NEWS RELEASE — WORLD PREMIERE OF A NEW MUSICAL — “THE DEVIL YOU KNOW: A RHYTHM & BLUES STORY” — OPENS SUNDAY 10/2 at 4pm

DEVILISH THEATRICAL
PRESENTS
THE WORLD PREMIERE OF A NEW MUSICAL
THE DEVIL YOU KNOW
A Rhythm & Blues Story
BOOK BY DAVID CAREY FOSTER & LARRY POINDEXTER
MUSIC & LYRICS BY LARRY POINDEXTER
DIRECTED BY DARIN ANTHONY

SEPTEMBER 29 — OCTOBER 23
AT THEATRE OF ARTS
ARENA STAGE THEATRE

OPENS SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2 AT 4PM

Devilish Theatrical in association with Theatre of Arts has announced the world premiere of The Devil You Know—A Rhythm & Blues Story, a new musical with book by David Carey Foster & Larry Poindexter, and music & lyrics by Poindexter. Directed by Darin Anthony with musical direction by Brad Ellis, the cast will feature (in alphabetical order) Trevon Davis, Julia Harriman, Gildart Jackson, Harrison Killian-White, Alexis Krause, Braxton Molinaro, Larry Poindexter, Niles Rivers, Sasha Sloan, James Patrick Stuart, and Bill Watterson. Opening is set for Sunday, October 2 at 4pm and the strictly limited engagement will run through October 23 only.

Due to the sudden heat generated by an unreleased song’s play in a commercial, the disbanded R&B group Devereaux has been approached by their former record label to complete the band’s unfinished debut album. Whether the band’s leader Bobby Alderman and the former lead singer (and Bobby’s ex-wife) Rochelle Deveraux can overcome their differences to reunite the band and rekindle personal and professional dreams, is an open question. The scenic design is by David Offner, lighting design is by Brandon Baruch, costume design is by Angela Trivino, choreography is by Angela Lopez, the assistant director is Andrea Fiorentini, and casting is by Carol Kritzer at Ulrich/Dawson/Kritzer Casting. The stage managers are Juli Figueroa and Mercedes Aponte.The Devil You Know—A Rhythm & Blues Story is produced in association with Theatre of Arts and sponsored by Kinecta Federal Credit Union. The producers for Devilish Theatrical are Cate Cundiff and Max Oken.

David Carey Foster (Book Co-Writer) has worked as an actor in Zhivago, the Musical (La Jolla Playhouse), Inventing Van Gogh (PCPA) and Orson’s Shadow (ART Portland), among others. Television credits include Grey’s Anatomy, NCIS, The Mentalist, Dexter, and True Nightmares. Films include Get a Job, The Catcher, and Brix and the Bitch. For the stage, Foster has directed Sylvia, Good People (San Luis Obispo Little Theatre) and Unbeatable (Tower Theatre); he has produced My Children! My Africa!, Alfred Stieglitz Loves O’Keeffe, Voices of America, A Night at the Tonys (Central Coast Repertory Theatre), Einstein & the Polar Bear, and The Cocktail Hour (Colony Theatre). He is a vocalist with the R&B/Country trio Pepper Street.

Larry Poindexter (Book Co-Writer; Music & Lyrics) is an actor, producer, writer, and composer. His songs have been featured in numerous TV shows and films. In the film industry, he has served as a producer, second unit director, first assistant director, production coordinator, and casting director. His first job in the entertainment business was with Catalina Production Group where he was the production coordinator for the musical adaptation of The Wrong Box. Poindexter also produced the semi-improvised Thin Ice with Hank Azaria and a season at Theatre 40. Along with partner Flody Suarez and Jeffrey Sellers, he will be producing the authorized Cher bio-musical on Broadway in 2017.

Darin Anthony (Director) is the Artistic Director of Moving Arts, a company dedicated to adventurous new work by Los Angeles artists. He directed the West Coast premieres of The Kill-or-Dies, Viral, The Gun Show, Gidion’s Knot, US Drag, Smudge, A Hole in the Dark, The Book of Liz, Bach at Leipzig, and the premiere of Nureyev’s Eyes at American Stages. World premieres include The Good Boy, The Incident Report, S.O.E., The Antiquarian’s Family, Street Angel Diaries, Before We Go Home, The Closeness of the Horizon, London’s Scars, Sidhe, and HEADS. Anthony’s film directing debut, Hitting the Cycle, was awarded Best Feature Film by the Manhattan Film Festival. He also directed and developed the web series Before We Go to Sleep.

Brad Ellis (Musical Director) is best known as Brad the Pianist on Fox TV’s Glee. Other television credits include The Rocky Horror Picture Show (2016), Bunheads, The Gilmore Girls, The Girls Next Door, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The View, The Middle, The 2009 Academy Awards, and The Glee Project. Film: Chicago, De-Lovely, and Beauty and the Beast. Ellis has conducted and performed in over 6,000 performances of more than 400 different musicals in NY, LA, and internationally, and orchestrates for the LA Philharmonic, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the New York Pops (Carnegie Hall), and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He has written for the off-Broadway shows Plaid Tidings and Tin Pan Alley Rag, and has been the leader on 35 albums for RCA, DRG, and Varese Sarabande. He has been profiled by CNN, NPR, The New York Times, and People Magazine.

There will be three preview performances ofThe Devil You Know—A Rhythm & Blues Story on Thursday, September 29, Friday, September 30, and Saturday, October 1 at 8pm, and the opening is set for Sunday, October 2 at 4pm. General seating admission is $30 and the running schedule is Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 6pm through October 23 only. Tickets may be purchased online at www.thedevilyouknow.rocks or by calling (323) 546-4297.

Theatre of Arts/Arena Stage Theatre is located at 1625 Las Palmas Avenue in Hollywood, 90028.

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09-09-16

NEWS RELEASE — THE BLANK THEATRE PRESENTS “THE BOOK OF LIZ” BENEFIT STAGED READING ON MONDAY 7/20 AT 8PM

THE BLANK THEATRE
ANNOUNCES A ONE NIGHT ONLY BENEFIT EVENT

A STAGED READING OF
THE BOOK OF LIZ
BY DAVID SEDARIS AND AMY SEDARIS
DIRECTED BY DARIN ANTHONY

PROCEEDS WILL BENEFIT THE BLANK’S ANNUAL
YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL

ONE NIGHT ONLY
MONDAY, JULY 20 AT 8PM
AT THE LOS ANGELES LGBT CENTER’S
RENBERG THEATRE

Hollywood’s Blank Theatre has announced a one night only staged reading of The Book of Liz by David Sedaris and Amy Sedaris, directed by Darin Anthony. The benefit event, which will raise funds for The Blank’s Young Playwrights Festival (currently completing its 23rd year) is set for Monday, July 20 at 8pm at the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Renberg Theatre.

This staged reading of The Book of Liz will celebrate the 10th Anniversary of The Blank’s long-running hit and will be performed by members of the original Blank cast (in alphabetical order): Tisha Terrasini Banker (Chastity Bites), Brian Carpenter (Superhero Movie), Matt Crabtree (Failing Upwards), Warren Davis (Yesterday Was A Lie), Bonita Friedericy (Chuck), Tom Lenk (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Johanna McKay (Yesterday Was A Lie), David St. James (iCarly), Kirsten Vangsness (Criminal Minds), Deborah Van Valkenburgh (Too Close for Comfort), Jeff Witzke (Vampires Suck), Sam Zeller (Kinky Boots National Tour), and Tamara Zook (Sons of the Prophet).

In 2005, The Blank Theatre’s production of The Book of Liz, originally slated for a six-week engagement, became a year-long runaway hit. At the conclusion of its run, 22 different actors had played 15 different characters over the course of 192 performances. This benefit reading is produced for The Blank Theatre by Sarah Allyn Bauer, Stacy Reed Payton, and Jeff Witzke.

The Book of Liz follows the hilarious, sweaty journey of Sister Elizabeth Donderstock and her amazing cheese balls. She feels under-appreciated among her traditional Squeamish brethren and decides to leave the quaint community of Custerhaven to try her luck in the outside world. Along the way she meets a cast of crazy characters, including the Cockney-speaking Ukrainian immigrants who take her in and the wait staff of a pilgrim themed restaurant called Plymouth Crock. Is all of this any better than her old life? Can the Squeamish survive without her? Will the cheese balls ever taste good again? The answers to these and so many other questions are found in this quirky comedy by David Sedaris and Amy Sedaris.

Ticket prices for the 10th Anniversary staged reading of The Book of Liz on July 20 at 8pm range from $50—$125 and are on sale now. To purchase online go to www.TheBlank.com or call (323) 661-9827. The LALGBT Center’s Renberg Theatre is located 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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06-24-15

Announcing: The Good Boy Extends One Week at LATC through Sunday 5/29

THE GOOD BOY
WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY MICHAEL BONNABEL
DIRECTED BY DARIN ANTHONY
NOW PLAYING AT LOS ANGELES THEATRE CENTER
THROUGH MAY 29

The Latino Theater Company, in association with Ken Werther, has announced an extension of The Good Boy. This new solo show, written and performed by Michael Bonnabel and directed by Darin Anthony, is now running at the Los Angeles Theatre Center.

The Good Boy is set in Pasadena in the 1960s, telling the humorous and heartwarming tale of Michael Bonnabel’s struggle to gain independence from his large, loving, and complicated family, which also happened to be led by deaf parents. Told in sign, speech, and song, Bonnabel explores the weight of the adult responsibilities the young boy must face, as well as his yearning to bond with his emotionally distant father. An earlier version of The Good Boy ran at The Bootleg Theater during the later summer and early fall of 2010, garnering audience and critical acclaim.

Writer/Performer Michael Bonnabel is a Los Angeles based performance artist with a wide range of theatre, film and television credits, including award-winning performances in Philip Littell’s No Miracle: A Consolation at Playwrights’ Arena and the ADA Best Revival signed and spoken production of Edward Albee’s The Zoo Story at the Actor’s Workout Studio. He has appeared in Ken Roht’s 99¢ Only Calendar Girl Competition, Route 99: Orange Star Dinner Show, Peace Squad Goes 99, and in Robert Prior’s colorful adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, Project: Wonderland at The Bootleg Theater. Other local stage work include productions with Long Beach Opera, West Coast Ensemble, Tiffany Theaters, Highways, the Odyssey Theatre, the Colony Theatre and the Meta Theatre.

Director Darin Anthony has become one of LA’s most sought after stage directors. His ever-expanding list of credits includes the critically acclaimed productions of Heads, A Hole in the Dark, and The Book of Liz for The Blank Theatre Company, Talley’s Folly, My Thing of Love and Smudge for Syzygy Theatre Group, Lanford Wilson’s Burn This (Amalgam Theatre), The Boarding House by Ann Noble (Interact Theatre), and Richard Greenberg’s The Violet Hour (Hollywood Food Chain Productions at the Lillian Theatre). Specializing in new works, Anthony has also helmed premiere productions of Sidhe by Ann Noble at the Road Theatre and London’s Scars at the Odyssey Theatre. Other credits include Bach at Leipzig (Odyssey) and US Drag for the Furious Theatre Company, which garnered seven LA Weekly Award nominations, winning one for Production Design.

Scenic design for The Good Boy is by John Burton, lighting design is by Brandon Baruch, sound design is by Joseph “Sloe” Slawinski, Rita Cofield serves as production stage manager, and Flori Schutzer is production consultant. Early development of The Good Boy took place under the auspices of The Menander Theatre.

The performance schedule for The Good Boy is Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 2pm.  General admission is $30, with a discounted price of $20 available for students and seniors. Every Thursday night, all seats are $10. Tickets are available now by visiting www.thelatc.org or by calling (213) 489-0994. The Los Angeles Theatre Center is located at 514 S. Spring Street in downtown LA.

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05-18-11