LA STAGE Alliance Announces LA DANCE ADVANCE Program

LA STAGE ALLIANCE ANNOUNCES LA DANCE ADVANCE

INITIATIVE IS INTENDED TO INCREASE CONNECTIONS
BETWEEN LOS ANGELES AREA DANCE ARTISTS
AND REGIONAL AND NATIONAL AUDIENCES

LA STAGE Alliance has announced LA Dance Advance, an initiative to increase connections between Los Angeles area dance artists with regional and national audiences.

Approximately seven to nine LA-based dance companies and choreographers will be selected for this nine-month program, which will run from October, 2011 through June, 2012. Participants will conduct self-assessments, work with a coach, attend workshops, network with their peers, develop a plan for audience growth, and apply for small implementation grants.

LA Dance Advance will address the fact that dance has long faced challenges in Los Angeles, including a lack of community connections and support structures. As a result, LA dance companies and choreographers have often experienced difficulty developing local followings as well as generating in or out of region booking opportunities.

The inaugural season of this program will select seven to nine dance companies and choreographers located in Los Angeles County, with a demonstrated capacity to reach audiences, and who are at a threshold of audience growth; organizations that are poised for increased touring opportunities, as well as those already actively touring but seeking to perform more in the Los Angeles area. Participants can be non-profit, unincorporated, or for-profit dance companies, or individual choreographers employed by, or volunteering for, a dance company. Dance companies and choreographers interested in applying should visit LASTAGEAlliance.com to submit a letter of intent; deadline is Friday, September 16, 2011. LA Dance Advance includes small implementation grants, but is not primarily a funding program. This initiative is not intended for dance companies and choreographers that already have a well-established capacity for both local performing and touring, emerging dance artists, or those whose primary focus is dance education, or students enrolled in a degree program.

LA Dance Advance is a collaboration of three organizations: LA STAGE Alliance (program administrator), the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs (financial and professional support), and the Southern California Dance Futures Fund (dance-specific leadership and assistance). Funding is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information, visit LASTAGEAlliance.com/DanceAdvance, send an email to info@LASTAGEAlliance.com, or call (213) 614-0556, ext. 717.

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09-07-11

Announcing: 2011 Ovation Award Nominations Will Be Announced Monday, Sept. 19

2011 OVATION AWARD NOMINEES
TO BE ANNOUNCED MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19
AT THE FALCON THEATRE IN BURBANK

AWARDS CEREMONY SET FOR MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14
AT THE ORPHEUM THEATRE IN DOWNTOWN LA

The announcement of the 2011 LA Stage Alliance Ovation Award nominees has been set for Monday, September 19 at 7:00 pm. The event will be hosted by the Falcon Theatre, which is located at 4252 Riverside Drive in Burbank.

This year’s Ovation Awards ceremony will take place on Monday, November 14, 2011 at 7:30 p.m. at the Orpheum Theatre, 842 South Broadway, in downtown Los Angeles.

On September 19, recipients of 2010 Ovation Awards for acting will announce the names of this year’s nominees. Scheduled to participate as presenters are Brendan Hunt (Lead Actor/Musical, Savin’ Up for Saturday Night), Bruce French (Lead Actor/Play, The Browning Version), Alan Mandell (Lead Actor/Play, No Man’s Land), David St. Louis (Featured Actor/Musical, Parade), Beth Grant (Lead Actress/Play, Grace & Glorie), and Anna Khaja (Lead Actress/Play, Shaheed – The Dream and Death of Benazir Bhutto). These winners from last year will be joined by Terence McFarland, Chief Executive Officer of LA Stage Alliance.

The nominee announcement event is free and open to the public. A light reception will be included, and RSVP is required. To RSVP, visit www.LASTAGEOvations.com.

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.

Tickets and additional information about the Ovation Awards Ceremony on November 14 will be available at www.LASTAGEOvations.com beginning September 19.

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08-31-11

Announcing: 2010 LA Stage Alliance Ovation Awards Presented

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

KUDOS FOR 2009-2010 SEASON
SHARED BY 21 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA THEATRE COMPANIES

The LA Stage Alliance Ovation Awards, celebrating theatrical excellence and achievement during the 2009-2010 season, were presented on Monday, January 17, 2011 at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, home of Cabrillo Music Theatre.

Thirty-six awards were bestowed upon 21 different Southern California theatre companies. Leading the pack, tied with five awards each, were The Fountain Theatre (The Ballad of Emmett Till, Opus, and the coveted Best Season Award), and The Geffen Playhouse (Equivocation, Through the Night). Center Theatre Group (Parade at the Mark Taper Forum and The Wake at the Kirk Douglas Theatre) and the Rubicon Theatre Company (Daddy Long Legs) tied with three each. Reprise Theatre Company (Carousel, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying), The Colony Theatre Company (Grace & Glorie), The Theatre @ Boston Court (The Good Book of Pedantry and Wonder, a win shared with Circle X Theatre Company, and Oedipus El Rey) and the Troubadour Theatre Company (Oedipus The King, Mama!), each took home two statuettes.

Four 2010 Ovation Honors were acknowledged: KC Wilkerson (Video Design, The Who’s Tommy at The Chance Theatre), Ego Plum (Music Composition for a Play, Gogol Project at the Bootleg Theater), Lynn Jeffries (Puppet Design, Project Wonderland at the Bootleg Theater), and Edgar Landa (Fight Choreography, Oedipus El Rey at The Theatre @ Boston Court).

For a complete list of winners, visit www.lastagealliance.com.

Presenters included Shirley Jones, Patrick Cassidy, Sally Struthers, Doris Roberts, T.R. Knight, Jenny Powers, Matt Cavenaugh, Harry Groener, Mike O’Malley (Glee), Alan Mandell, Tessa Thompson (For Colored Girls …), Monica Rosenthal (Everybody Loves Raymond), Erich Bergen and Michael Ingersoll (Jersey Boys), Carole W. Nussbaum (President and Chief Executive Officer, Cabrillo Music Theatre), Jacqui V. Irwin (City of Thousand Oaks Council Member and Mayor Pro Tem), Mary Lou Westerfield (Western Regional Director, Actors Equity Association), and Oz Scott (West Coast Board Member, Stage Directors & Choreographers Society).

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.

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01/17/11