NEWS RELEASE — SUBMISSIONS NOW BEING ACCEPTED FOR THE BLANK THEATRE’S 23rd ANNUAL YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL

SUBMISSIONS NOW BEING ACCEPTED
THE BLANK THEATRE’S
23RD ANNUAL NATIONWIDE
YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL

The Blank Theatre’s 23rd Annual Young Playwrights Festival is now seeking submissions nationwide from playwrights 19 years of age and younger. The submission deadline is March 16, 2015. Winning plays will be presented by professional actors and directors from June 4—28, 2015 at the Stella Adler Theatre in Hollywood, CA.

The Blank Theatre’s Young Playwrights Festival is a nationwide competition that produces the work of 12 young writers each year. Since 1993, the festival has produced 260 plays by playwrights 19 and younger from 27 states.

Each winning play will have four performances in a weekend run. The productions are made possible in part by grants from The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation, The Plum Foundation, The Rosenthal Family Foundation, The Walt Disney Company, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, and City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.

The rules for the festival competition are as follows: playwrights must be 19 years of age or younger on March 16, 2015; original plays and musicals can be any length, on any subject. Scripts must be legible and pages must be numbered and unbound. Submissions may be emailed to ypfsubmissions@theblank.com or hard copies mailed to YPF, c/o The Blank Theatre, PO Box 1094, Los Angeles, CA, 90078 (and must be postmarked or emailed by March 16, 2015). There is a limit of three (3) plays per playwright. All plays must include a cover sheet with the play’s title, playwright’s name, date of birth, school (if any), mailing address, contact phone number, e-mail address and the play’s production history (if any).

Each playwright whose work is accepted will be assigned a mentor: professionals who will help the youngsters hone their work for performance. Past mentors have included Tony Award-winning playwright Terrence McNally, Tony Award-nominated composer Michael John LaChiusa, writer Jeff Greenstein (Will & Grace), producer Todd Milliner (Hot in Cleveland, Grimm), writer Irene Mecchi (The Lion King, Brave), Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening), television and film director Garry Marshall, among many others. The playwrights then experience the thrill of seeing their plays performed by industry professionals in fully staged productions.

Said Noah Wyle (star of television’s ER and Falling Skies), Artistic Producer at The Blank, “Each Spring for the past 23 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.” Wyle continued, “These are not only the voices of today’s theatre — they are the voices of tomorrow’s as well.”

For more information, visit the festival’s website at www.YoungPlaywrights.com or The Blank Theatre’s website at www.TheBlank.com.

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01-13-15

NEWS RELEASE — LOS ANGELES LGBT CENTER PRESENTS ‘JULIE GOLDMAN: TAKE A WALK ON THE SOFTER SIDE’ — SAT, FEBRUARY 7 AT 8PM

The Los Angeles LGBT Center’s
Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center
Presents

JULIE GOLDMAN
TAKE A WALK ON THE SOFTER SIDE

AT THE LGBT CENTER’S RENBERG THEATRE
Saturday, February 7 at 8pm

The Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center has announced the one-night-only return of Julie Goldman in her new comedy extravaganza Take A Walk on the Softer Side at the Renberg Theatre on Saturday, February 7, at 8pm.

Irreverent. Outrageous. Hilarious. Charming. Soft? That’s not a word usually associated with Julie Goldman, one of the hottest young comedians working today. A star of The Big Gay Sketch Show on LOGO, The Provincetown Banner called Goldman, “a master of irreverent cultural criticism that will have you laughing so hard you reach the edge of tears and beyond.” The Banner concluded, “She is a must see.”

Goldman describes herself as “the worst lesbian in the world” and is renowned for her brash mix of humor, observation, and music (she plays guitar at a third grade level, specializing in lesbian folk-rock realness). She has three TV comedy specials under her belt which have been seen on LOGO, Showtime, and Comedy Central, and she has appeared on Bones, RuPaul’s Drag U, Happy Endings, The Mindy Project, MTV’s Faking It, among others. Goldman performs her comedy standup all over the country.

Opening for Julie Goldman will be comedy star Teddy Margas, a founding member of ‘The Queers of Comedy’ and a cast member in the hit stage show Streeptease. Margas has toured the country for the past 10 years and now lives in West Hollywood where he co-hosts a weekly comedy show at Fubar with Mikey Scott.

General admission tickets for Julie Goldman’s Take A Walk on the Softer Side are $20 and may be purchased online at www.lalgbtcenter.org/theatre or by phone at (323) 860-7300. Net proceeds from 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 the Village at Ed Gould Plaza, 1125 N. McCadden Place (one block east of Highland, just north of Santa Monica Boulevard), in Hollywood. Free onsite parking is available.

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01-12-15

About the Los Angeles LGBT Center
Since 1969 the Los Angeles LGBT Center has cared for, championed and celebrated LGBT individuals and families in Los Angeles and beyond. Today the Center’s more than 450 employees and 3,000 volunteers provide services for more LGBT people than any other organization in the world, offering programs, services and global advocacy that span four broad categories: Health, Social Services and Housing, Culture and Education, Leadership and Advocacy. We are an unstoppable force in the fight against bigotry and the struggle to build a better world; a world in which LGBT people can be healthy, equal and complete members of society. Learn more at www.lalgbtcenter.org.

NEWS RELEASE — LA STAGE ALLIANCE & PRODUCERS LEAGUE OF LA ANNOUNCE 99-SEAT THEATRE PLAN RESEARCH PROJECT FUNDED BY THE BILLER FAMILY FOUNDATION

LA STAGE ALLIANCE AND
THE THEATRICAL PRODUCERS LEAGUE
OF LOS ANGELES/INTIMATE
ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP TO RESEARCH
99-SEAT THEATRE BUSINESS MODELS
IN LA COUNTY
WITH FUNDING FROM
THE BILLER FAMILY FOUNDATION

LA STAGE Alliance, in partnership with the leadership council of the Theatrical Producers League of Los Angeles/Intimate (TPLLA/I), will work with consultants to research the existing business models for theatre companies working in the 99-seat arena, it was announced today. The project will be completed by May of this year, with findings presented at the annual LA STAGE Day event.

Funded by the Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation, the consultants (M.A. candidates at Claremont Graduate University’s Graduate School of Management Alex Rast and Cong Li) will research Cultural Data Project (CDP) data for companies that operate under the Actors Equity Association 99-Seat Plan; they will also conduct a series of interviews with community leaders to ascertain the various models currently in use. The result will be a series of case studies detailing how these businesses operate, and to what level of success.

“Some companies sustain themselves with member dues, others with income from teaching classes, some have angel donors supporting the bulk of their work, and others have been gifted with sweetheart real estate deals,” said LA STAGE CEO Terence McFarland. “We’d like to set assumptions aside and identify a cluster of models and name them so that companies with similar models can be evaluated and examined on equal ground.” McFarland continued, “The research comes at a time of much conversation in LA’s theatrical community regarding intimate theatres, much of it driven by emotion and passion. This research will allow for a data-driven approach for discussions of sustainability and business practices.”

Michael Seel, Chairman of the TPLLA/I Leadership Council and Executive Director at Boston Court Performing Arts Center added, “Our hope is that the project will delineate the variety of producing models at play in Los Angeles, identify the strengths and challenges of those various approaches, and pave the way for a diverse and sustainable future for our industry. As we move toward the development of strategic initiatives such as branding Los Angeles theatre, the results of this study will serve as a strong foundation.”

LA STAGE Alliance and the TPLLA/I Leadership Council believe the research will prove to be a valuable tool for improving the infrastructure of current and future theatre companies in the Los Angeles area.

For more information, email info@lastagealliance.com, visit www.tpl-la.com, or visit www.99seattheatre.org, the newly launched site for discussions related to the Equity 99-Seat Plan.

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01-09-15