NEWS RELEASE — KRISTIN TOWERS-ROWLES: A LOVELY LINEAGE — SUNDAY 10/18 AT 7PM AT EL PORTAL THEATRE

AWARD-WINNING STAGE STAR
KRISTIN TOWERS-ROWLES
STARRING IN
HER CELEBRATED CABARET SHOW
A LOVELY LINEAGE
MUSICAL DIRECTION BY KATIE CLARK
DIRECTED BY CATE CAPLIN

ONE NIGHT ONLY
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18
AT EL PORTAL THEATRE’S MONROE FORUM
IN NORTH HOLLYWOOD

Following sold-out performances in Los Angeles and Palm Springs, stage star Kristin Towers-Rowles will bring her critically acclaimed cabaret show, A Lovely Lineage, to the El Portal Theatre’s Monroe Forum in North Hollywood. With musical direction by Katie Clark and directed by Ovation Award-winner Cate Caplin, there will be one performance only on Sunday, October 18 at 7pm.

A Lovely Lineage captures the historic Broadway and Hollywood lineage of Kristin Towers-Rowles, starting with her grandmother, the legendary Kathryn Grayson. Ms. Grayson was an MGM darling and a Hollywood pioneer having starred in some of the most beloved movie musicals of the 1950s including Kiss Me, Kate and Show Boat. The lineage does not stop there — Kristin’s grandfather was the dashing and talented Broadway leading man Johnnie Johnston; her mother, Patricia Towers, was a Las Vegas headliner; and her father is the prolific character actor Robert Towers. In A Lovely Lineage, Kristin celebrates her incredible family legacy by performing musical numbers from such beloved Broadway musicals as Follies, Wicked, She Loves Me, and Kiss Me, Kate, to name only a few. Opera and musical theatre singer Jahmal Bakare joins Kristin on stage for several numbers.

Kristin Towers-Rowles: A Lovely Lineage will play one performance only on Sunday, October 18 at 7pm. General admission seating is $30 and tickets may be purchased online at www.elportaltheatre.com or via phone at (818) 508-4200.

The Monroe Forum inside the historic El Portal Theatre is located at 5269 Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood, 91601.

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09-25-15

_{Photo by Cate Caplin.}

NEWS RELEASE — 2015 OVATION AWARDS NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED

2015 LA STAGE ALLIANCE OVATION AWARDS
NOMINEES ANNOUNCED

EBONY REPERTORY THEATRE &
CENTER THEATRE GROUP LEAD WITH 14 EACH,
WALLIS ANNENBERG CENTER FOR
THE PERFORMING ARTS FOLLOWS WITH 13,
LA MIRADA THEATRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS &
SACRED FOOLS THEATER COMPANY TIE WITH 10 EACH

Nominees for the 2015 LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Awards were announced on Thursday, September 24 on @ This Stage Magazine [ThisStage.la]. This year’s Ovation Awards ceremony will take place Monday, November 9 at the Ahmanson Theatre at The Music Center. The curtain will rise at 7:30pm.

Ebony Repertory Theatre and Center Theatre Group tied with 14 nominations each, followed by Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts with 13, and La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts and Sacred Fools Theater Company, tied with 10 each. Ebony Repertory garnered all 14 of their nominations for The Gospel at Colonus; Center Theatre Group received nominations for Chavez Ravine: An L.A. Revival (7) and Luna Gale (1) at the Kirk Douglas Theatre; Bent (3), The Price (1), and Immediate Family (1) at the Mark Taper Forum; and The Trip to Bountiful (1) at the Ahmanson Theatre. Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts received 11 nominations for their production of Deaf West Theatre’s Spring Awakening (Deaf West’s original intimate theatre production received four nominations), Love, Noël: The Letters and Songs of Noël Coward (1), and Best Season; La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts received nominations for Carrie The Musical (5), Billy Elliot the Musical (1), Mary Poppins (1), Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice, A Musical (1), Good People (1), and Best Season; and Sacred Fools received nominations for The Behavior of Broadus (9) and Astro Boy and the God of Comics (1). Along with La Mirada and the Wallis Annenberg, Best Season nominations went to Los Angeles LGBT Center, Rubicon Theatre Company, and The Theatre @ Boston Court.

Ovation Honors, which recognize outstanding achievement in areas that are not among the standard list of nomination categories, have been awarded to Mat Sweeney and Ellen Warkentine (Music Composition for a Play, The Temptation of St Antony at Four Larks), Mike Mahaffey (Fight Choreography, She Kills Monsters at Loft Ensemble), and Ted Blegen (Puppet Design, She Kills Monsters at Loft Ensemble).

For the 2014-2015 voting season, there are a grand total of 203 nominations for 73 productions presented by 45 companies. There were 297 total productions registered from 118 companies. Of those productions registered, 72 were Ovation Recommended, identified during their runs as scoring in the top quarter of all productions in the Overall Production categories. [A COMPLETE LIST OF NOMINEES IS AVAILABLE AT ThisStage.la.]

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 Rules Committee. The list of nominees is determined by a tabulation of scores conducted by Green Hasson Janks. This year’s Ovation Awards eligibility period ran from September 1, 2014 through August 30, 2015.

LA STAGE Alliance is a nonprofit arts service organization dedicated to building awareness, appreciation, and support for the performing arts in Greater Los Angeles. Their programs are sponsored in part by Green Hasson Janks, Ken Werther Publicity, Sony Pictures, The Shubert Foundation, Arts:Earth Partnership, The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, NBC Universal, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Dew Foundation, Baker’s Man Productions, California Arts Council, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation, The James Irvine Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and Walt Disney Parks & Resorts Creative Entertainment.

Variety is the media sponsor for this year’s Ovation Awards ceremony.

09-24-15

FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF NOMINEES, CLICK HERE

NEWS RELEASE — COEURAGE THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS “THE SPARROW” — WEST COAST PREMIERE OPENS SATURDAY 10/24

COEURAGE THEATRE COMPANY
LA’S PAY WHAT YOU WANT THEATRE COMPANY
PRESENTS
THE WEST COAST PREMIERE OF
THE SPARROW
BY CHRIS MATHEWS, JAKE MINTON, AND NATHAN ALLEN
DIRECTED BY JOSEPH V. CALARCO

OPENS SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24
AT THE HISTORIC LANKERSHIM ARTS CENTER

Coeurage Theatre Company, LA’s Pay What You Want Company, has announced the final production of its 2015 season, the West Coast premiere of The Sparrow by Chris Mathews, Jake Minton, and Nathan Allen. Directed by Joseph V. Calarco, there will be one preview performance on October 23 at 8pm and opening is set for Saturday, October 24 at 8pm. The Sparrow will play through November 21 at the Historic Lankershim Arts Center.

The cast will feature (in alphabetical order) David Crane, Audrey Flegel, Katelyn Gault, Joel Gelman, Nardeep Khurmi, Jane Lui, John McKetta, Jeffrey Nichols, Katie Pelensky, Lillian Solange, Danni Spring, Cyrus Wilcox, and Malika Williams. Scenic design is by Kristin Browning Campbell, lighting design is by Benoît Guérin, costume design is by Rebecca Guzzi, and sound design is by Joseph V. Calarco. Choreography is by Tasheena Medina, fight choreography is by TJ Marchbank, and original music is by Gregory Nabours. The stage manager is Emily Goodall.

In The Sparrow, a small-town girl returns home 10 years after a tragic accident that claimed the lives of her entire class. As the town struggles to move on from the loss and accept her, she must hide the special powers that make her different and come to terms with her past. The Chicago Sun-Times called The Sparrow, “A three-dimensional graphic novel about the passion of family and community life, the importance of myth, and the pain of exile.”

There will be one preview performance on Friday, October 23 at 8pm and opening is set for Saturday, October 24 at 8pm. The regular running schedule is Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8pm through November 21. All seats are available on a Pay What You Want basis, and may be reserved online at www.coeurage.org/sparrow or by calling (323) 944-2165.

The Historic Lankershim Arts Center is located at 5108 Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood, 91601.

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09-24-15