NEWS RELEASE ▪︎ “THANKSGIVING” at the HOLLYWOOD FRINGE FESTIVAL ▪︎ FIVE PERFORMANCES ONLY!

SAMOVAR SUBWAY ENSEMBLE PRESENTS

THANKSGIVING

A WORLD PREMIERE PLAY

BY TIFFANY CASCIO

DIRECTED BY KITTY LINDSAY 

FIVE PERFORMANCES ONLY

IN THE 2017 HOLLYWOOD FRINGE FESTIVAL

AT THE LOUNGE THEATRE 

Samovar Subway Ensemble has announced a Hollywood Fringe Festival production of Thanksgiving, a world premiere play by Tiffany Cascio and directed by Kitty Lindsay. The cast will feature (in alphabetical order) Trip Langley, Susan Louise O’Connor, Asia Lynn Pitts, Gary Poux, Sharon Spence, and Allison Youngberg. There will be five performances at the Lounge Theatre — Saturday 6/3 at 7:45pm; Friday 6/9 at 9:45pm; Sunday 6/11 at 3:45pm; Saturday 6/17 at 1:45pm; and Friday 6/23 at 7:45pm. Running time is 90 minutes.

Thanksgiving is a not all-the-way true, but sometimes painfully so, dysfunctional family comedy. Chloe Patterson has invited her perfect fiancé to what she will make sure is the perfect Thanksgiving, despite her very imperfect family. She’s got a solid plan in place to combat any and all hints of dysfunction, providing for every possible contingency — except the unexpected dinner guest: a very unfiltered, Las Vegas stripper. Scabs are picked, secrets are revealed, and fights erupt as this group struggles to make it through another holiday unscathed.

Playwright Tiffany Cascio hails from Sacramento and lives in Los Angeles. Her plays have been performed in Los Angeles, Chicago, and on the radio. Her short play Take Your Daughter to Work was  just selected for  PlayGround LA’s Best of PlayGround Season 5, and her plays Origin Story and About Your Mother have been published in their Best of PlayGround anthologies. She also works as a television producer. For more: tiffanycascio.com.

The creative team includes Brandon Baruch (lighting design), Sharon Spence (costume design), and James Ferrero (sound design). Fight choreography is by Dane Oliver, the stage manager is Taylor Jackson Ross, and Allison Youngberg is the producer for Samovar Subway Ensemble.

Tickets for Thanksgiving are $15 and may be obtained online at http://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/4549 or by phone at (323) 455-4585. The Lounge Theatre is located at 6201 Santa Monica Boulevard (just east of Vine at El Centro), in Hollywood, 90038.

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 05-09-17

NEWS RELEASE ▪︎ THE BLANK THEATRE’S 25th ANNIVERSARY YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL CHOOSES WINNERS

THE BLANK THEATRE’S 25TH ANNIVERSARY

YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL

CHOOSES WINNERS

12 PLAYS BY THE NATION’S BRIGHTEST YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS

WILL BE PERFORMED AT

 THE STELLA ADLER THEATRE IN HOLLYWOOD

JUNE 1 – 25, 2017

Now celebrating its 25th Anniversary, The Blank Theatre’s Nationwide Young Playwrights Festival has chosen 12 plays by playwrights aged 17, 18, and 19 from six different states and the District of Columbia. These plays will be presented by professional actors and directors in this year’s Festival at The Stella Adler Theatre in Hollywood, June 1–25.

Said Daniel Henning, Founding Artistic Director of The Blank, “Each spring for the past 24 years, The Blank has found the freshest, most original voices in the American theatre, invited them to Los Angeles, and promoted their work during a month-long festival in June. This thought–provoking work, performed and directed by seasoned professionals, has entertained thousands of audience members over the years. While these authors are often as different as the states from which they come and the subjects with which they deal, they share something truly improbable. They’re teenagers.” Henning continued, “These are not only the voices of today’s theatre — they are the voices of tomorrow’s as well.”

This year’s winning plays are: CAROLINE’S GRAND FINALE by Madison Kiernan, Fernandina Beach, FL, Age 17; QUARTER CUP by Lani Kording, Costa Mesa, CA, Age 19; THE PRESENT IMPERFECT by Rachel Linton, Washington, DC, Age 19; LOADED by Trinity Goderstad, Engelwood, CO, Age 18; DEATH ROWS by Jasmine Sharma, Franklin Lakes, NJ, Age 18; TAKE IT WITH YOU by Jasmine Perry, New York, NY, Age 19; YOU’RE A BRAIN, THAT YOU ARE by Dana Hensler, Danville, CA, Age 19; THIS AMERICAN STRIFE  by Akela Munsey, Monrovia, CA, Age 17; THE SECRET LIFE OF BICYCLES by India Kotis, New York, NY, Age 19;THE AUGUST 22^nd OF MY CHILDHOOD by Rayna Berggren, Santa Monica, CA, Age 18; OCEAN DEBRIS by Cassandra Hsiao, Walnut, CA, Age 17; and THAT’S WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT by James La Bella, Marlborough, CT, Age 19.

A panel of theatre professionals chose from 241 plays submitted by young writers across the nation. Winning playwrights are next assigned a mentor, and then a professional director who will help them hone their scripts for four public performances with professional actors. This year’s mentors include Dave Holstein (Weeds, Raising Hope), Ellen Byron (Just Shoot Me, Wings), Gary Tieche (Medium), Kit Steinkellner (four-time YPF winner), Beth Bigler (The Real Housewives of Atlanta and three-time YPF winner), Bert V. Royal (Dog Sees God), Austin Winsberg (five-time YPF winner;The Sound of Music Live, Gossip Girl), Adam Lapidus, Robert L. Freedman (two-time Tony Award-winner for A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder), Shelagh McFadden, Jennie Webb, and Adam Belanoff (Major Crimes). This year’s directors are (in alphabetical order) Barbara Bain, June Carryl, Warren Davis, Rebecca Eisenberg, James Kerwin, Angela Oh, Christopher J. Raymond, Michael A. Shepperd, Laura Stribling, Richard Tatum, April Webster, and Stoney Westmoreland.

Over the past 24 years, The Blank has produced 284 plays by young playwrights.Eleven of those plays or playwrights have gone on to be presented on The Blank’s mainstage. Additionally, many of the plays have been nominated for LA theatre awards, including an Ovation Award for Best Writing—World Premiere, and an LA Weekly Award for Best One-Act Playwriting. Other alumni playwrights are populating the nation’s theatres and sound stages with their work. Many YPF winners have gone on to successful writing careers on Broadway, are filling regional stages, and have created network TV shows. Alumnus winner Stephen Karam has been a two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and is a Tony Award-winner for Best Play of the 2016 Broadway season for The Humans.

This year’s YPF is made possible in part by The Bloomberg Philanthropies, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, Los Angeles City Department of Cultural Affairs, The Rosenthal Family Foundation, The Plum Foundation, and the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation.

The Blank Theatre’s 25th Anniversary Young Playwrights Festival will run June 1–25 at the Stella Adler Theatre, 6773 Hollywood Boulevard, in Hollywood. The performance schedule is Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 2pm. Each week’s program includes three plays, and admission is $25 for adults and $15 for students. Festival passes, which are good for one ticket each week of the festival, are $80 for adults and $50 for students. Tickets may be purchased online at www.TheBlank.com, or by phone at (323) 661-9827.

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05-05-17

NEWS RELEASE — LOS ANGELES LGBT CENTER PRESENTS “BLACKBIRD” BY DAVID HARROWER ▪︎ FRINGE FESTIVAL PRODUCTION ▪︎ JUNE 1 – 25

Los Angeles LGBT Center’s

Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center

Presents

As Part of the 2017 Hollywood Fringe Festival

BLACKBIRD

By David Harrower

Directed by Anna Stromberg

Featuring

Charlotte Gulezian and Bradley Fisher

Los Angeles LGBT Center has announced that as part of the 2017 Hollywood Fringe Festival the Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center will present Blackbird by David Harrower. Featuring Charlotte Gulezian and Bradley Fisher, the production will be directed by Anna Stromberg.  There will be 12 performances only, beginning June 1 and running through June 25 in The Center’s Davidson/Valentini Theatre. [The complete performance schedule is at the end of this release.]

Scottish playwright David Harrower’s drama won the 2007 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play and had a critically acclaimed run on Broadway last year. Inspired in part by the crimes of sex offender Toby Studebaker (though in no way a literal dramatization of actual events) the play depicts a young woman meeting a middle-aged man 15 years after being sexually abused by him when she was 12 years old.

Actors Charlotte Gulezian (winner of LADCC, BroadwayWorld, and StageSceneLA Awards for her performance in last year’s Hit the Wall) and Bradley Fisher were both seen in the LGBT Center’s production of Fool for Love in the 2016 Fringe Festival. (That production is currently a StageRaw nominee for Best Revival of a Play). The design team includes multiple award-winner Matt Richter(lighting and sound), and Brooke Gerson (costumes). The stage manager is Margaret Marx.

There will be four previews and eight regular performances of Blackbird, beginning on June 1 and running through June 25. The complete schedule:

PREVIEWS  

Thursday 6/1 at 8:30pm

Saturday 6/3 at 4:30pm

Sunday 6/4 at 6:30pm

Wednesday 6/7 at 8:30pm

REGULAR

Friday 6/9 at 8:30pm [OPENING NIGHT]

Sunday 6/11 at 4:30pm

Monday 6/12 at 6:30pm

Wednesday 6/14 at 10:30pm

Wednesday 6/21 & at 8:30pm

Thursday 6/22 at 8:30pm

Saturday 6/24 at 4:30pm

Sunday 6/25 at 4:30pm

Preview seats are $10 and admission for regular performances is $15. Tickets are available online at www.lalgbtcenter.org/theatre or by phone at (323) 860-7300.

The 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. During construction of the Center’s new facility, free parking is limited. Please allow extra time to find parking, or choose public transportation or a ride service such as Lyft.

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05-03-17