Announcing: Free Night of Theatre 2010

L.A. STAGE ALLIANCE ANNOUNCES FREE NIGHT OF THEATRE 2010
SPONSORED BY SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT
THE ‘ENTER TO WIN’ AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
OFFERS THOUSANDS OF TICKETS TO HUNDREDS OF PERFORMANCES
BETWEEN OCTOBER 14 – 31

L.A. Stage Alliance has announced the launch of Free Night of Theatre 2010, an audience development program for theatre in greater Los Angeles. Now through October 6, visitors to www.FreeNightLA.com will be able to submit an entry to win up to five pairs of complimentary tickets to productions throughout the region.  On October 9, entrants will be notified which tickets they have won, and then will attend performances during the second half of October.

This is the fourth year that L.A. Stage Alliance has been the local partner in this national initiative, created by Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national service organization for theatre (whose annual national conference will be held in Los Angeles in June, 2011).  Over the last four years, L.A. theatres have delivered over 15,000 free tickets to local residents through this program (at a face value of roughly $375,000).  The purpose of this program is to give residents unfamiliar with theatre or with a particular theatre company the opportunity to explore the arts at no financial cost.

Said Terence McFarland, Executive Director of L.A. Stage, “We are thrilled to announce this exciting expansion of the Free Night of Theatre program. We listened to our most enthusiastic patrons who told us they wanted the opportunity to experience additional theatres they had never attended. Also, every registered patron gains access to our weekly discount ticket program, expanding their ability to attend more theatre affordably throughout the year.”

This year is notable in that L.A. Stage Alliance is piloting a new ‘enter-to-win’ version of Free Night, instead of the previous version where theatres offered specific allotments and audiences raced to claim tickets.  The ‘enter-to-win’ version takes the time pressure away, and allows patrons to receive as many as five pairs of tickets instead of just one pair.  If this new procedure is successful, it may roll out to other regions across the country in 2011.

L.A. 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.  L.A. Stage 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.

For more information about Free Night of Theatre or L.A. Stage Alliance, please contact Programs Director Douglas Clayton at (213) 614-0556, ext. 12, or DClayton @ LAStageAlliance.com. Also visit www.LAStageAlliance.com or www.FreeNightLA.com.

Free Night of Theatre 2010 is sponsored by Sony Pictures Entertainment, and supported by all of L.A. Stage Alliance’s funders and sponsors (list available at LAStageAlliance.com).

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09-27-10

Announcing: 2009 Ovation Award Winners

LA STAGE ALLIANCE OVATION AWARDS PRESENTED
MONDAY, JANUARY 11, 2010
AT REDONDO BEACH PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

KUDOS FOR 2008-09 SEASON
SHARED BY 17 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA THEATRE COMPANIES

The LA Stage Alliance Ovation Awards, celebrating theatrical excellence and achievement during the 2008-2009 season, were presented on Monday, January 11, 2010 at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center.

Twenty-nine awards were bestowed upon seventeen different Southern California theatre companies.  Center Theatre Group (Lydia at the Mark Taper Forum and The Little Dog Laughed at the Kirk Douglas Theatre) led with four, followed by the Troubadour Theatre Company (Alice in One Hit Wonderland and As U2 Like It) and the Louis & Keely producing team (Louis & Keely, Live at the Sahara) with three each.  NoHo Arts Center Ensemble (Dracula), Musical Theatre West (The Producers), Havok Theatre Company (Kiss of the Spider Woman), Ebony Repertory Theatre (Two Trains Running) and Chalk Repertory Theatre (Family Planning) tied with two awards each.

Several other companies and productions with multiple nominations, including The Chance Theatre, Rubicon Theatre Company, Road Theatre Company, Renal Support Network , Pasadena Playhouse, Open Fist Theatre Company, Fountain Theatre, East West Players and A Noise Within, went home without statuettes.

The Troubadour Theatre Company was honored with the newest Ovation Award for Best Season.

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1-12-10

Announcing: 2009 Ovation Award Nominees

2009 OVATION AWARD NOMINEES ANNOUNCED
CENTER THEATRE GROUP LEADS WITH 25,
GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE RECEIVES 14,
TROUBADOUR THEATRE COMPANY GETS 12
EL PORTAL THEATRE GARNERS 10

Nominees for the 2009 L.A. Stage Alliance Ovation Awards were announced on the evening of Monday, October 19 at A Noise Within in Glendale.  The nominations were presented by 2008 Ovation Award winners Barry Lynch, Jennifer Paz, Randy Rogel and Robert J. Townsend, along with LA Stage Alliance Executive Director Terence McFarland.

Center Theatre Group garnered the most nominations, followed by the Geffen Playhouse, the Troubadour Theatre Company and the El Portal Theatre.  The CTG productions honored with nominations are “9 to 5: The Musical”  (7), “The Little Dog Laughed” (6), “Minsky’s” (5), “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo” (4), “Lydia” (2), and “The School of Night” (1).  The Geffen productions are “Louis & Keely, Live at the Sahara” (5), “Farragut North” (3), “Beethoven As I Knew Him” (2), “Time Stands Still” (2), and “By the Waters of Babylon” (1).

The nominated Troubadour Theatre Company productions are “Alice in One Hit Wonderland 2: Through the Looking Glass” (6) and “As U2 Like It” (5).  The El Portal Theatre’s production of “Smokey Joe’s Café” received 10 nominations.

A new category has been added for the 2009 voting year: Best Season.  The award recognizes theatre companies who have produced shows of consistently high quality throughout the voting season (September 1 – August 31).  Any company who registered at least three productions for Ovation Awards consideration during the season is eligible.  As with most other Ovation categories, there will be five nominations and one recipient.  For this first Best Season Award, the nominees are:  the Chance Theater, the Fountain Theatre, the Geffen Playhouse, the Rubicon Theatre Company, and the Troubadour Theatre Company.

Founded in 1989, the L.A. Stage Alliance Ovation Awards are the only peer-judged theatre awards in Los Angeles.  For the 2008-2009 voting season, there are a grand total of 186 nominations for 66 productions presented by 48 companies. [PLEASE SEE COMPLETE LIST OF NOMINATIONS FOLLOWING THIS RELEASE.]

Voters are L.A. theatre professionals who are chosen each season by the Ovation Awards Review Committee (through an application process). The list of nominees is determined by a tabulation of scores conducted by the entertainment accounting firm Green, Hasson & Janks, LLP.

It was also announced that the awards ceremony, which has traditionally been held in November each year, will now happen in January, kicking off the Los Angeles awards season.  The 2009 Ovation Awards ceremony will take place on Monday, January 11, 2010 at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center, home of the Civic Light Opera of South Bay Cities. The curtain will go up at 7:30pm. More info on this to follow soon.

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10-19-09