosses bottomless chasms and rafts raging rivers into a surreal world where sound is always more than what meets the ear. Kid-Simple is a quirky fable of innocence and experience, love and loss, which combines live sound effects, slide projections, and unruly onomatopoeia into an exhilarating and fanciful comedy.

LA PREMIERE of our award-wining 2003 hit, with the original cast!

Failed assassination attempts, New Age strippers, Techno music, Russian go-go boys, anarchist sell-outs, AIDS cocktails, horny ghosts, beautiful bodies, abusive lovers, business execs on the rampage and lots and lots of E...Welcome to Happy World!

Warning: Contains nudity, sex and other adult themes.