Announcing: Radio Icon Sheena Metal Joins ESTLA Board of Directors

ICONIC RADIO PERSONALITY SHEENA METAL
JOINS ENSEMBLE STUDIO THEATRE LA
BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Sheena Metal, an entertainment icon who has anchored numerous radio shows for over 17 years in Los Angeles, has been named to the Board of Directors of Ensemble Studio Theatre Los Angeles, it was announced by Gates McFadden, Artistic Director.

Sheena Metal has anchored a wide and varied number of radio shows in Los Angeles. During her six years at KLSX, she helmed five different programs. The Sheena Metal Experience, her current top-rated talk show, airs daily on LA’s hottest new station, LA Talk Radio, on which she has interviewed television and movie stars, Broadway legends, studio heads, writers, doctors, chefs, shark experts and ghost hunters … to name only a few. In addition, Metal hosts three other weekly shows for the successful radio station. They are Music Highway, an internationally syndicated music/talk hybrid, Haunted Playground, a paranormal cornucopia of ghosts, monsters, aliens and other things that go bump in the night and, her newest effort, Two Chicks Talkin’ Politics, which pairs her with Brady Bunch alum Susan Olsen, for a show that uses both ladies’ irreverent opinions to provoke and re-unite Americans during this difficult time for our country.

With all of this, Metal’s first love will always be live theatre. A graduate of South Coast Repertory’s prestigious Youth Conservatory, she has produced, acted in, and directed various productions in both New York and LA, including The Vagina Monologues, Spoon River Anthology, George Washington Slept Here, The Miser, You Can’t Take It With You, and most recently, Last Summer At Bluefish Cove for the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Project.

Ensemble Studio Theatre LA is one of Los Angeles’s premiere developmental and producing theatres. The company is dedicated to developing and producing new work by established and emerging playwrights; providing a lifelong artistic home to its membership of artistic professionals; and sustaining live theatre, the vital and unique interaction of artist and audiences.

Sheena Metal’s appointment to the Board of ESTLA is effective immediately. For more info, visit www.sheenametal.com or www.ensemblestudiotheatrela.org.

# # #

5-18-12

Announcing: Listing Info & Play Descriptions – The Blank Theatre’s 20th Annual Young Playwrights Festival

THE BLANK THEATRE
20TH ANNUAL YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL

Professional actors and directors present 12 winning plays by young playwrights from across the nation during this prestigious four-week festival. Each week is a different evening of three plays. For complete list of plays and performance dates, see schedule below.

DATES:  May 31 – June 24

TIMES:  Thurs/Fri/Sat at 8pm; Sun at 2pm

ADMISSION:  Adults $20 Students $14.  Festival Pass (one seat each week) $64

TICKET INFO:  Available online at www.TheBlank.com, or by calling (323) 661-9827.

LOCATION:  The Stella Adler Theatre, 6773 Hollywood Boulevard (at Highland), in Hollywood.

WEEK ONE May 31 – June 3

COFFEE TALK
By Spencer Emerson Opal-Levine (age 9), Sarasota, FL
What do you want to become? Do you have to follow the rules? The denizens of a local Starbucks ask these same questions, but the answers are not what you expect.
Mentor – Ellen Byron
Director – David Shine

THE GRANT PROPOSAL
By Nick Mecikalski (age 18), Madison, AL
In the too-near future, your productivity is very closely watched and charted. This family struggles with what one must do when Grandpa is no longer “useful.”
Mentor – Mark Saltzman
Director – James Kerwin

PRINCESS
By Kate Herzlin (age 19), Rockville Centre, NY
Princess has been sheltered her whole life, as if raised in a fairy tale.  But what should she do if a dream life isn’t her dream?  Can she ever find her true self or must she live everyone else’s version of happily ever after?”
Mentor – Brighde Mullins
Director – April Webster

WEEK TWO June 7 – 10

THE INDEX
By Zachary Weaver (age 15), Overland Park, KS
What if they kept a list of your life accomplishments? What would be in your Index? Maybe you haven’t done anything noteworthy. Does that make you not worthy?
Mentor – Patrick Burleigh
Director – Trevor Bishop

SCRAPBOOK
By Brendan Blaber (age 17), Indian Head Park, IL
The last day at Camp Itchyknee seems like the end of the world. And when you are 12 years old, it just may be. Especially if you haven’t been able to tell the cute girl how much you like her yet.
Mentor – David Rambo
Director – J. Richey Nash

THE ART OF LOSING
By Nicole Acton (age 18), Interlochen, MI
Family matters. It is important to give of yourself to help those that have always helped you. But how much can one give? And for how long? And at what cost?
Mentor – Christopher Kyle
Director – Loni Peristere

WEEK THREE June 14 – 17

DAMMIT!
By David Agronin (age 17), Owings Mills, MD
Len needs to apologize to his girlfriend but she’s not picking up her phone, so he leaves a message.  And then another. And then another. Can he stop digging this terrible hole for himself and ever get back in her arms?
Mentor – Austin Winsberg
Director – Matt Graber

OTHER PEOPLE’S ORGANS
By Paige Roth (age 18), San Antonio, TX
Getting Mom’s attention is never easy, especially when she is so self-obsessed. But Carlton needs more that just that from her mother: she needs to know what really happened to her father.
Mentor – Robert L. Freedman
Director – Ameenah Kaplan

ARC
By Elana Zeltser (age 16), Sherman Oaks, CA
Kacey doesn’t get why she needs to write a paper on Joan of Arc. What could this girl from a million years ago have to do with her? She just might find out, when Joan in her jail cell appears in Kacey’s bedroom.
Mentor – Kelly Miller
Director – Barbara Bain

WEEK FOUR June 21 – 24

BEAR IN MIND
By Emma Steinkellner (age 17), Santa Barbara, CA
Sometimes having a conscience can be a real bear. In Annie’s case it is literally a large British bear who wants her to become respectable. So naturally, she tries to get rid of him.
Mentor – Gary Tieche
Director – Jeff Maynard

ONE PLUS ONE IS FOUR
By Rachel Kaly (age 16), Forest Hills, NY
When a meteor is hurtling it way to earth, about to destroy all in half an hour, is it too late to look for love?
Mentor – Dave Holstein
Director – Warren Davis

THE CARDIOLUTHIER
By Dylan Zwickel (age 19), Manhattan Beach, CA
When your violin strings break, you see a Luthier to get them fixed. But where do you go when you break your heart strings?
Mentor – John Cariani
Director – Michael Matthews

# # #

05-15-12

Announcing: Erich Bergen Will Star in “How Sweet It Is” Feature

ERICH BERGEN SET TO STAR IN FEATURE FILM
HOW SWEET IT IS
WRITTEN BY BRIAN HERZLINGER AND JAY BLACK
NOW IN PRODUCTION IN LOS ANGELES

Erich Bergen has been set to star in How Sweet It Is, a musical comedy feature film, now in production in Los Angeles. The movie, which also stars Joe Piscopo, Erika Christensen, Paul Sorvino, Michael Paré, Eddie Griffin, and Burt Reynolds, is directed by Brian Herzlinger, and is scheduled for a Fall 2012 release.

Erich Bergen is perhaps best known for his critically acclaimed performance as Four Seasons member Bob Gaudio in the first national tour and Las Vegas companies of the Broadway smash Jersey Boys. Other Los Angeles stage work includes A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum for Reprise, Venice for Center Theatre Group, and A Snow White Christmas for Lythgoe Family Productions. Bergen’s television credits include Gossip Girl, Desperate Housewives, Person of Interest, and Franklin & Bash. Most recently, he appeared in Joey Dakota, a CW musical pilot that also featured Amber Stevens, Craig Horner, Brooklyn Sudano, and Scott Wolf. Bergen is also an accomplished songwriter and recording artist. His debut CD, The Las Vegas Sessions, is available on iTunes and at Amazon.com.

Written by Brian Herzlinger and Jay Black, How Sweet It Is focuses on the life of a down-on-his-luck, alcoholic theatre owner named Jack, who is in danger of losing the one thing he loves most because he is in debt to the mob. Jack has one last chance to save his legendary musical theatre, and it hinges on his new musical production called “How Sweet It Is,” which must have a strong opening night. The mob boss, however, fancies himself a casting director and insists his cronies and misfit friends play the parts.

How Sweet It Is is produced by Steven Chase, Rick Finkelstein, Suzanne DeLaurentiis, Ivan Kavalsky, Keith Weiner, and Matthew L. Weiner.

For more information, visit www.erichbergen.com.

# # #

05-18-12