Archived entries for Michael Mathews

Announcing: Benefit Play Reading for Celebration Theatre Starring Wendie Malick and Robert Forster – Mon 11/25 at 8pm

Celebration Theatre
Presents a Benefit Reading of
A KIND OF KIND
A New Play By Miles Brandman
Starring Wendie Malick and Robert Forster
Directed by Michael Matthews

Monday, November 25 at 8pm
Atwater Village Theatre in LA
Proceeds to Benefit Celebration Theatre

A Kind of Kind poster

Celebration Theatre has announced a benefit reading of A Kind of Kind, a world premiere play by Miles Brandman, starring two-time Emmy Award nominee Wendie Malick and Academy Award nominee Robert Forster on Monday, November 25 at 8pm at the Atwater Village Theatre in Los Angeles. Directed by Ovation Award-winner Michael Matthews, proceeds from the reading will go to support Celebration Theatre.

A Kind of Kind: When two liberal parents learn that their adult son has been hiding his homosexuality from them, they engage in a hunt for any clue as to what could have caused their son not to trust them. Now suspecting each other guilty of the same discrimination they’ve spent a lifetime looking down on, they must reconcile their own transgressions to save the family.

Wendie Malick and Robert ForsterWendie Malick starred on the smash NBC comedy series Just Shoot Me from 1997—2003, earning two Emmy Award nominations for her work. Currently one of the stars of TV Land’s wildly popular Hot in Cleveland, Malick is also well known for her many guest starring appearances on such shows as Frasier, Reba, Seinfeld, Cybill and Jake in Progress among many others.

Robert Forster is perhaps best known for his film performances in Medium Cool and Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown, which brought him an Academy Award nomination for Best Featured Actor. Also acclaimed for his performances in such films as Reflections In A Golden Eye, The Stalking Moon and Mulholland Drive, he has most recently been seen in The Descendants and Olympus Has Fallen.

Playwright Miles Brandman is a writer and director for film and theatre. In the fall of 2010, Brimmer Street Theatre Company produced the world premiere of his play Summer in Hell at studio|stage in Hollywood. Brandman also wrote and directed the independent feature film Sex and Breakfast. Other plays staged in Los Angeles include Ladies of the State, An Old Problem and All Your Hard Work (also produced by Brimmer Street).

Director Michael Matthews is Co-Artistic Director of Celebration Theatre, where he helmed Celebration’s most recent production, the West Coast premiere of The Homosexuals by Philip Dawkins, now running at the Atwater Village Theatre through December 21. For his work on Celebration’s production of The Color Purple he won the Ovation Award for Best Director of a Musical. His most recent directorial credits include Peter Pan: The Boy Who Hated Mothers at The Blank Theatre, Funny Girl for 3-D Theatricals and Rabbit Hole for McCoy-Rigby Entertainment.

Now in its 31st season, Celebration Theatre is a community of artists dedicated to presenting innovative, provocative and relevant work that examines the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer experience. The theatre endeavors to challenge society’s perception of the community and give a vibrant voice to its evolving identity.

The benefit reading of A Kind of Kind is being produced for Celebration by Michael C. Kricfalusi, Rebecca Eisenberg and Todd Milliner. Tickets are $35 each, and may be purchased online at www.celebrationtheatre.com or by phone at (323) 957-1884. There will be a reception immediately following the reading. The Atwater Village Theatre is located at 3269 Casitas Avenue, in Los Angeles.

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11-21-13

Announcing: The Blank Theatre Presents ‘Peter Pan: The Boy Who Hated Mothers’ – Opening April 27

THE BLANK THEATRE PRESENTS
PETER PAN: THE BOY WHO HATED MOTHERS
BY MICHAEL LLUBERES
BASED ON PETER AND WENDY BY JM BARRIE
DIRECTED BY 2012 OVATION AWARD-WINNER MICHAEL MATTHEWS

WEST COAST PREMIERE
AT THE BLANK’S 2nd STAGE THEATRE
OPENS APRIL 27
EXTENDED THROUGH JUNE 16
NOW EXTENDED THROUGH JUNE 30
EXTENDED THROUGH SUNDAY, JULY 28
FINAL EXTENSION THROUGH AUGUST 18

Peter Pan The Boy Who Hated Mothers TitleThe Blank Theatre (Daniel Henning, Founding Artistic Director; Noah Wyle, Artistic Producer) has announced that casting is complete and rehearsals are underway for Peter Pan: The Boy Who Hated Mothers by Michael Lluberes, directed by 2012 Ovation Award-winner Michael Matthews. Previews begin April 20, and opening is Saturday, April 27 at 8pm. The engagement will run through June 2 is extended through June 16 June 30 July 28 August 18.

Company of Peter PanThis radically fresh retelling of the JM Barrie classic explores the original ideas and inspirations behind the iconic fantasy of Peter Pan. Peter Pan: The Boy Who Hated Mothers is a dark new retelling of the story of the boy who wouldn’t grow up. This is ‘Peter Pan’ as you have never seen it before, but how it was always meant to be told. “This dark, disturbing, yet magical adaptation based on JM Barrie’s original ideas behind Peter Pan is one of the most thrilling scripts I have read in years,” said The Blank Artistic Director Henning. “Michael Lluberes’ adaptation and Michael Matthews’ visionary direction are a perfect match. I am excited for our audiences to experience Peter Pan as they have never experienced it before.”

Playwright Michael Lluberes’ other plays include The Boy in the Bathroom and The Geranium on the Windowsill Just Died. He has directed productions of Twelfth Night, Nighttime Traffic, and 1,000 Cats. Lluberes is also an actor, having appeared in the National Tour of Dirty Dancing, and Off Broadway in American Dreams: Lost and Found, Pudd’nhead Wilson, The Taming of the Shrew, As You Like It, and Heaven Knows. He is the recipient of The American Harmony Prize, an NEA New Artist Initiative Award, and Hambidge and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellowships. He is a graduate of The North Carolina School of the Arts, a member of The Acting Company, Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab and The Dramatists Guild. www.MichaelLluberes.com.

Michael Matthews directed the 2012 intimate theatre premiere of The Color Purple, The Musical, which won six Ovation Awards, including Best Director of a Musical. Also in 2012, his production of What’s Wrong With Angry? was Ovation Award-nominated, including Best Director of a Play. Matthews is the winner of two 2011 NAACP Image Awards for his direction of The Women of Brewster Place and Take Me Out, both at Celebration Theatre. He has directed The Blank’s productions of The Santaland Diaries, The Jazz Age and The Temperamentals. His most recent production, Wolves by Steve Yockey, is now running at Celebration Theatre. www.MichaelMatthewsDirector.com.

The cast of Peter Pan: The Boy Who Hated Mothers will feature (in alphabetical order) Liza Burns, Benjamin Campbell, Jackson Evans, David Hemphill, Trisha LaFache, Amy Lawhorn, and Daniel Shawn Miller. Set design is by Mary Hamrick, lighting design is by Zack Lapinski and Tim Swiss, costume design is by Kellsy MacKilligan, and sound design is by Rebecca Kessin. The stage manager is Rebecca Eisenberg; Sarah Bauer and Stephen Moffatt serve as producers.

Preview performances of Peter Pan: The Boy Who Hated Mothers begin on Saturday, April 20 at 8pm, and continue Sunday, April 21 at 2pm, and Tuesday through Friday, April 23 — 26, at 8pm. Opening is set for Saturday, April 27 at 8pm. The regular performance schedule will continue on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8pm, and Sunday at 2pm, through June 2 now through June 16 June 30 July 28 August 18. All seats are $30, and may be purchased online at www.TheBlank.com, or via phone by calling (323) 661-9827.

The Blank’s 2nd Stage Theatre is located at 6500 Santa Monica Boulevard (at Wilcox), in Hollywood.

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03-13-13

Cast of Peter Pan: The Boy Who Hated Mothers at The Blank Theatre, with director Michael Matthews. PHOTO BY MATT GRABER.
L to R (front): David Hemphill, Amy Lawhorn, Trisha LaFache, Liza Burns, Daniel Shawn Miller, Michael Matthews.
L to R (back): Jackson Evans, Benjamin Campbell.

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