Announcing: Listing Info & Play Descriptions – The Blank Theatre’s 20th Annual Young Playwrights Festival

THE BLANK THEATRE
20TH ANNUAL YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL

Professional actors and directors present 12 winning plays by young playwrights from across the nation during this prestigious four-week festival. Each week is a different evening of three plays. For complete list of plays and performance dates, see schedule below.

DATES:  May 31 – June 24

TIMES:  Thurs/Fri/Sat at 8pm; Sun at 2pm

ADMISSION:  Adults $20 Students $14.  Festival Pass (one seat each week) $64

TICKET INFO:  Available online at www.TheBlank.com, or by calling (323) 661-9827.

LOCATION:  The Stella Adler Theatre, 6773 Hollywood Boulevard (at Highland), in Hollywood.

WEEK ONE May 31 – June 3

COFFEE TALK
By Spencer Emerson Opal-Levine (age 9), Sarasota, FL
What do you want to become? Do you have to follow the rules? The denizens of a local Starbucks ask these same questions, but the answers are not what you expect.
Mentor – Ellen Byron
Director – David Shine

THE GRANT PROPOSAL
By Nick Mecikalski (age 18), Madison, AL
In the too-near future, your productivity is very closely watched and charted. This family struggles with what one must do when Grandpa is no longer “useful.”
Mentor – Mark Saltzman
Director – James Kerwin

PRINCESS
By Kate Herzlin (age 19), Rockville Centre, NY
Princess has been sheltered her whole life, as if raised in a fairy tale.  But what should she do if a dream life isn’t her dream?  Can she ever find her true self or must she live everyone else’s version of happily ever after?”
Mentor – Brighde Mullins
Director – April Webster

WEEK TWO June 7 – 10

THE INDEX
By Zachary Weaver (age 15), Overland Park, KS
What if they kept a list of your life accomplishments? What would be in your Index? Maybe you haven’t done anything noteworthy. Does that make you not worthy?
Mentor – Patrick Burleigh
Director – Trevor Bishop

SCRAPBOOK
By Brendan Blaber (age 17), Indian Head Park, IL
The last day at Camp Itchyknee seems like the end of the world. And when you are 12 years old, it just may be. Especially if you haven’t been able to tell the cute girl how much you like her yet.
Mentor – David Rambo
Director – J. Richey Nash

THE ART OF LOSING
By Nicole Acton (age 18), Interlochen, MI
Family matters. It is important to give of yourself to help those that have always helped you. But how much can one give? And for how long? And at what cost?
Mentor – Christopher Kyle
Director – Loni Peristere

WEEK THREE June 14 – 17

DAMMIT!
By David Agronin (age 17), Owings Mills, MD
Len needs to apologize to his girlfriend but she’s not picking up her phone, so he leaves a message.  And then another. And then another. Can he stop digging this terrible hole for himself and ever get back in her arms?
Mentor – Austin Winsberg
Director – Matt Graber

OTHER PEOPLE’S ORGANS
By Paige Roth (age 18), San Antonio, TX
Getting Mom’s attention is never easy, especially when she is so self-obsessed. But Carlton needs more that just that from her mother: she needs to know what really happened to her father.
Mentor – Robert L. Freedman
Director – Ameenah Kaplan

ARC
By Elana Zeltser (age 16), Sherman Oaks, CA
Kacey doesn’t get why she needs to write a paper on Joan of Arc. What could this girl from a million years ago have to do with her? She just might find out, when Joan in her jail cell appears in Kacey’s bedroom.
Mentor – Kelly Miller
Director – Barbara Bain

WEEK FOUR June 21 – 24

BEAR IN MIND
By Emma Steinkellner (age 17), Santa Barbara, CA
Sometimes having a conscience can be a real bear. In Annie’s case it is literally a large British bear who wants her to become respectable. So naturally, she tries to get rid of him.
Mentor – Gary Tieche
Director – Jeff Maynard

ONE PLUS ONE IS FOUR
By Rachel Kaly (age 16), Forest Hills, NY
When a meteor is hurtling it way to earth, about to destroy all in half an hour, is it too late to look for love?
Mentor – Dave Holstein
Director – Warren Davis

THE CARDIOLUTHIER
By Dylan Zwickel (age 19), Manhattan Beach, CA
When your violin strings break, you see a Luthier to get them fixed. But where do you go when you break your heart strings?
Mentor – John Cariani
Director – Michael Matthews

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05-15-12

Ken Werther on LA Talk Radio’s The Sheena Metal Experience

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