Announcing: Benefit Play Reading for Celebration Theatre Starring Wendie Malick and Robert Forster – Mon 11/25 at 8pm

Celebration Theatre
Presents a Benefit Reading of
A KIND OF KIND
A New Play By Miles Brandman
Starring Wendie Malick and Robert Forster
Directed by Michael Matthews

Monday, November 25 at 8pm
Atwater Village Theatre in LA
Proceeds to Benefit Celebration Theatre

Celebration Theatre has announced a benefit reading of A Kind of Kind, a world premiere play by Miles Brandman, starring two-time Emmy Award nominee Wendie Malick and Academy Award nominee Robert Forster on Monday, November 25 at 8pm at the Atwater Village Theatre in Los Angeles. Directed by Ovation Award-winner Michael Matthews, proceeds from the reading will go to support Celebration Theatre.

A Kind of Kind: When two liberal parents learn that their adult son has been hiding his homosexuality from them, they engage in a hunt for any clue as to what could have caused their son not to trust them. Now suspecting each other guilty of the same discrimination they’ve spent a lifetime looking down on, they must reconcile their own transgressions to save the family.

Wendie Malick starred on the smash NBC comedy series Just Shoot Me from 1997—2003, earning two Emmy Award nominations for her work. Currently one of the stars of TV Land’s wildly popular Hot in Cleveland, Malick is also well known for her many guest starring appearances on such shows as Frasier, Reba, Seinfeld, Cybill and Jake in Progress among many others.

Robert Forster is perhaps best known for his film performances in Medium Cool and Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown, which brought him an Academy Award nomination for Best Featured Actor. Also acclaimed for his performances in such films as Reflections In A Golden Eye, The Stalking Moon and Mulholland Drive, he has most recently been seen in The Descendants and Olympus Has Fallen.

Playwright Miles Brandman is a writer and director for film and theatre. In the fall of 2010, Brimmer Street Theatre Company produced the world premiere of his play Summer in Hell at studio|stage in Hollywood. Brandman also wrote and directed the independent feature film Sex and Breakfast. Other plays staged in Los Angeles include Ladies of the State, An Old Problem and All Your Hard Work (also produced by Brimmer Street).

Director Michael Matthews is Co-Artistic Director of Celebration Theatre, where he helmed Celebration’s most recent production, the West Coast premiere of The Homosexuals by Philip Dawkins, now running at the Atwater Village Theatre through December 21. For his work on Celebration’s production of The Color Purple he won the Ovation Award for Best Director of a Musical. His most recent directorial credits include Peter Pan: The Boy Who Hated Mothers at The Blank Theatre, Funny Girl for 3-D Theatricals and Rabbit Hole for McCoy-Rigby Entertainment.

Now in its 31st season, Celebration Theatre is a community of artists dedicated to presenting innovative, provocative and relevant work that examines the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer experience. The theatre endeavors to challenge society’s perception of the community and give a vibrant voice to its evolving identity.

The benefit reading of A Kind of Kind is being produced for Celebration by Michael C. Kricfalusi, Rebecca Eisenberg and Todd Milliner. Tickets are $35 each, and may be purchased online at www.celebrationtheatre.com or by phone at (323) 957-1884. There will be a reception immediately following the reading. The Atwater Village Theatre is located at 3269 Casitas Avenue, in Los Angeles.

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11-21-13

The Musical of Musicals (The Musical) (LAArtsOnline.com)

Announcing: 24th Annual Ovation Awards Presented on Sunday, November 3

24TH ANNUAL LA STAGE ALLIANCE OVATION AWARDS
PRESENTED SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 3
AT THE HISTORIC SAN GABRIEL MISSION PLAYHOUSE

KUDOS FOR 2013 SEASON
SHARED BY 13 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA THEATRE COMPANIES

CLICK HERE FOR FOR A PDF OF COMPLETE WINNERS LIST

The 24th Annual LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Awards, celebrating theatrical excellence and achievement during the 2013 season, were presented on Sunday, November 3 at the San Gabriel Mission Playhouse

Thirty-five awards were bestowed upon 13 different Southern California theatre companies. Leading the pack with 12 was Center Theatre Group (seven for The Nether at the Kirk Douglas Theatre; three for Joe Turner’s Come and Gone at the Mark Taper Forum; one for The Scottsboro Boys at the Ahmanson Theatre; and one for The Royale at the Kirk Douglas Theatre). CTG was followed by 3-D Theatricals with five awards (four for Parade and one for Shrek the Musical). The Chance Theater and La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts took home three awards each (including Best Season for La Mirada); Circle X Theatre Company, the Fountain Theatre, and the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble tied with two each.

For a complete list of winners, visit www.OvationAwards.com, or click here.

LA STAGE Alliance CEO Terence McFarland commented, “The Ovation Awards highlight the world class artistry happening each night on Los Angeles’ stages. This annual celebration brings together our diverse community to acknowledge not only the very best in design, performance and production, but also to unite our theatre-rich region and many of our numerous theatre families. We hope that the recognition of an Ovation Award serves as a catalyst to ever higher artistic achievement and future employment for our theatre professionals.”

Additionally, Sarah Lyding, Executive Director of the Biller Family Foundation, presented the Biller BEST (Building Excellence in Small Theatre) Awards, including checks totaling $100,000, to the following LA theatre companies: The Antaeus Company, The Blank Theatre, Deaf West Theatre, East West Players, The Theatre @ Boston Court, and Theatre Banshee. Center Theatre Group presented the 2013 Sherwood Award, for innovative and adventurous artists, to Miranda Wright. This award is endowed by the Sherwood family, and is accompanied by $10,000 to further Wright’s artistic work.

The ceremony was hosted by Michael McKean, and this year’s celebrity presenters included Ed Begley Jr., Erich Bergen, Amy Brenneman, Charlie Carver, Keith David, Barrett Foa, Val Kilmer, Sharon Lawrence, Wendie Malick, Melissa Manchester, Ana Ortiz, Cathy Rigby, Jason Ritter, Susan Sullivan, and Steven Weber. They were joined by many local performers, city officials, union reps, artistic, managing, and executive directors, and other artistic personnel representing the wide and varied Los Angeles theatre community.

Founded in 1989, the LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Awards are the only peer-judged theatre awards in Los Angeles. Voters are Los Angeles theatre professionals who are chosen each year, through an application process, by the Ovation Awards Rules Committee. The list of nominees is determined by a tabulation of scores conducted by Green Hasson Janks. This year’s Ovation Award eligibility period ran from August 27, 2012 through August 25, 2013.

LA STAGE Alliance programs are sponsored in part by Actors Equity, The Biller Family Foundation, California Arts Council, California Community Foundation, City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, DatabaseWorks, the DEW Foundation, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Goldstar, James Irvine Foundation, Andrew Mellon Foundation, Bakers Man Productions, Ken Werther Publicity, Live Event Pros, Los Angeles County Supervisors through the LA County Arts Commission, National Endowment for the Arts, Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, 4 Wall Lighting, Pacific Coast Entertainment, The Shubert Foundation, and Sony Pictures Entertainment.

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11-03-13