NEWS RELEASE – LOS ANGELES LGBT CENTER PRESENTS “THE SEARCH FOR SIGNS OF INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE: REVISITED — OPENS SATURDAY 10/8 at 8pm

The Los Angeles LGBT Center’s
Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center
Presents
The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe: Revisited

By Jane Wagner
Directed by Ken Sawyer

PREVIEWS BEGIN OCTOBER 4
OPENS SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8 AT 8PM

For the first time in the 35-year history of Jane Wagner’s iconic play The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, the author and her creative and life partner Lily Tomlin have given their approval for it to be reinvented as a fully staged production performed by a company of 12 actors as opposed to its original solo format. This first-ever fully cast production will be directed by Ovation Award-winner Ken Sawyer with previews beginning October 4. Opening is set for Saturday, October 8 at 8pm at the Davidson/Valentini Theatre at the Los Angeles LGBT Center.

Over the last four years, the Center’s Cultural Arts Program’s creative collaboration of Artistic Director Jon Imparato and director Ken Sawyer has presented the critically-acclaimed hits Deathtrap; The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later; The Goat or, Who Is Sylvia?; and Hit the Wall (which won Sawyer LADCC and Stage Raw Awards for Best Director and a Best Production of the Year Award for the Center). The new staging of Wagner’s play is titled The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe: Revisited. Said Imparato, “It was important to give our production a new name so that audiences are aware this is not a solo performance but a reimagined version of the play with different actors playing the many roles.”

In The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe: Revisited audiences will embark on a hilarious, tender, and profound journey through the streets, across the world, and far beyond. The cast will include (in alphabetical order) Julia Aks, Charlotte Gulezian, Joe Hart, Julanne Chidi Hill, Kristina Johnson, Kimberly Jürgen, Bellini Logan, Jeremy Luke, Ann Noble, Sasha Pasternak, Anny Rosario, and Rachel Sorsa.

The design team: Stephanie Kerley Schwartz (set), Matt Richter and Adam Earle (lighting), Paula Higgins (costumes), Matt Richter (sound), Nick Santiago (projection design), Anna Waronker and Charlotte Caffey (original music and underscore), Yusif Nasir (choreography), and Mo Gaffney (mime instruction). The producer for the Los Angeles LGBT Center is Jon Imparato, and Rebecca Schoenberg serves as stage manager.

Preview performances begin on October 4 at 8pm and continue on October 5, 6, and 7 at 8pm. Opening is set for Saturday, October 8 at 8pm. The engagement will run through December 11 with no performances over Thanksgiving weekend. 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 Davidson/Valentini Theatre is located at 1125 N. McCadden Place (one block east of Highland, just north of Santa Monica Boulevard), in Hollywood, 90038. Free onsite parking is available.

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09-06-16

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 500 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, and Leadership and Advocacy. The Center is 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 http://lalgbtcenter.org

PRESS RELEASE — LOS ANGELES LGBT CENTER PRESENTS EDWARD ALBEE’S “THE GOAT OR, WHO IS SYLVIA?” — OPENS FRIDAY, SEPT. 19

LOS ANGELES LGBT CENTER’S
LILY TOMLIN/JANE WAGNER CULTURAL ARTS CENTER
PRESENTS
THE GOAT OR, WHO IS SYLVIA?
BY EDWARD ALBEE
DIRECTED BY KEN SAWYER

DAVIDSON/VALENTI THEATRE IN HOLLYWOOD
OPENING SET FOR FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19 AT 8PM

The Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center is set to present Edward Albee’s The Goat or, Who Is Sylvia?, with opening set for Friday, September 19 at 8pm. (There will be two preview performances on September 17 and 18 at 8pm.) Directed by Ken Sawyer, the production will run through November 23.

The cast of The Goat or, Who Is Sylvia? will feature (in alphabetical order) Matt Kirkwood, Spencer Morrissey, Ann Noble, and Paul Witten. The set design is by Robert Selander, lighting design is by Matt Richter, costume design is by Paula Higgins, and sound design is by Ken Sawyer. Assistant director is Shaunessy Quinn, fight choreographer is Edgar Landa, and the stage manager is Kathleen Jaffe. The Goat or, Who Is Sylvia? is produced by Jon Imparato, artistic director of the Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center.

Winner of the 2002 Drama Desk and Tony Awards for Best Play and a 2003 Pulitzer Prize finalist, The Goat or, Who Is Sylvia? is the tale of a married, middle-aged architect, Martin, his wife Stevie, and their son Billy, whose lives crumble when Martin falls in love with a goat. The play focuses on the limits of an ostensibly liberal society, challenging audience members to question their own morality in the face of other social taboos including infidelity, pedophilia, and incest.

Said Jon Imparato, artistic director of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center’s Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center, “I’ve been haunted by this play ever since I saw it on Broadway more than a decade ago. It is without question Albee’s most daring, brave, and thought-provoking work. We are honored that Mr. Albee has allowed the Center to produce this play.”

Since 1969 the Los Angeles LGBT Center has cared for, championed, and celebrated LGBT individuals and families in Los Angeles and beyond. Today, its health center, shelters, performance stages, and classrooms serve more LGBT people than any other organization in the world. The Center is an unstoppable force in the community’s 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. For more, visit at www.lagaycenter.org.

There will be two preview performances of The Goat or, Who Is Sylvia? on Wednesday, September 17 and Thursday, September 18 at 8pm. Opening is set for Friday, September 19 at 8pm. The engagement will run through November 23 with performances on Friday and Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 7pm. Preview seats are $20 and admission for regular performances is $30. [All tickets purchased online before August 19 receive a $5 discount.] Tickets are available online at www.lalgbtcenter.org/theatre, or by calling (323) 860-7300.

The Davidson/Valentini Theatre is located at the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s 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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08-07-14

Announcing: Extension of “Deathtrap” Canceled Due to Revocation of Performance Rights

L.A. GAY & LESBIAN CENTER’S ACCLAIMED PRODUCTION
OF IRA LEVIN’S “DEATHTRAP”
WILL NOT RETURN IN SEPTEMBER
DUE TO PERFORMANCE RIGHTS BEING REVOKED

Due to a last-minute revocation of performance rights, the much acclaimed, ‘Ovation Recommended’ production of Ira Levin’s classic comedy-thriller Deathtrap will be unable to return to the Davidson/Valentini Theatre at the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center in September as previously announced. Net proceeds would have benefitted the entire array of the Center’s free and low-cost programs and services.

Directed by eight-time Ovation Award-winner Ken Sawyer, the Center’s production of Deathtrap enjoyed a ten week sold-out run in the spring of this year. Due to the original engagement’s runaway success, the Center planned to remount the production, but the Estate of Ira Levin that controls the performance rights abruptly revoked them, citing a brief moment of onstage nudity.

Following an impassioned appeal by the Center, rights were once again granted, but this time with very strict guidelines prohibiting any onstage behavior that portrayed the two lead male characters having a physical relationship—this despite the fact that in the play the characters are involved in a full-blown affair.

Deathtrap’s famously complex script provides genuine, edge-of-your-seat thrills, and is known for the jolts and surprises that occur along the way. The Center has decided that re-mounting the show with the imposed restrictions would force the play’s central relationship back into the closet, thus compelling the Center to compromise both its mission and its integrity. It would also result in a very different and less effective production than the one audiences had been lining up to see. Therefore the Center has been forced to cancel.

The entire original cast was set to return. They are (in alphabetical order) Brian Foyster, Cynthia Gravinese, Burt Grinstead, Elizabeth Herron, Carl J. Johnson, and Stephen Mendillo. The design team included Joel Daavid (set), Luke Moyer (lighting), Paula Higgins (costumes), and Ken Sawyer (sound). Deathtrap was produced by Jon Imparato, artistic director of the Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center.

Patrons who had already purchased tickets for the extension will receive full refunds. The Center’s box office personnel is in the process of contacting all ticket buyers. The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center 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.

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08-23-12