PRESS RELEASE — LESLIE JORDAN RETURNS LOS ANGELES LGBT CENTER’S RENBERG THEATRE, DECEMBER 4—21

Reaction Productions and the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s
Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center
Present
LESLIE JORDAN: FRUIT FLY
OPENS DECEMBER 4 FOR THREE WEEKS ONLY

The acclaimed, Emmy Award-winning actor Leslie Jordan will return to the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Renberg Theatre with his smash hit solo play, Fruit Fly, for three weeks only, December 4—21.

Jordan, who recently created a sensation in London on the reality TV show Celebrity Big Brother, has received rave reviews wherever he has performed Fruit Fly, a heartfelt and hilarious homage to his parents (especially his mother) and growing up gay in the Deep South. Touching and bawdy, Fruit Fly contains all the elements that have made Jordan an international star … preternatural charm, exquisite comic timing, total honesty, and spicy, libidinous fun.

In the show, Jordan asks the age-old question, “Do Gay Men Really Become Their Mothers?” He has crafted a look back at how his Southern Belle mom, Miss Peggy Sue—an indomitable steel magnolia who inspires him to this day—survived his tales of woe, regret, success, and rewards. Directed by David Galligan, this show-and-tell tribute will have audiences captivated by the gamut of emotions served up by this no-holds-barred performer.

Leslie Jordan: Fruit Fly is set to open on Thursday, December 4 at 8pm for a limited run through December 21 only. Performances are Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 7pm. General admission seating is $35, and tickets are on sale now online at www.lalgbtcenter.org/theatre or by phone at (323) 860-7300.

The Renberg Theatre is located at the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Village at Ed Gould Plaza, 1125 N. McCadden Place (one block east of Highland, just north of Santa Monica Boulevard), in Hollywood. Free onsite parking is available.

# # #

11-04-14

PRESS RELEASE — 2014 OVATION AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED

2014 LA STAGE ALLIANCE OVATION AWARDS
PRESENTED SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 2
AT HISTORIC SAN GABRIEL MISSION PLAYHOUSE

The 2014 LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Awards, celebrating theatrical excellence and achievement during the past 12 months, were presented on Sunday, November 2 at the San Gabriel Mission Playhouse.

Thirty-five awards were bestowed upon 18 different Southern California theatre companies. The Geffen Playhouse, Skylight Theatre Company, and the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts tied with four statues each; La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, The Echo Theater Company, and The Theatre @ Boston Court tied with three awards each.

The breakdown is as follows: Geffen Playhouse — three for The Country House and one for Slowgirl; Skylight Theatre Company — four nods for The Wrong Man; Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts — two for Parfumerie and two for Maurice Hines is Tappin’ Thru Life; La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts — two for Floyd Collins and one for Les Misérables; Echo Theater Company — two for Backyard and one for Firemen; The Theatre @ Boston Court — three for Everything You Touch (which was a co-production with Rattlestick Playwrights Theater).

Other companies honored were Pacific Resident Theatre, Chance Theater, Fugitive Kind Theater, 3-D Theatricals, Musical Theatre West, IAMA Theatre Company, A Noise Within, Actors Co-op, Actors’ Gang, MainStreet Theatre Company, and Center Theatre Group. The Fountain Theatre received the Best Season Award.

For more, click on this link to view the full 2014 Ovation Winners Press Release.
For a complete list of winners, visit www.OvationAwards.com.

# # #

11-03-14

“What the Butler Saw” (LAArtsOnline.com)

www.laartsonline.com/theatre/
By Ken Werther
Graphics Courtesy of CTG

Twisting plot lines, mistaken identities, slamming doors, blackmail, sexual innuendo, subversive wit, and an outrageous lack of appropriateness… you’re talking my kind of entertainment! Joe Orton’s full-throttle farce What the Butler Saw is the last play written by England’s legendary playwright before his untimely death in 1967 at age 34. Center Theatre Group brings us this comic masterpiece as the last production of the Mark Taper Forum’s 2014 season.

The original production of What the Butler Saw opened in London on March 5, 1969. The play, a timeless tale of sex and repression in a culture gone mad, was decried at the time as scandalous for its character’s raging libidos and rampant mockery of morality. In spite of a small body of work that also included television and radio plays, Joe Orton emerged as one of the seminal playwrights of the 20th century—a direct successor to Oscar Wilde, William Congreve, and Noel Coward. Orton’s other well-known plays are Entertaining Mr. Sloane and Loot, which were presented in repertory, directed by John Tillinger, at the Mark Taper Forum in 1987. Tillinger, a leading interpreter of Orton’s work, returns to direct the savagely funny Butler.

For me, there is nothing more delicious in the theatre than a great farce impeccably directed and performed, and it doesn’t happen often enough. This play is one of the best. I’ve got my tickets and I’m ready to laugh!

What the Butler Saw runs November 12 – December 21 at the Mark Taper Forum.