NEWS RELEASE — WEST COAST JEWISH THEATRE PRESENTS “ROMANCE.COM” BY HINDI BROOKS — OPENS SATURDAY 10/10 AT 8PM

WEST COAST JEWISH THEATRE
PRESENTS THE INTERNATIONALLY ACCLAIMED COMEDY
ROMANCE.COM
BY HINDI BROOKS
DIRECTED BY HOWARD TEICHMAN

OCTOBER 8 — NOVEMBER 15
NOW EXTENDED THRU SUNDAY 11/29
AT THE PICO PLAYHOUSE

OPENS SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10 AT 8PM

West Coast Jewish Theatre has announced the second production of its 2015-16 season, the internationally acclaimed comedy Romance.com by Hindi Brooks. Directed by WCJT Artistic Director Howard Teichman, there will be two preview performances on October 8 and 9 with opening set for Saturday, October 10 at 8pm at the Pico Playhouse in West Los Angeles. The engagement will run through November 15. NOW EXTENDED THRU SUNDAY 11/29.

The cast of Romance.com will feature (in alphabetical order) Bart Braverman, Michael Harris, Olivia Henry, Marcia Rodd, and Michael J. Silver. The set design is by Kurtis Bedford, lighting design is by Ellen Monocroussos, costume design is by Jackie Gudgel, and sound design is by Bill Froggatt. The stage manager is Adrienne-Johnson Lister.

Can two people find love in a chat room while lying through their teeth about one another? Can a person pretend to be someone else and get away with it? This wonderfully stylized comedy of errors by one of LA’s premiere playwrights has been presented to audiences all over Europe and now returns to Los Angeles for the first time in a decade.

Hindi Brooks was a prolific writer for the theatre and for the screen. She wrote over 100 television episodes, several TV movies, and scores of plays. Her dedication to Yiddishkeit and Jewish theatre reflected a commitment to the continuation of the Jewish experience in the Arts. Ms. Brooks’ plays have been produced all over the country as well as in Europe. She died in 2011 at the age of 85.

There will be two preview performances of Romance.com on Thursday, October 8 and Friday, October 9 at 8pm, and opening is set for Saturday, October 10 at 8pm. Preview tickets are $20 and regular performances are $35. Student tickets (with valid ID) are available for $25. The running schedule is Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 3pm through November 15. Tickets are available online at wcjt.tix.com or by phone at (323) 821-2449. The Pico Playhouse is located at 10508 W. Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles, 90064.

For more information on West Coast Jewish Theatre, visit www.wcjt.com.

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09-03-15

NEWS RELEASE — WEST COAST JEWISH THEATRE PRESENTS “O MY GOD” BY ANAT GOV — OPENS APRIL 18 AT PICO PLAYHOUSE

WEST COAST JEWISH THEATRE
PRESENTS AN AMERICAN PREMIERE
O MY GOD
BY ANAT GOV
DIRECTED BY HOWARD TEICHMAN

APRIL 16 — JUNE 7
AT THE PICO PLAYHOUSE

OPENING SET
FOR SATURDAY, APRIL 18 AT 8PM

West Coast Jewish Theatre has announced the first production of its 2015-16 season, the American Premiere of O My God by Anat Gov. Directed by WCJT Artistic Director Howard Teichman, there will be two preview performances on April 16 and 17 with opening set for Saturday, April 18 at 8pm at the Pico Playhouse in West Los Angeles. The engagement will run through June 7.

O My God is a dark comedy set in the Tel Aviv office of Ella, a psychologist who laments her son’s autism. His illness challenges her to the breaking point regarding her beliefs in God, religion, the human condition, and her own existence. One day, she receives a phone call from a new patient who insists on seeing her immediately and when the man arrives and introduces himself, Ella is faced with the challenge of considering what God truly means, how we accept faith, and how these concepts help us navigate each day of our lives.

The cast of O My God will feature Mike Burstyn, Maria Spassoff, and Joseph Rishik. The set design is by Kurtis Bedford, lighting design is by Gil Tordjman, costume design is by Michelle Young, and sound design is by Bill Froggatt. The stage manager is Josie Griffin-Roosth.

Mike Burstyn is an internationally acclaimed American/Israeli actor with many and varied international credits, include stage appearances in New York, Los Angeles, regionally in the US, London, Holland, and Israel. Broadway credits include Barnum, Inquest, The Megilla, and Ain’t Broadway Grand. Other stage credits include Lansky, The Rothschilds, On 2nd Avenue, The Prisoner of 2nd Avenue, Fiorello! (Encores), Jolson At The Winter Garden, Lansky, Fiddler On The Roof, Guys & Dolls, Berlin To Broadway, and The Tale Of The Allergist’s Wife with Valerie Harper, among many others. On TV, Burstyn has been seen on Law & Order, Saving Grace, HBO’s Dog Watch, As the World Turns, The Cosby Mysteries, and more. He is fluent in and has performed in eight languages, and he is the recipient of multiple Israeli ‘Oscars.’ For more information, visit www.mikeburstyn.com.

Maria Spassoff returns to WCJT having previously appeared in I’m not Rappaport and Last of the Red Hot Lovers. At Theatre 40: Lost in Yonkers, The Gamester, Round and Round the Garden, Three Postcards, Escape From Happiness, Romance.com, Nicholas Nickleby and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. Other stage credits include Arcadia, Female Transport, King Lear, Henry V, Pericles, What the Butler Saw, and more.

Joseph Rishik started playing the cello at age nine and has participated in many state and regional honor orchestras and playing in festivals such as Arrowbear, Idyllwild Arts Summer Program and the Unbound Chamber Music Festival at Mammoth Lakes. Most recently, Rishik performed the Saint Saens Cello Concerto with the Santa Monica College Orchestra.

Playwright Anat Gov was born in Tiberias and joined the IDF in the 1970s, serving in the Nahal troops entertainment group, where she met her future husband, singer and actor Gidi Gov. She wrote scripts for television shows in which her husband participated, including the long-running entertainment program “Zehu Ze!” In the 1990s, she began writing comedies for the Cameri Theatre. Gov’s most successful plays include Best Friends, Lysistrata 2000, Househusband, and Happy End. In 2012, she received the Gottlieb and Hannah Rosenblum Performing Arts Award on behalf of the Tel Aviv Municipality. Gov died after a long struggle with cancer in 2012 at the age of 55.

There will be two preview performances of O My God on Thursday, April 16 and Friday, April 17 at 8pm, and opening is set for Saturday, April 18 at 8pm. Preview tickets are $20 and regular performances are $35. Student tickets (with valid ID) are available for $25. The running schedule is Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 3pm through June 7. Tickets are available online at wcjt.tix.com or by phone at (323) 821-2449. The Pico Playhouse is located at 10508 W. Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles, 90064.

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03-23-15

Announcing: West Coast Jewish Theatre Presents “The Whipping Man” – LA Premiere February 8 thru April 13

WEST COAST JEWISH THEATRE
PRESENTS A LOS ANGELES PREMIERE
THE WHIPPING MAN
BY MATTHEW LOPEZ
DIRECTED BY HOWARD TEICHMAN

FEBRUARY 6 — APRIL 13
AT THE PICO PLAYHOUSE

OPENING SET FOR SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8

West Coast Jewish Theatre has announced the Los Angeles Premiere of The Whipping Man by Matthew Lopez. Directed by Howard Teichman, the production will play two previews on February 6 and 7 with opening set for Saturday, February 8 at the Pico Playhouse in West Los Angeles. The engagement will run through April 13.

It is April, 1865. The Civil War is over and throughout the South slaves are being freed, soldiers are returning home, and in Jewish homes the annual holiday of Passover is being celebrated. Into the chaos of war-torn Richmond, VA comes Caleb DeLeon, a young Jewish Confederate officer who has been severely wounded. He finds his family’s home in ruins and abandoned, save for two former slaves who wait in the empty house for the family’s return. As the three men wait for signs of life to return to the city, they wrestle with their shared past and the reality of the new world in which they find themselves.

Of the 2011 Manhattan Theatre Club production, The New York Times’ Charles Isherwood said, “The Whipping Man … is an atmospheric period drama … that surely has few equals in its arresting strangeness.” And of a 2013 production in St. Louis, the Dispatch proclaimed, “You don’t have to be Black or Jewish, let alone both, to appreciate this provocative drama.”

The cast of The Whipping Man will feature (in alphabetical order) Kirk Kelleykhan, Ricco Ross, and Shawn Savage. The set design is by Kurtis Bedford, lighting design is by Ellen Monocroussous, costume design is by Michelle Young, and sound design is by Bill Froggatt. The stage manager is Priscilla Miranda.

Playwright Matthew Lopez was awarded the John Gassner New Play Award from the New York Outer Critics Circle for The Whipping Man, and since premiering at Luna Stage in 2006 the play has been produced by over two dozen theatres across the country. The Whipping Man premiered in New York in 2010 at Manhattan Theatre Club. Other plays by Lopez include Somewhere, Reverberation, Zoey’s Perfect Wedding and The Sentinels. His newest play, The Legend of Georgia McBride, will premiere at the Denver Theatre Center this winter. Lopez currently holds new play commissions from Roundabout Theatre Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, and Hartford Stage.

Howard Teichman is the Artistic Director of West Coast Jewish Theatre. For WCJT, he has produced and/or directed I’m Not Rappaport, The Immigrant: The Musical, Neil Simon’s Last of the Red Hot Lovers, Sarah Sarah, The Value of Names, and the Ovation Recommended production of Arthur Miller’s Broken Glass. Other directing credits include From Door to Door, Neil Simon’s Lost in Yonkers and Rumors, Murray Schisgal’s LUV, and Modern Orthodox (LA Weekly nomination, Best Comedy Director). Teichman has worked extensively with Theatre 40, Buffalo Nights Theatre Company, and The Laugh Factory Ensemble, among others. While living in Chicago he was a member of the legendary “Second City” improvisational troupe.

The Whipping Man will play two preview performances on Thursday, February 6 and Friday, February 7 at 8pm, and opening is set for Saturday, February 8 at 8pm. Preview tickets are $20 and regular performances range from $25—$35. The regular running schedule is Friday and Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 3pm through April 13. Tickets are available online at www.wcjt.org or by phone at (323) 821-2449. The Pico Playhouse is located at 10508 W. Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles, 90064.

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01-13-14