Announcing: Impro Theatre Presents ‘Jane Austen UnScripted’ at Carrie Hamilton Theatre in Pasadena, Opens Feb. 14

IMPRO THEATRE
PRESENTS
JANE AUSTEN UNSCRIPTED
DIRECTED BY DAN O’CONNOR AND PAUL ROGAN

CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED PRODUCTION RETURNS
TO CARRIE HAMILTON THEATRE
ON VALENTINE’S DAY, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14

PLEASE NOTE: SIX PERFORMANCES ADDED

Impro Theatre (Dan O’Connor, Artistic Director) has announced a return engagement of Jane Austen Unscripted, directed by O’Connor and Paul Rogan, with preview performances beginning on Friday, February 8 at the Carrie Hamilton Theatre (upstairs at The Pasadena Playhouse) in Pasadena. The opening night of Jane Austen Unscripted is set for Valentine’s Day, Thursday, February 14, at 8:00. Performances will continue through April 14 only.

“Having enjoyed a wonderful run in 2012, we are thrilled to bring Jane Austen Unscripted back to the Carrie Hamilton Theatre, and to share our Valentine’s Night opening with LA and Pasadena’s huge Austen fan base,” said Dan O’Connor, Impro Theatre Artistic Director.

Jane Austin Unscripted is a completely improvised comedic play in the style of beloved author Jane Austen. The cast of Impro Theatre creates and performs a never before seen, all new, Jane Austen story right before the audience’s eyes. The entire performance is based on audience suggestion, so every show is totally unique. The essence of Austen’s beloved, timeless romantic comedies and social satires is brought to life by the expert team of funny and gifted actors that are Impro Theatre.

The cast is a rotating ensemble, including (in alphabetical order) Impro company members Tracy Burns, Kari Coleman, Lisa Fredrickson, Brian Jones, Stephen Kearin, Lauren Lewis, Brian Lohmann, Nick Massouh, Jo McGinley, Dan O’Connor, Edi Patterson, Paul Rogan, Michele Spears, and Floyd Van Buskirk. The Jane Austen Unscripted cast will also feature guest artists, including (in alphabetical order) Josh Dean, Kelly Holden, Rebecca Lowman, Mike Rock, and Patty Wortham. Set and costume design are by Sandra Burns, and lighting design is by Leigh Allen. Dan O’Connor produces for Impro Theatre.

Impro Theatre is an Unscripted Repertory Company that has brought innovative, unscripted theatre to Los Angeles and the world. The company’s goal is to take core narrative and style elements of great playwrights and writers, and create a new play using no more than the essence of an author’s work and an audience suggestion. Most recently, unscripted explorations of great literary figures has included Shakespeare, Dickens, Stephen Sondheim, and Tennessee Williams. For more, visit www.ImproTheatre.com.

Critical reaction for Impro Theatre’s work has included the following praise: “First rate comedians … breathtaking wit” (LA Weekly); “Quite unbelievable, actually … an amazing comedy troupe spins an entire play into comedy gold right before your eyes … a stunning feat of performance” (Los Angeles Times); “Ingenuity, imagination, and hilarity … improv artists at the top of their field … must-see theatre” (StageSceneLA.com); and “Comic gold … a delectably smart, tasty treat” (San Diego News Network).

Jane Austen Unscripted will play three preview performances on Friday, February 8 at 8pm, Saturday, February 9 at 8pm, and Sunday, February 10 at 4pm. Opening night is set for Thursday, February 14 at 8:00, and will include a post-performance champagne reception. The regular running schedule is Friday and Saturday at 8pm, and Sunday at 4pm, through April 14 only. Tickets are $20 for previews, and $25 for regular performances (student and senior discounts are available). Tickets are on sale now and may be purchased online at www.PasadenaPlayhouse.org, or by calling (626) 356-7529.

ADDED PERFORMANCES: Sat 3/23 at 4pm; Sun 3/24 at 7pm; Sat 3/30 at 4pm;
Sun 3/31 at 7pm; Sat 4/6 at 4pm; Sat 4/13 at 4pm

The Carrie Hamilton Theatre is located upstairs at The Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Avenue, in Pasadena, 91101.

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01-14-13

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Twitter: twitter.com/improtheatre

Announcing: Mutineer Theatre Company Presents “Conk and Bone” – World Premiere Play at Carrie Hamilton Theatre Oct 19 – Nov 4

MUTINEER THEATRE COMPANY
PRESENTS
CONK AND BONE
A WORLD PREMIERE PLAY BY JOE MUSSO
DIRECTED BY KAPPY KILBURN

OPENS AT CARRIE HAMILTON THEATRE
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20 FOR NINE PERFORMANCES ONLY

Conk and Bone, a new play by Joe Musso, has been set for a limited engagement at the Carrie Hamilton Theatre (upstairs at The Pasadena Playhouse) in Pasadena. Directed by Kappy Kilburn, the darkly comic Conk and Bone will play one preview performance on Friday, October 19 at 8pm, with opening night set for Saturday, October 20 at 8:00. The strictly limited engagement will continue through November 4 only.

In this new dark comedy, Conk and Bone are once again hired by Death to prepare a soul for the ferry ride across the River Styx. But tonight is different and all goes awry when two souls are delivered instead of one. Confined to an abandoned house on a moonless night in Louisiana, Conk and Bone must confront a tortured tattooed girl, a furious fallen hero, and Death himself – but not before they have to face each other. Conk and Bone is the winner of a 2012 New Voices Award at the Fifth Annual Northern Writes New Play Festival in Bangor, Maine, and has received readings at The Great Plains Theatre Conference in Omaha, Nebraska, at Nicu’s Spoon Theatre Company in New York, and at Ruckus Theatre in Chicago.

Playwright Joe Musso lives in Birmingham, Alabama. Zombie Joe’s Underground in Los Angeles produced his play Blood Water earlier this year, and AlleyStage in Mineral Point, Wisconsin, produced his play Voodoo Today Here Now 5 in July 2011. Musso’s play Absinthe won the MTWorks 2012 Excellence in Playwriting Award, and received a reading at its National Newborn Festival in New York. Absinthe also won HRC Showcase Theatre’s 2011 W. Keith Hedrick Playwriting Award.

Director Kappy Kilburn served for four years as the Associate Director of Artistic Development at The Pasadena Playhouse, where she created and produced their new play development program “Hothouse at the Playhouse.” During her tenure, Hothouse launched numerous projects which have gone on to successful runs around the world, including Ray Charles Live!, Sister Act – The Musical, Looped (starring Valerie Harper), Night is a Child, Hollywood Arms (co-developed with Carol Burnett), and Number of People (starring Ed Asner). Kilburn has an extensive directing resume in regional theatre, and is a founder and co-producer of Directors Lab West, a spin-off of Lincoln Center Theater’s Directors Lab in NYC, of which she is an alumna.

The cast of Conk and Bone will feature (in alphabetical order) Jennifer Daley, Bruce A. Lemon, Ryan Mulkay, Doug Power, and Paul Vroom. The scenic design is by David T. Offner, lighting design is by Brandon Baruch, costume design is by Karla Contreras, sound design is by Cricket S. Myers, and the stage manager is Liz Brown. Conk and Bone is produced by Jon Cohn and Stephanie Wu for Mutineer Theatre Company.

Mutineer Theatre Company is a nomadic theatre company that performs in and around the Los Angeles area. The mission of the company is to create, develop, and produce diverse original material through an explorative and experimental collaborative effort. The company is comprised of actors, visual artists, composers, writers, dancers, photographers, sculptors, filmmakers, directors, and designers working collaboratively to conceive unique and inspired work. It is Mutineer’s goal to establish themselves as a resource for the development of new works.

Conk and Bone will play one preview performance on Friday, October 19 at 8pm, and opening night is set for Saturday, October 20 at 8:00. The nine-performance only engagement will continue through November 4. The running schedule is Friday and Saturday at 8pm, and Sunday at 2pm and 7pm. There will be no performance on Sunday 10/21, and no 7pm performance on Sunday 11/4. Tickets are $15 for the preview, and $22 for regular performances ($17 if purchased in advance). All seating is general admission, and tickets may be purchased online at www.mutineertheatre.com, or by calling (323) 871-5826.

The Carrie Hamilton Theatre is located upstairs at The Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Avenue, in Pasadena, 91101.

http://Facebook.com/MutineerTheatreCompany
http://Twitter.com/MutineerTheatre

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10-05-12

Announcing: The Pasadena Playhouse Announces Full Casting and Creative Team for Intimate Apparel; Begins Nov. 6

THE PASADENA PLAYHOUSE
ANNOUNCES FULL CASTING AND CREATIVE TEAM FOR
INTIMATE APPAREL
THE PRODUCTION WILL PERFORM
NOVEMBER 6 – DECEMBER 2, 2012
TICKETS ON SALE TODAY

The Pasadena Playhouse (Sheldon Epps, Artistic Director and Elizabeth Doran, Executive Director) announced today the full casting and creative team for INTIMATE APPAREL. Single tickets are also now on sale. Written by Lynn Nottage (Pulitzer Prize-winner, Ruined) and directed by The Playhouse’s Sheldon Epps, performances will begin November 6 through December 2, with an official press opening on Sunday, November 11, 2012, at 5:00 p.m. at The Pasadena Playhouse.

“I am delighted by the casting that has come together for our production of Lynn’s beautiful creation,” said Sheldon Epps, Playhouse Artistic Director and director of INTIMATE APPAREL. “This play has such admirable diversity, beautiful poetry, and vivid characters. I am sure that this fine group of actors will play this music beautifully and give life and drama to these wonderful words.”

The full cast for INTIMATE APPAREL features (in alphabetical order):

• Kristy Johnson (Jitney, The Good Negro) as “Mayme”
• Dawnn Lewis (Dreamgirls, Sister Act-The Musical, “A Different World”) as “Mrs.
  Dickinson”
• Angel Reda (Dangerous Beauty, Follies, Wicked) as “Mrs. Van Buren”
• Adam J. Smith (“As the World Turns,” “Bounty Wars,”) as “Mr. Marks”
• David St. Louis (“Third Watch,” Parade, Rent, Ruined) as “George”
• Vanessa Williams (“Soul Food,” “Lincoln Heights,” “Melrose Place”) as “Esther”

In addition to director Sheldon Epps the creative team for INTIMATE APPAREL includes scenic design by John Iacovelli (The Playhouse’s Under My Skin, The Heiress, Art and Blues for an Alabama Sky), lighting design by Brian Gale (The Playhouse’s The Heiress), sound design by Steven Cahill (The Playhouse’s As Bees in Honey Drown) and costume design by Leah Piehl (The Playhouse’s The Heiress).

In INTIMATE APPAREL, The time is 1905 in New York City and Esther, a middle-aged, black seamstress, has learned to make ends meet by teaching herself to sew beautiful and delicate lingerie for her uptown and downtown clientele. After nearly two decades of loneliness and watching the younger and prettier girls come and go in the boarding house she rents from, Esther finds solace and possible romance in letters from George, a handsome, young Caribbean man working on the Panama Canal. Re-energized by his affectionate words, but hindered by illiteracy, Esther confides in two of her patrons, Mrs. Van Buren, a rich white socialite, and Mayme, a prostitute, to pen her letters back to George. Meanwhile, Esther’s heart also seems to lie with Mr. Marks, the Hasidic shopkeeper who relishes in sharing his exquisite finds of satins and silks and has also grown increasingly fond of Esther. But the impossibility of their match is obvious to them both, so Esther settles for a marriage to George. He subsequently manages to frivolously spend all of her life savings on whores and liquor – dashing all of Esther’s hopes of opening a beauty salon. Once again penniless and alone, Esther reluctantly returns to her sewing machine to refashion her dreams from the cloth of her life’s experiences.

INTIMATE APPAREL is the winner of the 2004 New York Drama Critics Circle Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Play. Written by Lynn Nottage, Pulitzer Prize-winner for 2010’s Ruined, critical praise for INTIMATE APPAREL includes: “Nottage’s play has a delicacy and eloquence that seem absolutely right for the time she is depicting…New York has no richer play.” (NY Daily News); “…thoughtful, affecting…The play offers poignant commentary on an era when the cut and color of one’s dress – and of course, skin – determined whom one could and could not marry, sleep with, even talk to in public,” (Variety); “Ms. Nottage has done so much good historical research…I want Ms. Nottage to keep working with this form; we see it so little, and we need it so much.” (New York Times); “a near-perfect balance between content and execution…” (Associated Press).

INTIMATE APPAREL will play from November 6 – December 2, 2012 with the official press opening on Sunday, November 11, 2012, at 5:00 p.m. The Pasadena Playhouse is located at 39 South El Molino Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91101. The performance schedule is Tuesday through Friday at 8:00 p.m.; Saturday at 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.; and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.  Single show ticket prices for INTIMATE APPAREL range from $22.00 – $62.00, with Premium Seating available for $100.00. Service and theatre restoration fees apply to all purchases. Rush tickets are available for $20.00 one hour prior to the performance time and are subject to availability. Rush tickets must be purchased at The Pasadena Playhouse Box Office. Tickets are available by calling The Pasadena Playhouse at 626-356-7529 or by visiting The Pasadena Playhouse Box Office, Tuesday – Sunday from 12:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. during non-performance dates. On performance dates the Box Office is open Tuesday – Saturday from 12:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. and 12:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are available 24 hours online at www.PasadenaPlayhouse.org. Group Sales (8 or more) are available by calling 626-921-1161. For additional information visit www.PasadenaPlayhouse.org.

Full bios for the cast and creative team of INTIMATE APPAREL are available upon request.

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09-25-2012