Announcing: Celebrity Presenters Announced for 24th Annual Ovation Awards Ceremony on Sunday 11/3

CELEBRITY PRESENTERS ANNOUNCED
FOR 24TH ANNUAL LA STAGE ALLIANCE
OVATION AWARDS CEREMONY

MICHAEL McKEAN WILL HOST
AT SAN GABRIEL MISSION PLAYHOUSE
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 3 AT 7:00PM

LA STAGE Alliance has announced celebrity presenters set to join host Michael McKean for the 24th Annual Ovation Awards Ceremony on Sunday, November 3 at the historic San Gabriel Mission Playhouse. A pre-show reception begins at 5:30, and the curtain will rise at 7pm.

Celebrity presenters scheduled to participate include (in alphabetical order) Ed Begley Jr., Erich Bergen, Amy Brenneman, Charlie Carver, Keith David, Barrett Foa, Val Kilmer, Sharon Lawrence, Wendie Malick, Ana Ortiz, Susan Sullivan, Steven Weber, and more. They will be joined by many local performers, city officials, union reps, artistic, managing, and executive directors, along with other artistic personnel representing the wide and varied Los Angeles theatre community.

Producers Douglas Clayton, Crystal Diaz, and Andrew Carlberg will lead this year’s production team, with technical direction and production management by Live Event Pros. The production design is by Terence McFarland, Oliver Hess and Aperiodic Industries, and lighting design is by Dan Weingarten. Musical direction will once again be by the Ovation Award-winning David O, combined with the music and performance of String Theory. The voices of the Ovations are Bernadette Sullivan and Robert Yacko. The Ovation statues will be presented by students from the MFA program at UCLA.

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 Awards Rules Committee. The list of nominees is determined by a tabulation of scores conducted by Green Hasson Janks. This year’s Ovation Award eligibility period ran from August 27, 2012 through August 25, 2013.

LA STAGE Alliance programs are sponsored in part by Actors Equity, The Biller Family Foundation, California Arts Council, California Community Foundation, City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, DatabaseWorks, the DEW Foundation, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Goldstar, James Irvine Foundation, Andrew Mellon Foundation, Bakers Man Productions, Ken Werther Publicity, Live Event Pros, Los Angeles County Supervisors through the LA County Arts Commission, National Endowment for the Arts, Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, 4 Wall Lighting, Pacific Coast Entertainment, The Shubert Foundation, and Sony Pictures Entertainment.

The 24th Annual Ovation Awards ceremony will take place on Sunday, November 3 at 7pm at the San Gabriel Mission Playhouse, located at 320 S. Mission Drive in San Gabriel. A pre-show reception begins at 5:30pm. For more information, visit www.OvationAwards.com.

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10-24-2013

Announcing: 2010 LA Stage Alliance Ovation Awards Ceremony

2010 LA STAGE ALLIANCE OVATION AWARDS CEREMONY
SET FOR MONDAY, JANUARY 17, 2011
AT THOUSAND OAKS CIVIC ARTS PLAZA

SCHEDULED PRESENTERS INCLUDE
SHIRLEY JONES, PATRICK CASSIDY, SALLY STRUTHERS,
DORIS ROBERTS, T.R. KNIGHT, HARRY GROENER,
MIKE O’MALLEY (GLEE), ALAN MANDELL,
TESSA THOMPSON (FOR COLORED GIRLS … ),
MONICA ROSENTHAL (EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND), AND
ERICH BERGEN & MICHAEL INGERSOLL (JERSEY BOYS)

The LA Stage Alliance Ovation Awards Ceremony for the 2010 theatre season will take place Monday, January 17, 2011 at 7:30pm at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, home of the Cabrillo Music Theatre.

Along with those listed above, other presenters scheduled to participate include Carole W. Nussbaum (President and Chief Executive Officer, Cabrillo Music Theatre), Jacqui V. Irwin (City of Thousand Oaks Council Member and Mayor Pro Tem), Wren T. Brown (Executive Director, Ebony Repertory Theatre), Mary Lou Westerfield (Western Regional Director, Actors Equity Association), and Oz Scott (West Coast Board Member, Stage Directors & Choreographers Society).

David O (a 2010 nominee for Songs and Dances of Imaginary Lands) will serve as Music Director, and he will be joined by the vocal group Sonos (http://www.sonosings.com). Awards will be given in 29 competitive categories, and the recipients of the 2010 Sherwood Award and four 2010 Ovation Honors will be acknowledged.

LA Stage Alliance is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to building awareness, appreciation and support for the performing arts in greater Los Angeles through community building, collaborative marketing, audience development, professional development to strengthen operations for members, and advocacy. LASA serves over 325 organizational members (professional, educational, and community-based producing and presenting performing arts organizations) annually in the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara and Ventura, and individual members comprised of local, regional, national, and international performing arts patrons.

The Ovation Awards are made possible by LA Stage Alliance and Cabrillo Music Theatre sponsors: Actors Equity Association, Goldstar, the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles, Gelson’s The Super Market, Footlights, Production Resource Group, Ken Werther Publicity, Capture Imaging, Schwabel Studio, Bakers Man Productions, KUSC Classical 91.5 FM, the Los Angeles Times, Patron Technology, Target Resource Group, Valley Bakery, Marriott, the City of Thousand Oaks and the City of Thousand Oaks Board of Governors.

The Ovation Awards are tabulated by Green Hasson Janks LLC.

The Ovation Awards Ceremony is open to the public, and tickets may be purchased at www.lastagealliance.com, or by calling (213) 614-0556, ext. 15. Prices range from $40 to $160. The Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza is located at 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks. Results will be available after the ceremony at www.LAStageAlliance.com and www.LAStageTimes.com.

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01/12/11

Announcing: Cast set for The Blank Theatre Company’s production of The Cradle Will Rock

REX SMITH SET TO HEAD CAST
FOR THE BLANK THEATRE COMPANY’S REVIVAL OF
MARC BLITZSTEIN’S 1937 MUSICAL
THE CRADLE WILL ROCK

COMPLETE CAST ANNOUNCED AND REHEARSALS ARE UNDERWAY
PREVIEWS BEGIN FEBRUARY 5, 2011
AT THE STELLA ADLER THEATRE IN HOLLYWOOD

Casting is complete and rehearsals have begun for The Blank Theatre Company’s third production of its 20th anniversary season, Marc Blitzstein’s The Cradle Will Rock. Directed by The Blank’s Founding Artistic Director Daniel Henning, and featuring musical direction by David O, Cradle will begin preview performances on Saturday, February 5, 2011 and is set to open one week later on Saturday, February 12 at 8pm. The engagement will run through Sunday, March 20.

Along with stage, television, and recording star Rex Smith, the cast (in alphabetical order) is Tiffany Adams, Will Barker, Gigi Bermingham, Christopher Carroll, Rob Roy Cesar, Matthew Patrick Davis, Mikey Hawley, Jim Holdridge, Jack Laufer, Roland Rusinek, Meagan Smith, Lowe Taylor, David Trice, Peter Van Norden, Matt Wolpe, Adam Wylie, and Penelope Yates.

In The Cradle Will Rock, corporations and churches use their influence to shape laws to their favor, unemployment hits new heights, and millions of Americans are losing their homes. Sound like the new millennium? In 1937, Mark Blitzstein’s musical called these issues into question with his scathing satire of greed, corruption and politics in the U.S.A. So scandalous, in fact, was The Cradle Will Rock that the U.S. Government tried to shut it down. But Blitzstein’s humor, music and agitprop parody ruled the day and the public got to hear this terrific, fun, jazzy score. Snappy tunes, wonderful characters and deep questions about our nation will take you on a roller-coaster ride through the American patriotic psyche.

The Blank Theatre Company first presented The Cradle Will Rock in 1994, directed by Henning, and the production received two Ovation Award nominations (Musical in an Intimate Theatre, Director of a Musical), three Drama-Logue Awards (including Production and Director), and the L.A. Weekly Award for Musical of the Year. Philip Brandes of the Los Angeles Times said, “Sophisticated, witty … Henning’s insightful staging and the inspired performances showcase the enduring brilliance of this under-appreciated watershed musical.” And in the L.A. Weekly, Martin Hernandez wrote, “Blitzstein’s fervent, catchy score and earthy humor complement the piece’s revolutionary politics.” A complete recording of the score was released by The Blank in 1995; that recording will be re-released in celebration of this new production and The Blank’s 20th Anniversary.

Preview performances of The Cradle Will Rock are Saturday, February 5 at 8pm, Sunday, February 6 at 2pm, and Tuesday, February 8 – Friday, February 11 at 8pm. Opening night is set for Saturday, February 12 at 8:00. The regular performance schedule is Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 2pm through March 20. All preview seats are $30; regular performance prices are $30 on Thursday and Sunday, $34.99 on Friday and Saturday. Tickets may be purchased by calling (323) 661-9827 or online at www.TheBlank.com. For group sales, call (323) 871-8018.

The Stella Adler Theatre is located at 6773 Hollywood Boulevard (2nd Floor), in Hollywood.  Validated parking ($2) is available at the Hollywood and Highland complex.

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12-16-10