NEWS RELEASE — JP Karliak’s DONNA/MADONNA returns for 4 performances only — SEPTEMBER 10—13

DONNA/MADONNA
WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY JP KARLIAK
DIRECTED BY TIGER REEL AND MATTHEW CRAIG

RETURNS TO HOLLYWOOD’S LOUNGE THEATRE
FOUR PERFORMANCES ONLY
SEPTEMBER 10-11-12-13

Photo courtesy Rizzo 39 Productions

Donna/Madonna, the critically acclaimed, award-winning solo show written and performed by JP Karliak, will return to the Lounge Theatre in Hollywood for a special engagement of four performances only, it was announced today by Rizzo 39 Productions. Directed by Tiger Reel and Matthew Craig, Donna/Madonna is set to run Thursday, September 10 — Sunday, September 13 only.

In this autobiographical one-act, writer/performer JP Karliak wants desperately to be the perfect son for his adopted mother, a doting Catholic housewife from Scranton, PA. But realizing he will never be the ideal local boy, he seeks answers from a very different source: his fashion-writing, married-to-a-British-pop-star birth mother. Donna/Madonna is a tale of motherly love and finding acceptance told through stories, songs, and characters like Darth Vader, Carol Channing, and JP’s unforgettable mothers. Hilarious and poignant, this cross-country journey from Scranton to Los Angeles shows that sometimes you have to meet a “Material Girl” to truly appreciate “America’s Sweetheart.”

Donna/Madonna was the winner of the Best One Man Show Award at the 2010 United Solo Theatre Festival in New York and was recognized for Overall Excellence in Solo Performance at the 2011 New York International Fringe Festival. It won the Best of Fringe Award at the 2011 San Francisco Fringe Festival and StageSceneLA ‘Scenie’ Awards for Outstanding Production, Solo Performance, Best Direction of a Solo Performance, and Best Solo Performance (2010-11).

Of Donna/Madonna, the LA Weekly said, “GO! Karliak’s execution is top-drawer. His delivery is brisk … and … his sense of humor is contemplative but unsentimental. Inhabiting the skin of his drastically different mothers, Karliak’s range is gleefully apparent.” And Back Stage said, “Karliak has a startling skill for changing on a dime from flamboyant, extroverted, and stylized performance artist to a direct and sincere man. This breezily insightful presentation celebrates what his two maternal parents did for him. Critic’s Pick!”

JP Karliak hails from the “Electric City,” Scranton, PA. His voice-over credits include Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., Skylanders, Lego Marvel Avengers. On-Camera: Real Husbands of Hollywood, Ringer. Los Angeles theatre work includes The Mistakes Madeline Made; The Girl, the Grouch & the Goat; Into the Woods; Inherit the Wind; and Women and Wallace. Karliak is a graduate of the USC School of Theatre, iO West, and Second City Training Center. He has written numerous short films and plays which have been produced in various locales around the country.

Co-Directors Tiger Reel and Matthew Craig boast impressive credits in both theatre and television. Reel is the Founding Artistic Director of the Action! Theatre Company where his directing credits include the West Coast premieres of There Is a Happiness That Morning Is, Slaughterhouse-Five, and Cartoon, as well as his award-winning adaptation of The Merchant of Venice. Craig performed nationwide with The Second City Touring Company, worked as a writer on Saturday Night Live during the 2010-2011 season, and currently writes and produces Wabbit: A Looney Tunes Production for WB animation.

Donna/Madonna will play four performances only: Thursday, September 10 at 8pm; Friday, September 11 at 8pm; Saturday, September 12 at 8pm; and Sunday, September 13 at 3pm. Run time is 70 minutes. General admission seating is $20 and tickets are available online at https://www.plays411.com/donna or by calling (323) 206-6427. The Lounge Theatre is located at 6201 Santa Monica Boulevard (at El Centro), in Hollywood, 90038. For more info, visit www.donnamadonnashow.com.

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08-03-15

_{Photo Credit: JP Karliak. Photo by Jason B. Chen.}

Announcing: Best of Fringe ‘True Hustle’ Returns for 2 Perfs Only, July 13 & 27 at Lounge Theatre

BRIMMER STREET THEATRE COMPANY,
THEATRE PLANNERS & BEST OF FRINGE EXTENSIONS
PRESENT
TRUE HUSTLE
FEATURING MARIE LIVELY
WRITTEN BY LIVELY & ANNIE MEBANE
DIRECTED BY MEBANE

TWO PERFORMANCES ONLY
SATURDAYS, JULY 13 & 27 AT 10:45PM
LOUNGE THEATRE IN HOLLYWOOD

Brimmer Street Theatre Company, Theatre Planners, and Best of Fringe Extensions have announced two additional performances of True Hustle featuring Marie Lively, on Saturdays, July 13 and 27 at 10:45pm at the Lounge Theatre in Hollywood.

True Hustle is a solo show in which Marie Lively shares the true story of how a naive Christian temp became a corporate smut queen for one of the most famous (and infamous) pornographers in town. Written by Lively and Annie Mebane, and directed by Mebane, True Hustle features video by Mike Reich, Mike Pinkney, and Alan Delamora, and lighting by David Jette.

Winners of Best of Fringe Extensions are selected by Combined Artform producing artistic director Matthew Quinn and a selection committee of venue representatives. Winners are selected for their artistic merit and commercial potential.

Tickets for True Hustle are available at www.brimmerstreet.org/truehustle. The Lounge Theatre is located at 6201 Santa Monica Boulevard (at El Centro) in Hollywood. Street parking is available.

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07-09-13

Announcing: IAMA Theatre Company Presents ‘Sixty Miles to Silver Lake’ at Lounge Theatre, Opening Sat 2/2

IAMA THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS
SIXTY MILES TO SILVER LAKE
BY DAN LeFRANC
DIRECTED BY BECCA WOLFF

OPENS SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2 AT LOUNGE THEATRE
FOR SIX WEEKS ONLY

IAMA Theatre Company (Becca Wolff, Artistic Director) has announced a limited engagement of Sixty Miles to Silver Lake, written by Dan LeFranc and directed by Wolff, at Hollywood’s Lounge Theatre. There will be one lower-priced preview performance on Friday, February 1 at 8pm, and opening night is set for Saturday, February 2 at 8:00. Sixty Miles to Silver Lake will play a limited engagement through March 10 only.

In the play, a moody teenager and his deadbeat dad cruise down the 5 Freeway, through an Orange County landscape littered with Christian rock, young love, and lecherous soccer coaches. Their attempts at male bonding take a turn for the strange as the action skips through time and the two confront the twists and turns of a lifetime together, and learn what it means to grow up. Of a 2012 ‘Collaboraction at the Flat Iron Arts Building’ production in Chicago, The Tribune said, “It’s a gem of a journey all around.”

Playwright Dan LeFranc was named 2010 Playwright of the Year by The New York Times. His other plays include The Big Meal, Origin Story, Bruise Easy, Night Surf, In The Labyrinth, The Fishbone Fables, Backyard, Kill The Keepers, and Catgut. His work has been developed and produced across the country at Playwrights Horizons, Soho Rep, Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Vineyard Theater, Sundance Theatre Institute, The Kennedy Center, ArsNova, Rattlestick, and American Repertory Theatre, among many others. LeFranc’s play Troublemaker is currently running at Berkeley Rep. Director (and IAMA Artistic Director) Becca Wolff is also co-founder of Tilted Field Productions, a geographically diversified collective of artists with members in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco. Other directing credits include Status Update at Center Rep, Usher, which was named Outstanding Musical at the 2008 NY International Fringe Festival, and the upcoming The Last Days of Mary Stuart, an opera composed by the rock band TONY (Son of Semele Ensemble, Summer 2013).

The cast of Sixty Miles to Silver Lake will feature (in alphabetical order) Daniel David Stewart and Wes Whitehead. Projection design is by Kaitlyn Pietras, lighting design is by Elizabeth Harper, sound design is by Veronika Vorel, and costume design is by Louise Munson. The stage manager is Lara Myrene, and Sixty Miles to Silver Lake is being produced by Cymbre Walk for IAMA Theatre Company.

There will be one lower-priced preview on Friday, February 1 at 8pm, and opening night is set for Saturday, February 2 at 8:00. Admission for the preview is $10, and regular tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. The running schedule is Friday and Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 7pm, through March 10 only. Tickets are on sale now, and may be purchased online at https://iamatheatre.secure.force.com/ticket, or by calling (859) 893-5376.

The Lounge Theatre is located at 6201 Santa Monica Boulevard (at El Centro, one block east of Vine), in Hollywood. Street parking is available.

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01-09-13