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

NEWS RELEASE ▪︎ Experimental Short Form Digital Series “RICHUAL” Now Available on Multiple Platforms

Experimental Short Form Digital Series

RICHUAL

Now Available on Multiple Platforms

Viewers Can Join Characters

In A Social Media World

Audiences are invited to interact in real time and bond with their favorite characters over Facebook and Twitter in Richual, an alt-romantic comedy told through 10 chapters of episodic video and a world of multiplatform storytelling. From the forward-thinking minds of Kevin Herrera (FML, Bobby Chew Sells a Car) and Jesse Einstein (Lopez, Kroll Show, The League, The Disgruntled States of America) comes a captivating, heartfelt story with live action and animation that captures the frantic desperation that many millennials feel in their 20s. Richual follows Richard Levine, a lovable but socially inept 20-something computer programmer, who, after being rejected by the girl of his dreams, dives head first into the online dating scene in an attempt to debug his love life.

Richual features Jesse Einstein as Richard Levine, along with a cast that includes Emmy Award–nominee and Tony Award–winner John Rubenstein, Keelin Woodell, Leonora Pitts, Kosha Patel, and Brennan Murray.  Herrera and Einstein produced the series after meeting in 2010 through an impromptu Twitter experiment by former Abrams agent Mark Measures, now of Kazarian/Measures/Ruskin & Associates. Designed to link unconnected artists in the entertainment industry, #ConnectionExperiment led to an unlikely seven–year collaboration.

“From the start, we designed Richual to be consumed in a way that is unlike any other. Our characters are not only alive on screen but live throughout social media,” said Herrera. He continued, “We’ve been excited for social media to mature into a platform that allows this kind of storytelling, and we feel that audiences are ready to receive this timeless story of love and heartache, told in a fresh, new way.” Inspired by how Herrera and Einstein met, fans of Richual will have the chance to interact with Richard and other fan favorites through Twitter, Facebook, and beyond. Richual is the first of many stories Herrera and Einstein plan to tell using this innovative format.

Sound mixing is by Margarita Mix, post production services and color are by Neptune Post, the score is by Alexander Taylor, cinematography is by Luke Dejoras, and production design is by Alexis Barzin, Brent Mason, and Erin Segal.

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05-02-17

NEWS RELEASE ▪︎ New Parody Music Video “Back to the 90s” Released Worldwide Today

Actor/Director BEN GIROUX and Hip-Hop Artist JENSEN REED

Premiere New Parody Music Video Back to the 90s

Video and Song Released Worldwide Today

Actor/director Ben Giroux has teamed up with indie hip-hop artist Jensen Reed for their third parody music video collaboration, Back to the 90s. The project, a comedic celebration of 90s pop culture and music, features singer/songwriter Jared Lee and Hairspray Live! / Teen Beach Movie star Garrett Clayton. Fresh off the success of their viral smash hit music videos Little Dude Anthem (2015) and Dump Drumpf (2016), Giroux and Reed’s creative partnership leaps to new heights with Back to the 90s.

Watch Back to the 90s here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcUG8GYbrxM

Giroux explains, “Back to the 90s is an homage to the decade we grew up in. Through a completely original song, we highlight multiple genres of 90s music within the same track (including hip-hop, grunge, R&B, and boy bands). The project is a love letter to our childhoods, two years in the making.” Reed adds, “The music video features throwback animation, Walkmans, bleached tips — we tried to make it as authentically 90s as possible. We think it’s going to be a hit with our generation.”

For the video, Giroux and Reed enlisted an army of talent including Disney star Garrett Clayton (Hairspray Live!, Teen Beach Movie, King Cobra), singerJared Lee (songwriter for both Jason Derulo and The New Kids on the Block), choreographers Morgan Larson and Megan Littler (Teen Beach Movie), Mariah Spears (So You Think You Can Dance finalist), animator Doug Bresler (Paranormal Action Squad), animator Ilana Schwartz (Nickelodeon Animation Studio), and rocker Dirty Hollywood.

Fans will recognize Giroux for his starring role on Nickelodeon’s animated series Bunsen is a Beast and his recurring role as The Toddler on Nickelodeon’s Henry Danger. In addition, he has appeared in guest roles on dozens of television shows, including Hart of Dixie, NCIS, Bones, House, Psych, Anger Management, 2 Broke Girls, and more. Under his Small Red Cape production banner, Giroux produces a wide variety of short form viral content at http://youtube.com/BenGirouxTV.

Jensen Reed, whose diverse musical abilities span from his latest album The Left Coast to his comedic music videos (http://www.jensenreed.com/videos), has recently enjoyed collaborations with singer Drew Seeley, YouTuber Taryn Southern, The Mowgli’s, and So You Think You Can Dance winner Kida The Great. Reed is currently producing a new self-titled EP.

Back to the 90s is produced by Small Red Cape, Inc. in association with End of the Rose, LLC.

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05-01-17