NEWS RELEASE — CRITICAL MASS PERFORMANCE GROUP PRESENTS “AMERYKA” — WORLD PREMIERE OPENS FEBRUARY 6, 2016 AT SHAKESPEARE CENTER OF LOS ANGELES

Critical Mass Performance Group
presents
the World Premiere of
AMERYKA
Written and Directed by Nancy Keystone
Created in Collaboration with the Company

FEBRUARY 5 — MARCH 6, 2016
Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles

OPENS SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6 AT 8PM

The much admired and acclaimed Critical Mass Performance Group has announced the world premiere of its newest work, Ameryka, written and directed by Nancy Keystone in collaboration with the company. Ameryka will play for five weeks only with one preview performance on Friday, February 5 and opening on Saturday, February 6 at 8pm. Ameryka will run through March 6 at Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles.

The cast will feature (in alphabetical order) Curt Bonnem, Russell Edge, Ray Ford, Lorne Green, Drew Stafford Harper, Danielle K. Jones, Christopher Salazar, Nick Santoro, and Valerie Spencer.

Charting a course through 250 years of astonishing connections between the United States and Poland, Ameryka is an epic exploration of the universal human longing for freedom and justice. From the American Revolution to the global war on terror, from the struggle for civil rights to the fight against communism, Ameryka turns history inside out in an unforgettable examination of the promises and betrayals of democracy. The story is told through Critical Mass Performance Group’s signature, kaleidoscopic style of found texts, heightened physicality, music and spectacle.

The scenic design is by Nancy Keystone, lighting design is by Jeremy Pivnick, and original music and sound design is by Randy Tico. The stage manager is Julia Colbert Ruiz.

Critical Mass Performance Group is a Los Angeles-based collaborative ensemble that has been developing new works and adaptations of classic texts since 1985. Known for its exuberant theatricality and historical-poetical subject matter, the ensemble was named 2013’s Best Theatre Company by the LA Weekly. Alcestis was developed at the Getty Villa Theatre Lab and premiered at Theatre @ Boston Court in 2013. Named in 10 Best Plays by LA Weekly, the production won a Best Adaptation Award from the LA Drama Critics Circle, the LA Weekly, and Arts In LA, and was nominated for best direction, sound/score, production design, choreography. Apollo, an epic trilogy exploring the US space program, its relationship with Nazi rocket scientists, and the surprising intersection with the Civil Rights Movement, premiered Parts 1 & 2 at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in 2005, won a Garland Award for Best New Play, and was named in the Top 10 Plays of 2005 by LA Alternative Press. Part 3 premiered with the full trilogy at Portland Center Stage (Oregon) in 2009. The Akhmatova Project, a movement-theatre piece inspired by the life and work of Russian poet Anna Akhmatova, was named one of the 10 Best Productions by the LA Times, received four LA Weekly Award nominations including Best Production, and won for Best Choreography. Other recent Critical Mass projects include Bread (2011), a site specific interactive performance-salon, commissioned by Cornerstone Theater Company, and Nancy Keystone’s adaptation of Antigone at Portland Center Stage in 2001.

Nancy Keystone is a director, multi-disciplinary artist, and the artistic director of Critical Mass Performance Group. She functions as chief investigator, writer, director, and designer. As a freelance artist she has directed and designed dozens of theatre productions around the country, as well as opera and film. Among many honors, Keystone is the recipient of a 2014 Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, a United States Artists Hoi Fellowship (2011), a Theatre Communications Group Alan Schneider Director Award (2003), and she has been named one of LA Times’ “Faces To Watch.”

There will be one preview performance of Ameryka on Friday, February 5 at 8pm and opening is set for Saturday, February 6 at 8pm. The engagement will run through March 6 only with performances on Friday and Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 2pm. There will be added performances on Sundays 2/14, 2/21, and 3/6 at 7pm, and on Mondays 2/22 and 2/29 at 8pm. Admission on Friday, Sunday, and Monday is $25; on Saturday it is $30. Student and senior discounts are available at all performances. Tickets are available online at http://critical-mass-performance-group.ticketleap.com/ameryka/ or by calling (323) 993-7263. Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles is located at 1238 W. 1st Street in LA, 90026.

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12-17-15

Photo: Critical Mass Performance Group

Guys and Dolls! (LAArtsOnline.com)

^{Guys and Dolls opens at The Wallis December 4th}

Guys and Dolls!

By Ken Werther
Photo Courtesy of The Wallis

This classic American musical is one of my absolute favorites! The original Broadway production of Guys and Dolls opened in November 1950, ran for 1200 performances, and won five Tony Awards including Best Musical. A little remembered fact: Guys and Dolls was selected as the winner of the 1951 Pulitzer Prize for Drama but because of book writer Abe Burrows’ troubles with the House Un-American Activities Committee the Trustees of Columbia University vetoed the selection and no Pulitzer for Drama was awarded that year. Not the finest moment in American history.

Through the years there have been countless revivals and new productions of the show in the US, London, Australia, and around the world. I was lucky enough to see the 1992 revival on Broadway — an evening of theatre I will never, ever forget. That production ran for 1143 performances (only 57 less than the original!) and won the Tony Award for Best Revival. Pretty amazing history for a Broadway musical.

The critically acclaimed Oregon Shakespeare Festival production of Guys and Dolls arriving at the Wallis this month follows their celebrated version of Into the Woods which I found extraordinary (and ITW is a show I had never really ‘gotten’ before). Directed once again by Tony Award-winner Mary Zimmerman, this Guys and Dolls promises to be another unforgettable theatre experience!

For tickets and show times for Guys and Dolls, click here.

NEWS RELEASE — NEW YEAR’S EVE 2016 POP ROCKIN’ CELEBRATION AT HILTON LOS ANGELES/UNIVERSAL CITY WITH SPECIAL GUEST POP ICON BELINDA CARLISLE

CHRIS ISAACSON PRESENTS
AND
HILTON LOS ANGELES/UNIVERSAL CITY
PRESENT
NEW YEAR’S EVE 2016
A POP ROCKIN’ CELEBRATION
WITH SPECIAL GUEST
POP ICON BELINDA CARLISLE
ALSO STARRING
FRENCHIE DAVIS, ROGELIO DOUGLAS JR.,
DAVID HERNANDEZ, MAYA, AND JAKE SIMPSON

Chris Isaacson Presents and the Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City have announced NEW YEAR’S EVE 2016: A POP ROCKIN’ CELEBRATION with special guest pop icon Belinda Carlisle and also starring Frenchie Davis, Rogelio Douglas Jr., David Hernandez, Maya, and Jake Simpson, performing hits from the 80s to today as well as fresh arrangements of favorites from the Great American Songbook and classic rhythm and blues. The festivities will begin at 7pm in the Hilton’s elegant Sierra Ballroom.

The evening will be a return to the traditional supper club experience. Ticket packages give guests the option of a four-course dinner, pre-show artist meet and greet, premium top shelf bottle service at tables, or simply a ticket for the show. Regardless of the package, all patrons will have access to the Sierra Ballroom’s large dance floor, live concert entertainment, full bar, celebratory champagne toast, party favors, balloon drop, and much more.

Tickets are on sale now and prices range from $87—$325. Purchase online at www.TicketWeb.com and www.ChrisIsaacsonPresents.com, or via phone at (866) 468-3399. For guest room reservations at the Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City for New Year’s Eve, call (818) 506-2500, extension 1. Use code NYEPR.

RIGHT-CLICK HERE
FOR ARTIST BIOS AND COMPLETE
BREAKDOWN OF TICKET PACKAGES.

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11-23-15

^{PHOTOS OF BELINDA CARLISLE COURTESY OF CHRIS ISAACSON PRESENTS.}