Announcing: Nicholas Downs in “The Girl Most Likely To” at LATC

NICHOLAS DOWNS SET TO BE FEATURED
IN CAST OF THE GIRL MOST LIKELY TO
AT LOS ANGELES THEATRE CENTER
APRIL 20 – MAY 13

Film, television, and stage actor Nicholas Downs has been set to appear in the Playwrights’ Arena world premiere production of The Girl Most Likely To by Michael Premsrirat, at Los Angeles Theatre Center, opening on Friday, April 20, and running through Sunday, May 13.

Nicholas Downs is a film, television and stage actor who fell in love with acting the moment he first discovered a stage, and he has been a working actor ever since. Notable stage productions include Shopping and Fucking, the LA premiere of Corpus Christi, and The Chosen. His feature film roles include Hollywood blockbusters such as Pearl Harbor, The Girl Next Door, Constantine, and The Holiday, as well as the award-winning independent features 16 to Life, Is It Just Me? and The Awakening of Spring. Downs has played guest starring roles on several hit television shows including Castle, Cold Case, Boston Public, The Young and the Restless and Make It or Break It. He is the co-writer and co-producer of the comic web series Steam Room Stories, and he recently served as producer of the independent feature eCupid, which is now available on DVD through TLA Releasing.

Downs joins a cast of eight in The Girl Most Likely To, a new play about a Filipino-American boy who just wants to be accepted for who he is, in spite of the fact that he wears girls’ clothes to school and breaks into impromptu performances of Christina Aguilera songs. It is a funny and touching story about owning oneself. The production will be directed by Playwrights’ Arena artistic director Jon Lawrence Rivera.

Tickets for The Girl Most Likely To are on sale now, and may be purchased by calling (866) 811-4111, or online at www.thelatc.org. For more information on the play and on Playwrights’ Arena, visit www.playwrightsarena.org.

For more on Nicholas Downs, visit www.NicholasDowns.com.

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04-12-12

Announcing: Broadway Dreams & Take It From The Top Productions Present Broadway Master Class Nov. 5

TAKE IT FROM THE TOP PRODUCTIONS
AND BROADWAY DREAMS SET TO PRESENT
BROADWAY MASTER CLASS WORKSHOP
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5
AT LOS ANGELES THEATRE CENTER

Take it from the Top Productions and Broadway Dreams will present a Broadway Master Class workshop on Saturday, November 5, at Los Angeles Theatre Center. The four-hour workshop, which is set to run from 10am – 2pm, will be taught by Broadway veterans Paul Canaan and Tyler Hanes.

Broadway Master Class is an interactive workshop for performing artists to develop singing, dancing, and acting skills, taught by Broadway professionals. Participants will learn a dance combination focusing on style and storytelling, and they may also perform an ‘audition’ song for feedback from Canaan and Hanes. There will also be a talkback session with cast members from the new musical Bring It On, which opens at the Ahmanson Theatre at the Music Center on November 11.

The instructors for the workshop are Broadway veterans Paul Canaan (Catch Me If You Can, Legally Blonde, Miss Saigon, Thoroughly Modern Millie, La Cage Aux Folles and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), and Tyler Hanes (Oklahoma!, Urban Cowboy, The Boy From Oz, The Frogs, Sweet Charity, Hairspray, and A Chorus Line).

Paul Canaan most recently worked on an upcoming Broadway show Kinky Boots (music by Cyndi Lauper), and Catch Me If You Can. His passion for education in the arts inspired his company ‘Take It From The Top’ with partner Laura Bell Bundy. He also directs education elements for ‘Kids Night On Broadway’ through the League of Producers, and proudly serves as the Executive Producer of Broadway Dreams Foundation.

Tyler Hanes is an accomplished dancer/singer/actor who grew up in the Atlanta, Georgia, area and has been a performer for most of his life. As a child and teen, he did many commercials, voiceovers, industrials and television shows, and held numerous dance titles and scholarships from Dance Masters of America and Dance Educators of America. At the age of 14, Tyler became the youngest person to play an adult role in a main stage show at Opryland, USA, where he was featured in I Hear America Singing. Tyler continues to train and teach master classes, hoping to share his love of the arts with others.

Entry to the workshop is $65 per person, and there are a limited number of spaces available. For more information and to reserve a spot, visit www.takeitfromthetop.org. Los Angeles Theatre Center is located at 514 South Spring Street in downtown LA. Parking is available at various structures in the area.

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10-17-11

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