NEWS RELEASE ▪︎ MISS COCO PERU RETURNS WITH “THE TAMING OF THE TENSION” ▪︎ FOUR PERFORMANCES ONLY!

The Los Angeles LGBT Center’s
Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center
Presents
MISS COCO PERU:
THE TAMING OF THE TENSION
Written and Performed by Clinton Leupp
Directed by Michael Schiralli

FOUR PERFORMANCES ONLY!
September 9–10 & September 16–17
at the Renberg Theatre

The Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center has announced the return of the legendary Miss Coco Peru in her latest solo show, The Taming of the Tension. Directed by longtime collaborator Michael Schiralli, Coco will play four performances only at the Renberg Theatre on Saturdays, September 9 & 16 at 8pm and Sundays, September 10 & 17 at 7pm.

According to the latest “scientific” surveys, everyone’s been feeling more tension lately, and Miss Coco Peru knows what we all need. Through her hilarious and heartfelt stories and one-of-a-kind song stylings, Coco will share her hard-won secrets and tame your tensions, making us happier people and the world a little better, too.

Storyteller/monologist Miss Coco Peru, aka Clinton Leupp, got his/her start as a downtown favorite in the New York cabaret world after he wrote, produced, directed, and starred in his first show, Miss Coco Peru in My Goddamn Cabaret, 25 years ago. A veteran of numerous feature films (trick and the cult classic Girls Will Be Girls, among numerous others), and television shows (How I Met Your Mother, Arrested Development, Will & Grace, and more). Leupp has received worldwide acclaim for his award-winning solo shows and his remarkable series of tributes to great performers, Conversations with Coco, in which she conducts live career-retrospective interviews with such luminaries as Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Liza Minnelli, and the late Bea Arthur.

Leupp has been honored by many organizations, including the Los Angeles LGBT Center, for his long history of dedicated activism and unflagging support of the LGBT community. The Center is proud to present The Taming of the Tension, the seventh original stage show to be performed at the Renberg by one of our most beloved artists.

General admission tickets are $30 and may be purchased online at www.lalgbtcenter.org/theatre or by phone at (323) 860-7300. Net proceeds from all ticket sales will support the full range of free and low-cost programs and services offered by the Los Angeles LGBT Center.

The Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Renberg Theatre is located at 1125 N. McCadden Place (one block east of Highland, just north of Santa Monica Boulevard), in Hollywood, 90038. Due to construction, parking is no longer available onsite. Limited free parking is available at the Center’s Highland facility, one block north of The Village at Ed Gould Plaza. Please allow extra time to find street parking or choose public transportation or a ride–sharing service.

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08-11-17

NEWS RELEASE ▪︎ COEURAGE THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS “Emilie: La Marquise du Châtelet Defends Her Life Tonight” BY LAUREN GUNDERSON ▪︎ OPENS 8/26

COEURAGE THEATRE COMPANY
LA’S PAY WHAT YOU WANT THEATRE COMPANY
PRESENTS
EMILIE: LA MARQUISE DU CHÂTELET DEFENDS HER LIFE TONIGHT
BY LAUREN GUNDERSON
DIRECTED BY JULIANNE DONELLE

OPENS SATURDAY, AUGUST 26
AT THE GREENWAY COURT THEATRE

Coeurage Theatre Company, LA’s Pay What You Want theatre company, has announced the second production of its eighth seasonå, Emilie: La Marquise du Châtelet Defends Her Life Tonight by Lauren Gunderson. Directed by Coeurage company member Julianne Donelle, there will be one preview performance on August 25 at 8pm and opening is set for Saturday, August 26 at 8pm. Emilie will play through September 17 at the Greenway Court Theatre.

The cast will feature (in alphabetical order) Kari Lee Cartwright, Marc Forget, Nardeep Khurmi, Kim Reed, and Sammi Smith. Scenic design is by Tim Paul Vordtriede, lighting design is by Azra King-Abadi, costume design is by Tania Mustafa, sound design is by Joseph V. Calarco, and choreography is by Carly Wielstein.

Passionate. Brilliant. Defiant. Tonight, 18th century scientific genius Emilie du Châtelet is back and determined to answer her unresolved question: love or philosophy, heart or head? In this highly theatrical, fast, funny, and sexy rediscovery of one of history’s most intriguing women, the French physicist and mathematician defends her legacies — both scientific and romantic — and the groundbreaking work for which she was denounced until after her death.

Lauren Gunderson was America’s most produced living playwright in 2016. She is also a screenwriter and short story author. She received her MFA in Dramatic Writing at NYU Tisch, where she was also a Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship. Her plays have been commissioned, developed, and produced at South Coast Rep (Emilie, Silent Sky, I And You), the Kennedy Center (Dr. Wonderful), the O’Neill Playwrights Conference (Fire Work), and her revenge comedy Exit, Pursued by a Bear was produced in a multi-city rolling premiere. Gunderson writes for the Huffington Post and Wall Street Journal.

Julianne Donelle is a founding member of Coeurage Theatre Company. She directed Assassins and served as assistant director on Cannibal! The Musical and The Yellow Boat. Her acting credits with the company include The Trouble With Words, Head Over Heels, The 4th Graders Present an Unnamed Love–Suicide, Love’s Labour’s Lost, and The Woodsman. Donelle is the creator/writer/director of the web series No Pillowfights, for which she received a Discovery Award nomination for direction at the Raindance Film Festival in London. The series also garnered multiple nominations including Best Director and Best Comedic Series at LA Web Fest in 2016. More info is available at www.juliannedonelle.com.

Coeurage Theatre Company exists to make impassioned theatre accessible for all audiences through Pay What You Want admission and fresh, challenging productions. The company’s name is inspired by a re–imagining of the word courage — coeur is French for heart, and rage, meaning fervor; on fire. Together, Coeurage (pronounced “courage”) is a heart enflamed with passion, which the company strives to bring to every production.

There will be one preview performance of Emilie on Friday, August 25 at 8pm and opening is set for Saturday, August 26, at 8pm. The regular running schedule is Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8pm through September 17. There will be additional performances on Wednesdays, September 6 and 13 at 8pm. The final performance is on Sunday, September 17 at 7pm. All seats are available on a Pay What You Want basis and may be reserved online at www.greenwaycourtheatre.org/emilie or by calling (323) 944-2165.

The Greenway Court Theatre is located at 544 N. Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles, 90036. Free parking is available in the lot adjacent to the theatre.

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07-28-17

NEWS RELEASE ▪︎ HOLLYWOOD FRINGE FESTIVAL AWARD-WINNING HIT COMEDY “THANKSGIVING” PLAYS FINAL TWO PERFORMANCES AT THEATRE UNLEASHED ▪︎ AUGUST 4 & 5

SAMOVAR SUBWAY ENSEMBLE PRESENTS
THANKSGIVING
A WORLD PREMIERE COMEDY
BY TIFFANY CASCIO
DIRECTED BY KITTY LINDSAY
✰UNLEASHED AWARD✰
FINAL ENCORE PERFORMANCES
AUGUST 4 & 5 at 8pm
AT THEATRE UNLEASHED IN NOHO

Samovar Subway Ensemble’s acclaimed Hollywood Fringe Festival production of Thanksgiving, a world premiere comedy by Tiffany Cascio, will play two final encore performances on Friday, August 4 and Saturday, August 5 at 8pm at Theatre Unleashed in North Hollywood.

Nominated for five awards and designated as Pick of the Fringe, Thanksgiving won the Beyond Bechdel–Wallace Award (sponsored by Broads’ Word Ensemble), the Unleashed Award (sponsored by Theatre Unleashed, which makes these two final performances possible), and the Encore! Producers’ Award. The show was also nominated for the ShoWorks Don’t Wait Create! Award (sponsored by ShoWorks Entertainment) and Best Comedy.
The cast features (in alphabetical order) Trip Langley, Susan Louise O’Connor, Asia Lynn Pitts, Gary Poux, Sharon Spence, and Allison Youngberg. The creative team includes Kit Whitten (set design), 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.

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. Running time is 90 minutes.

Tickets for the two final performances of Thanksgiving are $15 and may be obtained online at www.theatreunleashed.org. Theatre Unleashed is located at 11031 Camarillo Street in North Hollywood, 91602.

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07-27-17

L to R — Allison Youngberg, Asia Lynn Pitts, Susan Louise O’Connor. Photo by Cali Bloomfield.