Announcing: Show at Barre Adds Second Date for Erich Bergen, Wed 5/25 at 8pm

SHOW AT BARRE CONCERT SERIES IN LOS FELIZ
ADDS SECOND DATE FOR ERICH BERGEN
WEDNESDAY, MAY 25 AT 8PM

Due to popular demand, the Show at Barre Concert Series has announced a second date for Erich Bergen, on Wednesday, May 25 at 8pm. Continuing the celebration of his first solo CD release, The Vegas Sessions, the former Jersey Boys star will also appear in concert at BARRE vt on the previously announced date of Wednesday, May 18 at 8pm.

Erich Bergen recently completed a three-year run starring as Bob Gaudio in the Tony and Grammy Award-winning Jersey Boys, as part of the Los Angeles, San Francisco, First National Tour and Las Vegas companies. Other recent credits include appearances on Desperate Housewives and Gossip Girl, and Bergen is currently starring in The Temperamentals for The Blank Theatre Company through June 5. He recently released his first music video for the single Is Everything Alright, featuring the star of NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice and Playboy Playmate of the Year, Hope Dworaczyk.

Bergen’s CD features new studio recordings of original compositions in the pop genre, along with live tracks recorded during three sold out concerts in Las Vegas in April, 2009. The disc will be available for purchase at the upcoming Show at Barre dates, and is currently available at iTunes, Amazon.com, CD Baby, and other digital music outlets.

Tickets are on sale now for May 18 and May 25, and are priced at $20 for general admission, and $35 for VIP admission, which includes preferred seating, a complimentary glass of champagne, and a copy of Bergen’s CD. Tickets can be purchased online at www.showatbarre.com, or by calling (323) 661-6163, ext. 20. Barre vt is located at 1714 N. Vermont in Los Feliz. Valet parking is available behind the restaurant.

Visit Erich Bergen at www.erichbergen.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/erichbergenfans, and follow Erich on twitter @erichbergen.

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05-12-11

Announcing: Blank Theatre Company’s 19th Annual Young Playwrights Festival Kicks Off June 2

THE BLANK THEATRE COMPANY’S 19TH ANNUAL NATIONWIDE
YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL CHOOSES WINNERS

12 Plays By The Nation’s Brightest Teenaged Playwrights
Will Be Performed At The Stella Adler Theatre In Hollywood Throughout June, 2011

The Blank Theatre Company’s 19th Annual Nationwide Young Playwrights Festival has chosen 12 plays by teenaged playwrights, aged 14 -19, from six different states. These plays will be presented by professional actors and directors in this year’s month-long festival at the Stella Adler Theatre in Hollywood, beginning June 2, 2011.

“Ever since I acted in the first Young Playwrights Festival, I have always had a special place in my heart for these extremely talented teenagers, “ says Blank Artistic Producer Noah Wyle. “The issues tackled, and the depth of emotion and understanding these kids have is remarkable. I wish I knew as much as they do when I was their age!”

This year’s winning plays are: LOCKDOWN by Nicole Acton, Grandville, MI Age 17; LIVING BY NUMBERS by Lucy Portman, Interlochen, MI, Age 17; EISEGESIS by Nickolas Mecikalski, Madison, AL Age 17; THE ADVENTURES OF BOY AND GIRL AS TOLD BY INTERRUPTED MONOLOGUES by Alex Grossman, New York, NY, Age 16 and Rachel Kaly, Forest Hills, NY, Age 15; PLATFORM NINE by Rebecca Moretti, Los Angeles, CA, Age 15; WASH by Delali Ayivor, Interlochen, MI, Age 18; YOU ARE SO BEAUTIFUL by Layla Treuhaft-Ali, Jackson Heights, NY, Age 15; INK AND PAINT GIRLS by Emma Steinkellner, Santa Barbara, CA, Age 16; WALK TO THE VET by Cathy Mayer, Santa Monica, CA, Age 17; TANOSHINDE by Alex Nunnelly, Cambridge, MA, Age 19; LIKE A DOG IN SPACE by Aliza Goldstein, Jacksonville, FL, Age 19; and SPIDERMAN: TURN ON THE LIGHTS by Adam Brodheim, New York, NY, Age 17.

A panel of theatre professionals chose from plays submitted by teenagers across the nation. Winning playwrights are next assigned a mentor, and then a professional director who will help them hone their scripts for four public performances with professional actors. This year’s mentors include Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award-winner E.M. Lewis, and television producers Adam Belanoff (The Closer), David Rambo (V, CSI), and Jeff Greenstein (Desperate Housewives). In the past 18 years, The Blank has produced 208 plays by teenaged playwrights. Eleven of those plays or playwrights have gone on to be presented on The Blank’s mainstage, including Speech & Debate by Stephen Karam, a three-time winner in The Blank’s YPF.

Additionally, many of the plays have been nominated for LA theatre awards including: an Ovation Award for Best Writing—World Premiere, and an LA Weekly Award for Best One- Act Playwriting.

“Alumni” playwrights are populating the nation’s theatres and sound stages with their work. Many YPF winners have gone on to successful writing careers creating TV shows, filling regional stages, teaching writing to others, and founding regional Young Playwrights Festivals. This year, 21-year-old Adam Cochran (a two-time winner in YPF) was nominated for a Drama Desk Award in NYC for Outstanding Music in a Play.

This year’s festival is made possible by The Harold & Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, The Plum Foundation, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, and City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.

The Blank Theatre Company’s 19th Annual Young Playwrights Festival runs June 2 – 26 at the Stella Adler Theatre, 6773 Hollywood Boulevard, in Hollywood. The performance schedule is Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 2pm. Each week’s program includes three plays, and admission is $17 for adults and $12 for students. Festival passes, which are good for one ticket each week of the festival, are $56. Tickets may be purchased in advance online at www.TheBlank.com, or via phone by calling (323) 661-9827.

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05-12-11

Announcing: Blank Theatre Company’s ‘The Temperamentals’ Extended Through June 5

THE BLANK THEATRE COMPANY’S WEST COAST PREMIERE OF
THE TEMPERAMENTALS
EXTENDED DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND THROUGH JUNE 5
AT THE 2ND STAGE THEATRE

In 1950s Los Angeles, tired of police harassment, back alley bars and living in fear, a few brave souls set out to change their world and claim their civil rights. In a time when nothing could be spoken in the open, notorious communist Harry Hay and cultural icon Rudi Gernreich fell in love while building a movement. This is their story. “Temperamental” was code for “homosexual,” part of a secret survival language created by gay men in the pre-Stonewall United States.

The cast, in alphabetical order, is Erich Bergen (Jersey Boys, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum for Reprise, Venice at the Kirk Douglas Theatre), BAFTA Award-winner Dennis Christopher (Deadwood, Profiler, and returning to The Blank where his performance as Alan Turing in Breaking The Code won him LA Weekly and LADCC Awards), Patrick Scott Lewis (American Dreams, Zodiac), Mark Shunock (Timon in The Lion King), and John Tartaglia (Tony Award nominee for Avenue Q; the original cast of Shrek The Musical). Director Michael Matthews has worked extensively on Broadway, internationally, and in Los Angeles and Chicago. Recent highlights in Los Angeles include the critically acclaimed productions of Haram Iran!, The Women of Brewster Place, and Take Me Out at Celebration Theatre; Dead End at the Ahmanson Theatre, and The Cherry Orchard (starring Annette Bening) at the Mark Taper Forum. He has also directed The Jazz Age and The Santaland Diaries for The Blank.

Of the recent smash off-Broadway production, The New York Times called The Temperamentals “Intellectual, emotional, and sexual.” “Combines savvy context and ascending flights of bittersweet fabulousness,” said New York Newsday. And the Associated Press called it, “Fascinating, entertaining, and emotionally affecting.” Playwright Jon Marans is well known for his play Old Wicked Songs, which was a 1996 Pulitzer Prize finalist for Drama, and has been produced throughout the United States and translated and produced in a dozen countries around the world. Other plays by Marans include A Strange and Separate People, Child Child, and Jumping for Joy.

The design team for The Temperamentals includes set by Kurt Boetcher, lighting by Cameron Zetty, costumes by Lauren Tyler, and sound by Warren Davis. Matt Wolpe serves as music director, and producers are Daniel Henning, Noah Wyle, Matthew Graber and Angel Parker. The production stage manager is Marcedes Clanton.

Admission ranges from $26-$30 for regular performances. Tickets are on sale now and may be purchased by visiting www.TheBlank.com, or by calling (323) 661-9827. A speakeasy-style bar will be open to ticket holders at the Dragonfly Club (adjacent to the 2nd Stage) before evening performances, as well as at intermission.

The Blank’s 2nd Stage Theatre is located at 6500 Santa Monica Boulevard (at Wilcox), in Hollywood. Secured valet parking is available.

Photograph by Greg Gorman: (L to R) Mark Shunock, John Tartaglia, Erich Bergen, Dennis Christopher, Patrick Scott Lewis.  For more photographs, click here.

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05-10-11