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Announcing: LA Stage Alliance Announces ‘LA Stage Talks’ March 27 – July 9

LA STAGE ALLIANCE ANNOUNCES LA STAGE TALKS
MARCH 27 – JULY 9, 2012

FIVE PANELS EXPLORING THE CREATION OF
PERFORMING ARTS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA REGION

LA STAGE CEO TERENCE McFARLAND WILL MODERATE
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS

LA STAGE Alliance has announced LA Stage Talks, a series of panel discussions moderated by LA STAGE Alliance CEO Terence McFarland, exploring various aspects of the creation of performing arts in the Southern California region. The premiere event will take place on Tuesday, March 27 from 10am – 1pm, at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. All events are free, but space is limited. RSVP is required at www.LASTAGEAlliance.com/talks.

The first subject to be explored is What is the Intrinsic Impact of Live Theatre? Co-hosted by Center Theatre Group at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, noted arts researcher Alan Brown, project director Clayton Lord, and leaders of greater Los Angeles theatres will discuss Counting New Beans: Intrinsic Impact and the Value of Art, a new book that examines the ways theatre artists, administrators, patrons, and funders value and evaluate the art they make and consume. The results will be revealed of a two-year, nationwide research study called “Measuring the Intrinsic Impact of Live Theatre,” that looked at 18 theatre companies across the country, 58 productions, and over 20,000 survey responses — all in an effort to increase the field’s understanding of what seeing a piece of theatre actually does to someone emotionally, intellectually, and empathetically.

Speakers at the March 27 panel include researcher Alan Brown, researcher Clayton Lord, Theatre @ Boston Court artistic director Jessica Kubzansky, Musical Theatre West marketing director Michael Betts, South Coast Repertory director of marketing Bill Schroeder. The Kirk Douglas Theatre is located at 9820 Washington Boulevard in Culver City. Free parking is available in the City Hall underground garage, across Culver Boulevard from the rear of the theatre.

The schedule of future LA Stage Talks includes the following: Arts Criticism – How Does It Serve Los Angeles? (Monday, April 30, 7-9pm, co-hosted by Southern California Public Radio at KPCC Crawford Family Forum in Pasadena); Why Are Theatre-Makers the Masters of Collaboration? (Monday, May 14, 7-9pm, co-hosted by LA County Arts Commission/Ford Theatres at Inside the Ford); What Is Artistic Direction and How Can You Tell When Someone Is Doing It? (Monday, June 11, 7-9pm, co-hosted by the Geffen Playhouse, at the Geffen); and What Am I Hearing? The Aural Life of the Theatre (Monday, July 9. 7-9pm, co-hosted by the Colburn School at Zipper Hall). Terence McFarland will moderate all discussions.

All LA Stage Talks will be livestreamed, and panelists will take questions from online viewers during the events. Information on how to view and how to ask questions will be posted on each event date at www.LASTAGEAlliance.com, where further information on the LA Stage Talks program is available now.

LA STAGE Alliance, a non-profit organization empowering artists and engaging audiences since 1975, is dedicated to building awareness, appreciation, and support for the performing arts in Greater Los Angeles by strengthening the sector through community building, collaborative marketing, audience engagement, professional development, and advocacy. LA STAGE Alliance serves over 900 arts organizations annually, including over 450 dues-paying member professional, educational, and community based producing and presenting performing arts organizations in the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, and Ventura. LA STAGE Alliance’s constituents operate in intimate sized venues (99 seats or less), mid-sized venues (100-499 seats), and in large venues (500+ seats), and include independent producers, educational groups, and social service organizations that have a performing arts component. Additionally, LA STAGE Alliance directly serves over 50,000 diverse local, regional, national, and international performing arts patrons and, indirectly, three million unique patron households by conducting research on their behavior and buying habits. Providing access to the performing arts for patrons and access to resources for organizations has been our focus for 35 years.

LA STAGE Alliance programs are sponsored, in part, by Actors Equity Association, The Angell Foundation, Arts Council for Long Beach, California Arts Council, California Community Foundation, City of Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA/LA), City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Pasadena Cultural Affairs Division, City of Santa Monica Cultural Affairs Division, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Goldstar, the James Irvine Foundation, Los Angeles County Supervisors through the LA County Arts Commission, Los Angeles Times, MusiCares/Grammy Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation, SDC, The Shubert Foundation, and Sony Pictures Entertainment.

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03-22-12

Announcing: World Premiere of “The Bewildered Herd” by Cody Henderson at Greenway Court Theatre

GREENWAY ARTS ALLIANCE
ANNOUNCES WORLD PREMIERE OF
THE BEWILDERED HERD BY CODY HENDERSON
DIRECTED BY LAURIE WOOLERY

CAST WILL FEATURE CORRYN CUMMINS, JOHN GETZ,
DEREK MANSON, LISA RICHARDS, AND TRACE TURVILLE

OPENS APRIL 14 FOR LIMITED RUN
UPDATE: EXTENDED THROUGH SUNDAY 5/20

The Bewildered Herd posterGreenway Arts Alliance, home of the recent long running smash hit I Love Lucy Live Onstage, has announced the world premiere production of The Bewildered Herd by LA Weekly Award and Ovation Award nominee Cody Henderson, directed by Laurie Woolery. There will be two preview performances on April 12 and 13, and opening night is set for Saturday, April 14 at 8:00. The limited engagement will run through Sunday, May 6. This limited run is extended through Sunday, May 20.

The Bewildered Herd tells the serio-comic tale of Charlie ‘Bingo’ Bingham, a man who has made a living spinning products and political candidates. When his father dies, his dementia-suffering mother moves in. Bingo’s daughter has dropped out of college to be with a conspiracy theorist, and his wife has lost all faith in him. Using his polished arsenal of nostalgia, fear, and desire, Bingo tries to manufacture happiness and truth.

The cast will feature (in alphabetical order) Corryn Cummins, John Getz, Derek Manson, Lisa Richards, and Trace Turville. The award-winning design team includes Susan Gratch (scenic), Dan Weingarten (lighting), Ann Closs-Farley (costumes), and John Zalewski (sound). The Bewildered Herd is produced by Dan Friedman (Greenway producing director). The mission of Greenway Arts Alliance is to unite the community through art, education and enterprise. A nationally recognized innovator, Greenway has created a world class model of how a non-profit arts organization can thrive while operating 99-seat theatre that welcomes emerging artists, students, and seasoned professionals alike.

Playwright Cody Henderson’s credits include Wonderlust and Pacific Daylight (Theatre of Note), Cold/Tender (Theatre @ Boston Court), The Lawn (Ojai Playwrights Conference, Writer-in-Residence; Redwood Curtain, Eureka, CA), and Carrots for Hare (Ghost Road Company/Powerhouse Theatre). His plays have been developed by Center Theatre Group, New York Stage and Film, Ensemble Studio Theatre-LA, ASK Theatre Projects, The Blank Theatre, Cypress College, and California State Summer School for the Arts. Henderson also regularly writes scripts for the LA Philharmonic’s Symphonies For Youth at Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Director Laurie Woolery is the associate artistic director of Cornerstone Theater Company. As a director, playwright, educator and actor, Woolery has worked at South Coast Repertory, Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Inge Center for the Arts, Denver Center, LATC, Deaf-West Theatre, fofo Theatre, Highways Performance Space, A Noise Within, and the Sundance Playwrights Lab, among others. She is a longtime artist with the Virginia Avenue Project, and former artist-in-residence for Hollygrove Children’s Home. Woolery is on faculty at Citrus College and California State University at Northridge.

Preview performances of The Bewildered Herd are Thursday, April 12, and Friday April 13 at 8pm, and opening night is set for Saturday, April 14 at 8:00. The regular performance schedule is Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 7pm through May 6, and all seats are $24 (general admission), with a discounted price of $18 with a student, senior, or military ID. Tickets are on sale now, and may be purchased online at www.greenwayarts.tix.com or by calling (323) 655-7679, ext. 100.

The Greenway Court Theatre is located at 544 N. Fairfax Boulevard, in Los Angeles, 90036. Adjacent free parking is available.

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03-22-12

Announcing: Mack & Poppy Return to MBar for One Night Only April 14

MACK & POPPY
RETURN TO HOLLYWOOD’S M BAR
FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY

AMERICA’S BEST LEAST-KNOWN LOUNGE ACT
PERFORMS ON SATURDAY, APRIL 14 AT 8PM & 10PM

Mack & PoppyM & P Productions has announced a one night only triumphant return to Hollywood’s M Bar by the legendary Mack & Poppy, the nation’s best least-known lounge act. With two shows at 8pm and 10pm on Saturday, April 14, Mack & Poppy will once again sashay into M Bar, this time with a musical look at their tumultuous, legendary marriage and professional partnership. “Louis and Keely had nothing on us,” said Poppy.

Following the success of their first-ever holiday show, It’s Christmas! (and lesser holidays celebrated by Heathens), this dynamic duo of comedy and song will take audiences on a trip down memory lane that recalls Mack & Poppy’s first meeting, courtship, marriage, and their meteoric rise from total obscurity to semi-fame. Songs by Irving Berlin, Frank Loesser, Jerry Herman, and Grace Slick, among others, will play a big part in this very special evening. Much acclaimed musical director Jack Cheddar will guide the tour.

The third most famous export from Hoboken, New Jersey (after Frank Sinatra and raw sewage), Mack Diamond began his career as a child star, singing on street corners with his two older brothers, Shlomo and Moishe. After Moishe left the trio to appear in the third national tour of Fiddler on the Roof, Mack & Shlomo tried to continue as 2 Jews 2, but the magic was gone. This led Mack to a decade of depression and alcoholism in Las Vegas, where he spent eight years performing his solo show, A Yiddishe Mackie, at The Imperial Palace. Along the way, he met the lovely Poppy Fields while she was in the chorus of Jubilee!, and the rest is showbiz history.

Singer, showgirl, and Southern Belle Poppy Fields escaped the narrow-minded confines of Possum Trot, Alabama, and traveled the world as a singer/dancer/actress, entertaining celebrities, businessmen, and heads-of-state. After a successful beauty pageant career, Poppy began her love affair with the theatrical stage in a triumphant turn as Anytime Annie in the second bus-and-truck company of 42nd Street. A multitude of stage roles followed, but eventually the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas called. Critics have fondly remarked, “No showgirl could work a cage or a pole as well as Poppy Fields.” During those Vegas years, Poppy wed and divorced her first four husbands before finally meeting and marrying the “Sensation of the 24-hour Buffet,” entertainer Mack Diamond. Said Poppy, “Some girls work their way up through their marriages. I worked my way down.

Mack & Poppy are the creation of Christopher Michael Graham and Tod Macofsky. Graham (Poppy Fields) is originally from a small town in Alabama. A proud member of Actors Equity Association, Christopher has appeared in numerous plays and musicals across the United States over the course of his 20 or so years in the theatre. A few of his credits include The Lost Colony, multiple productions of Fiddler on the Roof, A Chorus Line, 42nd Street, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Macbeth. Christopher has choreographed productions of Fiddler on the Roof, The King and I, Anything Goes, and 42nd Street, among many others. For six years, he was a proud member of the internationally recognized Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles.
Macofsky (Mack Diamond) has been a member of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles for the past 11 years, where he has sung and danced with such luminaries as Lily Tomlin, Joanna Gleason, Liz Torres, Valarie Pettiford, Jane Lanier, Nancy Dussault, Malcolm Gets, and Jerry Herman. Tod’s biggest claim to fame is as the original Bris boy in the world premiere hit musical comedy revue Naked Boys Singing! at Celebration Theatre. He also performed in the first same sex version of Stephen Sondheim’s Marry Me A Little. More recently, Tod originated the role of Kevin Peterson in the world premiere musical 40 Is The New 15, and played a shot, decapitated, frozen dead body on the ABC television series Castle.

Mack & Poppy will play two performances only on Saturday, April 14, at 8pm and 10pm. For the early show, dinner seating begins at 7pm; for the late show, seating begins at 9:30pm. In both cases, there is a cover charge of $15, along with a $10 food/drink minimum. For reservations, call (323) 856-0036 and for more information, visit www.mackandpoppy.com. M Bar is located at 1253 Vine Street, in the Fountain and Vine Plaza, in Hollywood. Valet parking is available.

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03-21-12