NEWS RELEASE — BRIMMER STREET THEATRE CO. ANNOUNCES PUBLIC STAGED READINGS OF “COMMUNION” BY CHRISTINA CIGALA

BRIMMER STREET THEATRE COMPANY
ANNOUNCES PUBLIC STAGED READINGS OF
COMMUNION
A PLAY BY CHRISTINA CIGALA
AS PART OF ITS
BREAKING GROUND PLAY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

As part of its 2016 Breaking Ground play development program, Brimmer Street Theatre Company has announced two public staged readings of Communion by Christina Cigala. The readings will be presented on Sunday, May 22 at 2pm and 4:30pm at Moving Arts, 1822 Hyperion Avenue, in Silver Lake. Running time is 70 minutes with no intermission; admission is free and no reservations are required. Following each reading, audiences will be invited to engage in a brief discussion with the playwright and participating artists.

Brimmer Street Theatre Company’s Breaking Ground play development initiative is dedicated to collaborative new play development. Over the course of the seven-week project, BSTC’s ensemble works with local playwrights to move drafts of original plays to finalized scripts through the discovery and collaboration of an abbreviated rehearsal process, design consultation, and finally a staged reading. Communion was chosen by the BSTC ensemble from dozens of submissions.

Christina Cigala’s Communion: to get married at the beautiful St. Valentine’s Cathedral in Malibu, three couples of varying devotion must join Father Chad on a Catholic engagement retreat to learn what it means to be be faithfully married. When it’s revealed that only one couple will get the coveted available date for their nuptials, all hell breaks loose in this dark comedy about faith, marriage, and the church. Directed by Toby Meuli, the reading will feature (in alphabetical order) Lizzie Adelman, Kate Amis, Doug Burch, Katharine Everett, Kendall Foote, Kim Imafidon, David Jette, and Jon Prescott. Audience members who would like to read the play in advance may email djette@brimmerstreet.org for a script.

Brimmer Street Theatre Company is a non-profit ensemble theatre that creates and produces new works of theatre in order to cultivate artists and engage audiences in Los Angeles. By working from a select core of talented artists, BSTC aims to produce a unique brand of American theatre that is rooted in a common experience and driven by their commitment to building better theatre that is challenging, extraordinary, and inspiring.

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05-12-16

NEWS RELEASE — LOS ANGELES LGBT CENTER PRESENTS “FOOL FOR LOVE” AT PART OF 2016 HOLLYWOOD FRINGE FESTIVAL

Los Angeles LGBT Center’s
Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center
Presents
As Part of the 2016 Hollywood Fringe Festival
FOOL FOR LOVE
By Sam Shepard
Directed by Will Bradley & Cecilia Fairchild
Featuring
Bradley Fisher, Burt Grinstead,
Charlotte Gulezian, and Roland Ruiz

Los Angeles LGBT Center has announced a new production of Fool for Love by Sam Shepard as part of the 2016 Hollywood Fringe Festival. There will be 11 performances only, beginning June 3 and running through June 26 in The Center’s Davidson/Valentini Theatre. [The complete performance schedule is at the end of this release.] This story of twisted lives and tormented loves will be directed by Will Bradley and Cecilia Fairchild, and the cast will feature (in alphabetical order) Bradley Fisher (In Bed with Roy Cohn, Aftermath), Burt Grinstead, (Hit the Wall, The Sexual Life of Savages), Charlotte Gulezian (Hit the Wall, Stupid Fucking Bird), and Roland Ruiz (Hit the Wall and the Oscar-nominated film Boyhood).

Fool for Love, winner of the 1984 Obie Award for Best New American Play and a Pulitzer Prize finalist, finds two former lovers holed up in a seedy motel on the edge of the Mojave Desert where they unpack the deep secrets and dark desires of their tangled relationship, passionately tearing each other apart. Beaten down by ill-fated love and a struggle for identity, they must decide whether it is ultimately possible to live with, or without, each other. The New York Times called it a “gut-clutching … full throttle cliffhanger.” Run time is 75 minutes.

The scenic design is by Burt Grinstead, lighting and sound design are by Matt Richter and costume design is by Brooke Gerson. The stage manager is Maggie Marx.

There will be four previews and seven regular performances of Fool for Love, beginning on June 3 and running through June 24. The complete schedule:

PREVIEWS
• Friday 6/3 at 8pm
• Saturday 6/4 at 8pm
• Sunday 6/5 at 7pm
• Tuesday 6/7 at 8pm

REGULAR
• Saturday 6/11 at 8pm [OPENING NIGHT]
• Sundays 6/19 & 6/26 at 7pm
• Wednesdays 6/15 & 6/22 at 8pm
• Thursday 6/16 at 8pm
• Friday 6/24 at 8pm

Preview seats are $10 and admission for regular performances is $15. Tickets are available online at http://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/3751, or by phone at (323) 455-4585.

Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Davidson/Valentini Theatre is located at the 1125 N. McCadden Place (one block east of Highland, just north of Santa Monica Boulevard), in Hollywood, 90038. Free onsite parking is available.

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05-10-16

 
^{L to R — Charlotte Gulezian, Burt Grinstead. Photo by Stan Mayer.}

NEWS RELEASE — BRIMMER STREET THEATRE COMPANY PARTNERS WITH MY FRIEND’S PLACE FOR GENEROSITY.COM FUNDING CAMPAIGN

BRIMMER STREET THEATRE COMPANY
PARTNERS WITH
MY FRIEND’S PLACE
HOMELESS YOUTH RESOURCE CENTER IN HOLLYWOOD

LAUNCHING GENEROSITY.COM FUNDING CAMPAIGN
FOR BRIMMER STREET’S PRODUCTION OF
“AND THEN THEY FELL”
A NEW PLAY BY TIRA PALMQUIST

100% OF ALL TICKET SALES WILL BENEFIT
MY FRIEND’S PLACE

Brimmer Street Theatre Company has announced a unique partnership with My Friend’s Place, a non-profit homeless youth resource center in Hollywood. A Generosity.com fundraising campaign has been initiated for the production of a new play about homeless youth that will donate 100% of its ticket sales to health and wellness services for homeless youth in Los Angeles.

The Generosity.com campaign goal is $20,000. This money will complete the production budget for BSTC’s production of And Then They Fell, a new play by Tira Palmquist about two teenagers who find themselves without stable homes. Brimmer Street estimates it can bring in as much as $60,000 during the planned September run of the show at the Atwater Village Theatre, every penny of which will go to My Friend’s Place. In addition, funds that are raised in excess of the $20,000 production goal will also be donated to My Friend’s Place.

And Then They Fell tells the story of Jordan and Cal, two teenagers who find themselves without stable homes. Jordan has fled a home wrecked by alcoholism and sexual abuse while still trying to graduate high school with honors. Cal is a young transgender boy set adrift by his family’s intolerance and the failure of adults and institutions to help him through a severely vulnerable period of his young life. These two teens find each other, and for a while, they give each other the hope and security they so desperately need.

The My Friend’s Place mission: to assist and inspire homeless youth to build self-sufficient lives. It is a professionally staffed drop-in resource center serving over 1,400 homeless youths ages 12 to 25 (and their children) each year. The primary goal is to lower traditional barriers to service and provide homeless youth with the opportunity to improve their psychological, intellectual, and physical capacity to reach their potential.

Brimmer Street Theatre Company is a non-profit Los Angeles-based performance company with a commitment to develop original theatre and welcome artists whose work challenges established forms and expectations. BSTC strives to form a close ensemble with these artists, craftsmen, students, and benefactors to produce work of exceptional innovation and character.

For more information about the Brimmer Street/My Friend’s Place partnership:

For more information on BSTC: http://www.brimmerstreet.org/.

For more information about the services offered by My Friend’s Place: http://myfriendsplace.org/.

Direct access to the funding page: https://www.generosity.com/fundraisers/and-then-they-fell-a-benefit-for-my-friends-place.

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05-09-16